Podcasts about Balaam

Our topic this week is about greed! That means that we have this intense desire for money or power or things! The man in our story this week wanted money and riches more than he wanted to follow God. It took his donkey, talking to him, to make him realize that what he was doing was wrong!Year A Quarter 3 Week 36All Bible verses are from the NKJVHymn: Wonderful Words of LifeWrite to Ms. Katie: seedpod@startingwithjesus.comKatie's Korner: https://startingwithjesus.com/katies-korner/Find the Lessons Here:Kindergarten https://bit.ly/SeedPodKLessonsPrimary https://bit.ly/SeedPodPLessonsConnect with Us:Website: https://startingwithjesus.comStarting With Jesus - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StartingWithJesusSeedPod - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCvU2FBPEL5-Zi2QW0STVLgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingwithjesusFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/startingwithjesusAcknowledgments:Bible Readings this week: Camilla & JudePodcast Producer: Katie ChitwoodSound Engineer: Dillon AustinMy Bible First, https://bit.ly/SeedPodLesson for use of their Bible Lesson curriculum.AudioVerse, https://www.audioverse.org/ for partnering with us and supporting our ministry.Lindsey Mills, for writing and performing our SeedPod Kids Theme Song & Background Music.To learn more about her music or to get her CD, email her: lindsey@startingwithjesus.com 

Our topic this week is about greed! That means that we have this intense desire for money or power or things! The man in our story this week wanted money and riches more than he wanted to follow God. It took his donkey, talking to him, to make him realize that what he was doing was wrong!Year A Quarter 3 Week 36All Bible verses are from the NKJVHymn: Wonderful Words of LifeWrite to Ms. Katie: seedpod@startingwithjesus.comKatie's Korner: https://startingwithjesus.com/katies-korner/Find the Lessons Here:Kindergarten https://bit.ly/SeedPodKLessonsPrimary https://bit.ly/SeedPodPLessonsConnect with Us:Website: https://startingwithjesus.comStarting With Jesus - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StartingWithJesusSeedPod - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCvU2FBPEL5-Zi2QW0STVLgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingwithjesusFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/startingwithjesusAcknowledgments:Bible Readings this week: Camilla & JudePodcast Producer: Katie ChitwoodSound Engineer: Dillon AustinMy Bible First, https://bit.ly/SeedPodLesson for use of their Bible Lesson curriculum.AudioVerse, https://www.audioverse.org/ for partnering with us and supporting our ministry.Lindsey Mills, for writing and performing our SeedPod Kids Theme Song & Background Music.To learn more about her music or to get her CD, email her: lindsey@startingwithjesus.com 

Our topic this week is about greed! That means that we have this intense desire for money or power or things! The man in our story this week wanted money and riches more than he wanted to follow God. It took his donkey, talking to him, to make him realize that what he was doing was wrong!Year A Quarter 3 Week 36All Bible verses are from the NKJVHymn: Wonderful Words of LifeWrite to Ms. Katie: seedpod@startingwithjesus.comKatie's Korner: https://startingwithjesus.com/katies-korner/Find the Lessons Here:Kindergarten https://bit.ly/SeedPodKLessonsPrimary https://bit.ly/SeedPodPLessonsConnect with Us:Website: https://startingwithjesus.comStarting With Jesus - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StartingWithJesusSeedPod - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCvU2FBPEL5-Zi2QW0STVLgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingwithjesusFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/startingwithjesusAcknowledgments:Bible Readings this week: Camilla & JudePodcast Producer: Katie ChitwoodSound Engineer: Dillon AustinMy Bible First, https://bit.ly/SeedPodLesson for use of their Bible Lesson curriculum.AudioVerse, https://www.audioverse.org/ for partnering with us and supporting our ministry.Lindsey Mills, for writing and performing our SeedPod Kids Theme Song & Background Music.To learn more about her music or to get her CD, email her: lindsey@startingwithjesus.com 

Our topic this week is about greed! That means that we have this intense desire for money or power or things! The man in our story this week wanted money and riches more than he wanted to follow God. It took his donkey, talking to him, to make him realize that what he was doing was wrong!Year A Quarter 3 Week 36All Bible verses are from the NKJVHymn: Wonderful Words of LifeWrite to Ms. Katie: seedpod@startingwithjesus.comKatie's Korner: https://startingwithjesus.com/katies-korner/Find the Lessons Here:Kindergarten https://bit.ly/SeedPodKLessonsPrimary https://bit.ly/SeedPodPLessonsConnect with Us:Website: https://startingwithjesus.comStarting With Jesus - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StartingWithJesusSeedPod - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCvU2FBPEL5-Zi2QW0STVLgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingwithjesusFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/startingwithjesusAcknowledgments:Bible Readings this week: Camilla & JudePodcast Producer: Katie ChitwoodSound Engineer: Dillon AustinMy Bible First, https://bit.ly/SeedPodLesson for use of their Bible Lesson curriculum.AudioVerse, https://www.audioverse.org/ for partnering with us and supporting our ministry.Lindsey Mills, for writing and performing our SeedPod Kids Theme Song & Background Music.To learn more about her music or to get her CD, email her: lindsey@startingwithjesus.com 

God can bless through anyone, but it is better to be one who chooses to let Him work in His blessings! We have been given a promise that He alone will fulfill in our lives. Is He working in yours?

Our topic this week is about greed! That means that we have this intense desire for money or power or things! The man in our story this week wanted money and riches more than he wanted to follow God. It took his donkey, talking to him, to make him realize that what he was doing was wrong!Year A Quarter 3 Week 36All Bible verses are from the NKJVHymn: Wonderful Words of LifeWrite to Ms. Katie: seedpod@startingwithjesus.comKatie's Korner: https://startingwithjesus.com/katies-korner/Find the Lessons Here:Kindergarten https://bit.ly/SeedPodKLessonsPrimary https://bit.ly/SeedPodPLessonsConnect with Us:Website: https://startingwithjesus.comStarting With Jesus - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StartingWithJesusSeedPod - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCvU2FBPEL5-Zi2QW0STVLgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingwithjesusFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/startingwithjesusAcknowledgments:Bible Readings this week: Camilla & JudePodcast Producer: Katie ChitwoodSound Engineer: Dillon AustinMy Bible First, https://bit.ly/SeedPodLesson for use of their Bible Lesson curriculum.AudioVerse, https://www.audioverse.org/ for partnering with us and supporting our ministry.Lindsey Mills, for writing and performing our SeedPod Kids Theme Song & Background Music.To learn more about her music or to get her CD, email her: lindsey@startingwithjesus.com 

We beg You rather to send the serpents among us than to let sin come among us. Oh! that we might have our eye always on the brazen serpent that heals all the bites of evil, but may we not look to sin nor love it. Let not the devices of Balaam and of Balak prevail against us, to lead Your people away from their purity. Let us not be defiled with false doctrine or with unholy living, but may we walk as the separated people of God and keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

Our topic this week is about greed! That means that we have this intense desire for money or power or things! The man in our story this week wanted money and riches more than he wanted to follow God. It took his donkey, talking to him, to make him realize that what he was doing was wrong!Year A Quarter 3 Week 36All Bible verses are from the NKJVHymn: Wonderful Words of LifeWrite to Ms. Katie: seedpod@startingwithjesus.comKatie's Korner: https://startingwithjesus.com/katies-korner/Find the Lessons Here:Kindergarten https://bit.ly/SeedPodKLessonsPrimary https://bit.ly/SeedPodPLessonsConnect with Us:Website: https://startingwithjesus.comStarting With Jesus - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StartingWithJesusSeedPod - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCvU2FBPEL5-Zi2QW0STVLgInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingwithjesusFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/startingwithjesusAcknowledgments:Bible Readings this week: Camilla & JudePodcast Producer: Katie ChitwoodSound Engineer: Dillon AustinMy Bible First, https://bit.ly/SeedPodLesson for use of their Bible Lesson curriculum.AudioVerse, https://www.audioverse.org/ for partnering with us and supporting our ministry.Lindsey Mills, for writing and performing our SeedPod Kids Theme Song & Background Music.To learn more about her music or to get her CD, email her: lindsey@startingwithjesus.com 

