Podcasts about Augustan

Situated on the cusp of the Romantic era, Thomas Gray's work is a mixture of impersonal Augustan abstraction and intense subjectivity. ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' is one of the most famous poems in the English language, and continues to exert its influence on contemporary poetry. Mark and Seamus explore three of Gray's elegiac poems and their peculiar emotional power. They discuss Gray's ambiguous sexuality, his procrastination and class anxieties, and where his humour shines through – as in his elegy for Horace Walpole's cat.Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrldIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsldFurther reading in the LRB:John Mullan: Unpranked Lyrehttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v23/n24/john-mullan/unpranked-lyreTony Harrison: ‘V.'https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v07/n01/tony-harrison/vGet the books: https://lrb.me/crbooklistRead the texts online:https://www.thomasgray.org/texts/poems/sorwhttps://www.thomasgray.org/texts/poems/elcchttps://www.thomasgray.org/texts/poems/odfcNext episode: Mid-20th century elegies: Betjeman, Lowell, Bishop Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 https://www.iservalan.com https://www.taletellerclub.comChapter 2: Classical Antiquity – Pleasure, Power, and Myth(Greece, Rome, India, China, Japan)Erotic Art in the Classical World: Sensuality, Divinity, and the Human FormThe civilizations of Greece and Rome profoundly shaped Western attitudes toward eroticism, beauty, and the human body. Meanwhile, in Asia, India, China, and Japan developed their own rich traditions of erotic art, where sexuality was intertwined with spirituality, aesthetics, and philosophy. Across these cultures, erotic imagery was not just about desire—it was deeply connected to mythology, religious devotion, and social identity.The Greek Celebration of the Nude and the DivineAncient Greek art (c. 800–146 BCE) is renowned for its idealized representations of the human form, including sensual and erotic depictions. Unlike later Western traditions, which often moralized sexuality, the Greeks saw eroticism as an essential aspect of life, closely tied to their gods, heroes, and social structures.The Male Nude and Homoeroticism in Greek ArtGreek sculptures and vase paintings frequently depicted the nude male body as a symbol of beauty, strength, and divine perfection. The kouroi (statues of young men) and later the works of sculptors like Phidias, Polykleitos, and Praxiteles showcased a balance of realism and idealism.Homoeroticism played a significant role in Greek culture, particularly in the institution of pederasty, where older men (erastai) mentored and formed relationships with younger men (eromenoi). While controversial today, these relationships were embedded in Greek education, social bonding, and military camaraderie. Erotic vase paintings and sculptures, such as those on the Warren Cup, openly depicted same-sex relationships without stigma.Aphrodite and the Feminine EroticThe goddess Aphrodite, associated with love and beauty, was a central figure in Greek erotic art. The first known fully nude female sculpture, Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles (c. 360 BCE), marked a shift in the portrayal of female sensuality. While earlier depictions of women were clothed, this work introduced the eroticized nude female body as an artistic norm in Western art.Rome: Eroticism, Excess, and Moral ContradictionsThe Romans inherited much from Greek artistic traditions but added their own flair for luxury, satire, and explicit eroticism. Roman erotic art ranged from refined frescoes in wealthy villas to bawdy graffiti in brothels, revealing a culture that embraced sexuality in both elite and everyday contexts.Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Window into Roman EroticismThe eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE preserved vast amounts of erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum, offering an unparalleled glimpse into Roman attitudes toward sexuality. Frescoes from the Villa of the Mysteries and Lupanar (brothel) depict explicit scenes, suggesting that sexuality was not hidden but woven into public and private life.One of the most famous artifacts, the Priapus fresco, shows the god Priapus weighing his exaggerated phallus against a bag of money—a humorous but symbolic image of fertility and prosperity. Romans often associated large phallic imagery with protection, luck, and virility.Satire and Social Commentary in Roman EroticaWhile erotic art was common, Rome also saw moral pushback against sexual excess. Writers like Ovid (Metamorphoses, Ars Amatoria) celebrated love and seduction, while others, like Juvenal, satirized the decadence of Roman society. The Augustan moral reforms (1st century BCE) attempted to impose sexual restraint, yet erotic art continued to flourish, reflecting the contradictions within Roman attitudes toward pleasure.Erotic Art in Ancient India: The Sacred and the SensualEroticism in ancient India was deeply entwined with spirituality, particularly through Hinduism and Tantra. Unlike in the West, where sexuality was often seen in opposition to religious purity, Indian art frequently depicted sensuality as an extension of divine energy.Temple Eroticism: Khajuraho and KonarkThe Khajuraho temple complex (c. 950–1050 CE) and the Konark Sun Temple (c. 13th century CE) feature intricate sculptures of deities, lovers, and erotic acts. These reliefs, far from being mere decoration, reflect the Hindu belief that sexual union mirrors cosmic unity and divine creation.The Kama Sutra and Indian Erotic TextsAttributed to Vātsyāyana, the Kama Sutra (3rd century CE) is one of the most famous texts on love and eroticism. Contrary to its popular perception as a sex manual, it is a sophisticated treatise on pleasure, relationships, and aesthetics. Accompanying illustrations in later manuscripts helped visualize its teachings, making it one of the most influential works of erotic literature.Erotic Art in Ancient China: Daoism and Sensual BalanceIn China, erotic art was shaped by Confucian ideals, Daoist philosophy, and later Buddhist influences. While Confucianism promoted restraint, Daoism embraced sexuality as a path to harmony and longevity.Daoist Sexual Arts and Painted ScrollsDaoist texts, such as the "Art of the Bedchamber", describe sexual practices believed to extend life and health. Erotic scroll paintings from the Tang (618–907 CE) and Song (960–1279 CE) dynasties often depicted intimate scenes with poetic inscriptions, emphasizing sensuality rather than crude explicitness.Later, during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, erotic books known as "spring pictures" (春宫图) became popular among the elite, blending humor, philosophy, and eroticism.Japan's Shunga: The Floating World of SensualityJapanese erotic art, or Shunga (春画), flourished during the Edo period (1603–1868). These woodblock prints, created by masters such as Hokusai and Utamaro, depicted erotic encounters with both aesthetic refinement and explicit detail. Unlike in the West, where erotic art often faced suppression, Shunga was widely enjoyed across social classes.Shunga as Art, Satire, and InstructionShunga prints were not just pornographic; they served multiple purposes, including sexual education, humor, and even political satire. Some depicted fantastical elements, such as Hokusai's famous "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife", blending eroticism with mythology.Conclusion: Classical Eroticism as a Reflection of CultureThe erotic art of classical antiquity reveals a diversity of attitudes toward sexuality:Idealized beauty and divine connection – Greek and Roman art celebrated the nude as an emblem of perfection.Religious and cosmic symbolism – Hindu and Daoist traditions saw sexuality as a path to spiritual enlightenment.Humor and satire – Roman and Japanese art often infused eroticism with wit and social commentary.While some traditions embraced erotic art as sacred, others saw it as a source of indulgence or controversy. The tension between openness and censorship would continue to shape erotic art in the centuries to come.The Warren Cup (1st century CE, Roman) A silver drinking cup featuring detailed homoerotic scenes, the Warren Cup provides insight into Roman attitudes toward male-male relationships. Hidden for centuries, it is now a key artifact in LGBTQ+ art history.Khajuraho Temple Reliefs (10th–11th century CE, India)These intricate sculptures depict a range of erotic acts, reinforcing the Hindu belief in sexuality as a divine force. Unlike Western art, which often separated the sacred from the sensual, Khajuraho integrates both seamlessly.The Frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries (1st Century BCE, Pompeii, Roman Empire)The Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii contains one of the most famous and enigmatic fresco cycles from ancient Rome. While not explicitly erotic, many scholars believe the images depict a Dionysian initiation ritual, potentially related to sacred sexuality and mystery cults. The frescoes feature semi-nude figures, suggestive interactions, and themes of divine ecstasy, linking sexuality to spiritual transformation. This example highlights how Romans often blended eroticism with religious and ritualistic themes rather than treating it as purely physical pleasure.Shunga by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806, Edo Period, Japan)Kitagawa Utamaro, one of the most celebrated ukiyo-e artists, created numerous Shunga (春画, "spring pictures"), which depicted intimate encounters with exquisite detail and elegance. His prints, such as Poem of the Pillow, emphasized the sensuality of touch, fabric, and movement, offering a refined and almost poetic take on erotic imagery. His work also often featured women's pleasure and agency, making it a significant contribution to the study of feminine desire in erotic art.#stencilart #originalart #investment art #blinkfrictionart #blinkfrictionfashion #reclaimart #reclaimfashion

CAS 11 - 18 - 2-2024 Tracy Hellman-Augustan Track/CC Coach and Shawn Flanagan-Lennox Football Coach by Calling All Sports

Acts 27 (NASB) 1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius. 2 And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica. 3 The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care. 4 From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary. 5 When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it. 7 When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone; 8 and with difficulty sailing past it we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. 9 When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them, 10 and said to them, "Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives." 11 But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. 12 Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there. 13 When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, close inshore. 14 But before very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called Euraquilo; 15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along. 16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship's boat under control. 17 After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along. 18 The next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, they began to jettison the cargo; 19 and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned. 21 When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, "Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. 22 Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, 24 saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.' 25 Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. 26 "But we must run aground on a certain island." 27 But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to surmise that they were approaching some land. 28 They took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak. 30 But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ...

Virgil's Eclogues are a fundamental text of Western literature that served as a model for the nascent poetry of the Augustan and later of the Imperial Age. Inspired by the bucolic poetry of Theocritus, the work uses the apparent simplicity of rural settings to explore complex elements of poetic, literary, philosophical, and even figurative culture, and to express the drama of civil war and expropriations.  In A Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues (Oxford UP, 2023), accompanied by a detailed introduction, Andrea Cucchiarelli analyses the Eclogues in depth, establishing comparisons with both Greek and Roman poetic models, with philosophical texts, and with significant later texts from the Roman poetic tradition. The commentary is the first to offer a systematic account of the poem in its historical context, between the end of the Republic and the Age of Augustus: particular attention is also paid to the language of the figurative arts, which for Roman readers constituted an important complement to literary knowledge of myths and stories. The volume offers the reader a reliable and concise interpretation of the text, which is systematically lemmatized and annotated throughout; each eclogue is additionally accompanied by an introductory overview and a detailed bibliography to direct further reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Virgil's Eclogues are a fundamental text of Western literature that served as a model for the nascent poetry of the Augustan and later of the Imperial Age. Inspired by the bucolic poetry of Theocritus, the work uses the apparent simplicity of rural settings to explore complex elements of poetic, literary, philosophical, and even figurative culture, and to express the drama of civil war and expropriations.  In A Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues (Oxford UP, 2023), accompanied by a detailed introduction, Andrea Cucchiarelli analyses the Eclogues in depth, establishing comparisons with both Greek and Roman poetic models, with philosophical texts, and with significant later texts from the Roman poetic tradition. The commentary is the first to offer a systematic account of the poem in its historical context, between the end of the Republic and the Age of Augustus: particular attention is also paid to the language of the figurative arts, which for Roman readers constituted an important complement to literary knowledge of myths and stories. The volume offers the reader a reliable and concise interpretation of the text, which is systematically lemmatized and annotated throughout; each eclogue is additionally accompanied by an introductory overview and a detailed bibliography to direct further reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thursday, 18 April 2024   And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. Acts 27:1   Much more literally, the words read, “And when our sailing away to Italy was decided, they delivered both Paul and certain others, prisoners, to a centurion by name Julius, of the Augustan cohort” (CG).   Chapter 26 ended with the words of Agrippa noting that if Paul had not appealed to Caesar, he could have been released. However, he did appeal, and so Chapter 27 begins with, “And when our sailing away to Italy was decided.”   The narrative includes the first-person pronoun “our.” This connects the account all the way back to Acts 21:17. What we can infer is that Luke was probably there with Paul the entire time that he was in Caesarea. He may have even used this time in the compilation of the Gospel of Luke.   As for the travel to Rome, how the decision to sail was made isn't explained. It could be that it was cheaper, quicker, safer, requiring less manpower, or for some other reason. Probably it was just the common way of delivering prisoners from this area as it was a seaport.   The fact that other prisoners were on board with him lends itself to the thought of traveling by ship. They could be more easily contained than going by land. The word apopleo is used here. It is from a compound word exactly meaning “sail away.” This is the fourth and last time it is seen. All have been in Acts in connection with Paul's travels. In preparation for this sailing away, it next says, “they delivered both Paul and certain others, prisoners.”   The word translated as “others” as in “certain others, prisoners” is heteros. It means “another of a different kind.” In other words, Paul is singled out from the rest. Translating this as “certain other prisoners” as the NKJV does, fails to provide any distinction. However, in saying “certain others, prisoners,” it helps the mind consider that there is, in fact, a distinction.   The choice of words used by Luke carries a note of his being conducted to Rome for a different reason than the others. His innocence has already been established, but his appeal made his appearance before Caesar a requirement, regardless of his innocence or guilt. Understanding that, it next says, “to a centurion by name Julius, of the Augustan cohort.”   In the Greek, Luke uses four nouns and an adjective – centurion name Julius cohort Augustan. Therefore, a bit of insertion needs to take place for clarity. Julius is introduced here, and he is noted as a centurion of the Augustan Regiment.   There is much dispute as to exactly what this regiment is. The Greek reads, speirēs Sebastēs, or the cohort of Sebastos.  Sebastos means venerated or august. It is a title of the Roman emperors. Thus, secondarily, it signifies Augustan, imperial. Albert Barnes gives his thought on this band, which is as logical and probable as any other view –   “It was a division in the Roman army consisting of from 400 to 600 men. This was called ‘Augustus' band' in honor of the Roman emperor Augustus, and was probably distinguished in some way for the care in enlisting or selecting them. The Augustine cohort or band is mentioned by Suetonius in his Life of Nero, 20.”   Life application: Bible study is something that doesn't just have to happen on Wednesday night at church. It can happen right in your own home each day as you pull out a commentary and read it along with the passage you are presently reading in the Bible.   As for Acts 27, there are 44 verses in the chapter. Following along for the next 44 days with this commentary will provide insights into the contents of the chapter, the original Greek context of various words, the intent of the author, the life of Paul as he heads to Rome – including getting lost at sea in a great storm and getting shipwreck on an island – and so much more. After that, Chapter 28 is comprised of just 31 more verses.   Be sure to spend the next 75 days with us as we search out the wonderful words of Scripture concerning the adventures of Paul as he shares the gospel to the Gentile world.   Lord God Almighty, what a wonderful gift Your word is. Thank You for the exciting details of people who have gone before and of stories of times past that lead us to a better understanding of Your great work of redemption as it is revealed in and through the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, Lord, thank You for this precious gift. Amen.

This week, Brad and Havird Usry, the dynamic father and son duo behind Fat Man's Hospitality Group join us. With a portfolio boasting iconic eateries like Sno Cap Drive-In, Fat Man's, The Southern Salad, and the soon-to-open Bradley's Barbecue, Brad and Havird share insights into their journey, from family legacy to community support. As a proud alumnus and avid supporter of Augusta University, Brad reveals their special bond with the institution, discussing their roles as advocates and champions for AU Athletics. But that's not all—tune in as we welcome Sarah Childers, Experience and Community Development Manager for Destination Augusta, who shares insider tips on Authentic Augusta Experiences every Augustan should savor. From local gems to JagPerks partnerships, discover the vibrant tapestry of Augusta's offerings, enriching both residents and visitors alike. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/inthewildpodcast/message

Llewelyn Morgan, author of Horace: A Very Short Introduction, joins EI's Paul Lay to explore the Augustan poet's vast and complex legacy. Image: Bust of Horace. Credit: Cum Okolo / Alamy Stock Photo 

On this day in 9 BC, the Altar of Peace was dedicated in Rome as a tribute to Caesar Augustus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The panel introduces one of the Graveyard Poets, Thomas Warton the Younger, and reads in full his most famous poem, "The Pleasures of Melancholy", with attention to how it prefigures the Romantics even as it remains part of the Augustan worldview.Continue reading

fWotD Episode 2414: Temple of Apollo Palatinus Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.The featured article for Thursday, 14 December 2023 is Temple of Apollo Palatinus.The Temple of Apollo Palatinus ('Palatine Apollo'), sometimes called the Temple of Actian Apollo, was a temple to the god Apollo in Rome, constructed on the Palatine Hill on the initiative of Augustus (known as "Octavian" until 27 BCE) between 36 and 28 BCE. It was the first temple to Apollo within the city's ceremonial boundaries and the second of four temples constructed by Augustus. According to tradition, the site for the temple was chosen when it was struck by lightning, which was interpreted as a divine portent. Augustan writers situated the temple next to Augustus's personal residence, which has been controversially identified as the structure known as the domus Augusti.The temple was closely associated with the victories of Augustus's forces at the battles of Naulochus and Actium, the latter of which was extensively memorialised through its decoration. The temple played an important role in Augustan propaganda and political ideology, in which it represented the restoration of Rome's 'golden age' and served as a signifier of Augustus's pietas (devotion to religious and political duty). It was used for the worship of Apollo and his sister Diana, as well as to store the prophetic Sibylline Books. Its precinct was used for diplomatic functions as well as for meetings of the Roman Senate, and contained the Portico of the Danaids, which included libraries of Greek and Latin literature considered among the most important in Rome.Augustan poets frequently mentioned and praised the temple in their works, often commenting on its lavish artistic decoration and statuary, which included three cult statues and other works by noted Greek artists of the archaic period and the fourth century BCE. These poets included Tibullus, Virgil and Horace, whose Carmen Saeculare was first performed at the temple on 3 June 17 BCE during the Secular Games. The Great Fire of Rome in 64 CE damaged the temple, but it was restored under the emperor Domitian (r. 81 – 96 CE). It was finally destroyed by another fire in 363 CE, which was rumoured to be an act of arson committed by Christians. The temple has been excavated and partially restored in various phases since the 1860s, though only partial remains survive and their documentation is incomplete. Modern assessments of the temple have variously treated it as an extravagant, Hellenising break with Roman tradition and as a conservative attempt to reassert the architectural and political values of the Roman Republic. It has been described by the archaeologist John Ward-Perkins as "one of the earliest and finest of the Augustan temples".This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:18 UTC on Thursday, 14 December 2023.For the full current version of the article, see Temple of Apollo Palatinus on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm Salli Neural.

Episode 81: If thine fruit is ripe, pluck it! And if thy root beer doth chill, sip it! This is the kind of Augustan era philosophizing you're going to get in this week's bodacious episode of idiom history sleuthing. Yahs, the fellas really go the whole nine yards with fascinating rivulets that include stacked white tires and the depth of a rich man's grave. So carpe diem and enter the world of Don't Be An Idiom.

Post-Augustan Poetry From Seneca to Juvenal

Today we bring you the last part of Vol. I of “Moral Letters to Lucilius” or “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca - in an audiobook/videobook with relaxing music, visuals, and captions to help you stay engaged. Letters from a Stoic playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wZrAjRwk7cuolfm0Dfs0J1AkvoChWFd And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks videobooks! #audiobook #philosophy #stoic #lofi About Seneca Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, usually known as Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. (Wikipedia) About Moral Letters to Lucillius / Letters from a Stoic "Moral Letters to Lucilius", also known as the Moral Epistles and Letters from a Stoic, is a collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote during his retirement, after he had worked for the Emperor Nero for more than ten years. Genre(s): Classics (Roman & Latin Antiquity), Philosophy, Stoicism Language: English Chapter List 00:00 Part 7 of Letters from a Stoic by Seneca 00:12 Letter 53: On the Faults of the Spirit 07:52 Letter 54: On Asthma and Death 12:22 Letter 55: On Vatia's Villa 20:06 Letter 56: On Quiet and Study 29:21 Letter 57: On the Trials of Travel 34:29 Letter 58: On Being 58:37 Letter 59: On Pleasure and Joy 1:11:35 Letter 60: On Harmful Prayers 1:14:13 Letter 61: On Meeting Death Cheerfully 1:16:36 Letter 62: On Good Company 1:18:34 Letter 63: On Grief for Lost Friends 1:27:43 Letter 64: On the Philosopher's Task 1:33:31 Letter 65: On the First Cause Make sure you leave a comment if you enjoy the content --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chillbooks/support

Today we bring you letters 40 to 52 from “Moral Letters to Lucilius” or “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca - in an audiobook/videobook with relaxing music, visuals, and captions to help you stay engaged. Letters from a Stoic playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wZrAjRwk7cuolfm0Dfs0J1AkvoChWFd And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks videobooks! #audiobook #philosophy #stoic #lofi About Seneca Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, usually known as Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. (Wikipedia) About Moral Letters to Lucillius / Letters from a Stoic "Moral Letters to Lucilius", also known as the Moral Epistles and Letters from a Stoic, is a collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote during his retirement, after he had worked for the Emperor Nero for more than ten years. Genre(s): Classics (Roman & Latin Antiquity), Philosophy, Stoicism Language: English Chapter List 00:00 Part 6 of Letters from a Stoic by Seneca 00:14 Letter 40: On the Proper Style for a Philosopher's 09:10 Letter 41: On the God within Us 15:23 Letter 42: On Values 21:20 Letter 43: On the Relativity of Fame 23:47 Letter 44: On Philosophy and Pedigrees 28:14 Letter 45: On Sophistical Argumentation 36:38 Letter 46: On a New Book by Lucilius 38:55 Letter 47: On Master and Slave 51:17 Letter 48: On Quibbling as Unworthy of the Philosopher 59:33 Letter 49: On the Shortness of Life 1:08:01 Letter 50: On our Blindness and its Cure 1:13:45 Letter 51: On Baiae and Morals 1:21:56 Letter 52: On Choosing our Teachers Make sure you leave a comment if you enjoy the content --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chillbooks/support

Lexman and Rob discuss the sound of Augustan poetry and Klootchmans, a bizarre Southern Dutch folkloric figure.

Acts 27:1-8 27 And when it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band. 2 And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail unto the places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea, […]

Cleopatra XII is one of the most famous individuals from the ancient world. The final Queen of Ancient Egypt, and a woman who used her position to directly influence Roman politics and society, there's more to her than Shakespeare plays would suggest. And while Cleopatra's story ended in tragedy, what about her children who survived? Cleopatra Selene, named after her mother, is a story lost to history - the true, final ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, what do we know about her today?In this episode Tristan is joined by Dr Jane Draycott from the University of Glasgow, to learn about the astonishing life of this other Cleopatra. Cleopatra Selene II grew up during the last days of Ancient Egypt, and in Rome during the first years of its new Empire. She would go on to rule as Queen of Numidia, Mauretania and finally Cyrenaica, becoming one of the most important women of the Augustan age. So what can we learn from Cleopatra Selene, and is it time she's recognised as a giant of the ancient world?The Senior Producer was Elena GuthrieThe Assistant Producer was Annie ColoeEdited by Aidan LonerganFor more Ancients content, subscribe to our Ancients newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we bring you letters 29 to 39 from “Moral Letters to Lucilius” or “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca - in an audiobook/videobook with relaxing music, visuals, and captions to help you stay engaged. Letters from a Stoic playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wZrAjRwk7cuolfm0Dfs0J1AkvoChWFd And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks videobooks! #audiobook #philosophy #stoic #lofi About Seneca ---------------------------------- Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, usually known as Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. (Wikipedia) About Moral Letters to Lucillius / Letters from a Stoic ---------------------------------- "Moral Letters to Lucilius", also known as the Moral Epistles and Letters from a Stoic, is a collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote during his retirement, after he had worked for the Emperor Nero for more than ten years. Genre(s): Classics (Roman & Latin Antiquity), Philosophy, Stoicism Language: English Chapter List ---------------------------------- 00:00 Letters from a Stoic by Seneca 00:12 Letter 29: On the critical condition of Marcellinus 06:14 Letter 30: On conquering the conqueror 14:51 Letter 31: On siren songs 20:47 Letter 32: On progress 23:31 Letter 33: On the futility of learning maxims 29:29 Letter 34: On a promising pupil 31:09 Letter 35: On the friendship of kindred minds 33:26 Letter 36: On the value of retirement 39:26 Letter 37: On allegiance to virtue 41:49 Letter 38: On quiet conversation 43:18 Letter 39: On noble aspirations - Do you like Chillbooks audiobooks? Let us know in the comments! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chillbooks/support

Egypt was a valuable province to Rome, with natural wealth and successful agriculture. Thanks to an arid climate there's also a number of preserved papyri from that era, providing modern scholarship with an invaluable paper-trail on the administration at the time. One papyri has led to the belief that Augustus confiscated lands of the Egyptian temples, and ultimately the decline of Egypt's religions. Andrew Connor is the author of Confiscation or Coexistence: Egyptian Temples in the Age of Augustus published by University of Michigan Press. Guest: Dr Andrew Connor (Lecturer, Centre for Ancient Cultures, Monash University)

Today we bring you letters 22 to 28 from “Moral Letters to Lucilius” or “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca -  in an audiobook/videobook with relaxing music, visuals, and captions to help you stay engaged. Letters 1 to 7: https://youtu.be/BoziWV8bwto Letters 8 to 14: https://youtu.be/L-QJRcfn_bw Letters 15 to 21: https://youtu.be/PJ2C1pt8MQI And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks videobooks! #audiobook #philosophy #stoic #lofi

Today we bring you letters 15 to 21 from “Moral Letters to Lucilius” or “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca - in an audiobook/videobook with relaxing music, visuals, and captions to help you stay engaged. Letters 1 to 7: https://youtu.be/BoziWV8bwto Letters 8 to 14: https://youtu.be/L-QJRcfn_bw And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks videobooks! #audiobook #philosophy #stoic #lofi

Today we bring you letters 8 to 14 from “Moral Letters to Lucilius” or “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca - in an audiobook/videobook with relaxing music, visuals, and captions to help you stay engaged. For letters 1 to 7: https://youtu.be/BoziWV8bwto And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks videobooks! #audiobook #philosophy #stoic #lofi

Today we bring you “Of A Happy life - De Vita Beata“ from “The Dialogues of Seneca'' - this book features a collection of quotes in audiobook format with relaxing music, visuals, and subtitles to help you stay engaged. And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks!

Today we bring you letters 1 to 7 from “Moral Letters to Lucilius” or “Letters from a Stoic” by Seneca - in an audiobook/videobook with relaxing music, visuals, and captions to help you stay engaged. And don't forget to like and subscribe for more Chillbooks videobooks! #audiobook #philosophy #stoic

Today: Rafi Salazar, an Augustan from one of our big Ms that we haven't had many episodes about: medicine. Rafi started his career as an ambitious PT and has now created a podcast, a book, and runs his own practice. We drop some serious healthcare knowledge and talk about how and why he does all of this right out of Augusta. Keep up with him & the Better Outcomes Media Family:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-better-outcomes-show/id1521529076 https://www.amazon.com/Better-Outcomes-Guide-Humanizing-Healthcare/dp/163742311X Presented By Nancy Powell Real Estate Broker @DowntownAugustaBroker (Nancy20201!)  DropTheDis Question Presented by Tranter Grey Media (TranterGrey.com)  Community Partners: TheClubhou.se at the Cyber Center & Augusta Podcasts, LLC. Also Featuring: @AllEqualParts, 2nd City Distilling & Durty Gurl Cocktail Mixers.  Music by C. Lark. Find him wherever you listen to music! Beer is Brought to You by Savannah River Brewery (Follow them on Facebook!) SavannahRiverBrew.Com  Want to Support the Show & Get Free Stuff & Cool, Unique Bonus Content? Check out our Patreon!  Learn More and Shop Merch @ AugustaPodcasts.com & Check Out Our Next Show @ AugustaRocks.com  Produced at Augusta Podcasts Studio

The guys are back in studio to talk some golf and there's lots of "Fairway Files" on this week's episode! JT starts things off with a recap from the "405 Classic," benefitting friends of the pod Betsy King and Kendall Dye's Golf Fore Africa as the YSO pod was serving as a sponsor! Next, the boys chop it up about Keeg's big win at the ZOZO in Japan, and make picks on whether Rickie Fowler or Vik Hovland win next on Tour. There's a little LIV talk (congrats, Brooksie), a Freddie Couples sighting, and a brief mention of the Masters (the Andalucian variety, not the Augustan).... We talk Big 12 Match Play down in Hockley, TX and try and figure out the pool play format but a big chunk of this pod is tootin' our own horns, as Scooter talks lifting the MGA Cup at the Greens, JT gets reinvigorated (yikes) for golf at Dornick with his new role on the Maxwell Society, and Keith says "aloha" to the studio as he's getting ready to board a plane and head to Hawaii to play golf for the next 10 days on the islands! And oh yeah, the CJ Cup at Congaree with a loaded field as well! All that and so much more on this week's YSO podcast!!! https://fantasysportsprose.com/ https://chalkokc.com/ https://golfforeafrica.org/ @ysogolf @sports_prose @ScottyG21 @DirtyBirdiesDFS @chalkokc

Paraklausithyron (Ancient Greek: παρακλαυσίθυρον) is a motif in Greek and especially Augustan love elegy, as well as in troubadour poetry.

With Antony distracted with developments in the east, Fulvia finds herself in the familiar position of advocating for her husband's interests. This escalated to a war with Octavian, the outcome of which would leave Fulvia isolated. Guest: Dr Rhiannon Evans (Associate Professor in Classics and Ancient History at La Trobe University). Content warning: There is rude Augustan poetry in this episode, as well as some rather insulting missiles. Please be advised. Emperors of Rome will celebrate its 200th episode with a live recording in Melbourne on October 4th. Get your free tickets!

Most of our information about Herod the Great derives from the accounts found in Josephus' Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. Together they constitute a unique resource on one of the most famous personalities of ancient history. But from where did Josephus get his information? It is commonly agreed that his primary source was Nicolaus of Damascus, Herod's court historian, though the extent to which Josephus adapted his material remains disputed.  Herod in History: Nicolaus of Damascus and the Augustan Context (Oxford UP, 2021) takes a modern, source-critical approach to Josephus' extensive account of Herod's reign to suggest that Josephus did indeed rely heavily on Nicolaus's work, but that previous scholarship was mistaken in seeing Nicolaus as a mere propagandist. Nicolaus may have begun his Universal History while Herod was alive, but he finished it after his death and so had no reason to write propaganda. This makes his work all the more interesting, for what we have instead is something rather different: a Syrian intellectual claiming a place in Augustan Rome, by telling a story about what the Augustan World looks like on the Eastern periphery. Kimberley Czajkowski and Benedikt Eckhardt delineate Nicolaus' approach to various critical topics in Herod's reign in order to reveal his perception of client kingship, the impact of empire, and the difficulties involved in ruling Judaea. This study uncovers an Eastern intellectual's view on how to succeed and how to fail in the new Augustan world order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Most of our information about Herod the Great derives from the accounts found in Josephus' Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. Together they constitute a unique resource on one of the most famous personalities of ancient history. But from where did Josephus get his information? It is commonly agreed that his primary source was Nicolaus of Damascus, Herod's court historian, though the extent to which Josephus adapted his material remains disputed.  Herod in History: Nicolaus of Damascus and the Augustan Context (Oxford UP, 2021) takes a modern, source-critical approach to Josephus' extensive account of Herod's reign to suggest that Josephus did indeed rely heavily on Nicolaus's work, but that previous scholarship was mistaken in seeing Nicolaus as a mere propagandist. Nicolaus may have begun his Universal History while Herod was alive, but he finished it after his death and so had no reason to write propaganda. This makes his work all the more interesting, for what we have instead is something rather different: a Syrian intellectual claiming a place in Augustan Rome, by telling a story about what the Augustan World looks like on the Eastern periphery. Kimberley Czajkowski and Benedikt Eckhardt delineate Nicolaus' approach to various critical topics in Herod's reign in order to reveal his perception of client kingship, the impact of empire, and the difficulties involved in ruling Judaea. This study uncovers an Eastern intellectual's view on how to succeed and how to fail in the new Augustan world order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Most of our information about Herod the Great derives from the accounts found in Josephus' Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. Together they constitute a unique resource on one of the most famous personalities of ancient history. But from where did Josephus get his information? It is commonly agreed that his primary source was Nicolaus of Damascus, Herod's court historian, though the extent to which Josephus adapted his material remains disputed.  Herod in History: Nicolaus of Damascus and the Augustan Context (Oxford UP, 2021) takes a modern, source-critical approach to Josephus' extensive account of Herod's reign to suggest that Josephus did indeed rely heavily on Nicolaus's work, but that previous scholarship was mistaken in seeing Nicolaus as a mere propagandist. Nicolaus may have begun his Universal History while Herod was alive, but he finished it after his death and so had no reason to write propaganda. This makes his work all the more interesting, for what we have instead is something rather different: a Syrian intellectual claiming a place in Augustan Rome, by telling a story about what the Augustan World looks like on the Eastern periphery. Kimberley Czajkowski and Benedikt Eckhardt delineate Nicolaus' approach to various critical topics in Herod's reign in order to reveal his perception of client kingship, the impact of empire, and the difficulties involved in ruling Judaea. This study uncovers an Eastern intellectual's view on how to succeed and how to fail in the new Augustan world order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Most of our information about Herod the Great derives from the accounts found in Josephus' Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. Together they constitute a unique resource on one of the most famous personalities of ancient history. But from where did Josephus get his information? It is commonly agreed that his primary source was Nicolaus of Damascus, Herod's court historian, though the extent to which Josephus adapted his material remains disputed.  Herod in History: Nicolaus of Damascus and the Augustan Context (Oxford UP, 2021) takes a modern, source-critical approach to Josephus' extensive account of Herod's reign to suggest that Josephus did indeed rely heavily on Nicolaus's work, but that previous scholarship was mistaken in seeing Nicolaus as a mere propagandist. Nicolaus may have begun his Universal History while Herod was alive, but he finished it after his death and so had no reason to write propaganda. This makes his work all the more interesting, for what we have instead is something rather different: a Syrian intellectual claiming a place in Augustan Rome, by telling a story about what the Augustan World looks like on the Eastern periphery. Kimberley Czajkowski and Benedikt Eckhardt delineate Nicolaus' approach to various critical topics in Herod's reign in order to reveal his perception of client kingship, the impact of empire, and the difficulties involved in ruling Judaea. This study uncovers an Eastern intellectual's view on how to succeed and how to fail in the new Augustan world order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

Most of our information about Herod the Great derives from the accounts found in Josephus' Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. Together they constitute a unique resource on one of the most famous personalities of ancient history. But from where did Josephus get his information? It is commonly agreed that his primary source was Nicolaus of Damascus, Herod's court historian, though the extent to which Josephus adapted his material remains disputed.  Herod in History: Nicolaus of Damascus and the Augustan Context (Oxford UP, 2021) takes a modern, source-critical approach to Josephus' extensive account of Herod's reign to suggest that Josephus did indeed rely heavily on Nicolaus's work, but that previous scholarship was mistaken in seeing Nicolaus as a mere propagandist. Nicolaus may have begun his Universal History while Herod was alive, but he finished it after his death and so had no reason to write propaganda. This makes his work all the more interesting, for what we have instead is something rather different: a Syrian intellectual claiming a place in Augustan Rome, by telling a story about what the Augustan World looks like on the Eastern periphery. Kimberley Czajkowski and Benedikt Eckhardt delineate Nicolaus' approach to various critical topics in Herod's reign in order to reveal his perception of client kingship, the impact of empire, and the difficulties involved in ruling Judaea. This study uncovers an Eastern intellectual's view on how to succeed and how to fail in the new Augustan world order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most of our information about Herod the Great derives from the accounts found in Josephus' Jewish War and Jewish Antiquities. Together they constitute a unique resource on one of the most famous personalities of ancient history. But from where did Josephus get his information? It is commonly agreed that his primary source was Nicolaus of Damascus, Herod's court historian, though the extent to which Josephus adapted his material remains disputed.  Herod in History: Nicolaus of Damascus and the Augustan Context (Oxford UP, 2021) takes a modern, source-critical approach to Josephus' extensive account of Herod's reign to suggest that Josephus did indeed rely heavily on Nicolaus's work, but that previous scholarship was mistaken in seeing Nicolaus as a mere propagandist. Nicolaus may have begun his Universal History while Herod was alive, but he finished it after his death and so had no reason to write propaganda. This makes his work all the more interesting, for what we have instead is something rather different: a Syrian intellectual claiming a place in Augustan Rome, by telling a story about what the Augustan World looks like on the Eastern periphery. Kimberley Czajkowski and Benedikt Eckhardt delineate Nicolaus' approach to various critical topics in Herod's reign in order to reveal his perception of client kingship, the impact of empire, and the difficulties involved in ruling Judaea. This study uncovers an Eastern intellectual's view on how to succeed and how to fail in the new Augustan world order.