267. Apologetics with Ray Comfort   Acts 4:20 NKJV "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”   **Transcription Below**   Ray Comfort is a best selling author - having written over 100 books, including his most recent one, entitled Fifty Years of Open-Air Preaching: Everything I've Learned. He is a cohost of an award-winning television show that airs in 190 countries.   Living Waters Website Living Waters YouTube Channel   Questions and Topics We Cover: What are some memorable encounters you've had over the years as an open-air preacher? What fears do you notice holding believers back from evangelizing? What's an easy win or next step we can take today so that the inspiration from this conversation turns into action?   Related Episodes on The Savvy Sauce: School Series (Legal) Gospel Sharing During School Hours with Joel Penton Stories Series: Faith Building Miracles with Dave Pridemore Stories Series: Testify to Glorify with Richard Gamble   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Connect with The Savvy Sauce Facebook, Instagram or Our Website    Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)   Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:10 - 1:18) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.    Leman Property Management Company has the apartment you will be able to call home, with over 1,700 apartment units available in Central Illinois. Visit them today at lemanproperties.com or connect with them on Facebook.    I'm delighted with this opportunity to interview my special guest for today, Mr. Ray Comfort. Ray is a best-selling author of over 100 books, one of which we'll be discussing today, about 50 years of open-air preaching.   He's also a co-host of an award-winning television show that airs in over 190 countries around the world. So, I'm pleased to welcome Ray Comfort and get to hear all of his stories and inspiration. Here's our chat.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Ray.   Ray Comfort: (1:19 - 1:27) Well, thank you for having me. Can you explain Savvy Sauce to me? Absolutely.   That means knowledge, knowledge poured out.   Laura Dugger: (1:27 - 1:46) Well, savvy is synonymous with practical or insight. And my husband having a background in Chick-fil-A, people always talk about the Chick-fil-A sauce or the secret sauce. And so, when we were creating this podcast, that just became the favorite question that I wanted to ask every guest.   Ray Comfort: (1:47 - 1:50) Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's great to be with you. Thanks for having me on.   Laura Dugger: (1:51 - 2:00) It's truly my pleasure. And I just love how everybody has a unique testimony. So, would you be willing to share your salvation story with us?   Ray Comfort: (2:01 - 4:47) Yeah, sure. I came from a non-Christian background. My mother was Jewish.   My dad was Gentile. And when my mom met my dad, it caused problems in the family. So, they brought me up with no Christian instruction or any instruction whatsoever.   Until at the age of 10, an aunt taught me the Lord's Prayer, which I prayed every night for 10 years. I believed in God. And at the age of about 20, 21, I had an epiphany, just a revelation that I was part of the ultimate statistic.   10 out of 10 die. And I thought, this is ridiculous. We're all waiting around to die.   And you can have fun while you're dying. You can play sports or save money. And I'd achieved everything I wanted to achieve by the age of 21.   I had my own business and my own house, my own wife. I'd made one child by then. Everything material I could want.   And I remember one night just going to sleep, or my wife had gone to sleep just before I went to sleep. I looked at my wife, we're newly married, and I just wept at the thought of her dying. And I just cried out, why?   Why is this thing called death? It's like there's an elephant in the room stomping on all humanity and nobody talks about it. And so, I cried out, why?   I didn't know I was praying. I didn't know God heard. And six months later, I was on a surfing trip, and there was a young Christian guy there, and he had a Bible, and I remember reading parts of it.   And my eyes fell upon, you've heard it said, by them of old you shall not commit adultery. And I thought, well, if there is a heaven, I'll make it there because I've never committed adultery. But then I read the words of Jesus, but I say to you, whoever looks upon a woman to lust for her has committed adultery already with her in his heart.   And it was like an arrow went into my chest. And I thought, whoa, boy, am I undone. Because like every red-blooded male, I was filled with unlawful sexual desire and eyes full of adultery, as scripture says.   And that's when I understood the cross. I realized I had sinned. Jesus bore my sin.   And we broke the law, the commandments. Jesus paid the fine. And that meant God could forgive my sins, grant me everlasting life.   And I cannot express to you the joy, it was unspeakable, that's why I can't express it, that I had and the knowledge my sins were forgiven. It was like an explosion of gratitude filled my heart. And for the last 50 years, it's been the high-octane fuel that's driven me to live for God's will and honor.   So everywhere I go and everything I do is centered around sharing the gospel with unsaved people. And every Christian should be like that. I call myself a normal, biblical Christian.   Laura Dugger: (4:48 - 4:59) I love that. Well, and something that you speak about and that you live out is open-air preaching. And I just want to read a piece from the dedication page, if that's okay.   Ray Comfort: (5:01 - 5:03) So, make sure you speak in a New Zealand accent.   Laura Dugger: (5:03 - 5:28) Oh, goodness. I won't even attempt. But you define open-air preaching saying, going somewhere I don't want to go, to preach a message I don't want to preach, to people who don't want to hear it, but the love of Christ compels me.   And so, Ray, what was your journey to becoming an open-air preacher?   Ray Comfort: (5:30 - 9:18) Well, I'll go back to when I was 16. I was in high school, and the teacher had the bright idea to have class speeches. And I was horrified at the thought of class speeches.   Have to get up and make a speech? Because I was kind of introverted, and the day came when I got caught. I used to stay away when they had class speeches, but my name was left on the roster, and it was last.   And the teacher got me up, and I thought I'll speak on the subject of surfing because I just loved surfing. And I dried up in the middle of that speech. My heart just went thump, thump, thump, thump till I could hardly hear.   It was like a drum beating, and I couldn't think straight. And I sat down humiliated in front of my peers at the age of 16, which is huge. And I vowed never, ever to speak in public again.   But I got born again. I became a new person in Christ. And I had a message that I could not be quiet about.   And I remember one day I was on a bus going to the city, and I remember looking at the people that were sitting on the bus, and I thought most of them probably not Christians. They die. They're going to Hell.   I've found everlasting life. I should stand up and speak to them. And I thought the bus would stop, and a whole lot of them would throw me off.   And I thought, what do I do? And I remember praying, oh, God, if there's just some way where I could speak in public to people knowing there wasn't. And two weeks later, they legalized public speaking in our city through just strange circumstances.   And I thought, whoa, what an answer to prayer. Horrors. And I remember avoiding any thought of going into that speaker's corner for the next two weeks until I opened a newspaper.   Remember what newspapers were? I opened a newspaper and had a picture of an elderly lady with a Bible in her hand, and underneath it had the Bible lady sharing her Christian testimony in speaker's corner. And I felt so ashamed that here was an elderly lady, and here I was hiding like Jonah.   So, I went in, took a deep breath, and preached the gospel to a crowd that was standing or sitting there. And I went back about 3,000 times and commuted to it for about 12 years, almost daily for 12 years. So, I broke the sound barrier, and I've been doing it ever since.   And I'll tell you why I do it, because the average church wouldn't reach as many people in a year as a good open-air preacher can reach in 30 minutes. And you just have to learn how to draw a crowd and what to say, and you've got to have the will to say it. And if you're a Christian and you've found everlasting life, you should be saying with the disciples, I cannot but speak that which I've seen and heard.   And I'm so glad the disciples didn't stay in the upper room. They found everlasting life. God granted eternal life.   They didn't carpet out the room, put in pipe music, with a little notice outside their door, tonight, 7 o'clock, all welcome. They didn't do that, because they knew fish don't jump into the boat. That's not normal.   If you're a fisher of men, you've got to go where the fish are. So, they went open-air and preached. And as you read the book of Acts, that's all they did.   They preached open air at peril of their lives. And so if we want to walk in the steps of Jesus, in the steps of the disciples, in the steps of Spurgeon, Wesley, Moody, Whitfield, others down through the ages, then we've got to open our mouths and lift up our voice like a trumpet and show these people their transgression. And so, I am thrilled that you want to do an interview on this book, because I've often said the church has as much excitement about evangelism as you and I have about having a root canal.   It's not exciting. But we all have fears, and we can learn to overcome them.   Laura Dugger: (9:18 - 9:38) Ray, you make already such a compelling argument for why we as Christians are called to evangelize and deliver the good news and specifically calling it as open-air preachers. So, will you still share a few more arguments or reasons to try and help people understand why this is of utmost importance?   Ray Comfort: (9:39 - 10:47) Yes, we have a moral obligation. We're like doctors with a cure to cancer. We must speak, as the disciples said.   And if you've got fear, let me ask you a question. Could you jump into a pond that had big chunks of ice in it? It was so cold that you would die if you stayed in it for three minutes.   And most people say, no, no, you wouldn't get me jumping into that pond for anything. Let's say a four-year-old boy fell into that pond and his feet couldn't reach the bottom, and he began to drown. You wouldn't hesitate.   You'd just jump in. You wouldn't worry about how cold it was. Grab that kid and pull him out.   And the waters of personal evangelism are freezing. Ice cold. We're not excited about it.   Last thing we ever want to do is get involved in something like this. But love cannot but do something. Love couldn't stand there and watch a child drown.   And love cannot sit on a pew while sinners sink into Hell. So, if you've got problems with fear, don't pray for less fear. Pray for more love because that's the problem.   Laura Dugger: (10:48 - 11:02) Ray, I'm curious. You seem so confident and comfortable with this, but clearly you've been doing it, like you said, for many years. So, was there fear at the beginning for you?   And is there still fear when you do this today?   Ray Comfort: (11:03 - 18:09) No, there wasn't fear at the beginning. Fear is here. Terror is here.   Mortification is here. I was up there somewhere. So, the first time I did it was terrifying.   Second time wasn't quite so terrifying. But after all these years, I still battle fear, always. Every person I got a witness to on a one-to-one basis looks like Goliath.   It goes from a Zacchaeus to a Goliath in a split second. I think a witness to that guy, he's anti-Christian. I can see it by the look on his jawline.   He hates Christians. Can't wait to get his fingers around the neck of any Christian because I've got overripe imagination. I remember once I was driving my car and I saw a dead dog on the road about 100 yards ahead of me and it was such a sad sight.   I could see its head was all twisted back and I could see its ears. It was a German shepherd. And as I got up to it, it was someone's jacket that had fallen off his bike.   That's all. And I just had an overripe imagination. And that's exactly what it's like when it comes to fear.   I have an imagination that some guy's going to kill me if I share the gospel with him. So, I've learned to not listen when fear speaks. I've learned to think about the fate of the person rather than myself.   I mean, think of a firefighter. He arrives at a fire, and he looks up and he has to climb a 60-foot ladder. At the top of the ladder is a woman and two children leaning out of a window and the place is on fire.   It's the fifth story. And they're screaming because they're going to be burned alive in about three minutes. So, he's got to climb that ladder amidst the screaming, amidst the smoke and the sirens.   He could drop one of those kids. He could drop that woman. And so, would he rather be at home with his wife and kids watching an old black-and-white movie?   Of course. Is he terrified? Absolutely.   But he doesn't listen to his fears because of this one fact. He's not thinking of himself. He's thinking of that woman and her terrible fate and those kids.   And that's the key to overcoming fear. When I get my fears, I don't listen because I'm not thinking of myself and my silly little fears, my imagination. I'm thinking of this person and their terrible fate, that they die in their sins.   Lake of fire. Damned. If you think death is fearful on this side, wait till the other side.   It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And the apostle Paul said, Wherefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. So, if you've got a wrong image of God, it's kind of like a Santa Claus sitting in a cloud.   You won't have a terror in your heart. You won't fear God enough to obey him. You know, Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord and do not the things that I tell you?”   And so, if we are submitted to Christ, if we yield to him, if he's our Lord, when he says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We go. He didn't say to stay. Think of what he said.   Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I've actually studied the original Greek words of the word all, every, and go. Go actually means in the original, I think it's passe.   The original Greek, it actually means go. Into all the world and all the world. That word all means all in the original Greek.   And to every creature means every creature. So, when Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”, in the original Greek, he actually was saying, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” So, we're so fortunate to have Greek lexicons and things that we can go back and see what Jesus was actually saying.   And so, it's very simple. We shouldn't stay. We shouldn't want to fill our churches with people when they come in, where to go out and get them.   And one of the most effective ways is with open air preaching. And so, we teach people how to get a crowd. Now, when I first started speaking, I would begin open air preaching with an anecdote, something very gripping.   And it was always difficult because if I didn't live up to that, I didn't get a crowd. And so, for about four or five or six years, it was very difficult. And then I started asking trivia and giving away money.   And I've been doing that for 30, 40 years, where you say to a crowd, I've got some trivia questions, giving away money. And a preacher giving away money is like water running uphill. It's kind of unnatural, so it gets people's attention.   So, I'm going to ask trivia questions. I've got money here to give away. When you get it right. What's the capital of France? Anyone know?    And someone says, “Paris?” That's right.   Here you are. What's the capital of China? Beijing or whatever it is.   Give out a dollar. Say, “What's your name?” Fred.   That's right. And you give Fred a dollar and people laugh, and they gather around and it's just a great way to get rapport with a crowd. And while you're doing that, you look around to see who's got confidence.   This guy over here, or Fred, laughs when I say, “Here's a dollar, and he yells out answers.” I say, “Fred, you want to go for $5?” He says, “Sure.”   So, jump up on the box. So, we've got a box for the hecklers. So, you think you're a good person?   He says, “Yeah, I'm a really good person.” So, if you are, you get $5. If you're not, give me $5 anyway.   Just being a good sport. So, we're going to go through the Ten Commandments to see how you're going to do on Judgment Day and if you are a good person. Let me take him through the commandments as Jesus did with the rich young ruler.   How many lies have you told? Ever stole something? Ever used God's name in vain?   