“August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time." Sylvia Plath Paul and Mikey explore all things August, Augustan and even Augustine! But where did this month come from and how did we survive for so long without it?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Acts 27:1-44   SUPPORT - The Listener's Commentary is a CROWDFUNDED Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! We believe everyone should have access to the wisdom of Jesus and the Bible so we've chosen to give the Listener's Commentary away as a free resource, and that's possible because of people's generous support. You can become a Ministry Partner by donating at:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give     TEXT    Acts 27:1-44   27:1 Now when it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to turn Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustan cohort, named Julius. 2 And we boarded an Adramyttian ship that was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, and put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica. 3 The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care. 4 From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.5 When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it. 7 When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone; 8 and with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. 9 When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul startedadmonishing them, 10 saying to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” 11 But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul. 12 The harbor was not suitable for wintering, so the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there. 13 When a moderate south wind came up, thinking that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, closer to shore. 14 But before very long a violent wind, called Euraquilo, rushed down from the land; 15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up and let ourselves be driven by the wind. 16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship's boat under control only with difficulty. 17 After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and let themselves be driven along in this way. 18 The next day as we were being violently tossed by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo; 19 and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned. 21 When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from Crete, and thereby spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22 And yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I also serve, came to me, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has graciously granted you all those who are sailing with you.' 25 Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. 26 But we must run aground on a certain island.” 27 But when the fourteenth night came, as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were approaching some land. 28 And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be fifteen fathoms.29 Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak. 30 But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship's boat into the sea, on the pretense that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it fall away. 33 Until the day was about to dawn, Paul kept encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken in nothing. 34 Therefore, I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your survival, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.” 35 Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and he broke it and began to eat.36 All of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food. 37 We were 276 people on the ship in all. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship by throwing the wheat out into the sea. 39 Now when day came, they could not recognize the land; but they did notice a bay with a beach, and they resolved to run the ship onto it if they could. 40 And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and they hoisted the foresail to the wind and were heading for the beach. 41 But they struck a reef where two seas met and ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck firmly and remained immovable, while the stern started to break up due to the force of the waves. 42 The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; 43 but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from accomplishingtheir intention, and commanded that those who could swim were to jump overboard first and get to land, 44 and the rest were to follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.   SUBSCRIBE - to receive monthly Bible studies sent to your inbox, updates, and more resources subscribe at https://www.listenerscommentary.com     Want to get more out of your Bible reading? Free Resource: 7 Ways to Immediately Get More Out of the Bible:  https://www.johnwhittaker.net/seven-ways   MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net  

Episode 116p Retrieving the Real North African Church with Dr. David WilhiteDescription: Today is the last episode in our Summer of Scholars series. It lasted a bit more than just the summer, but it also started late in summer! Dr. David Wilhite, Ph.D., of Baylor University Truett Theological Seminary joins us today to talk about the Church of North Africa during antiquity. We have talked a lot about North African Christianity in this series, so I highly suggest you go back and listen to our episodes with Dr. David Eastman for more background and context. In this episode, Dr. Wilhite will lead us through a specific text and issue in the North African Church between the Donatists and the Catholic party about a generation before Augustine. It is a fascinating time and place in Church history. About Today's Guest:David Wilhite, Ph.d author of The True Church: Retrieving a North African Sermon on the Song of Songs and many other books.https://www.baylor.edu/truett/index.php?id=927830#wilhiteYou can learn more about the History of Papacy and subscribe at all these great places:http://atozhistorypage.com/https://www.historyofthepapacypodcast.comemail: steve@atozhistorypage.comhttps://www.patreon.com/historyofthepapacyparthenonpodcast.comBeyond the Big Screen:Beyondthebigscreen.comThe History of the Papacy on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6DO2leym3kizBHW0ZWl-nAGet Your History of the Papacy Podcast Products Here: https://www.atozhistorypage.com/productsHelp out the show by ordering these books from Amazon!https://amzn.com/w/1MUPNYEU65NTFMusic Provided by:"Danse Macabre" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Virtutes Instrumenti" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Virtutes Vocis" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Funeral March for Brass" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"String Impromptu Number 1" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Agnus Dei X - Bitter Suite Kevin MacLeaod (incomptech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Image Credits:By Ariely - Own work, CC BY 3.0, ttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4533576By Pam Brophy, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9124089By ACBahn - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33810833Begin Transcript:[00:00:00] Thank you for listening to the history of the papacy. I am your host, Stephen. We are a member of the Parthenon podcast network, including Scott ranks, history unplugged James earliest key battles of American history, Richard Lim's, this American president, and more go to Parthenon podcast.com to learn more.I'd like to quickly mention Patrion, of course, and your support really, really, really helps this whole operation keep going in. And I just love it. If you just consider two. Donate on patrion.com forward slash history of the papacy in the new year. There's four tiers, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Rome.You get inclusion on the history of the papacy diptychs bonus audio, video [00:01:00] content, and much more just head over to patrion.com forward slash history of the papacy to learn more. Now, let us commemorate the Patrion patrons on the history of the papacy. Diptychs we have Roberto Yoren, William Bryan, Jeffrey, Christina, and John and Sarah at the Alexandria level.We have Dapo Paul, Justin, and Launa all of whom are magnificent at Constantinople and reaching that ultimate power and prestige that of the sea of Rome. We have Peter the great. Today is the last episode. And our summer of scholar series, it lasted a bit more than just the summer, but it also started late in summer.So I'll take it that we got a little bit of a late ending too. But anyways, for today, we are interviewing a great scholar, Dr. David Wilhite of Baylor university's Truett, theological seminary to talk to us today about the church in north Africa, during antiquity, we've talked a lot about [00:02:00] the north African church in this series.So I highly suggest you go back and listen to our episodes with Dr. David Eastman and even go way, way back to the episode that I did on the north African church. And you can kind of explore. Not only my changing understanding of north African Christianity, but also some older scholarship and how the whole church and north Africa was viewed because really up until the seven hundreds, the history of Western Christianity was the church in north Africa.And I it's just endlessly fascinating. And I think you really can't understand Western Latin Christianity without understanding the north African church. Now for this episode, Dr. Wilhite will lead us through a specific text and issue in the north African church between the Donna tests and the Catholic party about a generation before Augustan.It is a [00:03:00] fascinating time and place in church history. And with that, here's the next piece of the mosaic of the history of the Pope's of Rome and Christian Church.I'd like to welcome our very special guests today, Dr. David Wilhite, Dr. Willhite is a professor of theology at Truet seminary at Baylor university in Waco. He's the author of numerous books, including Tertullian, the African and ancient African Christianity. The topic for today's episode is his book, the true church, retrieving north African sermon on the song of songs.This is a short and readable book on a really incredible, interesting topic. And I think people should definitely pick it up and I'm excited to talk about it because I think it gives the reader a really close look at all these things we've been kind of talking about with the African church, with the Donna tests and the Catholics that gives us a [00:04:00] more of a personal view of the topic, I think.But so I think to start off, what were the theoretical frameworks you use to study these sermons? Yeah. Well, thanks Stephen. It's an honor to be talking to you about all of this. Um, let's say the theoretical framework. So this really began as an, uh, a journal article that I wrote, and I would say I was using pretty traditional methodology just as far as, you know, kind of trying to reexamine texts, trying to sort of create a chronological order and see what assumptions have been, um, uh, made in the past by previous scholars and what assumptions probably need to be challenged.And then I sort of tested them against archeological remains and again, just sort of, sort of traditional, uh, historical sources. Now, the truth is what was really driving that research was a theoretical framework that I had used in my, in my doctorate, which was, um, in most general terms post-colonialism, uh, more specifically.[00:05:00] Adopted some of the, sort of, uh, from the, from the field of social anthropology, sort of how to get around some of the ethnocentric assumptions that we make. So again, and challenge those, you know, the assumptions of earlier historians, what, uh, what were people's identities, what identity politics, where I play things like that.Um, power dynamics with, with Roman colonization, um, Apollo that, so with post-colonial theory in particular, there's one author named Homi Bhabha who has a book called the location of culture. And he takes up this idea known as third space. And since, um, that's already widespread and post-colonial theory is sort of the helping people who inhabit the so-called third space.They're not necessarily colonizer nor colonize, like that's too binary. They live in this sort of hybrid world. So, so what are their identities in that space? And then with, with this project, I was actually. Examining concrete spaces, the silica buildings. And so that, that [00:06:00] I sort of dove back into that realm of what is third space.Um, there, there is a person named Edwards. So high, I think is how you say it. So Jake who has taken on, I mean, this, this way of thinking from Michael Miguel, Michelle Fuko, and others, and saying like, how do we understand actual inhabited places where people sit and interact, um, especially when they're sort of power dynamics and, uh, one view versus another view and what emerges out of that, it's this third space.So I used all of that, trying to narrow laser-focused that on, on this one particular text. So we look at the. This text, there's the two, the dueling sermons. You might call them. Who were these two people who were writing these sermons about this, this space? Yeah. So the, the sort of last texts to us is by Armenian of Carthage.He's the Bishop of Carthage after Donotos and Donald tests. Your listeners probably remember from the great Donald to schism, he's the sort of the Bishop that was at the head of all of that for [00:07:00] 40 years, 40 plus years. So when he finally dies Permian as his successor, and he's also a long-term because over 40 years, he's the Bishop of Carthage, even though he was exiled, he was the leader of his party.So he's hugely influential. Um, and he, we know that he gives a sermon or some sort of speech, um, when. Uh, the emperor Julian who's a history remembers as Julian, the apostate, because he was not gonna continue the line of Christianity like Constantine and the other Christian emperors. Julian allows the so-called pagans to come back and have their temples and shrines back.And that means that all of the, um, the, you know, the, the losing parties, the heretics, uh, of the early church. We've been ousted from their churches and their, their places, uh, we're allowed back. And so the donotist party had lost control in terms of the Imperial sanction, uh, after Constantine. But then when emperor, Julian allows the donotist to [00:08:00] reclaim their church buildings, their basilicas Armenian has this text that is celebrating that event.So that texts that says lost to us, fortunately, even though like most heretics, you know, once you become a heritage, your books are burned. Like most of the heretic sources are lost, but, uh, there's a

Join us this week with special guest, Tony Aaron Hambrick, the 31-year-old vocalist is a life-long Augustan,Ga native and is competing for a spot on this year's season of the hit TV show "The Voice."

In the third episode of Winds of the West, the Moroccan History Podcast, we meet one of the most important Roman client Kings of Antiquity: Juba II, who is remembered not only as a great king but also as an incredibly gifted scholar. Of Numidian origin, Juba II was raised as a Roman in the Augustan household before he became client King of Mauretania and married Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of the famous Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony.

Paul Millerd is a Curious Human & Solopreneur, Writer, Host of the Reimagine Work Podcast, Teacher at Strategy U, Independent Consultant and Adviser (for companies like VIVO, Wrangler, Russel Reynolds Associates, Good Jobs Associates among many others), and a Career Coach for people who carve their own paths beyond the default path. In his past life, Paul worked for companies like General Electric, McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and studied at the University of Connecticut and MIT. Links: Find Paul: think-boundless.com - the home for the creative and curious rebels carving their own path Join our community: forms.gle/3gmq2WahzJZZ9Bny9 We were recently featured in the top 10 Utopia Podcasts in Feedspot! Check it out here: blog.feedspot.com/utopia_podcasts/ Instagram/Twitter: @utopiaisnow Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 4:00 - Why did Paul leave BCG & McKinsey to live a Pathless Path? 8:05 - What path should you take in life? 11:43 - Management Consulting & what made Paul leave it? 16:30 - Paul coaches Shashwat over his career dilemma 20:33 - What do work & career REALLY mean? 30:59 - The false dichotomy of Work-Life Balance 33:58 - Traditional vs Unconventional Lifepaths 39:20 - How to embrace your weirdness and follow your heart? 46:15 - What does Paul's life look like right now? 49:58 - Philosophy of Life: Work vs Leisure 54:57 - Future of Work 58:06 - Bridging the gap between Education & Work 01:05:44 - How to find your life path? 01:09:47 - Do we owe any responsibility to our economy to continue traditional work? 01:11:48 - Paul's views on Utopias Mentioned in this Episode: Alan Watts was a British writer, speaker & philosopher Roman Krznaric is an Australian public philosopher Venkatesh Rao is an Indian-American author and consultant Peter Albert David Singer AC is an Australian moral philosopher John Rawls was an American political philosopher in the liberal tradition Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher David J. Deming is an American Economist and Professor Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature Ryan Bourne is a British Economist and Author who works at Cato Institute Credits Art Work: The Road Not Taken - Michael Cook Music Credits: A Journey Through The Universe – Lesion X --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/utopia-is-now/message

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston in our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Good morning, and welcome to Mosaic. My name is Jan. I'm one of the pastors here at mosaic. And if you knew, if you're visiting, we're so glad you're here. We'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card, either the one that you can get virtually online or in the app, or the physical one, you can get in the back. If you fill it out and then submit it, we'll be sure to get in touch with you over the course of the week. Happy Memorial Day weekend. It's not just a three-day weekend. It is an opportunity for us to pause and to remember those who have fallen in fighting for our freedom.So, here in the beginning, we're going to pray for our law enforcement officers, we're going to pray for the military and those who are in authority over them, as we're told to do in scripture, let us pray. Heavenly father, we thank you that you are a God who has created us and you have created the world with a design, and you've woven into the design the idea of authority, that you are Lord over everything, that you have in innate authority, and then you delegate authority to others. Scripture tells us that you delegate authority even to the government, the governing authorities, and as Romans 13 says, in order for them to further the good and curb the evil.So, we thank you for those who are in law enforcement, for those who do a great job, for those in the military, and for those who are in authority over them. I pray that you give them wisdom, protect them from the evil one. Protect their lives and guide them as they do their job. We remember, Lord, today, those who have fallen, and the families of the fallen, we pray that you minister to them. Lord, and as they represent giving a life for those who are closest to us, giving life for friends, that is the epitome of love, that's what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.Lord, we thank you for this nation. We thank you for the blessing that it is to gather as believers and a free assembly to read the holy scriptures, to read them and to meditate upon them, and to apply them to our lives. Lord, Jesus, we thank you that you submitted to the authority of the father, that you humbled yourself, became a servant and went to the cross, and you did that to forgive us, to provide for a way for us to be forgiven for our rebellion against your authority, our rebellion against your moral authority, where you tell us how we are to live, how are to love, and how we are to serve.Lord, bless our time in the holy scriptures. Show us the anti-example of Lot. Make us a people who are less like Lot and more like Abraham, people who believe and actually act on that belief instead of believing secretly in our hearts by allowing our lives to have nothing to do with the faith. Lord, bless our time in the holy scriptures. We pray for the Holy Spirit. We want more of it. Welcome Holy Spirit. We welcome you to this place. Teach us. We pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, amen.We're going through a sermon series through the book of Genesis that we are calling Jesus in Genesis. The title of the sermon today is don't grow comfortable with sin. Last week, we saw this incredible example of Abraham, father Abraham, who believes in God. And he knows that God is going to judge the wicked City of Sodom and Gomorrah. And he pleads with God. He intercedes on behalf of Sodom before God. A bright picture that points to Jesus Christ, and in chapter 19, we see just how wicked the City of Sodom was. And chapter 19, we get a vivid, raw, gritty account of the sinfulness of sin.It shows us how deep sin can get ingrained in a culture. We see a scene that's obscene, perverted. We see moral filth, pervasive debauchery. The big idea of the text is that we live in a sinful world, but we as Christians, as followers of God, we are to be in the world, not of the world. We are to be in the city of Boston would not allow the City of Boston into us, not allow the City of Boston to shape our worldview, to shape our values, to shape our idea of God, of gender, of sexuality, of what matters in life.Instead, we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds with the word of God. This is Romans 12:1-2, "I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God," which is a spiritual worship. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you made discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Don't be conformed to this world, in particular, what it says we can do with our bodies, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, with the word of God. Let the word of God shape what you do with your bodies, because your body is a sacrifice.Today, we're going to walk through the text, the narrative. It's a long text, but I will draw out five lessons or five signs of conformity to the world. As we read the text and look at these signs, we need to be asking ourselves, where am I conforming to the world? The first sign of conformity to the world is you have the same goals as the world. The second is there's a tolerance of sin. The third is you have no spiritual authority. Fourth is a hesitation to sacrifice, and the fifth is the desire to keep a little sin, just a little sin.Would you look at the text with me in Genesis 19:1-3. "The two angels," these are the two angels that came with Yahweh, with Jesus in bodily form in chapter 18. These two angels came to Sodom in the evening. "And lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, "My Lords, please turn aside to your servants house and spend the night and wash your feet, then you may rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No, we will spend the night in the town square.""But he pressed them strongly so they turned aside to him and entered his house, and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate." First thing we see is Lot is sitting at the gate of Sodom. By this time, he is one of the leading citizens of the city. The first sign of conformity to the world is you have the same goals as the world. Who is Lot? Lot is the nephew of Abraham. They were living in the Ur of the Chaldeans, a pagan nation, a pagan city, and God calls Abraham, speaks to Abraham, and said, "Abraham, you are mine. I love you. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to bless those who are with you. I'm going to give you a great name and a great nation will come of you. And from your son, there will be salvation to all the world."Lot hears this call and says, you know what? I want to be blessed as well. Goes with Abraham to Canaan, the land of Canaan. He paused in Haran, goes to the land of Canaan, and he lives with father Abraham. He is blessed with Abraham, so much so, they had flocks and they had herds and he needed more land, more real estate to feed them. So, he chooses the green pastures, the fertile valley right next to Sodom and Gomorrah. The story of Lot is the typical story of an immigrant boy, who grows up in poverty and then makes it big in the city.It's a story of rags to riches, poverty to power. At this point in the story, he's a chief magistrate in the city, sitting at the gate. They're making decisions influencing the politics of the city. However, he went to Sodom with one goal. He went to Sodom for the same reason other people went to Sodom. He went to Sodom for the same reason most people come to Boston. He came to make a career for himself. He came to make money. He came to enrich himself, not reach the city for God. He had a monetary mindset, not a missionary mindset.He didn't think about reaching people for God. He didn't think about making an altar to God. He didn't think about the word of God, influencing his neighbors to believe in God. No, he just wanted to make money. Chapter 13, he was drawn towards Sodom. He pitches his tent outside of the city. Chapter 14, we see that he is now in the city owns real estate within the city. By chapter 19, he's one of the most influential people in the city, but when it comes time to stand up for righteousness and stand against evil, because he has been thoroughly compromised, nobody listens to him, and his witness is ineffective.Like uncle Abraham, in the text, we see that Lot, too, was a hospitable man. Meets these angels, wants to bring them into his house. Same words are used. The fact that he bowed before them, the fact that he wanted to wash their feet, the fact that he created a great feast for them. Later on, we see in the text, he's doing this, not just because he's hospitable, he's doing this because he knows how corrupt the men of Sodom are. He's trying to protect these angels, these men from the men of Sodom.It would be as if you see angels descend upon Methadone Mile, and they plan on camping out Methadone Mile, and you say, "No, no, no, no, no. We know what happens here at night. No, you are coming with me." That's what's going on. That's why he pleads with them. He was hoping that they would spend the night and then slip out quietly in the morning. Why? Because of verse four. "Before they laid down," so they have this feast, then, "before they laid down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man surrounded the house." The text tells us that they were entirely corrupt.All of the men from young to old. So, you have nasty old men and you have prepubescent boys, who most likely were doing what the old men had taught them. The old men most likely molested through acts of pedophilia with the boys to allow them to live like this, to teach them to live like this. Sodom here shows us what the world looks like without God a city, where you're not safe to walk around at night, or else you might get raped. Genesis 19:5, "And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them." Not that we may get to know them. It's a euphemism for, we want to have sex with them."Bring them out so that we can, all of us from young to old, "rape these men, this fresh meat. We're going to rape them. We're going to gang rape them, Lot. Bring them out." We see the first sign of conformity to the world. Your goals are the same as everybody else and they begin to think that you are just like them and therefore your witness isn't powerful. Then sign two of conformity in the world is a tolerance of sin. A tolerance of sin.First of all, you need to know Lot, just by his connection to Abraham, does become a believer. He becomes a Christian. How do we know this? We know this from 2 Peter 2:4-8, where Peter, the apostle Peter calls him a righteous man twice, "Where if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. If he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, the herald of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes. He condemned them to extinction making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly."He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the central conduct of the wicked. For as that righteous man lived among them day after day. He was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard. His soul was tormented because of the sensuality in the evil of the city. His witness meant nothing. Jesus Christ told his disciples, "Hey, go into a town, go into a village and preach the gospel there. If people get saved, tremendous. If they don't get saved, if no one responds to the preaching of the gospel, you walk out of that city, you dust off your sandals of that city and you keep going."Instead, Lot, first of all, he didn't preach the gospel. He didn't preach God's word. And second of all, he was fine living there. His soul was vexed, but not enough to leave the prosperity, to leave the status, to leave the influence, to leave the money. Here we see that he tries to fight back a little bit. Verse six, Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. He calls them his brothers. You're my brothers, you're my friends. He's known them for over a decade and he knows what goes on in the city. And he says, do not act so wickedly.What is this wicked, what they were about to do? Were the intentions of the heart? Yes. On what grounds? On what grounds is this wicked? Just because Lot said so? That's why they pushed back. They were like, who are you? You've lived there for over a decade. You're the mayor of the town and you've never said anything prior to this moment, who are you? But what he does next is just unbelievably, and it shows us how far he's gone in tolerating sin, and he has. He's tolerated the sin. Most likely, he had the mindset of honestly, who am I to tell them that this is wrong?Love is love. They're adults, consenting adults. They can do whatever they want. I have my own faith, that's my private faith. I'm not going to tell them that what they believe is actually evil. So, he comes up with a plan, verse eight, "Behold, I have two daughters," This is just disgusting. "I have two daughters who have not known any man. They're virgins. Let me bring them out to you and do to them as you please, only do nothing to these men for they have come under the shelter of my roof." You want to rape angels, let's not do that. Instead, here's my virgin daughters, raped them instead. That's what's happening.In his mind, hospitality was more sacred than the chastity of his daughters who, by the way, are also under his roof, who, by the way, also deserve his protection for him. This is where a tolerance of sin warps your worldview so much, where you get to the point where your moral compass is just so way off that you have no idea what is good and what is evil. Yeah, he had a sacred obligation to hospitality, but he had a sacred obligation to protecting his daughters. Why didn't he say, hey guys, let's not rape anybody.Let's not do that. Let's not rape angels, let's not rape my daughters. He doesn't do that. And we see the incredible contrast between Abraham, the patriarch and Lot here, who does not have the backbone, the spine to say, I am responsible for my ... I'm responsible for my own walk with God to submit to his authority. I'm responsible for my wife. I'm responsible for the faith of my daughters. By God's grace, I have four daughters. And my job as a father is to pastor them in the faith, to raise them up in the Lord, to teach them to fear the Lord and love the Lord, to pastor them, to protect them, to protect them. I will protect them. I will protect them to the death, and I will teach them to protect their selves. I will teach them to fight and I will teach them to shoot pepper spray and a gun.Why? Because I know there are people in the world that wants to destroy them. That's my job. As a father, I am to protect. We see Abraham who has a son, Isaac, and he cares so much for Isaac's faith and Isaac's family, that he doesn't let Isaac get married to a woman of Canaan. He said, "I don't want you to marry this woman." That's why he waits until age 40 to allow Isaac to get married. He would say, no, no, no. You're going to marry a godly woman. He sends a servant to go find a godly woman and Rebecca, and they finally they get married.Lot could not be bothered to do that. Not only did he not protect his daughters, but he allowed them to marry, to be engaged to Sodom men, men of Sodom who wanted nothing to do with God. We see, in Lot, a very pathetic man. Verse nine, "But they said, "Stand back." And they said, "This fellow came to sojourn and he has become the judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then he pressed hard against the man, Lot, and drew near to break the door down." What's fascinating is, even the most viciously, evil of people are highly sensitive to judgment.They feel like he's judging them for ... They called this thing that they were about to do wicked. Don't do this wicked thing. They called it fun. He calls it wicked. What they're saying is, who are you to judge us? Honestly, who was he to judge them? He's lived a decade in the city, has never raised a word about the wickedness of the city. Who are you to judge us? Only God can judge us, and God will. All Lot is proposing is they not rape his guests, but they take offense at the implication that he's morally superior.That's how far gone the society is. Verse 10, "But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door, and they struck with blindness the men who were at the entrance of the house, both small and great so that they wore themselves out by groping for the door." Now we see that the angels, that these people aren't just regular people. They are angels. They have supernatural powers. They blind these people to show how blind they were spiritually, now they're blind physically, and even blinded physically, what are they doing? They're still driven by their lust, groping for the door.It just show that it's like a zombie apocalypse where these people are so far gone in following the lusts of their hearts, the lust of their flesh, that even being blinded doesn't stop them from trying to do what they had in mind. Verse 12, "Then the men said to Lot, "Have you," the men, the angels, "have you anyone else here, sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city? Bring them out of the place for we are about to destroy this place because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord and the Lord has sent us to destroy it."In the previous chapter, God, knowing the weakness of the city still extends mercy to them by sending the angels down. The angels are messengers. They're messengers that unless you turn from sin, you will be punished. And instead of listening to the messengers, they try to rape the messengers, and now it's beyond doubt Sodom has to be destroyed. So, sign number two of conformity to the world's a tolerance to sin. We see that Lot just lived there and he tolerated sin, tolerated his own sin, tolerate the sin of his wife, of his daughters, of these people.Sign number three of conformity to the world is you have no spiritual authority, especially with those who know you best. When you speak on matters of spiritual things, matters about morality, matters from the word of God, do people listen to you or do they mock? Do they joke? Genesis 19:14, "So, lot went out and said to his sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters, "Up. Get out of this place for the Lord is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting. They thought he was joking.Because this is the first this time they'd ever heard him speak seriously, soberly on matters of spiritual things. They think he's joking. The Lord is going to destroy this place and they think he is joking, impending judgment. Lot, sleep it off. We'll talk about it in the morning. He has zero spiritual influence over the men that he was going to allow to marry his daughter. Zero spiritual influence. Compare that with Abraham, compare Lot's spiritual influence and Abraham's spiritual influence. God goes to Abraham and says, "Abraham, I'm going to make a covenant with you. The sign of the covenant is going to be circumcision. So, you need to circumcise yourself at age 90 plus, and you need it to circumcise the other 318 men in your household."So, he gets that word from the Lord, circumcises himself, and goes to the men in his household and says, "Gentlemen, I have a word from God." "Oh yeah, what's that word, Abraham?" "God said that he loves us and that we are to love him back, and the way that we're going to do that is circumcising ourselves." "Oh, Abraham, what does circumcision entail? And he shows, and the 318 men do it. They do it. The spiritual authority of this man who led by example, how do you get spiritual authority? How do you grow in spiritual authority? By submitting to the authority of God.The more you submit your life, the more you submit the pattern of your life to the authority of God, the more authority you have to speak to others, that this is the way of God, this is the will of God. Lot has no spiritual authority because he didn't obey God, he didn't submit himself to God. This is why the other men are like, who are you to judge us? You're just like us, bro. You're the mayor of the town. You've allowed this to happen. He has no spiritual authority over these sons. By the way, the sons-in-law, why should they listen to him? He had just offered these guys' fiances to a gang of rapist.Of course, they're not going to listen to him. He's accommodated his lifestyle to life of Sodom. Sign number four of conformity to the world is a hesitation of sacrifice. To follow the Lord, you are the sacrifice. Jesus Christ tells us, if you are to follow me, you need to take up your cross daily and follow me. So, we are to say yes to Jesus. By saying yes to Jesus, there are things that we have to turn our back on. Genesis 19:15, "As morning dawned," first of all, he waited all night. The angels told them, judgment is coming, flee now. He waits all night. Oh, we need to get rest. We need to wake up, have a nice breakfast, little protein to be ready to run from the judgment. And he waits.It shows that he has no desire to leave his flocks and his herds and his real estate and his influence. He lingers. "As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up, take your wife and your daughters who are here, lest you be swept away the punishment of the city," but he lingered. But he lingered. I wonder if there's areas of life where you know exactly what God's will is, and you're lingering in sin because you know it's a sacrifice to leave sin. Lot is saved. He's saved. He's barely saved. He's one of those people who's saved, but he's not happy about it.It's like the guy who gets saved freshman year in college, like the summer before freshman year in college. He's like, ah, why'd you save me now? God save me when I'm 26 and I want to get married and start a family, save me then. That's when I'm going to go and find a nice Christian girl in church. But until then, I don't want to be saved. Lot's that guy. He's not happy about it. And he's lingering, lingering and sin, because to say no to sin, to say no to the comfort of a sinful lifestyle, man, that's painful.He lingered. So, the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, and the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. Lingered, he was so attached to Sodom. Wouldn't leave. With destruction looming, it just comes down to the angels pulling him out, physically pulling him out. Why? Because he didn't want to make the sacrifice of losing everything he had been working for. Why did he hesitate? In the words of Jesus, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Sign number five of conformity to the world is desire to keep a little sin, just a little sin. "As they brought them out, one said, "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley, escape to the hills lest you be swept away." And Lot said to them, "Oh no, my Lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I can not escape to the hills lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there, is it not a little one? And my life will be saved."He said to them, "Behold, I grant you this favor also that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Escape there quickly for, I can do nothing until you arrive. Therefore, the name of that city was Zoar." This is just absurd. They're physically pulling him out and they say, "Go into the hills, go live in the woods, away from this perverse people and perverse cities and towns." And he says, "Oh no, oh no, no, thank you." And he says, "I can't live out in the woods in the hills. I'm a city boy. I need access to a Starbucks. I need a walkability rating of at least 9.1." I need museums, I'm a man of culture. No, I cannot go. I want to go to a city, a little city.""Yeah, the city was supposed to get over thrown just what the others, but have mercy on this little ... It's a little city." God's like, get out of Vegas. And he's like, can I go to Reno instead? They don't have big strip, but they have little strip clubs. Can I go there? That's what's going on here. You see just the absurdity of a man, disaster is looming, judgment is coming, and he's bickering and bartering with the angels who've come to save him. At the most dangerous moment of his life, he's still thinking about worldly comfort. It's like a Christian saying, God, okay, you've saved me, all right I'll go to church. I'll go to church once in a while or I'll go to church on a Sunday, but the rest of the week is mine.I'll tithe, I'll give you 10%, but I get to do whatever I want with the other 90. You can't call me generosity. Okay, I'll read my Bible once in a while, but I just need to keep a little ... The things you call us to, sexual purity, to not even be named among you, to not look at a person lustfully with your eyes. God, you're being extreme. I need a little sin, just a little sin. That's what's going on. Verse 23, "The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar, then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground."The instrument of the structure in here is probably an earthquake that then releases the heat, and the gas is especially a sulfur that were in the ground. But the narrative combines the ultimate cause was the Lord, but the instrumental cause that was burning sulfur by heat from below, or maybe lightning from above and the word for Lord here is Yahweh. It's the same word that's used for when there was three men that came to Abraham, two angels and Yahweh in human form, Jesus. This is Jesus judging Sodom and Gomorrah. I wonder if that changes your view of Jesus.A lot of people think of Jesus like Mr. Rogers, really nice. He's here to help you in life. He'll give you a good word