Ever looked at women with lust? And Fred says, “Yeah, I've done all those.” So, Fred, you've just told me you're a lying thief, a blasphemer, and an adulterer at heart.   And you have to face God on Judgment Day. You're going to be innocent or guilty? He says, “Guilty.”   Heaven or Hell? Hell. Does that concern you?   Yeah, sure it does. And the crowd's listening. It's not some sweaty preacher pointing a finger at them.   They're just listening to the gospel. And so, it's a great way. And then you go into that Christ died for our sins, took our punishment.   And Fred, “Thanks for listening. I really appreciate this. Here's your dollar.”   I've got a book for you that I wrote. I hope you enjoy it. Nice to meet you.   He shook his hand. He's off. Anyone else, like any atheists here, never be intimidated by an atheist.   Atheism is the epitome of stupidity. It's just so dumb. Every time I meet an atheist, I ask him one question, and I've seen so many atheists backslide when they've heard this.   I say, “Do you really believe the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything? Puppies and kittens and flowers and seeds and the marvels of the human eye and the miracle of childbirth. All this happened because nothing created it. Do you really believe that?”    They say, “Oh, no, I don't believe that. Oh, there was something in the beginning.”   I say, “Oh, it just wasn't God. Is that it?” Yeah, that's it.   It was something, but it wasn't God. Well, let's see if we can find out why you don't want it to be God. When did you last look at pornography?   I say, “Oh, it was last night. What do you think God thinks of that?” And you realize the issue isn't intellectual.   It's moral. They're running from God like Adam, hiding behind bushes. And so, you've just got to flush them out and then use the Ten Commandments to bring the knowledge of sin and address the conscience rather than the intellect.   Let's take a quick break to hear a message from our sponsor. With over 1,700 apartment units available throughout Pekin, Peoria, Peoria Heights, Morton, Washington, and Canton, and with every price range covered, you will have plenty of options when you rent through Leman Property Management Company. 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Renters may be excited to learn about their flexible leases, pet-friendly locations, and even mini-storage units available in some locations.   Leman Property Management Company has a knowledgeable and helpful staff including several employees with over 30 years working with this reputable company. If you want to become a part of their team, contact them about open office positions. They're also hiring in their maintenance department, so we invite you to find out why so many people have chosen to make a career with them.   Check them out on Facebook today or email their friendly staff at leasing@lemanprops.com. You can also stop by their website at lemanproperties.com. That's L-E-M-A-N-P-R-O-P-E-R-T-Y. Check them out and find your place to call home today.    As you've done this, what has been your experience along the way? And would you even share a few stories of times that this has gone miraculously well and times that have been such a struggle?   Ray Comfort: (20:19 - 30:16) It's always a struggle. But let me share the two great keys that I use when it comes to evangelism. I don't even like using the word evangelism because it scares Christians.   Apologetics. And that is this. I address the conscience, as Jesus did.   When you're in apologetics, and I believe in apologetics, we've got what's called the Evidence Study Bible, which is pregnant with apologetics. So, I believe in apologetics, but they have their place. Apologetics are like bait when you're fishing for men.   If you stay with bait, you're going to end up with fat, happy fish that get away. You've got to have a hook, and that hook is God's law. So, you bait the hook.   And so, it's important if you bait the hook with apologetics and address the intellect to realize this one fact. Romans 8:7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” What does that mean?   It means the carnal, natural mind of man is in a state of hostility towards God, particularly His law. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And you can see this enmity by the fact that human beings lavished with life by God use His name as a cuss word, and the name of Jesus as a cuss word.   Nobody in history has had their name used as a cuss word except Jesus, Jesus Christ, and God. And that shows the enmity they have towards their Creator because they're criminals. And as criminals hate the police, so sinners hate God without cause.   So, you want to move away from the carnal mind because you're going to get enmity. If you say, “Look, I'm going to show you that Noah did build an ark. I'm going to prove it to you there was a big flood.” And so you go through the whole thing that the ark was really big and the animals were small and it could have happened. Then we've got oceans and that's evidence that the earth was flooded. You get this guy who was a skeptic who'd say, “Okay, I believe there was a big flood and Noah could have built an ark.”   Well, great. Now you've got a mountain to climb of Jonah being swallowed by a big fish. Children of Israel shouting and walls coming down when they shout.   Balaam's donkey speaking with a man's voice. Samson with strength in his hair. And you've got all these stories, and they're all an intellectual thing, and they're like a mountain you've got to climb to convince them to believe there's an easier way.   And the early Christians didn't try and convince anyone the Bible is the word of God because they didn't have a New Testament. There was no printing press. No one could read or hardly anyone could read.   Now they just preached the gospel, and you do it not by going for the intellect and trying to intellectually convince someone that God exists or the Bible's the word of God. You do what Jesus did with a rich young ruler. You address the conscience with the commandments.   You shall not lie, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery. It's all written on the heart of man. Conscience means knowledge.   So that knowledge is there. So, the commandments echo the truth, or the conscience echoes the truth of the commandments. When Paul used the commandments in Romans chapter 2, you who say you shall not steal, do you steal?   You say, “You shall not commit adultery; do you commit adultery?” He was addressing the conscience. Romans 2:15, same chapter, would show the work of the law written on their hearts, the conscience bearing witness.   So, I have an ally right in the heart of the enemy. I have a judge on the court and in the mind of every sinner that's going to affirm the truth of what I'm saying and point guilt to the sinner or show him that he's guilty. That's the conscience.   The second great tool I have or weapon I have is the will to live. Human beings are not dogs, horses, cats, or cows. We're completely different.   We're not primates. We're made in the image of God and God has written eternity upon our hearts. He doesn't seem to have done this with my dog.   My dog's only concerned with chasing cats and eating. I don't think there's anything else that really interests her, although I love her, but she's not worrying about eternity, but human beings do. So, I know, according to scripture, that everybody has this will to live.   So, when I go to the local college, and I go there twice a day, to interview people for our YouTube channel. I often say this, “Would you like to go on YouTube?” They say, “Yeah.”   I'm going to ask you, “If you think there's life after death.” I say, “That's okay, and this is my first question. Are you afraid of dying?”   And they go, “A little bit.” A little bit? It's huge.   It's a tormenting fear of death. It haunts you, and that's what the Bible says, this fear of death that we have. And I can tell by the look in the eyes of this person, they're saying, “How did this guy know?”   I haven't told mom or dad. I haven't told my boyfriend or my girlfriend, my brother, my sister, but there's something in me that's terrified of dying. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us.   Amplified Bible, so I'll quote it a little louder. It says, “That God has caused the fear of death or the will to live to be haunting,” it uses the word haunting, “within every human being all their lifetime.” Remember when I was a kid, maybe nine or ten, I used to play wars, cowboys and Indians, and someone would shoot me. I'd roll down a hill and lie there for two minutes and then get up.   And then one day as I got older, I thought, I'm not going to get up one day. And that's that haunting fear of death. That revelation that comes to us, as light comes to us, as we get older. And so, I address that, and this is what I say, “Ever read the Bible?”    “No, never opened it.”    “Why not? It's the world's biggest selling book of all time. Did you know in the Old Testament, God promised he would destroy death? And in the New Testament, we're told how he did it. Did you know that?”    They say, “No.”    “Is he interested?”   And even if it's an atheist, he's going to say, “Yeah, I'm interested.” Because he's got that haunting fear of death. And so, then I go through the gospel. This is the verse that I share with so many people, and it's the most illuminating verse, and I can see light coming to them as I say this.   I say, “Have you ever heard the Bible verse, the wages of sin is death?” And they say, “Maybe.” It's saying that God is paying you in death for your sins.   Like a judge who looks at a criminal who's committed murder, but he thinks he's a good person. The judge says, “I'm going to show you how serious your crime is. I'm giving you the death sentence.”   This is your wages. This is what you've earned. And I say, “Fred, sin is so serious to a holy God, he's given you the death sentence.”   You're on death row. You're in a holding cell. It's got a nice blue roof, good air conditioning, good lighting, but this life is a holding cell, and your death will be evidence to you that God is deadly serious about sin.   That has a sobering effect on people because now they've got a reason why they die. Now they know what's going to happen after they die. It's appointed a man.   It's appointment. It's appointed a man who wants to die, and after this, the judgment. And as you go through the commandments, it shows them how they need a Savior.   And so many people say, I'm going to really think about this. Thank you for talking to me. I say, “When are you going to repent and put your trust in Jesus?”   And so many people lately have been saying, “Today.” So, the pandemic, that plague that no one calls a plague, the pandemic did us a huge favor because it made a whole generation think about their mortality, made them realize they're going to die one day. And so, the harvest fields are white.   One other thought regarding the fear of death and the will to live, the same thing. Think of a waitress who has to approach three men, businessmen wearing dark suits and little briefcases sitting at a table. They're obviously wheeling and dealing millions of dollars.   Is she intimidated? No. She just walks up and says, “Can I take your order?”   Why is she so bold? It's because she knows she has what they want. They're there for food.   And so that makes her bold. And you and I have what this world wants. Right at this moment, there are people in torture chambers called gyms, lifting weights that are far too heavy for them, pulling things they shouldn't be pulling.   And I believe in physical fitness is great. And at the same time, there are people drinking green slime. They would love a chocolate shake, but they drink because they want to increase their life just that little bit more.   We have found everlasting life. So, if the world knew what we had, they would ask us. This is what Jesus said to the woman at the well.   If you knew who it was that was speaking to you, you would ask me. And if the world knew what we had, everlasting life, they'd plead with us. So, because we know we have what the world wants, like that waitress, we must be bold.   And when they realize that we have the answer to death that Jesus Christ has abolished death. When that revelation comes to them, what causes death. That Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, he destroyed death, bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel. That's when the light goes on and they say, “Thank you so much. Thank you for talking to me.” I've just about worn myself out.   Laura Dugger: (30:16 - 30:30) Well, that's incredible to hear, especially the breakdown practically of how you do that. And I would say, “Do you even give people permission to use some of those examples if they want to give this a try?”   Ray Comfort: (30:31 - 31:18) I would plead with them to do so. We've got the evidence Bible. It's filled with how to do these things.   And that book, Fifty Years of Open-Air Preaching: Everything I've Learned is filled with stuff like this. How to get a crowd standing up nice and orderly. There's a picture, I don't know if you can see it, at Berkeley University.   They're all standing around nice in a big circle. That's where you get stoned to death, Berkeley. But because we understand these principles, we just drew a circle out of chalk and said, stand behind the circle.   If anyone got in front of the circle, approached us, we wouldn't talk to them unless they got to the edge of the circle. And people are like sheep. If you say, “Move back behind the chalk line. Do it now.” Okay. They'll do it, if you've got a little bit of authority.   And so, you just learn to do things like that. And it means the gospel can go out. So yeah, please, please use these principles.   Laura Dugger: (31:19 - 31:34) And then can you also just paint a picture. If somebody's never seen this before, they've never tried this before, are there any memorable encounters that you've had as you reflect back on these years of open air preaching?   Ray Comfort: (31:35 - 33:54) Yes. Oh, I've got beaten up by a woman once. Oh dear.   I'll have to tell you. I was in Santa Monica many years ago, and I had a crowd of maybe 40, 50 people. And there's a woman there that was very vocal and kept calling me, using the F word a couple of times.   So, I said, “Ma'am, can you watch your language? There are ladies present.” And she said, “I'm a lady.”   I said, “Ma'am, you may be a woman, but you are not a lady.” And with that, she ran at me like a bat out of heaven and began beating me up. Now, most women go scratch, and hair pulling, but she was like Mike Tyson's sister. She got in six punches, knocked me to the ground before my team pulled her off.   They held her back. And she said, let me go and get my purse. They let her go.   And she gave me a kidney punch and took two weeks for the bruising to go, but she doubled my crowd. She can come back anytime she wants. But that was my fault.   And that was very memorable. So, I talk nicely to ladies now. One to one, one of the most memorable ones is a guy named Mario.   Our YouTube channel's got 1.57 million subscribers, just past 314 million views. And one of the best, most gripping encounters was with a guy named Mario. I went out on my bike.   My dog's on my bike. She's on a platform. She wears sunglasses.   I wear sunglasses. It gets people's attention. She's the best bait I've ever had when fishing for men.   Saw this guy standing by a tree on a pathway, and I said, “You want to come on camera?” He said, “Yeah.” I was surprised because I didn't have to talk him into it.   And he was quite arrogant, very handsome young man. And as we went through the commandments, I saw a tear well in his eye and roll down his cheek. And I thought, oh, no, God's doing a work in the heart of this guy, and I don't want to mess it up.   And so, I did my best to end up praying with him, and he was just beside himself in sorrow for his sin. And I think that's something like 4 million views on a YouTube channel. If you go to the most popular to see it, you'll see him there.   But that was a very memorable encounter. One that I often think when I'm going out on my bike each day. Lord, give me a Mario today, please.   Laura Dugger: (33:55 - 34:58) When was the first time you listened to an episode of The Savvy Sauce? How did you hear about our podcast? Did a friend share it with you?   Will you be willing to be that friend now and text five other friends or post on your socials anything about The Savvy Sauce that you love? If you share your favorite episodes, that is how we continue to expand our reach and get the good news of Jesus Christ in more ears across the world. So, we need your help.   Another way to help us grow is to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Each of these suggestions will cost you less than a minute, but it will be a great benefit to us. Thank you so much for being willing to be generous with your time and share.   We appreciate you. It's compelling to hear this and inspiring, but then also if we're going back to talking about the fears. What fears do you see holding people back from giving this a try or from evangelizing in general?   