of advice. He'll bless you when you ask for it, he will heal you when you ask for it, but he never tells you no, and he certainly won't judge. Oh, that's starkly different from the Jesus of scripture who does judge and will judge. He does judge here with the sword and he will judge with a flaming sword when he comes back. In the middle, while we're alive, we still have hope. Hope to turn from sin and to turn to him.That's what was going on with the angel saying, don't look back, don't look back. You need to turn from that city, turn from everything you love that was sinful in that city and that's what repentance is. When we talk about repentance, it's not just saying, Jesus, I'm sorry. Repentance is actually leaving your sin. Stop sinning. I trust in Jesus. I repent of sin. I leave the sin. Lot did that. His wife didn't. In verse 26, "But Lot's wife behind him look back and she became a pillar of salt." We don't know much this woman. We know that Lot married her. We're not sure the timeline when.Scripture says when he left Ur of the Chaldeans, it's clear that Abraham had a wife, Sarah. Lot's wife isn't mentioned, most likely, it's because he wasn't yet married. She's not named here just like her daughters aren't named, because she most likely doesn't deserve to be named, to be remembered. Most likely she's not a believer and she was just a woman of Sodom. Most likely he married her only because she was good looking. He didn't care about her character. He didn't care if she was a believer, he didn't care if she submitted her life, God, and she looks back.They weren't supposed to simply flee for their lives, they were supposed to leave the city behind, drop their pasts with any desire to touch it. Again, and she's looking back, not just out of curiosity, but out of longing, and she gets judged, not for looking, but for longing, for wistfully wishing for what must be left behind. She loved the city. She loved the people of the city. Most likely her relatives, most likely her dad and her granddad and her uncles and her brothers were in this insatiable crowd of rapists.But it was just fun. It's okay. It was our lifestyle. That's fine. She longed to be back there. She felt more comfortable in that town without God than with God outside the town. Her identification with Sodom, her unwillingness to leave the place explains the behavior of her daughters in the next episode. Young men, single men, Proverbs 31:30 is for you, "Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." When trying to decide whom to marry, the number one priority isn't physical beauty. The number one priority is she love God, that she fear God, will she submit to God in his word?Husbands, this is our job, is to ourselves, grow in the fear of the Lord and teach our wives. Lead our wives in fearing God and loving him. Single ladies, that's what you need to be focusing on, cultivating fear of the Lord. That's to be praised. I remember when I was figuring out whom to marry back in the day, coming up on year 15 of our university in this next week. I just knew. I knew this is just basic wisdom. I knew that daughters are influenced by mothers. I wanted to marry a woman, and if God gave us daughters, I wanted my daughters to be like her.By God's grace, we have four daughters. Praise God. They love God, most of them, three of them, definitely. The fourth, I'm not sure she's a little degenerate. She takes more after me than after her mom, but we're working on her. We're working on her. But that's how you need to be thinking about marriage in terms of generations and faith and legacy, etc. Genesis 19:27-28, "And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley. He looked, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace."Chapter proceeding this one, Abraham beg God, prayed to God, interceding on behalf of Sodom, please, God, save it. And God chose not to. God chose to save Lot and his two daughters. He didn't the city, poured out judgment upon the city. And we, as children of God, need to be like Abraham. And when we see judgment poured out on people who deserve it, we have to say, God is good, and because God is good, he is just. A lot of people push back and say, I can't believe in a God that would punish and a God who meets out justice like this. Really? Really?God doesn't punish evil, then God is not good, and if he's not good, he's not worthy of being worshiped. The reason hell exists and the reason judging exists is because God is good and because God is loving. Here, we need to take a little excursus. I'm done with my five signs, by the way. So, if you're like, oh, are we still on sign number five? I'm done with those. Little excursus here. Question, why did God punish Sodom and Gomorrah? Why did he do it? Why did he do it? Well, the three major prophets, they comment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Ezekiel 16:49-50, "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor in needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me, so I removed them when I saw it."A lot of liberal theologians will look at this text and they look at Sodom and Gomorrah and say, Sodom and Gomorrah got punished because of their inhospitality. I push back, like in hospitality, they want to rape the angels. They want to rape the guests. That's isn't hospitality, so that's just wrong. Then they go to this text and they're like, hey, it's because they weren't generous to the poor. That's the main reason. No, that's a secondary reason. They were generous to the poor because they lived for themselves. They lived for themselves, why? Because they were selfish? Why were they selfish? Because they were full of pride.And those are the bookends in this text. Yeah, they had food. They were prosperous, etc. They didn't care for the poor, But it was because of pride. A pride that says, I am my own. I get to do whatever I want with my life. I am God of my own life. There is no God over me. That's the pride. The pride that says, if I accumulate enough power, enough money, I can do whatever I want against those who are weaker or not as rich. It's a pride that's proud of itself. It's a pride that has hashtags and parades and flags by sin.The hypersexuality sexual sin, it's an outworking of the pride, the pride that says, I am God. I don't need anyone to tell me what to do and how to live. Isaiah 3:8-9 says, "For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence, for the look on their faces bears witness against them." They proclaim their sin, like Sodom, they do not hide it. Woe to them for they have brought evil on themselves. Proud of the sin. That's the issue.When society, openly practices sinful sexual behavior and actually promotes it and actually says, this is good, promotes any kind of sexuality that you can think of. That shows a society that's away from God. Scripture teaches clearly that the only sexual activity that God allows is between one man and one woman in heterosexual marriage making a covenant for life. Fornication is a sin, adultery is a sin, pedophilia is a sin, homosexuality is a sin. And when a society openly practices and accepts specifically homosexuality, it's a sign that God has given that society over to degrading passions, and it's the final stages of corruption with judgment looming.Look at Romans 1:26 and 27. "For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves due penalty of their error." Christian, does this text, does this teaching make you feel uncomfortable? If so, perhaps you've grown too comfortable with the sin around you, and perhaps you are conformed to it.If you're not a Christian, let's just reason together real quick. Is it okay to gang rape angels? I think we can all agree, it's not okay. Is it okay to gang rape humans? I think we can all agree, it's not okay. Is it okay to gang rape an individual? No. Is it okay to rape an individual? No, it's not okay. Is it okay to allow your daughter's be gang raped by a hoard of men. Is that okay? No, no, no, no. Why? Because we are not animals. We're not animals. We're created in the image of God, and that God, the creator of the universe tells us what is okay and what isn't okay.For the same reason, you can't just say, oh, what matters is consent? As long as there's consent, then that's okay. No, there's no consent from God. And if there isn't a consent from God, then it is sin. We as Christians, we need to know that God of the universe has authority over our life.. the other thing I will mention about this text is, it shows us like the end, the most egregious end of the spectrum of sexual sin. But Where does it start? Where does it start? It starts in the heart. And Jesus said, whoever looks upon another human being with lustful intent in their heart has already committed sexual sin.Yeah, this has to do with every single one of us. Dear Christian, do you entertain sinful sexual thoughts in your heart? Do you look at porn? Sex ed in public schools, they teach you, this is healthy. Enjoy yourself. No, it's wrong, and it's sinful, and it grows, and it continues to grow. A ship in the water is perfectly right. Water in the ship is not. What this is saying is a Christian is in the world, but we can not be of the world. We can't let the world in. We can't let Sodom in. Jeremiah 23 also comments on this text, "But in the prophets of Jerusalem, I've seen a horrible thing." He's talking to prophets. He's talking to the teachers of the people of God."I've seen a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evil doors so that no one turns from his evil. All of them have become like Sodom to me and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. He's talking to believers who have pastors, who themselves, and not just entertain, they commit sexual sin and they strengthen the hands of those who do it. This is most of the churches in our city, in our very Sodom esque city, where priests and pastors get up, and instead of a cross, they got a rainbow flag outside, and they said, love is love however you define it, as long as it's consensual for now, and as long as with an adult for now. We'll see where that goes.God calls it out. And then he calls it out because these people haven't submitted their lives to the authority of God's word. Genesis 19:29. "So, it was, when God destroyed the cities and the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived." A lot of people say, if God is like this, if God is a judge like this, I can't believe in a God like that. And what a warped logic that is. No, you should be saying, if God is like this, God is judge and I deserve his judgment. I need to run to him. I need to believe in him. I need to ask for mercy and for forgiveness to be saved.We're given the impression here that Lot was saved only thanks to Abraham's intercession. What's most fascinating about this account is that Lot is a Christian, and how absolutely unimpressive of a Christian he is. He's the worst I can ... I think I can say this. He's the worst Christian who's ever lived. The absolute worst. He's the guy, like he is the guy in heaven who's as close to hell as possible. He's that guy. He's there and he's like, I have no idea why I'm here. He's probably doesn't even want to be there, and he's only there because God chose to save him because of Abraham's pleading.Yes, he was a man of faith, kind of, yes, he saw how wicked the City of Sodom was. His soul was vexed, but not vexed enough to leave. He sought to protect his guests from the evil, but he wanted to do it in a very evil way, a more evil way. And we see that Lot, the problem with law is just how half-hearted he was. Knew the truth, but never lived it out. Tried to straddle the fence between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the evil one, and that's the most uncomfortable seat in the house. We see no determination. Abraham was a patriarch. He took responsibility for himself.When he sinned, he repented. Yes, he committed sin. He had a child out of wedlock. He committed a sin, but he took responsibility for this, and he repented, he turned to God. He took responsibility for his wife, for teaching his children how to follow God. He was a patriarch. And that's what a patriarch does, sacrifices himself for the benefit of his beloved. Beloved wife, beloved children, beloved city, beloved church. That's what a patriarch does. Lot is not a patriarch. Lot is a soytriarch. He does not have the spine, the backbone to say, "God, this is your word. Whatever the sacrifice is, I'm going to follow it." Doesn't take responsibility for himself, for his wife, for his daughters. If Abraham is the father of the faithful, Lot is the father of all who are barely saved. Scarcely saved.So, friend, are you saved, first of all, do you trust in Jesus Christ? Did you repent of sin? And are you surely saved or scarcely saved? Lot was saved by the skin of his teeth hesitating as he's being dragged out of Sodom by force as death reigns on the city. And what a sad sight. You see Lot dickering with the angels just moments before the death of his neighborhood of his neighbors, in the judgment of his wife. Yeah. He was saved. His wife wasn't. His daughters weren't, his neighbors weren't, his friends weren't. He called these men brothers. They all end up in hell because he had no influence. And he had no influence because he himself didn't really believe, not enough to actually obey.Would things have ended differently if he moved quickly, if he had done precisely as he was told, if he had showed the proper deference to the angels, if he exhibited proper fear of the judgment that is to come, if he had set an example for his wife and his daughters, of strong faith, of prompt obedience? Perhaps his wife wouldn't have looked back. Perhaps his daughters wouldn't have raped him as we read in the text after. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 talks about these different levels. Yeah, everyone's saved by grace through faith, but what do we do with that salvation? There's different levels of the faith.Verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 3, "For no one can lay foundation other than that, which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Building a metaphor, Jesus is the foundation. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, this right here is the materials of a building, and he's saying, Jesus is the foundation, what materials are you using to build the house of your faith? Do you give God the absolute best that you have, the gold silver, precious stones, or the leftovers? That's the wood, hay, and the straw."Each one's work will become manifest for the day, the day of judgment will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone is built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." Question, dear Christian is, what materials are you building with? The best of what you got or the leftovers of what you have, and I wonder if St. Paul had lot in mind with verse 14, "Save, but only as through fire."It's possibly pulled out of the rubbish heap just in the Nick of time, but you'll end up singed, stripped of everything, traumatized by the severe discipline of the law of the Lord. It's tragic, and what's more tragic is that he lost his family. The same idea's in Amos, Amos 4:11. I overthrew some of you as, when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you are, as a brand plucked out of the burning yet you did not return to me declares the Lord. Brand plucked out, it's a stick that's so near to the fire. It's charred, but not reduced to ashes just yet because you got pulled out. Lot lived a comfortable life for a long time.Green grass, fat cattle, position of influence. Even when Kings came from the north and took him captive and uncle Abraham saved him, and he goes back to Saddam. After a while, he becomes like the men of Sodom. Lot is the father of all the people whose righteous souls are vexed, but they do nothing about the vexation, and lots of luscious green pastures are laid to waste. And the entire valley five cities turned into one of the most arid lifeless deserts in all of the earth. That's where a life of compromise ends, but that's not really the ending, the ending is even more hopeless.Genesis 19:30, "Now, Lot went out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar, so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. He asked the angels, can I go to Zoar, goes to Zoar, and now he's afraid to live here. They don't know why. Most likely it's because people of Zoar knew that because of lot and the God of LOt destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We don't know why he leaves, he goes to live in a cave. The question is, why didn't he go back to his uncle? Why didn't go back to uncle Abraham?The only answer that comes to mind is pride. He didn't want to go back to his uncle with nothing. Uncle, I need your help again. So, he goes and he lives in a cave with his daughters. Then we see one of the most sorted tales of deceit and incest in the scriptures. Verse 31, "And the firstborn said to the younger, "Our father's old and there's not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of all the earth. Come let us make our father drink wine and we will lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father.""So, they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she laid down or when she arose. The next day, the firstborn said to the younger "Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also, then you go in and lie with him that we may preserve offspring from our father." So, they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him," and he did not know when she laid down or when she arose, thus, both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father." The first born bore a son and called his name, Moab. He's the father of Moabites to this day. The younger also bore a son and called him Ben-ammi, he's the father of Ammonites to this day."The daughters aren't named most likely, because this is an act of censure on the narrative's part. They don't deserve to be remembered. You can take a family out of Sodom, but we see here that you can't take Sodom out of a family, out of Lot, out of his daughters. They had absorbed the ethics of Sodom. He did not shield his daughters from a godless worldview, where they were sexualized at a young age. He didn't shield them from that, and then with their perversed mind, they concoct this plan, to his credit, he would not have said yes to this plan unless he was intoxicated. That's why they got him drunk.To his discredit, bro, why are you getting blackout drunk with your daughters? Why are you getting blackout drunk to begin with? I remember in high school, everybody knew, probably every public high school they have this family, where it's like, the family is like, my kids are going to party, they should do under my supervision. I'm going to open up my house and buy the keg. I had people in my high school like that. My parents would never do that. I had a curfew at 9:30. Praise God. Apparently this was a thing. Apparently this was normal, they're like, let's do it tonight. They do it. Then the next night they're like, let's do it again. And he's like, okay. Apparently, this was part of the whole culture of that city.The substance abuse, where you get so intoxicated that you lose complete control of yourself, get blackout drunk and do the things that your flesh completely wants to do. There's a connection between this. There's a connection between intoxication and debauchery, sexual debauchery. There's a connection, where people drink so much, they want to do these simple things, but they know their conscience is not allowing them to do it so they drink enough to mute the conscience, and that's what's going on here. Totally passive in this affair, just like usual, pathetic, pathetic waste of life. Man, the guy who had offered his daughters to a gang of rapists now, unbeknownst to him impregnates them himself. He was not good to his daughters.You think they forgot that moment where he offered them up. They did not. He was not good to his daughters because he didn't want the best for his daughters. Fathers, you got to be good to your daughters. By being good to your daughters means wanting the best for them, which is to love the Lord, walk in the ways of the Lord, to care for them to care about the chastity of their sexuality, to care about their virginity. That's that's our job, gentlemen. And daughters, be grateful when your dad tells you put on more clothes. Be grateful when your dad buys you pepper spray, and be grateful when your dad teaches you to shoot and fight, a little jujitsu, a little boxing, be grateful. Say thank you, dad. Thank you. The other thing that you just got to see from this text is that sin grows. It does.It's restless. It's ever reaching for more. It's never satisfied with mere in your life. It wants to damage the lives of everyone around you. We see a Lot, he chose to go down to the valley. He kept going down and down and down and down until we see him at last with two pregnant daughters living in a cave and his wife as a widower, having watched his wife die of divine judgment, finds himself in poverty with two sons, whom he had sired by his own daughters and his sons don't know whether to call him grandpa or daddy. Pathetic, pathetic ending to the story. It starts out with a flock so large, needed more real estate, ends up as a Lord of a hole in the rock on a dirt floor, destitute, disgraced, pathetic shadow of a man he had once been.Scripture says, God will not be mocked, whatever you sow, that you shall reap. Are you sowing to the flesh or are you sowing to the spirit? Satan's too clever to show you everything that happens when you sin. A thought is sowed, a deed is reaped, and you sow further deeds and you reap habits, and you sow habits and you reap a character, reap a pattern of life and attitude. Augustan said that sin becomes the punishment of sin. When you want sin, when you pursue sin, God gives you up to that sin and you reap even more sin. The warning of the text is be afraid of sin. The greatest thing to fear in sinning, isn't just what happens immediately after you sin. The greatest fear is that you get put on a trajectory that pulls you away from God.So, we ought to run from sin and we ought to mortify sin. We are to make war against a sin. From Abraham, who walked with God and obedience, would come most of what is lastingly good and lovely in this world. From lot would come to pagan deprave nations who would appear and then a few centuries later disappear. Some of the wives of Solomon lead him astray. They were Ammonite women. Their religion was so debauched that Deuteronomy 23:3 says, "No Ammonite or mole by may enter the assembly of the Lord even to the 10th generation." None of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever. So, where's Jesus in this text, in this hopeless texts, the story of a hopeless man, an antihero, where is Jesus Christ?Well, it's fascinating that one of his daughters, the nation led to the Moabites, can't even enter the house of God, the house of worship. The Moabites, that's how wicked they were. God said, you can't even go to church. Until we hear a story of another Moabite, a Moabitess, in the book of Ruth, Ruth was a Moabite, and Ruth meets Yahweh, meets Jesus Christ. When Ruth's husband dies, she goes with her mother-in-law back to Jerusalem. She serves here, she cares for her, and she meets Boaz, a godly man, and they get married, and God blesses their wedding, and they have children. God blesses their child so much so that Ruth becomes the great, great, great grandmother of Jesus Christ, that God takes this bloodline, this wicked ancestor's bloodline that comes from a wicked pathetic man, barely saved, and God brings Jesus Christ out of that.Then Jesus Christ lives the perfect life, goes to the cross and bears the fire and brimstone, the wrath of God, the judgment of God on the cross in order to be able to offer us forgiveness. He bought himself the justice of God so that when we repent of sin, we can be forgiven, even a pathetic sinful man like Lot, he could be forgiven because of the justification by grace through faith because of the work of Christ in the cross. So, if there's hope for that guy, there's hope for every single one of us.Turn from sin and turn to Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, and then by grace through faith, by the power of the Spirit, let us follow Jesus so we don't end up like this man. And close of this, Luke 17:28-33, the words of Jesus Christ, "Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom and fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all, so will it be on the day when the son of man is revealed.""On that day, let the one who is on the house top with his goods in the house not come down to take them away, and likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife, whoever seeks to preserve his life, will lose it. And whoever loses his life, will keep it." Let us pray. Lord, Jesus, we thank you for your grace and we thank you for this text, the sordid story of sin to teach us to never grow comfortable with sin. We thank you, Jesus, that because of your sacrifice in the cross, whatever we've done, no matter how perverse, no matter how wicked, you're willing to forgive and extend mercy if we just turn from sin and turn to you.By the part of the spirit, make us a people go who can to war against our sin on a daily basis against our pride. We humble ourselves before you, and we ask for grace, and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