Ray Comfort: (34:59 - 37:37) That is a great question, and you provoke something very important. I've traveled on about 2,000 flights, itinerating over the years, and so many times I've prayed, and when there's an empty seat on a plane beside me, I always pray for the person who's going to sit there. This is the prayer I subliminally pray.   Lord, please don't let this guy show up. That's what I pray. And then he shows up, and I share the gospel with him.   My hardest, my biggest mountain to climb was how do you bring the subject up? Okay, I'm on a plane. This guy's a businessman.   He's wearing a three-piece suit. He's very intimidating, and I've got to talk to him about the things of God and sin and righteousness and judgment. How do I bring the subject up with this guy?   Oh, see those clouds? Guess who made the clouds? God.   No, it's just terrifying. But I learned something many years ago that just dissipated that fear of man and the fear of women, and that's this. I just say to any stranger, “Do you think there's an afterlife?”   That's a simple question. Do you think there's life after death? I haven't mentioned God, Jesus, Heaven, Hell, sin, righteousness, judgment, any of those things that make him feel uncomfortable.   I just said, do you think there's an afterlife? And this is how I do it, and I've done it many times. I'm at the ministry now in our studio.   Many a time I've had workmen come. Let's say there's a plumber working on something. I go up to him and say, “Hey, how are you doing?”   He says, “Good.” I'm Ray. What's your name?   He says, “Eric.” Nice to meet you, Eric. Eric, what?   I've got a question for you, “Do you think there's an afterlife?” Eric stands up and says, “I don't know.”   I say, “Do you think about it much?” Yeah, all the time. His all the time just dissipated my fears.   He's not antichrist. He hasn't stabbed me to death. He's a normal human being.   He thinks about the issues of life and death all the time. And so, I've got confidence. And the thing that got me in there was that question, do you think there's an afterlife?   You can ask anyone. Even Uncle Arthur at the Christmas lunch, sitting there and usually he's working. Uncle Arthur, do you think there's an afterlife? Haven't mentioned God, Jesus, Heaven, Hell. Just let him talk.   He says, “Oh, I don't know about heaven.” So Rich, “You ever read the Bible?” Oh, let me get you my Bible.   Let me lend it to you. It just opens the door and lets them do the talking. So never forget that.   You can talk to any stranger about the things of God by just asking that question. Do you think there's an afterlife? And I do it every day.   Laura Dugger: (37:38 - 37:57) Wow. And I love it, even before we began recording when we were just getting to know each other for a moment. And then you said, well, before we begin, shall we do this in the flesh, or should we pray?   And I love that. I think that's such an approachable first step to this.   Ray Comfort: (37:57 - 38:07) Well, you just have to do something in the flesh to know how terrible it is. You need a pulpit, and you think, oh God, I need your help. So, I always pray.   Laura Dugger: (38:08 - 38:24) Absolutely. That's very relatable. And so, if we're considering this invitation to evangelize publicly, what do you think this looks like for men and for women?   And do you see any difference between the two?   Ray Comfort: (38:25 - 39:21) Yes, I do. When I look at my wife, I see different from the local workman that comes to work around our home. But physically, no, I don't.   Yeah. When Jesus had gone to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, he didn't say, “Oh, that's just for men.” No.   Look at the woman at the well. She went off and shared the gospel with the whole village. And so, if a woman's got the courage to stand up and do what men won't do, God bless her.   I think that's wonderful. And so, I'm all for women and women stay silent at the church. Well, that's for the church.   That's church discipline. But when it comes to sharing the gospel, telling people how they can find everlasting life, women can do just as well with men and a woman can do good with five people or 10 people. Now she can gather a crowd of 200 at a university and share how to find everlasting life.   God bless her. And thank you for her, Aud.   Laura Dugger: (39:22 - 39:35) Thank you for sharing that. And can you think of just an easy or approachable next step, something that we could do today that takes inspiration from this conversation and turns it into action?   Ray Comfort: (39:35 - 39:38) Yes. Get the book.   Laura Dugger: (39:40 - 39:41) Absolutely.   Ray Comfort: (39:41 - 39:48) And I'll watch our YouTube channel too. I love it. It'll really help you build confidence.   Thank you for that.   Laura Dugger: (39:49 - 40:01) My pleasure. So, if we do determine that we're going to apply what we've learned today, then there's another side to this as well. What kind of attack can we expect from our enemy?   Ray Comfort: (40:02 - 42:34) Oh, full on. You're going to get negative thoughts. You can't do this.   You shouldn't do this. What are you going to do if you dry up? The dry up thing is a real big fear.   I'm going to get up there and I'll say, “My mind's gone blank.” Well, just have a Gospel of John in your pocket, a little New Testament, maybe a little Gideon in your pocket there. And if you dry up, just say, “Oh, excuse me, I want to read this to you.”   You've got John 3:16, corner turned down. Just say, “For God so loved the world and gave his only begotten son who believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Please think about that.   Close it and get down. Or you can keep speaking. And so, if you've got an out, that will dissipate your fears if you know you can get out if that happens.   I've used it many a time. I mean the fear of every preacher is drying up in a pulpit. I remember I was in a church of 3,000 once and I lost my place.   So, you know what I did? I just said, look at that over there. And everyone looked at the wall.   I said, I just lost my place. Or I'll say something like this. “Turn to Leviticus 15:3.”   And everyone goes, shh, shh, shh. I look for my place. I've got my thoughts back.   And they say that was a fake scripture. I don't know what it is. I wanted to do something while I was trying to find my place.   And there I've never had problems drying up in the pulpit because I know that's my way out. And it's the same with open air preaching. If you dry up, you're just going to quote John 3:16 or begin reading Genesis chapter 1 to the crowd.   “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And just knowing you've got that out will help dissipate your fears. And when you're finished, you'll have such a joy.   I say to our team, whenever you go to preach the gospel, you're dragging your feet. When you come back, you'll be clicking your heels.   And that's exactly what happens. You'll have such satisfaction that you did what you know you should. You overcame that Goliath.   You ran at Goliath and overcame your fears. And so just do it. If you want to learn to swim, you don't study water.   You jump in. That's the best way to learn to swim. And, you know, if you're going to drown, it's a pity more people don't know this, but if you just relax, you'll float.   If you panic, you'll probably sink. And it's the same with this. Don't panic.   Just trust in the Lord. Say, “Lord, you'll fill my mouth. You'll help me out with this.”   And he'll float. He'll float you. He'll take you by the hand, and you'll be fine.   I've done it thousands of times, and God's never let me down.   Laura Dugger: (42:36 - 43:00) Amen. I hope we all are willing to give it a try. I think that you really articulated it well when you narrow it down to that fear of man, fear of woman.   And I love also that just do it, and we can do it scared. But you're so full of these practical tips. There's one about hecklers that we haven't covered yet.   Can you share your perspective on hecklers?   Ray Comfort: (43:01 - 44:02) Hecklers are wonderful. If you fear hecklers, you're fearing the thing that could make what you're doing a great success. A good heckler, if he's handled well, can take a crowd of 15 people to 150 people in about 30, 40 seconds.   And all you do is let him vent. There's one, I think we've got, it's called The Angry Atheist. I think it's one of our videos.   And this guy was furious, a Christian. So, I just let him vent, and the crowd thickened up, and then we started one by one dealing with his problems. And just always remember a soft answer turns away wrath.   If someone's angry, you just speak, what's your name? And they'll say, “Oh, John.” Nice to meet you, John.   That's a nice sweater. I remember once a lady came up, this young lady. She was really angry, and I did say the sweater thing to her when she was yelling at me.   I said, “That's a nice sweater.” She said, “Really?” I said, “Where'd you get it?”   And so, a soft answer turns away wrath. So, you just learn these little things that can really help.   Laura Dugger: (44:03 - 44:14) I love that. And just as a model for us, if we want to share the good news of Jesus, you've done this time and time again. Will you share it with all of us now?   Ray Comfort: (44:16 - 46:05) What are you trying to do to me? You mean you'd like the gospel? Absolutely.   One-minute gospel presentation. Okay, let's do a nutshell. Let me say, I'm meeting a stranger.   I'll talk directly to them. You know, God's placed a will to live within you. Something in you says, I don't want to die.   Did you know the Bible says, “Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to life through the gospel?” And the reason you're going to die is because you've sinned against God. And all you have to do for a few minutes with an honest heart is go through the commandments.   The seventh commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery, but Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust, you commit adultery in your heart, lying lips and abomination to the Lord. No thief will inherit God's kingdom.”    Ever stolen something? Ever used God's name in vain? And if you've been honest, you'll know you've sinned against God. And if all your sin comes out on Judgment Day as evidence of your guilt, you're going to end up justly in Hell, and that breaks my heart.   And God is not willing that any perish. The Bible says, “He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and he's provided a way for you to be forgiven by Christ dying on the cross.” We broke God's law.   Jesus paid the fine. It's as simple as that. That means you can leave the courtroom.   God can dismiss your case. He can take death off you because of what Jesus did through his death and resurrection. And all you have to do is so simple a child can understand it.   You must repent, turn from your sins. You'll never do that while you think you're a good person. And trust in Jesus like you trust a parachute.   The minute you do that, you've got God's promise, and he cannot lie. He'll grant you everlasting life as a free gift, not because you're good, but because He's good and kind and rich in mercy. And don't put it off until tomorrow because you may not have tomorrow.   Fifty-four million people die every year. Today, if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart.   Laura Dugger: (46:07 - 46:10) It just never gets old hearing that.   Ray Comfort: (46:10 - 46:10) No.   Laura Dugger: (46:10 - 46:28) Thank you. And you also bring up even so clearly from scripture but sharing repent and believe. And is there anything else that you would want to make sure that we wouldn't leave out of a conversation if we were evangelizing to someone?   Ray Comfort: (46:29 - 48:02) Well, another good question. Yeah, a lot of people are saying all you have to do is believe. Just believe.   They say if you repent, that's works. Well, by saying you have to believe, that's works. If you have to do anything, believe.   No, the Bible says, “By grace you're saved through faith, through faith, and not of yourselves.” It's God's grace that saves us. But if you read scripture, it comes through repentance and faith.   And the reason they want to drop repentance is because they don't see the true nature of sin. And what the commandments do, the Ten Commandments, they open up the law and show sin to be exceedingly sinful, and that necessitates repentance. Like with David, when he realized he'd committed adultery and lied and stolen his neighbor's wife, covered his neighbor's wife, murdered his neighbor, that's when he cried out, “Oh, have mercy upon me, oh God, according to your lovingkindness.”   If Nathan hadn't said, “Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, and David hadn't said, I've sinned against heaven, he would have just said, oh, just believe. No, he had to get before God and agonize. Scripture says, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.”   Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Let your laugh to be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness.” That's contrition.   And the law that shows us the nature of sin produces contrition, sorrow for sin, which works repentance, godly sorrow, works repentance unto life. So, it's most necessary to preach, as Jesus did, repent and believe in that order.   Laura Dugger: (48:04 - 48:13) That is so good. Ray, where can we go to continue learning from you and continue to be inspired by the faithful work that you're doing?   Ray Comfort: (48:14 - 48:46) Very kind of you to say that. LivingWaters.com, sign up for our newsletter. We've always got interesting stuff.   We give away a lot of stuff. Watch the YouTube channel. We have different videos each day.   We put one up four days ago that's had 4.6 million views. And so, it's a wonderful way to reach the lost. So, follow us.   Just become part of a YouTube channel, subscribe, and that really helps us and helps further our reach. So LivingWaters.com and LivingWaters YouTube.   Laura Dugger: (48:47 - 49:05) Wonderful. We'll make sure to add those links in the show notes for today's episode. And as you already know, our podcast is entitled The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge.   And so, as my final question for you today, Ray, what is your Savvy Sauce?   Ray Comfort: (49:06 - 49:12) My wife. Is that okay to say that?   Laura Dugger: (49:12 - 49:17) I love that. Do you want to say anything more specific about her?   Ray Comfort: (49:17 - 49:44) Sue and I have been married for 108 years, 54. We love each other. She's my best friend.   She works at the ministry and also I love my dog. And one thing I might say just as we close is don't call this anything to do with evangelism. That'll kill.   Use the word apologetics or say Ray Comfort says this about his wife. Anything other than evangelism that scares Christians off.   Laura Dugger: (49:45 - 49:50) Wow. Interesting. So that's been your experience.   That makes sense.   Ray Comfort: (49:51 - 50:25) Yeah. That's a principle we use at the ministry. If we have a conference, don't mention evangelism.   No one will come. It's like someone saying to me, “Hey, want to go door knocking, tell people about Jesus?” I go; I just wouldn't want to do that.   And there's a reason for it. As a new Christian, I knocked on someone's door, fully aware that Jehovah's Witnesses had stolen our thunder, and I said to this lady, “Hello, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness.” She said, “Well, I am.”   And so, I've got this aversion to door knocking, and that's what most Christians are like when it comes to evangelism. So, call it something else.   Laura Dugger: (50:25 - 50:50) Wow. So practical, again. And Ray, you've just stewarded your many gifts that God has given you.   You've stewarded them so well and so wisely. I can just imagine God greeting you someday and having just, well done, good and faithful servant. So, thank you for generously taking the time to share with us today.   I'm grateful for you, and I just want to say thank you for being my guest.   Ray Comfort: (50:51 - 50:52) Well, thank you for having me.   Laura Dugger: (50:53 - 54:35) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him.   That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.   We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now?   Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life?   We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.   If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him. You get the opportunity to live your life for him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.   We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started? First, tell someone.   Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.   I selected the Quest NIV Bible, and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.   I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read scripture that describes this process.   And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

An expository sermon from Numbers 24:1-14 on the infamous Balaam.

A Sermon for St. Bartholomew's Day Acts 5:12-16 by William Klock St. Bartholomew the Apostle.  He's pretty much a mystery.  As far as the New Testament goes, Matthew, Mark, and Luke list him as one of the twelve.  Beyond that, we have nothing.  His name, Bar tholomais probably means “son of Tolomai”, but it may actually be his given name since when Matthew, Mark, and Luke want to refer to someone as “son of So-and-so” they use the Greek way of doing it not the Aramaic “bar So-and-so”.  Since John never mentions Bartholomew, but does mention Nathanael, some think that the two are the same.  I don't find the argument very convincing.  Various stories and legends describe him going off to evangelise India or Pontus or Armenia, amongst other places.  When I consider sources and dates, I think the story of him taking the gospel to India is probably the most likely.  Almost without a doubt he was martyred for proclaiming Jesus the Messiah—probably flayed and maybe then beheaded.  He was an apostle—one of Jesus' hand-picked messengers sent to herald the good news—so what we can confidently say is that that's exactly what he did and that he probably died, very painfully, for the sake of his Lord. But since there are no scripture passages that tell us about him, our Epistle and Gospel today are simply passages that tell us about the apostles in general.  So with that, I'd like to look at our Epistle —Acts 5:12-16.  Here's, again, what Luke writes: Many signs and wonders were done by the hands of the apostles amongst the people.  They were all together in Solomon's Porch.  None of the others dared to join them, though the people spoke highly of them.  But more people, a crowd of both men and women, believed the Lord and were added to their number.  They used to bring the sick into the streets and place them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on them as he went by.  Crowds gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing people who were sick or troubled by unclean spirits.  All of them were healed.   One Saturday morning back in my computer tech days I found a woman sitting in her car outside the door when I showed up to open the store.  She was from out of town and afraid that if she waited to call until we were open, there wouldn't be time to fix her computer the same day.  So she just showed up.  And she had a box of doughnuts by way of apology—or bribe—really a little of both.  So I got to work on the computer and the doughnuts while she watched and talked to me.  They were really good doughnuts and I told her and she told me she'd made them herself.  In fact, she owned a little doughnut shop in a tourist town an hour away.  And she told me how she got started.  There was only one place in town that sold doughnuts, but they didn't make them.  Their doughnuts were delivered from the city and were a day old—at least—by the time they were served.  She opened up a little place in a converted camping trailer selling doughnuts and coffee to the tourists, but the coffee shop that had been there forever had a corner on the coffee and doughnut market, plus a primo location to catch the tourists.  She was about to call it quits, when the owner of the garden shop across the street from the coffee shop came to see her.  The garden shop and the coffee shop were in some kind of spat and the owner of the garden shop decided to invite this woman to park her trailer in their parking lot.  See, the tourist industry there was all about tulips.  People would come to see the tulips and the reason that old coffee shop was in such a good location was because the place across the street—the garden shop—sold tulip bulbs from the local growers.  People came to see the tulips, then they went to the garden shop to buy bulbs, and finally ended up across the street for coffee and doughnuts.  But coffee and doughnuts in the parking lot of the garden shop was more convenient than coffee and doughnuts across the street.  It helped that her doughnuts were better and that they were fresh.  So pretty soon all the people were crowding around her trailer for doughnuts instead of going to the old mainstay across the street.  And, of course, the coffee shop owner wasn't happy.  He went to the town council and tried to have “mobile restaurants” banned from town—an early version of today's restauranteurs trying to ban competition from food trucks.  It didn't work and this woman who'd brought her computer in eventually won the doughnut war. That's a bit like what's going on in Acts 5.  Pay attention to the fact that this is Acts 5.  This is right at the beginning of the story.  These are the days and weeks just after Pentecost.  And if Peter and James and John had gone back home to Galilee and done these signs and wonders, they would have drawn crowds just like Jesus had done there, but being so far away from Jerusalem, they probably wouldn't have drawn the ire of the Jewish religious authorities.  The Pharisees, of course, were always there scowling and scolding, but the Pharisees weren't the gatekeepers.  They were just a popular interest group.  But Peter and the other apostles didn't go back to Galilee.  They stayed right in Jerusalem.  Not only that, but Luke writes that they were meeting together in Solomon's Porch.  Solomon's Porch was a great colonnade on the eastern side of the outer court of the temple.  So the apostles would go to the temple to worship, but they would also spend their days gathered together, preaching, and doing signs and wonders in the outer court.  This was where all the people were coming and going and it was probably near the house where the serving priests lived.  It was a busy place.  The temple wasn't a church, but what the apostles were doing would be a bit like coming to church and then hanging out afterward on the front porch or in the rectory garden.  And the crowds would gather.  Some of them stopped to listen or to be healed on their way to or from the temple proper, but many people were coming just to hear the teaching of the apostles.  Many people were coming, just like they'd come to Jesus, because they'd heard that Peter and the others were casting out demons, giving sight to the blind, and healing the lame.  And I fully expect that Peter was repeating several times a day the same thing he preached on Pentecost—about Jesus fulfilling the promises of the old covenant and making a new and better one. They'd set up a doughnut stand right in front of the established coffee shop that had been there forever.  And they were selling delicious, fresh doughnuts while the coffee shop was still trying to sell day-olds delivered yesterday.  So you can understand that this raised the ire of the Jewish authorities.  The apostles weren't just tweaking the noses of some Pharisees in backwater villages.  They were—you might say—stealing customers from the religious authorities and doing so right on their front porch. And let's talk about the healings that were happening, because I've noticed that we're very, very, very, very prone to taking passages like this out of context.  It's not just that the apostles were working a multitude of healing miracles.  It gets pretty weird.  Luke says that people would even lay out their sick loved ones just so Peter's shadow would fall on them and they'd be healed.  Every last one of them, Luke seems to be saying, was healed.  The part about Peter's shadow seems kind of over-the-top.  I can't help but think of various medieval stories of people being healed by the relics of saints or people stealing Baby Jesus' diapers off Mary's washline and being healed by them.  And yet Peter's shadow isn't the only weird thing like this in Acts that we might be tempted to doubt.  Luke also tells us later in Acts that people would take Paul's handkerchiefs and use them to heal the sick. And there are people today who think that stuff like this should be the norm always and everywhere.  There are scammers sending out vials of holy water or oil as a cure-all and televangelists who will wave their jackets at a line-up of people and claim they've been healed.  And if you don't experience miracles like this in your own life or in your own church, well, they'll shame you and tell you that you lack faith.  A few weeks ago someone sent me some commentary about a new “worship” song that came out of one of those sorts of places.  The song calls for revival and courage and strength and faith, which are all good things and all things the church today often lacks, but then the heart of the song is a prayer for a new Pentecost.  They don't see the sort of miraculous happenings today that we see in Acts 5 and they think that what we need is another Pentecost.  What they're saying is that the modern church—or at least mainstream churches that don't do the things they claim to do—lack the Holy Spirit.  And I cringed.  That's no different than saying that because some Christians still walk in sin, we need Jesus to die again.  No.  A thousand times, no!  Just like Jesus death and resurrection, Pentecost has already happened.  It was a one-time event.  We don't need another one.  What we need is to live as the people, as the community, as the church born that day when God poured out his Spirit.  And, in some cases, we need to read scripture better so that we don't set unrealistic expectations.  Remember, Brothers and Sisters, miracles are acts of God, not acts of men and women.  If God wants us to see miracles, nothing is going to stop him.  If he could act through a pagan prophet like Balaam, he can act through even the most lukewarm Christian.  Maybe the problem is that we've misunderstood what God was doing through the apostles in the book of Acts. Remember that context is everything, so let's look at this story about the apostles in context.  When Jesus had risen from the grave a few week earlier, he inaugurated God's new creation.  He was the firstborn of the resurrection.  God's new life went out like a shockwave from the empty tomb on Easter.  And that new life, that new creation met the disciples of Jesus on Pentecost.  And God wanted it be clear, he wanted the world to see that in Jesus and in this new covenant people who identified with Jesus, his kingdom, his new creation was being born.  And so, first with Jesus and then with the apostles and those first believers, God did amazing things so that no one would or could mistake what was happening.  Remember the people in the gospels, people like Nicodemus who said to Jesus, “No one can do the things you do unless he's from God.”  Jesus' signs and wonders validated his messiahship.  And now, as we get into Acts, we see that God wanted to make sure that when those first Christians started telling people the good news that Jesus had risen from the dead and that new creation had begun, they had his witness, they had these signs and wonders to go along with their preaching and their actions. But it's wouldn't be like that forever.  Miracles would stop being noteworthy if they happened all the time.  We really need to pay attention to the big biblical story here.  Miracles aren't a common thing in that story.  They cluster around the times when God does something new.  Think of the exodus from Egypt.  The biggest cluster of miracles in the Old Testament is found in the Exodus: from the burning bush, to the plagues sent on Egypt, to the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's army, to the water from the rock and the manna in the wilderness.  But it doesn't stop there.  That generation knew miracles like no other.  They saw the Lord in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, leading them to the promised land.  They knew the bronze serpent Moses raised up.  They knew the miraculous battles won for them by the Lord.  And when they marched into Canaan, the Lord dried up the Jordan.  He won their battles and toppled cities like Jericho.  And it happened so that Israel would powerfully know his goodness and his glory and then pass that knowledge to future generations.  And, too, the Lord did these thing so that the nations would take note.  The God of Israel is powerful and glorious and cares for his people.  He's unlike any other god.  But then take note: those future generations were expected to know the goodness and the faithfulness and glory of God, not through ongoing daily miracles, but through the witness of their fathers and through the scriptures.  And, too, each new generation bore in its flesh the sign of circumcision, the sign of God's covenant with them and of his faithfulness.  And every year the families of Israel gathered together and ate the Passover and participated themselves in the glorious events of the Exodus.  The Lord took his people from the witness of miracles to the witness of what we might call the common means of grace.  Miracles convinced a people who didn't know the Lord to trust and obey him.  But the covenant people who then knew him, who lived with him in their midst, who had his word, who bore his covenant sign and ate his covenant meal—they didn't need miracles to know the Lord was worthy of their trust and obedience. And, Brothers and Sisters, the Lord followed exactly this pattern in the new exodus.  Jesus' ministry and then the ministry of the apostles were full of the miraculous.  Jesus himself and then the Spirit are the evidence of God's goodness and faithfulness and glory, but as Jesus led his people—not this time into Canaan, but into his new creation—he made that new creation manifestly real as he made all the sad things of this world become untrue, as he undid the real-world consequences of sin and death and as he showed how he had defeated the devils at the cross. In the book of Acts God shows the world very dramatically what the church is—that it is the beachhead of his kingdom, his new creation in the world.  His church is the new covenant community, the temple in which he now dwells, the steward of both his Spirit and his gospel who will spread his new creation wherever it—wherever they—wherever we—go.  Acts is about God's formation of his new people. Consider that the passage just before our Epistle today is the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  It's telling that people will think miraculous healings should be everyday occurrences, but I've never heard anyone suggest that God striking down people who lie to the church should be just as ordinary.  If it were, we'd have a lot of dead faith-healers.  But we shouldn't expect that to happen.  The Lord only needed to strike down a couple like Ananias and Sapphira once.  The point isn't that this is what happens to people who lie to the church.  The point is that this one frightening miracle should—and I think it has—reverberated down through the generations with the message that God expects holiness of his people.  Acts 5 begins with that call to holiness and it makes it very plain that a church that lacks holiness, even if it isn't literally struck dead, will die.  Jesus will take away its lampstand.  We've seen that through history and we see it today.  So, after establishing that holiness is an essential characteristic of the people of God (and not, that's what much of Exodus is about as well), Chapter 5 then continues with these signs and wonders done by the apostles to back up their proclamation that in Jesus new creation has begun.  Again, the church doesn't ordinarily need miracles to show God's new creation.  We show the world God's new creation as we live the fruit of the Spirit, as we bring the reconciling power of the gospel to broken people and broken relationships, and as we work to bring things like mercy and justice and life to a sin-broken world.  But in those early days, the Jewish authorities could say that's just what they were already doing.  So God gave better doughnuts to the apostles. And that's then followed by the arrest of the apostles by the temple authorities.  They were angry because they'd set up a doughnut shop on their front porch and were stealing their customers.  Just as they'd crucified Jesus to say, “He's not really the Messiah,” they have Peter and the others arrested to send the message, “Despite their miracles, these men are frauds.  Don't believe them when they claim to be a new temple.  That's blasphemy!”  But do you remember what happened?  That night as the apostles sat in their jail cells an angel appeared, set them free, and sent them back to the temple court to keep preaching the gospel.  The next day the priests met to decide what to do with the apostles.  They sent for them to be brought from the jail and that's when the guards reported they were gone.  And that's when someone came running into the council chamber saying, “Look!  The guys you arrested and put in prison are right now in the temple preaching.” It's God, again, backing up his newly established church with miracles.  When he raised Jesus from the dead, he overturned the false verdict of Pilate and the Jews and this time he overturned the false verdict of the priests and validates the good news Peter was preaching.  And the apostles took it to heart.  They kept preaching and preaching and preaching—in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and eventually to the world—and all but John were martyred.  They were killed for their faithful proclamation of Jesus.  But they knew the same God who had raised Jesus from the dead would one day raise them.  Death had no more power over them than the demons or sickness or prison doors.  And their story was told through the generations of Christians to come: to Christians in Rome, to Christians in pagan nations, to Christians living under Communism, to Christian missionaries who gave their lives to proclaim to the good news to hostile people.  They didn't need to experience miracles first hand.  Just as Isreal knew the stories of the first exodus from Egypt, these Christian brothers and sisters knew the stories of the second exodus from sin and death.  And as Israel bore God's covenant sign of circumcision and celebrated the Passover and remembered God's goodness and faithfulness and glory, so those Christians bore themselves the sign of baptism and celebrated the Lord's Supper and not only knew the goodness and faithfulness and glory of God, but they also knew—as we should too—that we are the embodiment of God's new creation, we are the stewards of his Spirit and his gospel, we are the beachhead of God's new creation.  Miracles or not, what we need to remember is that the power to defeat the enemies of God is the power of his gospel and the power of his Spirit.  It always has been and it always will be. Let's pray: O almighty and eternal God, who gave your apostle Saint Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love that Word, and both preach and receive it; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today, we will continue our study of Numbers 22-25 Balaam, Balak, the Moabites, and the Midianites. Overhead 1:Text-for-Numbers-22-25.pdf --Michael D. Henson, Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Herrin, IL). https://vimeo.com/1110708964?share=copy Picture:  We still have lots to do, but the wall is down.  The room may be big enough for our adult class.