In this episode, Alex and Daniel dig deep to share Augusta brands that do it well.You'll learn about what it takes to have a solid brand hook, brand look, and what get's their audiences shook!We'll take a look at three iconic Augustan brands that have the founders of Wier/Stewart craving for more.Need a Branding Buddy? Check out some of our favorite projects!https://www.wierstewart.com/work

In this special episode devoted to even more on the queen of Carthage, Dido, Liv teams up with Genn and Jenny of Ancient History Fangirl for a rundown of why Rome "needed" so much Augustan propaganda, and what that means for the real Carthage and the mythological Dido. There's drunken elephants, loathing of Julius Caesar, gossip about Augustus's family, Cleopatra, Ovid, and of course, Dido.CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing.To listen to more of Genn and Jenny, subscribe to Ancient History Fangirl wherever you get your podcasts! ancienthistoryfangirl.comAttributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Audio Transcript:You're listening to audio from Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly father, we thank you that you are a God who came down. You did not leave us in our sin, you did not leave us in our fall, you didn't leave us in our darkness, but you sent your son, Jesus Christ who came through the incarnation. Jesus, fully God, fully man. You came and the eternal broke into the temporal, the infinite broke into the finite and Lord you came to save us because there's nothing that we can do to save ourself and we thank you that salvation, true salvation monergistic.You're the one who starts our salvation, you're the one who sustains our salvation, you're the one who ultimately secures our salvation. We thank you that you do that by the power of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we thank you for anointing us for those of us who are Christians. And for those who are not, I pray today, Lord, regenerate hearts, turn on the lights, anoint and separate those who are in darkness and transfer them to kingdom of your beloved son.And Lord, show us that along with the truth, along with the salvation that God, you create, sane comes and offers us a counterfeit that's often so tempting, but it's false. And I pray that you make us a people who are discerning, who have a critical mind, who have skepticism when it comes to figuring out if something's true, if something is not. And I pray that you strengthen our trust and faith in the ultimate authority, which is the Holy scriptures, which are self-authenticating along with the Holy Spirit.I pray, bless our time in the Holy scriptures and I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Fake news. You've heard that term bantered around in the last few years, probably a lot more than in the past. And it has to do with spin, it has to do with pushing a narrative or an agenda from the different media outlets. So we as discerning people, we've learned to develop a critical mindset. We've learned to check the sources, we've learned to examine evidence and see who else is reporting the story, look for images or videos that are doctored.We know that not everybody is just giving us straight truth, it always comes from their particular perspective. If that is true with information about politics, information about the economy, information about what's going on in the world, it's even more true when it comes to spiritual reality, spiritual information. And that's why the apostle John writes this epistle to these young Christians.He calls them children. As a father in the faith, he writes to them and he gives them this epistle, this incredible letter inspired by the Holy Spirit so they know that they know the truth. So that they know that they have eternal life. We're in the series that we're calling Meno, M-E-N... In the Greek, it looks like a V, but that's an N. And the W is an O sound, Meno. It means to abide, to remain, to be connected to, and it has to do with our relationship with God.That if you are a Christian, you abide in Christ, you abide in the Holy Spirit, you abide in the scripture, you abide in the church. And John is writing this letter today, in our text today where we're in particularly talking about the topic of the antichrist. The topic of the antichrists, plural as well. And when we hear the word, perhaps you've heard it, if you've grown up in the church and even if you haven't, you probably heard about this shadowy figure that's coming.Many of us that think it's a political figure or someone who wields all kinds of influence and what John wants us to know is that the antichrist isn't just a person of physical power or a person of political power, it's a person of ideological power. And he comes and the power is found in the ideas, ideas have consequences, spiritual ideas have consequences. And what the antichrist ultimately does and what the antichrist today do is present a false gospel.God creates the gospel, the good news, Satan counterfeits that gospel and makes it pretty good news, mediocre news, an okay news, spiritual fake news. And the consequences of believing the spiritual fake news is significantly higher than just misinformation. The stakes are so much higher than just being misinformed or misinformation. The stakes are condemnation or eternal damnation. Our eternal souls are at stake and the enemy is an enemy of our soul, is like a roaring lion seeking to devour those who are with Christ, seeking to devour those who want to know about Christ, saying praise on the praying.That's what first John is all about. We must develop biblical discernment, we must remain vigilant. So today we are in first John chapter two verses 18 through 27, would you look at the text with me? Children, it is the last hour and as you have heard, the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy one and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ, this is the antichrist he who denies the father and the son. No one who denies the son has the father, whoever confesses of the son has the father also.Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you if what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you two will abide in the son and in the father. And this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you for the anointing that you have received from him abides in you. And you have no need that anyone should teach you, but as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie just as he has taught you, abide in him.This is the reading of God's Holy and narrative fallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. The title of the sermon is also the first point of our three points, which are: beware the lies of the antichrist, confess the truth of the Holy one and abide in spirit, scripture and church. First, beware the lies of the antichrist. In verse 18 he addresses them as children. He's a spiritual father.He loves them and he longs the best for them so he teaches them the truth. He says it is the last hour. And that's an interesting phrase that a lot of people misinterpret. The phrase, the last hour, talks about a span of time from Jesus's first coming to a second coming from the ascension of Jesus going up to heaven sit at the right throne of God, the father to intercede for our sins to the return. And he is coming back. Since John has written these words, 2000 years have elapsed. So what does it mean the last time?Well, from God's perspective, there is no time. From God's perspective, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. Why doesn't Jesus come sooner? Well, the reason why and the apostle Peter says that God is patient, that God is loving, that God wishes all to repent. If he comes now, those who have not repented, have not accepted God's free gift of grace, at that moment and when he comes, now he comes not as a savior, but as Lord and as judge.So God is waiting for everyone to repent of those who are called to repent. And the apostle Peter tells us that the day of the Lord will come and it'll come abruptly like a thief in the night, and the heavens will pass away with a roar. No one knows when this period will come, but he tells us that the last hour is here in order to instill in us a sense of urgency that Jesus may come at any single moment. A lot of people say, "You know what? I'll go to church later on after I have some fun in my life. I'll go to church when I have kids, and then I'll bring them up in the faith," and et cetera, et cetera.What if Jesus comes today? What if you die today? There's no guarantee. Not one of us is guaranteed tomorrow. So Jesus says in Mark 13:33, "Be on guard, keep awake for you do not know when the time will come." And he says, "We know it is the last hour." He says, why? Because the antichrist is coming and the antichrist have already come. So first of all, he is the only apostle who uses the term antichrist. He uses it five times in this epistle, once in second John.And this refers to the figure that is coming, the figure who will be used by Satan in the end times. Daniel seven talks about this person, the antichrist as the horn. Revelation 13 talks about the beast and second Thessalonians to Saint Paul says, this is the man of lawlessness. The coming of the lawless one is by activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders. Who is this evil future leader?Many Christians throughout church history have pointed to specific people and said, "That's the one." Christians in the first century said, "Nero. Clearly it's Nero." Other Christians during the reformation, Calvin and Luther would point to the popes. Clearly it's the popes. Other times they would point to political figures, Hitler for obvious reasons. Some people said Obama, some people say Trump, some people say Putin, whoever. Some people said Mikhail Gorbachev because he had a birthmark on his forehead. Clearly the mark of the beast. Who knows? We know. We have no idea.John isn't talking about the physical qualifications, the physical characteristics of the antichrist. What he wants us is to develop a sixth sense, spiritually speaking, for what the lies of the evil one will sound like. He wants us to know that the antichrist will come with ideas that are anti Christ, not just antichrist. And the word here for antichrist in the Greek, that prefix means in opposition to. So the one who will come will come opposed to Christ but also means instead of, and that's what John wants to focus on.He wants to focus on the antichrist who have come now and they're presenting a different Christ, and they're antichrist because they're presenting a Christ instead of the true one. And this is the main surprise of the text. That these antichrist have come from within the church, not from outside. They're not political figures, they're not economical figures. They're coming from within their spiritual figures, perhaps pastors or elders.Saint Paul warned the church in Ephesians verse 30, from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. These are people who present a gospel that sounds mostly true. And the most insidious lies are mostly true, there's just a little that's off. And that's exactly what they're doing. We have a deeper secret, we have a deeper knowledge. We have a special anointing follow us, and they appeal not to the scriptures, not to the apostles, not to the historic Orthodox faith. They appeal to themselves, to something subjective.And the surprise here is that Satan operates in the realm of religion and spirituality. Second Corinthians 11:14 to 15, and no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, their end will correspond to their deeds. So the apostle wants Christians to develop the sense where they know that's the sermon, where they know what's true and what's false and be able to say, "That's true, that's false."And we as Christians, we need to dwell this ability and be able to say it, have the strength and courage, the audacity to say it. Mormonism is not true, Jehovah's Witness, not true. Unitarian Universalism, not true. Islam, not true. Judaism, not true. And I know how that sounds because I've heard done in the first service, I understand the unease that we feel. Why do we feel that unease? The apostle of love looks at the false teachers and says they're liars. They're anti-Christ.The apostle of love that seems so unloving, he says, "No, what's unloving is actually calling darkness light and a lie the truth." That's what's unloving. And it says in first John 2:21, I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. You know this truth. He's not writing to inform them of the truth. He's writing to confirm them in the truth. You know and the truth is self authenticating. The Holy Spirit within you confirms that this is true.Verse 26, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. And this is how the enemy works, sows confusion. So here we need to pause and say which theological issues are you talking about John? Which theological issues are so clearly essential that schism is preferred to compromise? What are the close hand issues we're not budging here, and what are the open hand issues?When it comes to the methods of gospel dissemination, when it comes to the method of music, when it comes to the method of how we do church, we can budge there. We can contextualize when it comes to the message, John says the message of who is Jesus Christ that cannot change? Augustan said, inessentials' unity and non-essentials' liberty in all things love. I love that quote. But what are the essentials? And John would say, "Well, who is Jesus?" What did these teachers say about Christ?And he says, "They deny the son. They deny that he's the Christ, that he is the Messiah, that he's fully God, fully man, that he came, lived the perfect life, but he died a death that we deserve. And on the cross through his atoning death, through his propitiation, we have access into the presence of God. He died, he was buried, and then he was resurrected on the third day." Who was Jesus? What did he come to do? What did he teach? And if you deny that, he says that is antichrist. That's a false Christ.And in our culture, and part of the reason why we have such a hard time of calling the truth the truth and calling a lie a lie when it comes to spirituality is because spirituality has been relegated to the realm of preference and feeling. If I feel that a spiritual truth is true, then it's true. So we put on our glasses, our goggles of feelings, and we interpret facts or reality through our feelings. And Saint John says that's not how it works.When we talk about spiritual truth, he says you know the truth. It's an absolute truth. We need to put on the goggles of this truth and then interpret reality through that. You can sincerely believe something about God and you can be sincerely wrong and it has real consequences. This has to do with reality just like gravity is part of reality, just like laws are part of the earth. You can sincerely believe that you don't have to pay taxes because you're a libertarian. You can be sincerely wrong and sincerely spend time in prison.You can get on route 90 and think you're going East, but you're actually going West and you go through all the tolls you end up in Albany, New York and all of a sudden you're sincerely wrong, you're going to turn around and the whole trip is going to cost you over $50 because we live in Taxachusetts. You're sincerely wrong. One of my daughters, she shall remain nameless. Yesterday when it was snowing, my wife and all my daughters, we have four daughters, so it's hard to watch all of them.And they went outside and one of my daughters decided it's a good idea because she saw this in the cartoon to... she walks up with a fire hydrant and she sticks her tongue on it. And my other daughter saw that and she's like, "You're just joking around." She runs up to her and tackles her tongue. The top layer gone, blood everywhere. And I was like, "Why did you do that?" She said, "I saw that in a cartoon and I was experimenting to see if it were true." It's like, "Why not just ask me? I'll teach you in the ways of the truth of sticking your tongue on metal objects when it's cold."There's consequences to folly, there's consequences to breaking spiritual realities. And that's why John is so categorical, it's clear cut. He's making these incredible statements that are so countered to our culture because we've been brainwashed with relativism and pluralism. John's saying theology, if you get it wrong about the person of God, it's not just defective, it's diabolical.And what these antichrist came teaching, they said, "We have this new knowledge from God and we have the special anointing from God. And what God taught us is that Jesus was not God. Jesus was a human born as a human, died as a human, and there was some kind of spiritual, godly, divine emanation upon him for a little while during his ministry and then he was gone." And the reason why they pushed this narrative is because they couldn't believe that God cares about what we do with our bodies, about the physical realm.So let's just focus on the spiritual realm. I'll pray, I'll sing to God, I'll read the scriptures. I'm going to live my physical life any way I want. I'll do whatever I want with my physical time, with my physical body, with my sexuality, with my finances, with my job, with my relationships, that has nothing to do with my faith. And that right there, that is a tempting, tempting worldview. And by the way he writes this.If the apostle John showed up in Boston, Massachusetts today in 2020, over 90% of the churches in Boston he would go into and say, "These churches are run by antichrist. Not just an opposition of Christ, you're presenting a false Christ. It's a different Christ." Was he fully God? Was he fully man? Did he come as Lord, telling us what to do, not just with our spirits and our souls, but also with our bodies?And as soon as you begin to redefine who Christ was, you begin to redefine the God had, now there is no Trinity. Now what Christ did on the cross wasn't just die for our sins, bearing the wrath of God to save us from eternal damnation, a place called hell, now Jesus just came to show us what love is, to show us how to live our lives, to teach us morality. As soon as you redefine who Jesus is, you invariably redefine what Jesus did and you change everything. You alter reality.So at the heart of what John is saying is what do these teachers teach about Christ? And that's what we need to say. What are they appealing to? Are they appealing to the scriptures? Are they appealing to subjective philosophy, subjective experience? Point two is confess the truth of the Holy one. That's the way we beware. That's why we stay away. Our vigilant against counterfeit gospels as we stay true to the created gossip, God's gospel.And he used the word anointing here in verse 20, 21, 26, 27, I'll read those, but he used the word anointed, which is an interesting word. In the Greek it's chrisma. Remember that as C-H-R-I-S, chrisma, anointing. And if you come from some denominations in Christianity, like Baptist church or Presbyterian churches, you probably never heard about anointing. You're like, "No. Anointing, that's strange."If you come from other denominations like Pentecostal denominations or Charismatic denomination, they talk about anointing all the time. Every single day, you're being anointed, this anointing and that anointing. This might be new to you. The apostle talks about anointing. Well, what does he say about it? In verse 20 he says, but you have been anointed by the Holy one. You all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth. That's an interesting connection.Christians had been anointed by the Holy one and that leads to truth, knowledge of the truth, confirmation in the truth. Verse 26, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you, but the anointing that you received from him abides in you and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie and just as he has taught you, abide in him. Same connection.Holy one, anoints and you know the truth. You're confirmed in the truth. What is this language of anointing? It comes from the old Testament where fine olive oil was rubbed, poured from a horn or vessel upon a thing or a person that was separated by God for special work. You're separated with this anointing. So the most common reference is that of kings, kings were anointed. Saul was anointed, King David is anointed, Solomon was anointed. The high priest was anointed.Aaron and his sons were anointed, the prophets were anointed. Sometimes objects were anointed like Jacob anoints a pillar in Genesis 28. And the word is Chrisma. It's the same root word that's used in Christos, Jesus Christ. What does that mean? A lot of people think that Jesus is his first name, Christ is his last name. My daughter asked me recently, "What was Joseph's and Mary's last name?" I said, "Christ," and she's like, "That makes sense." I was like, "No. Bad theology."That's what a lot of people think. Christos is a title for Messiah, and what Messiah means in the Hebrew is the anointed one. Jesus Christ is Jesus the anointed one. Was he anointed with olive oil? No. He was anointed by the Holy Spirit. In Luke he says, the spirit of the Lord has come upon me and because he has anointed me... In Acts the apostle say, God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Hebrew says that God anointed you with the oil of gladness talking about the Holy Spirit.So when he says that you Christians have been anointed with the Holy one, you've been anointed with the Holy Spirit, in the same way that Jesus Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit. In second Corinthians 1:21 through 22, and it is God who establishes us with you and Christ and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Why are you telling me all this?Because the false teachers came in and they said, "Stop listening to the apostles. We've got a special word. We got a word from God." How do we know you have a word from God? Because I am anointed. How do we know that you're anointed? Just listen to me. Don't read that book, listen to this book. Does this happen today? Yeah, all the time. There's plenty of false teachers out there, and I can give you names who espoused false gospels.They have nothing to do with the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and then when people ask, "How do we know this is true?" I've been anointed. I've been anointed to preach this gospel, to espouse this gospel. So we as Christians, we need to be discerning. Okay, what are you appealing to by anointing? Now we've all been anointed. That's what John is saying. Every single Christian has been anointed by the Holy Spirit. We are Christoi, Jesus is Christus.He's the anointed one, and we are anointed ones. The antichrist comes and he opposes the anointed one. The antichrists, plural, come and they oppose the anointed ones, us. And it has to do with seeing Christ for whom he is. You're anointed by the Holy Spirit to see and know the truth. There's a story about a blind man, a person who was blind, born blind, and Jesus heals him in the gospel of John chapter nine. And it says that Jesus anointed him, and now he saw.And Revelation talks about spiritual anointing, that Jesus comes, anoints our eyes with the spiritual balm, and now we see true spiritual reality. So how do you know you've been anointed? John says, "You know that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Fully God, fully man. You believe that he has come in the flesh. You believe in what he taught, you believe that he died for your sins, was buried and rose for your forgiveness."How do you know that's true? Because of the anointing. How do you know you've been anointed? Because you know it's true. This is the miracle of salvation. The miracle of salvation is that God comes down to save. John focuses on this, focuses on the gospel and he says, "This is what Satan wants to attack because this is the sum of the gospel. Who is Jesus? What did he come? God came to save. Jesus came to save. The son of man came to save and seek that which is lost."And by the way, I don't know if you have ever thought about this. Why on all of our materials do we say that our values at the church are loved? Jesus, simple. Why don't we say love God, simple? Why don't we say love Trinity simple? We say love Jesus, simple. Because this right here is the test of true Christianity. If you move away from Boston and you're like, "I'm looking for a church," what does that church believe about Jesus Christ?If you remove the truth about Jesus Christ, you talk about God in general, creator in general, the blesser in general, you get something that's far removed from Christianity. So John says, this is the sum. This is the total. This is what separates Christianity from everything else, from every other religion. Every other religion is our attempt to get to God, Islam and Buddhism and Judaism, all of them. This is what we do to get to God.Christianity comes and says, "You can't do anything until you get the God. Only God can save us. God comes down." I had a roommate in college who was Jewish and we lived together for three years actually. So he kind of practiced. So he identified as not Jewish but Jew-ish. So there'll be some things that he would do, not other things. But one of the things that he was kind of pretty good at was eating kosher. And that's how he grew up eating.He was kosher all the time, except for when we order pepperoni pizza. All of a sudden his kosher laws were out the window and kosher laws don't allow you to eat meat and dairy products. So pepperoni pizza, that's a big no-no. So he would devour his pepperoni pizza. And I was like, "Hey man, how do you reconcile this with your beliefs about kosher eating?" And he's like, "I don't think God's a stickler for the details." Much to be said there.But there is hundreds of laws, are incredibly detailed. Unlike all the other kosher laws, I think he cares about the details. If you study biology, if you study the atom, if you study a cell, if you study DNA, there's detail, God is in the D... And I think that's the way a lot of people approach God. It's like, "I'm going to try really hard and then God's going to give me this fudge factor and get me into heaven and I'm good." Christianity says no.And by the way, I totally, totally relate and sympathize with the slackers, the spiritual slackers. In every single one of us, we have a spiritual slacker streak where it's like, "You know what? I'll be good this day. Today I'm going to take it out." And Christianity says, "You know why? Because we are not good. We are not basically good. There is a sinful nature to every single one of us. We can't do anything to reach God."Christopher Hitchens said, if God wanted man to live up to his standards, "he should have taken more care to invent a different species." I think that's how... How can God demand this from me? Love God with all my heart, soul, strength, mind, love my neighbor as myself, perfection, righteousness. How can God demand that from me when I can't do it in and of myself? Well, if you start wrestling with that question, you begin to understand the bad news.The bad news is that we are sinners, that we cannot save ourselves. There's nothing that we can do to make ourselves righteous with God. We are helpless, we're spiritually bankrupt, morally bankrupt and we need the Holy Spirit to save us. We need God to save us. And this is what Christianity comes in and says, it doesn't matter how hard you try, you can't reach God. And even if you're Holy today, and righteous today, that's not enough to atone for past sins. So God had to become a man. God had to come down. God had to come to save us.And Jesus Christ came and he paid a debt that he did not owe because we owe a debt that we cannot pay. Jesus came to pay a debt that he did not owe because we owe a debt that we cannot pay and that's the debt of our sin. So Jesus comes, he pays it all and he offers us grace. C.S. Lewis said, Christ offers us something for nothing. He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consisting accepting that very remarkable offer.If you're not a Christian, what is keeping you from accepting forgiveness? What is keeping you today from accepting God's grace? Give him your sin, your guilt, your shame, and accept his grace. It's the only thing that can save us. And this is why John is so adamant about this. We can't budge on the gospel. By the way, this confession changes everything. It changes the way that we live our lives and it changes the way that we view death.If you believe that Jesus Christ came and he lived and he died and he rose from the dead, if you really believe that Jesus Christ in his body, in his work defeated death, and the death of Christ was a death of death. If you believe it, it changes your perspective on death, the thing that haunts every single one of us. And I don't know if you think about death, you should. And we're not guaranteed another day. And this is the spirit of this text, he says, "We live in the last hour."My wife and I, we talk about death actually pretty often because she's Ukrainian and there's a negative streak, like a dark... And she's like, "Are you afraid of death?" And we have this conversation. Honestly, the only thing when I think about death, the only thing I'm worried, I'd hate to leave. I'd hate to die before her, I'd hate to not see my daughters grow up and see there... I'd hate that part. But I know in my heart of hearts that the very moment I die, I don't die, I just pass from this life to the next.And it absolutely changes the way that you live your life. I'll just give you one example, and this is true example by a guy named Jeff Struecker. He wrote this book called “Road to Unafraid,” and the movie Black Hawk Down is based on his life. And he's a believer and he was sent to Somalia. And in Somalia this guy comes to power named Mohamed Farrah Aidid. And he starts killing UN workers sent into Somalia to provide food for the starving population during the famine. And as he's killing those rangers are sent in to seize him, to arrest him.And as the helicopters come in over his base, one of the soldiers who's repelling down, he slips on the rope and he falls 70 feet and the helicopter is getting shot at, so they fly away. And so this guy, Jeff Struecker is commanded to go in and save the soldier who fell. They go in and they're being shot at and they were ambushed and they finally get the guy, they bring them out, there's one casualty. And as they were leaving, the helicopters got shot down.So he comes back to base and that base is told, "You got to go back again." And at that moment he says this, this is where he writes. He says, "God, I'm going to die tonight. That's what I thought." He said, "I didn't know what to do or say. And I did what many Christians do in this situation. I prayed to God. God saved me. I need your help. I'm in over my head." And then he said, "I pictured Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane praying, Lord, let this cup pass from me."And then he says, "Then I remembered what Jesus said next. Not my will, but yours be done." And he says, "At that moment I realized something I had known since I'd become a Christian, as a Christian, no matter what happens to me in this life, if I live or die, I'm firmly in God's hands. My wife Donna just written to tell me that she was pregnant. I thought I'd never see her again or hold my child. If by some miracle of God I survived the situation, I would go home to my family. And as a Christian I also knew if I died, I'd go home to heaven and be with my savior.So no matter what, no matter what happens to me tonight, I'm going home. I'm going to be safe, I thought." In the face of death, I don't know if you've ever been a situation in the face of death. This is where if you don't have a true foundation anchor for your soul, what do you do? And this is what John says. I want you to know that you have eternal life. I want you to know, and this is the first John 2:25, this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life.It's promised. You don't earn it, he gives it to you. You just need to accept it. So Struecker goes back and he saves half of the troops and then they drive back and he goes the third time, packs 15 soldiers in the Humvee and comes back and live to write about it. So this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The true son of God came, he died for our sin, he rose on the third day and the forgiveness, the grace of God, his righteousness is imputed to you, given to you. You just need to accept it.Point three is abide in the spirit, scripture, and church. So once you accept it, how do you protect yourself, guard yourself from believing the lies, from being pulled away by the evil one? Where there are three safeguards that he gives us in this text, the Holy Spirit, the Holy scriptures and the Holy church. First John 2:27 talks about the spirit, but the anointing that you received from him, from the spirit, abides in you. And you have no need that anyone should teach you, but as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as he has taught you, abide in him.He says, God has given you everything you need to know. He's not saying you don't need teachers, you don't need the scriptures. You don't need to study theology because that would defeat the purpose and contradict the purpose of this letter that would contradict Saint Paul who said that God sends teachers and pastors to equip the saints for the work of the ministry grow in maturity. What he's saying is you know the truth.If you've been anointed by the Holy Spirit, you know the truth because you know the voice of God. You've heard the voice of God. You know the voice of the good shepherd. There's a self authenticating power. You know truth because the Holy Spirit in you confirms that truth. First Thessalonians 2:13 puts it like this, and we also thank God constantly for this, that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of man, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in the believers.So we don't need a special elite class of clergy or those who are specially anointed to know what's truth about the essential oils in the scripture, about the essentials of the gospel. Obviously we are to study the scriptures and study theology and have a good study Bible and we recommend the ESV study Bible and commentaries, things like that. But Jesus promised, I will send you the spirit and he will teach you all things. So the safeguard of the Holy Spirit, safeguard of the scriptures.First John 2:24, let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you then you too will abide in the son and in the father. What you heard from the beginning, from whom? From the apostles. This is the gospel. The apostles were eyewitnesses. This is the primary documents about Christianity. Saint Paul had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, saw the risen Christ and received the gospel from him. So God gives us the scriptures to confirm teaching.So when you hear teaching about Christianity, teaching about the faith, check with the scripture. John's not just writing to the pastors of the church, he's writing to Christians. Every Christian has the responsibility to confirm is what the teacher at church preaching, teaching, is it true? Is it in the scriptures? Is he appealing to the scriptures or is he appealing to some speculative, subjective philosophy?And the beauty of the Holy scriptures is the Bible is the only book that you can read and you always have access to the author, always. You read and you say, "God, what did you mean? God, please elucidate, please illuminate." And it's important to have the Holy scriptures and the Holy Spirit together. Some churches are all about the Holy scriptures, never talk about the Holy Spirit. Some churches are all about the Holy Spirit, nothing about the Holy scriptures. They're together, Holy Spirit wrote them Holy scriptures. They're together. Don't pit them against one another.So dear Christian, do you know scriptures? Do you love the scriptures? Do you safeguard your faith with the knowledge of the scriptures? My wife and I, we got on the show recently. Not only getting into shows because I have an addictive personality. The show is on the history channel called Alone and we're in season three, so good. And season three they're in Patagonia. So they take these 10 people and they give them a week of training of survival in the wilderness.And you're given 10 objects that you can choose, like how to live in the wilderness, no electronics, nothing mechanic. You can take an ax or a knife, you can take some fishing hooks. And as I'm watching this, like you watched them build shelters and you watched them... As I'm watching I'm like, "I could do that better. I could fish better, I could do that. My shelter would have a door. I'd have a two story shelter. I'd build the tree house." That's number one.Number two, that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that they are lonely. They're by themselves. Most of the people that quit, they quit because they just can't handle the loneliness. And I was like, "I know exactly how I'd take care of that. I would bring the Bible and I would just abide in God's word. I'd just read it all day and talk with the Holy Spirit. I'd just memorize books of the Bible." And I'm talking about all of this as my Bible is laying on the table and I'm like my fourth episode in binge watching the show and you know exactly what I'm talking about.So love the scriptures and then the church. First John 2:19, they went from us, that's the false teachers, because they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. One of the things I want to point out here is when he's talking about us, it's clear. He knows exactly who the us are and it's not just the universal church.This is a particular letter written by a particular apostle to a particular group of Christians, a church. And as they're reading out loud, they know exactly who's us, who's in. So if you are a member of the universal church, you are to be a member of a local church. We talk about this all the time because a lot of Christians do not have an ecclesiology, have not developed an ecclesiology. John says it's clear who the us are.And I also want to point out that if you're a member of a local church, it does not mean that you are a member of the universal church. So a lot of churches have a list of members and many of them don't know the gospel, they're not saved. And this is why we have requirements. We have a whole process, we have a membership class coming up soon if you want to know more about membership. The other thing I want to point out is that if someone calls themselves a Christian and they start off gray, start off strong. That's not what matters.When people tell us that they have received Jesus Christ, that they are now Christians, we rejoice in every profession of faith and then we cautiously wait. Is there fruit? Are they walking in the light? Are they walking in love? Are they growing? And we do everything we possibly can to help them with that. The parable of the sower talks about some people receive the word with joy and then when the spiritual trials come, when difficulties come, the cares of the world to see fullness of riches and those things draw the person away from the Lord.True faith always, always passes the test of time. True believers can't fall away, false believers always do. And if you are a true Christian, you will abide. We don't believe in once saved, always saved. We believe in once saved, always persevering. This is the doctrine of perseverance of the saints that God will preserve in faith those whom he has chosen for salvation. God's love is immutable. When he loves you with a salvific love, a love that saves, he never removes that love.There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. John 10:28 and 29, I give them eternal life, says Christ, and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one who was able to snatch them out of the father's hand, not even ourselves. If you are a Christian, you can't even snatch yourself out of the hand of God. God won't let you.And one of the greatest examples of this in church history is a guy named Sheldon Vanauken, and I'll close with this story. He wrote this book called Severe Mercy. Vanauken was a spiritual skeptic who was searching his God truths, Christ's truth. Started reading C.S. Lewis, and he and his new wife, Davy, went from the US to England and C.S. Lewis discipled them. They became believers. On his return to the US, Sheldon's wife, Davy, dies unexpectedly, still a young woman.And so Sheldon now is wrestling with, "Is God loving?" How could a loving God allow this to happen? It seems so cruel. He found Christ and lost his wife in short order and then he decides to leave the faith. And he writes about this in Severe Mercy, he said, "I'm done with this. I can't follow God any more." And this is what happened. He says, "And then I found I could not reject God. I could not. I cannot explain. This one discovers one cannot move a boulder by trying with all one strength to do it. I discovered without any sudden influx of love or faith that I could not reject Christianity. Why? I don't know there it was, I could not." That was an end to it.Salvation comes from God. Jesus saves. We don't start our salvation. We don't sustain our salvation and we don't secure our salvation. God does all of that. Our job is to accept the gift and abide in him and he's the one that gives us strength to do that as well. If you missed any of the points, beware of the lies of the antichrist: confess the truth of the Holy one, abide in spirit and scripture and church. Let's pray.Lord, we thank you for the gospel. We thank you for the Holy scriptures. We thank you Holy Spirit that you are with us today. If anyone is not yet a Christian, I pray today, regenerate them, draw them to yourself, anoint them with the Holy Spirit. And for those of us who are Christians I pray that you help us develop a spiritual discernment, give us a hunger for the Holy scriptures, a love for the Holy Spirit and a love for the Holy church. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

Summary: Psalm 34:8 says: "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" There is a seeing and tasting that is infinitely deeper than physical. Tasting God, who is supremely beautiful to the heart and exquisitely sweet to the soul, precedes seeing God. The only true way to master our harmful desires is to counter them with healthful desires. How can we learn to crave that which is best for us? Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, God can recalibrate your taste buds, physical and spiritual. Only when this happens, can we talk about "tasting God."Audio Transcript: You're listening to Audio for Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit MosaicBoston.com.Heavenly Father, we pray that you send us the Holy Spirit to show us what the Holy Spirit desires and, Holy Spirit, you desire to vivify in us and liven in us, resurrect in us affections for God. And why? Because only God can ultimately satisfy. God, you alone are truly beautiful, ultimately beautiful. You alone satisfy the depths of our souls. Lord, we come and we confess that we do not love you as you deserve. We don't love you as we ought because there's so many things competing for our affections, and often those desires are harmful. And I pray today, Holy Spirit, replace harmful desires with healthful desires, and show us that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can grow into the image Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as we root ourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus how much you have sacrificed to love us, to pour your love into our hearts, to redeem us, that that alone is what can transform us, that alone is what radically can humanize us and transform us into the people you've created us to be.So I pray, Lord, today that you show us where our harmful desires need to be supplanted with healthful desires and where the taste buds of our souls need to be recalibrated, and I pray that you do a deep work. I pray for those who are Christians and are caught in sin and shackled in sin. I pray today send liberation. You've saved us for freedom, you call us to stand firm in that freedom, and I pray for anyone who's not yet a believer. I pray today radically regenerate their hearts, draw them to yourself. Lord, there's nothing that we can do to convert anyone, proselytize anyone, Lord. We believe that regeneration is a miracle, supernatural. I pray today, Holy Spirit, save many, and I pray this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, amen.So we're in a sermon series that we are calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for a Life, and what we're doing this series is we're looking at the paradoxical nature of Jesus Christ, that on the one hand he's the lion of Judah. He comes as a king. He comes as the Lord. But on the other hand, he's also the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That he dies as a lamb. He's slaughtered as a lamb, burying the wrath of God that we deserve for our sin upon himself. He's both. He's a lamb who gives himself and he's a lion who devours vehemently Satan's sin and death. And when we see that Jesus Christ is both lion and lamb, and the more that we worship him, the more we revere him, we begin to resemble him in our daily life. So we're looking through this prism of lion and lamb, tough and tender, and we're looking how this applies to every single area of our lives.Today we're talking about desires.Recent data from the Institute of Health Metrics and Valuation shows that the U.S. is among the world's highest rates of substance abuse, has one of the highest rates. Dr. Steven Sussman in a study from 2017 entitled Substance and Behavioral Addictions: Concepts, Causes, and Cures, he says, "Around half of the population of the United States at any one time is addicted to something." Marijuana 17% of 18 year olds are addicted to it, 2% of 50 year olds. Illicit drugs, non-marijuana 8% of 18 year olds, 5% of 50 year old. Tobacco is 15% of the U.S. adult population. Alcohol 10% for older teenagers and adults. Food addiction 10% of the U.S. population, 25% for those who struggle with obesity. Gambling 1-3% of the U.S. population. The internet at least 2%. Exercise 3-5%. But if you are in college, that number jumps to 26% addicted to exercise. Workaholism, addiction of work is 10% of the U.S. adult population. Significantly more probably anecdotally from just living in Boston, in a place like shopping addiction 6% of the U.S. adult population.Dr. Sussman says in the study, he says, "What's fascinating is that income per capita in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1972, and yet our levels of happiness or just general subjective well being has not changed and actually has declined." And he concludes the study by saying, "The U.S. is suffering from three series epidemics, obesity, substance abuse, and depression." That's the study. There's no solution.Well, we believe that solution is in Jesus Christ, that he alone is the one who ultimately satisfies our souls. Today we're going to use the word epithumia. This is a word that shows up in our text simulations five, over and over and over. Epithumia, and it's a neutral word that sometimes epithumia is used positively. Jesus says, "I long, I epithumia. I want to have the last supper with you," he tells his disciples. Same Paul says, "I long to be with Christ," in Philippians 1:23. In First Thessalonians he says, "I long to see you face to face." On the other hand, it's the same exact word that's used to describe our lust or ravenous appetites and inordinate craving. It's desire out of control that we need something to feel alive. It's as if our souls are naked and empty and looking for clothing.Blaise Pascal talked about this gigantic vacuum in every single soul, and we long for it to be filled. And we try to fill it with creation, things around us, experiences or people, or money, or power, et cetera. And the more we get, the more we want. It's like trying a satiate thirst with salt water.Today we're looking at Galatians 5:16-26 to frame up our time. Galatians 5:16-26. Please follow along either in your Bible or on the screen."But I say walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual morality, impurity, sexuality, idolatry, sorcery, amenity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, decensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherent the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and evil desires. If we live by the spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. Let us not become conceded, provoking one another, envying one another."This is the reading of God's holy inherent, infallible authoritative word. May he write these internal truths upon our hearts. Three main sections to the sermon today. In Roman Numeral format because there's seven practical points to take away. So I've tweaked the formula because a couple sermons ago the main points were numbered and then the sub points were numbered and everyone got confused. So Roman Numerals, practical points. You're welcome.So number one is crucified as a lamb, resurrected as a lion, that's Jesus. Two is crucify your sinful desires like a lion, and there's five practical points there. We'll get into them. I won't read them now. You can take a picture if you want to follow along. And then three is resurrect your holy desires like a lamb.Number one is crucified as a lamb, resurrected as a lion. Of course we're talking about Jesus Christ. Every other world religion in every misguided flavor of Christianity teaches the following, this is a distilled version of their path to salvation. It's be good and do good. In order to gain acceptance, in order to make your way to Heaven, be good and do good. At the heart of Christianity is the gospel, and the gospel, this is what Jesus preaches his very first sermon. Again preaching the gospel. And the gospel is not what we do for God. That's not the good news. There's nothing that we can do to make ourselves right with God. The good news is that Jesus has done everything. The good news is that Christ died for the ungodly. There's nothing that we can do to atone for our sin. There's nothing that we can do to earn penance before God. Christ has done. When did he die for us? When he saw that we would be good people or would fulfill his commandments. No. He died for us when he saw that we were still ungodly. Christ died for us when we were yet sinners.Isaiah 53:3-7. Isaiah 53 is one of the great prophetic passages about the Messiah who's come. Written 700 years at least before the birth of Christ. It says, "He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not." Meaning we did not desire Christ. We did not desire God. And that's the story of humanity. It's the story of holy scripture. "Surely he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed strick and smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the inequity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. Like a sheep that before it shears is silent. So we open not his mouth."We went astray like sheep. He comes and he sacrifices himself like the sacrificial lamb as a blood offering, substitutionary atonement for our sins. This is what happened on the cross. Jesus Christ absorbs the wrath of God that we deserve for our sins, for our law, breaking for our rebellion. But he doesn't stay dead. He absorbs our wrath like a lamb, but he comes back in the third day like a ferocious lion. After he ravenously consumed, defeated Satan's sin and death. Why did Jesus do that? Jesus didn't destroy the power of death, the power of sin just to forgive us of the penalty of our sin. Jesus didn't die just to forgive us of the penalty, just to remove the penalty, but he also died in order to remove the power of sin over us. He died in order to free us from the bondage of our sin, from the bondage of our harmful desires.So Galatians 5:1, this sets the context for our text. Galatians 5:1 says, "For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore and do not submit again to a yolk of slavery." He set us free from what and free for what. Well, here we got to ask the question what is sin. Sin isn't just breaking God's laws by committing bad things, by doing. The essence of sin is not doing, the essence of sin is desiring. And we get that when we understand what the 10 Commandments are. The 10 Commandments aren't just don't do these things. The 10 Commandments are be careful that your heart's desires are not drawn to these things that pull you away from God. So have no gods before me. Thou shall not have any idols. Thou shall keep the sabbath day holy, devote a day to God. And then Jesus comes in, he looks at the 10 Commandments and the sermon on the mount, this is the greatest sermon that was ever preached. And he says, "You know the commandment around adultery, I shall say to you that whoever looks at another person that they're not married to with lustful intent has already committed adultery."And then Saint Paul talks about the fact that he didn't even know how sinful he was until he read the 10th commandment, which says thou shall not covet. He said, "I didn't understand that the commandments weren't just about action, they're actually about desire." So Christ comes and he says, "Sin is love for things that harm us." Therefore Christ wants to free us from loves or desires for things that harm us, and replace those evil desires with righteous desires for things that actually give us life. From harmful desires to healthful desires.This is the beauty of the gospel. That God does not just command that we love him. God actually compels us to love him. He does this through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As you see, what Jesus Christ is doing on the cross, when you realize that he did that for you, that if you were the only person to have ever lived, Jesus would still have died for you because he's so loves you. Your name is graven on his hands, written on his heart, we sing. That Christ came and he loves you infinitely more than anyone has ever loved you, and when you realize what he did in order to show that love, his love is poured into your heart. And your heart is freed from loving lesser things.One of the things that Augustan said is that the problem with humanity, the problem with humans and the human condition is that our loves are disordered. When we take creature, when we take creation, when we take things and we take a good thing even and we place it in the position of preeminence and we make it an ultimate thing, then that thing begins to control us. And this is how addiction works. Instead the gospel comes in and says, "No, Christ deserves a position of preeminence in the throne of your heart. When you realize what you did in order to free you, you're freed now to love him with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind." This is the beauty of the gospel. It produces love for right things. It doesn't mean you manufacture it. It produces it organically.Christ did not come just to give us a get out of Hell free card. A lot of people view Christianity like this. You come to God, you pray this prayer. Okay, you're out of Hell. No, you can live anyway you want. If you get into some really bad sin, come back to church, pray another prayer, you'll be fine. Christ didn't come to get us out of Hell and to get us into Heaven primarily. Christ came not just to get us out of Hell. He came to get Hell out of us. Harmful desires, insatiable sinful desires, hellacious desires. God wants to remove those and replace them with vibrant desires, desires that lead to life. And God doesn't primarily compel our obedience through fear. Though he could. He could've. Jesus could've come and said, "I'm Lord. Get on your knees and worship me." And force everyone to become Christians through fear. He doesn't do that because what fear does, it produces a surface level obedience, and actually it's at the heart of it, it's very selfish. It's not God honoring. It's only you honoring. You're doing this because it's the best thing for you, and you want nothing to do with God.God doesn't motivate us to change by saying, "If you don't obey me, you'll go to Hell." He motivates us through love. Fear doesn't change us, love does. Every parent knows this. I've got four daughters and my wife, we got four daughters. And the thing with my daughter, they're beautiful and they're also little. In comparison, I'm a giant to them, and I tower over them. And I could cower them into submission, "Go clean your room," or, "Go wash the dishes," finally. I could do that. My wife and I could say to them, "If you don't obey us, we are leaving forever." It might be effective for a day. It would never change their hearts. How do we parent? We parent with love. We lead with love. This is how much we love you. This is how much we sacrifice for you. So when I tell you to do things, it's because I love you and I want the best for you. So our rules, our commandments in our house, they're not fences to keep you from fun. They're guardrails to keep you from going over the cliff.And this is how God talks about transformation. It's not just about our behavior changing. It's not about behavior modifications. It's about heart transformation. Christianity's actually a spiritual heart transplant. God takes out our heart of stone that's numb to God, desensitized to God, seared to God. And he replaces it with a heart of flesh that is sensitive to God. That's what changes us. What changes us is showing us the extent of God's love. What was the extent of God's love? That Jesus Christ on the cross literally goes through Hell and back in order to save us. This is how much I love you, the gospel says. God says, "I'm wiling to go to Hell, take Hell for you." When you realize that he did that particularly for you and you believe that with every fiber of your being, it absolutely changes you to the core. And now the spirit enters your heart. You are regenerated, and you have the power of God within you. You have new affections, new desires, and you have the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.This is how Saint Paul compels the church in Ephesus to stand firm in the faith. He says, "For this reason," Ephesians 3:14. "I bow my knees before the father for whom every family in Heaven on earth is named. That according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power. Through his spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." So Christ is in you, power of God is in you that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breathe and length and height and depth, an to know the love of Christ that surpassed knowledge. To know Christ's love so deeply in your core, in the core of your being that it's not just intellectual ascent. You don't just understand it with your mind, you understand it with your heart, with all of your being. To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Stand firm, therefore, is a military term. It means that if you do not stand firm in the freedom for which Christ has set you free, you will be pulled back into the bondage of sin.Scripture often talks about Christianity in militant terms, militaristic terms. Fight the good fight. Saint Paul uses the term agonism. Agonize in your faith. What's he talking... He's talking about this warfare between the flesh and the spirit, and then the flesh isn't just our body. It's the sinful nature, unredeemed nature of every single one of us, the darkness deep within. He's saying stand firm in the faith or else the flesh will take over. And then there's Satan in the world that exacerbate the desires of the flesh. So how do we stand firm? By standing firm in the gospel. How do we grow in the faith? By standing firm in the gospel. The gospel, the work of Jesus Christ.Here I got to do a little theology. So if you left, come back for just a little bit. This is important to understanding the rest of the sermon. I've done this long enough that eyes glaze over in evening services. This is how salvation is described in the holy scripture. It begins with justification and then it starts the process of sanctification, and it ends and culminates in glorification. Justification, sanctification, glorification. Justification is I have been saved. Sanctification is I'm being saved. That's from the moment of conversion to the moment that you die. I'm being saved, and then glorification is I will be saved. At the moment that you believe in Jesus Christ, you are justified. That means you are acquitted of all of your sins. God looks at you as if you have never sinned. You're fully accepted, legally righteous. You're justified. Just as if I'd had never sinned.Then it begins the process of sanctification. Sanctification comes from a Latin sānctus faciō, which means to make holy. We grow into holy. So grow in righteous, and we grow into the image of God. We are being saved from the power of sin, and then finally when we're glorified in Heaven, we got glorified bodies. Heaven is a physical, embodied existence. We'll have perfect bodies. Everyone's going to be 4% body fat with six packs. No acne. Everyone's going to be perfect. That's Heaven. Glorification, no calories. Don't have to work out. That's glorification. But in the process from justification when you met Jesus to glorification when you'll see Jesus face to face is the process of growing into the image of Jesus Christ. Justification is Christ puts his robes of righteousness on you. Sanctification is you're growing into his clothes. His righteousness begins to grow in you. We're incrementally transformed. And Jesus Christ is the benefactor who gives us justification. He's also the benefactor who gives us sanctification.It's his justification, he's righteousness, and it's also his sanctification. This is important. First Corinthians 1:30, "And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." Jesus is our sanctification. He's our righteous sanctification and redemption. Meaning that when you grow in your faith, when you grow in righteousness, that's not you. You're part of that process, but that's not your power. So you don't get glory for God does. How does this work? When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are placed in Christ, and he's placed in us. Kind of trippy, I know. But that's theology. We're in him, he's in us. We're reunited with him.So everything that he's done is counted to us. So his death is our death. His death for sin is our death for sin. His resurrection to a new life is our resurrection to a new life. So Jesus died for our sins, which now gives us power to put our sin to death. Jesus was resurrected so now the holy desires to live for God can be resurrected in our hearts. Christ took up a cross, died for sin once and for all, but he tells the disciples, what? In Luke 9:23, he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let me deny himself and take up the cross daily and follow me. Deny yourself and take up the cross..." This is the negative part of sanctification. "Deny yourself and take up your cross on a daily basis." You're putting your sin to death by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is called mortification. You mortify or you kill sin within, sinful desires. Then he said, "Follow me." This is the positive aspect of sanctification. "Follow me," this is your vivifying. You vivify. You give life to godly affections. So it's not just fighting sin. It's replacing evil desires with righteous desires. You're fighting fire with fire, desire with desire.When we're joined to Christ by grace through faith, because of the historical act of his life, death, burial, resurrection, we're saved. But also that act, what he did on the cross, has an operative efficacious effect for us today when we use it, when we use the resource that he has given us. This is point to, that we first of all crucify our sinful desires. How do we do that? How do we put our sin to death? Well, primarily begins by humbling seeking, and this is the first practical point, humbling seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit.So Galatians 5:16-18, several times he talks about the spirit. So first he says, "Walk by the spirit." That's active. Then he says in verse 18, "If you are led by the spirit," that's passive. Being led. You're still walking, but you're being led. Verse 25 says, "If you live by the spirit," that's active, "then let us keep in step with the spirit." It's like a mixture of active and passive. So this is really important because a lot of people ask, "What's my part? What am I going to do?" In the practical, give me a list of practical things I got to do, and I'm going to do that. And then I'll be done with sin. I'll be all set. That's not how relationships work. Do this together by his power.The most helpful verse about this incredible paradoxical relationship or active and passive with us and spirit. Ephesians 5:18 where Saint Paul says, "Do not get drunk with wine." So do not give control to a substance over yourself. And then that is paralleled with, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit." So don't be filled with something that will pull you away from Christ because you lose control, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, which actually makes you more like Christ. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. And this is fascinating because be filled is both active and passive. Be, that's a commandment, it's imperative. Filled, that's passive. Be filled. It's imperative that's in the passive voice. Meaning you've got to do something and be filled. But you can't fill yourself. It's like your gas tank. Gas tank, thou shall be filled. How's it get filled? You drive into a gas station in New Jersey where it's full service, that's the illustration. That always catches me off guard. "Oh, okay, I can't do this myself. Get a dollar out."Be filled with the Holy Spirit, meaning you place yourself in a position where the Holy Spirit fills you. This is what I mean. So how does this work? It works just by recognizing your desperation. Lord, I can't overcome these sinful desires myself. Lord, I need you. Lord, I'm nothing without... I'm morally bankrupt without you. I'm spiritually inept without you. Please, Lord. And it doesn't begin with cleaning you our lives, and then we're filled with the spirit. It's actually vice versa. It's be filled with the spirit, walk in the spirit, be led by the spirit, and then you won't gratify the desires of the flesh. It's not a matter of sheer will power. It's the matter of utter contrition before God, humbling coming forward. God, please help me. And God pours his spirit into your heart and he fills you up. But then we need to do something with that power, and that's when we exert all of our energy. We pray. We plead. We position ourselves. We exert our energy. It is our responsibility to obey.One of the most effective programs to fight alcoholism and other addictions is the 12 Step Program for Alcoholics Anonymous. And the first step is powerful because they understood this principle of submitting to God, of admission of powerlessness. And it's the first step of the liberation. And it goes like this, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable." Admission of weakness, powerlessness is the first step to liberation. And their second point is, "We've come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." And this is what we believe when it comes to sinful desires that have hijacked our walk with the Lord, habitual sins where we come to God and we say, "God, we're helpless. We're entrapped. We're unshackled. Please help." And at that moment, God is always delighted to help those how seek his help humbly.I've seen this issue often with Christians, we just get stuck in the faith where they become Christians by repenting of sin and believing the gospel. And something happens along the way where now they think this is how I stay in the kingdom, this is how I stay in a rightful relationship with God by my works. So I wasn't saved by my works. I'm saved by Christ's works. But I stay saved by my works. So I'm going to try to clean up my sin by myself. That never works because that right there, you're operating out of pride. And whenever we operate out of pride, that right there it actually pushes God away because God, he resists the proud. Often if you think that you are strong enough to do what God has called you to do, God often allows you to keep struggling with particular sin, to get you to a point of brokenness, of humility.I got this idea from John Owen who wrote this incredible book called Mortification of Sin. You can pick it up. It's an old work, but there's a newer version, a revised version. It's abridged version. It's 80 pages, J.I. Packer did the introduction. And this is what John Owen writes. He says, "Says God," here's a Christian. "If he could be rid of this lust, I should never hear of him more. Let him wrestle with this, or he would be altogether lost. Wasn't it a correction to Peter's self confidence that God left him to deny his master?" That's so profound. Peter's the one that told Jesus, "Jesus everyone else is going to leave, betray, deny you. I will never do that." And Jesus said, "Oh yeah? Tonight before the rooster crows this morning's dawn, you are going to deny me three times." Justification, we have absolutely nothing to do with that. Sanctification, we're empowered by the Holy Spirit to watch, praise, strive, take actions as we cry out to God.How does justification start? With a cry of desperation. God, save me. How does sanctification continue? With the same cry of desperate. God, keep saving me. God, help me. Galatians 3:3, Saint Paul says, "Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" You began by the spirit, now you think you can do this on your own. You can't. We can't. God wants us from us a broken heart, and we start by grace. And we take every step by grace.First, humbly be filled with the Holy Spirit. Second, call a sin a sin. And this is important. As I write the list, there was something you probably heard and you were like, "What? That's in the Bible? What? He read that out loud in church in Boston 2019? What?" What he's doing here is he's calling sins by their name. Why? What's he doing? He's countering the enemy's attack. This is what Satan did when he came to Eve in the Garden of Eden. He said, "Did God really say..." What's he doing? He's questioning God's word. Saint Paul comes in and says, "No, this is how God views these actions. This is what God calls these actions." And here we have 16, and I'm calling it 16 decaying fruits of the flesh. 16 decaying fruits of the flesh. They come in four categories.The first category is a sexual sin because often this is one of the primary ways the flesh reveals itself. This is one of the primary ways that our flesh rebels against God. There's three words here, sexual morality, porne in the Greek... This is sex between unmarried people. Impurity, unnatural sexual relationships, sexuality, uncontrolled sexuality.The second category is corrupted religion, idolatry, and sorcery. Idolatry is worshiping or craving, desiring created things more than the creator. And then sorcery, this is trying to manipulate God or the spiritual realm. By the way, a lot of people view Christianity like this in terms of sorcery. What do I need to do? Get God off my back. How much money do I need to give? How many times do I need to come to church in order to do penance or atone for my sins? And then I'm out. It's actually sorcery, we're manipulating God for our ends.Third is relational conflict, and this shows us how important it is to God or our relationships with other people. Amity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, descensions, divisions, envy.And the fourth category here is substance abuse. He talks about drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. Whatever you need to feel alive. Whatever you need to get that dopamine rush. It could be alcohol, drugs, pornography, prostitutes, drugs. I mentioned impulsive buying, media. Your soul feels dead. It feels empty. Philosophers talked about spiritual unweave that every single one of us feel, and sometimes we look to these substances to feel alive. And this is important that he calls a sin a sin. He calls sexual immorality, sexual immorality. He doesn't call it living together. He doesn't call fiscal responsibility, he calls it covetousness and greed. Amity, he doesn't call it... I just want they have it. He calls it envy. And what he's saying here is unmasked the self deceit. This is what sin does. It blinds us to its own existence. And then point three is see sin for what it really is in God's presence.Galatians 5:21, "I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherent the kingdom of God." And do such things means this is the lifestyle, it's habitual practice. It's not falling into the sin, repenting quickly, getting up and following Christ. It's that you fall and you stay and you never get up.So what he's saying is look to the cross. Look what it cost God to forgive us. Look what our sin deserves. The very son of God dying on a cross. Our sin doesn't just evoke God's displeasure. It evokes God's just wrath. When we feel the weight of our sin in light of its eternal punishment, that begins to reawaken us and our conscious.Some people here push back and say, "But my sins forgiven, isn't it? Jesus died for my sins past, present, and future. So why do I need to keep fighting sin?" Well, again, it's not just about get out of Hell free card. It's about you being a child of God. You're adopted into the family of God. First John 3:9 says, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning." You don't continue in this pattern of sin. "For God seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." What marks a Christian isn't the absence of sin. What marks a Christian is the deep grief over sin. We grieve over it. Every time we sin, there's a brokenness because we understand we broken God's heart.Four is be killing sin or it will be killing you, and I got this term from John Owen. This is Galatians 5:24, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and evil desires." You belong to him. You're his. And you have crucified the flesh with this evil desire. Now it's not an utter destruction of sin. It's not a concealing of sin. But it's the suffocation of sin. You're crushing the life out of it. You're constantly draining the life out of it. It's a tug of war between the flesh and the spirit. You feed the spirit, the desires of spirit, and you emaciate those desires of the flesh. So how do you do it? You refuse it. You starve it. You reject it. It takes strength, power, and resolve. Jesus Christ actually said, "If you struggle with sin, if you eye causes your sin, pluck it out." This is Matthew five. "Cut off your arm." Matthew five. He's not talking about literally, hyperbolic language in order to communicate just how important it is to deal with sin with resolve. And the moment you become a Christian, God gives you this desire to fight sin. To be intolerant with it, unaccommodating. That we are spiritual assassins. This is scorched earth sanctification.If all of my sins have been forgiven, why do I need to work for a righteous life? Scripture says if you are Christian, you don't ask this question. If you are a child of God, you want to honor God with all of your being, so you want to ask how can I fight my sin. Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by know means? How can we who have died to sin still live in it?" True justification and sanctification always go together. So when we try to see have we been justified, am I a Christian. Well, are you continuing to walk with Christ.So my oldest daughter was born when Tonya and I were in seminary. By the way, I was 26 years old. I look back and I'm like, "This is crazy. I had a kid at 26." 25. Whatever. 25, 26. I look back now, and I'm like no one asked me to take a test. There's no IQ test, there was no drug test. There was no test. I have to do more to get a drivers license than I do to get a kid. So we got to the hospital, and they're like, "Here's the kid." I'm like... So I go home. I did all this research about making sure your kid stays alive, and they're like kids actually are like... I was super afraid of this thing called sudden death syndrome where kids just die in their sleep. So every night I would come up to her bed, "Is she alive? Is she alive?" Now in order to prove that she's alive, what do I do? Do I go to her birth certificate and say, "Yeah, she was born. Okay, we're good." Do I look in the stuff that we bought for her, "Yeah, we're good." No. To prove that she's alive, what do I do? I listen to breathing. Is she breathing? I listen to her heartbeat. Is she alive? Yeah. Praise God.Are you a Christian? Don't just tell me, "Yeah. I prayed a prayer. Yeah, I was baptized. Yeah, I grew up in a Christian family." Do you have a heartbeat for God today? And justification, sanctification, they go together. You can't have one without the other. Separating them is like separating the heat of the sun with the light of the sun. No. If you have the son, you have both. If you have Jesus Christ, the son of God, you have both justification and sanctification. So never use justification as a justification to continue sinning. If that's what you do, then most likely you're not a Christian.The more we grow in our sanctification, the more we actually realize how sinful we are. The most mature Christians I have ever met are absolutely blunt about their sin. Saint Paul at probably the pinnacle of his sanctification following Christ, he says, "I'm the chief of sinners." John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace, "You've saved a wretch like me." At the end of his life, people asked him, "You must be a saint already." He says, "No, there's only two things I know that I'm a wicked sinner, and I have a great savior." The more I'm a Christian, the more I realize I've so much more to go.I had a conversation today about the veracity of Christianity. Why don't we do more proof of why we believe in Christianity? We do that all the time. There's sermon series 2014 with a whole series on exploring Christianity. Last fall we had a sermon series on Jesus among other gods. There's so much objective evidence for the existence of God, for the life so Jesus Christ, for his death burial, and his resurrection. It's incredible. I'm a Christian not just because of that. I'm a Christian mostly because of these subjective experience of Christianity. I am a wicked sinner.My wife actually recently, she's like, ты ужасный. That's what she told me. ты ужасный. You don't know Russian yet? "You're horrible. You're a terrible person." She said, "Where would you be if you weren't a Christian?" And I was like, "I know where I'd be. I'd probably be a Russian mobster drinking distilled vodka. That's all I'd be doing." It's a very similar skillset to being a pastor of a church. I know that a part of Jesus on a daily basis, I'm fallen. I'm gone. So I thank God for great...By the way, this is also how I view parenting my kids. This is anthropology. This is from biblical perspective that they're born as very cute, very pudgy, very scrumptious, very delightful little wicked sinners. My youngest, her first two words were nope and mine. Rebellion and selfishness. That's my job to teach, to help her. She definitely needs some sanctification. So point two is take immediate and radical action when tempted.First Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation is overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you maybe able to endure." So as soon as a sinful inclination rears its ugly head. At that very moment, we are to mortify. Why? Because it has a power over us that's suicidal. What sin does, as soon as we let it in the door, the very first thing it does, it goes to the wheel center of your being, and takes over. You let a sin in. You're on fire for the Lord, and then you let a sin in. And then you're like, "I don't even think I'm a Christian." Spiritual amnesia kicks in. There is a suicidal destructiveness over your mind, over your desires, over your will. The more you get it, the less you want to fight it. And then it takes control where you don't even enjoy anymore but you can't shake it. You're like an addict. When you're done with that sin, it's only begun with you. This is John 8:34, Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin." This also includes eliminating any triggers. You got to know yourself, and you got to know your sinful temptation, where you're prone and proclivity. But eliminate those triggers. Eliminate the people that pull you back into sin. Place the situation. Romans 13:14, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires." So don't lead yourself into situations where you'll be tempted. And this category three, resurrect your holy desires. Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control against such things there is not law." Fruit, singular, meaning that when you mature, you mature in all of these. And you are only as mature spiritually as your weakest fruit here. So this is practical point six desire with the holy spirit desires.Galatians 5:7, "The flesh had desires, but the spirit also has desires. And they're opposed to each other." So what does the Holy Spirit desire? So desire what God desires. What does the Holy Spirit desire where he's called the Holy Spirit. He desires holiness. And the Holy Spirit is gentle. He's like a dove who's easily scared away. He's easily grieved. He's easily quenched with our sin. So we have to desire what Holy Spirit desires, he desires to glorify Christ, to glorify God the father. He desires for the gospel to go out. He desires all of this fruit. How do we grow in this fruit? We grow in this fruit by casting deep roots in the gospel of Jesus Christ.The heart can't but love. So what the Holy Spirit wants to do is replace sinful desires with righteous desires. I follow these motivational gym bros on Twitter who try to help millennial guys become men. Just for entertainment I follow these guys. This is what they do, this is their whole thing. They sell these eBooks and become millionaires. So they start like this. They're like, "If you struggle with laziness, you pathetic, lazy, little boy. Stop playing video games and move out of your mom's basement. Cut it out, start working out." And what's the motivation? So they replace the idol of sloth and they're like, "Because you're single and you can't get a girl." Now the motivation is get girls, get girls, get girls. And that's why you want to work out. That's why you want to stop being lazy.So they're replacing one idol with another idol. And then they're like, "Well, you got girls. But you don't have any money. That's why they're not going to stay with you. So get money, get money, get money." They replace this idol with another idol. And then they're like, "You've got all this money. You are such a waste of life. Actually learn to enjoy your life." And then they kick you all the way back to the laziness part. Idol after idol after idol, back to the very first idol. And they sell their eBooks for $19.99. And they make a fortune. That's how a lot of people grow in life. That's how they progress. Christianity says, "No. You got to supplant sinful desires with righteous desires. The desires the Holy Spirit desires are the fruit of the spirit."And then seven is pursue the means of grace habitually. You need to deny flesh, pursue Christ on a daily basis. So much so you string winds together. Follow Christ today, focus on today. Tomorrow comes, follow Christ. Follow Christ. When you string those together, now your character begins to change. Your habits begin to change. And now it takes less effort to follow the... You're still humble. You're still contrite. But now you're focused on other battles.CS Lewis Screwtape Letters, incredible work. There's this demon called Uncle Screwtape. It's a head demon. He has an apprentice, a nephew demon. And one of the apprentice's patients becomes a Christian, and then Uncle Screwtape writes to him and says, "There's no need to despair. Hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn into the enemy's camp and are now with us. All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favor." Habits didn't change. So we need our habits to change, and we do this primarily through the means of grace that God has given us.The reformers talk about means of grace. They're kind of like waterfalls where if you stand under these particular waterfalls, God sends extra grace in order to strengthen you and wash the sin. The first one is the word and prayer as a means of grace. Jesus talked about in John 17:17 that the truth of God's word is for sanctification. Sanctify them in the word. Your word is truth. When we study God's word and we do it prayerfully that gives us power to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Suffering is a means of grace. Sometimes we ask God, "Why are you sending suffering into my life?" Well, God sometimes ordains suffering as a tool for the purpose of sanctification.Fellowship of the church is also a means of grace. Fellowship with believers and worship. The weak need the strong, build each other up. The spirit is given to individuals, and when we come together, we experience that spirit. Gifts are intended for the body and the church is this community of prayer. And also we get accountability where we help one another keep from relapsing into sin.If you missed any points, they're right here. They're right here. There you are. You can take a picture. They're all there. All the points.Now I'm going to transition into another means of grace, and we celebrate this once a month at Mosaic. It's the means of grace of communion. What is communion? Communion is the celebration of our participation of the death, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why is it called communion? It's called a common union that we are united with Christ. First Corinthians 10:16, "The cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation, the blood of Christ. The bread that we break is it not participation, the body of Christ." Who's communion for? Who partakes in communion? Communion is for the repentant. So if you're not a Christian and you have not repented of your sin and trusted in Christ, it's not for you.If you're a Christian and there's sin that you have not repented of, this is not for you also. We get that from First Corinthians 11:27-32, "Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, unrepentant manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let the person examine themself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For everyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself." That is why many of you are weak and ill. Some have died. But if you judge yourself, we truly would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.So we don't do this flippantly. We do it reverently, with repentant and contrite hearts. And when we come to God with repentance, God is delighted to extend forgiveness. So this isn't a glum time to navel gaze on our sin. It's a time to give our sins over to the Lord and feast on his grace.The way that we celebrate communion here is the ushers are going to hand out the elements, the bread and the cup. The bread symbolizes the body of Christ, the cup symbolizes the blood of Christ. Please hold onto the elements until everyone's received them, and then we will we partake together. Let's pray.Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you, God, that your word is powerful. That it does vivify our affections. Lord, we long to desire you more. We long for more of your presence, more of your power, more of your Holy Spirit. Lord, give it to us. We repent of all our sins, our wrong headed, harmful desires, and I pray that you replace them with helpful desires for your glory. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.

For the most part women in the classical world have suffered from what Duane W. Roller terms “near-invisibility,” obscuring the consequential roles that at times they played in government and politics. In his book Cleopatra's Daughter: And Other Royal Women of the Augustan Era (Oxford University Press, 2018), Roller recounts the lives of more than a half-dozen women in the last decades of the 1st century BC and early decades of the 1st century AD to show how they exercised power during the early years of the Roman Empire. Drawing upon a tradition of royal women in the ancient Near East, these women – Cleopatra Selene, Glaphyra of Cappadocia, Salome of Judaea, Dynamis of Bosporous, Pythodoris of Pontos, Aba of Olbe, and Mousa of Parthia – all played crucial roles as rulers in kingdoms on the periphery of the Augustan empire. As Roller explains, their success in maintaining their positions both depended in part upon the support of powerful women in the Augustan family and, in turn, served as role models for royal women in the Roman imperial courts for centuries afterward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the most part women in the classical world have suffered from what Duane W. Roller terms “near-invisibility,” obscuring the consequential roles that at times they played in government and politics. In his book Cleopatra's Daughter: And Other Royal Women of the Augustan Era (Oxford University Press, 2018), Roller recounts the lives of more than a half-dozen women in the last decades of the 1st century BC and early decades of the 1st century AD to show how they exercised power during the early years of the Roman Empire. Drawing upon a tradition of royal women in the ancient Near East, these women – Cleopatra Selene, Glaphyra of Cappadocia, Salome of Judaea, Dynamis of Bosporous, Pythodoris of Pontos, Aba of Olbe, and Mousa of Parthia – all played crucial roles as rulers in kingdoms on the periphery of the Augustan empire. As Roller explains, their success in maintaining their positions both depended in part upon the support of powerful women in the Augustan family and, in turn, served as role models for royal women in the Roman imperial courts for centuries afterward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melvyn Bragg and guests Mary Beard, Catharine Edwards and Duncan Kennedy discuss the political regime and cultural influence of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Called the Augustan Age, it was a golden age of literature with Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphosis among its treasures. But they were forged amidst creeping tyranny and the demands of literary propaganda. Augustus tightened public morals, funded architectural renewal and prosecuted adultery. Ovid was exiled for his saucy love poems but Virgil's Aeneid, a celebration of Rome's grand purpose, was supported by the regime. Indeed, Augustus saw literature, architecture, culture and morality as vehicles for his values. He presented his regime as a return to old Roman virtues of forbearance, valour and moral rectitude, but he created a very new form of power. He was the first Roman Emperor and, above all, he established the idea that Rome would be an empire without end. Catharine Edwards is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck College, University of London; Duncan Kennedy is Professor of Latin Literature and the Theory of Criticism at the University of Bristol; Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at Cambridge University.