In this sermon, we explore the book of Jude, which warns against those who have a "taste" for things other than God. Jude highlights three Old Testament figures, with a special focus on Balaam, a prophet who could hear from God but was corrupted by greed.Though hired to curse the Israelites, Balaam was only able to bless them. Motivated by a reward, he instead advised the enemy king to seduce the Israelites, causing them to break their covenant with God and bring a plague upon themselves.This story serves as a powerful reminder that the greatest threats often come from within. The sermon challenges us to fight for our faith and not let a "taste" for money or power compromise our integrity. We are encouraged to choose righteousness over material reward, even if it means losing out in the short term, because our true treasure is found elsewhere.#sundayservice #sermon #villain

Could a layperson on a desert island take on the role of a priest? It's time for more listener weird questions with Jimmy Akin and Cy Kellett of Catholic Answers Live, including topics like aerial toll booths in the afterlife, whether Balaam's donkey had a rational soul, whether God could have become incarnate as multiple races in Middle Earth, and more. The post Can You Ordain Yourself on a Desert Island? (And More Weird Questions) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

Could a layperson on a desert island take on the role of a priest? It's time for more listener weird questions with Jimmy Akin and Cy Kellett of Catholic Answers Live, including topics like aerial toll booths in the afterlife, whether Balaam's donkey had a rational soul, whether God could have become incarnate as multiple races in Middle Earth, and more.

I want to be a part of God's irrevocable blessing and promise that even Balaam acknowledged in his oracle "cannot be changed." A chapter-a-day podcast from Numbers 23. The text version may always be found and shared at tomvanderwell.com.

One of the most surprising stories in Scripture continues the promise that God will punish those who reject His Word. - Bill Allen - Thursday, August 21, 2025

OOBT is back from a summer break, and what better way to return than with the 80th episode! Cue the confetti!

Scripture Reading: Revelation 2:12-17 The third church in the letters of Christ to the seven churches was in the city of Pergamum.  Like Smyrna, it was a center for emperor worship.  There was a temple dedicated to the worship of Augustus (and subsequent Caesars) in Pergamum as well as the renowned Altar of Zeus. Christ lauds the Christians in Pergamum for their willingness to suffer and display fidelity to the Christian faith.  The problem in Pergamum was that although the Christians had publicly denounced idolatry, some of the people had privately allowed immorality (Rev 2:14) because of doctrinal corruption (Rev 2:15).  Doctrinal corruption always leads to behavioral corruption.  It is true of many Christians today.  Some condemn public evil … abortion, pornography, same sex marriage … but allow subtle sins in their own lives , like lust, hatred, neglect of prayer.  The allowance of subtle sins, often, results from haziness about Biblical doctrine.  Wrong thinking always leads to wrong behavior.  So many of our churches today need a revitalization of precise, deep-rooted, fervent truth in their programs.  Biblical truth is being replaced today, in wholesale fashion and in the name of worship, by entertainment.  While we stimulate our senses we are starving our souls.  We need clear, demanding truth from the eternal Word of God.  This is the only way our lives and our churches will remain pure light in the darkness.  He who has an ear, let him hear.     

An expository sermon from Numbers 23:1-12 on Balaam's audacity in speaking to king Balak.

Sermon Date: 08/17/2025; Pastor Bill Bryson; Scripture Passage: Jude 1:11Support the show

 After all the wonders for most of Solomon's reign, all the benefits and blessings he had inherited from his father David, Solomon's greatness – we would say – humanly speaking – went to his head.  We read today “when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart … “ [1 Kings 11 v.4]     A significant factor in this was that he married many foreign wives who worshipped idols.   We are told “the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD” [v.9]  His foreign wives had influenced him in his worship, so “the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite.”[v.14]  There were others, “God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezin, the son of Eliada” [v.23]  Our English translations disguise the fact that the word ‘adversary' in Hebrew is ‘Satan.'     The fundamental meaning of ‘satan' is someone who opposes you.  The first occasions the word is used in Scripture is in Numbers 22 v.22 and 32 to describe how the angel God sent to encounter the false prophet Balaam, who had some knowledge of the LORD, that this angel was an “adversary” to him – sent by God “to oppose” him.     We read earlier this week how Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” [Mark 8 v.33]  Later, some Jewish synagogues were becoming so opposed to the growing Christian communities that they are described as “a synagogue of Satan” [Rev.2 v.9]     Are there any satans in your life?  If so, can it be that you are being tested as Jesus was by Peter?  Or “the synagogue of Satan” that tested believers in Smyrna.  They were told, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer: behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested … you will have tribulation.  Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life … The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death” when Jesus comes [v.10,11]  Let us conquer any adversaries or adversities.  How wonderful the promise, “The one who conquers … I will never blot his name out of the book of life.  I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” [Rev 3 v.5]

An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever, because they met you not with bread and with water in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam, but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee.Deuteronomy 23:3–5Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible.Tonight we are pleased to continue our study on the book of Deuteronomy, which teaches us to know God, love God and obey God. Filling in for Ronald L. Dart, with part twelve of this fascinating series, is our good friend, Richard Crow.

An expository sermon from Numbers 22 on the contradiction of Balaam.

God loves us so much that He will try to communicate with us in any way we will let Him; With Moses it was a burning bush, with Jonah it was a big fish, with Balaam it was his donkey.  But we can unknowingly shut God out when we don't believe He wants to talk to us.

00:25 The essence of Rabbi Akiva's wisdom is that the Torah speaks in parables3:40 The sin that led to the death of Bar Kochba is the sin of taking the Torah literally 11:15 Balaam and the parables about the Messiah; the prophets themselves didn't know the meaning of their parables about the Messiah18:00 Balaam blessed Israel with kingship, which turned into a curse21:00 Inverting the meaning of the Torah and Balaam's endeavor24:00 The inversion of the Torah is its external, superficial meaning; Balaam as the anti-Moshe28:45 The function of a king is to craft a unified message; the connection between kings and parables33:45 The problem with kings, who occlude the kingship of Hashem43:00 How can there be a righteous king?44:15 The function of halacha and how it applies to establishing kings who stand as parables for Hashem55:00 The contradiction in Shemoneh Esreh whether Hashem alone will rule us or David will56:00 Solomon's failure revolved around thinking we know the reasons of mitzvahs fully59:30 The more progress we make in recognizing the limits of our reason, the more we can safely explore the reasons for the mitzvahs 1:05:30 The Guide is Gan Eden; the Tree of Life is the middle question in the middle chapter of the middle section of the Guide: "Why did he give these mitzvahs and these prohibitions?"1:11:30 Rabbi Akiva knew the reason of the Red Heifer, which is that paradoxes are appropriate1:13:00 Balaam as the anti-Moshe and his influence, together with Moshe, on all the prophets that come after Moshe1:15:00 Rabbi Meir, student of Rabbi Akiva, and his approach to parables

In this week's exploration of the story of Balaam from Numbers 22, we're challenged to examine our deepest desires and their impact on our spiritual lives. The central question posed is deceptively simple yet profoundly impactful: 'What do you want?' Through Balaam's tragic journey, we see how even those who know God's will can be led astray by their own wants. This narrative serves as a stark warning against allowing our personal desires to overshadow God's plan for us. The 'doctrine of Balaam' – pursuing our wants to the point of compromising God's will – is a pitfall we must vigilantly guard against. As we reflect on this, we're called to examine our own hearts, listen to the warnings God places in our lives (even if they come from unexpected sources), and train ourselves to align our desires with God's. This message reminds us that true fulfillment comes not from getting what we want, but from wanting what God wants for us.

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====================================================SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1==================================================== LECCIÓN DE ESCUELA SABÁTICA         III TRIMESTRE DEL 2025Narrado por: Miguel PáezDesde: Bogotá, ColombiaUna cortesía de DR'Ministries y Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist ChurchMARTES 05 DE AGOSTOEL CRUCE DEL MAR ROJO Lee Éxodo 13:17 a 14:12. ¿Cómo guio Dios a los israelitas cuando salieron de Egipto y qué ocurrió después? En armonía con las instrucciones dadas por Dios a Moisés, los israelitas salieron de Egipto como un ejército bien organizado. Los términos hebreos tsaba' y majaneh, traducidos como “ejércitos”, “escuadrones”, “campamento” y “huestes”, atestiguan esa descripción (Éxo. 6:26; 7:4; 12:17, 41, 51; 14:19, 20; compara con Éxo. 13:18). Los hebreos se dividieron en unidades y marcharon como un ejército. Más tarde, Balaam vio desde las colinas de Moab que Israel estaba “acampando por tribus” (Núm. 24:2, NVI). Mientras tanto, “Moisés llevó consigo los huesos de José” (Éxo. 13:19). Este es un detalle muy importante del texto, y revela el cumplimiento de las promesas de Dios en respuesta a la fe de José, quien nunca perdió de vista la Tierra Prometida aun en medio del esplendor y los privilegios de Egipto. Pidió que sus huesos fueran llevados a la tierra de Canaán (Gén. 50:24, 25). Creía que el Señor visitaría a Israel en Egipto y lo llevaría a la tierra, como había jurado (Heb. 11:22). Cuando Israel llegó a Canaán, los huesos de José fueron sepultados en Siquem (Jos. 24:32). La columna de nube y la de fuego eran los signos visibles de la presencia de Dios entre su pueblo. El Señor habitaba allí y se comunicaba con ellos también desde la nube (Éxo. 14:24; Núm. 12:5, 6). El faraón reveló ahora los verdaderos motivos de su corazón. No estaba convertido y nunca se arrepintió de verdad. Su petición a Dios para que lo bendijera era una farsa, tal vez un autoengaño. Reunió a su ejército y fueron tras sus esclavos fugitivos. ¡Cuán totalmente cegado por el pecado estaba realmente este hombre! Cuando el pueblo vio venir al ejército del faraón, pronunció palabras y expresó sentimientos de los que se harían eco más de una vez: “¿No había sepulcros en Egipto, que nos sacasen a morir en el desierto? ¿Por qué has hecho así con nosotros al sacarnos de Egipto?” (Éxo. 14:11). Aun después de haber visto manifestaciones tan dramáticas del poder de Dios, que incluyeron el libramiento de sus hijos primogénitos, el pueblo seguía mostrando una asombrosa falta de fe. Piensa en la última vez que te enfrentaste a una situación terrible. ¿Cuál fue tu primera reacción: fe en Dios o falta de ella? ¿Qué lecciones deberías haber aprendido de esa situación que podrían ayudarte la próxima vez que enfrentes otra? 

Throughout the New Testament, God's people are warned against following the teaching of Balaam. What does he have to do with you and me?

Frank Sona preaches on three of Israel's enemies as they journeyed to the Promised Land. Amalek, a picture of the flesh; Korah, a picture of the world; and Balaam, a picture of the devil. Readings: Exod 17:1-6, Num 16:1-50, 17:1-13, and various readings from Chs 22, 23 and 24. (Recorded in Marion Gospel Hall, Iowa, USA) Complete series: Welcome to Egypt A Night Much to be Remembered Stand Still and See the Salvation of the Lord The Small Round Thing The post The Three Enemies of the Pilgrim (48 min) first appeared on Gospel Hall Audio.

Does it ever feel like the enemies of God are gaining strength? Nancy reminds you that God can turn the situation completely around.

Let Us Know What You Think!Kids Moment with Dottie is a short form podcast to help your children engage the Word of God. www.knoxvillechristianctr.org

The Old Testament gives us a very surprising story about a false prophet being filled with the Holy Spirit. Hear God brings about a 180 degree turn in a life.

Jesús se dirige a la iglesia en Pergamo para señalar su falta de arrepentimiento. Habian fallado en confrontar el pecado de los que practicaban la doctrina del Balaam.Contáctanos: Lamparaatuspies3@gmail.com

As a child of God, do you have to be afraid of evil curses? Of magic or bad luck? Nancy will address that question by looking at the life of Balaam.

7/27/2025 Rev. Siyoung Jung   Jude 8-16   English Standard Version     8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs[a] at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. 14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

A Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity St. Matthew 5:20-26 by William Klock In last Sunday's Gospel we were with Jesus and Peter in that fishing boat as Jesus preached to the crowd on the shore.  I said that I had a pretty good ides the sorts of things Jesus was preaching, because both Matthew and Luke preserve versions of his favourite sermon about the kingdom.  Today's Gospel gives us a snippet of Matthew's version of that sermon.  In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says to the gathered crowd, “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  In the words leading up to this, Jesus was preparing the people to hear this.  He talks about being the salt of the earth and the light of the world and a city set on hill and a light held high on a lampstand for everyone to see.  “That's how you must shine your light in front of people!” he says, “Then they'll see what wonderful things you do, and they'll give glory to your father in heaven.”  Do your works, does you the way you live make people take notice and give glory to God?  That's a tough one, isn't it?  And then, just in case people might be thinking that Jesus came to do away with the law and the prophets: “Don't suppose that I came to destroy the law or the prophets,” Jesus said, “I didn't come to destroy them.  I came to fulfil them!  I'm telling you the truth: until heaven and earth disappear—and since that won't happen this just means never—not one stroke, not one dot, is going to disappear from the law until it's all come true.  So anyone who relaxes a single one of these commandments, even the little ones, and teaches that to people, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.  And anyone who does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  And this is where Jesus says those words, “Yes, let me tell you: unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.”   Because Jesus was doing and saying so many things that a lot of people thought weren't right, I suspect some people thought that Jesus was teaching an easier way to the kingdom.  The Pharisees were mad because he didn't seem to keep the law with the same zeal that they thought everyone should, but I suspect there were others who thought Jesus was offering them a way to God without all the spiritual rigor and rules.  Just this week I found myself talking to someone who had left an orthodox, biblical church a few years ago and is now worshipping at a United Church.  The reason: “They aren't so strict.  They let people be themselves.  They aren't so bound to the Bible.”  In other words: The United Church offers a way to God that you can follow on your own terms.  I suspect some people thought Jesus was doing a sort of First Century Jewish version of that.  And so Jesus makes it clear that this is not the case.  No, just the opposite in fact.  Not even the Pharisees with all their zeal for torah, not even they meet the standard.  Later in the sermon he'll go on to talk about the wide and narrow way that will lead Israel to destruction and the narrow gate that few can find and the narrow and difficult way beyond that leads to the kingdom.  No, Jesus hasn't come to relax the standard.  Not at all. But before we can go on we need to ask a couple of questions.  When Jesus talks about “righteousness”, what does he mean?  Well, for the Jews “righteousness” was bound up with torah, with the law and with God's covenant.  A righteous person was someone who was faithful to God and to the covenant and that meant, fundamentally, that he was faithful in living the law that God had given his people. The name “Pharisee” means “separated one”.  That's what Israel was supposed to be.  The Lord had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt to be his people and he gave them a law, he gave them torah, as a way of life that would separate them and that would make them distinct from every other people on earth.  When the nations looked at Israel they were supposed to be moved to give glory to God.  But for most of their history, the Israelites didn't do a very good job of being that separate and distinct people.  They were selective in their obedience.  They worshipped idols.  And so just as he cast Adam and Eve out of the garden and out of his holy presence, the Lord cast out Israel and sent her in exile to Babylon.  Righteousness means “covenant faithfulness” and if Israel wasn't going to be faithful to the covenant, then in order to be faithful himself to the covenant, the Lord would have enact the covenant curses that he promised would befall his people if they didn't keep their end of the covenant—if they were unrighteous. As I've said before fairly recently, the Pharisees knew all of this.  More than that, they believed that the exile was, after a fashion, still ongoing.  Because Israel was still ruled by pagans and because the Lord's presence had never returned to the temple.  They desperately wanted an end to Roman rule and even more than that, they prayed for the Lord's return.  But that wasn't going to happen as long as Israel was still unfaithful—still lacking in righteousness.  So the Pharisees decided to set an example.  They weren't just going to obey the law as best they could; they were going to live their whole lives as if they were priests in the temple.  They wouldn't just keep themselves from sin.  They'd keep themselves ritually pure at all times.  They were ready for the Lord to return.  If only they could get everyone in Israel just as ready!  But not everyone in Israel was as interested in righteousness as they were.  There were a lot of people who just weren't as serious about God's law as they were.  But worse were the compromisers—the Jews who gradually assimilated to the pagan ways of the Greeks and Romans and the people who willingly and knowingly became traitors to the covenant: tax collectors and sinners. Think of it this way: The Pharisees saw themselves in the midst of a culture war.  And they knew it wasn't the first time Israel had faced a culture war.  And so their heroes were the righteous men of Israel's past culture wars.  One of those heroes was Phinehas, one of Aaron's grandsons.  In the book of Numbers we read how Balak, the King of Moab, had hired a prophet to curse the Israelites.  But the prophet, Balaam couldn't do it.  Every time he opened his mouth to curse the Israelites, the Lord caused blessings to spill out.  So Balak, instead, sent a bunch of beautiful Moabite women to infiltrate the Israelite camp and to entice the men of Israel to worship the Canaanite god Baal with them.  Isreal's first culture war.  The men were enticed into sexual immorality and then into idolatry—those two always go hand-in-hand.  But Phinehas, came upon one of the Israelite men in flagrante delicto with one of these women.  Filled with holy zeal, Phinehas grabbed a spear and ran them both through together.  That was the end of Israel's first culture war and Phinehas became a hero for his righteous zeal. But much more recently, the Pharisees looked back on the heroes of the Maccabean Revolt—about 160 years before.  In those days Judah was ruled by Greeks.  And the Greeks just sort of thought that because their culture was so superior to everyone else's, everyone would just assimilate given the chance.  Think of Gus in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  “There are two kinds of people: Greeks and everyone who wish they was Greek.”  But no matter how many temples or gymnasiums the Greeks built, the Jews wouldn't assimilate.  Antiochus IV Epiphanes had enough of it and finally outlawed the law.  If you circumcised your son, you and he would be executed.  He defiled the Lord's altar by sacrificing a pig on it.  In Second Maccabees we read a horrific story of seven brothers and their mother who were tortured and gruesomely martyred when they refused to eat pork.  Jews were forced to offer sacrifices to Zeus.  Mattathias Maccabeus was watching as one Jewish man caved into that pressure.  The writer of First Maccabees tells us how Mattathias burned with zeal for the law, just like Phinehas had.  He ran forward and killed the man at the altar, then turned and killed the King's soldier.  That would kick off a revolt against the pagan Greeks.  But the Maccabean revolutionaries didn't just go after their foreign rulers; like Mattathias they went after compromising Jews as well. They were the inspiration for the Pharisees.  The Pharisees didn't have that kind of power.  They couldn't force anyone to keep the law or to keep it better.  But they had the same kind of zeal.  They desperately wanted, they prayed for the Lord to return to Zion to destroy the Romans and all the other unrighteous pagans—and all the compromisers like the tax collectors and sinners in Israel, too. And—getting back to Jesus peaching on the hillside—and Jesus now says that even that kind of zeal, that kind of righteousness isn't enough to get folks into the kingdom.  In other words, to the people who were coming to Jesus thinking he was making it easier—kind of like some modern liberal spirituality that you can shape to your own liking—Jesus says, “No.  I didn't come to make it easier.”  But then he condemns even the Pharisees.  They were the most righteous people around and even they weren't going to make the cut.  So what now?  Imagine all the people holding their breath to hear what Jesus is going to say next.  They really, really want to know.  Before he ever started preaching, they'd seen him doing all the Messiah things: casting out demons, healing the sick and the blind and the deaf.  They knew without a doubt that the God of Israel was somehow acting in and through Jesus, so they had to think that when he preached, he preached with authority and he spoke for God.  He's got their attention now.  Now they want to know what it means to be more righteous than even the Pharisees. So Jesus goes on and says, “You have heard it said to the people of old, ‘You shall not murder'; and anyone who commits murder shall be liable to judgement.  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement; anyone who insults his brother with foul and abusive language will be liable to the lawcourt; and anyone who says, ‘You fool,' will be liable to the fires of Gehenna.”   And Jesus keeps going on like this.  If we skip down to 5:27—picking up just were today's Gospel ends—Jesus says something similar about adultery.  “You have heard it said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.'  But I say to you: everyone who gazes at a woman in order to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  On and on.  Divorce falls in Jesus sites too: Divorce is wrong.  Marriage is a life-long covenant.  Tell the truth, he says, and you won't need to make oaths for people to believe you.  The law commanded justice and put limits on retaliation, but Jesus says, “Don't resist evil with violence”, “turn the other cheek”.  “When someone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat, too.  When someone forces you to go one mile, go a second one with him.”  And in verse 43 Jesus puts a cherry on top of all this.  They knew that the law was about loving your neighbour, but then they got the idea that the only people who were their neighbours were their fellow Jews.  Love your neighbours, yes, but hate your enemies—people like the Romans, the tax collectors, and the sinners who openly rejected God's law and covenant.  Love your neighbours.  Pray for God to smite your enemies.  And Jesus says, “No!  I tell you: love your enemies!  Pray for people who persecute you!”  Why?  “So that you may be sons [and daughters] of your Father in heaven.”   Do you want to have a share in the kingdom?  Do you want to be a child of the Father?  Do you want to know how to have a righteousness—a covenant faithfulness—greater than even the Pharisees?  Do want people to glorify God when they see how you live?  Then love the way that God loves.  That's what righteousness has always been about: it's been about a people that conforms to the heart of God.  Righteousness is about sinlessness, but it goes deeper than that and that's what the Pharisees and so many others in Israel had forgotten even though it was there all along: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbour as yourself.” Brothers and Sisters, this is what kingdom people look like in a culture war.  They love the way God loves.  This is the narrow gate, this is the difficult path that leads to the kingdom and life with God.  It's hard.  All we have to do is look around us.  Things haven't changed much since Jesus preached this two thousand years ago.  We're in the middle of a war ourselves and it seems like Christians are prone to the same two failures.  There's a ditch on either side of the road.  You fall into the ditch on this side when you give in and compromise.  Whether it's the Judeans who went along with the Greeks, leaving their sons uncircumcised, eating pork, and making offerings to Zeus or the Christians today who give up and buy into the pagan world's notion that love is whatever you make it, anything goes, and we can all live and fellowship with God on our own terms.  Brothers and Sisters, compromise with a godless and anti-gospel culture isn't the way.  Jesus didn't come to make it easier to get into the kingdom, but there are a lot of people and churches today who think that the answer to the culture and to dwindling interest in the gospel is to lower the bar and to make it easier to think of yourself as a Christian.  Appealing to the cultural moment might get you a few followers in the short term, but it will land you in the outer darkness, weeping and gnashing your teeth just as surely as the opposite error will. The opposite error—the ditch on the other side of the road—is Phariseeism.  And that happens when we forget that the gospel wins not through violence and force but when Christians love the way that God loves.  Brothers and Sisters, no amount of compelling, force, violence, or political power will ever move the heart of an unbeliever to give glory to God because of what they see in us.  But in the midst of a culture war it's very easy for God's people to think that seizing the reigns of power is the answer.  We'll do anything, compromise just about anything, team up with just about anyone no matter how ungodly they are, to get our hands on that power.  And we can do it all with a zealousness like that of Phinehas or Mattathias that feels so right.  We try to meld Caesar and Jesus together, forgetting that Caesars bloody and violent way is the opposite of the gospel, which conquers through love.  You can't trust in Jesus and at the same trust in horses and chariots.  You can't trust in Jesus and at the same time trust in political power.  Jesus demands our allegiance and our trust—all of it and without compromise.  And it's when we give him that full allegiance that we have the loving heart of God.  It's when we're willing to follow Jesus as we turn the other cheek, as we give both our shirt and our coat, as we go the extra mile, even as we go to our own deaths, it's then that world takes notice and give glory to God.  That's how the gospel captivates hearts and transforms the world. Brothers and Sisters, that's the narrow gate and the difficult path.  Don't give up on righteousness when the going gets tough.  And never forget that law is ultimately about loving God and loving our neighbours—everyone—the way God loves them—enough to give his own son.  Love them as God does—even your worst enemy—even to point of sacrifice.  That's how God once captivated your heart and it's how he will captivate theirs. Jesus stresses just how important this is.  Going back to the end of our Gospel in Matthew 5:23 he says, “So, if you are coming to the altar with your gift and there you remember that your brother has a grievance against you, leave your gift right there in front of the altar, and go first and be reconciled to your brother.  Then come back and offer your gift.”   We probably miss the significance of this.  To go to the temple in Jerusalem to make an offering to God was the peak of righteousness, of covenant faithfulness.  This took precedence over everything else.  No one.  No. one.  Would go to Jerusalem.  And remember, Jesus is preaching in Galilee, a three day's journey from Jerusalem.  No one would trek all that way, carrying their animal for sacrifice or buying one at an exorbitant price at the temple, wait their turn, and then standing there with the priest ready to make the sacrifice, suddenly realise they needed to go all the way back home to make something right with a brother or a sister.  Yes, I think Jesus is using a bit of hyperbole here, but he wants to drive his point home, because this is how people—especially the Pharisees thought.  If you were doing it for God, nothing else mattered.  Think of the priest and the Levite in Jesus' parable, leaving a man for dead on the side of the road lest they become ritually impure.  For all their talk of loving God, they'd forgotten just how much God loves us and they'd failed to live it out.  That's why they grumbled when Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners.  They'd forgotten that all of heaven rejoices over a sinner who repents. No, says Jesus.  Never think that you're honouring God if, at the same time, you're failing to love your neighbour the way God loves him.  Never think you're doing God's work if, at the same time, you've compromised his call to faith and to faithfulness.  Never think you're building the kingdom if, at the same time, you're compromising its principles.  Instead, stop what you're doing and make things right.  Go back and love your neighbour.  Reconcile and make things right with him.  Remember that you serve the God who gave his son out of love in order to reconcile sinful you to himself.  Have that kind of love in your heart and let it shape every thing you do. Brothers and Sisters, every Sunday we recite those words of Jesus: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  Don't just mindlessly say those words.  Be shaped by them.  Love God and love your neighbour with everything you've got and then you will have that righteousness greater even than that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Let's pray: O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

One of the most unusual prophets in the Bible not only had an audible conversation with a donkey—the donkey also saved his life!

Sometimes the situation that's driving you the craziest is the exact situation God wants to use to teach you and bless you.

Are you more likely to use your words to bless or to curse? You may not think of yourself as a curser . . . but do you sometimes use words as a weapon?

Exiled on Patmos, the Apostle John receives a vision from Christ and dictates the message we now know as Revelation to seven churches across Asia Minor. This Sunday we focused on Pergamum, a church living in the shadows of Roman power—called “Satan's throne”—yet praised for its steadfast faith and refusal to deny Christ even amid persecution. Christ commends their loyalty but rebukes them for tolerating the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans and calls them to repentance. He reminds us that open compromise with the world can dilute our witness and invites the faithful to overcome, promising hidden manna and the white stone of victory. May we, like the church in Pergamum, resist cultural pressures and faithfully proclaim that Christ is Lord above all.

Balak hires Balaam to curse Israel, but God turns every curse into a blessing. Even when the enemy plots in secret, God is still in control. But while Balaam couldn't curse Israel from the outside, Israel fell to sin from within. This portion reminds us that no weapon formed against us can prosper unless we open the door. Guarding our hearts and walking in obedience is our strongest defense.PinchasNumbers 25:10-29:40Who Are You Willing to Offend?Stay ConnectedLinktree: https://linktr.ee/jacobstentWebsite: https://jacobstent.org/Facebook: @jacobstentfellowship Instagram: @jacobstent Download Our App: https://jacobstent.org/appGiving: https://jacobstent.org/giveEmail Signup: http://eepurl.com/g-YpcDJoin us for our Shabbat service with Bill Cloud and the Jacob's Tent Family!If you are enjoying this live stream, PLEASE consider sending in an offering, tithe, or donation to help us continue spread the gospel free from Jacob's Tent. We work hard to make sure this is an enjoyable experience to our online community, but it doesn't come without a price.Give online via the Jacobs Tent app, our website, or text any amount to 84321 to support this ministry. Yahweh bless you and keep you! Shalom.

Torah Portion -Balak: (Numbers 22:2–25:9) - The Occult Prophet Balaam, A Prophet For Hire by Shawn Ozbun

Can someone operate in real spiritual power and still be in rebellion against God? We're exploring the uncomfortable truth about powerful, yet morally compromised, figures in the Bible and the modern charismatic movement.In this challenging episode of Remnant Radio, we tackle a provocative topic crucial for Christian discernment: “Gifted but Unsanctified.” We'll take a hard, biblical look at figures like Samson and Balaam – individuals who clearly operated in supernatural power and spiritual gifts, yet were deeply flawed and morally compromised. What do their powerful stories tell us about the intersection of spiritual gifts and personal holiness?We'll draw crucial lessons for today's church, especially concerning Christian leaders and individuals in the charismatic movement who may display prophetic gifts, healing gifts, or other gifts of the Spirit but lack in Christian character. Join us for a candid discussion on discerning true spiritual authority and the imperative of sanctification alongside divine gifting. This episode is vital for anyone interested in charismatic theology, spiritual maturity, and avoiding charismatic excesses.0:00 Introduction3:10 Saved Yet Compromised10:33 Spiritual Gifts Don't Equal God's Approval18:34 Unsaved Yet Gifted23:07 Matthew 730:04 Spiritual Gifts Vs. Character32:36 Ambiguous Examples37:54 Transformed43:38 Gifts Not Irrevocable45:54 CharasmaticismINTRO TO THEOLOGY COURSE: