Podcasts about Beacon Street

This month we're getting nostalgic with books set in the 1990s, one of the prompts in the Winter-Spring Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. Teenagers all figure prominently in our picks: a YA mystery, a thriller that celebrates horror's babysitter trope, and a novel where two teens accidentally start a moral panic. Don't miss this episode—it's the bomb! Jacqueline's PickThe Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. CooneyPair with Homestyle Pot RoastMichael's PickMidnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth VeronaPair with Tipsy Chicken Pizza from Big City PizzaCarrie's PickNow is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin WilsonPair with your favorite Little Debbie snack cake

Long road from the State House to Lower Falls was once a narrow dam with water on both sides. Photos and contact: https://www.instagram.com/lostmassachusetts/ Sources, credits, blog, etc.: https://lostmassachusetts.com/a-lost-place

Tragedy in Norton as a young girl dies after being pulled from a pond. The Women's March: People's March will begin later this morning at 11 am on the corner of Charles Street and Beacon Street in Boston. Sounds of Celebration from the Middle East after the Israeli Parliment approved a Ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Stay in "The Loop" with #iHeartRadio. 

On this episode, we've got spooky stories for your nerves! Get ready for Halloween with these horror thrills! From classic slashers to supernatural creeps, Joe, Claire and Kristin have a recommendation for you! Titles mentioned in this episode: Claire's Titles:   We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer  The White Guy Dies First edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker  Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson  Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona  The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister  Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen   Shout out to Graphic Novels: Loving, Ohio by Matthew Erman, The Low Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado, Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn, Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo Kristin's Titles:  Pay the Piper by George A. Romero & Daniel Kraus  Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman  So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison  Never Whistle at Night Edited by Shane Hawk  The Pale House Devil by Richard Kadrey  This Cursed House by Del Sandeen  Just a quick shout out: The Fisherman by John Langan; The Haunted Forest Tour by Jeff Strand and James A. Moore  Joe's Titles:  Universal Harvester by John Darnielle  The Black Girl Survives in This One edited by Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell  Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram  Influencer by Adam Cesare  Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix Just a quick shout out: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay and Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle Listen to: Joe's interview with Paul Tremblay and Joe's interview with Chuck Tingle And on Kanopy, just have to mention that Rosemary's Baby is streaming (along with so many others in the Kanopy Fright Fest)  Readers can sample and borrow the titles mentioned in today's episode in Libby. Library friends can shop these titles in OverDrive Marketplace. Looking for more bookish content? Check out the Libby Life Blog! We hope you enjoy this episode of the Professional Book Nerds podcast. Be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen! You can follow the Professional Book Nerds on Instagram and TikTok @ProBookNerds. Want to reach out? Send an email to professionalbooknerds@overdrive.com. Want some cool bookish swag? Check out our merch store at: https://plotthreadsshop.com/! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heavenly Father, we thank you for a beautiful day to gather as your people to hear from your holy scriptures and pray, Holy Spirit, that you prepare us now to hear from you, to meditate on the end times, that the end is coming, the end of our life, or the end will come when, Christ, you return. And as true as your death, your burial, your resurrection was, so your Second Coming is as true, that day is already set. But as we meditate upon these things, Lord, let us focus on what you focus on, is that we endure to the end, and when we do that by living every single day ready to meet you as if you were to return today, or live as if your return isn't coming for another 1,000 years, or 10,000 years, for that matter.And help us see that it's the same way of living. To live faithfully today is to live in such a way that we long to leave a legacy of faithfulness. We long to do everything we can to proclaim the gospel, and live in a manner worthy of it, so that many of your elect come into the kingdom through our service. So Lord, use us and use this church to spark revival in our city, in our state, in our nation, in our world. And Lord, continue to empower us as we proclaim the Word. Continue to empower us by the power of the Spirit to speak your words unflinchingly, knowing that it is your Word, it's the gospel, it's the power of God unto salvation. There's nothing that we can do or manufacture, nor do we want to. We want to do your work your way, and see your elect drawn into the kingdom. Lord, bless our time in the holy scriptures. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.We're continuing our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark called Kingdom Come: The Gospel of Mark and the Secret of God's Kingdom. And the secret that we've seen is that Jesus Christ is Lord. And that is the secret to every single most important question in life. The title of the sermon today is Endure to the End. This past Monday was Marathon Monday, beautiful day for it. And usually, my family and I, we go watch the marathon. We live right down the street from Beacon. They block off Beacon, you can't cross it. And we usually do that, it's fun. But we've been in the city for almost 15 years, so I asked my daughters this Monday, "Do you want to go watch the marathon? It's kind of a big deal." And one of my daughters responded by saying, quote, "There's nothing fun about watching people run, Dad." And I was like, "Fair point, fair point." So, I got out of that thanks to her.But millions do watch. Millions from all over the world watch the marathon. Why? Because endurance is impressive. You're willingly subjecting your body to that much physical pain for how long? How many miles? And there's much to learn for us from that. The Lord Jesus Christ calls His followers to develop endurance for the long haul. He calls us to live a life of faithfulness for all of life and every aspect of life, to keep going, especially when we hit that pain barrier, to fight through the pain. And in a section where the Lord Jesus Christ talks about the signs of the end times, what does He emphasize? Not the precise date, no. What does He emphasize? He emphasizes endurance. "But the one who endures to the end will be saved."So, however you interpret the end times biblical passages, the most correct interpretation is the one that increases your spiritual endurance, not depletes it. Whatever your interpretation of the details, this is the forest that you must not miss. You must live your life in such a way that you're ready just in case Jesus returns today, because He might, and simultaneously, you live your life with the intention of leaving a Christ-honoring legacy for centuries to come, because Christ might not return for another 1,000 years, or another 10,000 years, for that matter. And the whole time, we have to keep praying, "Our Father, who art in heaven, may your name be holy in my life. May your kingdom come in my life. May your will be done in my life, on earth as it is in heaven."Today, we're in Mark 13:1-23, would you look at the text with me? "And as He came out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!' And Jesus said to him, 'Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.' And as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately, 'Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?' And Jesus began to say to them, 'See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name saying, "I am He!" And they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.'""'But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.'""'But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.'""'And then if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Christ!" Or, "Look, there He is!" Do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all these things beforehand.'" This is the reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative Word, may He write these eternal truths upon our hearts.First, a word about interpreting prophetic passages. How should we read the holy scriptures in particular that are foretelling the future? Here, Jesus is describing widely separated events. On the one hand, He's describing the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD; on the other hand, He's talking about the end of the world. But He's painting them in such a way that they appear close to each other. Interpreters have invoked the idea of, quote, "prophetic perspective", that prophecy resembles a landscape painting, which marks, distinctly, there's houses and paths and bridges in the foreground, but in the background, in a narrow space, there's distant valleys and mountains, and they look like they're much closer together than they really are, they're very far apart. So, there's a two-dimensional aspect to biblical prophecy. Here, God's immediate judgment on His people is what's emphasized, and it's imperceptibly dovetailed into His universal judgment on all humanity at the Last Day.So, this opening section deals with the destruction of the temple, and by doing so, it gives us a little apocalypse, or a prototype of the apocalypse, and it comes cyclically. So, if we learn how the cycles come, we can see the cycles in the past, and then we can see how those cycles are manifesting in the present. And this text is designed to warn disciples against four spiritual dangers to avoid if we are to endure to the end. And I'm going to give you the four points in a positive framing, and I'll explain what the negative warnings are with each point. So, four points to frame our time. First, endure to the end by worshiping God, in spirit and truth. Second, endure to the end by discerning through deception. Third, endure to the end by not getting distracted by turmoil. And finally, endure to the end by expecting severe persecution. And Jesus says, "I'm warning you ahead of time to be forewarned, and each case is to be forearmed." This is how we take heed, this is how we remain on guard.First of all, endure to the end by worshiping God, in spirit and truth. Having entered Jerusalem and accepted the acclaim, the people that, "Hosanna, Hosanna, save us, Jesus is the Son of David, He is the Son of God." He has verbally battled the scribes in the Sanhedrin, the elders. He's denounced them for their hypocrisy, and He did that after cleansing the temple. And then at the end of chapter 12, Jesus points to a widow and says, "Look at her generosity, look at her piety. We have much to learn from her." And now He continues talking about denunciations of the temple.Jesus here, in the beginning of the text, He leaves the temple. And this is very symbolic, and is to be understood as an act of judgment. Jesus has said everything that He had to say, the leadership has not repented, He is leaving, and as He's leaving, He's taking the presence of God with Him. In Ezekiel 10, we see that the glory of God abandons the first temple before it's destroyed. And for the prophet, the departure of God's glory, and the consequent destruction of the temple, are punishments for, quote, "The abominations that the house of Israel practiced there." This is Ezekiel 8:6. "And He said to me, 'Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.'"So, in that context, we come to Mark 13:1. "As He came out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Look, teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!'" And the first danger in not enduring is the danger of too much reliance on the outward symbols of religion. Though they are venerable and loved by many, we must not lose sight that God is the point, not the temple. And the disciples are caught up with the beauty of the house of God, as it was called, the house that was supposed to proclaim the beauty of God, the beauty of His law, the beauty of His grace. However, instead of serving as a reflection to the one who should get our greatest praise, the temple had begun to overshadow God in the hearts of the people.The temple was finished, restored by King Herod, and was considered one of the architectural wonders of the Roman world, even though it was unfinished at the date of its destruction, 70 AD. And Herod did a great job, mostly because he had borrowed Roman engineers, and nothing could match the temple for splendor or its apparent permanence. Josephus, a historian of the time, he says, "The exterior of the building wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye." He also said that the temple looked like a snow-capped mountain rising up in the midst of Jerusalem. The stones were beautiful, they had dressed margins, whose play of light and shade contributed to the beauty and dramatic appearance of massive walls. Some of the stones weighed up to 50 pounds. One was found that... Tons, excuse me, 50 tons, one was 300 tons.So, the reaction of the amazed disciples at the magnificent temple is natural, and they probably assumed that Jesus was going to second it, and say, "Yeah, that's my house." He doesn't do that. And we are wowed by beautiful religious buildings. My parents just came back from Rome, and then I went to visit them, and my dad, all he wanted do is show me pictures of buildings. And I was like, "Dad, you know what I'm preaching on today, this week." And then my mom, she showed me what I wanted to see: pictures of food, very delicious.And what Jesus here, all of a sudden, He shifts gears. "Oh yeah, you think they're beautiful?" And all of a sudden, He turns the conversation to chilling prophecy of the temple's destruction. This is verse 2. "And Jesus said to him, 'Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.'" The complete demolition of the Second Temple, down to its very foundations, happened in the year 70 AD, four decades after the crucifixion of Christ. And the destruction was so final and so vast that it became proverbial in rabbinic circles that the destruction was even greater than the destruction of the Second Temple by the Babylonians. Jesus' cursing of the fig tree in chapter 11 was the symbolism that preceded the destruction of the temple and the conversations over that.And Jesus came in to the temple after the welcoming crowds brought Him in, and the first thing He did was cleanse the temple. He made a whip, He cleanses the temple of their illicit commercial activity. They were using the temple for commercial gain, which defiled the sanctuary, and Jesus ended up calling it a "den of robbers". The prophecy of the temple destruction in the present context is probably meant to be understood as judgment upon the Sanhedrin, the Levites. That's who the scribes were, they were Levites, they were the religious working class. Instead of pointing people to the Lord, they used the people for their own gains, and this is why Jesus removed the presence of God. But as for Jews, the disciples even to think about the destruction of the temple was unthinkable. This was the shrine, this was the center of the divine presence. So, if the temple is going to be destroyed, what is that saying about Judaism? It's saying that the end has come, a new era has begun.Mark 13:3. "And He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately." This sitting is symbolic, in the same way that Jesus exiting the temple is symbolic. In the previous text, Jesus said that He is the Lord that is seated at the right hand of God the Father. He's seated in judgment. Here, Jesus, in the same way, is seated in judgment as He's looking at the temple, the doomed structure. "On the Mount of Olives opposite the temple" is a phrase that recalls Zechariah 14:4, prophetic passage about judgment of Jerusalem.Zechariah 14:4. "On that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him."The problem with this temple was the temple was built as the worship center of the people of God, and the worship center became the center of worship. Unfortunately, God was no longer at the center, the temple was. And the people running the temple decided to play God. Therefore, we are to beware of falling in love with the outworkings of faith, to the point where those things overshadow our love for God. If we are to endure to the end, we must worship God in spirit and truth. Yes, we are to love the church, the gathering of the saints, but not more than Jesus. And I've learned that people who get the most out of church are those who come to church not for church, but come to church for God, to worship Him in spirit and truth.Jesus, in His conversation with the woman at the well in John 4, she says in verse 20, "'Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.' The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming, He who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.'"Point two is endure to the end by discerning through deception. The disciples say in verse 4, "Jesus, tell us!" "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?" We want to know when, and we want to know what should we be looking for? And instead of giving them what they're asking for, Jesus gives them what they actually need. He says in verse 5, and this is His answer, "See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am He!' And they will lead many astray." He said, "You want a sign? A sign is there are people that will try to pull you away from the Lord, and your job isn't to focus on the sign, it isn't to focus on the time, it's to focus on not being led astray."The deceivers are probably self-proclaimed Christians who actually claim to be Jesus Christ. Many of them will say, "I am He." And behind them, obviously, is the great deceiver, that's Satan himself. Revelation 12:7-9. "Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."And this is how Satan wages war against God, with the spirit of delusion, a spirit of deception. And he particularly focuses on the elect. His job is to pull the elect away, astray, because if they're no longer faithful, they won't be fruitful, and that's what he's trying to do. And this is the reign of delusion. And Jesus emphasized delusion twice in our text, He actually ends the text with another warning against the delusion, verse 21. "And then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here's the Christ!' Or, 'look, there He is!' Do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.'"And this is fascinating, because this should be an easy test. If someone shows up and says, "I'm Jesus Christ!" They're like, "I see right through that. I saw that one coming." But people will believe it, because of the signs and wonders. So, this is what Jesus is saying, be careful when people come to you with signs and wonders. Sometimes the signs and wonders are from the Lord, and sometimes they are not. Focus on where the signs are pointing. Are they pointing you to Christ? Are they pointing you to glorifying God evermore? Or are they pointing you to leave the Lord?Deuteronomy warned about this, Deuteronomy 13:1-3, "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them.' You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul." So, the false prophets, then, are demonic imitators, just like when Moses went into Egypt. He did the miracles, and there were impersonators that did similar miracles.Jesus's saying do not put your trust in that power, supernatural power, unless you know where it's from. Because some false Christs and some false prophets come, and they actually speak the lies of the devil. John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and a father of lies." So, be careful with signs and wonders, that's the point here.We saw the signs and wonders in the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit, this is how the Lord attested to the power of the apostles, through signs. In 1 Corinthians 12, there's a list of spiritual gifts and signs and miracles, signs and wonders is there, but those signs and wonders are ambivalent. They're only signs of the far greater working by God in Christ, which we must accept by faith or not at all. In Revelation, the false prophets work demonic signs, by which he deceives the people, Revelation 13.We see more of this in 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12. "And when the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of His mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who do not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."And what is Satan trying to do? He is trying to lead astray, if possible, the elect. And we know to succeed in deceiving the elect would be a contradiction in terms. If you are elect, you won't be deceived. But if you are deceived, that shows that you are non-elect. And think about that strategy, why is Satan trying to do that to the elect? He's trying to keep the elect from coming into the kingdom. Once the set number of God's chosen enter the kingdom, that's when Christ is coming. "The gospel must be proclaimed to all nations." So, he's trying to pull the elect away from preaching the gospel to more elect, and that's how he's trying to gain some more time.But 1 John 2:26 says, "I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and that is true and is no lie, just as He has taught you, abide in Him." And the way we keep abiding in Christ is by remaining guard, to know that Satan is trying to delude you, he's trying to pull you away. So, Mark 13:23, "Be on guard, I have told you all these things beforehand." And He's saying, "Look out, because even your status as God's chosen doesn't remove you from the realm of demonic opposition." 1 Corinthians 10:12. "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." And at the same time, however, we are to be encouraged that we are God's chosen, and you may rest assured that He will ultimately deliver us from this realm.Third is endure to the end by not getting distracted by turmoil. Verses 7 and 8 warn that many Christians will not finish well, and won't endure until the end, because of distraction of world turmoil. Verse 7. "And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet." And verse 8, "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains." He's saying don't focus on the birth pains. You got to see past, you got to see through the birth pains, and focus on what's coming, and that's the birth of a child.And I've seen this all throughout church history, I've seen this in the modern era. There is turmoil in the world, there are wars in the world, there's rumors of wars of the world, and all of those things should bring us to a position where we should be on guard, we should be ready. But don't let those things distract you from the main point, from our mission, is to proclaim the gospel to all the nations, because that's our job, and we leave all this other stuff up to the Lord.So He says, be careful. There were earthquakes that preceded the destruction of the temple in the year 70 AD. In the '60s, for example, there was an earthquake so powerful in Asia Minor, in 61 AD, that 12 cities were leveled in a single night. And Dio Cassius records an earthquake at the flight of Nero, shortly before his death at 68. These things did happen in other times of the world, and they're continuing to happen. And Jesus here says, "Don't focus on the birth pains. When a woman goes into labor, one can be sure that a baby will shortly be born." He says, "Focus on that. Focus on what will be born from the birth pains." And by saying this is just the beginning of the new birth of creation, Jesus is saying, "Don't get caught up in the birth pains, it's just the beginning. Focus on getting through the birth pains to the new birth."And before that comes, there will be persecution, and this is point four: endure to the end by expecting severe persecution. And the warning here is that of being tripped up, because you weren't expecting the persecution to be as severe as it will be. And verses 14 through 20, Jesus gives a test case of the apocalyptic prototype, as it applies to the fall of temple. But verse 9 He says, "But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them." He says, "Be on your guard, you'll look to yourselves, you will be delivered," is the phrase that He uses. That's the same phrase that's used in Isaiah 52-53, talking about the suffering servant will be delivered to ignominious death. And Jesus used that same word for Himself.And what He's saying is, explicitly, He's saying that you will be persecuted "for my sake, and because it's for my name's sake, don't expect the persecution to be much different than it was for me." In the same way Jesus endured to the end, He calls His followers to endure. Like His followers, He will be betrayed by a brother. Arrested, turned over to council, beaten, stood before the ruler of judgment, exposed to the contempt of masses, and killed. And in the end, however, He, like them, will be saved. Some of you "will be beaten in synagogues" and some of you "will stand before governors and kings".The apostle Paul, he did both. Before he became Paul, he was Saul, and God used Saul to persecute the church. He was doing the persecuting, and God actually sent the persecution. Perhaps the church was not doing its job. Jesus, before He ascended to heaven, He says, "The day of Pentecost is coming, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. And then once you get the Spirit, go proclaim the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth." And they're like, "Okay, Jesus. Great." The first day of Pentecost, 3,000 people get saved, and then continues growing to thousands. And then you don't see any of those thousands mobilize and preaching the gospel anywhere but Jerusalem. They wanted to remain in Jerusalem, and it was the persecution that the Lord allowed that dispersed the church to then do what it was supposed to do.And then God saves Paul on the road to Damascus. He goes from being Saul to Paul, and then he was the one being persecuted. For Jesus' name, he stood before governors, he stood before kings. He preached to Felix, to Festus, to Agrippa, and some say perhaps even to Caesar himself. Jesus says, "For my sake, you will bear witness before them." The wrath of man was descending upon the church, but the Lord used the Christians' enemies, who wanted to eradicate the Christian movement, that persecution was just fuel on the flame of the preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth. And that's what Jesus says explicitly in verse 10. "And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations." And the wording "to all nations" doesn't convey the full meaning, He's saying to all non-Jewish peoples. That this is our job, we proclaim the gospel to absolutely everybody, and the gospel must be proclaimed to all nations before the end.Verse 11. "And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit." So, verse 11 implies what I've already said, that the proclamation of the gospel is a result of persecution, not the cause. They didn't proclaim the gospel and that's why they got persecuted, because they're growing too fast. No, they were persecuted because they were hated for Jesus' name. And as they're getting persecuted, they were emboldened to become even more courageous to proclaim the gospel. And if you've ever experienced any form of persecution, you know this reality; where you're feeling discomfort, there is a cost, and then you have to sit down and say, "Is it worth it?" And then you go back to the faith and say, "Do I really believe this? Is it true? Is this true? Is all of this true? If all of it's true, then it's worth whatever cost the Lord calls me to pay."And speaking of persecution, I don't want to wish persecution upon anyone, but I do know when persecution comes, the church sobers up, and we get a lot more serious about our job, which is to proclaim the gospel. And Matthew 24 says this even more clearly, verse 9, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."Jesus says, "Don't be anxious when you are arrested and dragged unexpectedly before authorities. Don't worry about writing a sermon." Introduction, three points, conclusion. He says that the Lord will give you all of that. But this is not an excuse, the context here is clear. The promise is specifically for those who are dragged unexpectedly to courts. Don't worry about the preparation time. But if you have time, you know you got to speak, you know you have time to prepare and pray, that's a completely different situation.Mark 13:12. "And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved." So, not only will Christians experience persecution from outsiders, kings, rulers, synagogue authorities, Sanhedrin members, but they will also be betrayed by members of their own families. Here, family hatred including that between brothers and parents, etc. It's a sign of the disintegration that comes in the last times. The disintegration of the family is the crescendo of horror.The fact that there is brother betraying brother, we see that in scripture. We see that Cain and Abel, we see that with Joseph and his brothers. But a father betraying a son or a daughter is much more unnatural. And worst of all is the prospect of a child betraying their parents and having them put to death. This sort of rebellion not only violates the fifth commandment, but reverses Deuteronomy 21, where the mutinous son is to be executed for his presumption. And then the word for brothers also probably relates to fellow Christians. And we do know that in the early church, apostate Christians, wolves in sheep clothing, did betray brothers and sisters, and many were persecuted and put to death.Jesus says, "But the one endures to the end will be saved." What does "saved" mean? It must mean something more than just being rescued from physical death, because Jesus already promised that many will die for the faith. No, the salvation that's promised here is so much deeper, so much more important than just the salvation of the body. It's the salvation of soul and body.Revelation 2:10, "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, and for 10 days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." Be faithful to the end, then you get the crown of life. Is it my being faithful to the end that gets me the crown of life? Is that's what's happening? No. It's the fact that God saved you, and that God will sustain you. He will persevere you to the end. He will make you stand. Romans 14:4, "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand."So, Jesus is saying that disciple must hold fast to the end in order to be saved. But as Paul says, the true Christians will, in fact, hold fast, because God will hold them fast. It seems like a paradox, but it's a paradox that we hold reverently. It's solution, like that of similar theological paradoxes, isn't to be found in some mathematical equation, because we're not dealing with infinity. No, it's to be dealt with theology and truth, because we're dealing with eternity and God. And God used all of this wrath of man to build up the church. As Tertullian said, "The blood of Christians is the seed of the church." And church history testifies that ancient martyrs, they did testify to the Lord, even in the midst of suffering, and gave God glory, and that's partially how the church grew. And this is how the apostle Paul, in the Book of Acts, this is how his ministry went. He preaches, he's persecuted, he goes to another place. He preaches, he's persecuted. He stands before officials, he preaches the Word.In verse 14, Jesus identifies a mysterious abomination of desolation that signals a new stage of the apocalyptic cycle is beginning. So, there's birth pains, but then He says, "Watch out for the second stage, and it comes with an abomination of desolation." That's verse 14. "When you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." And the phrase "abomination of desolation", it's used first in Daniel 9:11-12. And it speaks of a king, a foreign king, going into the temple and establishing an idol. So, someone, something is standing in the place of holiness. And because of this thing, it's so sacrilegious, it's desecrating the holy place, so God's presence leaves and the people of God leave.But the word for "standing" here makes it seem like this is a person. The word for standing, the participle for standing is masculine in gender, despite its referent, abomination, being neuter. So, it suggests that the desolating abomination is a person rather than an event. Someone is standing defiantly in the holy place, and that person is so evil that he makes the holy place desolate of the presence of God because it's an abomination in the eyes of God. And to understand what He's saying here, we have to remember the context. The context says Jesus just left the temple. And by leaving the temple, Jesus is removing the presence of God from the temple. Why? Because by rejecting Jesus, the temple cast out the presence of God, and yet defiantly continued standing.The Sanhedrin destroys the Son of God, and then for four decades, continues standing as if they didn't do anything. As if they didn't reject the Messiah. Well, they did reject the Messiah, and because they rejected the Messiah, God rejected that system, the system of Judaism, emphatically, through the destruction of the temple. And that's what Ezekiel was talking about, Ezekiel 8:6. "And He said to me, 'Son of man, do you see what they're doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.'"So, practically, what this means to us is be careful. We are to be aware. We are to be aware that in a place of holiness, a place that represents God, there it was the temple, here we have to be aware of the church. And you look at all the churches, you look at all the denominations, the same cycle. They let in this delusion, and they let in this false teaching. And all of a sudden, instead of worshiping Jesus, there's an abomination of desolation that anyone with the Holy Spirit, you walk in and you say, "I can't be a part of this." So, the prototype remains.In Jesus' warning here about taking flight to the mountains, not turning back, leaving in haste, it reminds us, it's an echo of Lot. Abraham's nephew, Lot, and his family were warned to flee to the hills because judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah had come, and Jesus' injunction not to turn around recalls the way in which Lot's wife did turn around, with disastrous consequences.Luke 17:28, "'Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all, so will it be on the day when the Son of man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken, the other left.' And they said to Him, 'Where, Lord?' And He said to them, 'Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.'"Jesus here is comparing Jerusalem to what cities? He's comparing Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah. And this inversion has Biblical precedent. Isaiah did the same thing, when he compared the rulers of the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah in Isaiah 1. Revelation does the same thing, Revelation 11:8, "And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified." Jerusalem is equated with Sodom and Gomorrah, that's how sinful they had become, because they had rejected God.Mark 13:15-16, "Let the one who was in the housetop not go down, nor enter his house to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak." And Jesus here is describing an emergency evacuation, such as becomes necessary when an army is advancing swiftly, which happened in June 68 AD. Roman legions were entering Jerusalem and most of Jericho, and the population, in anticipation, left. Verse 17, "And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days." Verse 18, "Pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation that God created until now, and never will be."And that phrase, this "tribulation that has never been from the beginning", that's an idiom, same one that's used when, through Moses, God sends curses upon Egypt. That same phrase is used in Exodus 11. "There will be a loud cry throughout the whole land of Egypt, such as has never been and never will be." Revelation 16:18 uses the same language. "And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake."And then verse 20, Jesus says, "And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days." He's saying that if the Lord had not restrained judgment, all of humanity would perish. There would be no elect. But the Lord is going to restrain judgment, and that's what salvation is. Instead of giving us what we deserve for all of eternity, instead of sending us on the path that we are set on, the Lord saves us. He pulls us back, regenerates. "No, you're not Satan, Satan's your mind." And if God had not decided to restrain, no one would be saved. If God didn't save anyone, no one would be saved.Isaiah 1:9-10 is similar to verse 20 of Mark 13. "If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. Hear the Word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah." And the specter of Sodom's destruction then continues to haunt our passage.But there is hope. God has left a seed, He's preserved a remnant. And for the sake of the remnant, He will spare humanity from total destruction. And the phrase "for chosen ones are the elect" is the same phrase that St. Paul uses in Romans 9-11, and Colossians, 2 Timothy. "The chosen ones are those that the Lord before the foundation of the world chose to save." And he used the word for "save" here, and it's the same word that's used in the Daniel context in Daniel 12, to talk about the Book of Life. Who's saved? It's those whose names are written in the Book of Life.Daniel 12:1-3, "At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."In verse 19 of Mark 13, "For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation that God created until now, and never will be." The affirmation that God created everything seems superfluous. Why does He even include that in a text about God's judgment falling down upon the earth? It's to say that God has not given up on His creation. The creation that God chose to bring into existence through His words, the same creation that will be tempted through tribulation, He will soon recreate. Indeed, He has already begun to do so. He shortened the days, and the curtailment of tribulation is fixed in the divine mind. God knows when the end is, He knows the exact day, and it's as sure for Him as anything else He's said.So, how do you develop endurance? You don't develop endurance by thinking just about getting to the end. If your only goal in running the Boston Marathon is, "I just got to get to the end." You're going to be one of those people falling apart on Beacon Street. It's not just about getting to the end, it's not about just running to the end, it's about running through the end. It's about powerfully running through the finish line. So the question isn't, "Will I make it to the end?" The question is, "Will I endure through the end?"Is your name written in the Book of Life? How do you ensure that it is? Repent of your sins, and turn to Jesus Christ, who died on a cross outside the city that rejected Him, a city that was too proud to repent, and therefore it was destroyed, and the Spirit of God left the temple. Repent of sinning against this holy God, a God of judgment. And as real as the wrath was that God poured out on Jerusalem in the year 70, and as real as the wrath of God was when it was poured out on His beloved Son in the year 33 or so AD, four decades prior, it will be poured out on you for eternity, if you reject the forgiveness that Christ offers you today. And once you receive God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and repentance of sin, you are saved. And once saved, always persevering, because the one who endures to the end will be saved, in Jesus' name, amen. Let us pray.Lord God, we thank you for even the gift, the chance of being saved. We thank you for paying for our salvation on the cross. And I pray if anyone here is not sure about where they stand before you, I pray, give them the gift of repentance, regeneration, reconciliation with you. And Lord, for us as believers, I pray, give us the gift of the Spirit to endure, to think about running through the end, no matter what the pain is, to not focus on the pain, but to focus on the faithfulness, the faithfulness of following you. Today, doing everything we can to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ today, and to live in manner worthy of it. And Lord, continue to use us as a church to bring revival in this city. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you love classic horror movies and 90's nostalgia then you're in for a treat because Emily Ruth Verona joins me on the couch to talk about her debut horror thriller "Midnight on Beacon Street."  In the novel, we follow a babysitter named Amy who is hired to watch two children while their mom goes on a date.  But Amy's world is turned upside down when a group of obnoxious teens arrives for a party, supernatural occurrences start happening, a mysterious caller hangs up as soon as she answers the phone, and one of the children she's babysitting finds himself standing over a dead body.  So in this episode, Emily and I talked about her new book, and we had so much fun playing some 90's classic horror movie trivia filled with fun facts, classic lines in movies, and lots more.BOOK:Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona on Amazon or Bookshop.   SHOW NOTES & BOOKLIST:Find the episode show notes and a list of all the books mentioned here.MORE RESOURCES:Visit bibliolifestyle.com for more information and resources to help you in your reading journey.JOIN THE COMMUNITY:Join the BiblioLifestyle Community & the Bring Your Own Book (BYOB) Club for a fun, online book club experience!  Come and share books you've read, get inspiration for what to read next, make friends, and encourage each other along the way.  Learn more and join the community: bibliolifestyle.com/community.THE BIBLIOLIFESTYLE 2024 WINTER READING GUIDEWarm yourself up with a good book this winter! Download your free copy of the guide when you visit winterreadingguide.com. This year's guide has twenty-one books organized across six categories, plus fun recipes, winter activities, lifestyle tips, and a coupon code to the shop. So download your free copy and discover your next favorite book!

Lindsay and Barbara recap Emily Ruth Verona's take on the ‘90s babysitter slasher. Featuring: Lindsay's first mammogram, what someone did on shrooms, mean teens, and a twist you'll never see coming.

This new episode of "Witch Hunt" features Dr. Tabitha Stanmore, discussing her research on service magic in 14th to 17th century Great Britain with Salem witch trial descendants Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack. She explains the concept of service magic, its practices, and the difference between service magicians and witches. Dr. Stanmore also touches on the impact of religious changes and laws on magic practices. Various aspects of magic, including healing methods, divination techniques, and the use of magic in daily life are delved into. Additionally,  she shares about her soon to release book, "Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic" and her collaboration on the Seven County Witch Hunt Project, which looks at the Matthew Hopkins witch trials of the 1640s. The discussion concludes with a reflection on the legacy of witch hunts and their impact on families and communities. Anyone can submit written testimony for MA Bill H.1803. Simply write a short letter stating why this bill is important to: Judiciary Committee at 24 Beacon Street, Room 136, Boston, MA 02133 or by e-mail to michael.musto@mahouse.gov. Recommended ReadingCunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic, by Dr. Tabitha StanmoreSeven County Witch Hunts Project BlogUnited Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 47/8. Elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks  Papua New Guinea Sorcery and Witchcraft Accusation-Related Violence National Action PlanPan African Parliament Guidelines for Addressing Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual AttacksReport of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Study on the situation of the violations and abuses of human rights rooted in harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks, as well as stigmatizationWebsites of NoteEnd Witch HuntsFilm: Testimony of AnaWhy Witch Hunts are not just a Dark Chapter from the PastThe International Network against Accusations of Witchcraft and Associated Harmful PracticesGrassroots organizations working with The International NetworkInternational Alliance to End Witch HuntsStop Sorcery ViolenceStorymap explaining the dynamics of sorcery accusation related violenceSupport the show --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/witchhunt/message

This week, Trevor sits down to talk to Emily Ruth Verona, the author of Midnight on Beacon Street, a novel now available from Harper Perennial. Emily shares about her experience with anxiety and OCD and how that experience reflects on the characters in the book, as well as what compels her about character-driven fiction. Trevor and Emily both talk a bit about the babysitter subgenre of thrillers and horror, and about how her novel approached telling a story with heart and authenticity.You can find more about Emily Ruth Verona at emilyruthverona.com and can find Midnight on Beacon Street at any of your preferred bookstores. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/sley-house-publishing-presents-litbits. https://plus.acast.com/s/sley-house-publishing-presents-litbits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week in The Confessional I'm joined by Emily Verona. Emily is a Bram Stoker Award nominee, a Jane Austen Short Story Award Finalist, and a Luke Bitmead Bursary Finalist. Her novel, Midnight on Beacon Street, will be published by Harper Perennial in 2024. We also discuss this silent film early Horror classic, The Phantom Carriage. It's over 103 years old, and yet still has the power to move you and exceptional effects! Join us in The Confessional! Pre-order Midnight on Beacon Street: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/midnight-on-beacon-street-emily-ruth-verona?variant=41056036782114 Follow Emily: https://www.emilyruthverona.com/ MHC is part of the GHOULISH Podcast Network. Get ghoulish at www.ghoulish.rip

In the first episode of CONTE CAST for 2024, Anthony and Brendan are proud to be joined by Jackson Shafiroff and Giovanni Culotta of The Beacon Street Buzz. The guys start the episode by breaking down the two women's hockey games that took place during the break, mentioning Sammy Taber's spectacular seven points. Then, the guys dive into the men's team news including a recent 5-1 exhibition victory against Simon Fraser where Jamie Armstrong picked up his first for the Eagles. Also, the four discuss USA's miraculous gold-medal performance at the World Junior Tournament, where seven BC players helped the US over the hump, giving the USA their sixth gold medal. Finally, the group engages in some trade talk, discussing Cutter Gauthier's recent move to the Anaheim Ducks and what impact it will have on the NHL landscape going forward. Looking to place some bets on BC's upcoming series against Providence this weekend? betstamp has you covered. Draft Kings and Fan Duel are the best two sportsbooks for NCAA hockey betting. Click below for their #1 offers! https://signupexpert.com/conte

2024 is here! I know I've been planning my reading for the year for a while now. How about you? Are you in need of some recommendations? I have just the thing! It's The ARC Party's first ever Horror Preview episode! The reason this episode exists is because Emily Hughes aggregates a ton of information about forthcoming horror books every year, and posts a comprehensive, and frankly amazing list of them for everyone to use! You can find it here:Becky wanted to celebrate the launch of the list by diving into some of the titles we're excited about, so the three of us got together and did a month by month round table, talking about books we're looking forward to. Don't worry! I know you're going to want to do some shopping, so I made it super easy to pre-order these books, by putting together a list on bookshop.org. You can find it hereHere are all the books mentioned, their authors, and their current publication dates. If you want to read more about them, go to Emily's list. If you want to preorder these books, go to my list!JanuaryThis Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer - Jan 16Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase - Jan 23The Best Horror of the Year vol 15 edited by Ellen Datlow - Jan 16Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona - Jan 30The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden - Jan 30You, Me, and Ulysses S Grant by Brad Neely - Jan 23FebruaryYour Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine - Feb 6Eynhallow by Tim McGregor - Feb 22What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher - Feb 13The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed - Feb 27The Book of Love byKelly Link - Feb 13Mewing by Chloe Spencer - Feb 27MarchThe Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste - Mar 5Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror edited by Sofia Ajram - Mar 19Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo - Mar 19Mouth by Joshua Hull - MarAprilFirst Light by Liz Kerin - Apr 23Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan - Apr 9Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina - Apr 16The Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca - Apr 2MayThe House That Horror Built by Christina Henry - May 14The Z Word by Lindsay King-Miller - May 7The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones - Mar 26Supplication by Nour Abi-Nakhoul - May 7Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda - May 7JuneIncidents Around the House by Josh Malerman - Jun 25Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay - Jun 11The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monika Kim - Jun 25Youthjuice by E.K. Sathue - Jun 4Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin - Jun 11 hope you enjoy our discussion, and it gets you excited about some of the books coming in 2024. Pre-ordering is crucial to the success of new books, so I encourage you to do so generously. Have a book you're really excited about for the first half of 2024? Share it with me! I'd love to learn about more more more! You can reach out here, or I'm on all the social medias as @thearcparty Get full access to The ARC Party at www.thearcparty.com/subscribe

In May, 2022, when the SCOTUS leak threatened to overturn Roe v Wade and strip half the country of their reproductive right protections, Pamela quit her corporate sales job and embarked from her California bubble to Red states to capture the harrowing and mundane stories of American women. The resulting documentary, WE'RE NOT GOING BACK! won the Grand Jury award for Emerging Filmmaker when it premiered at The Awareness Film Festival in 2022.  Since then, Pamela continues her pro-choice activism with her feminist blog and podcast, The HisTerical Society. About WE'RE NOT GOING BACK!The film is a Pro-choice documentary film from 2022 before and after the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v Wade with its Dobbs decision, taking away the constitutional right to abortion, abandoning almost 50 years of precedent, and paving the way for states to ban abortion. Capturing stories from Red states to educate and promote awareness of what's at stake now that Roe has fallen and to encourage everyone to vote, in what Pamela dubbed, Roe-vemberYou can find Pamela at; https://torranceproductions.comLink to WE'RE NOT GOING BACK! Pro-choice documentary on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/FF9f4aNgnVU?si=oD1gfhV8MfK9iTwj 

Please donate to the show!Cue the spooky music! Today we chat with Erin from Act on Mass about all the bills should have passed but died in the state legislature. Many of these bills have been around for years, and often they die not because they are voted down, but because leadership never allows them to come up for a vote! Erin Leahy joins Jordan Berg Powers, Jonathan Cohn, and Anna Callahan to chat about Massachusetts politics. This is the audio version of the Incorruptible Mass podcast, season 5 episode 29. You can watch the video version on our YouTube channel. You're listening to Incorruptible Mass. Our goal is to help people transform state politics: we investigate why it's so broken, imagine what we could have here in MA if we fixed it, and report on how you can get involved. To stay informed:* Subscribe to our YouTube channel* Subscribe to the podcast (https://incorruptible-mass.buzzsprout.com)* Sign up to get updates at https://www.incorruptiblemass.org/podcast* Donate to the show at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/impodcast

A chilling confession has led to the closure of a decades-old cold case in Boston. John Michael Irmer, a 68-year-old man from Oregon, has been extradited to Massachusetts after confessing to the 1979 brutal murder and rape of Susan Marcia Rose, a 24-year-old woman from Pennsylvania.    District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced that Irmer is expected to be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court Central Division this coming Monday. The startling revelation came when Irmer voluntarily walked into the Portland FBI field office last month, confessing to a crime that had gone unresolved for nearly 44 years.    Irmer confessed that he met a woman with red hair, now identified as Susan Marcia Rose, at a skating rink in Boston around Halloween 1979. The two ventured into 285 Beacon Street, a building that was under renovation at the time. In a brutal act, Irmer admitted that he seized a hammer within the building and struck Rose on the head, which led to her death. Subsequently, he raped her. After the crime, he hastily fled to New York.    Upon investigating Irmer's claims, authorities found them to align with the case of Susan Marcia Rose. She was discovered dead at the Beacon Street location on October 30, 1979, having suffered multiple blunt injuries to the head, resulting in skull fractures and lacerations to the brain. Crucially, a DNA sample collected from Irmer matched samples preserved from the crime scene, solidifying the connection.    Tragically, Rose, originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, had relocated to Boston and was residing on Dartmouth Street at the time of her untimely death. Adding to the complexity of the case, another individual had been previously charged and tried for her murder in 1981, only to be found not guilty.    In an emotional statement, District Attorney Kevin Hayden remarked, “Nearly 44 years after losing her at such a young age, the family and friends of Susan Marcia Rose will finally have some answers. This was a brutal, ice-blooded murder made worse by the fact that a person was charged and tried—and fortunately, found not guilty—while the real murderer remained silent until now. No matter how cold cases get resolved, it's always the answers that are important for those who have lived with grief and loss and so many agonizing questions.”    Boston Police have also confirmed that there was a standing warrant for Irmer's arrest from Boston Municipal Court. He made his first appearance in court on Monday, Sept. 11, for his arraignment, as reported by Boston.com. During this hearing, a startling twist occurred when Irmer allegedly confessed to another murder in a different state. Following these revelations, he was ordered to be held without bail.    This case stands as a poignant reminder of the impact unresolved crimes have on families and communities. The revelations also emphasize the importance of revisiting cold cases, and the potential for justice, even after many years. The turn of events offers a semblance of closure to the loved ones of Susan Marcia Rose, who have lived with uncertainty and pain for over four decades. Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? Subscribe through APPLE PODCASTS, and try it for three days free: https://tinyurl.com/ycw626tj Follow Our Other Cases: https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com The latest on Catching the Long Island Serial Killer, Awaiting Admission: BTK's Unconfessed Crimes, Chad & Lori Daybell, The Murder of Ana Walshe, Alex Murdaugh, Bryan Kohberger, Lucy Letby, Kouri Richins, Justice for Harmony Montgomery, The Murder of Stephen Smith, The Murder of Madeline Kingsbury, and much more! Listen at https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com

A chilling confession has led to the closure of a decades-old cold case in Boston. John Michael Irmer, a 68-year-old man from Oregon, has been extradited to Massachusetts after confessing to the 1979 brutal murder and rape of Susan Marcia Rose, a 24-year-old woman from Pennsylvania.    District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced that Irmer is expected to be arraigned in Boston Municipal Court Central Division this coming Monday. The startling revelation came when Irmer voluntarily walked into the Portland FBI field office last month, confessing to a crime that had gone unresolved for nearly 44 years.    Irmer confessed that he met a woman with red hair, now identified as Susan Marcia Rose, at a skating rink in Boston around Halloween 1979. The two ventured into 285 Beacon Street, a building that was under renovation at the time. In a brutal act, Irmer admitted that he seized a hammer within the building and struck Rose on the head, which led to her death. Subsequently, he raped her. After the crime, he hastily fled to New York.    Upon investigating Irmer's claims, authorities found them to align with the case of Susan Marcia Rose. She was discovered dead at the Beacon Street location on October 30, 1979, having suffered multiple blunt injuries to the head, resulting in skull fractures and lacerations to the brain. Crucially, a DNA sample collected from Irmer matched samples preserved from the crime scene, solidifying the connection.    Tragically, Rose, originally from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, had relocated to Boston and was residing on Dartmouth Street at the time of her untimely death. Adding to the complexity of the case, another individual had been previously charged and tried for her murder in 1981, only to be found not guilty.    In an emotional statement, District Attorney Kevin Hayden remarked, “Nearly 44 years after losing her at such a young age, the family and friends of Susan Marcia Rose will finally have some answers. This was a brutal, ice-blooded murder made worse by the fact that a person was charged and tried—and fortunately, found not guilty—while the real murderer remained silent until now. No matter how cold cases get resolved, it's always the answers that are important for those who have lived with grief and loss and so many agonizing questions.”    Boston Police have also confirmed that there was a standing warrant for Irmer's arrest from Boston Municipal Court. He made his first appearance in court on Monday, Sept. 11, for his arraignment, as reported by Boston.com. During this hearing, a startling twist occurred when Irmer allegedly confessed to another murder in a different state. Following these revelations, he was ordered to be held without bail.    This case stands as a poignant reminder of the impact unresolved crimes have on families and communities. The revelations also emphasize the importance of revisiting cold cases, and the potential for justice, even after many years. The turn of events offers a semblance of closure to the loved ones of Susan Marcia Rose, who have lived with uncertainty and pain for over four decades. Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? Subscribe through APPLE PODCASTS, and try it for three days free: https://tinyurl.com/ycw626tj Follow Our Other Cases: https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com The latest on Catching the Long Island Serial Killer, Awaiting Admission: BTK's Unconfessed Crimes, Chad & Lori Daybell, The Murder of Ana Walshe, Alex Murdaugh, Bryan Kohberger, Lucy Letby, Kouri Richins, Justice for Harmony Montgomery, The Murder of Stephen Smith, The Murder of Madeline Kingsbury, and much more! Listen at https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com

Written & Starring Stephen WinchellGuest Starring Adam Goron as "Quinn"Audio Production & Recording by Adam GoronDirected by Lara UnnerstallMusic by Takuya Yoshida & Stephen Winchell REFERENCES:1. But for his very first job he worked as a prison counselor. (Cheers S8E26 Cry Harder)2. Perhaps Frasier was inspired by a bizarre chapter in his childhood; Marty used to take him and Niles to the police station and made a game out of locking them in an empty cell. He would then quote unquote “lose” the key. (Frasier S1E15 You Can't Tell a Crook By His Cover)3. Frasiers' operation was impressive from the get go - his office was in a downtown high rise (Cheers S5E24 Cheers the Motion Picture)4. He employed a full time secretary - a Mrs. McGrady, a woman who had been working for Frasier's mother since 1966. (Cheers S4E25 Strange Bedfellows P2)5. That's why he found himself at Golden Brook - a sanatorium in Connecticut (Cheers S3E2 Rebound P2)- in the fateful spring in 1984. He was working there as a consultant.6. Two female patients had a disagreement about a game of croquet and things turned violent. Frasier stepped in and broke it up (Cheers S3E2 Rebound P2)7. Let's travel further back in time to 1889, the year a tavern opened up at 112 1/2 Beacon Street in Boston. (Cheers S8E6 The Stork Brings a Crane)8. She introduced them all to Frasier, and there he met Ernie “Coach” Pantusso, Carla Tortelli, Cliff Clavin, Norm Peterson, and “Mayday” Malone himself. (Cheers S3E1 Rebound P1)9. He began a marital relations group to help his patients navigate their rocky relationships. (Cheers S3E3 I Call Your Name)10. He attended and presented at a prestigious seminar about multiple personalities at the University of Chicago (Cheers S3E4 Fairy Tales Can Come True)11. [He] attended a symposium to discuss nerve endings. (Cheers S3E12 A Ditch In Time)12. But another Crane wasn't at all thrilled about Frasier's choice of lover. In the fall of 1984 Hester visited her son in Boston. (Cheers S3E8 Diane Meets Mom)13. In early 1985, a 32-year old timber heiress was in distress - the gates to her stately home weren't opening. As she banged her fists - and later a tire-iron - against them, Niles - who happened to be driving by - pulled over to assist. When their hands touched they both felt a spark and low and behold, the gates opened. That heiress' name was…Maris. (Frasier S1E17 A Midwinter's Night Dream)14. These two happy couples did meet in Seattle in 1985. (Frasier S3E14 The Show Where Diane Comes Back)15. He had been chosen as that year's visiting scholar at the University of Bologna and was to spend 6 months in Italy.(Cheers S3E22 Cheerio, Cheers) 

Written & Starring Stephen WinchellAudio Production & Recording by Adam GoronDirected by Lara UnnerstallMusic by Takuya Yoshida & Stephen WinchellREFERENCES:1. February 9th, 1993, 112 Beacon Street, Boston (Frasier S9E14 Juvenilia),  (Cheers S11E7 The Girl in the Plastic Bubble).2. His career, at one point an aspect of his life he had been the most proud of, had grown stagnant. (Frasier S1E1 The Good Son)3. He had once considered this woman the “candle that [lit his] way.” (Cheers S7E19 The Gift of the Woodi)4. her affair was the most painful and humiliating experience of his entire life. (Frasier S1E8 Beloved Infidel)5. Not a real bear- certainly not - but a pewter bear - about a foot tall with a clock sculpted into its chest. It was crafted in Moscow for Alexander II of Russia.  (Frasier S7E7 A Tsar Is Born)6. This one we know a little bit about; he liked to smoke  (Frasier S3E17 High Crane Drifter)7. and he liked to travel. (Frasier S7E2 Father of the Bride)8. He also had a long career as a police officer, (Frasier S7E18 Hot Pursuit)9. and he married a woman who had a fondness for corncob pipes  (Frasier S6E7 The Seal who Came to Dinner)10. Marty Crane was born in [...] Seattle, WA (Frasier S1E1 The Good Son)11. His father was emotionally distant, the type of man who went his whole life without telling his son that he loved him. (Frasier S2E20 Breaking The Ice)12. Marty had a brother, Walter.  (Frasier S5E16 Beware of Greeks)13. Marty had a sister - Vivian - who was known as ‘The Mouth.' (Frasier S1E8 Beloved Infidel)14. He would personally oversee monthly mixers affectionately named Marty Parties, (Frasier S5E22 The Life of the Party)15. His own personal pièce de résistance was a suede jacket that left his dates purring  (Frasier S10E17 Kenny on the Couch)16. Marty had an uncompromising moral strictness (Frasier S8E20 The Wizard And Roz)17. Marty served under Lt. Franks  (Frasier S8E20 The Wizard And Roz)18. Hank “Bud” Farrell,  Stinky, Wolfman, and who can forget Boom Boom (Frasier S4E1 The Two Mrs. Cranes)19. Together they fought in foxholes (Frasier S6E10 Good Samaritan)20. and their assignments took them to places like the South Korean county of Pyeongchang (Frasier S6E7 The Seal who Came to Dinner)21. and the North Korean city of) Panmunjom. (Frasier S3E17 High Crane Drifter)22. During their time in Korea, Marty cheated death. (Frasier S9E24 Moons Over Seattle)23. Marty, ever the ladies man, seemed to charm the women of Pyeongchang, and he found time to date (Frasier S6E7 The Seal who Came to Dinner)24. There he met Stan Wojadubakowsk (Frasier S7E17 Whine Club)25. (Marty's father, a secret sentimentalist, gave Marty his beloved bolo tie to commemorate the graduation) (Frasier S4E8 Our Father, Whose Art Ain't Heaven)26. As a chalk outline was made around the body, something caught Marty's eye.  (Frasier S4E24 Odd Man Out)27. Through the flashing blue lights of the coroner's wagon, he spotted the silhouette of a young woman, and in that moment he realized that he was a goner. (Frasier S2E8  Adventures in Paradise Part 1)28. While Marty's ancestors came to America with some stolen money and a pewter bear, Hester's arrived on these shores with a personal fortune, (Cheers S4E2 Woody Goes Belly Up)29. She had a sister, Louise (Frasier S3E3 Martin Does It His Way)30. and a brother, Frank.  (Frasier S5E7 My Fair Frasier)31. a non-syndicated radio host (Frasier S9E22 Frasier Has Spokane)32. It's very clear that Frasiers' ex-wife took a lot of money in their divorce.  (Frasier S3E16 Look Before you Leap)33. Hester drove Marty crazy; she was always so upbeat (Frasier S3E10 It's Hard to Say Goodbye if you Won't Leave)34. and once got caught naked in the back of Marty's squad car. (Frasier S5E19 Frasier's Gotta Have It)35. They ran into a rough patch and broke up for a time. (Frasier S3E13 Moondance)36. During this break Marty pursued other women, but nothing took. (Frasier S3E13 Moondance)37. He was extremely nervous the night he proposed and got drunk, likely on his beloved Ballantine beer. (Frasier S9E15 The Proposal)38. Marty, undaunted, worked up the courage to ask again. To help the proposal move in a happier direction he whipped up a batch of hot buttered rum, one of his specialties. This second time, Hester accepted. (Frasier S5E14 The Ski Lodge)39. Hester was pregnant. (Frasier S9E15 The Proposal)40. Getting married was a good start, so in Saint Bartholomew's Church, a very pregnant Hester waddled down the aisle to meet Marty. The minister could not contain his shock (Frasier S9E15 The Proposal)41. She began an experiment with a pair of lab rats named Frasier and Niles. She kept meticulous notes about them, she monitored what they ate, their behavior, and she became quite fond of the little creatures. It was with a heavy heart that she recorded the death of Frasier on April 14th, 1953. Frasier S4E22 Are You Being Served?)42. Shortly thereafter in Seattle, WA, Frasier Crane was born (Frasier S1E21 Travels with Martin)

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic BostonChurch. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston ordonate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, we praise you that you have made this day. We thank you for the light, the bright, almost spring sky that just reminds us of the light of Christ coming into our lives, penetrating the darkness of our souls and the situations that we have lived in. And we praise you that in every season and every situation, we can trust you. We pray right now, Lord, that you would show us how to trust you in the small moments of life, how to trust you in the training that you are providing for us through day-to-day life. Give us just great joy to honor you and serve you in all situations. And we pray that we would all leave here encourage and embolden to be your disciples and to face a world that does not know you or love you. Please, Holy Spirit fill us that we might be fruitful servants this week. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. And as I mentioned, we are talking about our commitment to good works. And as I prepared for this sermon, it really made me respect Pastor Shane's service throughout this series. I realize that every topic he's taken up has been a huge topic. We've talked about commitment to following Christ, commitment to the local church, evangelism, discipleship, scripture, prayer, fasting, worship and calling. And I think he's done an incredible job to consolidate these giant topics with a lot of scripture in forming them into just digestible just amounts of wisdom for us. And today, the task about talking about our commitment to good works as Christians could be endless. And really the reason is because everybody, not even just Christians, they know that Christians should commit themselves to good works. As Christians, we know verses like Ephesians 2, eight through 10. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. Not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And so we know these key verses, these popular verses when good works, but people who aren't even Christian know that we are called to good works. I walk around the Brookline parks often with my children. And when a non-Christian man or woman, when their dog invades my personal space or my children's personal space, I reward their evil with kindness and bring up the church and Jesus Christ. And those conversations typically result in them really just without any preparation, having a list of good works that Christians should be doing, good works that the church should be doing. And so there's no shortage of thought and conversation in our world around what good Christians should be doing in day-to-day life. And there's no shortage of scriptures around this topic. And so we can talk about Christian good works in many ways, but what the Lord has been giving me the past few weeks as I've pondered this topic, commitment to good works. It's been filled with a strong dose of realism. You see, the last four weeks I've had big plans to do a lot of good works. I planned and scheduled many counseling sessions, many meetings with leaders of the church, tried to set aside time to proactively pour myself in the study and prayer and planning for future endeavors to take up in the church. But the Lord has caused me to postpone a lot of that work or begrudgingly do it in the early hours of the morning or late hours of the night after my children have gone to bed. And in this period, why have I had this situation? We've had four weeks. We had two weeks of sickness, colds and stomach bugs pass from one person to another from school and daycare. We had two snow days. Childcare fell through for one day of the week for one of my children for several days. We had to deal with daylight savings. This Tuesday, after I dropped off my children and one gets straight to work. I came back to my condo building and the public laundry machine right next to my unit was banging really loudly. It was like a sledgehammer pounding on the wall and I stepped out, it was overheating, it was smoking, it was melting, it's some of its machinery and I was the only person there to address it. So I ended up having to just address the situation, ended up having to take my neighbor's laundry and actually do her laundry for her, wasted a few hours of that morning. And so it's been quite a month as I've had looked at this date where I have to preach about commitment to good works and my availability to do good works and capacity and energy has been severely limited. And I don't tell you this to ask you for pity or to just get some sort of catharsis, emotional purging. I tell you this to really introduce the lesson of the day regarding good works. And really I hope through my sermon teach you the main lesson of the sermon. Through all that I've faced in the past month, I've been reciting just a verse that I've memorized years ago, James chapter one, verse two through five. And what I've learned with time as this month has passed is that our ability to do good works for God is highly dependent upon our ability to receive God's training for good works in day-to-day life. Our ability to do good works for God is highly dependent upon our ability to receive God's training for good works in day-to-day life. And so what do I mean by training? A personal example of the training that God has called me to as a pastor is how I stand over what's happening in my house. One of the requirements, one of the character qualities of a pastor is found in 1 Timothy three, four to five. It says, he must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church. Right? So I'm called to, part of the central era of training for me to serve as a pastor is as the head of my household. And what did the Lord require me to do over and over again in the past few weeks with a lot of these unforeseen challenges, he forced me to give the priority of my time and attention to my household. Love my wife, love my children, make sure that everything was going well. Try to continue to train them in the word despite all of the hiccups, make sure everyone's healthy and strong. And now when I had to pause from my good works that I planned for the church and outside of the home, how do you think I felt in the moment? I did not receive a lot of these moments and these things that I thought as inconveniences as my training, but really it is, it was. Fortunately, I did have my wife there to remind me that these situations were, these scenarios that I faced were essential to my training for doing good works in the church, but I struggled to view it as training. Another area where God has called me to do training is just as a neighbor, right? Christ says, the primary commandments are to love God, the Lord your God to all your heart, soul, strength in mind and love your neighbor as yourself. And furthermore too elders of the church. He says, moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace. And so my training took place this week in that situation, when that washing machine was banging against the wall and seemingly melting itself. I literally had a crossroads moment of I can act like I'm not hearing that sledgehammer sound and get on with my day or I can responsibly address it. And I did follow in the ways. I followed the smell, I had turned off the machine, unplugged it. And you know what? If I didn't, I would've missed an opportunity. With that laundry, my neighbor's laundry was completely soaked still and is covered in detergent. And so it's this woman, recently widowed whose husband did everything for her in life. And so a thing like laundry is a lot for her. And she was just absolutely distraught that the machines were off, her whole schedule was thrown off for the day. So I said, I can work from home. I'll put your laundry in my machine. So when I did her laundry, it just amazed her that a person would pause and do an act, a simple act of kindness like that. She was so touched that she went out, and I'm not trying to brag about myself, I'm saying I could have missed this. She went out, she bought flowers. Not for me, for my wife. She knew the best way to bless me was to bless my wife. And this little illustration of we can miss these moments of training if we get lost in thinking that all of our works, good works as Christians are out there. They're these big grand gestures, often ones that you can take pictures of and post on social media. But what the Lord wants us to do is view trials, view tests, view conflicts that you need to address as your training and actually as the good works that he's calling you to do. And do you want... As you listen to this, if you know Christ, you know that if you have experienced the love of God, he has offered his son for you on the cross, despite your sin. You cannot but want to live a life for his glory and do good. That's really what's behind Christian works. If you don't want to offer yourself entirely for God, you have to really pause and question your faith and ask, Lord, do I know you? Do I really love you? Pour out your love upon me. Let me just be amazed by your grace. But Christians, it's an assumption that you want to do good works. And so how do you do good works? How can you continue to do works for the length of your life? And so I instruct you today, ask yourself, how are you training me, God? What are some trial, storms, broken situations that he's put in your life? How are you addressing them? Are you looking at them as inconveniences? Are you dismissing them as insignificant compared to the greater things out there, outside of your household that you want to do? Are you handling them unfaithfully with a poor attitude? Really ask yourself, Lord, how are you training me? Again, I said James one, one through five as the passage that I've just recited in my mind. The Lord use the simple set of verses to help me through this season and it's what I want to meditate on today to drive home this point. And I just want to hammer home, the main single point of the sermon is the degree to which Christians can stay committed to good works for God is dependent upon the degree to which they can rejoice in their training from God. The degree to which Christians can stay committed to good works for God is dependent upon the degree to which they can rejoice in their training from God. And so this is, I pull this from James one chapters one through five, and I just want to just belabor this point because I think it's so essential. Especially for a young, really hopeful believers. We have a very young church and we have a tendency to just look, see people post on social media, read books of great endeavors that Christians have taken up through history at the cost of really having sight for how the Lord is teaching us, training us, using us in day-to-day life. So I'm going to read James one, one through five and continue on this point and we'll walk through the text to elaborate on it. So I have my Bible down there. Can't fit my notes in my Bible here. So I'll read from my notes. James one, this is the word of our Lord. James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes of the dispersion, greetings. Count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness habits full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him. So who is James? The little background kind of emphasizes the thrust of the points going forward. Who's James? James is the brother of Jesus, the half-brother of Jesus. The son of Mary and Joseph, one of the sons. And the Apostle Paul mentions that James actually got a special visitation post resurrection from Jesus, first Corinthians 15, 6 to 7 says, then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to the apostles. Perhaps this is the moment that James committed his life to Christ, received him as his savior and Lord. 4 John 75 says, for not even his brothers, Jesus believed him. And I just dab into this background because it makes the first word of the book of the James amazing. James one, one. James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. A servant, doulas in the Greek. It means servant, slave, bond servant. A bond servant is someone who willingly dedicated their entire life to service to another. So James says he's a bond servant of Jesus Christ, this brother that grew up in his household. Further, James goes on to say that he's a bond servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. In doing this, he's equating Jesus Christ with God. And that's pretty amazing given that Jesus again was his earthly brother. And I just want to elaborate on this point because this is one of the reasons why we believed scripture. A guy who grew up with Jesus, lived his life and in submission and believe saw him as a savior. And James writes here about suffering. He probably suffered for the sake of his brother's kingdom, not just advised the church as he does in these verses. So at the end of verse one, James tells us that the letter is addressed to the 12 tribes of the dispersion. This doesn't mean that it's not relevant for gentiles in his day or us. What this reference to 12 tribes is an appeal to persecution, a persecution that happened amongst his readers. James was one of the leaders. He was Jewish, he was one of the pastors of the church, placed his faith in Christ, became a pastor, committed his life to Christ. And at one point during the history of his tenure, there was a great persecution of the Jews. He's appealing to a time when believers, probably primarily Jewish believers were persecuted and scattered. And scripture talks about in Acts 7 when Saul, before he became the Apostle Paul, persecuted Steven, went house to house persecuting Christians. Act 8, one says, and there are rose on that day, a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem and they're all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samara except the apostles. And so James is appealing to this group of believers who have been persecuted and it's not just they face persecution from Jews who were mad that they became Christian. It's probably you have to think about the internal family strife that they faced. They left. Think of any Jewish friends you have today and what it would mean for them socially, familiarly to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. These people experienced it to the stream. They're probably kicked out of households, lost their inheritance, lives worth, physically threatened for Jesus. And all of this really just drives home, just makes James next words just that much more powerful when he says, count it all joy my brothers and sisters ] when you meet trials of various kinds. And so James is talking to these people, this population who's been scattered, persecuted, probably kicked out of their homes and he is telling them to count it all joy. Everything that they're facing and it's just, we have to pause here because it is ludicrous. We're allowed to look at the text and say, this sounds crazy. Trials, conflicts, persecutions, storms. They're not things we typically consider to be joyful. Rather, we tend to think of them and label them with other derogatory terms. But James is trying to get his audience and us to zoom out of our worldly logic. He's trying to get Christians to consider what he is saying with supernatural logic. He's appealing to the cross of Jesus Christ here. Apart from the central story of Christianity, this call to count at all joy when you meet trials of various kinds makes no sense. And so how does someone look at trials, conflict and experience joy? It's only if you believe that the most excruciating experience of pain in the history of the world, the most ugly act of violence against the sinless son of God. If you only believe that this moment of Jesus Christ, the sinless son of God being put on the cross, was redeemed into the most beautiful act of history in the world, the resurrection that procured the salvation of God's children. Then you can count sufferings, trials, storms, tests, training as joy. And so, no, this isn't like sadistic like advice from James. He doesn't want these people to suffer because he is evil. He's not alone in providing such wisdom and scripture. God is not a sadist. Again, he's calling them to rejoice. He's not saying rejoice because this trial is in your life. The fact of it, he's saying rejoice in it. Seek joy in it. There's a big difference there. And he's saying, look, Christian, you are struggling right now, but you're not facing anything that compares to the struggle that Jesus Christ experienced when his own father turned his back on him for your salvation. He's saying, if you believe that Jesus Christ, his just terrible death was the means for God to procure your salvation, your redemption. You can trust the Lord in this moment, trust that he's sovereign over it, trust that he can use it for your good in his glory. And so James is appealing to the central part of Christianity. When he says, count it all joy. The Lord does work in this mysterious way where he can use brokenness for his glory and that's the source of hope for Christians when we are facing trials. And notice that the text doesn't say count it all joy if you meet trials. It says count it all joy when you meet trials. The assumption is that every single Christian worships a God who redeemed us, not in despite of Christ's suffering, but through Christ's suffering. And so Christ himself said, a servant could not be above his master. Every Christian is going to face suffering. This Christian life is not just a rosy walk where you are going through life and everything goes well for you and people when you share the gospel always receive you kindly. It's going to be a challenging one. And so how are you going to respond? Do you believe that Christian, do you believe you can actually have joy in it? And we need to be thinking along these lines. If we're not expecting the trials, not expecting the pain of some of these situations as Christian, we're just going to live in shock. And how do many Christians respond to trials? There's a few typical ways. A lot of Christians face challenges and they just get paralyzed. They say, I am too frightened about facing this head on. I don't want to engage the tension. I can't see the way forward in my own strength and they just become just useless for the kingdom. A lot of Christians, they face trials and what do they do? They over busy themselves to escape the fact that there's a tension lingering in their life. There's a situation that they have to trust God but they don't want to. They'll do everything they can to distract themselves. A lot of people just don't acknowledge it and they sweep it under the rug and then it comes back to really biting them. And so we can't be shocked by these tests and we know that facing them in faith is good. And that's what James says, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. For you know it's an appeal to something that we know, but something that we tend to selectively forget as Christians. When we're lashing out, when we're groaning, when we're complaining about the difficulty or simply avoiding it all together. We know that the Lord, especially when we look upon the cross, can use the most trying of circumstances for his glory. And so we know this, we know that the pain of a good workout results in a good pump and greater strength, greater flexibility, greater energy levels. We know this, like we know that studying for a test does often, more often than not result in greater results on the exam. We know that preparing, putting the time to prepare for a recital pays off in better performance. But in our faith, when we're challenged by trials, we don't lose this all together. We don't pause and think, how could God be using me for his glory? How could he be strengthening me and sanctifying me for greater works in the future? We easily forget this and I do too. I'm guilty. I had many times where in the past few weeks I just got overtaken by anger before just the Lord convicted me or my wife God on me. But James says that we know that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. Steadfastness, a better translation here instead of steadfastness might be endurance. The testing of our faith produces endurance. In the Greek, the word carries the meaning of the perseverance that it takes to finish a marathon. That's significant. For the Bible talks about the Christian life, it speaks of it in terms of a long race like a marathon. 2 Timothy 4, 6 to 7 says, for I'm already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departures come. This is the Apostle Paul toward the end of his ministry. I've fought the good fight. I've finished the race, I've kept the faith. I was thinking in between services, it's like a life as a Christian is a long boxing match. And I'm from Philadelphia, so for some reason I thought was triggered to a lot of life is Rocky just taking on opponents that are so much better than him. But in the end he somehow finds the way. He wins or he loses righteously and earns the respect of his opponent and wins their heart over. But there's stick to the marathon. A lot of this life is like it's a marathon. Christian life is a marathon. A long race that requires a lot of preparation, a lot of endurance, a lot of pain tolerance to go forward. And we need to be realistic about that. I believe we're at this point because I know a lot of you are sprinters, a lot of you are good for going 50 meters to a hundred meters really fast. I've worked for churches for almost a decade now and you see so many people sign up, sign up for five ministry teams, just really pour themselves out, show up to everything for a couple of months, flame out. And then you see people in the church who are there at least for a year is a little bit better than the people who flame out and disappear in a couple months. You see a lot of people in the church for years just stuck in this cycle of going hard, burning out, going hard in engagement with the church and their faith, burning out. You need to maybe retain those sprinter tendencies with your work that might benefit you. But in your spiritual life, how do you change your approach to become a marathoner? And notice I'm not talking about 75% of the people who run the Boston Marathon. I've lived on Beacon Street, I still live a block away. I lived on the street of the Pittsburgh Marathon and watching marathons is very painful. You get that first wave and then you... I've always lived on my mile 15 and it's just people who shouldn't be running marathons just crawling their way forward and you just don't know how they'll get there. I find it to be very painful and I pray for them and I say, well, they're doing something that I'm not and I really fight my heart to respect them. But we are not called to be marathoners who are just limping through at mile 15. There's 26.2 miles in a marathon. And so as Christians we want to... Like how does that affect, how can that be a good witness for our great God? And there's this balance as Christians in day-to-day life, we don't need to lead with our strength. We lead with the fact by telling people I need God's grace daily, but at the same time we can pursue excellence for God's glory. And so we don't want to be marathon runners who, sprinters who flame out a hundred meters in. We don't want to be marathon runners who are just crawling forward at a snail's pace. You have to learn to walk far then you have to learn how to do a speed walk. You can do the Olympic silly style of walking. You can then learn how to jog and then try to get to a pace where you're running at a solid pace. And the Lord is using you to attract people to his kingdom as you just try to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to build your witness up daily. And so Christianity, it's a marathon. What James is doing to these primarily Jewish believers, he's not saying, I feel bad for you. You've been persecuted. Like there's not really much sympathy in his message. It's greetings, kind of cold hard wisdom. This is what you need and he's training them well. He just gets to the heart of you need to see that, pursue joy in these moments. You need to trust that the Lord and your challenges is growing you and there's a fruit of steadfastness, of perseverance that will help you finish the race. And we need to apply this in our own lives. We need to learn how to pace ourselves. And so when our faith is tested by storms, like we really have to pause and say, Lord, what are you teaching us? Verse four, he carries on. Let steadfastness slash endurance have its full effect so that you may be perfect. By perfect, he's not talking about being sinless necessarily or not messing up anymore. By perfect, he means having reached the finish line, finish the race, getting to the point of full flourishing and wholeness that God wants you to attain on this side of heaven. He's saying like go as far as you can in the pursuit of Christ-likeness and holiness. That's what the Lord is calling you to do. And in this life that use of let. Let steadfastness endurance have its full effect. He's saying you need to let hardship have its way with you so that you can finish the race, so that you can be made perfect, complete, lacking in nothing. There's this element to where we are responsible for the way that we respond to these trials and the way that we respond to them affects how much we get out of them. So God wants to give and his talking about God is being generous here. He wants to give you a lot of blessings, not just an eternity but in this life. And so how can you trust the Lord in them? He wants to give you blessings so that you can be a blessing and be able to better tell more people about the love and mercy of God. Do you really want that? If so, trust him in the tension, the challenges, complete, lacking in nothing. James is saying that God wants us to have the whole portion that this race, this life offers. And whatever that is, whatever it is for each of us, I think you can pause and ask, what is it that you think he wants you to have? What are you lacking in Christian character? What are you lacking in your gifting, in your arsenal of things you can use for the advancement of God's kingdom? What are you lacking in Christ-Likeness, holiness? That's probably what God is trying to grow in you in these moments, in these situations and hardships. And you have to pause and heed the lessons. For us to understand what James is talking about, we need to understand just a few key verses that are helpful here that continue in this main. Romans 8:28 says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. We need to really know and believe that God has purpose, that the trials in our lives will bear fruit for his kingdom and for our good. And it's really a matter of faith here. And this is not prosperity gospel. I'm already telling you, you're going to face trials, but trust that the Lord can use them for the advancement of his kingdom and your good. It really comes down to in the moment, do you trust that he is using these situations for good? And that's right now, some of you are in hard phases and trials and it feels like torture. But can you stay present in the moment and trust that he might do good in your life through it, he might refine your character, he might give you perspective to be a better disciple. He might use you to save someone by staying faithful and not lashing out in the moment. Furthermore, Hebrews 12, 7:11 says, it is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So God has purposed that through endurance in trials and storms, there will be a harvest of righteousness, a peaceful work of God that will come from this. So as you are going through life planning a lot of good works, but then being slowed down by these trials and conflicts and storms, are you open to God training you like this? Do you see these situations as inconveniences that stifle your interests on all those great works out there? Or do you see that God might be training you and he might be saying, this is the good work I want you to do right now. Stay faithful in it so that maybe I can bring you to that grand thing later. Will you have the faith to just trust God at his word with these verses? Do you want endurance and steadfastness? A lot of people, these are just foreign categories. The sprinter is out there. You just don't even know this. If people engage you this week and say you're a sprinter, you don't know steadfast. I love your witness for Christ when you're like on for about two weeks, but you don't know steadfastness, really seek it. Seek faithfulness in these moments, read, study this topic. The passage says, let steadfastness have its full effect. This is again, let. We need to let God the Holy Spirit speak to us, give us what we need to learn from our trials. We need to have a devotional life that on day-to-day basis to allow God as we engage his words, speak to us, to help us identify that lesson. He's trying to teach us God's promise says that he has good purposes for our trials. He's disciplining us like a father, but there's this element of responsibility to let. And so a lot of this letting is a check of our pride. A lot of Christians think I've suffered too much for the kingdom. I don't deserve this situation, this scenario. We have to be humble in difficult times even as we go further. And really the lesson is as you look at scripture, is those great leaders that God has given great responsibility to, he has humbled them through just brutal experiences. And that he couldn't use them for good things, until he just broke all elements of pride within their being. And we need to have humility and difficult times to say, Lord, I probably need to learn something from this. And there's an element of you can, James goes into this, count it all joy. There's an element to as the Lord is shaping you and training you, it can be joyful. For you can say, Lord, you have saved me. You have used the cross to save me. You have the power to use such a moment. You can use any challenge to refine me, shape me, grow your kingdom. Lord, have your way with me. Let your will be done. And that can be a very joyful process. You can have joy in the midst of sorrow and trial and you can have joy that just the existence of the sorrow is just an affirmation that God's loving fatherly hand of discipline is upon you. It can be joyful or you can resist it and ignore it and it can be dreadful. And a lot of Christians, you really need to learn to embrace this moment, all moments you're facing. Are you in it? Is it the will of God? If you're there, it is. And seek the presence of mind and the humility to receive what God has for you and even have the hope that you can't just survive it, but that you can have joy in it. And so Christian, what hinders you from hearing these lessons? A lot of people face challenges and trials and storms and they respond with just bitterness. Some of you might just be bitter. God has forced by his severe mercy hard situation on your life that really could be a great means of learning, of growth and steadfastness, of great growth and wisdom for you. But you are so mad at him that you have never paused to try to figure out why he did that, what his purposes could be, what perspective, how he could use that for his glory going forward. Are you just a Christian that doesn't want to hear any of this because you're bitter? Christian is it bad theology? Someone told you that Christian life would be easy? Has someone told you that God only has good things and good plans for you? The tendency of the struggle with these kinds of things like yeah, God works all things for the good who walk according to his purpose. But the issue in these situation is that people don't want to submit what is good to the ways that God has submitted it. And so what is good? It is all that which honors God, all that which grows Christ-likeness in me and in others and spreads forth God's kingdom. And so according to his word as the most blatant clear revelation of those things. And so have you surrendered what is good to God? If not, that's going to get in your way of having joy and learning and growing in these situations. Many of us are just really impatient. We live in an on-demand culture and we have been for decades. We don't really have to wait for anything. We don't see crops being grown outside. We don't see just how food is prepared. We put it in the microwave. We just get everything instantly. And we're not aware that just like the moment of time of history that we've been born into has bred just impatience in us. And so we need to pause and see just Lord sit back. One of the ways that a lot of Christians just are disobedient is that they don't take a Sabbath. They don't pursue, they don't commit a whole day to the Lord for they have greater good things to do. And there's no way the Lord will contradict himself. He wants you to pause once a week to take in, to let your body, let your heart, let your mind refresh, to better take in how he is working in your life and how you can from that day forward better serve him in your life. A lot of Christians, what they wrongly do is they get lost in a bit of a prosperity gospel. Just believing that God is only working and they're flourishing their success and they rebuke moments of trials and discomfort and convenience as something that just must be denied altogether or declared as satanic. They don't have eyes to see, ears to hear, they completely missed the moments of trials. And these people just get stunted in there development. Everything is over spiritualized. There's no reflection in the moment of, Lord, I'm in this situation. This is hard. Search me and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. See if there'll be any grievous way with me and lead me in the way of everlasting. There's no heart check. It's always something on the outside that is causing, Satan particularly, that's causing this inconvenience. And so people blame the devil, they blame other things. A lot of Christians just look at hardship and say, I'm doing something wrong. And that is right there, the gospel is that we're not saved by our works. We're saved by God's grace. His grace is always there to save us, to help us in the way forward. And we're just stuck in an achievement type mentality. And know sometimes God has ordained hardship for us. And ultimately what this text is teaching, it's for our joy, for our good, for our ability to persevere. One Peter 4:19 encapsulates a lot, basically all that I've said. Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. And so it's a faithful and trust your soul to a faithful creator while suffering, while doing good. And it really is a matter of faith in these moments. Can you trust God when you're facing the trial, when he's put hardship in your life to train you? Says, will you trust him? And that's a yes or no. And if you're going to be split minded about it, that joy, that ability to see the situation through in a way that glorifies him will not be there. And after all of this, we ask, why does God test us? Why does he train us like this as his disciples? And God doesn't put us in the fire, the crucible just because it gives him pleasure. He puts us in the fire because he cares more about holiness instead of momentary happiness. Because he knows that holiness breeds true joy and joy that's rooted in him and that's what he wants. If he really wants what is best for us, he's going to just expose us just to that which is going to bring about true holiness, true joy. And he is good in it. Even if in the moment it's hard for us to understand that and agree. God, ultimately, he's trying to breed greater dependence on him than us. Verse five says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him. So God doesn't want us to go forward doing our work for his kingdom, thinking that it all depends on us. He wants us to grow in our dependence on him. He knows that we are going to stop short in the race if we do it on our own strength. He wants us to become more and more dependent on him and trust that his Holy Spirit is there with us and working in us and through us. Furthermore, he wants us to develop a loving and abiding relationship with him. When we are stretched in this cycle of going out, being stretched, being faithful in the tense moments to the point that our bodies, our souls are on the brink of being crushed to our mindset, but then we're drawn in and we go to Him. He wants us to get to truly see that he, his presence, his wisdom is actually what satisfies our souls and gives us joy. It's not achieving anything in the world, it's not showing our own strength, it's just living in his presence. These challenges force us to go to him in communion and say, God, help me. It challenges us to learn more about him, to understand how he works. And when you understand that, you grow in your appreciation and love for him, you grow in your appreciation of how he is sovereignly directing your life, shaping and cultivating you to become more like Christ and you love him all the more. Your faith goes from just an appreciation of deliverance from sin and the power of sin and the chance of be in heaven to God, I just love you because I love you. As I see your heart, as I see your ability to redeem the hardest, the most challenging of moments for your glory, for my good, for the salvation and sanctification of others in my life. I love you more. And do you really want that? That's a deepening of faith that a lot of people, because they just don't even stay present in trials, they don't even know this experience of Christianity. Of just, I love this life because I know God, you are with me. That's all I need. That's all I want. Use me as you will. And if that means struggle and conflict and trial, so be it. And so when Christians understand this, it changes them. It gives you wholeness as you are forced to just lean on the Lord more and more because you turn to him, you receive his guidance, you receive as counsel, it becomes a greater part of you. And so you have to master this. If you want to do good works for God, we can't really start off with a sermon on listing them out, on identifying the most important ones, on how we and our contexts can do the most for His glory here. If you don't understand how he trains you, if you don't understand the cycle of going to him in the midst of the trial to be satisfied, to find the way forward. And so Christian, do you want to do good works? Do you want to commit yourself to them for the rest of your life? Do you want to persevere to the end being used tremendously by God? I ask, think about how is God training you right now and rejoice in the training. Let me pray to close. Heavenly Father, we praise you for your wisdom. We praise you that what is foolishness to men is a means of your glory and our glory and our growth. Lord, you have the ability to just use the darkest of moments, the most challenging of moments, the graves of sin for your eternal purposes of redemption and making us new and bringing about, just working toward the return of Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray, give us faith to trust you. To trust that in the hardship you are working in us and through us, and training us so that we might love you more and we might have greater capacity to serve you if we trust you through it. Give us faith to trust that we can actually have joy in the midst of sorrow and trial and hardship. Give us great hope that all of this sacrifice is worth it. That when we lay ourselves down daily, you are glorified and that you are actually using these moments for your eternal purposes. And let us trust that your wisdom is so much higher than ours. And when we do this, let us just have peace. Peace that transcends understanding. And as we exhibit that peace, use it to draw others home to your kingdom. Pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 752, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Street Smarts 1: The Boston Common fronts on this street, also the name of a nearby hill. Beacon Street. 2: Folks from Oscar Wilde to Liza Minnelli have hit Jean Lafitte's Old Absinthe House at this street and Bienville, y'all. Bourbon Street. 3: It's the stately street where the U.S. president lives. Pennsylvania Avenue. 4: The Garden State Parkway passes by Paramus and Passaic in this state. New Jersey. 5: In "The Blues Brothers", Elwood gives his address as 1060 W. Addison, which turns out to be this sporting venue. Wrigley Field. Round 2. Category: Presidential Library Addresses 1: 4079 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, New York. Franklin D. Roosevelt. 2: 1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Gerald Ford. 3: Columbia Point, Boston, Massachusetts. John F. Kennedy. 4: 2313 Red River Street, Austin, Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson. 5: 210 Parkside Drive, West Branch, Iowa. Herbert Hoover. Round 3. Category: There Is No Place Like Nebraska 1: The USA's emergency 911 system was developed and first used in this "presidential" city. Lincoln. 2: This man organized his famous "Wild West Show" in 1883 at his ranch near North Platte. Buffalo Bill Cody. 3: In 1948 Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base became home to SAC, which stood for this. Strategic Air Command. 4: The U. of N. College of Agriculture helped develop the technology for this McDonald's McPork sandwich. McRib. 5: The childhood home of Willa Cather, this colorfully named town inspired the setting for her 6 Nebraska novels. Red Cloud. Round 4. Category: During The '90s 1: While fighting Indians in the 1790s, he briefly served with his future exploring partner William Clark. (Meriwether) Lewis. 2: A top selling 1990s computer game was this one developed by the Miller brothers, set on a puzzling island. Myst. 3: You should remember this island's war of independence was fought 1895 to 1898. Cuba. 4: During the 1590s English explorers were searching for this City of Gold in what's now Guyana. El Dorado. 5: In the 1490s he produced his first big statue; no, not David, it was of a drunken roman wine god. Michelangelo. Round 5. Category: Money And Finance 1: When stocks are in an upward trend, it's a bull market; as they drop, it's called this. Bear Market. 2: A company that steadily produces profits is referred to by this bovine term. Cash Cow. 3: It's the type of tax paid on expensive items considered nonessential, such as yachts, furs and jewelry. Luxury Tax. 4: Despite its name, this type of insurance payout can be made monthly or quarterly as well as yearly. Annuity. 5: Similar to Ginnie Mae, the Student Loan Marketing Association is popularly called this. Sallie Mae. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 735, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Donald Duck 1: The 1943 anti-Nazi release "Der Fuehrer's Face" was the only Donald Duck cartoon to win this award. the Academy Award. 2: Donald's girlfriend, she was first known as Donna Duck but was renamed in her second film, "Mr. Duck Steps Out". Daisy Duck. 3: Donald began his long romance with this vivacious girlfriend in the 1940 cartoon "Mr. Duck Steps Out". Daisy. 4: In the cartoon "Donald's Nephews", Donald's sister Dumbella sends these 3 to visit. Huey, Louie and Dewey. 5: In the opening of "The Mickey Mouse Club", Donald would strike this instrument, usually with disastrous results. a gong. Round 2. Category: Iceland Cometh 1: Located in Faxa Bay, it was made the capital of Iceland in 1918. Reykjavik. 2: Iceland's nearest neighbor is this island, about 190 miles to the northwest. Greenland. 3: Iceland was the site of arms control talks between these 2 world leaders in October 1986. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. 4: 96% of the population is affiliated with the Church of Iceland, which is the evangelical type of this religion. Lutheran. 5: Like Sweden, Iceland uses currency called this. Krona/kroners. Round 3. Category: Bird Tv 1: This fast-moving bird got his own TV series in 1966 -- Beep! Beep!. The Roadrunner. 2: The Munsters had a pet one of these who was fond of saying, "Nevermore". Raven. 3: Waldo, who was murdered on "Twin Peaks", was a talkative one of these birds. Mynah Bird. 4: The title of this acclaimed miniseries referred to a frontier town, not to a solitary pigeon. "Lonesome Dove". 5: In 1981 creator Earl Hamner uncorked this series about a winery whose symbol was a bird of prey. Falcon Crest. Round 4. Category: Children's Lit 1: In Hans Christian Andersen's works, a wicked sea witch gave her a potion that changed her tail into 2 legs. the Little Mermaid. 2: In Robert Lawson's "Ben and Me", Ben is Benjamin Franklin and Me is Amos, one of these creatures who lives in Ben's cap. a mouse. 3: The Brothers Grimm wrote that Snow White was quieter and gentler than this sister. Rose-Red. 4: "A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver" is about 12th century queen Eleanor of this duchy. Aquitaine. 5: I can't always see "My Shadow" but I can always read about it in this Scotsman's "A Child's Garden of Verses". Robert Louis Stevenson. Round 5. Category: Street Smarts 1: The Boston Common fronts on this street, also the name of a nearby hill. Beacon Street. 2: You'll find this lightly damaged historical object at 6th and Market in Philly. the Liberty Bell. 3: In this European city the locals call the Boulevard Saint-Michel the "Boul' Miche" for short. Paris. 4: It's a street without an exit, or a phrase commonly used of some jobs. a dead end. 5: A recessed area at the side of a road to carry off surface water; keep your mind out of it. a gutter. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful to you for this morning, for this life you've given us. Another opportunity today is to worship you, to glorify you with everything we have. Everything we have is yours, everything, absolutely everything. The only thing we can take responsibility for is our own sin and our own folly. Everything else, Lord is from you, so we thank you for life and we thank you for the opportunity to be redeemed, reconciled, restored, for the opportunity to be welcomed into your family, adopted as sons and daughters regenerated by the power of the Spirit. Holy Spirit, we pray for a special anointing upon each one of us today. I pray if there's anyone who's not yet a believer, I pray, speak to them in a very, very clear way so they know that it's your voice, it's not a man's voice. In the same way that Elijah heard from you in the whisper, I pray, whisper, whisper words of salvation. And we pray, Holy Spirit of blessed our time in the word for those who are elect. And in this general vicinity, I pray that you draw them to gospel proclaiming churches. I pray that they not be dormant in their faith, in particular as the days are growing darker. Lord Jesus, bless our time in the holy scriptures of praises in Jesus name, Amen. We're continuing our sermon series through Romans, which has been incredible. And the title of the sermon today is Awakened Oh You Dormant Remnant. As you watch the news and you see everything's going on and questions arise, are we living in the end times? Well, it's a question that's always been asked by Christians in all ages, and many answers to this question may be found locked in our text today in Romans 11 and then in the next couple weeks. But when people ask questions like, Are we on the brink of World War3? Only Lord knows. But it's the natural state of the fallen heart to say, Jesus, everything's falling apart. Everything around us right about now would be a tremendous time to come back. Can you please come back and fix everything? And I understand this heart cry of lament, but we as the people of God, we can't stay there. We can't sit on our hands waiting for Jesus to come back and fix everything. When Jesus is like, "Hey, I've literally given you the game plan. I've given you the strategy of how to fix everything." And then once you start implementing the game plan, then Jesus comes back. He said, "Preach the gospel of the kingdom in the whole world." This is Matthew 24:14. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come." The gospel will be preached in the whole world. So our job, when we start thinking, "Oh my, this might be the end times." Our job as Christians to say, "Hey, am I preaching the gospel?" In particular in a place like Boston? I remember and when God called me the seminary and called me at the vocational ministry, I was like, "Lord, you know what? I'll do it as long as you come back during my lifetime. Just so I'm alive, just so I see Jesus Christ with the flaming sword. I want to be around for that." Just to be like, Ah, I told everyone. We were right. But in seminary they said, You got to preach the gospel to the whole world. And I said, "What? How can I do that? I can't do that." But I know a place where people from all over the world come, and that's Boston, Massachusetts. We're here and we are called to preach the gospel even when everything else is falling apart. And the gospel is very simple. The gospel is, God created you to worship him, we're to worship the king, King Jesus. We are to follow his world and build up his kingdom by following his word. And this is what St. Paul is doing as he's giving us a blueprint in the book of Romans of how to rebuild society. That's what Christianity is. Christianity is how can we recreate humanity? How can we have a humanity within the humanity, a city within the city, a people within a people who live life completely differently, live life in submission to God? And Romans nine, Paul establishes the fact, well, it's God's grace, we need God's grace. If anything's going to change, if we're going to do any kingdom work, if the church is going to grow, we need God's grace. And he establishes the principle of salvation is based only upon God's grace. Election isn't foresee on works or good faith, it's just that God chooses people, that's what grace is. Can you ever earn more grace? That's not a trick question. Can you ever earn more grace? No, we can't. We can never earn more grace. That's what he says, it's all grace. So God pours out grace. And the question is in Romans 10, what about the Jewish people? What about the remnant? And Paul says, it's still grace. They get saved, Jewish people in the same way the Gentiles get saved, it's all grace. Israel's problem says Paul is not a lack of zeal but a lack of knowledge. And as a result, Israel sought to establish a righteousness of their own through works and not through grace. And this was part of the divine purpose so that as Gentiles come to faith in Israel's God, this Jewish people are like, "We're are the chosen people." And then gentiles are come into faith and they're like, "Actually, we're the chosen people because we follow Jesus. He made us the chosen people and you're saved by grace through faith." And then the Jews are like, "Hey, that's not fair." And they're provoked, and Pastor Andy and the sermon last week had this incredible illustration about his two daughters, Clara and Audrey. Clara, he said, "Hey, come in for a hug." And she's like, Eh. Because she's taken her father's love for granted, not the fresh baby, not Audrey. She's like, oh, and then Clara is provoked. That's what's going on with Gentiles. This pendulum of grace that Israel had the gospel, they had grace and then they lost it. And then the pendulum of grace goes to the Gentiles. And then St. Paul says in chapter 11 that this pendulum of grace is going to swing to the Jews again. Romans 1:1 through 15. Sorry, I'm speaking really fast, there's a lot in this text and I want to cover all of it, that's my ambition. So would you pay attention with me? Romans chapter 11:1 through 15, "I asked then has God rejected his people? By no means for myself am and Israelite a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 'Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've demolished your altars, and I alone and left and they seek my life.'" "But what is God's reply to him? 'I've kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So to at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking, the elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear down to this very day.' And David says, 'Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever.' So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall by no means? Rather though through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentile so as to make Israel jealous." "Now, if they're trespassed means riches for the world and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now I'm speaking to you gentiles, in as much then as I am and apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. But if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean? But life from the dead?" This is the reading of God's holy inherent infallible authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. We'll just walk through the text today given that this is a text about eschatology. So when speaking about eschatology, eschatology is the knowledge or the science of the eschaton, which is the end times. Whenever speaking on things like this, it's very important to be precise. And the text has to do with future prophecies found in the Bible, both old and new testaments. And it has to do with the end times. One biblical scholar said that two thirds of the doctrinal matter in the New Testament focuses one way or another on eschatology. Now if you're aware of Christianity, if you spent time in churches, you're probably familiar that there are many camps when it comes to the end times. There's the post-millennialism, the pre-millennialism, the amillennialism, the preterism, partial-preterismism, dispensationalism, et cetera. And how we understand eschatology to a large degree is connected to how we understand Romans 11. And this is what the chapter's about. Much of the dispute about his eschatology is, hey, what happens to Jewish people in the end? What happens to the people of God? That's really the question that he is wrestling with here in the end times. Romans 11:1, "I ask then, has God rejected is people?" It's a rhetorical question. In the old Testament times, Israel was called out of paganism and they were set apart to be the people of God. That God says, "You are now mine. Your lives will be patterned according to my character. You will live in a way that is going to bring peace, shalom, not just to your own life, but to life of your marriage and life of your family and the life of your community." And that was the people of God. There was a theocratic nation with God as its ultimate king. And Israel was given a mandate and a destiny and Paul earlier lamented, "Hey, did God reject his people completely?" Well he says, "No." Verse one, "I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means, for I, myself am an Israel, a descendant of Israel, a member of the tribe of Benjamin." He's saying God is not categorically rejected the Jewish people. And here he argues from the lesser to the greater. He said, if God had rejected all the Jews, then he would've rejected Paul. But Paul was a Jew so, he's living, breathing, writing proof that God hasn't rejected the Jews just because of their ethnicity. Paul cites his pedigree, including a brief recounting of his background, traces a roots to the tribe of Benjamin all the way to Abraham. Verse two, "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." That's really the issue. He says, "Who are the chosen people?" It's not people who are born into a Jewish family. It's not people who identify as being Jewish. It's not people who identify as being Christian. That's not what saves anybody. What saves a person is repentance of faith. King Jesus, I have sinned against your law, have violated it, I have broken your code, your moral commandments. I have not loved God with all my heart, soul, strength and might. I have not loved neighbor as myself. When you repent of sin and you're drawn to God by the power of the Holy Spirit, sometimes it happens immediately and dramatically and you're a brand new person within five seconds. I haven't seen that happen often in Boston. Mostly in Boston, it's very progressive. It's you come, you listen, you read scripture, you meditate, you think, you ask God, you have conversation, you wrestle. And then after a while you don't know when you became a believer, but you say, "You know what I think I believe in Jesus Christ. I have repented my sin, I've accepted grace." You are part of these people that God has foreknew. That's what he's saying, that God is incapable of rejecting people whom he foreknew from the foundation of the world. Here he brings the concept of election to the Jewish people. Earlier he wrote in Romans 9:6, "It is not as though God's word had failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." That circumcision doesn't save a person, going to mass doesn't save a person, going to religious building doesn't save anybody, it doesn't save you from the wrath of God that we have earned. We have incurred through our law breaking. So what we need is grace. That's what he is talking about. And it's a grace that is completely under the sovereign will of God. So God hasn't finally rejected the Jews, Paul's living proof of that. So was the early church. The early church were mostly Jewish people. Jesus was Jewish, the disciples are Jewish. Most of the 500 eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ upon the resurrection were Jewish. And I don't mean like Jewish, I mean like religious Jews. And the fact that, and I marvel at this, the fact that Mosaic Boston meets in a synagogue every Sunday is weekly proof for the veracity of the historical bodily resurrection of Christ. And here's what I mean. Jewish people worship their Lord on what day? On Saturday. Well, they're not using the building on Sundays. So that's how we got in. Well, why are we worshiping God on a Sunday? Because the early Jews were told by Jesus Christ when he came back from the dead, "Hi, I am the Messiah and I came back from the dead. So that proves that everything I said is true. I am God, and now you'll worship me on the resurrection, day on Sundays." And this is how Paul did ministry, he would go to synagogues one day would meet and preach the gospel. So Romans 11:2 B, he continues, "Do not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel. Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've demolished your altars. And I alone him left and they seek my life." As is his custom, Paul often appeals to the Old Testament, to bolster the point. He's saying, "I'm not making this up. It's all in the Bible. Just read it. Read scripture, you'll understand God." In one of Israel's darkest hours, God preserved a believing remnant. There were people who were followers of God only because God preserved them. That's what he said. So this cry from the prophet of Elijah comes perhaps during the worst time of Apostacy in all of Old Testament Israel. So Elijah makes a plea, this plea while Ahab was the king. Ahab was married to Jezebel who was not a Christian. Jezebel was a priestess of the cult of Baal. So Ahab was to marry someone who worship Yahweh, who worshiped God, no, he married someone who worshiped Baal. And then little by little she had influence over the king and she invited pagan idolators into the royal house and persuaded Ahab to sanction all kinds of idolatrous religion. And under Ahab and Jebel, there was a massive persecution of the true believers of God. And a lot of the Jewish places of worship were destroyed. So Elijah had enough. Elijah gets to this point where he is like, I'd rather die than see the people of God hiding. I'd rather die than see the name of God defamed. It's kind of what happens when David, Young David, like David, Goliath, David. When he comes in and he goes to visit his brothers and he sees the army of Israel and then he sees the army of the Philistines, then he sees Goliath come out and for 40 days and 40 nights he came out and he cursed the name of God. Well there was a zeal kindled in the heart of David and he's like, "Hey, I love God and these people are cursing, God, I would rather die. I don't know... and I'm going to toss these stones with everything I've got at Goliath and if I die, I die." That's kind of the mindset of the zeal of God and the heart of Elijah where he's like, "You know what? I'm done with these priests of Baal. Hey, let's have a challenge. Let's have a prayer off. Let's see, God is real. So he challenges the prophets of Baal to this fair off in 1King's 18:27 through 29. The prophets of Baal. They build their little altar and then they're going around, and at noon, Elijah began to taunt them. They've been shouting for hours, "Shout louder. He said, Surely he is a God. Perhaps he's deep in thought or busy." That's a nice way in the English of translating that he's relieving himself or traveling maybe he's sleeping and must be awakened. "So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with sword and spears as was their custom until their blood flowed. Midday passed and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention." And then Elijah orders that the altar be doused with water. And then he saturates it with prayer and he begs God to send fire from heaven. The Lord God omnipotent sends fire from heaven that consumes the whole altar. And in the midst of Israel's hellish reversion to paganism, Elijah leads this revival because he got exhausted with seeing the name of God defamed. That's what happened in 1King's 18, huge win, huge win. Fire from heaven, huge win Elijah, you should go celebrate. Like this is the time you take a cruise or something, whatever prophets do. He doesn't. He falls into some kind of spiritual lament. He's exhausted with living, he's in this midst he cries out to God in first King's 19, "Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, 'Made the god's deal with me, be ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.'" So this same guy who just saw fire come from heaven gets a death threat from Jezebel and says verse three, "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life when he came to Beersheba and Judah, he left his servant there. And while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness." "He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. 'I've had enough Lord, he said, Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.' Then he laid down under the bush and fell asleep." Have you ever been there? We all have been there. We've all been on our side in a fetal position on the floor in a small room. We have been "God, I've had enough. Please nothing. Please take me, take me, I'm ready to go." And then says, "All at once an angel touched him and said, 'Get up and eat.'" Oh, he was just hungry. He was just, oh, he just needed some carbs. "So an angel comes, he looks around and thereby his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then laid down. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, 'Get up and eat for the journey is too much for you.'" "So he got up and ate and drank, strengthened by that food, he's traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelis have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too.' The Lord said, 'Go and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord. For the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart. And shattered the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper, Elijah heard it. He pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then the voice said to him, 'What are you doing here Elijah?' And he replied, Same thing. 'I been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty, the Israelites have rejected your covenant, tore down the author, put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they're trying to kill me. They're trying to kill me too.' The Lord said to him, 'Go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, Anoint Hazael King over Iram, also annoyed Jehu the son of Nimshi king of over Israel. Anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escaped the sword of Hazael and Elisha will put to death any who escaped the sword of Jehu. Who yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel. All whose needs have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.'" The whole chapter Elijah is like, "Where is everybody? Where is every? I'm by myself." And God's like, I've got a remnant, they just haven't been awakened yet. That's kind of what's going on. There's a remnant but they haven't shown up yet. And God uses Elijah here to awaken these people out of apostasy, and that's what St. Paul is really talking about. We pray for revival, we pray for revival at this church, we pray for revival in Boston. Partially because historically speaking, this is a battleground, spiritually speaking in many ways. We pray for revival, but revival must always first come from the house of God. It must come first from our own hearts. And that's what the Old Testament is about, over and over and over. But not just paganism, but apostasy and they're different. An Apostate is one who at some point professed faith in God. Pagan just don't believe in God and the God of scripture, apostasy is at some point you believe, at some point your church believed that scripture, the Bible was the living word of God. At some point your church renounced it, your denomination renounced it and becomes apostate. That's what's going on here. Romans 11:4, but what is God's reply to him? "I've kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 7,000 within that godless nation. They had not kept themselves for God, but God had kept them. When you look back at your life, do you view God's movement in your life like this? That it's God keeping you, that it's God protecting you. This is what Jesus Christ taught us to pray. "Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. Lord, protect me. Protect me from sin. Lord, protect me from myself. Protect me from my spiritual lethargy. Lord, protect me." I do believe in the perseverance of the saints, but it's because I believe in the preservation of the saints. That whomever God does save, which is a miracle, he will continue that miracle all the way to heaven. Because whoever is truly a Christian is a walking miracle. Anyone, Every Christian is a walking miracle. It's the Holy Spirit did a miracle. And you recreated, you gave you a new heart. Verse five, "So too, at the present time there was a remnant chosen by grace." What does the word remnant mean? You ever think about that remnant? Well, it means fragment. It means scrap. Scripture has a lot of metaphors to explain Christians, seed left after the field has been plowed, drag's found to the bottom of a cup, loose ends that are only fit for a trash barrel. A stump left from a fell tree, drag's reserved by God in election. God doesn't choose the very best, no, he chooses the very worst. He's preserved his remnant, which he determined to redeem from the foundation of the world. This is why I do believe that the true faith of the church of Jesus Christ will continue until the end. We will never be erased, not the true chosen people of God. And Paul himself here is very hopeful for the people of God. He himself was disobedient and God saved him. If God could save someone as stubborn at St. Paul, God could save absolutely anybody. St. Paul was miraculously transformed from a ferocious wolf to a tamed sheep. He was the arch persecutor of the church and now becomes the apostle to the Gentiles. He knew God's mercy. And he's like, "If I got it, anyone can get it." And by the way, do you believe this? Do you view Christianity like this? Do you believe the gospel like the, salvation like this? "I can't believe I'm saved. And if God can save me, he can save absolutely everybody." Question, who are the least likely people on the planet to follow Jesus Christ? What group of people are the least likely to follow Jesus Christ? Well right up there I think, well whoever that is, that list, whatever your top five, your top 10, that's usually how God saves people. That's exactly who God is going to save. For me, I think that the least likely are Jewish people in New England. Jewish people in Brookline, Massachusetts. I think the least likely to become Christians, followers of God, I think the least likely. That's why I think God in his great humor has sent us here, just to see if this election stuff is true. I dare to test it. You know how? Share the gospel to Jewish people, share it. By the way, we as a church, we're positioned the best of anybody to share the gospel with Jewish people and share the good news with Jewish people. Because we literally tell, I do this all the time, I do this all the time. Because hey, "What do you do?" And I was like, "I'm a pastor." And they were like, "Where?" I was like, "Right here on Beacon Street, that massive building." He's like, "I've always wanted to go." "You should come, you should come. Sunday, 9:15, 11, you should come." God is doing a work, invite Jewish people to hear the gospel. And what is the gospel? What is the gospel? If you're Jewish, when you're like, all right, what's the gospel? Let's get the point. I'll tell you, the gospel is good news, Good news. Think of the best good news you've ever gotten, the best good news you've ever gotten. The first time, the best good news I can remember, the most tremendous news was when I made enough money to buy a car and I drove home in the Audi 80. That was tremendous news that I got to share with my friends. "Hey guys, I got a car, you don't." And that was tremendous news. Getting into college, that's always tremendous news, that's great. Getting engaged and you're like, "Hey, come to my wedding." That's great news. "We have a baby." That's tremendous news, tremendous news you... And usually the best news, it always has to do with people. It always has to do with relationships. Because look at the end of your life, you're going to be 95. You're going to be looking very, we all know this is so cliche, but you in the world, wind of life, you kind of forget. You're not going to be like, "I wish I worked hard at work. I wish I had made more money, I wish I'd bought more stuff, I wish I was more stylish, I wish I my percent body fat was lower, I wish I was." No, no one cares about. It's, "Who are the people I loved? And whom did I love?" It's all relationships. Well, scripture teaches us that the greatest relationship that is offered to us, the relationship with the God of the universe, has been severed by our own stubbornness. We're all stubborn. The fact that you don't think you are sinner proves the fact that you are a great sinner. Because when's the last time you have even considered the law of the living God? We don't. No one in our culture considers the law of God. That's how indifferent we are, that's how much we hate God. So obviously we're sinners, but God in this great love did not leave us in our sin. Sends his son Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who lives a perfect life, fulfills every single one of God's laws. Fulfills God's will even when he didn't want to, at that moment, when it matters most. The moment of garden of Gethsemane. "Lord, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me, but not my will. Your will be done. That moment, every single one of us, we have crossed. "Lord, let this cup fast from me." And Lord says, "No." And you're saying, "See you." That sin turning your back on God, running away from God, carrying nothing for the things of God. And then Jesus Christ comes, he goes to the cross after Gethsemane, he pours out his blood, he's crucified, nails through his hands, through his feet. He's crucified by his very own Jewish people whom he loved. He was Jewish, they're Jewish. And then he's buried and he comes back from the dead and he promises whoever repent of sin, that's all you have to... All repentance is turning your heart from being away from God to God. That's all Elijah was doing. His whole job was to turn the hearts of the people of God back to God. Stop saying you love God with your words, but your whole life, when no one sees you, you're not a believer. So share the gospel. And this one of the thing I do hear from people. They say, "Well, Paul had a cool testimony. Other people have cool testimonies. Like if you're a drug addict or you killed someone and then you met Jesus and then you knew person, that's awesome, that's cool. But me, my testimony's so boring." My testimony like this is the way I used to think. I grew up in a Christian family, we went to church, we tried to read the Bible here and there, things like that. And I'm like, But yeah, I met God a few points in my life where it's clear God exists, got into his word, you get saved. Your testimony only is boring if you're not honest about how wicked you are. And it's hard to say how wicked you are out loud to people. It's hard to say, "I was up and then that thing, but Jesus delivered me from." It's hard to say, it's even harder to hear that personal. So I say you just use biblical words. Just use, "I was lost as a sheep and then Jesus went and he found," use biblical words, but share your story. At what moments in life that God really showed up really ministered to you. So that's my encouragement to do, share the gospel, preach the gospel, proclaim the gospel, use words to people, explain what the gospel is, and then lead them to scripture. Romans 11:6 through seven, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking the elect obtain it, but the rest were hardened." Here he says that the due concepts grace and works, they're mutually exclusive as we have seen through this Epistle. Grace by definition is unmerited, you can't earn it. It's unearned, undeserved. And Paul makes it simple, it's one or the other. Our relationship with God is one or the other. It's based on one or the other. And our only hope is grace. And Paul is writing about the Jewish people as a whole, his kinsman, that they too can only be saved by grace. So the fact that you are ethnically Jewish does not necessarily put you in better terms relationship with God. No, it's only through race. It's only through Jesus Christ. Romans 11:8, "As it's written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear down to this very day." People of Israel were blinded because God made them blind, that's what he's saying. But their blindness is punishment for their sin. They didn't want to see God. God had given them his word and they rejected it. If you don't want to hear God's word and there are parts of God's word that is hard to hear, friends. You never graduate from that. If you get to a point where you don't want to hear the word of God, well be careful because God does make people deaf. If you keep pushing, you keep pushing, you keep resisting, you keep being stubborn and stiff neck, there will come a time where you just become deaf to the word of God. You want nothing to do with it, I've seen it. If you don't want to see the kingdom of God, whatever you see vaguely will be taken away. If you're not alive and energetic to the things of God, when the spirit of God whispers, when the spirit of God blows, be careful that God does not visit you with the spirit of lethargy, taking away from you whatever zeal was already given. And Paul hear cites David, who's speaking about the enemies of God and God's kingdom in Romans 11:9, And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap. And a stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be dark and so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever." What's he talking about here? Well, it's the imagery of a table. Elsewhere in Psalm 23, David says, "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies." What is this table? It's a banquet feast that God has prepared and it's visible to the enemies of the kingdom. So in a sense, at the banquet where God is over this banquet, the enemies of God can see in. And concerning this imagery, Luther said that ultimately the table is imagery of God's word. God's word is the feast at the table. That's the spread. The banquet feast is the oracles of God's word. They were given, not to the Assyrians or the Babylonians and the Acadians, but to the people of Israel. And they had the Oracles of God and David saw how's enemies hated the word of God. That's where he wrote. And Psalm 69:22, "May the table set before them become a snare and may it become retribution and a trap." Once God's enemies come to the table and they hear God's word and they see the sumptuous food, because of pride in their heart, rebellion against the God who has given this feast, that same food becomes a trap for them. A trap that pounces like a hammer on their heads. Luther looking at Psalm 69:22 said, "It's like the flower in the field whose nectar is used to make honey for the bee, but the nectar is poison to the spider." You're saying to those who are being saved, the word of God is sweetness and honey. But for those who are perishing, it is poison. And this is one of the challenges of preaching the gospel. This is one of the challenges of not just my job, but your job, our job as collectively as the people of God. We are to make disciples proclaiming the word of God. For some people, they receive it and it is sweet, it's so sweet. It's so sweet to see a new Christian. One of the sweetest things where you just see the scales fall off, the eyes becoming tendered to the word of God. Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry questions just, it's one of the sweetest, sweetest things to see. And for some people that same exact message makes them want to fight. They want to fight. And usually... They don't want to really fight. They don't want to really fight. They want to fight on Google and Google reviews and things like that. But in a place like Boston, the odds are stacked against you. This is what Pastor Randy was talking about last week. You got to develop this tough skin of being able to take L's. Yeah, you share the gospel L, you share the gospel L. It's like nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And then like statistically speaking, very few people of those to whom you're going to tell the word of God in the gospel, statistically very few are going to become Christians around you. Very few. But they're going to start paying attention. For now, they're going to start paying attention. And it takes years, sometimes takes decades. And the seeds you sew now, God's word does not return void. Romans 11:11, "So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means, rather through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, so has to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their inclusion mean?" He's saying Israel's present bareness was brought with a blessing to the Gentiles. That Israel stumbled for that purpose. It's a clear pattern in these verses that there is this pendulum, as I was saying, of God's grace and it climaxes in history, in salvation history immediately before the return of Christ. That's what he's talking about. This time, Israel's sin is described as bringing blessings to the Gentiles. That's our age. While Israel's loss becomes Gentiles gain, but as redemptive historical, this pendulum swings back the other way. Israel's fullness will in turn serve to bring greater riches to the Gentiles. So Israel, people of God, chosen, Jesus comes, they rejected. Pendulum, swings to the gentiles, swinging to the Gentiles. And toward the end times, this is what he's saying, the pendulum comes back, comes back, comes back. And those Jewish people, ethically Jewish religiously at that time, God is going to bring a great revival amongst them. This is verse 13, "Now I'm speaking to you Gentiles, in as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world." So they've been rejected so that we gentiles can be reconciled. "How much more so, that's what you say, what will their acceptance mean? But life from the dead." How can Paul equate Israel's future acceptance with the resurrection? What's the connection between Israel's future acception and the resurrection life from the dead? Well, the phrase life from the dead is, in a figurative expression, meaning that it's the reception of Israel that will bring this blessing, this new life. Israel's acceptance does not mark the beginning of a golden age, according to this text. So this, a lot of post-millennial people point to this text and they're like, Oh, this is where a thousand year reign of Christ that begins here. No, he's saying when the Jews, when there is this revival amongst the Jewish people, it marks the end. Israel's conversions assigned that this present evil age is about to come to an end with the resurrection. Israel's acceptance is in some way connected to the general resurrection at the end of the age. But this is all happening so Israel's fullness and acceptance will trigger that climactic end of salvation history. So he's saying the acceptance of Israel and the resurrection, they're interconnected. And when Israel is converted, the end of the age is at hand. So when you do start hearing about Jewish people getting saved on mass, you should start getting worried if you're not a Christian and you should get saved. But I'm telling you, I'm already hearing about it, I'm already seeing it. So if you're not yet a Christian, I'm telling you the end is near. It's very near. And also we don't know how much we have left the end for any one of us might be today. So repent for today is the day of salvation. Will there be a role for Israel in the future? Likely, yes. Immediately before the end of the age, huge numbers of ethnic Jews will come to faith in Jesus Christ and then become members of Christ's church. Their conversion will herald the coming of Jesus Christ in the end of the age. And until then, what is our job? Until then, we joined with Paul in his impassioned prayer in Romans 10:1, "Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israel is that, they may be saved." That's our heart's desire, that's our heart's desire for every single person to be saved. First Corinthians 15:20, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through man. For as in Adam all dies, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn Christ the first fruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him, then the end will come. When he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. Pretty much reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy to be destroyed is death for he has put everything under his feet." In conclusion, Romans 10:11 tells us that there is a remnant, who's chosen by grace. And this was what Elijah was wrestling with. He's like, "Lord, I'm the only one, I'm the only one. They've killed everyone else." And then God's like, "I've got 7,000, relax." But the thing with Elijah is, the 7,000 weren't really helpful. And I wonder how many Christians like that are in Boston. I wonder because a friend text me, he is like, "Do you have any demographics of recently in churches?" And I was like, "Look man, every pastor I talk to looks like they've been like band of brothers, they just got back from World War II. COVID just diminished every church, just everyone's like barely hanging out." I was like, I don't care about demographics, I don't care about people who identify as Christians. I don't care about any of that. I care about the fruit. What's the fruit? The fruit I want to see is how many faithfully committed Christians are there in attendance today in churches in Greater Boston? How many? If you go around in every single church in Boston, Greater Boston, how many? Can we get 7,000? Can we get 7,000 men? Well, I believe that there is a remnant. But there's just a call to the remnant that is dormant. And I say this because, let me just connect this to football real quick. You know how in Texas football is amazing, Texas, Florida all down to Alabama, they've got third graders that could probably be in the NFL. I don't know what they're... So like huge stadiums, they got professional coaches and I'm from Rhode Island I played football in a school where no one played football. It's like whoever shows up, that's the team. And we never had enough people to play. So whoever signed up played every single position. So since freshman year, I played every single position. On offense, I was a lineman, on defense, I was a middle linebacker. On punt return, I was the returner kick. And I was the kicker on top of all that. And then when I got to senior year and our team stunk, and I remember my coach pulling me aside and he said, "Jan, I'm so sorry." I said, "What for coach? For you being an alcoholic?" And he said, "No, not for that." I said, "What you?" He said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry you didn't go to high school in Texas." Tremendous, a lot of support, a lot of infrastructure. That's kind of what the church situation is. Boston compared to other parts of the country. If you come from here, if you come and you're like, "Yeah, I'm only here for a year, I'm only here for two years, you know what? Boston's not really home." And then home is always back there. And you come here and you come to church here and you take, and you take and you take, everyone else who lives here is like, "You know what? I'm tired. I'm like Elijah, I'm like, Lord, kill me, kill me, please." Not me. Elijah. But that's the general. So this is my appeal to you, dormant remnant. If you are a Christian, you're like, "I am a believer, but I think I've been to sleep. I haven't read my Bible, I don't have ears to hear, I have a spirit of stupor. When I pray it seems like I'm just speaking to the ceiling." I guess the spirit of stupor, it is demonic. If there is a remnant and you're hearing my voice, I am calling you, I'm summoning the elect. I'm summoning the elect to you be faithful where you are. Be faithful to the Lord. If you really are elect, understand what that means, what kind of great gift that, and it comes with responsibilities to share the gospel with those who don't yet know the Lord. So I'll ask you the question of Elijah. If you're like, "I'm not sure, am I elect? Am I dormant? Am I not a Christian?" Well, I'll ask you the question, Elijah, how long will you waiver between two opinions? The Lord is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him. Is God the primary orienter of your life? Is he the true north star of your life? That everything is aligned according to God and his word. If not, then you're following something else. If God is Lord, follow him. Romans 10:9 through 13, "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put the shame for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved." Everyone, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So today, friends call on the name of the Lord and as we transition to holy communion, call on the name of Jesus Christ, we're remembering him today. He said, Do to this in remembrance of me, of his person, of who he was, of his character, of who he is, of his word, of what he taught, of his sacrifice on the cross for us. For whom is holy communion. It's for repentant Christians, it's for this remnants, for the elect who repent of sin and follow Jesus faithfully. And when you stumble, you repent, you get up and you ask for grace. So if you're not a Christian, if you today do not respond to the gospel call. If you do not repent of sin and trust in Jesus, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service, this is for believers in Christ. And if you are a Christian living in sin, known sin that you have not repented of, we call you to repentance and leave that sin and then you're welcome partake. And if you don't repent and leave that sin, don't partake in this, it won't be helpful. It might actually cause physical harm according to first Corinthians 11. "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also, he took the cup after supper saying, 'The cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly we would not be judged, but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another if anyone's hungry, let them eat at home so that when you come together, it will be not be for judgment about the other things that will give directions when I come." If you would like to participate in holy community, you haven't received the elements, please raise your hand when the ushers will hand you one. I actually need one too. I forgot mine. Thanks. Actually I'll take two, I'll take two, I'll take two. One for a second service. Perfect. Would you please pray with me over Holy communion. Heavenly Father, as we today meditate on the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, we don't meditate on it just to feel bad for the physical anguish that you went through. And we meditate on it because Jesus, you won. You conquered Satan sin and death on the cross. We worship a God who conquered evil. We thank you Jesus that you today, the resurrected Christ, that you're seated at the right hand of God, the Father, and that we can commune with you, we can bow our hearts at the altar right before you're throne. We can get on our knees, we can ask for forgiveness and you grant it to us. Because of your victory on the cross, because of your victorious sacrifice. Lord, I pray today by the power of the Spirit that you increase our zeal, every single one of us. Make us the people who, like, Elijah are willing to suffer anything so that your name will not be defamed. Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross for our sins, bearing our penalty and shame, and we worship you now. We thank you for your body, we thank you for your blood and we thank you for the spirit of God that is amongst us. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread and after breaking he said, This is my body broken for you. Take eat and do this in remembrance of me. Then proceed to take the cup. He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which poured out for the sins of many. Take drink and do this in remembrance of me. If today is the first time you've received the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, would love to pray with you after the service. Pastor Andy will be right up here, or if you just want to talk more about the faith, we'd love to answer any questions. With that said, would you please pray with me as we continue our service? Lord, we worship you. We worship you for the God that you are the greatness of your glory, your blazing holiness, your totally otherness transcendence, and yet you bow down and you came down to us. We thank you Jesus for that. And I pray Jesus, that you make us people who want to share the good news just because we're thrilled about it. What incredible deal it really is, because of the work of Christ we can bring you our sin and you forgive us and we become yours. And now you reorder our lives, reorder the chaos of our lives by your word. And I pray you continue to do that, and I pray that you receive our worship now with heartfelt gratitude. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Audio Transcript:This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly Father, we are so thankful to you for this morning, for this life you've given us. Another opportunity today is to worship you, to glorify you with everything we have. Everything we have is yours, everything, absolutely everything. The only thing we can take responsibility for is our own sin and our own folly. Everything else, Lord is from you, so we thank you for life and we thank you for the opportunity to be redeemed, reconciled, restored, for the opportunity to be welcomed into your family, adopted as sons and daughters regenerated by the power of the Spirit. Holy Spirit, we pray for a special anointing upon each one of us today. I pray if there's anyone who's not yet a believer, I pray, speak to them in a very, very clear way so they know that it's your voice, it's not a man's voice. In the same way that Elijah heard from you in the whisper, I pray, whisper, whisper words of salvation.And we pray, Holy Spirit of blessed our time in the word for those who are elect. And in this general vicinity, I pray that you draw them to gospel proclaiming churches. I pray that they not be dormant in their faith, in particular as the days are growing darker. Lord Jesus, bless our time in the holy scriptures of praises in Jesus name, Amen. We're continuing our sermon series through Romans, which has been incredible. And the title of the sermon today is Awakened Oh You Dormant Remnant. As you watch the news and you see everything's going on and questions arise, are we living in the end times? Well, it's a question that's always been asked by Christians in all ages, and many answers to this question may be found locked in our text today in Romans 11 and then in the next couple weeks. But when people ask questions like, Are we on the brink of World War3? Only Lord knows.But it's the natural state of the fallen heart to say, Jesus, everything's falling apart. Everything around us right about now would be a tremendous time to come back. Can you please come back and fix everything? And I understand this heart cry of lament, but we as the people of God, we can't stay there. We can't sit on our hands waiting for Jesus to come back and fix everything. When Jesus is like, "Hey, I've literally given you the game plan. I've given you the strategy of how to fix everything." And then once you start implementing the game plan, then Jesus comes back. He said, "Preach the gospel of the kingdom in the whole world." This is Matthew 24:14. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come." The gospel will be preached in the whole world.So our job, when we start thinking, "Oh my, this might be the end times." Our job as Christians to say, "Hey, am I preaching the gospel?" In particular in a place like Boston? I remember and when God called me the seminary and called me at the vocational ministry, I was like, "Lord, you know what? I'll do it as long as you come back during my lifetime. Just so I'm alive, just so I see Jesus Christ with the flaming sword. I want to be around for that." Just to be like, Ah, I told everyone. We were right.But in seminary they said, You got to preach the gospel to the whole world. And I said, "What? How can I do that? I can't do that." But I know a place where people from all over the world come, and that's Boston, Massachusetts. We're here and we are called to preach the gospel even when everything else is falling apart. And the gospel is very simple. The gospel is, God created you to worship him, we're to worship the king, King Jesus. We are to follow his world and build up his kingdom by following his word. And this is what St. Paul is doing as he's giving us a blueprint in the book of Romans of how to rebuild society. That's what Christianity is. Christianity is how can we recreate humanity? How can we have a humanity within the humanity, a city within the city, a people within a people who live life completely differently, live life in submission to God?And Romans nine, Paul establishes the fact, well, it's God's grace, we need God's grace. If anything's going to change, if we're going to do any kingdom work, if the church is going to grow, we need God's grace. And he establishes the principle of salvation is based only upon God's grace. Election isn't foresee on works or good faith, it's just that God chooses people, that's what grace is. Can you ever earn more grace? That's not a trick question. Can you ever earn more grace? No, we can't. We can never earn more grace. That's what he says, it's all grace. So God pours out grace. And the question is in Romans 10, what about the Jewish people? What about the remnant? And Paul says, it's still grace. They get saved, Jewish people in the same way the Gentiles get saved, it's all grace. Israel's problem says Paul is not a lack of zeal but a lack of knowledge.And as a result, Israel sought to establish a righteousness of their own through works and not through grace. And this was part of the divine purpose so that as Gentiles come to faith in Israel's God, this Jewish people are like, "We're are the chosen people." And then gentiles are come into faith and they're like, "Actually, we're the chosen people because we follow Jesus. He made us the chosen people and you're saved by grace through faith." And then the Jews are like, "Hey, that's not fair." And they're provoked, and Pastor Andy and the sermon last week had this incredible illustration about his two daughters, Clara and Audrey. Clara, he said, "Hey, come in for a hug." And she's like, Eh. Because she's taken her father's love for granted, not the fresh baby, not Audrey. She's like, oh, and then Clara is provoked. That's what's going on with Gentiles.This pendulum of grace that Israel had the gospel, they had grace and then they lost it. And then the pendulum of grace goes to the Gentiles. And then St. Paul says in chapter 11 that this pendulum of grace is going to swing to the Jews again. Romans 1:1 through 15. Sorry, I'm speaking really fast, there's a lot in this text and I want to cover all of it, that's my ambition. So would you pay attention with me? Romans chapter 11:1 through 15, "I asked then has God rejected his people? By no means for myself am and Israelite a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 'Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've demolished your altars, and I alone and left and they seek my life.'""But what is God's reply to him? 'I've kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So to at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking, the elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear down to this very day.' And David says, 'Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever.' So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall by no means? Rather though through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentile so as to make Israel jealous.""Now, if they're trespassed means riches for the world and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now I'm speaking to you gentiles, in as much then as I am and apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. But if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean? But life from the dead?" This is the reading of God's holy inherent infallible authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. We'll just walk through the text today given that this is a text about eschatology. So when speaking about eschatology, eschatology is the knowledge or the science of the eschaton, which is the end times.Whenever speaking on things like this, it's very important to be precise. And the text has to do with future prophecies found in the Bible, both old and new testaments. And it has to do with the end times. One biblical scholar said that two thirds of the doctrinal matter in the New Testament focuses one way or another on eschatology. Now if you're aware of Christianity, if you spent time in churches, you're probably familiar that there are many camps when it comes to the end times. There's the post-millennialism, the pre-millennialism, the amillennialism, the preterism, partial-preterismism, dispensationalism, et cetera. And how we understand eschatology to a large degree is connected to how we understand Romans 11. And this is what the chapter's about. Much of the dispute about his eschatology is, hey, what happens to Jewish people in the end? What happens to the people of God?That's really the question that he is wrestling with here in the end times. Romans 11:1, "I ask then, has God rejected is people?" It's a rhetorical question. In the old Testament times, Israel was called out of paganism and they were set apart to be the people of God. That God says, "You are now mine. Your lives will be patterned according to my character. You will live in a way that is going to bring peace, shalom, not just to your own life, but to life of your marriage and life of your family and the life of your community." And that was the people of God. There was a theocratic nation with God as its ultimate king. And Israel was given a mandate and a destiny and Paul earlier lamented, "Hey, did God reject his people completely?" Well he says, "No." Verse one, "I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means, for I, myself am an Israel, a descendant of Israel, a member of the tribe of Benjamin." He's saying God is not categorically rejected the Jewish people. And here he argues from the lesser to the greater.He said, if God had rejected all the Jews, then he would've rejected Paul. But Paul was a Jew so, he's living, breathing, writing proof that God hasn't rejected the Jews just because of their ethnicity. Paul cites his pedigree, including a brief recounting of his background, traces a roots to the tribe of Benjamin all the way to Abraham. Verse two, "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." That's really the issue. He says, "Who are the chosen people?" It's not people who are born into a Jewish family. It's not people who identify as being Jewish. It's not people who identify as being Christian. That's not what saves anybody. What saves a person is repentance of faith. King Jesus, I have sinned against your law, have violated it, I have broken your code, your moral commandments. I have not loved God with all my heart, soul, strength and might. I have not loved neighbor as myself.When you repent of sin and you're drawn to God by the power of the Holy Spirit, sometimes it happens immediately and dramatically and you're a brand new person within five seconds. I haven't seen that happen often in Boston. Mostly in Boston, it's very progressive. It's you come, you listen, you read scripture, you meditate, you think, you ask God, you have conversation, you wrestle. And then after a while you don't know when you became a believer, but you say, "You know what I think I believe in Jesus Christ. I have repented my sin, I've accepted grace." You are part of these people that God has foreknew. That's what he's saying, that God is incapable of rejecting people whom he foreknew from the foundation of the world. Here he brings the concept of election to the Jewish people.Earlier he wrote in Romans 9:6, "It is not as though God's word had failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." That circumcision doesn't save a person, going to mass doesn't save a person, going to religious building doesn't save anybody, it doesn't save you from the wrath of God that we have earned. We have incurred through our law breaking. So what we need is grace. That's what he is talking about. And it's a grace that is completely under the sovereign will of God. So God hasn't finally rejected the Jews, Paul's living proof of that. So was the early church. The early church were mostly Jewish people. Jesus was Jewish, the disciples are Jewish. Most of the 500 eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ upon the resurrection were Jewish. And I don't mean like Jewish, I mean like religious Jews.And the fact that, and I marvel at this, the fact that Mosaic Boston meets in a synagogue every Sunday is weekly proof for the veracity of the historical bodily resurrection of Christ. And here's what I mean. Jewish people worship their Lord on what day? On Saturday. Well, they're not using the building on Sundays. So that's how we got in. Well, why are we worshiping God on a Sunday? Because the early Jews were told by Jesus Christ when he came back from the dead, "Hi, I am the Messiah and I came back from the dead. So that proves that everything I said is true. I am God, and now you'll worship me on the resurrection, day on Sundays."And this is how Paul did ministry, he would go to synagogues one day would meet and preach the gospel. So Romans 11:2 B, he continues, "Do not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel. Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've demolished your altars. And I alone him left and they seek my life." As is his custom, Paul often appeals to the Old Testament, to bolster the point. He's saying, "I'm not making this up. It's all in the Bible. Just read it. Read scripture, you'll understand God." In one of Israel's darkest hours, God preserved a believing remnant. There were people who were followers of God only because God preserved them. That's what he said. So this cry from the prophet of Elijah comes perhaps during the worst time of Apostacy in all of Old Testament Israel. So Elijah makes a plea, this plea while Ahab was the king. Ahab was married to Jezebel who was not a Christian.Jezebel was a priestess of the cult of Baal. So Ahab was to marry someone who worship Yahweh, who worshiped God, no, he married someone who worshiped Baal. And then little by little she had influence over the king and she invited pagan idolators into the royal house and persuaded Ahab to sanction all kinds of idolatrous religion. And under Ahab and Jebel, there was a massive persecution of the true believers of God. And a lot of the Jewish places of worship were destroyed. So Elijah had enough. Elijah gets to this point where he is like, I'd rather die than see the people of God hiding. I'd rather die than see the name of God defamed. It's kind of what happens when David, Young David, like David, Goliath, David. When he comes in and he goes to visit his brothers and he sees the army of Israel and then he sees the army of the Philistines, then he sees Goliath come out and for 40 days and 40 nights he came out and he cursed the name of God.Well there was a zeal kindled in the heart of David and he's like, "Hey, I love God and these people are cursing, God, I would rather die. I don't know... and I'm going to toss these stones with everything I've got at Goliath and if I die, I die." That's kind of the mindset of the zeal of God and the heart of Elijah where he's like, "You know what? I'm done with these priests of Baal. Hey, let's have a challenge. Let's have a prayer off. Let's see, God is real. So he challenges the prophets of Baal to this fair off in 1King's 18:27 through 29. The prophets of Baal. They build their little altar and then they're going around, and at noon, Elijah began to taunt them.They've been shouting for hours, "Shout louder. He said, Surely he is a God. Perhaps he's deep in thought or busy." That's a nice way in the English of translating that he's relieving himself or traveling maybe he's sleeping and must be awakened. "So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with sword and spears as was their custom until their blood flowed. Midday passed and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention." And then Elijah orders that the altar be doused with water. And then he saturates it with prayer and he begs God to send fire from heaven. The Lord God omnipotent sends fire from heaven that consumes the whole altar. And in the midst of Israel's hellish reversion to paganism, Elijah leads this revival because he got exhausted with seeing the name of God defamed.That's what happened in 1King's 18, huge win, huge win. Fire from heaven, huge win Elijah, you should go celebrate. Like this is the time you take a cruise or something, whatever prophets do. He doesn't. He falls into some kind of spiritual lament. He's exhausted with living, he's in this midst he cries out to God in first King's 19, "Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, 'Made the god's deal with me, be ever so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.'" So this same guy who just saw fire come from heaven gets a death threat from Jezebel and says verse three, "Elijah was afraid and ran for his life when he came to Beersheba and Judah, he left his servant there. And while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness.""He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. 'I've had enough Lord, he said, Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.' Then he laid down under the bush and fell asleep." Have you ever been there? We all have been there. We've all been on our side in a fetal position on the floor in a small room. We have been "God, I've had enough. Please nothing. Please take me, take me, I'm ready to go." And then says, "All at once an angel touched him and said, 'Get up and eat.'" Oh, he was just hungry. He was just, oh, he just needed some carbs. "So an angel comes, he looks around and thereby his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then laid down. The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, 'Get up and eat for the journey is too much for you.'""So he got up and ate and drank, strengthened by that food, he's traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him, 'What are you doing here, Elijah?' He replied, 'I've been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelis have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too.' The Lord said, 'Go and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord. For the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart. And shattered the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper, Elijah heard it. He pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then the voice said to him, 'What are you doing here Elijah?' And he replied, Same thing. 'I been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty, the Israelites have rejected your covenant, tore down the author, put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they're trying to kill me. They're trying to kill me too.' The Lord said to him, 'Go back the way you came and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, Anoint Hazael King over Iram, also annoyed Jehu the son of Nimshi king of over Israel. Anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escaped the sword of Hazael and Elisha will put to death any who escaped the sword of Jehu.Who yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel. All whose needs have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.'" The whole chapter Elijah is like, "Where is everybody? Where is every? I'm by myself." And God's like, I've got a remnant, they just haven't been awakened yet. That's kind of what's going on. There's a remnant but they haven't shown up yet. And God uses Elijah here to awaken these people out of apostasy, and that's what St. Paul is really talking about. We pray for revival, we pray for revival at this church, we pray for revival in Boston. Partially because historically speaking, this is a battleground, spiritually speaking in many ways. We pray for revival, but revival must always first come from the house of God. It must come first from our own hearts. And that's what the Old Testament is about, over and over and over.But not just paganism, but apostasy and they're different. An Apostate is one who at some point professed faith in God. Pagan just don't believe in God and the God of scripture, apostasy is at some point you believe, at some point your church believed that scripture, the Bible was the living word of God. At some point your church renounced it, your denomination renounced it and becomes apostate. That's what's going on here. Romans 11:4, but what is God's reply to him? "I've kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 7,000 within that godless nation. They had not kept themselves for God, but God had kept them. When you look back at your life, do you view God's movement in your life like this? That it's God keeping you, that it's God protecting you. This is what Jesus Christ taught us to pray."Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. Lord, protect me. Protect me from sin. Lord, protect me from myself. Protect me from my spiritual lethargy. Lord, protect me." I do believe in the perseverance of the saints, but it's because I believe in the preservation of the saints. That whomever God does save, which is a miracle, he will continue that miracle all the way to heaven. Because whoever is truly a Christian is a walking miracle. Anyone, Every Christian is a walking miracle. It's the Holy Spirit did a miracle. And you recreated, you gave you a new heart. Verse five, "So too, at the present time there was a remnant chosen by grace." What does the word remnant mean? You ever think about that remnant? Well, it means fragment. It means scrap. Scripture has a lot of metaphors to explain Christians, seed left after the field has been plowed, drag's found to the bottom of a cup, loose ends that are only fit for a trash barrel. A stump left from a fell tree, drag's reserved by God in election.God doesn't choose the very best, no, he chooses the very worst. He's preserved his remnant, which he determined to redeem from the foundation of the world. This is why I do believe that the true faith of the church of Jesus Christ will continue until the end. We will never be erased, not the true chosen people of God. And Paul himself here is very hopeful for the people of God. He himself was disobedient and God saved him. If God could save someone as stubborn at St. Paul, God could save absolutely anybody. St. Paul was miraculously transformed from a ferocious wolf to a tamed sheep. He was the arch persecutor of the church and now becomes the apostle to the Gentiles. He knew God's mercy. And he's like, "If I got it, anyone can get it."And by the way, do you believe this? Do you view Christianity like this? Do you believe the gospel like the, salvation like this? "I can't believe I'm saved. And if God can save me, he can save absolutely everybody." Question, who are the least likely people on the planet to follow Jesus Christ? What group of people are the least likely to follow Jesus Christ? Well right up there I think, well whoever that is, that list, whatever your top five, your top 10, that's usually how God saves people. That's exactly who God is going to save. For me, I think that the least likely are Jewish people in New England. Jewish people in Brookline, Massachusetts. I think the least likely to become Christians, followers of God, I think the least likely. That's why I think God in his great humor has sent us here, just to see if this election stuff is true.I dare to test it. You know how? Share the gospel to Jewish people, share it. By the way, we as a church, we're positioned the best of anybody to share the gospel with Jewish people and share the good news with Jewish people. Because we literally tell, I do this all the time, I do this all the time. Because hey, "What do you do?" And I was like, "I'm a pastor." And they were like, "Where?" I was like, "Right here on Beacon Street, that massive building." He's like, "I've always wanted to go." "You should come, you should come. Sunday, 9:15, 11, you should come." God is doing a work, invite Jewish people to hear the gospel. And what is the gospel? What is the gospel? If you're Jewish, when you're like, all right, what's the gospel? Let's get the point. I'll tell you, the gospel is good news, Good news.Think of the best good news you've ever gotten, the best good news you've ever gotten. The first time, the best good news I can remember, the most tremendous news was when I made enough money to buy a car and I drove home in the Audi 80. That was tremendous news that I got to share with my friends. "Hey guys, I got a car, you don't." And that was tremendous news. Getting into college, that's always tremendous news, that's great. Getting engaged and you're like, "Hey, come to my wedding." That's great news. "We have a baby." That's tremendous news, tremendous news you... And usually the best news, it always has to do with people. It always has to do with relationships. Because look at the end of your life, you're going to be 95. You're going to be looking very, we all know this is so cliche, but you in the world, wind of life, you kind of forget.You're not going to be like, "I wish I worked hard at work. I wish I had made more money, I wish I'd bought more stuff, I wish I was more stylish, I wish I my percent body fat was lower, I wish I was." No, no one cares about. It's, "Who are the people I loved? And whom did I love?" It's all relationships. Well, scripture teaches us that the greatest relationship that is offered to us, the relationship with the God of the universe, has been severed by our own stubbornness. We're all stubborn. The fact that you don't think you are sinner proves the fact that you are a great sinner. Because when's the last time you have even considered the law of the living God? We don't. No one in our culture considers the law of God. That's how indifferent we are, that's how much we hate God. So obviously we're sinners, but God in this great love did not leave us in our sin.Sends his son Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who lives a perfect life, fulfills every single one of God's laws. Fulfills God's will even when he didn't want to, at that moment, when it matters most. The moment of garden of Gethsemane. "Lord, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me, but not my will. Your will be done. That moment, every single one of us, we have crossed. "Lord, let this cup fast from me." And Lord says, "No." And you're saying, "See you." That sin turning your back on God, running away from God, carrying nothing for the things of God. And then Jesus Christ comes, he goes to the cross after Gethsemane, he pours out his blood, he's crucified, nails through his hands, through his feet. He's crucified by his very own Jewish people whom he loved. He was Jewish, they're Jewish.And then he's buried and he comes back from the dead and he promises whoever repent of sin, that's all you have to... All repentance is turning your heart from being away from God to God. That's all Elijah was doing. His whole job was to turn the hearts of the people of God back to God. Stop saying you love God with your words, but your whole life, when no one sees you, you're not a believer. So share the gospel. And this one of the thing I do hear from people. They say, "Well, Paul had a cool testimony. Other people have cool testimonies. Like if you're a drug addict or you killed someone and then you met Jesus and then you knew person, that's awesome, that's cool. But me, my testimony's so boring."My testimony like this is the way I used to think. I grew up in a Christian family, we went to church, we tried to read the Bible here and there, things like that. And I'm like, But yeah, I met God a few points in my life where it's clear God exists, got into his word, you get saved. Your testimony only is boring if you're not honest about how wicked you are. And it's hard to say how wicked you are out loud to people. It's hard to say, "I was up and then that thing, but Jesus delivered me from." It's hard to say, it's even harder to hear that personal. So I say you just use biblical words. Just use, "I was lost as a sheep and then Jesus went and he found," use biblical words, but share your story. At what moments in life that God really showed up really ministered to you. So that's my encouragement to do, share the gospel, preach the gospel, proclaim the gospel, use words to people, explain what the gospel is, and then lead them to scripture.Romans 11:6 through seven, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking the elect obtain it, but the rest were hardened." Here he says that the due concepts grace and works, they're mutually exclusive as we have seen through this Epistle. Grace by definition is unmerited, you can't earn it. It's unearned, undeserved. And Paul makes it simple, it's one or the other. Our relationship with God is one or the other. It's based on one or the other. And our only hope is grace. And Paul is writing about the Jewish people as a whole, his kinsman, that they too can only be saved by grace. So the fact that you are ethnically Jewish does not necessarily put you in better terms relationship with God. No, it's only through race. It's only through Jesus Christ.Romans 11:8, "As it's written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear down to this very day." People of Israel were blinded because God made them blind, that's what he's saying. But their blindness is punishment for their sin. They didn't want to see God. God had given them his word and they rejected it. If you don't want to hear God's word and there are parts of God's word that is hard to hear, friends. You never graduate from that. If you get to a point where you don't want to hear the word of God, well be careful because God does make people deaf. If you keep pushing, you keep pushing, you keep resisting, you keep being stubborn and stiff neck, there will come a time where you just become deaf to the word of God. You want nothing to do with it, I've seen it. If you don't want to see the kingdom of God, whatever you see vaguely will be taken away.If you're not alive and energetic to the things of God, when the spirit of God whispers, when the spirit of God blows, be careful that God does not visit you with the spirit of lethargy, taking away from you whatever zeal was already given. And Paul hear cites David, who's speaking about the enemies of God and God's kingdom in Romans 11:9, And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap. And a stumbling block and a retribution for them. Let their eyes be dark and so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever." What's he talking about here? Well, it's the imagery of a table. Elsewhere in Psalm 23, David says, "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies." What is this table? It's a banquet feast that God has prepared and it's visible to the enemies of the kingdom. So in a sense, at the banquet where God is over this banquet, the enemies of God can see in. And concerning this imagery, Luther said that ultimately the table is imagery of God's word. God's word is the feast at the table. That's the spread.The banquet feast is the oracles of God's word. They were given, not to the Assyrians or the Babylonians and the Acadians, but to the people of Israel. And they had the Oracles of God and David saw how's enemies hated the word of God. That's where he wrote. And Psalm 69:22, "May the table set before them become a snare and may it become retribution and a trap." Once God's enemies come to the table and they hear God's word and they see the sumptuous food, because of pride in their heart, rebellion against the God who has given this feast, that same food becomes a trap for them. A trap that pounces like a hammer on their heads. Luther looking at Psalm 69:22 said, "It's like the flower in the field whose nectar is used to make honey for the bee, but the nectar is poison to the spider."You're saying to those who are being saved, the word of God is sweetness and honey. But for those who are perishing, it is poison. And this is one of the challenges of preaching the gospel. This is one of the challenges of not just my job, but your job, our job as collectively as the people of God. We are to make disciples proclaiming the word of God. For some people, they receive it and it is sweet, it's so sweet. It's so sweet to see a new Christian. One of the sweetest things where you just see the scales fall off, the eyes becoming tendered to the word of God. Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry questions just, it's one of the sweetest, sweetest things to see. And for some people that same exact message makes them want to fight. They want to fight. And usually... They don't want to really fight. They don't want to really fight.They want to fight on Google and Google reviews and things like that. But in a place like Boston, the odds are stacked against you. This is what Pastor Randy was talking about last week. You got to develop this tough skin of being able to take L's. Yeah, you share the gospel L, you share the gospel L. It's like nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And then like statistically speaking, very few people of those to whom you're going to tell the word of God in the gospel, statistically very few are going to become Christians around you. Very few. But they're going to start paying attention. For now, they're going to start paying attention. And it takes years, sometimes takes decades. And the seeds you sew now, God's word does not return void. Romans 11:11, "So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means, rather through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, so has to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their inclusion mean?"He's saying Israel's present bareness was brought with a blessing to the Gentiles. That Israel stumbled for that purpose. It's a clear pattern in these verses that there is this pendulum, as I was saying, of God's grace and it climaxes in history, in salvation history immediately before the return of Christ. That's what he's talking about. This time, Israel's sin is described as bringing blessings to the Gentiles. That's our age. While Israel's loss becomes Gentiles gain, but as redemptive historical, this pendulum swings back the other way. Israel's fullness will in turn serve to bring greater riches to the Gentiles. So Israel, people of God, chosen, Jesus comes, they rejected. Pendulum, swings to the gentiles, swinging to the Gentiles.And toward the end times, this is what he's saying, the pendulum comes back, comes back, comes back. And those Jewish people, ethically Jewish religiously at that time, God is going to bring a great revival amongst them. This is verse 13, "Now I'm speaking to you Gentiles, in as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world." So they've been rejected so that we gentiles can be reconciled. "How much more so, that's what you say, what will their acceptance mean? But life from the dead." How can Paul equate Israel's future acceptance with the resurrection? What's the connection between Israel's future acception and the resurrection life from the dead?Well, the phrase life from the dead is, in a figurative expression, meaning that it's the reception of Israel that will bring this blessing, this new life. Israel's acceptance does not mark the beginning of a golden age, according to this text. So this, a lot of post-millennial people point to this text and they're like, Oh, this is where a thousand year reign of Christ that begins here. No, he's saying when the Jews, when there is this revival amongst the Jewish people, it marks the end. Israel's conversions assigned that this present evil age is about to come to an end with the resurrection.Israel's acceptance is in some way connected to the general resurrection at the end of the age. But this is all happening so Israel's fullness and acceptance will trigger that climactic end of salvation history. So he's saying the acceptance of Israel and the resurrection, they're interconnected. And when Israel is converted, the end of the age is at hand. So when you do start hearing about Jewish people getting saved on mass, you should start getting worried if you're not a Christian and you should get saved. But I'm telling you, I'm already hearing about it, I'm already seeing it. So if you're not yet a Christian, I'm telling you the end is near. It's very near. And also we don't know how much we have left the end for any one of us might be today. So repent for today is the day of salvation. Will there be a role for Israel in the future? Likely, yes.Immediately before the end of the age, huge numbers of ethnic Jews will come to faith in Jesus Christ and then become members of Christ's church. Their conversion will herald the coming of Jesus Christ in the end of the age. And until then, what is our job? Until then, we joined with Paul in his impassioned prayer in Romans 10:1, "Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israel is that, they may be saved." That's our heart's desire, that's our heart's desire for every single person to be saved.First Corinthians 15:20, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through man. For as in Adam all dies, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn Christ the first fruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him, then the end will come. When he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. Pretty much reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, the last enemy to be destroyed is death for he has put everything under his feet."In conclusion, Romans 10:11 tells us that there is a remnant, who's chosen by grace. And this was what Elijah was wrestling with. He's like, "Lord, I'm the only one, I'm the only one. They've killed everyone else." And then God's like, "I've got 7,000, relax." But the thing with Elijah is, the 7,000 weren't really helpful. And I wonder how many Christians like that are in Boston. I wonder because a friend text me, he is like, "Do you have any demographics of recently in churches?" And I was like, "Look man, every pastor I talk to looks like they've been like band of brothers, they just got back from World War II. COVID just diminished every church, just everyone's like barely hanging out." I was like, I don't care about demographics, I don't care about people who identify as Christians. I don't care about any of that. I care about the fruit. What's the fruit? The fruit I want to see is how many faithfully committed Christians are there in attendance today in churches in Greater Boston? How many?If you go around in every single church in Boston, Greater Boston, how many? Can we get 7,000? Can we get 7,000 men? Well, I believe that there is a remnant. But there's just a call to the remnant that is dormant. And I say this because, let me just connect this to football real quick. You know how in Texas football is amazing, Texas, Florida all down to Alabama, they've got third graders that could probably be in the NFL. I don't know what they're... So like huge stadiums, they got professional coaches and I'm from Rhode Island I played football in a school where no one played football. It's like whoever shows up, that's the team. And we never had enough people to play. So whoever signed up played every single position. So since freshman year, I played every single position. On offense, I was a lineman, on defense, I was a middle linebacker. On punt return, I was the returner kick. And I was the kicker on top of all that.And then when I got to senior year and our team stunk, and I remember my coach pulling me aside and he said, "Jan, I'm so sorry." I said, "What for coach? For you being an alcoholic?" And he said, "No, not for that." I said, "What you?" He said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry you didn't go to high school in Texas." Tremendous, a lot of support, a lot of infrastructure. That's kind of what the church situation is. Boston compared to other parts of the country. If you come from here, if you come and you're like, "Yeah, I'm only here for a year, I'm only here for two years, you know what? Boston's not really home." And then home is always back there. And you come here and you come to church here and you take, and you take and you take, everyone else who lives here is like, "You know what? I'm tired. I'm like Elijah, I'm like, Lord, kill me, kill me, please." Not me. Elijah.But that's the general. So this is my appeal to you, dormant remnant. If you are a Christian, you're like, "I am a believer, but I think I've been to sleep. I haven't read my Bible, I don't have ears to hear, I have a spirit of stupor. When I pray it seems like I'm just speaking to the ceiling." I guess the spirit of stupor, it is demonic. If there is a remnant and you're hearing my voice, I am calling you, I'm summoning the elect. I'm summoning the elect to you be faithful where you are. Be faithful to the Lord. If you really are elect, understand what that means, what kind of great gift that, and it comes with responsibilities to share the gospel with those who don't yet know the Lord. So I'll ask you the question of Elijah. If you're like, "I'm not sure, am I elect? Am I dormant? Am I not a Christian?"Well, I'll ask you the question, Elijah, how long will you waiver between two opinions? The Lord is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him. Is God the primary orienter of your life? Is he the true north star of your life? That everything is aligned according to God and his word. If not, then you're following something else. If God is Lord, follow him. Romans 10:9 through 13, "Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put the shame for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved."Everyone, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So today, friends call on the name of the Lord and as we transition to holy communion, call on the name of Jesus Christ, we're remembering him today. He said, Do to this in remembrance of me, of his person, of who he was, of his character, of who he is, of his word, of what he taught, of his sacrifice on the cross for us. For whom is holy communion. It's for repentant Christians, it's for this remnants, for the elect who repent of sin and follow Jesus faithfully. And when you stumble, you repent, you get up and you ask for grace. So if you're not a Christian, if you today do not respond to the gospel call. If you do not repent of sin and trust in Jesus, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service, this is for believers in Christ.And if you are a Christian living in sin, known sin that you have not repented of, we call you to repentance and leave that sin and then you're welcome partake. And if you don't repent and leave that sin, don't partake in this, it won't be helpful. It might actually cause physical harm according to first Corinthians 11. "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also, he took the cup after supper saying, 'The cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly we would not be judged, but when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another if anyone's hungry, let them eat at home so that when you come together, it will be not be for judgment about the other things that will give directions when I come."If you would like to participate in holy community, you haven't received the elements, please raise your hand when the ushers will hand you one. I actually need one too. I forgot mine. Thanks. Actually I'll take two, I'll take two, I'll take two. One for a second service. Perfect. Would you please pray with me over Holy communion. Heavenly Father, as we today meditate on the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, we don't meditate on it just to feel bad for the physical anguish that you went through. And we meditate on it because Jesus, you won. You conquered Satan sin and death on the cross. We worship a God who conquered evil. We thank you Jesus that you today, the resurrected Christ, that you're seated at the right hand of God, the Father, and that we can commune with you, we can bow our hearts at the altar right before you're throne. We can get on our knees, we can ask for forgiveness and you grant it to us.Because of your victory on the cross, because of your victorious sacrifice. Lord, I pray today by the power of the Spirit that you increase our zeal, every single one of us. Make us the people who, like, Elijah are willing to suffer anything so that your name will not be defamed. Jesus, we thank you for dying on the cross for our sins, bearing our penalty and shame, and we worship you now. We thank you for your body, we thank you for your blood and we thank you for the spirit of God that is amongst us. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread and after breaking he said, This is my body broken for you. Take eat and do this in remembrance of me. Then proceed to take the cup. He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which poured out for the sins of many. Take drink and do this in remembrance of me. If today is the first time you've received the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, would love to pray with you after the service. Pastor Andy will be right up here, or if you just want to talk more about the faith, we'd love to answer any questions. With that said, would you please pray with me as we continue our service?Lord, we worship you. We worship you for the God that you are the greatness of your glory, your blazing holiness, your totally otherness transcendence, and yet you bow down and you came down to us. We thank you Jesus for that. And I pray Jesus, that you make us people who want to share the good news just because we're thrilled about it. What incredible deal it really is, because of the work of Christ we can bring you our sin and you forgive us and we become yours. And now you reorder our lives, reorder the chaos of our lives by your word. And I pray you continue to do that, and I pray that you receive our worship now with heartfelt gratitude. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Tour buses full of fans came to Beacon Street to visit the iconic bar that inspired it all, located just outside of Boston Public Garden. WBZ's Karyn Regal reports:

The Whole Foods Market across Saint Mary's Street Station in Brookline is closing its doors for good on Friday. WBZ's James Rojas reports.

Audio Transcript: Heavenly father, we glorify you. We focus our full attention upon you right now. Help us remove any distractions, any worries, any anxiety and help us focus only on you. We glorify you often in our lives. You're just too small because we aren't glorifying you. We're glorifying things ourselves. We pray, remove all of that and help us focus on Jesus Christ on his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection. And because of all of everything he's done, we have access to the presence of God with a righteousness that is not our own. That's the prerequisite to be in the family of God to have a righteousness that is perfect.We thank you that when we repent of sin, believe in you, Jesus, you give us that righteousness as a gift. And we thank you, Holy Spirit that you are with us today. And I pray Holy Spirit, minister to us, minister to our souls. If there's any heartache or heartbreak, I pray today. Send healing and help us revel in this truth and help us go deeper into it. What does it mean that I'm justified by grace through faith? Holy Spirit ignite our hearts to then live out this incredible, incredible calling and identity. And we pray, all this in Christ holy name. Amen.So I'm walking down the street today on the way to church and I'm in the zone. If you know me, when I'm in the zone, I don't really notice anything else. I'm in the zone. And then these two ladies are walking in my direction and one of the ladies points at me and says, "That guy is definitely going to church."I broke lots of categories. I've seen the nice lady from the park. My wife knows her and she knows our daughters. And then she's with her friend. She's like, "That guy is a priest." And says, "You're a priest. Right?" And I was like, "Close enough. Priest, rabbi, pastor, whatever." I'm just telling people about God. And then her friend goes, "Where's your church?" And I said, "Mosaic Boston, right there on Beacon Street." She said, "Can I come?" I was like, "Of course you can come."And then I realized a lot of people don't go to church because no one's invited them. So it's just a reminder that we should be inviting people into the house of prayer. Today, the title of sermon is believing against hope in Romans 4:13 through 25. How are we saved by grace through faith? That's the only way we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.But often we put too much of emphasis on our own faith because faith is how you grow in knowledge of God. We want our faith strength about how do you strengthen your faith? That's the question before us. Especially when everything is hopeless. I'll start with the quote by BB Warfield, tremendous theologian. He says, "The saving power of faith, resides thus not in itself, but in the almighty savior on whom it rests. It is not strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but that Christ saves through faith." Christ saves through faith.Faith is the instrument by which God saves us and by which we enter into a saving relationship with him. But faith is not our own. Saving faith is not our own. Saving faith is a gift from God. You can't muster saving faith. You can only ask. And when you ask, receive it with humility and exercise that faith. If we could muster our faith, if we're going to even muster an ounce of faith on our own, then we would still get credit a little bit for our salvation.But this is the beauty of Christianity. There is nothing. There is nothing that you can take credit for when it comes to being safe. Salvation is all grace. 100%. You can do absolutely nothing to save yourself. So that gets us into a position of incredible helplessness and hopelessness. I can't do a thing to save myself. And now we have ears to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. We can hear about grace.The context Paul has made clear, whenever any anyone got saved, or get saved, or will get saved, it's only by justification through faith. And he points to the example of Abraham. We talked about that last week. That Abraham, before he offered up Isaac on the altar, even before he obeyed God with circumcision, before all of that, God made him a promise that you will be blessed and I will send you a son.God made that promise. And Abraham believed the promise. And Genesis 15 says, "God counted righteousness to Abraham. Mercy did not eclipse justice. God saves us by satisfying his divine justice on the cross." So the today we're Romans 4:13 through 25. Would you look at the text with me. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. Not only to the adherent of the law, but also to one who shares the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. As it is written, I've made you the father of many nations. And the presence of the God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.In hope, he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations as he had been told, "So shall you offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the bareness of Sarah's womb. No distress made him waiver earning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.But the words, it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but four ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead, Jesus, our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.This is the reading of God's holy inerrant, infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. And usually at this point in the sermon, I say those three points, the frame of our time together are one, two, three. I have no points today. The reason why I do the points is number one. So you don't think I'm making stuff up on the fly. That actually did work during the week, which I do because I met a guy this week. He's like, "Oh, you're a pastor. So you only work one day a week." I said, "Actually, only 45 minutes. That's it." And he laughed, I laughed. We all laughed. I went home and cried.And then also I do the points, so you can track in your mind how much more do I need to pay attention? Like how much more brain energy. Just follow the verses. We're going to frame up our time with the verses, versus 13 through 25. Verse 13, would you look at the text. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.So God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the heir of the world, and that promise wasn't just given to him, it was given to his progeny, his heirs, everyone that came after him. And earlier in the text, he said, "Everyone who believes Abraham is our father." He continues that same stream of thought here. So God goes to Abraham and he promises, "You're going to be the heir of the world." Heir of what? Heir of everything.What is an heir. An heir is someone who inherits something incredible. So if your grandfather, great uncle died and he was wealthy and he was generous, he includes you in the will. And then you get inheritance. I come from a family of immigrants. My parents came here with $700 in their pocket. My grandfather, who was the only grandparent I had when we immigrated, he came here with nothing. So he saved up over the course of years. And when he died, he had $6,000 in his bank and he wrote out a will. And he is like, "This is what I want you to do with the $6,000. I want you to make an album with pictures of me and my family. And I want you to give one of those albums to every single member of the family."That's a treasured inheritance I got from my grandfather. But if you grew up here and your family has been here for generations, perhaps there's inheritance coming. And that's exciting. We get excited about inheritance. But God promises Abraham and not just money. He promised him that you will inherit or your heirs will inherit everything. Obviously, the only true and proper heir of God the father is God the son. Jesus alone is worthy to inherit the kingdom that God has promised. But through the gift of faith, the righteousness that is imputed by faith, the righteousness of Christ, we're adopted into the family of God. And because we're adopted into the family of God, we're now sons and daughters of God the father with Jesus Christ as our older brother.So thanks to this adoption. Apart from this adoption, we're spiritual orphans. And not just spiritual orphans, we're not children of God, the father. Apart from Jesus Christ, you need to know this is important. Apart from Jesus Christ, you're not a child of God. Jesus makes it clear in the gospel of John that apart from faith in Christ, you are a child of Satan. So we need to believe in Jesus Christ, get the prerequisite righteousness to be adopted into the family of God the father. And when we are adopted, we become co-heirs of the world with Christ.Verse 5 of Matthew 5, this is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus Christ said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. With the coming of the Messiah, the promise of a land in Canaan, God promised to Abraham, "You're going to get land in Canaan. That's the promised land." Jesus Christ comes and he said, "The meek shall inherit the earth.Canaan So the promise has been universalized to the entire earth and thus, the notion held by contemporary dispensationalist.Do you know what those are? Any Christian that has a lot of charts that loves charts, probably dispensationalist. Just out of nowhere they get a chart and they can timeline, and they can tell you when Jesus is coming back, et cetera, et cetera. The contemporary dispensation, they believe that Israel, because modern day Israel was established that that is the fulfillment of the promise that God gave to Abraham which isn't true.As we shall see, when we get to Romans 9 through 11, the return of the Jews to their Homeland, while in amazing act of God's providence, and perhaps it's related to the conversion that will come of Israel before the end of the age. But the land promise has nothing to do whatsoever with the promise given to Abraham when God made a covenant with him.So Paul follows the lead of the prophets. He follows the lead of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and he universalizes the promise to extend to the ends of the earth. Way, way beyond the original boundaries of the promised land, the Nile and Euphrates.So what does it mean that Christians, followers of God will inherit the earth. And here we want details. We want all the details, Lord. Give me some details. What kind of land am I getting an inheritance? Lord, can I have some waterfront property, in a very warm location? If you don't like the ocean, Lord, can I have some mountains? I've been living in the city for 13 years. I'm like, Lord, can I just have a parking spot?And when I inherit, whatever, can I just get a park? But we don't get details. It should be enough that God promises that when you believe in Jesus is great, you will live forever in the presence of God and you will inherit the world.My daughters when they were younger, I'd say, "Get in the car. We're going on a trip." And no questions, no questions ever, they're like, "Let's go. Let's go." And now that they're older, they're like, "I need a detailed itinerary. I need to know if this trip is worth it." This past week, our family got invited to go... My friend is a minister at Brown University, Athletes in Action, and they were doing a senior sendoff where he's like, "Can you come give them a charge?" And I gave them a charge. I said, "You're going to need to tremble before God's word." It was tremendous.I brought my daughters. I was like, "Little ladies, let's go. I want you to meet these college athlete, men and women. They're scholars. They're athletes. They're Christians. They work hard. They love the Lord. They've got a tremendous pain tolerance. They're doing great." And then my girls are like, "Well, who's going to be there? What kind of food are we going to have? Will there be any children? "And Milana is like, "Will there be any toys?" Because apparently when you're four and you go to someone else's house, all the toys are brand new. They're all brand new.And that's what we want. I'm like, "We're going to have fun. We're going to be together. We're going to make it..." And it was good. Details don't matter as much with the Lord. I promised you eternal life. I promised you an inheritance. The more important question isn't the details of the inheritance, the more important question is can I lose my inheritance or can I get more of the inheritance?Well, first, no, you can't lose the inheritance because the inheritance doesn't depend on your performance. The inheritance that God is offering isn't based on your perfection., It's based on the direction of your life. Are you following Jesus Christ? The moment you repent of your sins and you turn to Jesus Christ, you're justified by grace through faith.Now you are son, a daughter of God. You will get an inheritance. You can't lose that inheritance, but you can get more of that inheritance. And this is 1 Corinthians 3, one of the classic sermons ever preached at Mosaic. It's in the app. Pastor Andy Davis preached a sermon called how much heaven do you want? I go back to that sermon all the time. One of the most powerful. He's like, how much do you want? How much heaven do you want to inherit? And he talks about the capacity to experience the presence of God. That's expanded here in this life and the next life.Once that capacity expands, you get to experience more of God. So yes, it's only by faith that we're save. It's only by faith that we get an inheritance, but that faith needs to be authenticated with obedience or else it's not true faith. I say the direction of life, because I think of Christianity like this because Jesus Christ talked about this in the Sermon of the Mount. He said, "Look, the way that leads to destruction is broad, and there's a lot of people going down that path. But the way that leads to life is narrow. It's straight and narrow."So it's like you're going through life, going through life, going from broadened path. And the God just stops you. He stops you. He elects you. He saves you. He gives you the gift of faith, gift of repentance. All of a sudden you're sealed with the Holy Spirit and he turns you around. And that's what repentance is, a change of mind, change of heart, change of direction. And then he puts you on the straight and narrow and he says, "Follow me."He locks you into this path. Another way to think about it is I think about it like a rollercoaster. Like you were on a roller coaster going to hell. You were on that. And then God takes you off that ride. It's terrible. It feels like fun, but you're on hell. And then he puts you on the ride going straight to heaven. You sit down. He locks you in with grace. You can't get out. The teaching of grace and salvation. You can't get out.And if you want to get out, you should tell me, and then I'll point you to Hebrew 6 and Hebrews 10, which is like, "No, no, you don't want to get out." It locks you in. And on the rollercoaster, sometimes there are highs and you're like, "Christianity is the best. Jesus is coming back soon. People are getting saved. And then sometimes, the rollercoaster goes down and you're like, "Jesus, could you please come back? Got it ready. Ready to go." It's up and down. But the obedience needs to authenticate the faith.So Abraham gets saved by grace through faith. That's Genesis 15 and then comes the sign of the covenant, the sign of circumcision. And then in Genesis 22, he calls Abraham to sacrifice his son on the altar. We talked about that last week and then the angel of the Lord stops him and he says, "Now, I know that you fear the Lord." And then the angel continues the verse 15 of Genesis 22. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, "By myself, I have sworn." Why? Because there's nothing higher by which God can swear than by himself."By myself I have sworn," declares the Lord, "because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that's in the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice." I thought it was by grace through faith? Yeah, it is by grace. That's how it starts. That's how you get justified. But then begins the hard work of sanctification of following God on a daily basis. And then God said, "Okay, you believed it was grace and now your faith is authenticated with your obedience." And Paul will elaborate more on this later in the letter. But for now, he wants to emphasize the heirs of Abraham and his seed do not receive the promise inheritance through the law. It's not through performance, but through faith. And it's not through performance because Abraham lived.God made that promise 430 years before the 10 commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Galatians 3:17 through 18. This is what I mean, the law, which came 430 years afterward does not know a covenant previously ratified by God. So as to make the promise void for if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. God promises Abraham and inheritance before the law. So it was all by faith. Abraham believes that he was justified by faith.And Paul's point is of course he wasn't justified by works. There was no law yet. In Galatians 2:16, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law, no one will be justified. He continues in verse 14 for if it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs, plural, faith is null. And the promise is void.The way you're saying is you can't earn your inheritance by keeping the law. That's not how inheritance works. Why do you get inheritance from anybody? You didn't earn the inheritance. Someone else worked for years to get whatever the stuff that you're inheriting. You're only gifted it because you're part of the family or you were treated like family. So how do you become part of the family of God to make sure that you get this inheritance by keeping the law? No, of course not.Only by grasping onto the promise. God, you promised. God, you promised me that when I repented my sins and I believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior, you promise me that all my sins are forgiven. I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. I will live for eternity in the presence of God, and I get an inheritance. And God has given us this promise. All we have to do is believe in the promise.You mean there's nothing I can do to make myself righteous before God? No. Even if today you got this incredible resolve and you say, "You know what? I have sinned. I've sinned. And I feel a weight of my sin. All right, from here on out, the church inspired me today. From here on out, I will live a sinless life. No more sin. I will love God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I will love my neighbor as myself. I will do it."See, the loving God part, it's easy because he is perfect. But then you go home and you're like, "I got to love God. I Got to love my neighbor. Got to love God. Got to love my neighbor." And then all of a sudden you realize, "Yeah, I have neighbors on every single side of me." And then they turn on their music and you're like, "I got to keep loving them." And then they start cooking and you're, "What's that smell?" And then you open the window because of the cooking, and then a smell of skunk begins to waft in. My daughter think it's a skunk because that's why I keep telling her. I was like, "That's skunk. There's a lot of skunks in Boston." They're just stories full of skunks all around us.You just got to keep low. You got to keep low then after you're like, "Yeah, I'll start tomorrow. I'll start tomorrow." Every good diet starts on a Monday. Every righteous path starts tomorrow. No, you can't. Even if you try, you can't, you can't, you can't. Why? Because the law brings wrath. That's verse 15. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. The law brings wrath. What does it mean? He means that the law does not affect salvation.It can't save you. It does not affect justification or forgiveness. If you trust in your keeping of the law in your performance, all you're doing is keeping up wrath for the day of judgment. But there is a law and we've all transgressed that law. If God didn't tell us how to live, we could live anywhere we want. We'd be autonomous. We'd be absolutely independent. We can define reality as we want to define reality. And that's how most Americans live. And that's why the wrath of God is being poured out.Even on this country, we're not free. There is a law. People think we're free. Dostoevsky said, "If there is no God, then all things are permissible." That's how most people live. I'm a law to myself. I'm a God of my own life. I'm lure to myself until things get hard, and then people start crying out to God. And once you start thinking about God, you're like, "Oh, maybe he does have obligations upon me that are written on my heart."There's no way. There's nothing we can do to justify for our sins. One of the things I've been noticing now that I'm a soccer dad, we have three practices and three games every week. It's a 20-hour commitment by the way. But my girls are tremendous at it. One of my girls scored three goals yesterday. She wasn't even trying. She wasn't even trying. Coach called her secret weapon. He said, "Protect the secret weapon." But one of the things I noticed with the parents, they're really good parents. They're really nice people. Really nice.I love meeting them. Really nice people. Just tremendous, tremendous people. And I invited this one guy to church and then he's like, "You're a pastor?" Oh, that's the guy that said, "You only work a day a week." So I invited him to church and he's like, "They let you be a pastor?" I was like, "For now. You should come." Such a good dad. Just a good dad. Had a little birthday party for his daughters and he invited all the kids cup. Just good. How can I tell this guy he's on his way to hell?I realized be being a good parent is not virtuous. That doesn't add any virtue. You're just doing the bare minimum. It's just expected of you that you're going to be a good parent. Just because you're human, it's not virtuous to be a good parent. No, the standard is so much higher. The standard is perfection. The standard is absolute untainted love. There is a law and we've transgressed that law. We've transgressed it with sins of commission. That's doing bad things. And sins of omission. That's not doing the good things that we know we're supposed to do. We failed to do them.We have debts accruing against us in God's economy. So we do pray to forgive us our debts. "Lord, forgive us our trespass and our transgressions. Lord, please forgive me because I know I deserve your wrath." And the wrath he's talking as punitive wrath. It's not corrective wrath. There's a difference. In Hebrews 12, there is a corrective wrath. God the father loves his children and when his children disobey, he does discipline us. That's Hebrews 12. And here he's talking about punitive wrath that God takes our law breaking personally.Because God is the law giver. When we sin, we're not sinning against some abstract norm or piece of legislation some people somewhere. Now, we're sitting against the law giver himself who is good and loving. And that's why you gave the law, and he wrote the law on our hearts. It's for our good. It's for human universal flourishing. So when we break that law, we break God's heart. And when we break God's heart, what we deserve in response is wrath. It's a personal affront against God every time we sin. That's why sin is so egregious. It's a personal attack against a great God, a holy God. A God who's been nothing but good and loving to us.And then the only time that he became a human, we mocked him and ridiculed him, scorned him and crucified him instead of glorifying him. Romans 4:16. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. Not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all.He says, "That's why it depends on faith." In the reformation there's the five solas. Sola fide, that's one of them. That's only by faith we're saved. Sola gratia, only by grace. Solus Christus, only by the work of Christ. Our justification is by grace through faith only because of Christ. But why is it by justification by faith? Because it rests on the promise of grace. Since you didn't earn it, your salvation, you can't lose it.That's why he uses the word guarantee. Guaranteed to all his offspring. So if God saves you, that's a gift. And if you didn't earn it, if you receive the gift, you can't lose it. When God adopt someone into his family, you're adopted forever. God is a good father who never loses a child. Once saved, always saved because you're always persevering. You're always following. And look, this is what scripture teaches. And I grew up in a church that did not teach this. They were very Armenian.In that, they're like, "You know what? You never know." You ask anyone and they're like, "Hey, are you going to heaven today if you die?" And they're like, "I hope so." And that was kind of like the culture of the church where it's like... Before communion Sunday, I used to dread communion Sunday, because they're like, "If you sin this week, you don't take part in communion."I was like, "Sin this week? I sin this morning. I sin on the way to church. I love everyone like 100%. No, they're sin, they're sin, they're sin." That's the sanctification part. No, but the justification part, that's all the work of Christ. Therefore, we're saved for all eternity. The doctrine of assurance, of salvation, you can be sure. So this is a very important question. Today, are you sure that you are going to spend eternity with God? Are you sure? Do you have that assurance right now?Are you 100% sure? And if there any hesitation in your mind, you need to go back to the doctor and justification by grace through faith. I am not saved because of my performance. I'm saved because of Christ's performance. I believe in Christ therefore I'm justified by grace through faith. You can be sure. You should be sure.And then of course we're called to make our election sure, but our salvation doesn't depend on our obedience of the law. Because our righteousness depends on faith, rest on grace is guaranteed to everyone who follows in the footsteps of faith of Abraham. Everyone who shares in this faith that righteousness, alien righteous, not ours can be imputed, gifted to us because of Christ.Verse 17, "As it is written, I've made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed. Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence to things that do not exist." Abraham here is called the father of many nation. So he is not just the father of Isaac. He's not just the father of his progeny. He's not just the father of the Jews. Abraham here is considered the father of anyone who trusts in the same promise that he embraced that there's a righteousness that can be counted to us from God.We're the seed of Abraham by faith in Christ. Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God and he got God's presence. That's what it says in verse 17. And the presence of God in whom he believed. So he got a promise from God and he got the presence of God. And that's the only thing he had to sustain him for 25 years. 25 years, from the day God promised him, "Hey, I'm going to give you a son." For 25 years he woke up, nothing. Woke up, nothing. God reaffirmed a few times. Nothing, nothing, nothing. But he believed, and he believed that God is a God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.God is a creator. He's the only creator. He's the creator who creates ex nihilo, something out of nothing. No one else can do that. Not even Satan. Satan can't create a thing. Satan counterfeits and he ruins everything else that God creates. So it's convenient that God can create something out of nothing, life out of death because of verse 18. In hope, he believed against hope. In hope, Abraham believed against hope that he should be the father of many nations as he had been told, so shall your offspring be.So there's two hopes here and then there's a faith. In hope, he believed against hope. What's the hope that he's believing against? That's just normal hope. This is what normal people feel like that you wake up and you're like, "I could be negative or I could be positive. All right, I should be positive. I could be a pessimist or I could be an optimist. I want to be a glass half full kind of person, so I'm going to be an optimist today."It's natural. You muster it up, this hope and you... People say this all the time. I trust everything will work out. I think everything will work out for the good. And usually they say that because they look past at their track record in their life and they're like, "You know what, things have always kind of worked out, so I think they kind of work out." But if you study investment, you know that past results don't guarantee future performance.Everything could be great and everything could have been working out, and then you just die. Oh, it didn't work out. So there's normal hope and then there's a hope that goes beyond, a transcended hope. That's hope and faith together in hope he believed. And he believed against all of the evidence. All of the evidence that he is accruing about his circumstances. This point to the fact that God lied.And then he goes back to the promise of God, and he looks beyond his circumstances. This is why in prayer, it's so helpful to close your eyes. And by the way, in worship, it's so helpful to close your eyes. That's why you should memorize the worship songs. Every newsletter I sent out at the bottom of the newsletter is a list of all of the worship songs for Sunday. I'm telling you, worship could be so much more powerful if everyone just closed their eyes and sang the song as memorized.By the way, you can anytime just sing and you just glorify God. You can close your eyes. You can't see your circumstances. You just focus on God and then all of a sudden you're like, "My circumstances, aren't that important? My circumstances are not sovereign." God is sovereign. "My circumstances even when they're hopeless, even when they're helpless, they're not God."And I trust in the God for whom nothing is impossible. Do you believe that? Do you believe that for God, nothing is impossible. Nothing. And if you do, that changes everything. What is the hope that Abraham was beyond? He was beyond that humanly speaking, God's promise could have. If God came to Abraham when Abraham was in his 20s and like, "Hey man, you're going to have a kid." He's like, "You know what? I could see that. I could see that, Sarah. Yeah, we're still young." God comes to Abraham when he's 75. He's like, "You're going to have a kid." He's like, "Are you sure?" And he goes and tells his wife, Sarah, she's like, "I'm 65. We're going to have a kid?"And they believed, and then God waits another 25 years. So then Sarah is 90. Abraham is 100 and God is like, "Yep, you're going to have a kid". And then Abraham and Sarah hears... And Sarah, all she can do is she just laughs because the absurdity of it. She's like, "I'm 90. I'm going to have a kid at 90? That's crazy." She's like, "Abraham, you're in a wheelchair. What are you going to have a stroller? This is nuts. This is crazy. We're not going to..." Circumstances, no reason for hope. He's hopeless. He's helpless. But he continues to trust in God when humanly speaking hope had reached a limit. It hope he believed against hope. And this is the true faith, vibrant faith. A faith that saves.And the same way that Abraham was helpless, and the same way that his wife's womb, there was no life in it. And that same way, our souls are in need of resurrection. Our hearts are in need of resurrection. This is what the connection between Paul and Abraham. So what is true hope? What is this true faith? Well, it consists of three parts. First, you need the information. If you are going to get saved by grace through faith, what's the information about God that I need to know? You learn the information. God is holy. We have transgressed his law. There's a chasm between us. We are on our way to hell.Jesus Christ, the son of God, second person of the Trinity comes lives a perfect life, no sin, and then takes that moral record to the cross, pays our debt, absorbs the wrath of God for our transgression. He absorbs the curse that we deserve to extend to us the blessing that he earned. And then he dies. And because of resurrection from the dead, everything that he did and everything he taught is obviously true. God accepts his sacrifice. Now by grace through faith, we can be saved. That's the info.After the info, you need to ask, is it true? Is this true? Is it verifiable? And it is verifiable. These are all historic things that happened. Jesus Christ's historical figure. He had disciples. People knew him. 500 people saw the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It transformed world history like no event. We literally stopped time and all of a sudden started recounting. Your birthday is measured from his birthday. Obviously it's true. Now the question is, info is it true? Do I commit?Do I commit? Can I entrust myself to Jesus Christ? We're justified by faith and trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. Abraham didn't just believe in God. Even Satan believes in God. No, he entrusted himself to God. He knew the person of God. He knew that God doesn't lie. Faith isn't blind. It's just a different kind of sight. And he saw that this was true with the eyes of a soul.Faith isn't absurd. It's not foolishness. It's not baseless. Faith is ultimately trusting what is preeminently trustworthy and that's God in hope he believed against hope. Is it reasonable to believe in situations like this? No. Look at your situation. That's not reasonable to believe. You ever feel like that in your Christian walk? Is it reasonable to keep following Jesus? Especially when things get hard, especially when you suffer. Is it reasonable?For all intents and purposes Abraham's body was as good as dead. That's what it says in verse 19. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old or when he considered the bareness of Sarah's womb. Looked at himself, looked at his wife. All he saw was hopeless and he had to close his eyes and looked beyond. How could I possibly believe even the promise? Well, because of the promise giver. The promise giver is the promise keeper. Because he's God and God can't lie. It's against his nature.The only hopeless thing is the idea that the promise would not come to pass. And in Romans 4:20, I love this verse so much. No unbelief made him waiver. Concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. When doubt came, Abraham fought off the doubt with the promises of God. And not just with the promises of God, but the presence of God. How did he do that? How did he strengthen his faith?Tremendous question. How do you strengthen your faith? Through Bible study, helpful and necessary. Studying theology, helpful and necessary. Time and prayer, helpful and necessary. Worshiping God on your own, helpful and necessary. That's not what it says. He did not strengthen his faith by focusing on his faith because when you're focusing on your faith, you're focusing on yourself. And when you're focusing on yourself...That could be discouraging, especially when life is hard. No, that's not what he did. He didn't do any of that. When he felt most hopeless and most helpless, it says that he gave glory to God. He gave glory to God. "God, I glorify you for everything that you are and everything that you have done in the past and everything you will do in the future. God, I glorify you."You know what that means? That means you recognize God for who he is. He's the great God of the universe. You glorify him. And also the word assumes that there is a magnification that happens, where as you're glorifying God, he gets so much bigger. Your problems get so much smaller and that's why your faith grows. Glorify God when you're happy, but also glorify God when you're sad. That's what really grows faith. It's easy to glorify God when everything's tremendous. Isn't it? That's why I think in these churches where the pastors have their own airplanes, it's just kind of easier to believe and it's easier to preach because the guy is like, "Of course God loves me. Look at my plane. Does it anyone want to go for a trip. I'm going to Cancun on a mission trip this weekend." Of course, God loves me. Why wouldn't you want to become a Christian? You can be tremendous like me. Look at me. Look at my plane.That doesn't grow my faith. I mean, God gave me a plane. You know what grows my faith, when everything is terrible. Like humanly speaking. And when you're suffering. And when there is a despondent, a sadness of the soul and you can still say, "Praise be to God. Glory to God." That right there will grow your faith like nothing else. And this is absolutely biblical. This is a story of Job. He had nothing because he lost everything. God allows Satan to take his children and to take his wealth and to take his health.In Job 1:20 through 21, then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, "Naked, I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return?" The Lord gave. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Does your theology allow for a verse like this? It has to. We all experience seasons like this. If not, you will. And then finally, he still had his health and then he lost his children, lost his wealth and then Satan is like, "Can I take his health?" And God is like, "Okay."And Job 2:9 through 10. Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." But he said to her, "You speak as one of foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God? And shall we not receive evil?" In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Can you say, "God, I glorify you" when you're experiencing evil? Well, that's the only way to have a faith that really saves and to exercise that faith.Romans 8:26 through 30, "Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Have you ever prayed like that? Where you're in prayer and you're praying, and you're praying, you're out of words, but you know prayer isn't over. And all you can do is just groan. And you say to Holy Spirit, "Pray for me. Jesus, pray for me." As the Holy Spirit just begins to groan with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called. And those whom he called he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified in the past tense. It's all in the past tense.He justified, that's past tense. Sanctifies us. And then he's like glorification, this is in heaven. When we get the new body, completely no sin, no imperfections, just absolutely healthy. He's like, "Your glorification is so sure it's in the past tense." Faith grows just like Jesus said it would. If you have faith as tiny as the grain of a mustard seed, you can move mountains because it's not about the faith. It's about the object of your faith.That's why St. Paul wants to move. Yes, you're saved by grace through faith. You have faith in Christ, in Christ. All the focus is on Christ. And then with that faith, he exercised and Abraham believed and he obeyed, and he was strengthened in his faith, and he gave glory to God.Isaiah 46:38 says, "A voice says cry and I said, 'What shall I cry?' All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass Withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. God has given us his promises. We can trust in them. And he also offers us his presence and his presence by the power of the spirit is what in encourages and edifies, helps us persevere.Romans 4:22 through 25. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words, it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus, our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. There's so much in what he said. Jesus died for our trespasses, but he was raised for our justification.Because Christ was raised, he conquered this triumphal sign that Christ's death removes the curse of sin because his resurrection undoes the final consequences of sin, which is death. Christ's resurrection marks the dawn of the new creation because his resurrection reverses the curse.Yeah, we still die, but not really as Christians because it's just a transition. We will live forever with Christ. Abraham, by the way, didn't have the resurrection. He didn't have the Bible. He didn't have the Torah. He didn't have the Old testament. He didn't have the Hebrew scripture. He didn't have the prophets. He didn't have anything. And he also didn't have Christ. He didn't have the teaching of Christ. The life of Christ, the eyewitnesses who saw Christ. And he didn't know that Christ came back from the dead.All he had was faith in the God who imputed righteousness. But he did believe intuitively in the resurrection. Hebrews 11:17 through 19. "By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your offing be named. He considered that God was able to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking he did receive him back." He's like, "Even if I make the ultimate sacrifice of sacrificing my son because God told me to, God can always raise him from the day he believed in a God who has that power."Last week, I did this thought experiment to talk about the scandal of grace. Justification of my grace through faith. The moment you believe in Christ, repent in your sin, and you're saved. And I asked the question, I said, "Who is the most evil man in the world that if we just sniped this guy, everything would get better." And most everyone agreed it was Putin. And then I was like, "What if Putin repents of his sin and trust in Jesus Christ? And it's true, it's genuine repentance. Could you call him brother?"A brother sent me a real example of something similar. So in 1946, there was a pastor from Missouri named, Henry Gerecke of the Lutheran Synod. He was an army chaplain. He served in the army. One of his sons died. Another one of his sons was injured. And then afterwards, after fighting, he was transitioned to army chaplain. He was sent to minister in the Nuremberg prisons during the trials. And he asked the army, "Hey, can I write about this?" And the army told him, "You got to wait five years." And then he wrote about this in an article called, "I Walked to the Gallows with Nazi Chiefs".It appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in September 1st, 1951. He says, "It was the duty of the chaplain of Nuremberg prison to offer Christian comfort to Hitler's gang. Now, after five years under a bond of silence, I can tell my story of how many repented before the hangman's trap fell." In the beginning, he kind of explains what he wants to say and then he tells a story. He says, "I particularly want to emphasize that when stripped of all they had held important."So this is Nazi brass. This is the SS, like the top of the top he's ministering to. He said, "I particularly want to emphasize that when stripped of all that they had held important, and when offered the eternal verities, most of the 21 defendants were able to come to their moral senses and repent." This is what happened in Nuremberg prison. More than half of the Nazis there before going to the gallows or their long imprisonment and spawned out, ask God for forgiveness of their sins against him and against humanity.They did so in a spirit that convinced me that their repentance was genuine. I've had many years of experience as a prison chaplain do not believe I'm easily diluted by phony reformations at the 11th hour. And then he talks about when he was sent there, he had excuses. The Nazis took one of his sons. And then he finally said the following. He said, "The next few days, I prayed harder than I've ever had in my life. And slowly the men at Nuremberg became to me, just lost souls, whom I was being asked to help. If, as never before, I could hate the sin, but love the sinner, I'll go," he said.Early in the morning on October 16th, 1946, an hour past midnight, the first Nazi war criminal to be hanged at Nuremberg began his final walk to the scaffold. Accompanying him was the US Army chaplain who had been his spiritual counselor for the past year. After the prisoner climbed the steps and stood on the trap door, he was asked for his last words. I placed all my confidence in the lamb who made atonement for my sins. May God have mercy on my soul. And then turning to the chaplain, he added, "I'll see you again."With that, a hood was pulled over his face. The rope fixed around his neck and he dropped through the trap door into eternity. The prisoner was Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler's foreign minister in one of the highest profile Nazis to stand trial before the International Military Tribunal. That's all it takes to cry out, "Lord have mercy on my soul." Have mercy on my soul. If you're not yet a Christian, you're welcome today. We plead with you.Don't put it off. Today, pray this prayer. Cry out to God to save your soul. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. And the gift of faith will be given to you. The gift of repentance, the gift of justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of a guaranteed inheritance in heaven. It's a scandal of grace. Believe it and receive it.That said we're going to transition to holy communion. We celebrate holy communion once a month at Mosaic for whom is holy communion for repentant Christians, repentant children of God. If you are not a Christian, you're not sure where you are in your faith, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service instead meditate on the gospel of Jesus Christ. But if you do repent and trust in Jesus today, you're welcome to partake.And if you are a Christian, this is for repentant Christians. If there's any sin in your life that you haven't yet repented of, we welcome you to do that. And if you don't refrain, if you do, you're welcome to partake. If you haven't receive the bread and the cup, the elements, please raise your hand. And one of the ushers will give you one as I pray.Heavenly father, we thank you for grace. Jesus, we thank you for procuring salvation for us. You've suffered, Lord and today we remember your suffering. Holy Spirit, I pray that you prepare our hearts now and focus our attention on the cross of Jesus Christ dying for us. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen.Take off the top layer. Take the bread. And then the second layer. On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus Christ took the bread and after breaking it, he said, "This is my body broken for you. Take, eat and do this in remembrance of me."Then proceed to take the cup. He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of my blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink, and do this in remembrance of me."Lord God, we glorify you. And Holy Spirit, lead us in glorifying God. Help us as we sing now as we worship. Help us cast off all our burdens, all our anxiety, all of our stress, cast it off from us to you and help us focus on you, on your greatness, on your majesty, on your preeminence, on your holiness, on your righteousness, on the perfection of your plans and your sovereignty.Now, help us sing with everything we got because you are worthy of all worship, of all praise, of all glory. And we pray all this in the name of the father, of the son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Heavenly father, we glorify you. We focus our full attention upon you right now. Help us remove any distractions, any worries, any anxiety and help us focus only on you. We glorify you often in our lives. You're just too small because we aren't glorifying you. We're glorifying things ourselves. We pray, remove all of that and help us focus on Jesus Christ on his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection. And because of all of everything he's done, we have access to the presence of God with a righteousness that is not our own. That's the prerequisite to be in the family of God to have a righteousness that is perfect. We thank you that when we repent of sin, believe in you, Jesus, you give us that righteousness as a gift. And we thank you, Holy Spirit that you are with us today. And I pray Holy Spirit, minister to us, minister to our souls. If there's any heartache or heartbreak, I pray today. Send healing and help us revel in this truth and help us go deeper into it. What does it mean that I'm justified by grace through faith? Holy Spirit ignite our hearts to then live out this incredible, incredible calling and identity. And we pray, all this in Christ holy name. Amen. So I'm walking down the street today on the way to church and I'm in the zone. If you know me, when I'm in the zone, I don't really notice anything else. I'm in the zone. And then these two ladies are walking in my direction and one of the ladies points at me and says, "That guy is definitely going to church." I broke lots of categories. I've seen the nice lady from the park. My wife knows her and she knows our daughters. And then she's with her friend. She's like, "That guy is a priest." And says, "You're a priest. Right?" And I was like, "Close enough. Priest, rabbi, pastor, whatever." I'm just telling people about God. And then her friend goes, "Where's your church?" And I said, "Mosaic Boston, right there on Beacon Street." She said, "Can I come?" I was like, "Of course you can come." And then I realized a lot of people don't go to church because no one's invited them. So it's just a reminder that we should be inviting people into the house of prayer. Today, the title of sermon is believing against hope in Romans 4:13 through 25. How are we saved by grace through faith? That's the only way we're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But often we put too much of emphasis on our own faith because faith is how you grow in knowledge of God. We want our faith strength about how do you strengthen your faith? That's the question before us. Especially when everything is hopeless. I'll start with the quote by BB Warfield, tremendous theologian. He says, "The saving power of faith, resides thus not in itself, but in the almighty savior on whom it rests. It is not strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but that Christ saves through faith." Christ saves through faith. Faith is the instrument by which God saves us and by which we enter into a saving relationship with him. But faith is not our own. Saving faith is not our own. Saving faith is a gift from God. You can't muster saving faith. You can only ask. And when you ask, receive it with humility and exercise that faith. If we could muster our faith, if we're going to even muster an ounce of faith on our own, then we would still get credit a little bit for our salvation. But this is the beauty of Christianity. There is nothing. There is nothing that you can take credit for when it comes to being safe. Salvation is all grace. 100%. You can do absolutely nothing to save yourself. So that gets us into a position of incredible helplessness and hopelessness. I can't do a thing to save myself. And now we have ears to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. We can hear about grace. The context Paul has made clear, whenever any anyone got saved, or get saved, or will get saved, it's only by justification through faith. And he points to the example of Abraham. We talked about that last week. That Abraham, before he offered up Isaac on the altar, even before he obeyed God with circumcision, before all of that, God made him a promise that you will be blessed and I will send you a son. God made that promise. And Abraham believed the promise. And Genesis 15 says, "God counted righteousness to Abraham. Mercy did not eclipse justice. God saves us by satisfying his divine justice on the cross." So the today we're Romans 4:13 through 25. Would you look at the text with me. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. Not only to the adherent of the law, but also to one who shares the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. As it is written, I've made you the father of many nations. And the presence of the God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope, he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations as he had been told, "So shall you offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the bareness of Sarah's womb. No distress made him waiver earning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words, it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but four ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead, Jesus, our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. This is the reading of God's holy inerrant, infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. And usually at this point in the sermon, I say those three points, the frame of our time together are one, two, three. I have no points today. The reason why I do the points is number one. So you don't think I'm making stuff up on the fly. That actually did work during the week, which I do because I met a guy this week. He's like, "Oh, you're a pastor. So you only work one day a week." I said, "Actually, only 45 minutes. That's it." And he laughed, I laughed. We all laughed. I went home and cried. And then also I do the points, so you can track in your mind how much more do I need to pay attention? Like how much more brain energy. Just follow the verses. We're going to frame up our time with the verses, versus 13 through 25. Verse 13, would you look at the text. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. So God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the heir of the world, and that promise wasn't just given to him, it was given to his progeny, his heirs, everyone that came after him. And earlier in the text, he said, "Everyone who believes Abraham is our father." He continues that same stream of thought here. So God goes to Abraham and he promises, "You're going to be the heir of the world." Heir of what? Heir of everything. What is an heir. An heir is someone who inherits something incredible. So if your grandfather, great uncle died and he was wealthy and he was generous, he includes you in the will. And then you get inheritance. I come from a family of immigrants. My parents came here with $700 in their pocket. My grandfather, who was the only grandparent I had when we immigrated, he came here with nothing. So he saved up over the course of years. And when he died, he had $6,000 in his bank and he wrote out a will. And he is like, "This is what I want you to do with the $6,000. I want you to make an album with pictures of me and my family. And I want you to give one of those albums to every single member of the family." That's a treasured inheritance I got from my grandfather. But if you grew up here and your family has been here for generations, perhaps there's inheritance coming. And that's exciting. We get excited about inheritance. But God promises Abraham and not just money. He promised him that you will inherit or your heirs will inherit everything. Obviously, the only true and proper heir of God the father is God the son. Jesus alone is worthy to inherit the kingdom that God has promised. But through the gift of faith, the righteousness that is imputed by faith, the righteousness of Christ, we're adopted into the family of God. And because we're adopted into the family of God, we're now sons and daughters of God the father with Jesus Christ as our older brother. So thanks to this adoption. Apart from this adoption, we're spiritual orphans. And not just spiritual orphans, we're not children of God, the father. Apart from Jesus Christ, you need to know this is important. Apart from Jesus Christ, you're not a child of God. Jesus makes it clear in the gospel of John that apart from faith in Christ, you are a child of Satan. So we need to believe in Jesus Christ, get the prerequisite righteousness to be adopted into the family of God the father. And when we are adopted, we become co-heirs of the world with Christ. Verse 5 of Matthew 5, this is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus Christ said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. With the coming of the Messiah, the promise of a land in Canaan, God promised to Abraham, "You're going to get land in Canaan. That's the promised land." Jesus Christ comes and he said, "The meek shall inherit the earth.Canaan So the promise has been universalized to the entire earth and thus, the notion held by contemporary dispensationalist. Do you know what those are? Any Christian that has a lot of charts that loves charts, probably dispensationalist. Just out of nowhere they get a chart and they can timeline, and they can tell you when Jesus is coming back, et cetera, et cetera. The contemporary dispensation, they believe that Israel, because modern day Israel was established that that is the fulfillment of the promise that God gave to Abraham which isn't true. As we shall see, when we get to Romans 9 through 11, the return of the Jews to their Homeland, while in amazing act of God's providence, and perhaps it's related to the conversion that will come of Israel before the end of the age. But the land promise has nothing to do whatsoever with the promise given to Abraham when God made a covenant with him. So Paul follows the lead of the prophets. He follows the lead of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and he universalizes the promise to extend to the ends of the earth. Way, way beyond the original boundaries of the promised land, the Nile and Euphrates. So what does it mean that Christians, followers of God will inherit the earth. And here we want details. We want all the details, Lord. Give me some details. What kind of land am I getting an inheritance? Lord, can I have some waterfront property, in a very warm location? If you don't like the ocean, Lord, can I have some mountains? I've been living in the city for 13 years. I'm like, Lord, can I just have a parking spot? And when I inherit, whatever, can I just get a park? But we don't get details. It should be enough that God promises that when you believe in Jesus is great, you will live forever in the presence of God and you will inherit the world. My daughters when they were younger, I'd say, "Get in the car. We're going on a trip." And no questions, no questions ever, they're like, "Let's go. Let's go." And now that they're older, they're like, "I need a detailed itinerary. I need to know if this trip is worth it." This past week, our family got invited to go... My friend is a minister at Brown University, Athletes in Action, and they were doing a senior sendoff where he's like, "Can you come give them a charge?" And I gave them a charge. I said, "You're going to need to tremble before God's word." It was tremendous. I brought my daughters. I was like, "Little ladies, let's go. I want you to meet these college athlete, men and women. They're scholars. They're athletes. They're Christians. They work hard. They love the Lord. They've got a tremendous pain tolerance. They're doing great." And then my girls are like, "Well, who's going to be there? What kind of food are we going to have? Will there be any children? "And Milana is like, "Will there be any toys?" Because apparently when you're four and you go to someone else's house, all the toys are brand new. They're all brand new. And that's what we want. I'm like, "We're going to have fun. We're going to be together. We're going to make it..." And it was good. Details don't matter as much with the Lord. I promised you eternal life. I promised you an inheritance. The more important question isn't the details of the inheritance, the more important question is can I lose my inheritance or can I get more of the inheritance? Well, first, no, you can't lose the inheritance because the inheritance doesn't depend on your performance. The inheritance that God is offering isn't based on your perfection., It's based on the direction of your life. Are you following Jesus Christ? The moment you repent of your sins and you turn to Jesus Christ, you're justified by grace through faith. Now you are son, a daughter of God. You will get an inheritance. You can't lose that inheritance, but you can get more of that inheritance. And this is 1 Corinthians 3, one of the classic sermons ever preached at Mosaic. It's in the app. Pastor Andy Davis preached a sermon called how much heaven do you want? I go back to that sermon all the time. One of the most powerful. He's like, how much do you want? How much heaven do you want to inherit? And he talks about the capacity to experience the presence of God. That's expanded here in this life and the next life. Once that capacity expands, you get to experience more of God. So yes, it's only by faith that we're save. It's only by faith that we get an inheritance, but that faith needs to be authenticated with obedience or else it's not true faith. I say the direction of life, because I think of Christianity like this because Jesus Christ talked about this in the Sermon of the Mount. He said, "Look, the way that leads to destruction is broad, and there's a lot of people going down that path. But the way that leads to life is narrow. It's straight and narrow." So it's like you're going through life, going through life, going from broadened path. And the God just stops you. He stops you. He elects you. He saves you. He gives you the gift of faith, gift of repentance. All of a sudden you're sealed with the Holy Spirit and he turns you around. And that's what repentance is, a change of mind, change of heart, change of direction. And then he puts you on the straight and narrow and he says, "Follow me." He locks you into this path. Another way to think about it is I think about it like a rollercoaster. Like you were on a roller coaster going to hell. You were on that. And then God takes you off that ride. It's terrible. It feels like fun, but you're on hell. And then he puts you on the ride going straight to heaven. You sit down. He locks you in with grace. You can't get out. The teaching of grace and salvation. You can't get out. And if you want to get out, you should tell me, and then I'll point you to Hebrew 6 and Hebrews 10, which is like, "No, no, you don't want to get out." It locks you in. And on the rollercoaster, sometimes there are highs and you're like, "Christianity is the best. Jesus is coming back soon. People are getting saved. And then sometimes, the rollercoaster goes down and you're like, "Jesus, could you please come back? Got it ready. Ready to go." It's up and down. But the obedience needs to authenticate the faith. So Abraham gets saved by grace through faith. That's Genesis 15 and then comes the sign of the covenant, the sign of circumcision. And then in Genesis 22, he calls Abraham to sacrifice his son on the altar. We talked about that last week and then the angel of the Lord stops him and he says, "Now, I know that you fear the Lord." And then the angel continues the verse 15 of Genesis 22. And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, "By myself, I have sworn." Why? Because there's nothing higher by which God can swear than by himself. "By myself I have sworn," declares the Lord, "because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that's in the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice." I thought it was by grace through faith? Yeah, it is by grace. That's how it starts. That's how you get justified. But then begins the hard work of sanctification of following God on a daily basis. And then God said, "Okay, you believed it was grace and now your faith is authenticated with your obedience." And Paul will elaborate more on this later in the letter. But for now, he wants to emphasize the heirs of Abraham and his seed do not receive the promise inheritance through the law. It's not through performance, but through faith. And it's not through performance because Abraham lived. God made that promise 430 years before the 10 commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Galatians 3:17 through 18. This is what I mean, the law, which came 430 years afterward does not know a covenant previously ratified by God. So as to make the promise void for if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. God promises Abraham and inheritance before the law. So it was all by faith. Abraham believes that he was justified by faith. And Paul's point is of course he wasn't justified by works. There was no law yet. In Galatians 2:16, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law, no one will be justified. He continues in verse 14 for if it is the adherence of the law who are to be the heirs, plural, faith is null. And the promise is void. The way you're saying is you can't earn your inheritance by keeping the law. That's not how inheritance works. Why do you get inheritance from anybody? You didn't earn the inheritance. Someone else worked for years to get whatever the stuff that you're inheriting. You're only gifted it because you're part of the family or you were treated like family. So how do you become part of the family of God to make sure that you get this inheritance by keeping the law? No, of course not. Only by grasping onto the promise. God, you promised. God, you promised me that when I repented my sins and I believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord and savior, you promise me that all my sins are forgiven. I'm filled with the Holy Spirit. I will live for eternity in the presence of God, and I get an inheritance. And God has given us this promise. All we have to do is believe in the promise. You mean there's nothing I can do to make myself righteous before God? No. Even if today you got this incredible resolve and you say, "You know what? I have sinned. I've sinned. And I feel a weight of my sin. All right, from here on out, the church inspired me today. From here on out, I will live a sinless life. No more sin. I will love God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I will love my neighbor as myself. I will do it." See, the loving God part, it's easy because he is perfect. But then you go home and you're like, "I got to love God. I Got to love my neighbor. Got to love God. Got to love my neighbor." And then all of a sudden you realize, "Yeah, I have neighbors on every single side of me." And then they turn on their music and you're like, "I got to keep loving them." And then they start cooking and you're, "What's that smell?" And then you open the window because of the cooking, and then a smell of skunk begins to waft in. My daughter think it's a skunk because that's why I keep telling her. I was like, "That's skunk. There's a lot of skunks in Boston." They're just stories full of skunks all around us. You just got to keep low. You got to keep low then after you're like, "Yeah, I'll start tomorrow. I'll start tomorrow." Every good diet starts on a Monday. Every righteous path starts tomorrow. No, you can't. Even if you try, you can't, you can't, you can't. Why? Because the law brings wrath. That's verse 15. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. The law brings wrath. What does it mean? He means that the law does not affect salvation. It can't save you. It does not affect justification or forgiveness. If you trust in your keeping of the law in your performance, all you're doing is keeping up wrath for the day of judgment. But there is a law and we've all transgressed that law. If God didn't tell us how to live, we could live anywhere we want. We'd be autonomous. We'd be absolutely independent. We can define reality as we want to define reality. And that's how most Americans live. And that's why the wrath of God is being poured out. Even on this country, we're not free. There is a law. People think we're free. Dostoevsky said, "If there is no God, then all things are permissible." That's how most people live. I'm a law to myself. I'm a God of my own life. I'm lure to myself until things get hard, and then people start crying out to God. And once you start thinking about God, you're like, "Oh, maybe he does have obligations upon me that are written on my heart." There's no way. There's nothing we can do to justify for our sins. One of the things I've been noticing now that I'm a soccer dad, we have three practices and three games every week. It's a 20-hour commitment by the way. But my girls are tremendous at it. One of my girls scored three goals yesterday. She wasn't even trying. She wasn't even trying. Coach called her secret weapon. He said, "Protect the secret weapon." But one of the things I noticed with the parents, they're really good parents. They're really nice people. Really nice. I love meeting them. Really nice people. Just tremendous, tremendous people. And I invited this one guy to church and then he's like, "You're a pastor?" Oh, that's the guy that said, "You only work a day a week." So I invited him to church and he's like, "They let you be a pastor?" I was like, "For now. You should come." Such a good dad. Just a good dad. Had a little birthday party for his daughters and he invited all the kids cup. Just good. How can I tell this guy he's on his way to hell? I realized be being a good parent is not virtuous. That doesn't add any virtue. You're just doing the bare minimum. It's just expected of you that you're going to be a good parent. Just because you're human, it's not virtuous to be a good parent. No, the standard is so much higher. The standard is perfection. The standard is absolute untainted love. There is a law and we've transgressed that law. We've transgressed it with sins of commission. That's doing bad things. And sins of omission. That's not doing the good things that we know we're supposed to do. We failed to do them. We have debts accruing against us in God's economy. So we do pray to forgive us our debts. "Lord, forgive us our trespass and our transgressions. Lord, please forgive me because I know I deserve your wrath." And the wrath he's talking as punitive wrath. It's not corrective wrath. There's a difference. In Hebrews 12, there is a corrective wrath. God the father loves his children and when his children disobey, he does discipline us. That's Hebrews 12. And here he's talking about punitive wrath that God takes our law breaking personally. Because God is the law giver. When we sin, we're not sinning against some abstract norm or piece of legislation some people somewhere. Now, we're sitting against the law giver himself who is good and loving. And that's why you gave the law, and he wrote the law on our hearts. It's for our good. It's for human universal flourishing. So when we break that law, we break God's heart. And when we break God's heart, what we deserve in response is wrath. It's a personal affront against God every time we sin. That's why sin is so egregious. It's a personal attack against a great God, a holy God. A God who's been nothing but good and loving to us. And then the only time that he became a human, we mocked him and ridiculed him, scorned him and crucified him instead of glorifying him. Romans 4:16. That is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. Not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. He says, "That's why it depends on faith." In the reformation there's the five solas. Sola fide, that's one of them. That's only by faith we're saved. Sola gratia, only by grace. Solus Christus, only by the work of Christ. Our justification is by grace through faith only because of Christ. But why is it by justification by faith? Because it rests on the promise of grace. Since you didn't earn it, your salvation, you can't lose it. That's why he uses the word guarantee. Guaranteed to all his offspring. So if God saves you, that's a gift. And if you didn't earn it, if you receive the gift, you can't lose it. When God adopt someone into his family, you're adopted forever. God is a good father who never loses a child. Once saved, always saved because you're always persevering. You're always following. And look, this is what scripture teaches. And I grew up in a church that did not teach this. They were very Armenian. In that, they're like, "You know what? You never know." You ask anyone and they're like, "Hey, are you going to heaven today if you die?" And they're like, "I hope so." And that was kind of like the culture of the church where it's like... Before communion Sunday, I used to dread communion Sunday, because they're like, "If you sin this week, you don't take part in communion." I was like, "Sin this week? I sin this morning. I sin on the way to church. I love everyone like 100%. No, they're sin, they're sin, they're sin." That's the sanctification part. No, but the justification part, that's all the work of Christ. Therefore, we're saved for all eternity. The doctrine of assurance, of salvation, you can be sure. So this is a very important question. Today, are you sure that you are going to spend eternity with God? Are you sure? Do you have that assurance right now? Are you 100% sure? And if there any hesitation in your mind, you need to go back to the doctor and justification by grace through faith. I am not saved because of my performance. I'm saved because of Christ's performance. I believe in Christ therefore I'm justified by grace through faith. You can be sure. You should be sure. And then of course we're called to make our election sure, but our salvation doesn't depend on our obedience of the law. Because our righteousness depends on faith, rest on grace is guaranteed to everyone who follows in the footsteps of faith of Abraham. Everyone who shares in this faith that righteousness, alien righteous, not ours can be imputed, gifted to us because of Christ. Verse 17, "As it is written, I've made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed. Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence to things that do not exist." Abraham here is called the father of many nation. So he is not just the father of Isaac. He's not just the father of his progeny. He's not just the father of the Jews. Abraham here is considered the father of anyone who trusts in the same promise that he embraced that there's a righteousness that can be counted to us from God. We're the seed of Abraham by faith in Christ. Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God and he got God's presence. That's what it says in verse 17. And the presence of God in whom he believed. So he got a promise from God and he got the presence of God. And that's the only thing he had to sustain him for 25 years. 25 years, from the day God promised him, "Hey, I'm going to give you a son." For 25 years he woke up, nothing. Woke up, nothing. God reaffirmed a few times. Nothing, nothing, nothing. But he believed, and he believed that God is a God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. God is a creator. He's the only creator. He's the creator who creates ex nihilo, something out of nothing. No one else can do that. Not even Satan. Satan can't create a thing. Satan counterfeits and he ruins everything else that God creates. So it's convenient that God can create something out of nothing, life out of death because of verse 18. In hope, he believed against hope. In hope, Abraham believed against hope that he should be the father of many nations as he had been told, so shall your offspring be. So there's two hopes here and then there's a faith. In hope, he believed against hope. What's the hope that he's believing against? That's just normal hope. This is what normal people feel like that you wake up and you're like, "I could be negative or I could be positive. All right, I should be positive. I could be a pessimist or I could be an optimist. I want to be a glass half full kind of person, so I'm going to be an optimist today." It's natural. You muster it up, this hope and you... People say this all the time. I trust everything will work out. I think everything will work out for the good. And usually they say that because they look past at their track record in their life and they're like, "You know what, things have always kind of worked out, so I think they kind of work out." But if you study investment, you know that past results don't guarantee future performance. Everything could be great and everything could have been working out, and then you just die. Oh, it didn't work out. So there's normal hope and then there's a hope that goes beyond, a transcended hope. That's hope and faith together in hope he believed. And he believed against all of the evidence. All of the evidence that he is accruing about his circumstances. This point to the fact that God lied. And then he goes back to the promise of God, and he looks beyond his circumstances. This is why in prayer, it's so helpful to close your eyes. And by the way, in worship, it's so helpful to close your eyes. That's why you should memorize the worship songs. Every newsletter I sent out at the bottom of the newsletter is a list of all of the worship songs for Sunday. I'm telling you, worship could be so much more powerful if everyone just closed their eyes and sang the song as memorized. By the way, you can anytime just sing and you just glorify God. You can close your eyes. You can't see your circumstances. You just focus on God and then all of a sudden you're like, "My circumstances, aren't that important? My circumstances are not sovereign." God is sovereign. "My circumstances even when they're hopeless, even when they're helpless, they're not God." And I trust in the God for whom nothing is impossible. Do you believe that? Do you believe that for God, nothing is impossible. Nothing. And if you do, that changes everything. What is the hope that Abraham was beyond? He was beyond that humanly speaking, God's promise could have. If God came to Abraham when Abraham was in his 20s and like, "Hey man, you're going to have a kid." He's like, "You know what? I could see that. I could see that, Sarah. Yeah, we're still young." God comes to Abraham when he's 75. He's like, "You're going to have a kid." He's like, "Are you sure?" And he goes and tells his wife, Sarah, she's like, "I'm 65. We're going to have a kid?" And they believed, and then God waits another 25 years. So then Sarah is 90. Abraham is 100 and God is like, "Yep, you're going to have a kid". And then Abraham and Sarah hears... And Sarah, all she can do is she just laughs because the absurdity of it. She's like, "I'm 90. I'm going to have a kid at 90? That's crazy." She's like, "Abraham, you're in a wheelchair. What are you going to have a stroller? This is nuts. This is crazy. We're not going to..." Circumstances, no reason for hope. He's hopeless. He's helpless. But he continues to trust in God when humanly speaking hope had reached a limit. It hope he believed against hope. And this is the true faith, vibrant faith. A faith that saves. And the same way that Abraham was helpless, and the same way that his wife's womb, there was no life in it. And that same way, our souls are in need of resurrection. Our hearts are in need of resurrection. This is what the connection between Paul and Abraham. So what is true hope? What is this true faith? Well, it consists of three parts. First, you need the information. If you are going to get saved by grace through faith, what's the information about God that I need to know? You learn the information. God is holy. We have transgressed his law. There's a chasm between us. We are on our way to hell. Jesus Christ, the son of God, second person of the Trinity comes lives a perfect life, no sin, and then takes that moral record to the cross, pays our debt, absorbs the wrath of God for our transgression. He absorbs the curse that we deserve to extend to us the blessing that he earned. And then he dies. And because of resurrection from the dead, everything that he did and everything he taught is obviously true. God accepts his sacrifice. Now by grace through faith, we can be saved. That's the info. After the info, you need to ask, is it true? Is this true? Is it verifiable? And it is verifiable. These are all historic things that happened. Jesus Christ's historical figure. He had disciples. People knew him. 500 people saw the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It transformed world history like no event. We literally stopped time and all of a sudden started recounting. Your birthday is measured from his birthday. Obviously it's true. Now the question is, info is it true? Do I commit? Do I commit? Can I entrust myself to Jesus Christ? We're justified by faith and trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. Abraham didn't just believe in God. Even Satan believes in God. No, he entrusted himself to God. He knew the person of God. He knew that God doesn't lie. Faith isn't blind. It's just a different kind of sight. And he saw that this was true with the eyes of a soul. Faith isn't absurd. It's not foolishness. It's not baseless. Faith is ultimately trusting what is preeminently trustworthy and that's God in hope he believed against hope. Is it reasonable to believe in situations like this? No. Look at your situation. That's not reasonable to believe. You ever feel like that in your Christian walk? Is it reasonable to keep following Jesus? Especially when things get hard, especially when you suffer. Is it reasonable? For all intents and purposes Abraham's body was as good as dead. That's what it says in verse 19. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old or when he considered the bareness of Sarah's womb. Looked at himself, looked at his wife. All he saw was hopeless and he had to close his eyes and looked beyond. How could I possibly believe even the promise? Well, because of the promise giver. The promise giver is the promise keeper. Because he's God and God can't lie. It's against his nature. The only hopeless thing is the idea that the promise would not come to pass. And in Romans 4:20, I love this verse so much. No unbelief made him waiver. Concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God. Fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. When doubt came, Abraham fought off the doubt with the promises of God. And not just with the promises of God, but the presence of God. How did he do that? How did he strengthen his faith? Tremendous question. How do you strengthen your faith? Through Bible study, helpful and necessary. Studying theology, helpful and necessary. Time and prayer, helpful and necessary. Worshiping God on your own, helpful and necessary. That's not what it says. He did not strengthen his faith by focusing on his faith because when you're focusing on your faith, you're focusing on yourself. And when you're focusing on yourself... That could be discouraging, especially when life is hard. No, that's not what he did. He didn't do any of that. When he felt most hopeless and most helpless, it says that he gave glory to God. He gave glory to God. "God, I glorify you for everything that you are and everything that you have done in the past and everything you will do in the future. God, I glorify you." You know what that means? That means you recognize God for who he is. He's the great God of the universe. You glorify him. And also the word assumes that there is a magnification that happens, where as you're glorifying God, he gets so much bigger. Your problems get so much smaller and that's why your faith grows. Glorify God when you're happy, but also glorify God when you're sad. That's what really grows faith. It's easy to glorify God when everything's tremendous. Isn't it? That's why I think in these churches where the pastors have their own airplanes, it's just kind of easier to believe and it's easier to preach because the guy is like, "Of course God loves me. Look at my plane. Does it anyone want to go for a trip. I'm going to Cancun on a mission trip this weekend." Of course, God loves me. Why wouldn't you want to become a Christian? You can be tremendous like me. Look at me. Look at my plane. That doesn't grow my faith. I mean, God gave me a plane. You know what grows my faith, when everything is terrible. Like humanly speaking. And when you're suffering. And when there is a despondent, a sadness of the soul and you can still say, "Praise be to God. Glory to God." That right there will grow your faith like nothing else. And this is absolutely biblical. This is a story of Job. He had nothing because he lost everything. God allows Satan to take his children and to take his wealth and to take his health. In Job 1:20 through 21, then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, "Naked, I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return?" The Lord gave. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Does your theology allow for a verse like this? It has to. We all experience seasons like this. If not, you will. And then finally, he still had his health and then he lost his children, lost his wealth and then Satan is like, "Can I take his health?" And God is like, "Okay." And Job 2:9 through 10. Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." But he said to her, "You speak as one of foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God? And shall we not receive evil?" In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Can you say, "God, I glorify you" when you're experiencing evil? Well, that's the only way to have a faith that really saves and to exercise that faith. Romans 8:26 through 30, "Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." Have you ever prayed like that? Where you're in prayer and you're praying, and you're praying, you're out of words, but you know prayer isn't over. And all you can do is just groan. And you say to Holy Spirit, "Pray for me. Jesus, pray for me." As the Holy Spirit just begins to groan with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose, for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called. And those whom he called he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified in the past tense. It's all in the past tense. He justified, that's past tense. Sanctifies us. And then he's like glorification, this is in heaven. When we get the new body, completely no sin, no imperfections, just absolutely healthy. He's like, "Your glorification is so sure it's in the past tense." Faith grows just like Jesus said it would. If you have faith as tiny as the grain of a mustard seed, you can move mountains because it's not about the faith. It's about the object of your faith. That's why St. Paul wants to move. Yes, you're saved by grace through faith. You have faith in Christ, in Christ. All the focus is on Christ. And then with that faith, he exercised and Abraham believed and he obeyed, and he was strengthened in his faith, and he gave glory to God. Isaiah 46:38 says, "A voice says cry and I said, 'What shall I cry?' All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass Withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. God has given us his promises. We can trust in them. And he also offers us his presence and his presence by the power of the spirit is what in encourages and edifies, helps us persevere. Romans 4:22 through 25. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness. But the words, it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus, our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. There's so much in what he said. Jesus died for our trespasses, but he was raised for our justification. Because Christ was raised, he conquered this triumphal sign that Christ's death removes the curse of sin because his resurrection undoes the final consequences of sin, which is death. Christ's resurrection marks the dawn of the new creation because his resurrection reverses the curse. Yeah, we still die, but not really as Christians because it's just a transition. We will live forever with Christ. Abraham, by the way, didn't have the resurrection. He didn't have the Bible. He didn't have the Torah. He didn't have the Old testament. He didn't have the Hebrew scripture. He didn't have the prophets. He didn't have anything. And he also didn't have Christ. He didn't have the teaching of Christ. The life of Christ, the eyewitnesses who saw Christ. And he didn't know that Christ came back from the dead. All he had was faith in the God who imputed righteousness. But he did believe intuitively in the resurrection. Hebrews 11:17 through 19. "By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your offing be named. He considered that God was able to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking he did receive him back." He's like, "Even if I make the ultimate sacrifice of sacrificing my son because God told me to, God can always raise him from the day he believed in a God who has that power." Last week, I did this thought experiment to talk about the scandal of grace. Justification of my grace through faith. The moment you believe in Christ, repent in your sin, and you're saved. And I asked the question, I said, "Who is the most evil man in the world that if we just sniped this guy, everything would get better." And most everyone agreed it was Putin. And then I was like, "What if Putin repents of his sin and trust in Jesus Christ? And it's true, it's genuine repentance. Could you call him brother?" A brother sent me a real example of something similar. So in 1946, there was a pastor from Missouri named, Henry Gerecke of the Lutheran Synod. He was an army chaplain. He served in the army. One of his sons died. Another one of his sons was injured. And then afterwards, after fighting, he was transitioned to army chaplain. He was sent to minister in the Nuremberg prisons during the trials. And he asked the army, "Hey, can I write about this?" And the army told him, "You got to wait five years." And then he wrote about this in an article called, "I Walked to the Gallows with Nazi Chiefs". It appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in September 1st, 1951. He says, "It was the duty of the chaplain of Nuremberg prison to offer Christian comfort to Hitler's gang. Now, after five years under a bond of silence, I can tell my story of how many repented before the hangman's trap fell." In the beginning, he kind of explains what he wants to say and then he tells a story. He says, "I particularly want to emphasize that when stripped of all they had held important." So this is Nazi brass. This is the SS, like the top of the top he's ministering to. He said, "I particularly want to emphasize that when stripped of all that they had held important, and when offered the eternal verities, most of the 21 defendants were able to come to their moral senses and repent." This is what happened in Nuremberg prison. More than half of the Nazis there before going to the gallows or their long imprisonment and spawned out, ask God for forgiveness of their sins against him and against humanity. They did so in a spirit that convinced me that their repentance was genuine. I've had many years of experience as a prison chaplain do not believe I'm easily diluted by phony reformations at the 11th hour. And then he talks about when he was sent there, he had excuses. The Nazis took one of his sons. And then he finally said the following. He said, "The next few days, I prayed harder than I've ever had in my life. And slowly the men at Nuremberg became to me, just lost souls, whom I was being asked to help. If, as never before, I could hate the sin, but love the sinner, I'll go," he said. Early in the morning on October 16th, 1946, an hour past midnight, the first Nazi war criminal to be hanged at Nuremberg began his final walk to the scaffold. Accompanying him was the US Army chaplain who had been his spiritual counselor for the past year. After the prisoner climbed the steps and stood on the trap door, he was asked for his last words. I placed all my confidence in the lamb who made atonement for my sins. May God have mercy on my soul. And then turning to the chaplain, he added, "I'll see you again." With that, a hood was pulled over his face. The rope fixed around his neck and he dropped through the trap door into eternity. The prisoner was Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler's foreign minister in one of the highest profile Nazis to stand trial before the International Military Tribunal. That's all it takes to cry out, "Lord have mercy on my soul." Have mercy on my soul. If you're not yet a Christian, you're welcome today. We plead with you. Don't put it off. Today, pray this prayer. Cry out to God to save your soul. Put your trust in Jesus Christ. And the gift of faith will be given to you. The gift of repentance, the gift of justification, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of a guaranteed inheritance in heaven. It's a scandal of grace. Believe it and receive it. That said we're going to transition to holy communion. We celebrate holy communion once a month at Mosaic for whom is holy communion for repentant Christians, repentant children of God. If you are not a Christian, you're not sure where you are in your faith, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service instead meditate on the gospel of Jesus Christ. But if you do repent and trust in Jesus today, you're welcome to partake. And if you are a Christian, this is for repentant Christians. If there's any sin in your life that you haven't yet repented of, we welcome you to do that. And if you don't refrain, if you do, you're welcome to partake. If you haven't receive the bread and the cup, the elements, please raise your hand. And one of the ushers will give you one as I pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for grace. Jesus, we thank you for procuring salvation for us. You've suffered, Lord and today we remember your suffering. Holy Spirit, I pray that you prepare our hearts now and focus our attention on the cross of Jesus Christ dying for us. I pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Take off the top layer. Take the bread. And then the second layer. On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus Christ took the bread and after breaking it, he said, "This is my body broken for you. Take, eat and do this in remembrance of me." Then proceed to take the cup. He said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of my blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink, and do this in remembrance of me." Lord God, we glorify you. And Holy Spirit, lead us in glorifying God. Help us as we sing now as we worship. Help us cast off all our burdens, all our anxiety, all of our stress, cast it off from us to you and help us focus on you, on your greatness, on your majesty, on your preeminence, on your holiness, on your righteousness, on the perfection of your plans and your sovereignty. Now, help us sing with everything we got because you are worthy of all worship, of all praise, of all glory. And we pray all this in the name of the father, of the son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

vol. 2 episode 6Greetings, On this episode, we take a question from a listener who wants to know about the karmic nature of evil and what astrology might have to teach us about finding our way back to the light after spending time elsewhere. My take on this is that what is light to one person is still darkness to another, and vice versa — some people prefer the dark and see their way through it just fine. For peace in our lives, I suggest it's important we not impose our version of good and evil on others, or else we're just reiterating the same old hierarchical paradigm that has gotten us into our current global existential crisis. I offer a whole different plan of action, one I personally have found productive and so plan to continue. Hint: it's something you probably learned how to do when you were still too short to ride the rides. Okay, I will tell you: Be nice. Respect the circle of life, as in the cycles and patterns of the spheres. This has powerful effect.To make my point, I refer to the conflict between Batman and R'as al Guhl, the head of the League of Shadows that hopes to recruit Batman to their side. It leads Elisabeth and me to a trippy conversation about a perversion of the feminine (yin), hierarchy, and rising above the old paradigms that trap us all, if we agree to be trapped. I think you will like it, but you can let us know by putting your thoughts in the comments section of this post.Also, per usual, we analyze recent events in the news from an astrological perspective, including more US Pluto return news and the various ways the Neptune/Jupiter/Venus conjunction in Pisces is playing out. We explore how two radically different individuals, Greta Thunberg and Kyle Rittenhouse, born on the same day, can have similar charts but diametrically opposed destinies. And, Elisabeth does a boffo job explaining how Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis's recent threats to yank special tax status and other privileges from Walt Disney World in Orlando are happening right on time, according to Walt Disney's own natal chart.It's also eclipse season, so we tell you what you can expect now that it's that time when the lights go out for a wee spell…Remember, the astronomy of this is that a new moon eclipse, which is what we will have tomorrow (April 30 at 4:41 PM EDT), is a solar eclipse, because the Moon is blocking the light of the Sun from us here on Earth. Before you cruise on to reading the next astronomical explainer, recall that our Moon is essentially the exact same size in diameter as the Sun when viewed from Earth! The elegance and symmetry of this does blow one's mind, well it does mine, when I think about how perfect that is. Then, on May 16, (12:11 AM EDT), we'll have a lunar eclipse because, why? C'mon, you can do it…yes! The Moon's light is blocked by the Earth. And extra credit if you said that it's not really the Moon's light, but the Sun's light as reflected by the Moon, which leads me to this quick astrological reflection (nice pun): the Moon, which tells us about our emotional temperament, is what silvers the fiery gold will of the Sun, which gives us insight into our sense of purpose on Earth.Because Earth rotates on its axis at a slight tilt, eclipses only occur when things line up within the same plane of the ecliptic, which is the perceived path of the Sun around the Earth from our geocentric perspective. If you were to diagram how this looks over the course of several eclipses, you'd get an undulating line, like a serpent, and that is why in Jyotish and Hellenistic astrology, this path of the Moon is referred to as the head and tail of the dragon, known astronomically — and less poetically — as the lunar nodes.In astrology, we get the extra layer of meaning because we consider in which Zodiacal sign and degree the eclipses are occurring. This time around, it's a solar eclipse in Taurus, and a lunar eclipse in Scorpio. Here's what Elisabeth says about that in her weekly forecast:A New Moon in Taurus needs to establish and maintain material comfort and security. The keywords for Taurus are I HAVE. Moon in Taurus people are more likely than others to be tactile. Famous people with Moon in Taurus include: Prince Charles, Elizabeth Warren, Mick Jagger, Meryl Streep, Amma (the Hugging Saint) and of course, President Joe Biden.Solar eclipses act like a “bottleneck” of energy. Light flowing from the Sun is temporarily interrupted, focusing attention on that interrupted point. As light is held back, something new and possibly fragile may enter the picture and grow. And here I would be thinking of Michael, the kindhearted policeman in the storybook Make Way for Ducklings, who stopped the flow of traffic on Beacon Street so Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their brood of eight could safely make their way to the Boston Public Garden. Otherwise, they would have been roadkill. Got that?Often the seeds planted for growth during an eclipse are hidden. Sometime later, when the eclipse is activated by a transiting planet, whatever was planted can make itself known quite suddenly and forcefully. And once it's out, there's no going back.Here's an example of an eclipse trigger. On January 10, 2020, we had an eclipse at 20 degrees of Cancer/Capricorn. It was a lunar eclipse, offering illumination and release. This is when the novel coronavirus was named and its genetic sequence released. Countries began mobilizing to deal with it. In early March 2020, Jupiter hit 20 Capricorn, followed by Mars on March 17th. That's when most of the world went into lockdown. Then, on December 14, 2020, Mars was at 20 Aries for the third time this year (because Mars was retrograde). 20 Aries is a square to 20 Cancer/Capricorn, thus triggering the eclipse again. That's the day the first Covid vaccine was administered in the U.S. The planet representing the vaccine in the chart for that event is Mars! Meanwhile, in the UK, a mutation of Covid-19 that spreads faster than the original was identified. Coincidence or conspiracy?This week's solar eclipse will be triggered by Mars on July 20th. Make a note of it, especially if you are Willie Nelson, who celebrates a birthday on 4/30.We recorded this early in the morning, so Elisabeth sounds grumpy. Don't take any notice — she's not mad at you, she's just not fully caffeinated. She still offers useful insights into how what a person “needs” motivates how they choose to act, and how she uses the natal chart to predict these choices.She also tells us about Sabian Symbols, how to anticipate what the Piscean conjunction has yet to bring, and other newsy tidbits, although she does come after me when I try to offer you some free astrological advice…but I have to agree in the end that she was right, you shouldn't do what I said. Or at least, if you do, you should run it past us after you do. Ensouled: The Journal of Cultural Astronomy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.Naturally, we encourage you to become a material supporter of our podcast, as doing so will mean you have invested in its success, which we hope is something you're rooting for!Below are links that will help make sense of topics discussed in this episode. If you'd like to check out the mundane forecasts on which this podcast series is based, visit her website at graceastrology.com.And, if you'd like Elisabeth to give you a sweet and short, and eminently affordable ($52), look at how the upcoming eclipses will affect you personally, you can do that here, and be sure to put “Ensouled Eclipse Report” in the message.If you want to learn more about me and my services, here's where to go for that.Thanks for listening. Look up!Whitney and ElisabethLinks and references used in this episode:Batman BeginsBatman's nemesis, R'as al Guhl A short piece I previously wrote about kindnessMore on fixed stars that sting: Algol and Ras AlhagueSabian Symbols, explainedCourt filing with Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony embeddedNote the use of word "dissolves" in this headline about Disney World losing its special status; in the language of astrology, Neptune signifies things that “dissolve”, and it is all things Neptunian that are highlighted in Walt Disney's chart currently. Yes, even posthumously. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ensouled.substack.com/subscribe

This podcast focuses on the 2014 line-of-duty deaths of Boston (MA) Fire Department Lieutenant Ed Walsh and Firefighter Michael Kennedy at 298 Beacon Street.  Boston Fire Department Deputy Chief Steve Shaffer speaks with host Tony Carroll about the incident, the firefighters who lost their lives, and lessons learned. Sponsored by Tencate: https://us.tencatefabrics.com/

Laughing may be the only safety net to keep up from hitting rock bottom emotionally. Join as we talk about how finding a lighter side to things may be cushioning you need to bounce back. Amy Lyle is an author and screenwriter who grew up in Marietta, Ohio, which is in the heart of Appalachia and known for a population that is partial to moonshine and prone to acts of violence. She has penned two Amazon Humor & Entertainment best-sellers, The Book Of Failures and We're All A Mess, It's OK, and is the writer and co-host of the popular UI Media talk show, “In The Burbs.”  Amy recently shared her big idea of “Finding the Funny in the Crummy,” for Beacon Street's TEDx event. She and her husband, Peter, are raising four children and three giant dogs together in the suburbs, just north of Atlanta.  

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

An Original Series Produced By New West Radio Productions (c) 2021An Original Story Written By Wayne S Pierce (c) 2021For More Information:Email: newwestradioproductions@outlook.comDiscord: New West Radio Theatrehttps://discord.gg/6bjXuuZj

Corie and Michelle have another book club episode of the podcast where they discuss one of Corie's favorite preteen chapter book series that she read as a kid! The Beacon Street Girls! Email: hotbreadhunnies@gmail.com Corie's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWEd4vzdtvhoFf-vvEt36aA?view_as=subscriber Podcast Instagram: TBA Corie Instagram: https://instagram.com/corie.mac Michelle Instagram: TBA FTC Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links from which we get a small commission, which does not affect you as a customer at all, but helps us keep on making podcasts for you guys. All opinions are our own. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hotbreadhunnies/message

The Parkview Community Greenhouse and Learning Kitchen, a hub for accessing healthy food and resources, is humming with activity and will open its doors this coming week. The facility, located at 1716 Beacon Street, near Parkview Behavioral Health, was specifically established there because 46805 is one of five Fort Wayne zip codes considered to be a food desert. For a look at the project's goals, WBOI's Julia Meek invited greenhouse farmer Camille Schuelke and community outreach dietitian Kathy Wehrle into the studio to talk about the problems being addressed with this program and the impact it will have on the overall health of the community. WBOI Artcentric is brought to you by WBOI's own Julia Meek and Ben Clemmer. Our theme music is “Me voy pal campo'' by KelsiCote. Our administrative assistants are Olivia Fletter and Keegan Lee. Our production assistants are Alex Castonzo, Steve Mullaney, and Sydney Wagner.

He came from a long line of chassidic leaders, reaching all the way back to the Baal Shem Tov. He was the son of the first Bostoner Rebbe, Rav Pinchos Dovid Horowitz. He was a brilliant Torah scholar, having learned at Mesivta Torah Vodaath under one of the greatest roshei yeshivah of that time. And yet in his profound modesty, Rav Levi Yitzchok Horowitz did not see himself as a rebbe. Hashem, though, decreed otherwise. When a small group of his father’s followers pleaded with Rav Levi Yitzchok to come to Boston and lead their shul, he acquiesced. And in the next sixty years, he and his devoted rebbetzin would change the lives of thousands, becoming a pivotal figure in the flourishing of Torah life in America in the decades after World War II. In The Rebbe on Beacon Street, you will read of the rebbe’s wisdom and warmth, of his burning desire to help every Jew who came his way, both physically and spiritually. This episode of Inside ArtScroll features an interview with his son, the present Bostoner Rebbe of Boston, Rav Naftali Horowitz, who shares personal memories of his father, fascinating stories, and uplifting words of chizuk. [Purchase The Rebbe on Beacon Street HERE.]

Preparation before college is one of the strongest predictors of future success; but many high school students look at college readiness in terms of simply applying to and getting into a university. Acceptance is just the beginning. In this episode of College UnBound, we discuss the activities and outcomes students can expect to enjoy at our Summer Cohort.Focus Collegiate's college-readiness experience, Summer Cohort is a metaphor for the college life. During three weeks in residence at a private dormitory in Boston's Back Bay Neighborhood on Beacon Street, students get a taste for college. Through coursework, skills building, structured self-directed activities, and fun social events, students deepen self-awareness, build resilience, and develop their independent living skills. 

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston in our neighborhood, churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Welcome. My name is Shane, I'm one of the pastors here at Mosaic, and we're so glad to have you with us today. We would love to connect with you, and if you would like to connect with us, we do that through the little connection card. You probably grabbed one of those on the way in, you can just fill that out and drop it in the little white box at the back of the room on your way out this morning. You can also do that online. There's a link to that on our homepage. And if you fill that out for us, we would like to just follow up with you this week and also just send a small gift to you in the mail, to thank you for being with us today.One quick announcement before we get started. Tonight, we're having our final prayer service. It's going to be here at 5:00 PM. You're all welcome back for that. And then next Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM, we're going to be having our final members meeting of the year. So if you're a member of Mosaic, or if you're becoming a member at that meeting, look forward to seeing you there.Advent is here, Christmas is coming. We are spending Advent this year in the gospel of Matthew, taking a look at his account of Jesus' birth. And so last week, Pastor Jan took us through the first half of chapter one. We looked at Jesus' family tree, his genealogy. Next week, we're going to be looking at that famous story of the wise men who followed the star to Bethlehem to worship the newborn King. This week, we are looking at the birth of Jesus itself, and it's, it's an amazing story .for those of you who have children, you probably have a birth story, especially with the first child. That experience is so crazy and surreal that it gets seared into your memory.We had that with our oldest son Owen. With our daughter, Nora, Nora was born just a few minutes before Valentine's day. And I tried and I tried it and tried to talk to my wife, Kelly to just told out for a few more minutes, but she was being totally unreasonable. And so Nora was supposed to be born on Saturday the 14th, which was Valentine's Day. Instead, she was born on Friday the 13th, which explains a lot, if you know Nora. And so she's born on Friday the 13th. The next day, I go home to stay with our older son, Owen and overnight Boston gets hit with the most massive snowstorm that we have seen in all the years that we lived here. Everything, the next day was shut down, there was a travel ban. We were snowed in. And Kelly and Nora were stranded at the hospital, ended up having to stay there an extra day.Finally, the next day, we're able to dig the car out. The roads are somewhat cleared and we're able to go to the hospital and bring them home. And if you've ever driven a newborn home from the hospital, it's one of the most terrifying experiences in your life. For some reason, you get them down to the car. You triple check every buckle, every strap of their car seat. And as you're pulling out of your parking spot, it feels like you've never driven a car before in your entire life. And so here you are. You've just been given this massive responsibility. You've got to take this tiny, fragile, little human being, who's only like two days old, and get them home safe and sound. But to do that, you have to drive through the minefield of Boston drivers.And so things are going well. We're about two blocks away from home. We're in the home stretch. We're coming down Beacon Street. And all of a sudden the guy in the lane next to us just decides he wants to be in our lane and just smashes into us. It was like, "This can't be real. This can't be really happening. We're getting in a car accident on the way home from the hospital with my newborn daughter." Everybody was fine. She was fine. She was new to the whole driving thing, so she didn't know any better. This was normal for all that she knew, but things didn't go the way we planned. And at times, they were stressful. But now we look back on this as a fond memory, a story to tell. And oftentimes, the things that are most memorable in life are those times where things didn't go as planned, where they didn't go the way that we expected, or maybe hoped that they would.And the Christmas story, the story of Jesus' birth, it's a lot like that. You read through the accounts and it's such a almost shocking and unusual story. It's very unexpected, but it's also very memorable. And what Matthew, I think one of the things that he wants us to do, as we read through his account of Jesus' birth, is to understand that while yes, these things are unusual and they were maybe unexpected to us and maybe were even unexpected to Mary and Joseph, that they really shouldn't have been unexpected. Because actually all of these details, the circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth, had been prophesied hundreds of years before and were recorded in scripture. And they were put there to prove, and to show us that this truly was the Messiah. That all of these details that were outside of Mary and Joseph's control, they were not outside of God's control. And actually God was sovereignly orchestrating these things to answer clearly that question that we sing at Christmas time, What Child is This?And the answer is that this is no ordinary child. That Jesus is the child of the promise, the child of the prophecy, the Messiah. That he was the son of Mary, and yet he is also the Son of God, Emmanuel. Fully human, fully divine. And so our text today, we're going to be looking at the second half of chapter one, Matthew, beginning of verse 18. If you have your Bibles, you can follow along. The passage is also going to be up here on the screen. And the three points that we're going to be looking at today is first of all, Jesus Christ is born. Second, we see that Jesus Christ is loved. And third, we see that Jesus Christ is named. And so I'm going to read our text verse. This is Matthew chapter one, beginning in verse 18."Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband, Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife. For that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us." When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name, Jesus."Would you please pray with me for today's sermon? Father, we thank you for speaking to us today and we thank you for your written word. Your word is powerful. It is authoritative for our lives. And we also thank you for sending us your living word, your son, Jesus Christ. And as we examine the accounts of his birth today, I pray Holy Spirit, that you would impress these words upon our hearts. To know them, to love them, to learn, and to obey them, to walk in them. And as we do, to become more and more like your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in His name we pray. Amen.So point number one today, Jesus Christ is born. This is verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. Christmas is a good time to slow down and to reflect on life. And I think one of the most important things we need to slow down and reflect on this time of year is this very simple, and yet profound statement, that Jesus Christ was born. And think about what that means. That the almighty, eternal, creator of the universe was born. We can't fully appreciate even that title, Almighty Creator, because we can't even begin to appreciate the scope and the power of the universe that this creator created. I'm not an astronomer, but I have watched the entire, How the Universe Works docuseries on Amazon prime. So I'm basically an expert. So I'm going to take you on, on just a little drive through our universe.We started off with home sweet home, planet Earth. And do you remember the first time that you flew in an airplane? It's easy to become jaded by air travel when you do it a lot, but that first time when it was still awesome, when it still caused you to wonder. As you're lifting higher and higher into the air and you see everything below is just getting smaller and smaller, small, you realize just how tiny and insignificant you are compared to just the vast magnitude of the planet that we live on. And we live in an age where, with the help of modern telescopes and in satellites, we're just beginning to understand that as big, as huge as our planet seems, it's relatively tiny and insignificant compared to the magnitude of the universe that it's found in. And so you look even to our own solar system, the planet, Jupiter, this is earth next to the planet. Jupiter, the great gas giant of our solar system.Jupiter is so large that the planet Earth could fit inside it's great red spot. It's a massive storm that has been raging across the surface of the planet for over 300 years. You could fit 1300 Earths, inside Jupiter. If you zoom out even farther to the largest object in our solar system, the sun could fit 1 million Earths inside. And yet we know that the sun is a a relatively small star compared to most. And so even within our galaxy, you have stars like what was for a long time, the reigning champion. I think it's been dethroned and this is maybe the seventh or eighth largest star in our galaxy, VY Canis Majoris. If you look at the picture there, you may not be even able to see, there's a little blue circle down there. That circle represents the orbit of Earth around the sun. And the sun itself is just like a speck of dust compared to this massive, massive star.You zoom out farther, and at the center of most galaxies are believed to be these things, we call some of them super massive black holes, are something like 40 billion times the mass of our sun. And a small percentage of these super massive black holes developed things around them called quasars ,where incredible amounts of energy are swirling inward, with tremendous speed. And then for some reason, are violently ejected outward at near light speed, reaching temperatures in the billions of degrees. Powerful enough to eclipse the entire combined brightness of all the billions of stars within its own galaxy. The jets from these quasars can fire particles out beyond border of their galaxies, into intergalactic space. They're trillions of times brighter than our own sun. And we've discovered thousands of these quasars among the billions upon billions of galaxies in the universe.The size and the complexity and the terrifying power of the forces within our universe, they boggled the minds of physicists. Not like armchair physicists like me, but those are the ones who actually spend their lives studying these things. They appear to be completely paradoxical. They far exceed our ability to perceive and understand. And yet the almighty creator of the universe, for whom, and through whom all things were made, simply spoke them into existence.The God who did that chose to come down and visit a tiny town, on a tiny planet, orbiting a tiny star, and the way he chose to visit us was to be born a tiny, defenseless, dependent baby. Entrusting himself to two terrified teenagers. We mustn't underestimate how profound a statement Matthew makes when he tells us that Jesus Christ was born. The hopes and fears of all the years were met in him that night. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. "When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." Verse 22. "All of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us."Jesus' birth was prophesied. Jesus' birth was miraculous, and Jesus' birth was proof that the Messiah had truly come at last. That this son of Mary was in fact, the Son of God, fully human, fully divine, and he'd come to save his people from their sins. So we see that Jesus Christ is born.Secondly, we see that Jesus Christ is loved. Verse 19 says, "And her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your way for that, which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. For she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And all of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us." And when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but he knew her not until she'd given birth to a son. And he called his name, Jesus."If you're familiar with Luke's gospel, Luke gives us a little bit more information about Mary and Matthew gives us a little bit more information about Joseph. And we see when we read this, that Jesus was loved by Joseph. And you might ask, "Well, how do we see Joseph loving Jesus in this passage?" And to answer that, we really need to set the context. We're told that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. That in that culture, marriage was a year long process. It usually began when the parents would actually arrange the marriage and it would begin with the betrothal. And then after a 12 month waiting period, there would be the wedding and the consummation. And so for those 12 months, the betrothed were legally married. It was binding, but they didn't live together. They couldn't sleep together. The wife would remain in her father's household and the husband would go to prepare a place for them, to prepare a home for he and his wife, so that at the end of the 12 months, they would have the wedding ceremony, and then the wife would be brought to her husband's home, to consummate the marriage.Jesus actually alludes to this, when he's talking to his disciples in John 14. He tells them in verse one, :Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself. That where I am, you may also be." That we, as the church, are in a sense, betrothed to Christ. We are legally united to him by grace, through faith. But now he is also gone to prepare a place for us, and that we are awaiting the advent of his return when he comes, with the new creation, to bring us home to himself.And so, put yourself in Joseph's shoes for a moment. You're a young, godly man. You have done your best to live a holy life, according to the law, according to the word of the Lord, you've remained pure to the Lord. You've remained faithful to your wife. You are making moves. You're making sacrifices. You are working hard to prepare, to spend the rest of your life with this woman. You are so excited as you're anticipating your wedding day. And then one day shows up and says, "Hey, Joseph, buddy, we got to talk. I've been thinking. Maybe I'll weave some curtains for that house that you're working on. We can put one of those live, laugh, love things up above the mantle. And oh, speaking of laughter, funny thing happened, funny thing, you're going to find this hilarious. I've found to be with child."And Joseph's like, "What does that mean?" It's like, "I'm pregnant, Joseph. I'm pregnant. But don't worry. I didn't cheat on you. There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. It's God's baby. And this angel came and he told me that I'm favored. And that you me are going to raise the son of God together right Joseph?" But that's not in the text. You can read between the lines. In all seriousness though, this would not have been funny. Joseph would have been heartbroken, humiliated, devastated, betrayed. And so what is Joseph going to do? According to the law, this was adultery. According to the law, Joseph would have had every legal right to put Mary to public shame, even to have her stoned for what she had done, or what she seemed to have done. And so what is Joseph going to do?Scripture, It doesn't tell us a whole lot about Joseph. Joseph likely died when Jesus was young. We see him when Jesus is 12 years old and we never see him again. He probably died when Jesus was maybe in his late teens. We never really hear Joseph speak in scripture, but his actions speak. And his actions say a lot about his character and about the kind of man that he was. And we see that Joseph was a man who loved God, who loved Mary. And because of this, he had the faith to love Jesus and to take him as his own son.Verse 19 says that, "Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." And when he woke, he obeyed, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded.And so how was Jesus loved by Joseph? We see that Jesus was loved by Joseph in three really important ways. First of all, we see that Joseph loved Jesus, by loving Mary. It's easy to gloss over this, but even before the angel appears, even when Joseph is utterly heartbroken, humiliated, we can see that he still clearly loved Mary. He didn't want to do her harm. He didn't even want to put her to shame, though he may have had every reason to do so. Instead, he resolves to divorce her quietly, to not make a big spectacle out of this. And then when he learns the truth, he follows through. He takes Mary as his wife. He takes responsibility for caring for her and for the child. He adopts Jesus as his own son. And then we'll see in the stories to come that really, he shepherds and he leads his wife and his family with incredible courage and compassion.And fathers, one of the best ways that we can love our kids, is by loving their mom. And mother's, one of the best ways that you can love your kids is by honoring their father. Everyone wants to have a mom who is cherished and a father who is honored, who's honorable. And just as Christ is the head of his body, the Church, Ephesians five tells us that husbands are the head of their wife and they need to, just as Christ did, they need to cherish her, nourish her, lay down their life for her, just as Christ did for the church. And that's what Joseph does, even at incredible cost to himself. And as a result, Jesus grew up with the security of having a mom and a dad who not only loved him, but that clearly and sacrificially loved one another as well. So Joseph loved Jesus by loving Mary.Secondly, Joseph loved Jesus by submitting to God. Then Matthew tells us that Joseph was a just man. He was a devout, godly man. He also seems to be a very humble man. Even when he was faced with extreme disappointment, he doesn't respond in anger, or rage. And when he learns that Mary is pregnant. He's not vengeful. Instead, he seems thoughtful. Scripture tells us that he spent time, and considered how to respond. He wasn't hardened or bitter, he was humble. He was meek. And this meant that he was teachable enough to receive God's messenger and to submit to God's message when it came to him, even though it was going to cost him dearly, Joseph loved God, and the proof that he loved God was found in his willingness to obey God.Now, Jesus told his disciples in John 14:15, that, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And as fathers, we can not love our children. As Christians, we cannot love our neighbors if we do not first love and obey God, the father. The command to love our neighbor as ourselves, is the fulfillment of the entire law, because the entire law is instruction on how to love God and love our neighbor. And so Joseph loves Jesus through his obedience to God. And as Jesus' earthly father, he understands that he was merely a steward serving under the authority of Jesus' Heavenly father.Third, we see that Joseph loved Jesus by leaving a legacy of faith. Kids are very good at sensing hypocrisy. And so is everyone else around you. Jesus got to grow up with a father who clearly believed what he said that he believed. And he held to his convictions, even when it was costly. And as a Christian, if you really believe what you say you believe, if you live by faith, not by what is seen, but by what is unseen, some people are going to look your life and they're going to look at your decisions, and they're going to think that you're crazy. "You give how much money to church? You read your Bible and you pray every day? You intentionally deny yourself, earthly pleasures, and seek to live a holy life?"Some people are going to look at you and they're going to think that you're nuts. They might even despise you for it. Others, however, are going to look at you and they're going to see maybe there's something to this that your witness is going to be compelling. And now without faith, Joseph would have divorced Mary and gotten on with his life. Instead, his faith leads him down a difficult path. In a culture of honor and shame, Joseph for the rest of his life is going to bear the reproach of those who accused him of marrying an unfaithful woman and fathering an illegitimate child. And this was going to follow him for the rest of his life. We see hints of this in the gospels. The Pharisees in John 8, accused Jesus of being born out of sexual immorality. The people in Jesus' hometown referred to him as the son of Mary, because clearly he was not the son of Joseph, let alone the son of David. And no one certainly didn't believe any of this nonsense about him being the son of God.Why was Joseph willing to do this? Why was he willing to bear this humiliation and this shame? It's because he had faith. Joseph had faith that God would one day vindicate his name and the reputation of his family. He had faith that the truth would one day be exposed. He had faith that no matter what anyone else said about him, or his wife, or his son, that God was pleased with them. And he had faith that even if he was to be scorned by all the men on earth for all of his days on earth, that he was going to be honored by God for all of eternity.Matthew 5, one of the first things that Jesus taught his disciples was that their witness in their faithfulness to him, it was going to have this dual effect on people, where some people were going to reject them and hate them for it, while others would glorify God because of them.This is Matthew 5:11. Jesus says, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are on the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people lay a lamp and put it under a basket, but on its stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who's in heaven." Joseph loved Jesus by being a good husband to Mary, by being an obedient servant to God, and by living a life of faith. Trusting God and doing what was right, even when it was hard and sacrificial.Third, we see that Jesus Christ is named. Verse 20 says, "As Joseph considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." And all of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they should call it his name, Emmanuel, which means God with us." And when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she'd given birth to son. And he called his name, Jesus."The name Jesus simply means the Lord, Yahweh saves. It was not merely his name, it was his purpose, and his identity. That Jesus was born, a messianic savior king. He's not a king who would come to kill for his people, as many in Israel had hoped, but a king who was going to die for his people. He was not a king who had come to deliver them from Roman occupancy, he had come, instead, to save them from their sins. Jesus was born to save. Jesus was born to die, to offer his life as an atoning sacrifice for sin. And he lived up to this name perfectly. And as a result of this, God, the Father raises him up and gives him a new name. This is Philippians 2:5-11.It says, "Having this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ, Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, by being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."Joseph gave Jesus a great name, and then God, the Father bestows on him, a greater name, the name that is above all names. But then we see that Jesus also gives Joseph and Jesus also gives us a new name as well. We see this from the prophet Isaiah and in the book of Revelation. Isaiah 62:2 says, "that the nation shall see your righteousness and all the kings, your glory, and you shall be called by a new name, that the mouth of the Lord will give. Revelation 2:18. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. "To the one who conquers. I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.""God promises in Isaiah 56, that to all who serve him, he says, "I will give in my house and within my walls, a monument, and a name better than sons and daughters. And I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off." Revelation 3:12. "To the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out from it. And I will write on him, the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."There's a lot in a name. Names are important. Our parents name us when we're born. Our friends, maybe give us nicknames, maybe people who have names, terms of affection for us. Some names are good. Other names are painful. I'm sure that Mary and Joseph were called a lot of names throughout their life. And many of us have been called a lot of names. We've been given labels, labels that have left deep wounds on our souls. And as followers of Jesus, Jesus tells us that we should expect to be called a lot of things. A lot of names, a lot of slander, and some of it will hurt, some of it will cut, but there's only one name that truly matters.And God looks at Joseph. This lowly, scared, heartbroken teenager. And I love how he addresses him, through the angel. He says, "Joseph son of David, remember who you are." God looks at us. He calls us his own, his saints, his people. He calls us a royal priesthood. He calls us beloved children. He calls us a treasured possession. He knows us by name. He calls us by name and he will give us a new name. More than that, we're told that he will give us his own name, a name that will eclipse the pain and the shame and the reproach of every slanderous name that we've ever been called here on earth. A name that will leave us glorified and vindicated and redeemed. And we experience this blessing in part right now, as we bear the name of Jesus and what an honor it is to be called Christian. You think about that. And we must be careful to walk in a manner worthy of the name of Jesus, and so not to take the name of our Lord in vain.A day is coming what we now experience in part, we will then and, and whole, as the children of God. Romans 8:13 says, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God, are sons of God For you to not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. But you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba Father." The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing, for the revealing of the sons of God."Advent is a season of suffering and celebration. On the one hand we suffer. We live in a dark and a fallen and a sinful world. And on the other hand, we celebrate that the light of Christ has broken into this darkness and that the darkness will not overcome it. And we celebrate that through God's Messiah, we have been justified by grace through faith that Emanuel has come, fully God, fully man, and that his sacrifice was fully acceptable and sufficient to save us from our sins. And we celebrate that Emmanuel is still with us, that the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts and he is sanctifying us. He is keeping us, he is holding us fast and he's preparing us for that day when our justification and our sanctification are consummated in our glorification.And so Advent is a time when we celebrate what has been accomplished. It's also a time when we anticipate the future. And this is why we sing, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come." Not just that he has come, and he has come, but he is with us now, and he is coming yet again. And we eagerly long the day of his return. Today, we're not sure only celebrating Advent, we're also celebrating communion. And in the same way, communion is a time for us to remember Christ's sacrifice. It's also a time for us to anticipate his return. This is 1st Corinthians 11. Paul writes that, "I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way. He also took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.""And then he says, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." And so we do this in remembrance of Christ. And we also do this in proclamation that he has died. He has risen. He is seated at the right hand of God, the Father, and he will return again in glory. And so, as we transition into communion, if you are here today and you are a Christian and you have examined yourself before the Lord, and you are walking in repentance, then you are welcome to participate in communion with us today. If you're not a Christian, we are so glad that you're here with us. We do ask that you would just respectfully refrain from participating in this part of the service. It's not going to do anything for you. There's nothing magical about this. Communion is a sign of the covenant between Christ and his people.Now, if you've made that decision to become a Christian today, if you're ready to repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ, you're welcome to join us in this celebration as well. And then finally, if you are a Christian, but you are living in unrepentant sin, scripture warns us about taking communion in an unworthy manner. And the very next thing that Paul says in Corinthians 11, verse 27, he says this. "Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks, the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself."And so before we begin, I'm just going to give us a moment for you to just sit in silence and spend some time in prayer, examine yourself, discern the body, discern what we are about to participate in, as we take communion together. If you didn't grab one of these on your way in, feel free to go grab one, or just raise your hand, and I think one of the ushers can bring one to you where you're at. We'll just spend some time in silent prayer, and then I will pray for us. And then we'll all take communion together.So let's pray, Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for sending us, your son, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, we thank you for saving us from our sins. We thank you for your sacrifice. You were willing to leave the glory of heaven. You were mocked, mistreated, you were abused and murdered. You came in love and we responded in hate. And God, only you can save us from our sins. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. And so we thank you for the gospel. We thank you for laying down your life, for taking up our cross, for bearing the punishment that we deserve, so that we could share in your glory.And so Father, as we examine our hearts, we see so much sin and we repent and we ask your forgiveness. We pray Holy spirit, that you would sanctify us, that you would empower us to live lives worthy of the name of Jesus Christ, worthy of the gospel. And we thank you for this time of communion when we can be reminded that while we are great sinners, that you are a much greater savior and that your grace is sufficient for us. There's nothing that we can do to be saved on our own merit, but that we are justified freely by grace, through faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ. God help us to grow in our love and our obedience to you and our love for our neighbor, that our lives would leave a legacy of faith, that shows the world that you are our God and that we are your people. And we pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Celebrations and chanting filled the streets of Boston on Nov. 7 as massive celebrations broke out over the city due to the election of Joe Biden as president of the United States.Music and singing was heard particularly on the Boylston Street and Charles Street intersection as Bostonians lined the streets in celebration. In front of the Boston State House, dueling rallies clashed as supporters of Biden and current President Donald Trump met at the top of Beacon Street.As an estimated thousands of celebrators took their time on the streets, traffic was shut down for hours. However, the cars that did get by the crowded intersections often honked in support of the masses.

Hoy regresa nuestra psicóloga Irene Espí Ballester para hablar de la autoestima.  Cuadro: Bay Windows, Beacon Street by Phoebe Stone  Música:  Black by Pearl Jam Creep by Radiohead All Apologies by Nirvana Lovefool by The Cardigans 

One of LA’s largest homeless encampments was on a waterfront stretch of Beacon Street in San Pedro. For blocks, both sides of the street were lined with tents. But on Friday, the people living there had to pack all their things, fold their tents, and get out. This was the first major cleanup of an encampment in four months. Until last week, the city was following advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to move unhoused people during the pandemic unless it was into a safe indoor space. Then the City Council voted to resume sweeps in certain areas.

Audio Transcript: Good morning. Hello. Welcome to another online edition of Mosaic Boston, Brookline. If you are tuning in online, live, thank you so much. We're so glad you're here. Take a couple moments say hello in the chat below. If you are at the beach while we are watching online, enjoy. But thank you for listening after you came home, or on the ride back, and paying attention. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word?Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you. We thank you for the gift of life. We thank you that you have designed us to be people who live lives of joy rejoicing in you, and we experience the utmost joy when we are the absolutely, absolutely closest to you. And Lord, show us that often, the fact that we don't pursue you, the fact that we don't press into you, the fact that we don't strain forward, and press ahead to get as close to you as possible.That's actually the cause of so much of our unhappiness, our sadness, our depression, our anxiety. And show us today that the secret to joy is pursuing Christ, who pursued us, pursuing Christ to His perfection. And as we get closer, we get perfected. And as we get perfected, we get more and more whole. And you give us a holistic health, which leads to joy.I pray that you give us these secrets, and give us the power of the Holy Spirit, not just to understand it with our minds, but to receive them with our hearts. And also, empower us to live this out with our wills, our actions. And Lord, I pray that you bless our time, the Holy Word, we're so thankful for it. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.One my favorite things about living in the city, living in Boston is every spring, I love that the Boston Marathon passes right by my street. I live in Pleasant Street, and the runners come right down Beacon Street. It's always amazing. The city is energy packed. It's incredible energy, incredible feel and emotion. And my favorite of all the Boston marathons was the 118th Boston Marathon of 2014.And I remember distinctly because that Easter Sunday was April 20th, the day before the marathon. And for the first time, we were meeting at the Fenway Regal movie theater, and for the first time, we moved the Easter service from theater seven to the biggest theater they had. It was an act of faith. We had no idea how many people would come, and we had hundreds show up. The energy was amazing.And we had dozens of people in the blue little jackets from the Boston Marathon. We've prayed over them. It was incredible. But that marathon was particularly memorable, and emotional because it was the year after the Boston Marathon bombings were three people were killed, and many were wounded. And the whole marathon, and the build up to it was incredibly emotion filled.And in a story book ending, the winner of that marathon, Meb Keflezighi, 38 years old. He was actually the oldest man to win the marathon in 83 years, and the first US citizen to win it since 1983. And he ran with the names of the victims written on the corner of his bib. And as he approached the finish line in Back Bay in Copley Square, as he approached the finish line, there were chants of USA.And as he crossed the finish line, an incredible triumph and joy. He raises his hands. He raises his fist, his arms, and almost collapses, but keeps going. Incredible. I love that. What a memory. Let me ask you, how did he feel when you crossed the finish line? You already know the answer. Triumphant joy, just exploding with joy. Let me ask you a question. How did he feel while he was running it?How did he feel in preparation for the Boston Marathon, the tens of thousands of hours that he hit the pavement by himself with nobody watching, just driving himself pressing into the goal, the purpose that he set for himself full tilt with every nerve, every ounce, every muscle, every fiber of his being because he had a purpose in mind. And the purpose was to win.And this is incredible. This is incredible story in it of itself. But this is actually analogy, the metaphor the St. Paul uses to describe the Christian life. That there's a starting point, and there's a finish line, and in the middle, this is what our life is. You become a Christian, that's the starting line. Scripture talks about this as justification that you are made righteous, just by grace through faith in Christ.And the end is glorification, where you have a brand-new redeemed body just like Christ's resurrected body. But in the meantime, we are called not just follow Jesus slowly. It begins with a walk just like a child crawls and then walks. But then the Lord says, we are to seek maturity, and we are to run after Christ in an ultramarathon way. And this is important because St. Paul says, I'm pursuing perfection in the text that we're going to read today.And this is important because Jesus didn't call us to be good. He actually called us to be perfect. And the closer you get to Jesus, the more you realize how much you lack perfection, and there's this holy tension between a Christian getting more holy, and realizing how unholy he or she is. And the godliest Christians are still so very aware of imperfections.Still, there's a tinge of disappointment in themselves, a personal frustration that fuels them forward to pursue Christ who is perfection. The closer you get to Him, the more perfect you get as you understand your imperfections, which fuels you to keep following him more. This world isn't heaven, we know that. And Robert Browning put it like this. He says a man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what is heaven for?A man's reach should exceed his grasp, meaning I am reaching for a higher-level amount of holiness than I can ever grasp in this life. But that reaching, that hunger, that desire for it is what actually transforms us. Today, we're in Philippians 3:12-21. Would you look at this incredible text with me? Philippians 3:12-21.Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I've made it my own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with mindset on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. So, what must I do in order to become perfect as the Lord calls us to become? And the word perfection actually means completeness or wholeness. Assuming that we have, presupposing that we have brokenness in our lives, in our hearts, and we know each one of us do if we're honest with ourselves.So, how do we get that perfection? Well, this frames up our four points for today. Number one, acknowledge imperfection. Number two, press on for perfection. Three, keep growing in maturity, and four, remember what's at stake. One is acknowledge imperfection, you see this in verse 12. How honest St. Paul is with himself.Not that I've already obtained this, or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. If anybody qualified as a candidate for perfection besides Jesus Christ, St. Paul was number one, the most likely candidate. He had a spotless spiritual resume on the outside as he told us verses four through six.And then, after becoming a Christian, he pursued sanctification 30 years. This is where he is in his life. He's been a Christian for 30 years. He's already written half of the New Testament. He's planted churches in all four regions of the Roman Empire. He's giving everything, sacrificed everything to follow Christ. A good friend, a member of the church invited me to mass challenge, which is a startup incubator just to see his office.And in the bathroom, there's a sign that says everybody wants to change the world, but no one wants to change the toilet paper. And that's where we find ourselves in the culture. Everyone wants to change everything. No one wants to change the little things. St. Paul actually focusing on the little things, and the most important thing, the gospel actually changed literally, had a global impact with his life.And still, he says I'm not perfect. He still says I have a long way to go. And this is one of the lessons that we can extract from this text is that successful people never stop growing, always developing. They're always expanding, learning. He said I haven't obtained this. I'm not perfect. I don't consider it my own. And actually, verse 13, there's two emphatic personal pronouns before the verb.He says, brothers, I, even I, I, even I have not yet grasped it. Incredible spiritual humility that he learned from time with Christ. Dear friend, do you willingly acknowledge your own imperfections, your own flaws, your own sins? Are you willing to own your mistakes? Are you willing to face your faults, not just to excuse them, not just to play the victim card?And we can do this by the power of the gospel. Because when we acknowledge our sins, and when we show remorse for them, contrition over them, when we repent, there's always grace. Sometimes, we tend to think too highly of ourselves. Romans 12:3, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.But to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. What he's talking about here is, can you look at yourself with an honest self-assessment? This is called self-awareness to do, an inventory of your life on a regular basis. Sober self-reflection, as Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."And why are we talking about this? Usually, this topic comes up January 1st, or the first Sunday of January New Year's resolutions, like inventory of life. By the way, this is the last Sunday of June, meaning the year is almost halfway over. This is a perfect opt and what a half a year it's been. This is a perfect opportunity to stop, and pause, and say, "Where am I? I need to do a self-inventory." Where am I? Where do I want to be? Where do I need to improve? What am I glaring weaknesses? What are my shortfalls? What are the things that I need to work on? What are my blind spots?Where do I need growth as a person, as a human being, as a Christian, as a friend, as a son, as a daughter, as a husband, as a wife, as a church member, as a child of the family of God, as a student, as a professional? This is a personal inventory. Where do I need to change? And by the way, how thoroughly am I talking about? Like this, do an inventory of yourself as thoroughly as you do an inventory of others.And each one of us, we do, we can see other people's glaring blind spots when they can't, and we feel that. We see them imperfections, and we criticize. With that same perspective, with that same magnifying glass, do an inventory of your life. The first step to pursuing perfection or wholeness, progress in the faith is to acknowledge that you haven't arrived.And this is what it means to grow in faith. Because you know what happens when we think we have arrived, you become proud, and complacent, and you stop moving. Growth always begins in the mind. It's a change of thoughts that leads to a change of feelings, that leads to a change of action. So, thought, I need to keep growing, I need to keep running, I need to keep pressing ahead.Feelings, I want to be the person that God has created me to be. I'm not that yet. Actions, what do I need to work on by God's grace? Philippians 3:15, let those of us who are mature think this way, starts with the mind, and if anything you think otherwise God will reveal that also to you. And by the way, this is so contrary to many people, but many actually Christians in the church.Today, a lot of Christians would rather pretend to be a healthy Christian. We'd rather pretend than change because change always takes work. It's painful. And yes, we're all sinners. Yes, we have problems. Yes, we struggle with doubts. For some people, reputation is more important than transformation. And St. Paul gives us an example of incredible honesty with himself.And by the way, this is a mark of maturity in the faith. There's absolute transparency. This is where I am. This is what I'm struggling with today, this week. And you voice it to other believers, and you ask them to pray for you. And what that does is that gets them to open up as well, and you together can fight the good fight of faith. Proverbs 28:13, whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.Don't conceal, instead confess and forsake. Seasoned Christians are acutely aware of inadequacies of what you need to work on. And mature Christians don't just say, "Oh, look how far I've come." That's nice. That's good. But you also have to say in the same breath, look how far I have to go. Philippians 3:12 St. Paul says, not that I've already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own.Because Christ Jesus has made me his own. I press on. I overextend myself. I go for it with all I've got. I throw myself into this straining with every nerve, ounce, muscle to reach the price. Incredible intensity, maximum effort, he understands that there's no gain without pain. It's so counterintuitive because one of the idols in our culture is comfort.So, for us, if we idolize comfort, then the opposite of comfort is pain. If we worship comfort, we only pursue comfort. We develop a resistance, a lack of tolerance for pain. And therefore, we don't accomplish the purpose that God has for us. We understand that the most valuable things in life always take pain, work, sacrifice.To create something, to build something, to become a person who edifies others, adds value to their lives, and to serve others, to give to others, which is actually a greater blessing. It's more blessed to give than to receive. What's your motivation St. Paul? That's why whenever you see a driven person, you're like, "What are they motivated by? What gets them up in the morning? What is it?"St. Paul says, this is my motivation. Verse 12, not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but press on to make it my own because Christ has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. He starts with that. He says, Christ made me his own. I am reaching to grasp the righteousness that God has for me because Christ has already grasped me, made me righteous.And this is the interplay between justification and sanctification. Justification is monergistic. Yes, I'm dropping a big theological word on you. You can look it up. monergistic, meaning one way, justification, God says, I choose you, I regenerate you, I change your heart from stone to flesh. Now, you're mine. Now, you're a Christian. It says if He grasped us, as we're running the wrong way, turns us around and now, we're running for Him.That's monergistic justification. Sanctification is synergistic. There's an interplay between God's will, God's energy, God's desire, God's Holy Spirit, and our effort. We can't earn our salvation justification. However, there is an effort to our sanctification that there are things that we have to do. The metaphor for justification in scripture is accounting. You were in sin. God takes your sin upon himself and Christ on the cross.By grace through faith, He recommends you or accounts to you a righteousness that is not your own. That's justification, it's an accounting term. However, what St. Paul is doing here is talking about sanctification, and he doesn't use an accounting term. He's using analogy. He uses an athletic analogy. And athletes know this, if you want to win, you have to experience pain, discipline yourself in absolutely every single facet of life.So, it begins with acknowledging our imperfection, but it doesn't stop there. He continues and talks about pressing on for perfection. So, press on for perfection. Point two, Philippians 3:13, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the price of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. By the way, this is totally unexpected in our culture.Our culture stops at point one and says, "Yeah, I'm not perfect. Yeah, I acknowledge that I'm not perfect. Yes, I have things to work on." And we stopped there. St. Paul says, "No, no, I don't stop there. I'm not perfect, but I pursue perfection." The fact that he has not accomplished these goals actually motivates him, it actually energizes him.Starkly different from our culture, which uses our imperfections as a justification to stay in them. We use our sin as a justification to continue sinning more. I'm not perfect, and I can't stop what I'm doing. So, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. St. Paul says no, no, if you are a Christian, you have no excuse to remain in habitual sins, to remain in sins that dog you, and plague you for years. They keep you ensnared for years.He says fight the good fight, turn to Christ, repent of sin, ask for more the Holy Spirit, put a plan into place of how you're going to wage war on the sin on a daily basis. And he uses his sin, everything that he's done in the past, and he uses that as motivation to pursue perfection. He says but one thing I do, I press on, I press on, it's a present tense verb meaning continuous action. I keep pressing on.And by the way to press on. This is the same word that he used in verse six when he says as the zeal, I persecuted the church. As the zeal I pressed on to get the church. What's he doing? St. Paul is a master wordsmith. Every single word matters. Every single word is planned, and he's filled with the Holy Spirit. What's the Holy Spirit doing through St. Paul's gifts and talents? This is a wordplay.It's a play on what he said. He's saying with the same passion, with the same zeal that I persecuted the church, I am pursuing Jesus Christ, and His righteousness, and I'm trying to make that my own. With the same passion that you pursued sin before meeting Christ, with that same zeal, with that same energy, with that same planning, and you know what I'm talking about.Prior to meeting Christ, there is this part of our imagination that's fallen, where we plan things to do, we plan ahead to sin more, to put ourselves in a position where we provide for the flesh. And he says no, in the same way, you need to plan for sanctification. You need to plan for holiness. Tonight, how am I going to plan to wake up tomorrow, and pursue Christ to fight flesh, and be filled with the Holy Spirit?And what's his trick? St. Paul, how do you do that? And he says this one thing, I do, I do one thing. What do I do? I forget and this is verse 13. This one thing, I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. This is his trick. That St. Paul only do one thing in his life. No, of course not. He did lots of things. But he did everything he did with one purpose, to glorify Christ to the maximum, and to share the gospel.He says this one thing, I do, I proclaim Christ and Him crucified, meaning everything he did in the church as he evangelize, apologetics, as he wrote epistles, as he quipped leaders in the church, and plant the churches, as he defended the faith before kings, and before centurions. Everything he did, he did with one purpose in mind, and how did he make sure that every single detail his life was aligned with that purpose?He says, I forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead, forgetting and straining forward. This is important. Because St. Paul, actually, he had a past, what a past he had. Not only did he persecute the church, but as a young man, he was actually present. When the first martyr of the church was executed with stones by the Pharisees, St. Paul was there guarding their clothing, probably looking on with glee, and then he used that to go and persecute church.Did he have a past? Yeah. I was actually talking with someone this week, and we were talking about God, talking about faith. And he said, I got a past. Bad, I got a rap sheet. I said, well, what did you do? And his response was other realm, and it was on text, it was R-E-A-L-mmmmmmm, other realm. And I don't know what that means. But I will tell you this. St. Paul's other realm was worse than that.Because most likely, he was a murderer of Christians. He would take fathers, mothers out of homes to go and imprison them. And ultimately, they were executed for being Christians. And St. Paul says, I forget what's in the past. I forget all the bad things I did. I forget all the defeat that debilitates, and I forget all of my heartbreaking sin, my guilt, my grief, my grudges. And I also forget all the good things I've done, all of the wins.Because sometimes, wins actually drag us down. You get to a place where you did great for the Lord today, and you're like, "Yeah, I did really good." And you take your foot off the gas of continuing pressing forward. He says, I forget what's in the past, I'm not manipulated by my memories, I leave the past in the past. And by the way, this is what we talked about last week. He says every day, I count my gains as losses in order that I may gain Christ more.So, every day, he would sit down and tally up, look at the gains that he had for Christ, all the wins that he had. And he would transfer that to the lost column. And what that does is it empties up the gain column to get more of the Holy Spirit, more of Christ for the next day. You do that one day. The next day, your gain column is a little wider, it's a little bigger, so you can actually do more.Because what happens is if you follow Christ full tilt like this today, tomorrow, you're going to wake up, and you're going to be just a little stronger. And here, I want to use the term compounding sanctification, compounding sanctification. It's like compounding interest, compound interest, you know how that works? Compounding interest, if you don't know how it works, it's incredible.It's where you invest, and you make money, interest off of what your investment. And then, the next year, you make interest off the interest in the compounds. The same thing happens with sanctification. The more you pursue Christ today, the easier it is to pursue Christ tomorrow. So, perhaps you're in a place, and you walk with the Lord where you're like, "I can never even imagine freedom from this particular sin.I can never imagine not wanting this. I can never imagine the taste buds of my soul being so recalibrated that I want the good things, not the bad things. I want the helpful things, not the harmful things." And St. Paul says this is the trick. The trick is I forget what lies behind the good, the bad, the ugly, everything, and the wind. And I press on, I press forward to what lies ahead. That's what gave him power to run the race with Christ.And this is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, one of my favorite passages. He says do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So, run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So, I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. But I disciplined my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.Incredible. By the way, St. Paul must have been a fan of sports. And I miss sports so much. I can't wait for sports to be back. I'm praying with all I got that the NFL season is going to start on time. I'm going to root for the Pats, of course. Tom Brady, maybe a little, I don't know. I've forgiven him just a little bit. But St. Paul uses these metaphors because he says that's how you understand self-control and self-discipline.Luke 9:62, Jesus said, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. You can't drive a car looking in the rearview mirror, you can't run a race looking backwards. Yes, we definitely learn from our mistakes and our setbacks. But we move forward with those lessons, not with shame, and guilt, and anxiety over the mistakes. We tend to remember things that we should forget.We tend to dwell on our shame and our sin in the past. Why do you keep remembering the things that God has already forgotten? When you repent of sin, God chooses to forget that sin. He cast it behind himself, he cast it into... scripture says as far as the east is from the west, and this is by the way, is a mark of maturity that you're always looking forward, not back. You don't look back to spiritual victories, you don't look back to spiritual defeat.My parents were moving a couple years ago, and we went to help them clean out. It was their house in Cranston, Rhode Island before they moved to Jamestown, and we were in the basement helping them clean out. And my wife was with me, and she discovered my closet growing up. And by this time, we were married, I think 12 years or something.And there's a there was a box with all of my trophies from football, from wrestling, from baseball, from rugby, from all over this. And she walks out in amazement holding this box, and she's like, "Why have you never shown me this?" And I was like, "Baby, because that was high school. And I'm no longer in high school." I never want to be like Uncle Rico. You know who Uncle Rico is? Napoleon Dynamite.That's the guy who lives in a van, and he's always videoing himself throwing footballs, and says he can throw footballs over a mountain, and he's a middle-aged man still living this glory days of high school. Some of you perhaps have something similar happened spiritually where you had a time when you were on fire for the Lord. And you live in those glory days. Remember what I did for Christ?St. Paul never stayed there. What are you doing for Christ today? What are you doing for His glory and His kingdom today? And by the way, looking forward, one of the reasons why we don't look forward, and press forward, and have a forward-thinking mind. For many of us, it's because we live in a culture where youth is an idol. We idolize youth, and therefore a lot of people have a hard time aging.And we can't look back and reminisce. We can't stay there. It leads to this place where we don't enjoy what God has for us today. And I love Proverbs 31:12, and this is the wise woman, the Proverbs 31 woman, strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She laughs the time. God has given me grace today. God will give me grace for tomorrow.And how do I press on for perfection? The key is verse 12, not that I have already obtained this, or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. What's this? What's the it? What's the object? Philippians 3:11, by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead.In Paul's mind, the resurrection from the dead, that's the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that's the price. So, Paul is pressing in to get Christ, to get the resurrected Christ get His power. Paul pursues perfection by pursuing Jesus. Paul pursues perfection by pursuing the light of Jesus. And he does this into his old age, and that's what gives him strength to keep going.Point three is keep growing in maturity, knowledge, your imperfections, press forward to perfection, and then keep growing in that maturity. Verse 15, let those of us who are mature think this way, and if anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.I love the fact that he talks about maturity here. When you keep running after Christ by acknowledging imperfections daily, and pursuing perfection by pursuing Christ, that grows you in maturity on a daily basis. And St. Paul says, those of us who mature, we are to think this way. My daughter Milana, she's three years old today, Thursday, the day I'm preaching, this is June 25. You will listen on Sunday.But today Her birthday. And I she's turning three, she turned three, and I love the age of three. That's one of my favorite ages. Now, I'll tell you why. Because now she's in a place, and I've seen this with all four of my daughters. She's now in a place where she is growing in self-sufficiency. She's growing in maturity. She can feed herself. She knows when she needs to go to the bathroom.She can articulate what she wants. She can actually help around the house, and clean up her room. She doesn't scream as often when she doesn't get what she wants, or when she hears the word no. When you become a Christian, dear friend, you are a baby Christian. It's okay to be a baby Christian. You need someone to carry you around. You need someone to feed you, milk you.You need someone who care for you and serve you. Dear Christian, it's not okay to stay there. And I'll just be the real talk right here. A lot of the Christians I know, because of this extended adolescence in our culture, a lot of Christians I know, they stay in this little infant baby toddler child stage of Christianity. Yeah. I've got enough to get to heaven, but you don't continue to grow.And here's how you know that you are an immature Christian. How do you react when you hear the word no from someone in the church family? Number one. Number two, what kind of food do you prefer? Milk or like the mushy baby food? Or have you now gotten to a point where you love spiritual meat, steak as I call it? Children, immature Christians, they need to be served, all of the attention is on me.It's as if I am the only one that exists. That was Milana up until the age three. She's still almost there. Hopefully, we're trying to grow. And part of maturity is you now look to the needs of other people, you now want to serve other people. My daughter, Sophia is there, she's already serving, she's already caring. And that's what it means to grow in maturity. And how do we do that?We do that by pursuing maturity through God's word. Colossians 1:28-29, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. That's the goal St. Paul says of the ministry. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. He says this is the goal of my ministry.This is the goal of our ministry is to get you to a place where you begin to serve, where you begin to feed yourself, where you begin to care for yourself, and when you begin to feed others, and care for others. And the best way to grow in this attainment, grow in this maturity is to find heroes in the faith. And that's why St. Paul says brothers, join in imitating me. Keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.This is what I talked about a couple weeks ago that there's things in Christianity that must be taught. And there's things in Christianity that must be caught, where you begin to emulate the example of other people. And this is how I seek to grow in my own life. Look at the people who are few steps ahead of you and emulate them.One of my favorite heroes in the faith, and each one of us should have heroes in the faith is George Mueller, who devoted his life to preach the gospel, and also care for orphans at age 71. He wrote a letter to some of his students at age 71. He said, you know what's the key to my success? Scripture and prayer, and he said I've read the Bible cover-to-cover over 100 times.That's incredible, over 100 times, and he said, every time it's been as if I'm reading for the first time, every time it's refreshed me, and encouraged me. What an example. What an example. Can someone look at your spiritual disciplines, scripture prayer, fasting, silence, and solitude, giving, serving, worshiping the Lord?Can someone look at your clear spiritual disciplines and say, "I want to emulate that?" With George Mueller, I want to emulate him. Every Christian, you need to know that there's always someone watching you. There's always someone following you in some sense. Right now, someone's following and you looks to you to show them the way. Someone prays because they've heard you pray.One of my favorite prayer warriors is my Uncle Victor in DC. Actually, I pray in the same temple as he prays because I've never heard someone pray as passionate as he did, and he is a hero in the faith. Someone is watching you fight the good fight, fighting your battle. Someone wants to be like you, and your Christian walk, and they're cheering you on. Someone sees Christ in you and admires your strength.Someone is borrowing your faith when they don't have any. Someone believes you're the best Christian they know, and that's so true in Boston, Massachusetts. Someone is hanging tough because you're standing tall. If someone's smiling when they think of you. Someone is thanking God for your friendship. Someone is following you. So, keep going. Don't let them down, and keep growing in maturity. Keep growing the people around you in maturity.And number four, remember what's at stake. Verse 18, for many of whom I've often told you, and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to himself.Paul says, watch those who are worthy of imitation, and weep over those who are not. And he's talking about them as enemies of the cross of Christ, the cross of Christ is the general principle of the Christian faith. It's at the very center of what we do. 1 Corinthians 1:18, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.The cross tells us that there's nothing that we can do to save ourselves. The cross tells us that only God can save us. The cross tells us that God, His son died on a cross in excruciating pain, physical, and excruciating pain, spiritual in order to pay the price for our sin. Meaning, we can't save ourselves, and there's two categories of people who are enemies of the cross.Number one, it's legalist. And he talked about beware of the dogs, beware of the evildoers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh. That's the beginning of chapter three. It's people who say the cross isn't enough for salvation, we must add works to it in order to be justified. Says that's an enemy of the cross because you're saying Christ's sacrifice was not sufficient.The other group of enemies of the cross are those who are licentious, legalists, and those who are licentious. Meaning, these are people who say, "Oh, God forgives me of all my sin. Now, I can live any way I want, and God will just continue to forgive me." And St. Paul says, "No, you don't understand the cross." You don't understand that the sacrifice that was made, how precious the blood of Christ was.And he didn't just die on a cross to forgive you of sin. He died on the cross to free you of sin. And he says stop diminishing the value of the cross, and he says their end is destruction as verse 19, destruction here is talking about eternal punishment. It's not temporal punishment. It's destruction, not annihilationism. You don't cease to exist, but you experience the wrath of God, you experienced His judgment.And anytime I talk about the clear teaching about the judgment, for those who reject the gospel, I get pushback where people say, I can't believe in a god like that. But if you reject mercy, you can't expect mercy. If you reject mercy, you don't get mercy. So, receive mercy today. This is the beauty of the gospel. You ask for forgiveness. You repent of your sin. You turn to Christ.All of your sin is blotted out, everything, your whole other realm, rap sheet, everything is forgiven, receive it now. And if you don't receive that mercy, judgment is coming. Jonathan Edwards, commanded this sermon to you. It's called The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners, in which he argues, sin against God is a violation of infinite obligations.Therefore, there's an infinitely heinous crime. It's an infinitely heinous crime deserving an infinite punishment. We sinned against an infinite God. And that's an infinite crime, therefore, there's an infinite punishment, and that's a place called hell. And by the way, the destruction, the enemies of the cross, he says their appetite is their god. Their belly is their God. What's he talking about here?That's verse 19. What's he talking about? Is he talking about gluttons, or is he talking about just people who pursue sensual pleasure, or sexual morality? Yes. That's an outward working of something that happened on the inside. And in the context, this belly or this appetite is actually a synonym for the heart. In the ancient world, they felt with their innards, with their bowels.And what he's talking about here is emotions. He's talking about feelings, when feeling is not facts, when emotion is not truth, govern and regulate our life. When we pursue that which feels good, instead of that which is good. That's what he's talking about. And often, that leads to physical and ultimately spiritual destruction. And they get to a point where they glory in their shame, quagmire in a cesspool of shame.Where people take things that are shameful, sinful, hurtful, harmful, and we actually present them as good. We take bad things, and present them as good things, and whoever calls the bad things bad things is actually a bad person. That's where we are in our culture. And in Philippians 3:20, he says, but our citizenship is in heaven.And from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to himself. He's talking to Philippians, who treasured Roman citizenship, and he says Philippian Christians, remember that your identity is not in Roman citizenship, Americans, your identity is not in your American citizenship.Primarily, it's in Christ. We are first Christians, second Americans. And he says we're citizens of this other kingdom. And from it we await Christ will come and power and glory. He's talking about the Second Coming, which is one of the most frequently emphasized truths in scripture. It's in every book of the Bible, except for Galatians, Philemon, and 2 and 3 John. Scripture talks about it all the time.And the same way that Jesus promised He'll come the first time, and He did. He promised that He will come in the second time and He will. C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, if you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.And when it comes to the second coming of Christ, there's two truths that we see here. That our bodies will be transformed, our lowly bodies will be transformed into a body like His glorified, our current bodies are subject to disease, death, sin. He says there will be transformation, not just outwardly, but also inwardly. Then we'll never be able or desire to sin. And second of all, he says, Christ will subject all things to Himself.So, if we are not willingly subject to Him in this world, we will be forced into subjection in the next one. Everybody will bow in knee before Jesus. He will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I can't wait. So, make certain dear friend, that you today are in submission to Jesus Christ as Savior, and as Lord so that when He comes, He is your Savior and not your judge.The four points, if you missed them, acknowledge imperfection, press on for perfection, keep growing in maturity, and remember what's at stake. That's what leads to wholeness or perfection. Robert Murray M'Cheyne said, "Lord, make me as holy as a redeemed sinner can be." Keep on the path, keep running your race, and keep your eyes on the prize who is Christ.The more you get of Him, the more perfected you become, and the more joyful that you feel just like Meb as he crossed the finish line of the 2014 Boston Marathon. That said, would you please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. And Lord, I pray that you give us strength to lay aside every weigh and sin, which clings so closely.And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus Christ, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, what a God you are. We love you, we praise you, we glorify you, we honor you, and we pray all this in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We're talking about one of the most feel good songs of all time to help deal with the quarantine blues! Find out how much Gregg Alexander hates capitalism as we analyze New Radical's "You Get What You Give." Stick around for our bonus segment to hear about organs! Covers by: Timo Räisänen, Pickin' On, Panda Transport, Charming Horse ft. Grace Grundy, Harriet, Beacon Street, Scary Pockets Spotify playlist here

Before finding global success with 1995's Tragic Kingdom, ska punk darlings No Doubt were going nowhere fast after signing a record deal at Interscope Records. With little support from the label, no access to studios, and a growing list of 60+ songs under their belt, No Doubt took things into their own hands and built a studio in their garage in Anaheim, California. After a long weekend recording, The Beacon Street Collection was born. Join us as we dive deeper into this DIY gem, a slightly heavier, more raw and punk-inspired album than both their previous self-titled and their mega successful Tragic Kingdom, and proving No Doubt's worthiness on the global stage.Tracklist No Doubt - Squeal The Specials - Gangsters Madness - Razor Blade Alley No Doubt - Greener Pastures No Doubt - Move On No Doubt - Snakes Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral No Doubt - By The Way Hum - If You Are To Bloom Midwife - S.W.I.M. Bad Brains - Sailin' On This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast network.

Before finding global success with 1995's Tragic Kingdom, ska punk darlings No Doubt were going nowhere fast after signing a record deal at Interscope Records. With little support from the label, no access to studios, and a growing list of 60+ songs under their belt, No Doubt took things into their own hands and built a studio in their garage in Anaheim, California. After a long weekend recording, The Beacon Street Collection was born. Join us as we dive deeper into this DIY gem, a slightly heavier, more raw and punk-inspired album than both their previous self-titled and their mega successful Tragic Kingdom, and proving No Doubt's worthiness on the global stage.Tracklist No Doubt - Squeal The Specials - Gangsters Madness - Razor Blade Alley No Doubt - Greener Pastures No Doubt - Move On No Doubt - Snakes Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral No Doubt - By The Way Hum - If You Are To Bloom Midwife - S.W.I.M. Bad Brains - Sailin' On This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast network.

Before finding global success with 1995's Tragic Kingdom, ska punk darlings No Doubt were going nowhere fast after signing a record deal at Interscope Records. With little support from the label, no access to studios, and a growing list of 60+ songs under their belt, No Doubt took things into their own hands and built a studio in their garage in Anaheim, California. After a long weekend recording, The Beacon Street Collection was born. Join us as we dive deeper into this DIY gem, a slightly heavier, more raw and punk-inspired album than both their previous self-titled and their mega successful Tragic Kingdom, and proving No Doubt's worthiness on the global stage. Tracklist No Doubt - Squeal The Specials - Gangsters Madness - Razor Blade Alley No Doubt - Greener Pastures No Doubt - Move On No Doubt - Snakes Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral No Doubt - By The Way Hum - If You Are To Bloom Midwife - S.W.I.M. Bad Brains - Sailin' On This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast network.

A discussion of Deborah Dugan's dismissal, our favorite flautist, the problem with Finneas, Billie EIlish's breakout year, and Billy Porter's hat. We do our best to unpack this MassLive piece about Worcester's "Next Wave" which noted an emerging workspace for creatives at the intersection of Beacon Street and Jackson Street. We're in over our heads when it comes to defining "gentrification," but it seems we're not alone. What do you think of these studies? Do they help shed light on Worcester's situation or confuse things further? Extra Credit: "The Effects of Gentrification on the Well-Being and Opportunity of Original Resident Adults and Children"

A fascinating interview with Len Wholey, a Brookline Town Meeting Member (precinct 11), who is also on the Bike Advisory Committee and involved with making Brookline safer for bicycling. Hear about his efforts on the bridle path, a protected bike lane that will run on Beacon Street from Saint Mary's Street to Cleveland Circle, as well as his involvement with the organization Cycling Without Age. When people ask, what makes Brookline special, the answer is efforts like this from people like Len! Real estate questions? Email us! info@accentbrookline.com ** Accent Realty, 617-396-3206, www.accentbrookline.com ** **Avi Kaufman, avi@avirealestate.com, 617-751-1040, www.avirealestate.com ** **Ron Scharf, ronscharf.re@gmail.com, 617-221-3122 **

Cheryl Osimo Executive Director of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about their 22nd premier annual fundraising event the "Lesbians and Friends LGBTQ Dance Party For Prevention" that takes place at The Inn at Brookline at 1200 Beacon Street in Brookline, Massachusetts on October 26th from 8P to 12P. This year MBCC is proud to be honoring Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. Osimo stated, "Attorney General Healey has worked tirelessly for the citizens of Massachusetts across so many important issues. We admire all that she has accomplished and continues to work towards on behalf of her constituents and look forward to honoring her at this year’s event." AG Healey will not be present at the event but will be appearing in a special video presentation to be shown during the evening’s festivities. MBCC will also be recognizing longtime MBCC supporter Laura Diamond owner of Diamond Physical Therapy Associates and Moving Violations Motorcycle Club the oldest women’s motorcycle club in New England. In Massachusetts breast cancer incidence rates are 12% higher than the national average which estimates that 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. However the most commonly cited risk factors, genetic inheritance and lifestyle factors, are present in only 20-30% of breast cancer cases. This leaves 70-80% of cases unexplained. MBCC is the only breast cancer non-profit working closely with a research and sister organization Silent Spring Institute to investigate preventable environmental causes of the disease. This work is funded through annual fundraising events like the upcoming Lesbians & Friends Dance: A Party for Prevention. We talked to Cheryl about what she hopes to accomplish with her work at MBCC and her spin on our LGBTQ issues. Cheryl Osimo is a fierce LGBTQ ally and devoted breast cancer activist and advocate since 1991 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 41. She has been a catalyst in raising public awareness of the possible environmental links to breast cancer. Her commitment to breast cancer prevention and awareness benefits women worldwide. The Lesbians and Friends LGBTQ Dance Party For Prevention features DJ Shelly Cullen, complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar and a silent auction with items donated from LGBTQ+ friendly businesses across New England. To kick off the event longtime supporter Liz Nania of Out to Dance will lead a free one-hour dance workshop for all interested participants from 7P to 8P. Tickets are $45 general and $20 for students online or on the day of the event $50 general and $25 for students at the door. Halloween Costumes are optional.For More Info & Tix: mbcc.org LISTEN: 500+ LGBTQ Chats @OUTTAKE VOICES

Summary: In Matthew 10:16, Jesus said, "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." Jesus often mixed metaphors to describe the nuanced profundity of the Truth. Jesus calls Christians to live like sheep who follow the Good Shepherd, which in turn, makes us a special sort of sheep. Sheep are proverbially stupid, yet Jesus calls us to be wise as serpents. Christians are to develop a dove-like innocence, and snake-like intelligence. What kind of sheep is this? We are to be sheep like Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is also the Lion of Judah. Jesus is a Lion-like Lamb, and by worshipping Him, we begin to resemble Him, because as G.K. Beale writes, "What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or restoration." Worshipping Jesus is the key to becoming like Jesus, the Lion-like Lamb.Transcript:You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit MosiacBoston.com.Lord, we thank you that you have created us in your image, and show us today that that image, because of sin and our rebellion, because of our pride, it has been splintered. It has been fractured. Show us that Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God, the perfect human being who had the perfect mixture of lion and lamblike qualities, that he is the perfect image. When we realize what Christ did on the cross for us, that he died for our sins, that that's what it took to save us, that humbles us, and he was willing to take it. That gives us incredible confidence that we can be clothed in the love of Christ. I pray that you'd make us a people who'd now worship Christ. As we worship him, that we are conformed to this image of perfect humility and confidence, both lion and lamblike qualities. Holy Spirit, come to this place. Prepare us to hear from you, hear your words, apply it to our lives. We pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen.We're really excited. We're starting a brand new sermon series today that we are calling Tough and Tender: Developing Resilience for Life. Why resilience? Life is hard. I don't need to make the case of why life is hard. As you grow older, it just gets harder. I was always under the impression that if I just graduated, if I get this degree, if I get into this next stage of life, it just gets easier and gets easier. It does not, especially if you have kids and especially if you keep having kids. Life is hard. Life in this area is hard. Being a Christian is hard. Now can you take one of two paths. You can have one of two responses. It's either you grow harder, tougher, just toughen up. You just grit your teeth, white-knuckle it, and you get through. You power through or you soften up. You're just overwhelmed with everything. There's a victimhood mentality. Then, you turn to coping mechanisms, maybe substance abuse.Sometimes you're tough all day in public, and then you come home, and you're in a fetal position. That's the softness. It's one of two ways. There's got to be another way. There's got to be a way that's not just too hard, not just too soft. If you're too soft, you can't make it in life. If you're too hard, you can't enjoy life. You truncate your emotion. You don't feel anything. You just keep going. That's not how we're created to live. We need a third way, and that third way is the path of resilience. What does resilience mean? It means you're looking at life eyes wide open. You realize that life is hard, but you realize there is suffering, but you adapt. You bounce back. You roll with the punches. You're knocked down. You come back stronger. Nothing can crush your spirit. You're resilient. No accident. No misstep. No trauma. You don't succumb to stress. You surmount it. There's resilience.How do we develop resilience? I'll give you this phrase, and this is a powerful phrase. It's called humble confidence. Actually, there's a lot of literature out there, secular literature, that's realized that there is power in this. This is one of the keys to success in life, developing humble confidence. The problem is, in the secular world, they can't figure out how to give you both. They'll teach you how to be humble or at least pretend to be, and they'll teach you how to be confident or at least pretend to be, pose, posture, but often they can't do both at the same time. What do we need? We need someone who's done it, someone who's the epitome of humble confidence, someone who is both a lion, fierce and toughness, and a lamb, soft and tenderness. That's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is both lion and lamb. He's both strong and compassionate. He's meek, which is not weakness. Meekness is strength under control. He's both.Humble confidence, it's not a paradox to be resolved. It's a tension to be embraced. It's the opposite to prideful insecurity, where you present this confidence, but deep inside you're deeply insecure. It's confidence that's balanced with humility, so it doesn't turn into arrogance, and it's humility that's balanced with confidence, so it doesn't turn into self-deprecation. This is what CS Lewis talked about in Mere Christianity. His famous quote is that true humility isn't thinking less of yourself. It's actually thinking of yourself less. It's a powerful, powerful idea, where humility isn't, "Oh, I'm so terrible. I'm so terrible. I'm so terrible," and you stay there, and it just turns into this self-deprecation. It actually gives you incredible confidence when you truly understand what it is.His quote is, "Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble person that he will be what most people call humble nowadays. He will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person who is always telling you that, of course, he's a nobody. Probably all you'll think about when you meet him is that he seemed cheerful and intelligent. He took a real interest in what you said. If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a little envious of someone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility. He will not be thinking about himself at all." True humility is knowing who you are. It's knowing who God created you to be because you know whose you are. It's both humility and confidence. It's a powerful, powerful combination.To frame up our time in this study, today I'm going to do a lot of theology to present who Christ is as both lion and lamb. The reason why I'm going to do that, someone came up to me after the service, and they're like, "I wish there was some more practical application." It's coming for the next 10 weeks. Today I just want to frame up the theology of who Christ is, perfect mixture of lion and lamb, and how do we develop practically? That's a mixture by worshiping him. Then, for the next 10 or so weeks, up until Advent, we're going to talk about how this applies in every single most important area of our lives. Today, we're in Revelation five. I love the book of Revelation. Today the chapter's a glimpse into heaven. It's a glimpse into the supernatural realm. We get a picture of heaven, and heaven is real because Jesus is real. The historical Jesus is proof that this is real.Today we're in Revelation chapter five. Would you please look at the text with me? Revelation five, "Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?' And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they began a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.'Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.' And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.' And the four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. What a text.I preached this once, and after, I'm like, "I just didn't do this thing justice. We need like a full-blown sermon series just on Revelation." One day. One day we'll get there. Three points to frame up our time together. We'll look at our longing for the lion, our need for the lamb, and then our need to worship the lion-like lamb. First of all, our longing for the lion. Revelation five, we get a glimpse of the revelation that God has given to John, the apostle John, as he's exiled on the island of Patmos. This is what John sees. He said, "I saw on the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals." What's the scroll? The scroll is a record of God's plan for the world. It's a plan that includes salvation and restoration but also judgment of the wicked. Everyone who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will be saved by grace through faith. Those who reject that grace will be judged. Judgment, salvation, restoration, we see that as the scroll is opened up, history is coming to consummation.It's sealed with seven seals. Why seven? Seven is the number of completeness. The contents are completely hidden. No one has access to it. Breaking of the seals, which happens in chapter six and chapter eight and so on, brings to pass the events, meaning they don't just reveal what God's will is. It's not just a disclosure. It actually sets God's will in motion to accomplish his purposes. The scroll is written on both front and back. This is important, meaning that no one can add anything to it. God's plan is completely written. The same takes place in Ezekiel two when God gives a scroll to Ezekiel with his word, with his plan. It's written on both sides. Verse two, "And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?'" Who in all of the created order has the sovereign authority to open up God's plan of judgment and redemption?Verse three, "And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it." Why isn't anyone found to do it? Who has the sovereign authority to open up the scroll? Well, there's only one. It's God himself. Well, why doesn't God himself open the scroll? Why is he asking someone else to do it? Because as we see the scroll opened up later on, we see that God's plan for the redeemed, for the elect, for the saints, God's plan is full of such incredible blessing and privilege and bliss and happiness and rewards that it would make God unrighteous to give that level of blessing and bliss to sinners. This is what heaven is asking. God, how can you give that to them, to sinners?The end of history is so incredible, so astounding that it would be unrighteous for God to bring it to pass by himself. It's as if he doesn't care that we have trampled his glory. It's as if he doesn't care that we have swept our sin under the rug of the universe. Someone has to open it. Something has to demonstrate the righteousness of God and his justice and his mercy simultaneously. If God were to open it without a mediator, without a go-between and deal directly with sinful men, it would make him unjust, and we would be consumed by his holiness. No one can open it. That's why John is weeping. He's longing for a lion. He's longing for someone to stand between us and the justice of God, the judgment that we deserve, condemnation.Verse five, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'" The Lion of Judah, this is the Messiah, messianic title from Genesis 49. He's also the Root of David, another messianic title from Isaiah 11 and Jeremiah 23. This is the Messiah King will arise from the seed of David, and he has triumphed. He has conquered. Conquered what? Satan, sin, and death, our greatest enemies. He stood in the gap. He is the mediator between us and God's wrath. We're looking for that great, mighty King. The elder says, "John, weep no more. The lion is here. Look to the lion." Throughout scripture, lions are portrayed as ferociously terrifying, 600 pounds of muscle and ferocity, utterly fearless and merciless. They never retreat. They're always advancing. They dominate everything that surrounds them. They tear victims limb from limb. Their roar can be heard five miles away.Isaiah talks about a lion approaching a group of shepherds and prowling. It's just waiting for the right moment to attack. The shepherds are trying to make noise, and they can't save themselves from this lion. Jesus Christ is presented as this lion, attacking our greatest enemies, sin and death. John, stop weeping. Look to the throne. The lion is right there, the Lion of Judah, so John looks. Verse six, "And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." He said, "Look to the lion. Weep no more." He looks, and the lion is actually a lamb.Eugene Boring commentated on this text. He says, "This is the most mind-wrenching rebirth of images in all of literature. The reader is set up to see an image of power and might, a lion. Instead, the reader discovers a lamb that was slain." It brings us to point two, our need for the lamb. If you study a holy scripture, the cannon of scripture, the lamb is the most beloved and the most pervasive symbol of atonement, of sacrifice, mentioned about 750 times all throughout the Bible in a variety of terms. You remember Abraham and Isaac. God promises a son to Abraham. It's the son of the promise. Finally, he's given a son, and God comes to him and says, "Take your son, your only son, your beloved son, and sacrifice him." Abraham goes three days journey. He's about to do it, and the angel stops him. What does the angel say? "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering."The whole Passover holiday, you take a lamb, a lamb without blemish, and sacrifice. You paint your doorway with its blood so that the angel of death passes over. Isaiah 53, the servant of the Lord, he was a lamb led to the slaughter. John 1:29, John the Baptist said, "This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." It's important to note that the word used here for lamb, and I don't do this often. I don't throw in Greek in sermons because I remember John Piper, the patron saint of the Protestant church, John Piper said, he's like, "Don't pull rank." That's what he said, but this is really important about the Greek. The word used here is the word arnion. It's a special word for lamb. It's only used one time outside the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation, it's used 29 times. One time outside, and it's used in John 21:15 where Jesus comes to Peter and said, "Feed my lambs," arnion. The resurrected Christ used that.In the book of Revelation 28 times this word is used to describe Jesus Christ. This is important. The only other time that it's not used to describe Christ, it's used to describe Satan who comes as if he's an arnion lamb, but he's actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. This is Revelation 13:11, "Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon." Arnion. 29 times the book of Revelation. 28 times it's used to describe Jesus Christ. Peculiar choice for lamb since it's not used outside of Revelation except for once. John could have used more appropriate words like paschal. 1 Corinthians 5:7, the Saint Paul uses the word paschal, which from the Old Testament, "Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb," paschal, "has been sacrificed."John 1:29 uses amnos, which is a different word, "Behold, the Lamb of God," amnos of God, "who takes away the sin of the world." Amnos is also used in Acts 8:32, where Philip quotes Isaiah 53, "Like a sheep," probaton, "he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb," amnos, "before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth." That seems like a more appropriate fit. Amnos, you're talking about a lamb that was slain. That's the context in Isaiah. 1 Peter 1:18 and 19 uses the same word, "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb," amnos, "without blemish or spot." Luke 10:3 uses a different word, aren, "Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs," aren, "in the midst of wolves." Any of these choices, paschal, amnos, or aren, could have been used. Obvious choices, but they're not used. Why? Because Jesus here isn't just presented as a typical lamb.This is crucial. He's presented as a lion who is the lamb. It's such a revolutionary idea they had to coin a new word. They had to bring a completely different word to explain what's going on. This is a lamb, not as a victim. He's standing. There's something different about him too. He says in Revelation 5:6, we look at this lamb standing as though it had been slain. It had been slain, but it's not crumpled over. It's standing because it had been resurrected, he, Christ, and seven horns. Seven is perfection. Horns is omnipotence, strength. It's perfect strength. He's omnipotent, and he's seven eyes. Perfect, sees everything, he's omniscience, and there's seven spirits of God sent out into the earth, the Holy Spirit here. It's John's way of speaking about the fullness of the Holy Spirit that works at the behest of this lamblike lion, lion-like lamb.1 Corinthians 1:24, "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." He's a lamb. There's humility. He's humiliated because he was slain, but the marks of death, though visible, are not debilitating. He's come back from the dead. John hears a lion, sees a lamb, hears strength, sees weakness, hears a conqueror, sees the quintessential victim, but he's not just a victim. He's the lamb who has conquered, the lamb that destined for sacrifice but actually triumphs. This is also important, that the lion isn't temporarily a lamb. All throughout the book of Revelation now, Christ is just referred to as the lamb. When the new heavens and the new earth descend in Revelation 19, the lamb is the light of the city. When he's talking about the marriage supper, it's the marriage supper not of the lion but of the lamb. He's never again called the lion in the book of Revelation.Even when he goes to war against God's enemies, he goes to war as this omnipotent, omniscience lamb. This is Revelation 6:15, "Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves, among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us. Hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'" It's a lamb who brings the wrath of God for all those who reject his sacrifice. It's a lamb who leads in Revelation seven. It's a lamb who's actually a general in Revelation 12 and 17. Revelation 17:14, "They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful."To the enemies, he comes as a lamb with wrath. He comes like a lion, a lamb that acts like a lion, but to the elect, to the children of God, to those who accept his sacrifice by grace through faith, he's tenderhearted. He's merciful. He's lowly. He's meek in everything he does. CS Lewis, in The Lamb... Sorry. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I ruined my punchline. The punchline is it's the only thing that I think CS Lewis ever got wrong. I was about to call him out, but you get the point. Aslan, who's actually Jesus, like he's the lion, and he's the tenderhearted, he acts like a lamb. In Revelation, it's vice versa. He comes as a lamb who's got the horns, and he conquers. It should be called The Lamb, the Witch, and the... Keep going. He's both. It's the lion and the lamb. Jesus is both.This is why I say this, because Jesus is the quintessential human being. Jesus is the perfect image of God. He's the perfect representation of God. When God says, "I want you to be perfect," he's saying, "I want you to be the perfect human being that I've created you to be." Do we have an example? Yes. It's Christ. In his personality, it's both. He's lion and lamb. There's glory, and there's humility. There's transcendence, and there's condescension. There's justice, and there's mercy. There's majesty, and there's meekness. Equality with God and yet deep reverence for God. He's all-sufficient and completely relying. He's good and yet patient when he endures evil, sovereign and yet submits, calmed the storm but would refuse to get off that cross. Infinite holiness, and he takes our sin, becomes our sin. He's the mighty captain, the tender lover. He's the rock and the pearl. He's both tough and tender.He is the conqueror because the Lion of Judah was willing to be killed as a lamb. He entered Jerusalem as a king on Palm Sunday, and then on Good Friday he was slaughtered as a lamb. He drove out the robbers from the temple like a lion, and then he gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Augustine said, "Who is this, both lamb and lion? He endured death as a lamb. He devoured it as a lion. Who is this, both lamb and lion, gentle and strong, lovable and terrifying, innocent and mighty, silent when he was being judged, roaring when he comes to judge?" Here's why this is important, to understand that Jesus is the fusion of both perfect harmony of this paradox, of this tension. The reason is because sometimes we lean naturally one way or the other. I naturally lean lion. I naturally, like I lean hardness. I lean truncate my emotion, keep going. I come from a Russian background, and I grew up in New England. That's why. It's a miracle I can smile ever.Some of us naturally are more tender. We're naturally more lamblike. What happens is when we read holy scripture, we sometimes read our own personalities into Christ. Someone once said, "God created us in his own image, and ever since, we've been trying to return the favor," meaning that's what we do with Christ. For me, I'm naturally drawn to lion Jesus, when Jesus walks into the temple and just starts tossing stuff. I love that Jesus. I call that a thug life Jesus. There's hug life Jesus and thug life Jesus. He actually, you read the text, he's sitting there, and he's making the whip, just cold, calculating, just making it as robust as possible with his carpenter hands. Then, he just goes in and just goes ham. I like that Jesus. I'm naturally drawn to Jesus debating, throwing it down with the Pharisees, making them look like idiots. I love that.I love Jesus coming back in Revelation at the very end where Jesus comes back in white clothing. He's about to go to war with white clothing. If you go to war, and you're dressed in white, you already know what the result's going to be. You're pretty sure of yourself. I like that Jesus, got a flaming sword. I can worship a God that can kill me. I'll worship that guy. I'll sing songs. Then, there's the tender Jesus, where he's tender with children. I think this the reason why God's given me all daughters. I've got four daughters. He's like, "You got to work on the tenderness part, more lamb." He's tender. When sinners come to him, he's gracious. He's tender. The woman caught in adultery was brought to him. He's tender with her. It's the lamblike Jesus. He meets people's practical needs. He's both. When he calls us to come to him, he calls us to become like him.Now, practically, how does that happen? It happens through worship, and this is really important. This is point three. Worship the lion-like lamb. What does the world do? What does everyone in the scene do as soon as they see the lamb who is a lion, the lion who is lamb? Revelation 5:8, "When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." After witnessing this transfer of power, that this scroll is given to the Son of God, all heaven breaks out in song. They've got musical instruments, the harpist traditionally used to praise God, and they're worshiping with song. They're worshiping with prayer. The incense is assembled for prayer. The heavenly choir breaks out in joyful song. They start worshiping him. The angels, everything in existence starts worshiping.If you're new to Christianity, some of you might be uncomfortable with the singing part of our service. The band is great, and the music is loud, and it's on purpose. Part of why, because it's very good, and we want everyone to sing, but also for those of you who can't sing that well, we just drown you out. I'm putting myself in. There's a reason why we sing. People sing when they celebrate. Even people who are not Christians, song is such an important part of being a human being. Karaoke is a thing. People go to places where they're given a mic, and they can't sing, but everyone cheers them on anyway. The Red Sox stink this year, and everyone's still singing during the seventh inning stretch. People sing. When your song comes on, your jam comes on, you sing. You go to concerts to sing. That's why we sing at church.We sing at church to celebrate God. We sing to worship God. He's worthy of our worship. We sing because God himself sings. God is a singing God. Zephaniah 3:17 says that God sings over his beloved. We're created in the image of a singing God. Therefore, we sing. You see all of heaven singing. What are they doing? They're worshiping. What does it mean to worship? Verse nine, they sing this new song, and they're saying, "Worthy are you." It's not just emotion. It's truth. It's not just a feeling. This is truth. This is what we know, not just what we feel. You're worthy. "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God." It's a done deal.You have ransomed so that people that do repent, that do follow Jesus, that do become Christians, they do so because the effective work of his ransom, of his salvific act of substitutionary atonement, ransomed people for God. What kind of people? From every tribe, every language, every people, every nation, a true mosaic, and they become a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. They're worshiping. What is worship? It's to ascribe worth. It's the first word, and they say that multiple times. Worthy is the lamb. The lamb has worth, and I'm just agree... Yes, you have worth. You are precious. You are a treasure. That's what it means to worship. The word worship comes from the word worth, to ascribe worth to something. Even if you're not a Christianity, you're still worshiping. We can't but worship. We're created by God to worship."The opposite of Christianity is not atheism," Peter Kreeft said, "The opposite of Christianity isn't atheism. It's idolatry." What he means is that every single person alive is driven by something that they find precious. Whatever you find most precious, whatever you find most valuable, whatever you ascribe most worth to, that's what you're driven by. That's what dominates your thoughts. This is what your dreams are filled with. It can be all kinds of things, from sex, money, power, jobs, career, things, houses, parking spots, whatever it is, worship. I'll just give you a parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 13. He tells this parable, and he's like, "This is what the kingdom of God is like." He says a guy who sees a field, and it looks like an ordinary field to everyone, but this guy gets a treasure map. He understands that someone hid their treasure in this field. Whoever owns the field owns the treasure.No one sees the treasure, but this guy sees the treasure. He goes. He sells everything he has to buy this field. Everyone thinks he's crazy, "You're crazy. You're going to pay $90,000 for a parking spot. You're crazy," but he knows that underneath that parking spot is a suitcase with $1 million cash. Now he's not so crazy. Jesus says that's what it means to become a Christian. No one sees the treasure, but you see the treasure because the Holy Spirit has revealed it to your heart. You see that Christ is worthy, worthy of your life, worthy of your time, worthy of your treasure and talent, everything, because of what he has done. Why is he worthy? Because of his sacrifice, and the saints are made into a kingdom of priests. We'll get into what that means at the end here.Here's why it's important to focus on worshiping Jesus. Remember what we started with? Jesus is the lamb, and he's the lion. Together, humble confidence. How do we develop both humble confidence? Here's how. It's worship. Why? Because whatever we worship we begin to reflect, resemble. I get this from GK Beale who wrote this phenomenal work, by the way, called We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry. Phenomenal work. This is his thesis. He says, "What people revere they resemble either for ruin or for restoration." Whatever you worship, you become like that. Small example like celebrities. You don't use the word, but celebrities that you admire, and you're following them, and you're like, "I wonder what they eat. I wonder what their workout regimen is like. I wonder where do they get their clothes." Whoever you follow you begin to resemble.It starts like an early age. How many kids today in New England are named Brady? Like every other kid I meet, Brady, Brady, Brady. Why not Tom? I don't know. Brady. Back in the day, it was Michael Jordan. There's a family on my street. They had two sons, Michael and Jordan. How does that work itself out in our lives? Whatever you're driven by, you begin to look like that. Now, back to humble confidence. We want to develop humble confidence. We do that by worshiping the one who is ultimately, quintessentially humble and confident at the same time, Jesus Christ. The theology behind all this, I'll just summarize GK Beale's argument real quick. He says we're created in the image of God. Sin has splintered the image of God because we worship creature instead of creator. When we worship that, we become conformed to the image of whatever we worship. That's Romans 1:21. It's the word for image is eikṓn or icon. We get the word icon from it. "Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."You start to resemble, he's saying, you start to resemble whatever it is that you worship. How do we counter that? We start worshiping Christ, the ultimate object of our worship, and that's how we grow into being the person that we're created to be. Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed," or transformed, "conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among brothers." God's going to work all things together for the good of those who what? Love him, are called to be his, love him. As we love him, what happens? We're conformed into his image. Loving Christ is how we conform to his image. 2 Corinthians 3:18, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."How do we become transformed? We behold his glory. How do we do that? By looking at the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ, that's what shapes us to become more like Christ. It's all about the gospel. Humility and confidence. Humility, I look at the cross of Jesus Christ, and I realize the only way for God to forgive my sins, the only way for God to save me, I am so wicked that the only way for me to be redeemed is for the Son of God to die on the cross. That can't but humble you, but I'm also so loved at the same time that the Son of God was willing to take it. He's willing to go to the cross. If that doesn't give you confidence, nothing will. You are clothed in the love and acceptance and approval of God. It's both. That's what leads us to worship. How do you know that you're worshiping? I'll give you two just really practical things.Number one, you give up control. You're willing to give up control to God, who is lion. Jesus, you are my lion. I'm going to follow you. You know how you see people on the street sometimes, and they just have this massive dog, just walking around? Those people, they walk around like bosses. You got a mini horse next to you just walking. Imagine if you had a lion. You're just walking down the street, down Beacon Street, here's my lion, my pet lion. You want to start something? No, you can't not... Why wouldn't you give up control to God who is omnipotent? He is good, and he is great. Now, relinquish control. Sometimes we're like, "Yeah, God. I agree with your plans. I'm not happy with it." Relinquish control. This is what we see in Revelation 4:19.This is what they do when they see Christ, "Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.'" We give him control. You're kings. This is incredible. He says, "You're my kings. I give you authority. I confer authority to you." What do the kings do? They humble themselves before Christ. They do the same thing that Christ did, the kingdom of the universe who humbles himself. Once in all of the scripture Jesus points to one guy, and he says, "That's the greatest guy who ever lived. That's the GOAT, the greatest of all time. That's him." He said that about John the Baptist.This is in Luke 7:28, "I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John," not one. What made John so great? His whole ministry revolved around deferring glory to Christ. John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease." This is incredible. He must increase. I must decrease. As we do that, what does Jesus say? That's the greatest guy ever. That's the greatest one who ever lived. In Christ's eyes, Christ esteems him as great because of his humility. This is the way that God works. Old Testament, Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, they're barren, and God uses them powerfully. David was the youngest. Moses was fearful. Jonah was hesitant. Ruth and Naomi, sorrowful. Gideon was cowardly, and God uses them powerfully because of their humility. They were humble enough to say, "God, you are in control, and I surrender myself, and I humbly surrender myself to you."Then, how does this work this work itself practically? You relinquish control, but you also begin to live as a priest and a king. This is incredible. You become a priest and a king. Priests, humble. Kings, confident. Revelation five, you get this in verse nine and 10. What does he do after he redeems them? "You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God." So much there I can't unpack it all. That's why you got to come back next week and the week after that, but you're a priest. That means you are bringing, you're ministering with the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people around you. What do priests do? They pray for people. They serve people. They care for people. They think of other people. You're priests. Incredible job, but also you're a king. What does it mean to be a king? That means you are helping submit things in the universe that have not been submitted yet to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ.Jesus is Lord over everything, but there's still chaos in the universe. We do this through our jobs. We do this through our professions. What are we doing? We're submitting every square inch of the universe to the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. We're priests and kings. You can't but be confident knowing that this is the purpose of God for you. You're so humbled that God would choose you to do this. Submitting to Jesus, the lion, makes you a lamb. Accepting Jesus the lamb makes you a lion. It's both humility and confidence, and your heart is full of joy because the gospel transforms prideful insecurity into humble confidence. If you're not yet a Christian today, we welcome you. We welcome you to come to the throne of Jesus Christ. You could do that with confidence. Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."Come with confidence, accepting the mercy, accepting the grace with humility, and the Lord gives it to you. If you are a Christian, ask the Lord, even today and through these next couple months as we study what it means to apply humble confidence in every single area of our life, ask the Holy Spirit, "Lord, where do I need to grow? Where in my life do I need to grow in being more of a lion and being more of a lamb? Where in my life do I need to grow and be more Christlike?" The Lord will give you grace to do that. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this time that you've given us in the holy scriptures. Lord, we love the holy scriptures. They reveal who you are, they reveal your plan, they reveal the future, and they reveal our great need for you. We thank you for nourishing our souls with the word. We pray, Holy Spirit, help us to grow into the image of Christ. Give us more grace to do that. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

In this week's episode I sit down and chat with Carolina Brown, owner of Rok 'n' Ell Baby Boutique. We discuss her small business journey and what it's like to have a small business at Weymouth Corners. In the beginning of this episode I make a couple announcements related to our sponsor Badfish. The first is really only a reminder to use the code "HelloSP" which will get you 10% off your next Badfish purchase. It's been brought to my attention that a few people have mentioned the podcast and mentioned that they heard that Badfish was the official carrier of all Three Eyed Fish merchandise, but haven't been using the podcasts promo code - gotta use the code to get the discount! . The second is that I will be doing a Badfish giveaway on my instagram. So be sure to follow the podcast's instagram (@hellosppodcast) if you haven't already. I also talk about the cover of the April issue of the San Pedro Today magazine as it features our local icon the Three Eyed Fish, an image that Badfish owns the exclusive copyright to. This cover story features an interview with the original artist of the Three Eyed Fish and his motivation to paint it. Carolina was born and raised in San Pedro and has been a teacher within the community for many years. After her daughter gave birth to Roko and Elliot, she decided to start a baby boutique named Rok 'n' Ell. Carolina and her husband now own the charming boutique located at beautiful Weymouth Corners. She shares how overwhelming it was at first to own a business but her and her husband quickly got the hang of it and have been consistently growing in business ever since. Carolina also shares what it was like growing up in San Pedro. Carolina on growing up in San Pedro: "'Oh it was wonderful. As a child I loved San Pedro. I remember traveling around town on the bus, my mother didn't drive, both my parents were from Italy, and Beacon Street at that time was pretty bad and I remember specifically telling my mother that when I grew up I was going to be the mayor of San Pedro and clean things up." We do discuss some of her shop's biggest challenges and one of them is online shopping. She had initiated an effort to sell online and actually made it available for one year but after extremely low online sales she decided to pull back her online inventory. It's apparent that she has strong feelings about local consumer's pride in shopping at major online retailers and she compares it to leaving trash on the floor. What I took from this comparison was that she sees online shopping as a direct effort to not take care of our "home" or community. I share my concerns in this matter as well. We address these issues and talk about what it could mean for our small business community. Carolina describing the "essence" of San Pedro : "'It's a working class community. It's not just a bedroom community. People don't all work in LA, they live and work here, you know, because of the port and the waterfront. And that started with the fishermen and the canneries... San Pedro is unique in that, in that we live and work here, so I'm very proud of that." Carolina shares her excitement for the changes coming to the waterfront and may even consider starting something in the downtown area. Links: http://roknellbaby.com/ roknellbaby@gmail.com https://www.instagram.com/roknellbaby/ Sponsored by Badfish & Cryptospace

In this episode Amber Sheikh Ginsberg and I have a serious discussion about one of the community's most heated topics: homelessness. She is probably one of the most informed and qualified people in the area I could possibly have this discussion with as she has worked closely with those experiencing homelessness for much of her career. Amber is an LA based non-profit consultant with Thurlow/Associates and San Pedro Resident of about a decade. Prior to becoming a consultant she worked in homeless services, education and with social justice organizations. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council's Homelessness Committee and coordinates the CD15 Working Group on Homelessness. She lives with her husband and two young children here in San Pedro. She, like many others in town, is concerned about the growing homeless population we're seeing in San Pedro. But everyone is concerned for different reasons. Her and I begin our discussion by talking about homelessness as a whole and the general lack of empathy we have toward it as a society. Amber on people experiencing homelessness in San Pedro : "In San Pedro itself we have five hundred homeless individuals. Those are five hundred solutions, as well. There's not one blanket solution." - Amber She describes working on skid row and meeting a woman who looked and dressed just like herself. Assuming she was there to volunteer, she was immediately humbled when she learned that she was there to get lunch. This is just another example of how every individual experiencing homelessness has an individual story of why they are homeless. Why we need a shelter here in San Pedro: "There are NO shelter beds in San Pedro for homeless individuals. I feel like repeating that over and over again. There are NO shelter beds for individuals in San Pedro. There's no where to go in San Pedro if you are homeless tonight, tomorrow, next week." - Amber She shares some eye-opening information about the resources that are available here in San Pedro including the fact that we have zero shelter beds for individuals. Harbor Interfaith only houses families experiencing homelessness, and the number of beds they provide is still low at fifty-eight. She shares that research shows that more than 70% of our homeless are either from San Pedro, have family here or has ties here. They are a part of this community. She wasn't able to provide the number of kids in LAUSD schools that are experiencing homelessness because the number that she had heard was so high that she didn't want to believe it or share it publicly. After the recording of this episode our councilman Joe Buscaino posted on facebook that the number of kids experiencing homelessness in LAUSD schools is 15,589. He also confirms that the Beacon Street site is suitable for a Bridge Home Shelter. LINKS: Harbor Interfaith http://www.harborinterfaith.org/ Rainbow Services https://rainbowservicesdv.org/ Councilman's post announcing the Bridge Home https://www.facebook.com/JoeBuscaino/photos/a.116782065161192/1061184967387559/?type=3&theater Video on Bridge Home project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzbFtpT48M8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDxFydlDM5A Daily Breeze article "Angry Protestors..." https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/09/08/as-angry-san-pedro-protesters-take-to-streets-to-oppose-shelter-buscaino-stands-behind-efforts-to-help-homeless/ Daily Breeze article "Homeless shelter supporters.." https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/09/10/homeless-shelter-supporters-line-san-pedro-street-with-candles-and-a-message/ SPONSOR: Siren's Java & Tea https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

Verified Eleven people were killed and six wounded in a shooting at a synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Saturday… Here might be the reason or part of the reason why Robert Bowers decided to commit the crime. Newspaper Scan The distance from Randall G. Bowers home to The Tree of Life Congregation… which is just 8 minutes away driving in a vehicle, or 2.2 miles away. According to the article on the newspaper, Randall G. Bowers who faced prosecution in a rape case, was found dead of an apparent suicide. He was found in a picnic area near the Tionesta Dam. According to troopers, he had shot himself in the chest with a .22 caliber rifle. He was about to undergo trial in connection with the sexual assault of a 20-year old woman in the 5600 block of Beacon Street, Squirrel Hill. Statement : This news item from 39 years ago would seem to shed some light on the mental condition of the shooter. Notice that the alleged rape took place in the same Squirrel Hill community where the congregation was attacked. As yet, Bowers has no known connection to that neighborhood. Was he targeting his father's accusers? Let us know what you think This story appeared first on DAPULSE For use of any content on this page please … link back and apply proper credits to all content and formats The post Synagogue Shooter, 'Robert Bowers' May have Acted on Anniversary of Father's Suicide… appeared first on DAPULSE.

sermon transcript Introduction I was raised in a Roman Catholic family in eastern Massachusetts. I attended church faithfully and enjoyed it. I was an altar boy, and I learned accurately about Jesus — that he was the son of God, son of Mary, and part of the Trinity. One thing I did not learn in the Catholic church is how a sinner like me could be made right with God, and so I was lost. I went to church every Sunday, but I lived a lost life throughout the week. When I went off to college, I stopped going to church. I was too busy on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings to go to church, and it was not in my heart. I joined the Sigma Chi fraternity at MIT. One of our summer responsibilities was fraternity evangelism. That has nothing to do with the Gospel. We had to recruit incoming freshmen to join the fraternity, just as I had been the year before, who would agree to live in the house on Beacon Street in Boston to replace those who had graduated. If we did not, our rent would increase. I had to make five recruitment phone calls that summer to incoming freshmen in eastern Massachusetts, to invite them to summer parties hosted by the fraternity. I hated making those phone calls because the freshman were so cynical — they received calls from many fraternities besides ours. I made my five calls and then crumpled up the list and threw it in the trash. I was done. Then I felt guilty, thinking, “What kind of attitude is that? I will make six phone calls. I will go above and beyond the call of duty.” The sixth guy, Steve Chamberlain, led me to Christ. Just as I took the list out of the trash can, to some degree God took me up out of Hell and into Heaven. (Steve lived in Topsfield, where I would later become a pastor; he was mentored by Mark Dever, the pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and the founder of the 9Marks ministry, whom I first met when he came to see me the week I was converted.) It took a year of evangelistic effort on Steve’s part. I treated him very badly. I was rude to him. At first, when he started talking to me about the Gospel, I was interested, and then little by little, I became offended. I did not like how I felt when he was around, so I did not want to eat with him or spend time with him. Eventually, God broke through. I did not come to faith in Christ the first time I heard the Gospel; it took a year or so, but eventually the Lord by His sovereign grace brought me. I think often of Steve Chamberlain’s faithfulness. In the 36 or so years since that time, only a handful of people have evangelized me — not counting the Jehovah’s Witnesses that knock on our door — with the true Gospel. I was always thankful for those few, but I realize evangelism is hard for Christians. I have struggled with this my entire Christian life. I am not naturally outgoing; I do not naturally enjoy meeting strangers. It is a challenge. Satan has put up obstacles in our culture that hinder us from meeting strangers, talking comfortably to people that we do not know. This morning we will talk about evangelism and the responsibility that we have to share the Gospel with people around us here in the area. We will focus on Revelation 22:17: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.” We will immerse ourselves in the mysterious calling of the Gospel, the responsibility we have to be involved in the Gospel ministry. We will learn more about evangelism, of calling thirsty sinners to faith in Christ. Every day, we are surrounded in this Triangle region by unchurched, unsaved people. This area is exploding with people pouring in from all over the country, and from many places all over the world. People find the area a desirable place to live. There are jobs in the high tech industry, in pharmaceutical research, excellent hospitals, excellent universities. There is a pleasant, comfortable style and level of life that people find attractive. The climate is better here than in Boston, Massachusetts, I assure you — I do not miss the winters at all. This is one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the country. Most of those who come to the area are unchurched, unsaved. We have a responsibility to share the Gospel and we are strategically located in downtown Durham to do precisely that. The folks who are pouring in here that are lost, outside of Christ, are desperately seeking something. They are thirsty for meaning and purpose in life, and they are drinking from, in a sense, the cup of the great whore of Babylon from Revelation 17, enjoying material pleasures and advantages of life. From Revelation 18, we know that is what is going on, but they do not know. Drinking from that cup only makes them more thirsty. It is an addictive cycle, like quenching thirst with salt water. They are never satisfied, trying to find joy and pleasure and satisfaction and meaning in life, but we know they will never find it from this world system. If they are to find it, they will find it in Christ and his Gospel. It is our privilege, our responsibility, to call on them to come and drink from Christ. I tend to combine today’s text with Isaiah 55:1-2: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” We are strategically poised to invite thirsty people to come and drink, to find deep, rich, full satisfaction without money, without cost, to reach hundreds and even thousands with the Gospel, and to see dozens and dozens more baptized here in this church than we have ever seen before. That is my desire and the desire of all the elders. We want to see the Lord open doors all around us, and we need to walk through those doors. Jesus said in Revelation 3 to the church in Philadelphia, “See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut.” When He opens a door, no one can shut it. When he shuts it, no one can open it. He has that kind of sovereign power. This sermon is specifically about our cooperation with the Holy Spirit of God in evangelism. We are called on to be partners in a mysterious way with the Holy Spirit in this work of Gospel outreach. God’s Final Invitation Final Invitation to Find Salvation This is God’s final invitation in Scripture to sinners to find salvation in Christ. We come to the end of the Bible — the final book, the final chapter, the final section, and whether we have God’s final invitation to sinners to come and find salvation in Christ. This invitation is like the parable that Jesus told of a king who wanted to put on a wedding banquet for his son. Matthew 22:2-5 says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ But they paid no attention and went off — one to his field, another to his business.” God has been beckoning to lost people throughout the generations to come to the wedding banquet, but people do not come; they turn away in disinterest. A number of years ago at Christmas time, I encountered Hans Christian Andersen’s short story called The Little Match Girl, a story of a very poor girl whose harsh domineering father sends her out in the freezing cold weather on Christmas Eve to sell matches. No one is out because of the cold, so she cannot get anyone to buy her matches. Outside a rich home, she looks through the window and sees a banquet laid out. The window is steamed with aromas of the roast goose and lavish food on the banquet table, but she is on the outside looking in. No one sees her or invites her in. Instead, she lights one of her matches. As she looks at the glow, she imagines herself sitting at the banquet table until that match burns out. One by one, she lights all of her matches until they are all gone. She is found the next morning frozen to death. The parable of the wedding banquet has a different bent. Here, the happy King spreads a feast and yearns for people to come in and eat freely without money, without cost, to find their souls richly satisfied with the richest of fare. But he cannot get anyone to pay attention. Luke 14:18-20 is a parallel account: “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can't come.’” They are jut making excuses, unlike the little match girl, who is desperate that someone would invite her so that she can come in and get warm and be fed, but no one will invite her or open the door and welcome her. In this case, the tragic figure is the king. He wants people to come and celebrate with his son who is getting married but no one will come. In that parable, the king sends more and more messengers to compel people. Luke 14:23 says, “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.’” Day after day, God beckons to sinners, inviting them to a banquet. Romans 10:21 says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” That is the picture that I have of evangelism. While There Is Time The people who have moved to this area drive by churches daily. Perhaps they believe that life will continue on and on, that they have limitless time. Maybe they have some attraction to church, having had good experiences in the past or at least curiosity, but they do not stop. They drive by these churches as they go to work, or to shop, or on their way to the golf course. They see the steadiness of God’s gracious invitation day after day, week after week, year after year. The church seems solid, as though it will be there forever, giving the consistent message of salvation in Jesus. But I tell you that there will come a time when it will all come to an end. No book teaches that so plainly as the book of Revelation. It will come to an end. Every individual who is not in the final generation will die. It is appointed to us to die once and after that to face judgment. So as they goes through life surrounded like they are in America with many opportunities to hear the Gospel, there will come a last chance to hear the Gospel, to hear of the grace of God and Christ Jesus. Centuries ago, the Baptist preacher John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, preached a sermon based on two texts in the New Testament: the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and the parable of the rich fool. In Luke 12:16-21, Jesus tells of the rich fool whose land produced an abundant harvest such that he could not store it. “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!” ’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’” He also talked about how the rich man languished in Hell, asking for an act of mercy from Lazarus. The sermon was titled “A Few Sighs from Hell.” Bunyan said, “The man, instead of thinking of death, thought how he might make his barns bigger. But, in the midst of his business in the world, he lost his soul before he was aware, supposing that death had been many years off. But God said unto him, ‘You fool, you trouble yourself about things of this life, you put off the thoughts of departing this world, when this night your soul shall be taken from you.’ ... And hence it is again, that you have some in your towns and cities that are so suddenly taken away, some from visiting the ale-houses, others from frequenting the whore-houses, others from playing and gaming, others from the cares and covetous desires after this world, unlooked for as by themselves or their companions. Suddenly it is all over! It all comes to an end! And we can well imagine one of the groans, and sighs and laments that will come from many damned people: ‘I always thought I would have more time! I always thought I would have one more chance! I always figured I would be able to time it, that when I had my last chance to hear the invitation to free grace in Christ, that I would seize it.’” That is true of every individual. Life will come to an end. This is also true of the human race — the world is moving ahead to the end. There was an Alpha day and there will be an Omega day, a final day. This is God’s last invitation in Scripture: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.”This is a call to redeem the time. For anyone here today in an unconverted state, this is an opportunity for you to cross over from death to life. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” Whoever Is Thirsty “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” It is an invitation to come drink the free gift of the water of life. Revelation 22:1-2 tells us what that is: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” It is an invitation to come and drink the water of eternal life, to come and drink and live forever. Are you thirsty? Has sin left you parched and empty? Come and drink the waters of the river of life flowing from Christ. This is specifically an invitation to come to Jesus Christ as your Savior. John 6:35 says, “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.’” That is a typical Jewish parallelism, Jewish poetry, to say the same thing twice in slightly different ways. Jesus did the same. To come to Jesus is to believe in him. If you do, you will never be hungry. You will never be thirsty. To come to the waters is to believe in Jesus, to trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins. The Spirit and the Bride Cooperation and Collaboration The Spirit and the bride are both saying, “Come, come to Jesus!” This is a marvelous verse on the cooperation between the Spirit and the Bride, who, we learned in Revelation 21, is the church of Jesus Christ, the people of God in this world. The Spirit and the Bride — the church — are together inviting lost sinners to come and drink from Christ and find life. Both the Spirit and the church, therefore, are instrumental in bringing lost sinners to faith in Christ. They both have a role to play. The Spirit calls sinners to come, and the bride calls sinners to come, and even those who are thirsty and who are coming and drinking are inviting other thirsty people to come and drink. The Spirit’s General Invitation The Spirit invites, generally, universally, the human race to come. He does this by means of Scripture, the Bible that he has inspired. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Son and the Spirit inspired the Scriptures, the written Word of God, which has the power to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15). In the Scripture, we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16-17 says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” That is a summary of the whole book of Romans. The Holy Spirit was in the Apostle Paul when he wrote those words. Through the Book of Romans, the Holy Spirit is saying to the human race, “Come, come to Christ and find forgiveness.” Later in that same book, we have the glowing heart of the gospel, in Romans 3:21-24: “…a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify [the law and the prophets together talk about this salvation in the Old Testament]. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified [forgiven of their sins, made right in the sight of God] freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Jesus shed His blood on the cross in our place that we might have forgiveness of sins. As Paul wrote, the law and the prophets testify to this gospel, even though they lived centuries before Jesus. The Holy Spirit was in the prophets, and he was showing them things about the future, things they would have no other way of knowing. 1 Peter 1:10-12 says, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. [The Spirit told Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel that centuries later, a savior would come to suffer and die, and be raised on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. They did not understand, but Peter says:] It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” The Holy Spirit was in the prophets and the apostles in the writing of the Word. Through the Scriptures, the Spirit says “Come” generally to the human race. The Holy Spirit wrote the Old Testament through the prophets. He also wrote the New Testament through the apostles. After the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came into them, and then they wrote the New Testament. They were the eyewitnesses, which is the basis of the New Testament. Jesus told them it would happen in John 14:26: “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you [apostles] all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” The Holy Spirit reminded Peter, John, James, Andrew, and all of the apostles who were eyewitnesses, of all that he said and did. On the basis of that, we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the entire New Testament. The Father and the Son together sent the Spirit in the world to complete the redemptive work of God. This is amazing teaching. Without the powerful working of the Spirit, not a single sinner would ever have been saved. Jesus’ atoning work on the cross would have saved no one were it not for the work of the Holy Spirit. I am not speaking blasphemy or heresy; it is true. The blood of Christ was shed, but it had to be applied, just as the Jews of old had to paint the blood on the doorpost so that when the angel of death saw the blood, he passed over that house. It is the Holy Spirit’s glory to apply the blood of Christ to sinners like you and me. He moves and works, and so I owe my salvation as much to the work of the Holy Spirit as I do to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and to the Father for the plan. It is a cooperative effort. By the Spirit, the Gospel goes out into all the world; by the Spirit, Jesus becomes famous in every generation. When I was growing up, almost everybody had heard of the Beatles, an English rock group. Some of you younger ones have never heard of them, making my point. As every generation passes, they become less and less famous. One member of the group, John Lennon, once said, “We are more famous than Jesus.” Perhaps at that moment they were as close as anyone has ever been. But it is not true now — a new generation of babies has been born that never heard of John Lennon. There is no zealous, powerful, omnipotent God ensuring in every generation that John Lennon and the Beatles will be famous. All flesh is grass, and all their glories fade like the flower of the field. They become less and less famous with every passing year. But Jesus somehow is famous in every generation. How is that? It is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is making Jesus famous all over the world by moving the bride to say, “Come.” By the Spirit, the church is moved to preach the Gospel. Jesus said to the apostles and through them to the whole church, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.” The Spirit compels witness, and that is the very thing I am counting on now for you. All of us feel inadequate as evangelists. We need to remind ourselves that it is only when the power of the Spirit comes on us that we can overcome our weaknesses and our selfishness and actually share the Gospel with people. This is a point of application: Rely on the Holy Spirit. I know you know what I am calling you to do, and I understand — it is hard for me too. Ask God to give you power through the Holy Spirit to be His witness today. Ask for the opportunity, and when that moment comes, ask Him to make you alert to it. Then ask Him to help you get over your sinful weakness, to enable you to speak for Jesus. He will, by the power of the Spirit. The Spirit compels witness. He has been doing this in every generation. One of my great missionary heroes is Hudson Taylor, a missionary to China. When he had finished his first tour of duty on the coast, as all the missionaries were, he returned to England and Scotland for some furlough, for recuperation and recruitment of new missionaries. While there, he had a vision. He saw a map of the inner provinces, the inland regions of China, and he knew that there were teeming hundreds of millions of people who had never heard of Jesus in those inner regions, while all of the western missionaries were on the coastline. He called it the accusing map. He wrote this about his experience attending a service in England: “On Sunday, June 25, 1865, unable to bear the sight of a congregation of a thousand or more Christian people rejoicing in their own security while millions were perishing for lack of knowledge, I wandered out on the sands alone, in great spiritual agony, and there the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service. I told Him that all the responsibility as to issues and consequences must rest with Him; that as His servant, it was mine to obey and follow Him— His to direct, to care for, and to guide those who might labor with me. Need I say that peace at once flowed into my burdened heart.” Where did the burden come from? Where did the unutterable agony come from as he was wandering on the sand? Does that not come from the Holy Spirit of God? The Spirit puts a burden, a compulsion, on our hearts. Ask God to give you a burden, a burning compulsion to reach individuals or a group of people that you are equipped to reach. The Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:22-24, “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.” Consider the beginning of that passage: “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem…” The compulsion, the burden, from the Spirit of God, where little by little you consider your life worth nothing to you if only you can do the work He has given you to do — do you yearn for that to happen in our church? Do you yearn that more and more church members would have a compulsion by the Spirit toward some aspect of outreach? It does not have to be the same for everybody. We get different callings. The Spirit says, “Come.” The Bride’s General Invitation The Bride says, “Come,” as well. The bride is the church. There is a collaborative, joint effort between the Spirit and the church. John 15:26-27 teaches this: “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth [the Holy Spirit] who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also [this is a partnership] must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” The Spirit and the bride together say, “Come.” We are to preach the Gospel to anyone and everyone, indiscriminately, because we cannot tell who are the elect, chosen before the foundation of the world. It is true and biblical, but we do not know who they are. Our task is to be willing to suffer for unconverted elect people, to see them cross over from darkness to light, from death to life. Adoniram Judson was called to be a missionary to Burma. He went to one locality where he and his partner gave out 500 missionary tracts, and as a result, they saw one Burmese person baptized. That is so convicting. I yearn for the 500 tracts. I want the one, but I want us to be the kind of church that will give out 499 and see the 500th person converted. I would love to be that persistent in evangelism where I am faithful, leaving the results to God, willing to have 499 failures to see somebody come to Christ. Our job is to continue to share Christ with as many people as we can, no matter how many or few respond. George Whitefield was one of the most powerful open-air preachers in all of church history, probably the most effective ever. He preached to tens and tens of thousands of people and saw hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands and thousands, converted. He traveled by horse-drawn carriage from place to place to place in England and Scotland and in the colonies before the American Revolution. He said something that stuck with me. He said, “God forbid that I should travel with anyone one-quarter of an hour and not share the Gospel with them.” On our way back from a conference in Louisville, Joel Harford and I flew from Louisville to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to RDU. In both cases, I had seat A and Joel had seat C. On the first leg, the guy in seat B, named Isaiah, was a 19-year-old baseball player from a college in the Louisville area, from a mild Baptist background, who had not been to church in years. On the second leg, our seatmate, named Joe, lived in Wake Forest. He was a nominal Roman Catholic and also had not been to church in years. Joel and I did not pound on them. We gave them a break. One asked if he could get by to use the restroom, and I wondered if that was to get away. But Joel and I agreed that we had done what we needed to do. We had a great time. Isaiah asked good questions. He was taking a World Religions class, and was reading whether the Gospel of Thomas should be included in the Bible. God put us there to have that conversation. At the end, Joe thanked us for the things we talked about. He asked questions and kept the conversation going until we landed. God gives opportunities along the way. The Spirit’s Effective Calling The Spirit alone has the power to cause a person to come. No sinner has or will ever resist the Holy Spirit’s mysterious, effective call, his effectual calling, or irresistible grace. When the Spirit moves, Ezekiel 36:26-27 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” This includes the command to repent and believe in Jesus. The Holy Spirit alone can do that. We cannot. In John 3:3-8, “Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’” When the Spirit says, “Come,” he gives you supernatural power, like Jesus when He raised Lazarus from the dead. You come alive and see the glory of God in the face of Christ, and you are born again. The Spirit can do that. Whoever Wishes May Come When that happens, the text says, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes, whoever wills, let him come.” That looks like free will, right in the Bible. However, without the Holy Spirit calling on your dead heart, you will never be willing to come. When he gives you life and moves in you, you will see at last just how delicious that water of life flowing from Jesus is. You want it, so he comes. John 6:37 says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me.” The Holy Spirit draws. Our job is to share the Gospel. Romans 10:13-15 says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Be Fishers of People Understanding Our Responsibility and the Gospel Message We have a partnership responsibility. Let Christ make you a fisher of people. He said to his disciples, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Our job is to learn the skill of fishing. Some of you love fishing, but I will never want to learn real fishing like trout fishing, bass fishing, deep sea fishing. I do not like either the process or the product, so I will not do that. I understand it is very relaxing and peaceful. I have heard you say if the fish do not disturb us, we will have a great time. This fishing is different. We have a responsibility to learn the skill of fishing for people, to learn how to draw them skillfully, to answer their questions, to deal with arguments that Satan puts in their minds. God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are positioned like Esther, “for such a time as this,” to share the gospel. Our first task is to understand the Gospel message and to proclaim it boldly. Will Metzger, in his book To Tell the Truth, begins with this illustration: “Picture this: a runner in ancient Greece arrives exhausted before the emperor. Gasping, he blurts out, ‘My lord, I was given an urgent message, but... I am afraid I have forgotten what it was!’” That is bad. We must remember and understand the message we are sharing. First and foremost, we need to understand what the Gospel is. You have a bulletin insert, a basic four-part outline of the Gospel: God, man, (humanity), Christ and response. It may sound familiar — Campus Crusade for Christ and others have used similar outlines, such as the Four Spiritual Laws, over the years. First, God: He is the creator of everything. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created all things, and because he created all things, He is King and ruler over everything. This is his universe. We are in it. As King, He is the law giver. He has given laws to the human race by which we are to live — the Ten Commandments and the two Great Commandments. As King, He is also judge. He will evaluate us on Judgment Day for how we have lived our lives. Second, man: we are created in the image of God by God the Creator. We were created to have a relationship with and to serve God the King, but we have broken that relationship through our sins. We have violated God’s laws; we are rebellious against God the King, and therefore, we are under condemnation by God the Judge. Physical death is promised. Eternal death in hell is threatened. Third, Christ: Christ is the fourth office — God the Savior. “Jesus” means “Salvation is from the Lord.” God sent his Son into the world. He was fully human, born of a virgin, and also fully God. He had no human father. His was a supernatural birth, He lived a sinless life, and He did miracles — he walked on water, he fed the 5000, he stilled the storm with his words, he raised dead people, he healed sick people. There was nothing he could not do, but he especially came to die a substitutionary death on the cross. His blood shed on the cross pays the death penalty for our sin — for the wages of sin is death — and Jesus paid that penalty in our place. But God did not leave Him in the grave. On the third day, God raised him from the grave, and He is alive and will live forever more. He ascended to Heaven, and sat at God’s right hand. He rules over Heaven and earth, and some day he will return to judge both living and dead people. Fourth, response: Therefore, we ourselves, having heard that, we must repent of our sins and believe the good news, that forgiveness of sins is available in Jesus Christ. You must not try to work for it or earn your salvation, but instead trust in the grace of God, for by grace are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, is a gift of God, not by works, so that no one could boast [Ephesians 2]. Do not wait because you do not know if you will be alive tomorrow. Repent and believe the good news today. You do not need to do exactly that every time you evangelize, but it should be your goal to say those things in some form to the lost people around you, a pattern or a form of the Gospel message. A Varied Menu of Evangelistic Opportunities How will we evangelize? On the back of the blue sheet, you will see a menu of ideas in two categories, different ways of looking at your life. First, who can you share the Gospel with? Second, what can you do to engage with them? Who? Who will we evangelize? Here are six levels of concentric circles of people around you: Family: The most effective evangelism in the world is parent-child evangelism. Be faithful to pour the Gospel into your children’s lives. Lead them to an early faith in Christ. Also, extended family — God often uses saved children to lead their parents to Christ. Maybe you have unsaved brothers or sisters or other relatives — cousins, nieces, nephews, other family members. Unsaved friends: Build friendships with non-Christians. Neighbors: When I was growing up, neighbors were out and about most days. The other day, I went on a two-hour bike ride. It was a little hot, but I did not see a single pedestrian the whole time — nobody working in the yard or taking a walk. It was strange. Everybody was inside on electronic entertainment or simply staying cool. Somehow we must meet the people who live near us. Acquaintances: Meet people in your daily routine, at a convenience store, supermarket, on an airplane. Co-workers: Workplace evangelism is one of the most effective strategies. You interact every day with non-Christians — co-workers, your boss, a subordinate — hunt opportunities to share Christian things. Invite people to church, to your home; use hospitality. Total strangers: Go to a park nearby and sit down on a bench, or meet someone walking a dog or watching their kids play or strolling a baby. Have a conversation. How? First, look to develop a long-term loving relationship. Be a human being, get to know people, ask questions. On flights, I always ask questions. Where are you headed? (Ultimately, where are you headed?) Have conversations in the workplace. Be interested in others’ lives, Let it flow naturally from love. Be hospitable. Open your home. Make it a home base. Invite people over. Participate in ministering to felt needs — mercy ministry. The international connections ministry is one such opportunity. ESL is a big felt need. People come from China and other places, as refugees or visiting scholars. Most want to learn English better but it is an opportunity to share the Gospel. Serve at the health fair, the Caring Center, Habitat for Humanity, other places that meet non-Christians’ felt needs. Volunteer for events like VBS, coming soon. We get to interact with dozens of non-Christian parents who send their kids to VBS. That is a big ministry. I urge you to consider serving if you are able. The health fair is an event as well as a felt-need ministry. Plan an event at your home, such as a Christmas party or a 4th of July cookout. Invite people to attend. Engage in shared interests, like running, biking, pottery, kids’ sports or music. That is a basic beginning menu of strategies to help you find ways to interact with people. I urge this church to be involved in a culture of evangelism. Let us develop as a church, caring for each other and getting involved. If you have an event at your home, involve other church members. Do not do it alone. I have two books here, I’ve Got Tell the Truth by Will Metzger, and Evangelism by Mack Stiles — 10 of each. I am offering them free of charge to 20 people. If you take the book, you do not have to pay for it, but promise you will read it and when you are done, pass it off to another church member to read. A Call for Extraordinary Prayer for Durham Praying Together for Our Community We need to give ourselves to prayer for this, to ask God to help us with our evangelistic endeavors. To that end, I offer three options on prayer. First, this is our last home fellowship of the year; we will talk about evangelism in our groups and have chances to pray, but I would urge home fellowships through the summer to get together and pray for evangelistic fruit in each other’s lives and in our church. Second, every week, a small group of us meets at 8:30 a.m. on Sundays to pray. Since you are coming to church anyway, all you need to do is adjust your schedule to arrive a little earlier to join us. We will pray for evangelistic fruitfulness. That might be the most convenient way to pray about this with others. Third, starting this week, for four weeks, I will pray on Wednesday mornings at 6:00 a.m. I have done this in the past. Again, we will pray for our church to be fruitful in evangelism. If you would like to sacrifice a little sleep, we will meet here in the sanctuary to pray for God to bless our evangelistic outreach. Closing Prayer Father, thank you for the time we have had to study. Thank you for the things that we have learned. Father, I pray that you would give us zeal for the glory of God and for the Gospel ministry. Help us to be energetically active as witnesses. Help us not to be afraid or fearful of it, but to be active in the things that you have called on us to do. Thank you for committing to us the ministry of reconciliation, as though God Himself were making His appeal through us. Help us, O Lord, to be faithful. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Bienvenidos a nuestro episodio piloto de Comida En Serie, el spin off gastronómico de Repaso en Serie , en donde Javi y Julio , hemos decido dar rienda suelta a otro de nuestros placeres favoritos que es la ir de restaurantes a comer bien y os deseamos contar de manera desenfadada nuestras experiencias , cada programa tendrá una temática y para este primero hemos decidido hablaros de restaurantes que tengan que ver con Películas y Series de Televisión , aprovechando que este Podcast es spin off de Repaso en Serie , nuestro podcast de dicha temática. Estos son los sitios que os hablamos - The Carnegie Deli http://carnegiedeli.com/) 854 7th Avenue at 55th Street ,Nueva York - Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.(http://www.bubbagump.com/) 1501 Broadway ,Nueva York - Junior´s (https://www.juniorscheesecake.com/) 386 Flatbush Avenue EXT ,Brooklyn, New York 11201 - Grimaldi´s (http://www.grimaldis.com/) 1 Front St, Underneath bridge, Brooklyn, NY 11201-1389 - Cheers (https://cheersboston.com/) 84 Beacon Street o Faneuil Hall Marketplace Quincy Market, Boston, Massachusetts Otros sitios que os hemos hablado PJ Clarke´s (http://pjclarkes.com/) ,915 3rd Ave, At 55th Street, Nueva York Joe's American Bar & Grill (http://www.joesamerican.com/) , 181 Newbury St Boston, MA 02116. Puedes suscribirte a Comida en Serie en iVoox / RSS para no perderte ningún episodio y puedes ver todos los programas web: https://comidaenserie.wordpress.com/ mandarnos correo a comidaenserie@gmail.com y/o seguirnos en twitter en @comidaenserie

Bienvenidos a nuestro episodio piloto de Comida En Serie, el spin off gastronómico de Repaso en Serie , en donde Javi y Julio , hemos decido dar rienda suelta a otro de nuestros placeres favoritos que es la ir de restaurantes a comer bien y os deseamos contar de manera desenfadada nuestras experiencias , cada programa tendrá una temática y para este primero hemos decidido hablaros de restaurantes que tengan que ver con Películas y Series de Televisión , aprovechando que este Podcast es spin off de Repaso en Serie , nuestro podcast de dicha temática. Estos son los sitios que os hablamos - The Carnegie Deli http://carnegiedeli.com/) 854 7th Avenue at 55th Street ,Nueva York - Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.(http://www.bubbagump.com/) 1501 Broadway ,Nueva York - Junior´s (https://www.juniorscheesecake.com/) 386 Flatbush Avenue EXT ,Brooklyn, New York 11201 - Grimaldi´s (http://www.grimaldis.com/) 1 Front St, Underneath bridge, Brooklyn, NY 11201-1389 - Cheers (https://cheersboston.com/) 84 Beacon Street o Faneuil Hall Marketplace Quincy Market, Boston, Massachusetts Otros sitios que os hemos hablado PJ Clarke´s (http://pjclarkes.com/) ,915 3rd Ave, At 55th Street, Nueva York Joe's American Bar & Grill (http://www.joesamerican.com/) , 181 Newbury St Boston, MA 02116. Puedes suscribirte a Comida en Serie en iVoox / RSS para no perderte ningún episodio y puedes ver todos los programas web: https://comidaenserie.wordpress.com/ mandarnos correo a comidaenserie@gmail.com y/o seguirnos en twitter en @comidaenserie

The boys are back!!!  George and Randy kick off the second season of Cheers Weekly with a very special interview with Thomas Kershaw, owner of Hampshire House at 84 Beacon Street.  This was the original location of the pub, The Bull and The Finch, and is the actual building seen in all exterior shots of Cheers, with the pub’s interior serving as the inspiration for the Cheers shooting stage and set.  Mr. Kershaw provides great insight into how his property became associated with the show and its place in Cheers lore.  In addition to that special treat, we get the debut of a new segment called Cliff Clavin’s Trivia of the Week, George providing surprise gifts and a ‘memorable’ example of Randy singing.  The bar is packed and people are having a great time…come on in!!! (Review starts - 46:30)

This month's guest "Whiskey & Bananas" playlist is curated by John Nau of Beacon Street Studios in Venice, CA, one of OKRP's go-to musical production partners. Enjoy this groovy selection of 1970s California-vibed tracks. Help Me — Joni Mitchell A love song written by the master, Joni, featuring her impeccable voice and beautiful lyricism — one of the most underrated guitarists of her generation. Beginning Again — Brian Auger I bought the record Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express — Live Oblivion Vol. 1 at a used record shop just because of the cover. I went home and put on side one, song one…what the ??? My ears popped off my head. I loved the vibe, the style and chords, and if that wasn’t enough, Brian lays into a smoking jazz solo on the Fender Rhodes (he’s more known for his organ playing). The architect of what would later be called “Acid Jazz”…this guy can play! Killer jazz keyboard solos over Motown soul-inspired grooves. Cherry — J.J. Cale This guy is so cool! The king of laid-back! Always under the radar and often imitated…e.g. Eric Clapton. “Cherry” is just one of the great tracks from J.J.’s album Troubadour. Stay While the Night is Young — Savoy Brown Kim Simmonds went through many iterations of the band, this version being one of his best. A jazz influence creeps into the music on this set and newly added vocalist Chris Youlden’s blue-eyed soul baritone voice brings it.  Sandy’s Blues [Live] — Oscar Peterson Trio From the record Exclusively For My Friends. My friend’s dad gave me a tape of this in high school. Upon listening to the intro to “Sandy’s Blues,” I realized I had a decision to make — quit immediately or listen and practice. I chose the latter. Oscar never disappoints. Watch him on YouTube…sooo good! It’s For You — Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays This track and record, As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls, has always given me a certain feeling of melancholy that slowly turns to joy. I love this record. It’s a sonic exposé of the pastorale American heartland. Any Major Dude Will Tell You — Steely Dan JEEZ! Where are these guys coming from?? Well…a fusion of classic rhythm & blues, jazz harmony and rock n roll. The sardonic lyrics against the smooth intellectual musical backdrop (the jazz-infused chord changes) create some breathtaking iconoclastic pop music. No imitators here. I Think I’ll Call It Morning — Gil Scott-Heron Gil Scott was making music in the 60’s and early 70’s that helped tell the story of the civil rights movement and political and social injustices in America. For every poem or song that dealt with the plight of the inner city or a corrupt government, a little gem would pop on, a song of hope and beauty, this being one of them.  Gil Scott was an original! A writer of books and a seeker of the truth through his music. Hard to compare him with anybody else. With a distinctive voice and style he’s considered one the forefathers of rap music. I Was Doing All Right — Dexter Gordon The POET! Born in L.A., crushed it in NYC, lived in Denmark. A towering figure in jazz (literally). Total command of the tenor saxophone, deep rich tone, laid back and hard swinging, plus a dash of humor — in the sense that if you listen to enough of his solos, you’ll notice he loves to incorporate quotes from other songs (such as “If I Only Had a Brain”). Incident at Neshabur — Santana From the record Abraxas. I always loved the instrumentals, and Greg Rollie’s organ playing is one of my main early influences. 1970 was an exciting time for music, the lines were blurred — Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, which hit a few months earlier, helped open the door for this jazz/Latin/rock mashup! This stuff was playing on mainstream radio.

This week's show was recorded on Beacon Street during the 121st Boston Marathon. Alex and Jimmy talk... 0:08-The Marathon 13:24-Celtics 26:57-Bruins 32:20-Red Sox Follow us on Twitter @CallinItPodcast

October 21, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum. The Athenæum’s collections have been used by scholars and researchers for more than 200 years. In more recent decades, filmmakers and producers have used the collections to inform their projects, such as Kitty Eisele’s The Civil War, a documentary film series directed by Ken Burns with images from the Athenæum’s Prints & Photographs collection. As Supervising Senior Editor at NPR’s Morning Edition, Kitty Eisele makes her living with words. Many years before that, she worked in pictures – as an Emmy Award-winning producer of The Civil War series with Ken Burns, and other documentaries on American history and culture. In fact, the Athenæum’s collections were used to tell the story in The Civil War–Ken Burns and his team researched the series at 10 ½ Beacon Street. Now, as digital media becomes more dominant in our everyday lives, she’s found herself asking how we communicate in this new language – a primarily visual language. What does it mean to use images as an increasingly necessary way of telling the news and our own history? How do we develop a language of images that reflects our real experiences? How can we think imaginatively and creatively about what we show and tell? How do we develop a visual vocabulary? From her past year as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard she shares her lessons from looking at other forms of communication – languages including dance and architecture – to open up possibilities for talking with pictures – for doing the work of journalism and history by sharing our lives, visually.

All of the King’s men have fallen and their leader has been dethroned. Beretta’s name has been cleared, and Giant Slayer’s beast has gone missing.  One solved problem breeds three more for the Ashton City Supers. Side Chatter PLAYERS Nate – Rose Brixby (Tankgirl). Outgoing and friendly girl who moved to Ashton from Prominence after a high-profile kidnapping case. She learned to fight and started buying low-impact supersoldier drug derivatives to make sure she would never be kidnapped again and that she could save others as she was saved. Travis – Metra Crowell (MegaGirl). Young girl local to the Ashton area. After losing her arm in a car accident she got mixed in with the wrong crowd, but took inspiration from the Spirits of Prominence and constructed a gas-powered prosthetic to help clean up the Ashton City streets. Zach – Ellhaym Tsukimono (Kageko). A teenage girl who enjoys exploring and finding secrets. A fairly recent transfer student, she’s only been around for a year or so. The post Ashton City Heroes Ep 14 – Beacon Street appeared first on The Drunk and The Ugly.

Highlights: interviews with Gennady Estraikh from @forverts, singer Mira Kessler, + musicians Ken Richmond (@YiddishCantor) and Shira Shazeer. Kessler, Richmond, and Shazeer are appearing in the following YIDDISH CONCERT Saturday, November 1, 2014 at 8:00 PM at the Workmen's Circle, 1762 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02445 General Admission $8 Special price for students and Workmen's Circle members: $6 Featuring The Fish Street Klezmer: Fish Street Klezmer is a Boston-based Klezmer and Yiddish Song duo featuring Cantor Ken Richmond on Violin and Guitar, Rabbi Shira Shazeer on Accordion and Mandolin and both on vocals. Shazeer is founder and director of The Jewish Birth Network. Richmond is cantor and family educator at Temple Israel of Natick. They have produced 1 CD, Intoxicated: Yiddish Songs of Love and Drinking, and 3 Yiddish-speaking children. Mira Kessler: Mira Kessler grew up speaking Yiddish in Durham, North Carolina. She has performed Yiddish music in Durham and New York. She is a junior at Brandeis University. This is her Boston debut. FOR MORE INFORMATION please call at 617-566-6281, email info@circleboston.org, or visit the Workmen's Circle Boston website: circleboston.org

In a first on many levels, famed high-end shopping mecca Regent Street in London has had 180 beacons installed in the entrances of all the shops that line the street. The app, created by Autograph, allows consumers to customize the types of shops that can reach out to them through the setup. It is one of the first massive controlled rollouts of the beacon technology - done by the Regent Street Partnership under The Crown Estate. It is early but this is a project that all retailers should be watching very closely.

Beacon Street

The Wellesley College Class of 1962 presented the original musical "Orchids by Wire" on October 14 and 15, 1960.

Summary of today's show: In our regular Thursday news roundup, a new Catholic college is moving to the Archdiocese of Boston; palliative care is introduced as an alternative to assisted suicide; time is running out to show support for Choose Life license plates; a rally for religious freedom on Boston Common on Friday; new archbishop for Baltimore; Obama losing support from women; and Greg Tracy is going to Cuba. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the newspaper of the Fall River diocese; and Gregory Tracy, managing editor of The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston archdiocese Links from today's show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today's topics: St. Thomas More College; palliative care; Choose Life plates; stand up for religious freedom; Baltimore archbishop; going to Cuba 1st segment: Scot welcomed Susan Abbott back to the show. She's planning this Saturday's Catechetical Congress. It's a gathering of 800 catechists and directors of religious education. Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine, will celebrate Mass and be the keynote speaker. They will give out two awards for excellence in catechetical leadership and recognizing volunteer catechists nominated by their pastors. After lunch here will be a number of workshops in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. It's going to be held at Boston College High School. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Gregory Tracy and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Scot said in the Pilot this week is a story about the move of Thomas More College, now in southern New Hampshire, that is moving to Groton, Mass., which is in the Archdiocese of Boston. Pilot reporter got a tour of the new land that the campus will be located on. It's an old farm and they intend to keep some of the farm buildings. It's about 35 acres, but it's surrounded by dozens of acres of conservation land. They intend to preserve the historic buildings, but they will be able to build new buildings. The college will be able to grow from about 80 students to over 300. The college president said they will like Groton because they were very serious about the whole of the community. He also likes that students will be able to enjoy an historic New England town. They also hope to buy the former Sacred Heart church building, which is closed, and move it to the new campus. Scot said this is a win for the Archdiocese. Susan said she's thrilled, especially because of the mission of the college. Scot explained where in the northwest corner of the Archdiocese Groton is located. The move is expected between 2014 and 2019. Fr. Roger talked about the college's positive features and advantages, including a semester abroad program in Rome. Scot said another story is about the Women Affirming Life spring breakfast at which the speaker was M.C. Sullivan - a nurse, bioethicist, attorney and Director of Ethics at Covenant Health Systems in Tewksbury—who said the answer to the push for assisted suicide is better palliative care, which treats not just bodily pain, but also spiritual and emotional pain. The women at the breakfast were fired up. Susan said she was glad to learn of the difference between palliative care and hospice care. Hospice focuses strictly on the end of life, but palliative care can also be used for those with chronic illness. Greg said more and more people are coming out to stay this assisted suicide is not curative and isn't really helping people. He said palliative care recognizes that quality of life is not solely about “fixing” or curing someone. Fr. Roger said the short-term focus in this fight is for those who are the end of life, but also for the fight against the legalization effort for November. The longer-term issue is about creating a culture of life, not just for palliative care, but also to provide companionship and compassion through presence for those who are suffering alone. Scot said another pro-life effort is the Massachusetts specialty license plate called Choose Life. Those who sponsor the plate effort have to give a bond to ensure to the state that enough plates will be issued. The organizers need about 600 plates in order to read their goal in the next few months. Fr. Roger said these plates are one of the best pro-life efforts we've been able to get through our Legislature the past few years. Thousands of people will see these plates as we drive around each day. He was one of the first to get the plate and he challenged many of his parishioners to get the plate as well and they have responded. Fr. Roger joked they might even be a get-out-of-a-ticket card with regard to being pulled over by state troopers. He said we should be grateful for the anonymous donor who put $100,000 of his own money for the bond and hopes he gets all of his money back. But even more important we can show we support life in a commonwealth that may not be as pro-life as we want it to be. Also in the Pilot this week is the announcement that Fr. John Delaney from St. Michael Parish in North Andover has been appointed as Pastor of Sacred Hearts Parish in Haverhill. Scot said St. Michael's has had a lot of upheaval in recent months with three priests leaving for one reason or another. It is the largest parish in the archdiocese with the most activities of any parish. Greg said it's a dynamic parish that is well-supported by the parishioners. Also in the Pilot is the obituary for Fr. John Fallon, who was 89 years old. He was ordained in 1946 and served in many parishes in southern and western parts of the Archdiocese, although he served in most parts of the Archdiocese, including Gloucester, Arlington, and Ayer. He served 9 parishes in the archdiocese. His funeral Mass was celebrated in the parish where he was baptized, St. Charles Borromeo in Woburn. Fr. Roger talked about the baptismal imagery invoked in the funeral Mass and the symbolism of being buried from the same parish where he ws baptized. Scot said in the Anchor was a story about Fr. Riley Williams who is serving in Rome where he wrote a book on the station churches of Rome. He also has a popular blog. Other articles include the Legion of Mary of the diocese of Fall River celebrating its 60th anniversary, a profile of the Faith Formation Office in Fall River, Catholic Girl Scouts celebrating 100 years of scouting, and a new parish that brings togethers two other parishes in Fall River. Scot also read prize-winning pro-life student essays that were published in this week's Anchor, including an essay by eighth-grader Althea Turley: I am lucky to walk, talk, and communicate normally with the people I love. I have spina bifida, and without spinal operations. my life would be dramatically different. My parents always loved me, regardless of my problems. Not all babies with birth defects are so lucky. Some never take their first breath. Six hundred ninety unborn babies with Down's Syndrome were aborted in 2002, and that rate rises every year. Aborted babies will never experience the simple joys of life because a person rejected a wonderful gift. Only God should have the power to give or take a life as every human life is a gift and a miracle. Jesus “came so that all might have life and have it to the full.” Victims of murder, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and abortion have a right to life. They are unable to have it because of the choices of others. God should be the only One to make these decisions, yet some people give up hope rather than trusting in God. They don't leave it up to the omniscient Father. Humans are fallible and make mistakes. Therefore, cancer patients who might live three more years may commit suicide because ofa doc-Il tor's estimate of a month left to live. The same goes for abortion and capital punishment. A baby in a complicated pregnancy might not kill a mother, and a convicted criminal may be innocent after all. Life's potential cannot be known. An aborted baby could discover cures for diseases or become a great world leader, but no one will ever know if he or she is deprived a chance at life. The disabled, poor, elderly, and sick are just as important as anyone else and should be treated with the same respect. This past Advent season. my classmates and I volunteered at a homeless shelter and served lunch to the less fortunate who were so appreciative of a single meal. As I was there. I realized the homeless people who seemed so different on the outside weren't so different from us. We all have the same needs and hopes, and we are all God's children. We are all important and all merit good lives. God is love, and He created us in His likeness, with the purpose of living a full, happy. and successful life. Humans need to realize this and let God choose when to terminate a life. We should put our faith in God and help others live lives God gives all His children. Susan said she was really impressed. She has the message and has made this her message. She's not just repeating what she's heard. There seems to be great commitment in this. Scot said this is a neat contest, in which the winners read their essays during a Mass with Bishop Coleman. Fr. Roger said they've been doing the contest for a decade and they change the theme each year. Fr. Roger said he loves seeing the perspective of the youth and the young have a great energy and hope and enthusiasm. Scot said the first place in the senior division was Eileen Corkery, a high school senior. 3rd segment: Scot said across the country tomorrow a lot of organizations are sponsoring local rallies at noon to stand up for religious freedom. A Boston rally will take place on the Boston Common on the corner of Park and Beacon Street. There will be five speakers from 12-1. Scot asked those who could take the time to join in so that our voices could be seen and heard. Also this week, the bishop who is overseeing the US bishops' religious freedom initiative, Bishop William Lori, has been appointed to become the next Archbishop of Baltimore. Fr. Roger said Baltimore was the first and only diocese in the United States soon after 1789. It's the closest thing the US has to be a primatial see. That fact that we're now in a very visible battle for religious freedom, most pundits thought Bishop Lori was most likely to be given the archdiocese. He is a native of the area. [“Former government officials join religious leaders in conscience fight”, CNS, 3/16/12](http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20120315.htm] Scot said another article shows that two former ambassadors to theVatican have joined the fight for religious freedom, Ray Flynn and Jim Nicholson. They have joined other former government officials to create a group called Conscience Cause. Greg said they intend to travel around the country speaking out about this issue from a different perspective from the bishops. Scot said another late-breaking story is related to the lawsuit filed by EWTN against the HHS mandate. Today the state of Alabama has joined EWTN in that lawsuit, claiming that the federal mandate is hurting the rights of all Alabamans. It's a big development for a state government to join a lawsuit like this. Another story shows that President Obama's approval rating among women voters has dropped. Fr. Roger said he thinks the sense the Obama administration is projecting, that all women are lining up for their free contraception, is false. It's awakened the vast majority of women for whom the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood don't speak. Fr. Roger also thinks economic news is also important to women and that might be hurting the president as well. What Catholic women need to do is stand up and say what the President is trying to do doesn't speak for their values when forcing them to pay for other women's abortifacient pills. This is not the type of feminism they want to support. Scot said it seems like it could offend a lot of women when far-left groups claim they speak for all women. Susan said this is a hot topic among women she knows, who are saying that the administration isn't doing this for them. Susan suggested listeners re-listen to last Friday's show to hear an excellent argument. Scot suggested many women will want to sign on to the petition at WomenSpeakForThemselves.com. Greg said we can't draw direct conclusions art o why the president's approval rating dropped, but it must be related. It's a little degrading to think that their vote can be purchased by contraceptions. Scot said next week Greg will be visiting Cuba to cover Pope Benedict's trip. Greg said his group is traveling to Havana to participate in the Pope's Mass there. He is traveling with a group called Caritas Cubana. Over four days they will visit many of the projects they are doing there.

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: An Interview with ML Mackey CEO and Co-founder, Beacon Interactive Systems Date: May 10, 2010 Entrepreneurial Heroes Interview with ML Mackey [music] Lucy Sanders: Hi, this is Lucy Sanders. I'm the CEO of the National Center for Women and Information Technology, or NCWIT. With me is Larry Nelson from w3w3.com. Hi, Larry. Larry Nelson: Hi, I'm happy to be here. Lucy: Absolutely. We have this great interview series with women who have started IT companies, many of them multiple companies, across all different sectors. Today, I'm really excited because our interview is going to be with a woman who has worked in both the private and the public sector. I don't really think we've talked to anybody who has worked with the government in the same way that our guest has worked with. So, today, we're talking to ML Mackey who is the CEO and Co-founder of Beacon Interactive Systems. I was really interested in Beacon because it does the workflow kind of things. If you look at their history with private industry, things around customer service and email management and great companies that they've worked with like IBM and MetLife and others. ML, then, that company into working in the government sector working on the performance of its workforce. So, the DOD. And, I'm thinking, oh, that's something taxpayers should really dig, you know? [laughs] Larry: [laughs] Lucy: Performance management of the federal sector. So, welcome ML. We're glad you could join us. ML Mackey: Thanks. Thanks for having me. Lucy: So, first of all, why don't you just give us a little bit of an update on what Beacon's up to. ML: Well, we're a 16-year-old company. We provide software to our customers that helps them get their work done easier and easier, regardless of what that work is. Like you said, we did private sector. And, now, we're doing the public sector. It's a fascinating place to be right now in the federal sector, and specifically in the DOD, where we work. It is kind of a bold statement, but we say to some of our friends we're trying to help the federal government perform more efficiently. [laughs] Lucy: [laughs] Well, I shouldn't laugh, I mean... ML: How's that for a book? Larry: Please. Lucy: [laughs] I was going to say, please! Larry: It has to work. Lucy: Yeah, please do. [laughs] Please do. ML: Let's hope we're successful. And, a very small piece of that, I must say. But, it's kind of fun. Right now we are mainly selling to the Department of Defense. We sell primarily to the U.S. Navy. We have two products that we sell to them. One is in the equipment maintenance space, and it's called TURBOWORK. It's all about helping the maintainers perform equipment maintenance more efficiently and effectively. The second product we have stemmed out of that work. It's a collaborative program management software called T3, the Technology Transition Tool. It's used by the Navy to better manage their portfolio of R&D investments. Lucy: Well, you're absolutely right. There's so much going on in the public sector these days, especially with technology. I was just reading about it. There's an 80-billion-dollar-a-year budget... Larry: [laughs] Lucy: ...in the federal government for technology spent, which is just an amazing amount of money. So, I'm glad you're working to make sure it's spent more efficiently. Larry: We want you to succeed. ML: [laughs] Lucy: Yeah, absolutely. So, ML, why don't you tell our listeners a bit about how you first got into technology and where you see some of the hot technologies today. ML: You know, I thought about this question a little bit beforehand. And, I thought what would I tell them? I wanted to say something very philosophical and profound and deep. And, I'll tell you what, I got into technology because I really wanted to make money. [laughs] Lucy: That's a good reason. Larry: Yeah. Yeah. ML: I was pretty sure that teaching ballet, which I loved doing, wasn't going to be the lifestyle that I wanted to live. So, I said I think I'd like to be able to be independent. So, I applied for a scholarship in electrical engineering because they gave the most electrical engineering scholarships out. I'm already convinced I knew what electrical engineering was when I applied for it. Turned out I got the scholarship. It also turned out quite luckily for me that I really enjoyed what I was learning about. Engineering is a fascinating profession. Understanding what makes things work and how to understand science and figure out how to apply it to real-world needs is a fun and exciting place to be. So, I stumbled upon the place that I needed to be and was happy to be there. Larry: That's great. ML: I got into technology. Larry: I like that. I like that. ML: I like to think it was more purposeful. It was just someone watching out for me, you know? So, that worked out really well. Did a lot of hardware design, some software design. Got into running a business, very much an engineering kind of approach to how we run a business and how we started it. The technologies that I think are cool right now. I think software is a fascinating area to be in. And, I think the convergence of information from both physical resources as well as people is fascinating. I think there's a lot of work to being done with sensors that we've only tapped the beginning usefulness and productivity from that I just think is fascinating. And, I think understanding that in terms of how it integrates with the real world and how people work and interface with that information is really what drives our company. Larry: Well, that's fantastic. ML, having the public sector background, I have to ask what is it about being an entrepreneur that drew you there? And, what makes you tick? ML: I think the reason that I'm an entrepreneur, and I would say the same thing for my partner. The reason we started a business is we said we like to do things. We like to make things happen. We like to create things. We like to be around creative and smart people. And, we like to make an impact with what we're doing. I think we also wanted to make money, too. [laughter] ML: So, it seemed like starting a company was a great combination for all of these things. I think what makes me tick now about being an entrepreneur is the adrenalin, is the challenge, is the opportunity, is the creativity. It's the great people I get to work with at my company. It's the interesting customers that we get to work with. It's never dull. It's always something interesting and new. And, the ability to help guide that and stay true to finding interesting things and doing meaningful work is a real driver. Lucy: Along the way on your entrepreneurial journey, oftentimes we find people have been influenced by others. Sometimes we call them mentors. Or, sometimes we call them role models. Or, sometimes they're co-founders or what have you. What can you tell our listeners about the particular people that influenced you? ML: Well, I can tell you I'm blessed and totally lucky to have found a brilliant mentor for me in the last, I'd say, eight or nine years who worked with me. A tremendously smart, intelligent woman who was interested in sharing what she knew and helping me grow into being a better businesswoman. That was a real benefit, and I hope that every young woman can find someone like I found in Ruth. So, that was a benefit. I found her just by working together and us clicking and finding our way to each other. It's turned into a very nice personal relationship as well. I have to say that I'm not sure that I had women role models until that point. There was occasionally someone that I saw here, occasionally someone that I saw there. I think what helped me specifically was that there wasn't a preconceived set of notions or ideas about how business works or what it takes to be a business person. I know my partner, he practiced his signature from the time he was five years old because he knew he was going to be a businessman like his dad. So, I think he had a role model that he would aspire to. I think I just naturally gravitated to this profession. But, anything that we the community can do to put role models out for our kids is a great thing. It's interesting to be able to see the kinds of experiences that you could have. The kinds of choices that you can make in defining what your career will be. Lucy: I have two sons, and they've been practicing their signatures like their father. And, you can't read any of them anyway. Larry: [laughs] Very good. Lucy: Yeah, they look like little squiggly lines to me. ML: My daughter said to me, "Mommy, I think Daddy" -- my husband is my business partner -- "I think Daddy only has one letter when he does his signature. The rest is just a line." Lucy: [laughs] ML: I said oh, he practiced that, honey. [laughter] Lucy: I know, it's true. And, just as an offhand remark, it seems like I've often wanted to do some research on this issue of signatures, but that's for another day. Larry: Yeah, really. ML: There's a whole science to that actually. Lucy: Yeah, to be sure. Larry: I have four daughters, and half of them are... Lucy: Do they practice their signatures? Larry: I don't know if they did. I think so because two of them it's very readable and looks really gorgeous. The other ones are messy like mine. So, oh well. Lucy: Oh, well. Larry: Now, with all the things you've been through, ML, and the successes and everything else, what is the toughest thing that you've ever had to do in your career? ML: Some people might look at my career and say the toughest thing I had to do was quit my very interesting, well-payed job in order to start the company. Or, you may look at signing leases or some of the difficult things of stepping into a new space and finding a new market. But, I have to tell you, by far the most... All those things were fun, by the way, and interesting and exciting. The thing that stands out among all of our experiences as the most challenging was surviving the economic downturn in the software industry in the 2000 to 2001 time frame. That was just a terrible, traumatic and very difficult time to get through that, I have to say, I'm very pleased we are on the other side of. And, I'm going to find some wood quickly to knock on. That was difficult for a variety of reasons. I think primarily the reason that was so difficult for an entrepreneur like myself is that there was so much that was out of my control. It was so drastically bad, and there was such a long period where we weren't able to feel successful. In hindsight, there were many things that we were doing that were wildly successful and allowed us to maintain, and then to grow, the value of our company again and grow the IP and grow the team back up. But, that was a really difficult time. Having said that, I think every business is going to go through something difficult. So, now I know we've been through it and know some of the steps and some of the things I'd do again if we were in a difficult spot and some of the things that I wouldn't do again. [laughs] Net-net it's all positive. But, that was by far the most challenging experience we had. Lucy: In fact, those tough times, they give you sort of a second kind of intuition, and in terms of looking to the future, too. You might spot things sooner. That was a tough time... Larry: Yeah, it was. Lucy: ...early 2000. That was tough. Larry: We felt the pain, too. ML: We bootstrapped our company. We started in a little rent-controlled apartment on Beacon Street in Coolidge Corner Brookline here in Massachusetts. So, we never lived large when we started. We knew how to bootstrap and we knew how to be lean. And, it still was just a really difficult time. But, you get through something like that, and you appreciate what you have moving forward. Every customer is good news. Every contract is good news. And, they're especially sweet now for us. Lucy: Exactly. And, I think that's great advice for any entrepreneur to hear. ML, I know you mentioned you do work in STEM education. You're very interested in issues related to science, technology, engineering and math. So, as it relates to entrepreneurship, if you were sitting here with a young person and giving them advice about being an entrepreneur, what would you tell them? ML: There are two things that I would say are the most important things to tell someone who's thinking about starting their own business. The first is be true to yourself. Be true to what you like to do. [laughs] I can remember, I was graduating from school and I thought oh, I'm an electrical engineer. This is great. I'm going to do electrical engineering. I don't have to figure something out. Then I got closer to graduating and I went, oh my God! What does an electrical engineer do? [laughter] ML: [laughs] And, I talked to a friend of mine who was wildly successful, founded a few companies down in California and just really doing fantastic. I said hey, Andy, how do you get a job? Both my parents were public school teachers. He said, well, you find what you like to do and then you do that. And I was like, come on. Seriously, how do you get a job? [laughs] That's not really going to help me. In hindsight, it was one of the best pieces of advice that I've gotten in my career. And, one that I would highly recommend for anyone thinking of doing something in entrepreneurship. Or, even just as they're plotting their own individual career path. And, that is find what you like to do and what drives you. For example, I like technology. I really like knowing how things work and making new things. I also like people. I'm the kind of person that likes to go to a party full of new people and understand who's there, get to know them, see how they know each other. I like going into customers and understanding how they get their work done. So, we build collaborative software. It's technology about how people work together. My partner likes technology and he also likes business and clarity in business and really making the right value happen from your business. So, our collaborative software systems are not social networking systems. They're collaborative software systems that help you get your work done. So that, one, you can get it done more efficiently, and two, you know what's going on in your organization. So, we stayed true to what our core values are and what our expertise is while we shifted markets from private sector to the public sector. Which was precipitated by the 2002, 2001 downturn in the industry, as I talked about. We stayed true to what our core expertise was. And, we found a way to understand where the federal money would go to small businesses and how to do research and how to get connected into our Department of Defense customers. There were quite a few solicitations of them, but we stayed true to what our expertise was and what we'd be able to accomplish. And, it's become very successful in the process. Lucy: I think that's great. ML: Stay true to what you do. Lucy: Exactly. And that's great advice. It kind of leads me to a follow-up question around just some words you might use to describe yourself. What characteristics do you believe make you a successful entrepreneur? ML: So I'm going to give you the main word and then I'm going to track back to one other thing. Because I've done a disservice to anyone listening. The second and possibly most important that you have to learn as an entrepreneur that I would tell a young person is learn to sell. Learn how to sell. Learn how to sell. Learn how to sell. Don't say, I have a good quality, I have a good product, I can run a company. All of that doesn't matter if you can't sell your product to a customer. So I wanted to close off that last piece and make sure there are two things. One, stay true to yourself. And two, learn how to sell. And the word that I would give you to this question that you just asked me about what are the characteristics of a successful entrepreneur or what has been successful for me is tenacity. You've got to be persistent. You got to choose your path. You got to say this is what I want to accomplish and I'm going to just stay to it. I'm going to approach it from different vectors if I can't accomplish the direction I'm going in. But you've got to be tenacious. Larry: Well you've got a couple of children. You're growing a business. You're doing all kinds of really neat things. How do you ML, bring balance to your personal and professional lives? ML: You know that's an interesting question. So I'll sort of answer it in two different ways. One, I was given an award by an organization up here and I was speaking to all of the entrepreneurial characteristics, and I said to the group, and I said of all these characteristics I've told you about being entrepreneurial, by far the most entrepreneurial venture that my partner, and I have done is parent our two small children. So family life pulls us...I want to use the word balance, but I don't know that balance is the word that really fits. So the second part of my answer to your question it's more about work-life integration. And balance implies cordoning off. And one place I do work and one place I do home and one place I do, oh, God forbid, a hobby. Someday maybe I'll get to that. Larry: [laughs] ML: Part of that, it's more about how you integrate all the facets of who you are so they flow and overlap well with each other. So, my children know the office space but they don't spend too much time here. My kids' friends know that we have a company and understand that sometimes when we've made a sale, oh, good, we just sold to the navy. We just sold software to every ship in the navy. And my kids driving home from school, and their friends went, oh, that's so cool. So that's about an integration without a line that's tough and hard between the two spaces. But it's a continuous balancing act, I should use the word of that integration. Lucy: Well we hear that from a number of successful entrepreneurs. That in fact integration is a better word than balance. I personally believe it is as well. Having raised two kids and being a corporate executive is exactly the same thing. There's no hard line in the sand. I think that's important. ML: You know what I think is fascinating around companies as well is they are starting to understand that in terms of flex time and hours, and commitments, and how you deliver upon your professional commitments as well. Which I just think is a fascinating new area and we'll see some changes in the next five to 10 years. Lucy: I think so too, and we're seeing some data with our work here at NCWIT, around these issues being really important to men and women. That they have the ability to have this kind of work and personal life integration if you will. An certainly in the technology space, one would like to hope that it would be possible. For sure. Maybe using some ML software. Larry: What an idea. What an idea. Lucy: [laughs] What an idea. So ML, you've really achieve a lot. What's next for you? What can you tell our listeners? What do you see coming down the road? ML: More of the same. The spinning out other companies. Going in different directions. It's just fun seeing the products you've created. They sort of take on a life of their own. So then its how do you leverage them that momentum and how do you grow that into something interesting. Growing our team is on our future. That's really quite interesting as well too. It's great to come to work everyday and have a group that's interested in what they're doing and engaged and energetic about what they're accomplishing. So I think just more of the same. Lucy: I have sort of an off the cuff question just to end in. ML: Oh, God. Lucy: Of course. Just to kind of end the interview with. Like if you were giving advice since you are one of our very few interviews about working with the public sector to other entrepreneurs that might want to become involved with the public sector, what would that be? ML: The best advice I could give anyone looking to get involved in the public sector that has not been in the public sector is to have a healthy respect for how different the business is. We completely revamped how we operate our business, how we mange our business, how you engage your customers. I would suggest that...what was the number you gave at the beginning of the interview on federal technologies? Lucy: Eighty billion. Eighty billion dollars a year in IT spent. ML: Yeah, and people look at that number and go oh wow, all I have to do is get a piece of that. There are stunning roadblocks to knowing how to work with the federal government. And just as simple as, which is not simple at all, of how do you get under contract? So, you have a solution, you have a perspective buyer, you have funds available. How do they even get that to you? So there are a lot of roadblocks there, none obvious. Having said that, there's a tremendous opportunity to be innovative and to leverage commercial sector expertise in innovative ways for what has been a very traditional business area. I'm speaking specifically in the software now. There's a lot of opportunity there to really drive value and do something important there. So I would say to anyone, the advice I would give is absolutely look into it. It's a tremendous capability. There's a lot of R&D as well as straight product sales that are possible with the federal government. But just have a real healthy respect for that it is not what you've known in the private sector. And to pay attention to characteristics and different business models. Lucy: That's great advice. Larry: It is. Lucy: I think our listeners will appreciate that. I know we've seen it from the non profit side, working with the government is very different than our work with corporations for example. Very, very different. ML: Find some of just non intuitive. Lucy: Yep. Totally. Really, thank you for your time. We really do appreciate it. And I wanted to remind listeners where they can find this interview. At w3w3.com. And also ncwit.org. Larry: Perfect. Lucy: Alright. Thank you, ML. Larry: ML, thank you so much. ML: Thank you. [music] Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: ML MackeyInterview Summary: Explaining why she became an entrepreneur, ML Mackey says, "My partner and I like to do things, we like to make things happen, we like create things and be around smart creative people and we want to make an impact with what we are doing. It seemed like starting a company was a great combination for all these things." Release Date: May 10, 2010Interview Subject: ML MackeyInterviewer(s): Lucy Sanders, Larry NelsonDuration: 20:05

I. Introduction I remember well my first attempt at rappelling. Rock climbers use ropes to scale rocky cliffs and go back down them. I had never done it before. It was my first week at college, where you do all kinds of insane and crazy things. And so, there I was on the fifth floor of a town house on Beacon Street in Boston, on the wrong side of the fire escape. And I had the rappelling rope in my left hand and a harness around my body, and my right hand was holding firmly onto the fire escape. I knew my hand, but I didn't know anything about this rope. I knew what my hand could do, but did I dare let go with my right hand and trust that rope? Well, I did, and it worked, and so I stand before you today. I survived, and I never did it again. I didn't really see the point. There was no great thrill in bouncing down the side of that brick house and making it down, except getting that harness off and saying, "I'll never do this again!" Now, others may enjoy doing that kind of thing. More power to them. But I want to focus on that moment. I remember it well. When I looked at my right hand, I had to kind of tell it to let go, and it didn't want to. It seemed to know better than I did. "I'm saving your life, you don't want me to let go!" But it is a spiritual principle too. We know what we can do, and we are accustomed to trusting in ourselves. But this scripture today that we are looking at commands us to trust in Christ, to look away from what we can do, what schemes and plots and arrangements we can make to get ourselves out of whatever situations we find ourselves in, and to trust in Christ alone. And it is so hard for us to do it, to live by faith, not by sight, to learn how to rely on God who is invisible, to trust in the certainty of his promises, to look away from what we can achieve and to trust in him. I think this is one of the biggest questions that we face in our lives. On what or on whom are you really trusting? What are you relying on? What is the truest source of confidence for your own life? Now most of the time, I think, in everyday life this question doesn't really come up. You're not asking intensely as you pour milk on your cereal in the morning, "Now, what am I relying on at this moment? Can I do it?" Or when your cell phone rings and you pull it out, "Do I have the power with which to answer this call?" Everyday life can just lure you into a sense of false security. You get behind the wheel, you turn on the ignition and you think, "I've done this before. I've driven many times to church, I can handle it." And so you don't really pray, you don't really think much about Christ at that moment and so you just go about your business. But this is a grave misunderstanding of how totally and constantly we should be depending and relying on Christ, on Christ alone. It is a devastating state to be in spiritually, to rely on yourself. It will damn the soul. Because we cannot save ourselves and we must be trained to look away from what we can achieve and look instead to Christ and to him alone. And so, as we come to Isaiah seven, the central lesson of Isaiah seven, I believe is, “Stop trusting in yourself and the alliances you can make in your own strength, and rely on Immanuel. Rely on God alone, who is with us." Now, as we come to this passage, Judah is facing a crisis. The little kingdom of Judah is led by a faithless king. And this faithless king, Ahaz, a descendant of king David, is the very man whom God confronts with this promise: “God with us.” God wants to entrust the sign of Immanuel to him and Ahaz doesn't want any part of it. II. Crisis Reveals True Faith (verses 1-2) Ahaz: David’s Faithless Descendant We need to understand the geopolitical context of Isaiah 7 to get its full richness. That's the challenge before me today, because you think about the history, what was going on, who are these names that were read for us? Pekah son of Remaliah, and the son of Tabeel, and Aram and Ephraim - who are all these and what does it have to do with anything? But this is the crisis that was revealing the true faith of Ahaz, I would have to say, his lack of faith in almighty God. As we come to Ahaz, we come to a descendant of David, grandson of Uzziah. He is the king of the southern kingdom of Judah. Now, remember your history. Because of his wickedness, because of his idolatry, Solomon’s heart had turned away from God. And God had decided to judge him, not in his lifetime, but that his son would lose ten tribes. And those ten tribes became the northern kingdom of Israel. The house of David was left with one tribe, Judah, the southern kingdom. And the northern kingdom Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah were for the most part bitter enemies from that point forward. And so Israel was the northern kingdom, and Judah the southern kingdom. Aram, Edom, Moab - these were all little kingdoms or little countries in the ancient near east in Palestine that jockeyed for position. At times some would be a little bit more powerful than the other, etcetera, similar perhaps to the small nations of Serbia and Belgium in pre-World War I days. But then there were the big empires, the big rulers like in pre-World War I days when you had Russia, you had the Austria Hungarian empire, you had Germany and Britain. So in those days, you had Assyria. Assyria was the big monster swimming in that small pool, the superpower of the ancient near east - violent, ruthless and brutal. Called the Nazis of the ancient world, Assyria was poised to gobble up all these minor nations like a lion devouring scraps of meat. That is the context. Now this man Ahaz was Uzziah's grandson, but he had none of Uzziah's piety, none of Uzziah's love for the Lord. 2 King 16:3-4 says Ahaz “walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.” And so God gave him over. Because of his sins, God gave him over to his enemies. There is a plain connection between the king's false religion and his defeat by both Israel and Aram on the battlefields. The story is told in 2 Chronicles 28:5-6. Because of Ahaz's sins, “therefore the Lord his God handed him over to the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him. In one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers in Judah - because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers." Sadly, however, Ahaz did not learn the lesson. He was of the pragmatic school of religion - what works is what we need to follow. And he followed the “if you can't beat them, join them” approach. So in 2 Chronicles 28:23 it says, “He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, 'Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.' But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.” The Crisis: A Scary Alliance So that's the context. The immediate context in the issue of Isaiah 7 is a scary alliance. That is the crisis. Two of these little kingdoms have agreed to join together in alliance against little Judah, and the odds are overwhelming. If Judah can't stand up against one of them, how is Judah going to survive against both of them allied together? And so, look at Isaiah 7:5,6. “Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, ‘Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.’” This is the plot. This is what's going on. Fluttering Like a Leaf It is a dire situation for Ahaz and for the people of Judah. And as a result in verse two their hearts are fluttering like a leaf. “So the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” The crises of our lives reveal true character. Even more significantly, they reveal what we are truly trusting in. And so God brings us through crises sometimes to show us our faith, what we really trust in, and perhaps to show us what we are not trusting in and how we should be trusting in Christ more. These people, including Ahaz, had no solid foundation in the sovereignty of God. They had nowhere to turn, and so they were terrified, fluttering like leaf. III. The Sovereign Lord Intervenes, Promises and Warns (verses 3-9) The Sovereign Lord Intervenes And so the sovereign Lord intervenes. He steps in. Our God doesn't stand passively on the sidelines of history. That's not the God of the Bible. He is not an idler. He is not rooting and hoping for a proper outcome, powerless to do anything about it. No, he steps in and brings it about. He accomplishes what he decides. He is sovereign in deciding what will happen on the stage of history. He moves his little finger and the nations convulse. This is our God. And so, he begins with a quiet word from the prophet to the king. His real desire, the real focus of God, is the hearts of his people. What is going on in your heart? Do you trust or do you not? That's what it is all about. And so he is moving so that his people will learn to trust him, even in the midst of that kind of a crisis. He sends Isaiah the prophet. So Isaiah goes out to confront Ahaz as he is making preparations for battle. Look at verse three. “Then the Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's field.’” So he is out there, making preparations, perhaps getting some water ready for a siege. He is out there, and Isaiah goes to confront him, to deal with him. God’s Command: Don’t Be Afraid… Only Believe And God gives Ahaz and the people of Judah a command. He says, “Don't be afraid, only believe.” Look at verse four. “Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood - because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.” So he gives them a command. So often Jesus does the same thing with his own disciples. In the midst of the storm, he rebukes them and said, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” (Matthew 8:26). So, often we get afraid of the future, and we should be trusting in God. Faith drives out fear and makes us strong and courageous. And so, God gives a command, and he says, “Don't be afraid, only believe.” God’s Promise: The Secret Plans of Man Will Fail And he gives them a promise as well: “The secret plans of man will fail.” Look at verses five through seven. "Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 'Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.' Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'It will not take place, it will not happen.'" That, my friends, is the final word on that. When God speaks like that, who can turn aside his will? His hand is stretched out and who is able to turn it back? He's made a decision in this matter and this will not take place. It's a promise. The secret purposes of man will not prevail. “Man Proposes, God Disposes” You've heard the saying, "Man proposes but God disposes." God makes the final decision. Oh, many verses teach this. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Others teach plainly God's sovereign authority over the rise and fall of nations. Daniel 4:17, "The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men." Some verses even discuss directly the plots and plans and schemes and lies that political leaders make, even to one another, sitting at a conference table, and say God's sovereign plan will overrule all of that. Read Daniel 11. Well, here God decrees failure for this alliance. It will not take place. It will not happen. And here faith must find its resting place in the sovereign power of God. He decrees what will and will not happen. And in that we find our sure security, our stable resting point. Tragically, however, Ahaz will not listen. He is not going to listen. Instead, he is going to flee willingly into the arms of the monster Assyria. He is going to turn away from a loving God and he is going to embrace Assyria to save him. Now Judah's enemies are merely human. How many times does it say, "The head of this country is only so and so. The head of that country is only so and so." They're only men. They are nothing. Within sixty-five years, Ephraim will be too shattered to even to be a people. Who is speaking these words? Later in the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 22 and following, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. 'To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One." "The head of such and such country is only so and so, but I, I sit enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and all the nations are like grasshoppers before me. Who do you fear?" The Warning: Grave Danger for Unbelief And therefore he gives Ahaz, and through him Judah and all of us a warning: "Grave danger for unbelief." Look at verse nine. To me, this is the center of this whole chapter. I know the promise of Immanuel is wonderful. We will talk about it. But the lesson that takes in the whole picture of Isaiah 7 is this one verse, verse nine, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” That is the warning that Isaiah gives to Ahaz. The greatest danger in the universe is unbelief in Almighty God, for this makes the sovereign Lord, who sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth, it makes him your enemy. And who can stand before him? Here I perceive also the same issue as the gospel itself. Romans 1:17, “The righteous will live by faith.” Those who refuse to believe in Christ will be destroyed, and they will be destroyed by the very things they trust in, as Ahaz was destroyed by the very nation he trusted in, Assyria. Unbelievers trust in false gods and false good works, and they will prove the greatest enemies of our souls on judgment day. IV. The Sovereign Lord Gives a Sign: Immanuel (vs. 10-17) Stooping to Our Weakness And so the sovereign Lord stoops to our weakness. He stoops to Ahaz's weakness, and he wants to give him a sign, the sign of Immanuel. It's amazing, isn't it? How sweetly patient our God is. How much he is willing to reach out. "All day long," He says, "I have held out my hands to an obstinate people” (Isaiah 65:2). This is God. And so he stoops to Ahaz's weakness, and he wants to give him a sign. He knows Ahaz's heart is terrified. He knows it is faithless. He wants to give him a sign to help him. And so Isaiah, on behalf of the Almighty God, hands Ahaz a blank check with God's signature and says, "Fill it in, any amount, anything you want, and I will do it." It's an astonishing statement here. "Ask the Lord your God," verse 11, "Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights, [anything, and I'll do it.]" And notice the language here, very hopeful. Speaking to Ahaz, "Ask the Lord your God, Ahaz.” “Your God” - that will change in a moment. But at this point, he has an invitation to trust in the God of his father David, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of power. And look at the graciousness of the command: "Ask for any sign." Remember one time during the period of the conquest, when Joshua was fighting, and he asked God for an extraordinary thing. He just wanted a little more time that day to finish off the battle. Do you remember that from Joshua 10:12-14? "On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: 'O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies. … The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!" Well, here Isaiah goes out on behalf of the sovereign Lord and says, "You can ask for anything. I'll even do that again if you want, so that you will know that God is still fighting for his people." Ahaz’s Transparent Hypocrisy But what does Ahaz do with this blank check? He crumples it up and throws it on the ground. And he does it with a transparent hypocrisy that is really quite shocking. "I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test" (verse 12). Oh, that is really lousy. And that smells. I know he's quoting Deuteronomy and all that. And I know the Lord said this in terms of casting himself off the pinnacle of the temple and all that. “Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah” (Deuteronomy 6:16). But God had told him to do it! That’s the whole issue. If the Lord had commanded, if God had commanded Jesus to cast himself from the pinnacle of the temple, Jesus would have done it without hesitation, knowing that God would send his angels to catch him. But God hadn't commanded Jesus to do that. The whole issue is what is God commanding? And here the sovereign Lord has commanded Ahaz, "Ask for a sign." And he says, "I won't do it." The fact is that God is really testing Ahaz. He wants Ahaz, he wants all of us to see what is in his heart. There is nothing there toward God. He doesn't want to ask God to give him a sign, because he doesn't want God to do the sign. He doesn't want anything to do with Yahweh. He doesn't want anything to do with a mighty, wonder working God. All he wants is to solve his problems his own way. He already knows what he is going to do. He is making preparations for the siege. He already knows what his plan is. We'll get to that in a moment. But Isaiah gives him a sharp reply from the Lord. Verse 13: “Then Isaiah said, ‘Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?’” Oh, that is significant. Notice he doesn't say your God here. The moment has passed. There is a moment, and it passes. There was an opportunity there for Ahaz, and he threw it on the ground. And so now it is my God. This is the decisive moment, I believe, in Ahaz's life. He refuses the grace and help that the Lord will give. Judah will be saved, but not by Ahaz. Not by Ahaz. The Sign: Immanuel And so, here comes the sign, verses 14 through 16, "The Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him, Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste." Alright, so Ahaz won't ask for a sign, the Lord will choose the sign. He is going to give a sign. This time it is of the Lord's choosing. And notice that the sign is given to the whole nation. The word is plural. It's not just to Ahaz singular. It's "to you, the Lord will give all of you a sign." And this sign is a word. It is a child who symbolizes the word "Immanuel" - God with us. Three Issues with the Sign Now there are three weighty issues with this verse, three significant issues we need to try to figure out. First and foremost, was there an immediate sign given in Ahaz's time? Did God do something for Ahaz in his generation? Second, does this verse teach the virgin birth? Third, what is the significance of the word, "Immanuel"? Three key questions here. Let's take the first. Was there an immediate sign given in Ahaz's time? Absolutely, yes, there was. The whole thing with Christian prophecy in the Old Testament is that of shadow and fulfillment. There is a reality that acts out an aspect of Christ's life, and then the perfect fulfillment is in Christ. And so, we have that again here. There was an Israelite young lady who was going to give birth to a son at that time, and they would give him the name "Immanuel." And that son, that boy, would be a sign and a symbol of something the Lord was going to do. This mysterious name, this word "Immanuel," is the essence of the sign. The boy, I believe, was just an ordinary boy. But he became somewhat like a time clock, measuring what God intended to do. And so, how long does it take for a young boy to know right from wrong? It says, "He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste." They are not even going to be an issue anymore. Well that's what - five or six years? In a very, very, very short time, it is going to be laid waste. And you are not going to be wondering anymore about those two kingdoms that are allied together against you. And so there's the sign. It's a time clock. In a very, very short time - you won't have to wait long - those two kingdoms will be destroyed. So yes, there was a sign immediately given in Ahaz's day. Secondly, does this verse teach the virgin birth? Now, that is problematic. I just said there would be a baby born. Born to a virgin? I think not. Why do I say that? I think that was utterly unique in all of redemptive history, the virgin birth. Never to be repeated. Never happened before. Now, we recognize that Mathew picked this verse as a prediction of the virgin birth. Mathew 1:22-23, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ - which means, ‘God with us.’” But the virgin birth is utterly unique in all of history. I can't imagine that a child born in Ahaz's day was born from a virgin. So Isaiah uses a word, "almah", a Hebrew word which always refers in the Old Testament to a virgin, but which does not emphasize specifically her virginity as another Hebrew word would have. I love Martin Luther's quote on this. Martin Luther offered one hundred guilders, one hundred gold coins to anyone who could show that the Hebrew word "almah" ever referred to a married woman. In characteristic fashion Luther said only God knew where he'd get the one hundred guilders if someone could meet his bet. “I don't have that kind of money, but I'm pretty confident on this one, that you'll never be able show me that this word refers to a married woman.” So I think this Hebrew word is admirably suited both for the immediate circumstances of Ahaz, and then for the future glorious fulfillment. I don't think anyone really could have understood until it happened that a virgin would literally be with child by the power of the sovereign God. What is the significance of the word "Immanuel"? Well, the word literally means “God with us.” Here in Ahaz's day, it meant that the true source of Judah's safety was the fact that Almighty God was protecting her. That is the source of Judah's true safety. Look over, if you would, just one chapter to Isaiah 8, perhaps right there on the same page, and look at verses nine and ten. “Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand.” Why? “For God is with us.” Do you see that? There's the protection. All you nations that mean us harm, just know this, you will lose. You go ahead and make your plans. Get yourself ready. It doesn't make a difference. Why? Because the sovereign God is on our side. We will find out later what he can do with one angel in one night - 185,000 troops. He can do anything. So the real safety and security for Judah is this: God is with us. No nation, no matter how mighty, can defeat God's people while God is fighting for them. And so Deuteronomy 32:9-11 says this: “For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance… He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” Oh, what a glorious picture! God as a powerful eagle protecting the little ones, and none can harm them because he is sovereign and powerful. That's what Immanuel means, the power of God to defeat all of our enemies. Now the deeper significance of Immanuel comes with the birth of Christ. More in a moment on that. V. False Faith Proves Ruinous: Assyria is Coming! (vs. 17-25) Both God and Ahaz Summon Assyria But then we see the false faith of Ahaz that proves ruinous. Assyria is coming. Assyria is coming, verses 17 through 25, and amazingly, both God and Ahaz are going to summon Assyria for very different purposes. Faithless Ahaz turns away from God to Assyria for help Despite the sweet promises of protection from the Lord, Ahaz turns away in faithless unbelief. He has no faith in the Lord. He must save himself, and so he makes a fatal alliance with Assyria. The tragic story is told fully in 2 Kings 16:7-9, "Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, 'I am your servant and your vassal.'" That should just make the hairs come up in the back of your neck. "I am your servant, O king of Assyria." I want to be a servant of the living God, don't you? I don't want to say that to anybody, “I am your servant.” Not in this sense. "I am your servant and your vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” “Come up and save me," he says. "And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it." So there is a little boy Immanuel. Within a handful of years, the two kingdoms will be destroyed and laid waste. By whom? By Assyria. Assyria is going to come and lay them waste. And in honor of his new liege Lord, the king of Assyria, Ahaz changes the worship patterns of Judah. He sees an Assyrian altar there in Damascus and sends the plans for the altar back to be built according to that pattern. When he goes back and sees his replica altar, he offers sacrifices on it according to his own new religion, and he seeks guidance from it. He took things out of the temple of the Lord and sent them in honor to the king of Assyria. “But that did not help him” (2 Chronicles 28:21). He eventually shut the doors of the Lord's temple entirely and set up altars on every street corner in Jerusalem and worshipped false gods after the pagan pattern of Assyria. That's what he did. Wholesale defection. That's why I say the key moment is here in Isaiah 7, when God invites him and asks him to ask for a sign. This foolish act would eventually destroy most of Judah. And why? Because Assyria is coming. One commentator said, "It's like a little mouse fighting against two larger mice and summoning the cat to come help. And so the cat comes gladly and takes care of the two little mice. And what's left? The third little mouse. And Judah is going to get gobbled up too. God predicts and brings Assyria Now, I said both Ahaz and Almighty God summoned Assyria, but for very different reasons. Now he is going to use Assyria to search the hearts of his own people on this very issue: Who are you trusting? Are you going to trust God, or are you going to trust Assyria? So when they come (look at verses 17 through 20), “The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah - he will bring the king of Assyria. In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria. They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River - the king of Assyria - to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also.” Notice God does not merely predict that Assyria will come. That's not what it says. No, he brings them. He is going to bring the king of Assyria. He is going to whistle, like the master of bees and flies, for them to come. He is going to hire a razor to come do the shaving. He is going to humiliate his people. He is going to bring them. And the bottom line is this: What you trust in, if not the Lord, will ultimately destroy you. Assyria came not to save, but to destroy. Isaiah 10:6 tells us the purpose of the Assyrians. "To seize loot, and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets." That's their motive. Now, I believe if Ahaz had trusted in the Lord, I don't know what would have happened, but I think Assyria would have come anyway to take care of the northern kingdom. They were done. He would have come to destroy Aram, but they would have stopped at the border and would not have entered in. They might have wanted to come in, but they are not getting in there, because the sovereign Lord would have protected that little kingdom of Judah, as he can do. That's just speculation, but I think that's what would have happened. But instead, Ahaz – Judah - reaches out to Assyria and God brings them. The final result is that the land will be destroyed. It will be a cursed land. Look at Verses 23 through 25. "In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns.” In that place where there was rich fruitfulness, there is going to be cursing. “Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns.” That's cursed. Verse 25: “As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe [that's a blessed land], you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns [that's the curse]; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where the sheep run.” The land is going to be destroyed because of faithlessness, because they wouldn't trust in God. VI. The Immanuel Sign Fulfilled: Christ is Born Now, I want to focus on this sign, Immanuel, and its glorious fulfillment, Jesus Christ our Savior. The virgin birth - centuries later God remembered the sign that he had promised Ahaz. And Mary, the mother of Jesus, was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is clear and given a clear testimony in Luke 1 and Matthew 1. After Mary was told by the angel what would happen to her, she yearned to understand. Luke 1:34-35, “‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” But it is Matthew who links this event back to this prophecy and focuses on the word “Immanuel”. “An angel of the Lord appeared to him [Joseph] in a dream” (Matthew 1:20). Joseph was resolving to divorce Mary. He had trouble believing, as any of us would, that this virgin was really a virgin with child. It had never happened before. And so being a just man, he resolved to divorce her quietly. “But… an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ - which means ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:20,21). “God with us” – a literal fulfillment - Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. “The Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us, and we have beheld his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Hebrews 2:14, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity." He is God with us as a human being. More than that, however, sweetly more than that, he is God on our side, God who has come to save us, God who has come to deliver us, God for us. Romans 8:31, "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” “Who cares who's against us?” My translation. Well, not a translation, just a few extra things. We'll just preach on that. "Who cares who's against us?!” Assyria, Satan, the world and the flesh, it doesn't matter. If God is for us, who could be against us? God for us and God with us - through everything we're going through. As he says in Hebrews 13:5, "Never will I leave you; Never will I forsake you.” “When you pass through the rivers, I will be with you. When you walk through the fire, I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:2). Forever he is with us. God walking alongside us in temptation. He was tempted in every way just as we are, yet he was without sin. Let's go to him then that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. God is with us in the midst of suffering. We endure, knowing that Jesus suffered more than any of us ever could or ever will on the cross. He knows suffering. Go to him as you are suffering. He is God with us. He is God with us in the trial of death. "He tasted death for everyone," it says in Hebrews 2:9. He is also God with us in all of the work he gives us to do. Remember how, through the flames of the burning bush, God sent Moses to Pharaoh? And he said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:11). And what did the Lord say? "I will be with you." "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12). And so he has entrusted to us the work of reconciliation for the whole world. To the church he has entrusted to us that we should “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19,20). But what does he say after that? “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God with us in everything he has commanded us to do. He will never leave us and never forsake us. The True Deliverance And God with us to deliver us from the true danger. It's not the Assyrians. It's not the Arameans. It's not Israel. It's none of that. The true deliverance is from sin and death and hell. Hallelujah! He has come to deliver us from those enemies, and so he drank the cup of God's wrath. He drank hell in on the cross. He suffered hell for us so that we could be delivered. “And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night” (Revelation 4:11). That's the real deliverance we need. We need to be delivered from hell. We need to be delivered from judgement and from wrath. And we deserve it. We know it. The Final Fulfillment: Eternally with God But Jesus has come to deliver us from what we truly deserve by giving us a free gift. And the final fulfillment of God with us is heaven itself. Heaven itself. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3). That's God with us friends. "Father," he says in John 17:24, “I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory.” And so the final fulfillment of Immanuel is Revelation 21:2,3. “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men.’” God with men. That's Immanuel. “And he will live with them, [Immanuel], "they will be his people, and God himself will be with them, [that's Immanuel], "and [he will] be their God.” That is the fulfillment of the promise of Isaiah 7:14. Eternity in Heaven in face to face fellowship with Almighty God. VII. Central Lesson: In What Are You Trusting? How Do You React During Trials? So what is the central lesson of Isaiah 7? This is: What are you trusting in? What do your trials show you that you are trusting in? How do you react when you get bad news? Whether it's financial, or medical, relational, spiritual - when you get bad news and your heart is laid bare what are you really trusting in? Is your heart fluttering like a leaf when you get some bad news? Or are you rock solid knowing there is a God who sovereignly overrules your life and nothing can touch you except what is passed through his wise and loving hands. Which is it? Are you stable or are you fluttering? Christ is saying, "Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart" (Isaiah 7:4). Even More Poignantly, What About Your Soul?? Even more poignantly he says to all of us, to the human race, “There is an earthquake coming far greater than any we've seen in the current events. It is going to shake what you built. It is going to shake everything. Once more he will return and shake the earth. And if you do not stand by faith on that day, you will not stand at all.” Romans 1:16-17 puts it this way, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” I appreciated singing “Come Ye Sinners, Poor And Needy.” Oh, is that powerful! Wasn't that powerful? I wanted there to be twenty more verses. I guess then I wouldn’t be preaching now. But that's fine. We'd still be singing. But that's fine. Oh the rich theology. The rich, rich theology. And one of the verses said this, Lo, the incarnate God, ascended, Pleads the merit of his blood: Venture on Him, venture wholly, Let no other trust intrude! Oh, is that potent. Venture out like you're on the seventh floor of a burning high rise and a hook and ladder has come to save your life. Don't hesitate. Go. Venture forth and don't look for anything else to save you. “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must saved” (Acts 4:12). It's Jesus alone. Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved. And it says, “Let no other trust intrude! Yesterday, I had the privilege of performing a wedding for Jim and Claire Ewell. And standing right here at the very end of the ceremony, I gave them permission, actually kind of a command. “You may kiss the bride.” I think he was eager to do it. And so he stepped forward and he embraced his bride and kissed her. A public display of affection right here in church. He gave her a big kiss. But at that moment of marital embrace, there was not a man or woman or child on the face of the earth who would have been welcome to join them. No one. I was closest to them. I wasn't tempted. That was their moment. That's a picture of the soul in Christ. Let no other trust intrude. He is the lover of your soul. He is the only one who can save you. Nothing else has a right to intrude on the embrace of your soul and your savior Jesus Christ. Close with me in prayer.

God’s creation of the Heavens and the Earth In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. With those words, God begins his communication to us in scripture. Very familiar words to us, I'm sure. And as we begin a study in the first 12 chapters of Genesis today, we begin with a contemplation of God's creation, as recorded in Genesis chapter 1. Recently scientists have discovered a star, a single star, which is in diameter the same as our solar system. Now, that may not be amazing to you, but you should understand just how large our solar system is. The outermost planet, which took until 1930 to discover because it's so small and so far away. Pluto takes 248 years to travel around the Sun one time. . . 248 years. It takes light from the sun four-and-a-half months to reach Pluto. That's how large our solar system is, and there is somewhere out there one star, so immense that it is the same diameter as the trip that Pluto makes 248 years around the sun, that's how large it is. The immense power of God displayed in what he has made. And then there's that inner universe within you. When you got in the car today and drove here, I bet you didn't realize just what there was inside you, but inside every one of your cells there is something called DNA. Now, we learned in this 20th century that the DNA structure is that of a double helix, kind of a spiral within a spiral. If all of your DNA were taken and put in one place, it would be smaller than that, than the size of an ice cube. But if we were to take all of that double helix and stretch it out and set it end to end, it would travel from the earth to the sun and back 400 times. Within your body, there is that much wisdom in the creation of God, the power of God, and the wisdom of God evidenced in his creation. And, so for this reason, it is so important for us to come to the root, the beginning of scripture and understand what God has taught us about his creation. Now, as we do so, we enter the world of the Old Testament. Essential role of the Old Testament Now, many Christians, I think, are somewhat unfamiliar with the world of the Old Testament. It feels a little strange. And it's even more strange, perhaps the world before the flood and all the changes that have occurred since the flood of Noah. It's an unfamiliar world to us, a little bit strange, it's also a controversial world. Now, I could spend my entire time this morning delving into some of the controversies that have been fought over Genesis chapter 1, but I'm not going to take the time to do that. We'll touch on a few of them, but we have to realize also that it's well worth our effort to roll up our sleeves and study in Genesis 1 and the first 12 chapters of Genesis, because these chapters are indispensable to our Christian faith. We do well to study them and understand them carefully. Every Christian doctrine... every key doctrine in the New Testament finds its roots in the Old Testament, and most of them, I would say in the first 12 chapters of the Old Testament. You have the doctrine of creation, the fact that there is a creator God. We have the doctrine of humanity, of men and women made in the image of God. We have the doctrine of sin and how it ended the world. And we have the doctrine of redemption. Genesis controversy All of these things finding their roots in Genesis. Genesis is truly the book of origins, of beginnings. We have the account of the origins of the universe and of the solar system. Of the atmosphere which surrounds us. Of life itself, of the human race, and of work given to us to do. Of marriage and then of evil as it entered the world of crime and of punishment. The origins of language, of government, of science, and culture, nations, religion, ultimately the chosen people with Abraham. All of that we see in the first 12 chapters of the book of Genesis. And yet as we do so, we enter into controversy with our surrounding culture. We enter into controversy even with theologians who study the gospel and study the book of Genesis carefully. There has been a tremendous battle over Genesis in the 20th century, a tremendous debate. There is a conflict with science, a conflict with science. Cosmology, the study of the universe around us, a study of the origins of the universe seems to bring an evidence which contradicts what we read in Genesis. We have the Hubble Space Telescope, which is bringing back clear pictures of stars and of galaxies as they are spread out through the universe, and it seems to challenge what some people believe about the book of Genesis. We have the theories that come with that, the ‘Big Bang’ and the red shift with the stars and the expanding universe. All of this seems to challenge what is said in Genesis, but yet in Psalm 19, it says that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands. As we look up in the stars and the skies, we don't see... We as Christians don't see that which should produce controversy, but rather that which should produce worship. And that is my purpose today, to wade through all of that and to get at the real issue here which is that God as creator is worthy to be worshipped and praised. But it's not just cosmology and physics. There's also the whole theory about the origins of the human race itself with Darwin's theory of evolution. We have the controversy of the age of the Earth and fossils, the whole fossil record. The historicity of the flood account; could it really be true? Or is it just a myth? The origins of languages. Did all languages come from one single language, or is there some other explanation? But along with that has come conflict with theologians. Even before the time of Darwin, people... theologians started to question the Genesis account, started to begin to wonder about it. In Germany, there are theologians that question whether it was Moses who wrote the first five books of the Bible, and they began to come up with theories about the origins of that. Even the SBC, the Southern Baptist Convention has been rocked with controversy in relation to the book of Genesis. In 1961, Dr. Ralph Elliott, who was Professor of Old Testament at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City, wrote a book called “The Message of Genesis” and that's a very key title. The message of Genesis, according to Dr. Elliott is the key thing, not the facts found in the book of Genesis. We're not supposed to be so concerned with the scientific facts, we're supposed to be concerned with the general message. And this is what he said, "We must learn to think of the stories of Genesis, the creation, the fall, Noah's ark, Tower of Babel, in the same way as we think of the parables of Jesus. They are profoundly symbolical though not allegorical stories which aren't to be taken as literally true like the words of the textbook of geology would be.” Significant statement. "But which yet bare meaning that cannot be paraphrased or stated in any other way without losing something or their quality of existential truth." What are all those words? Basically, the book of Genesis is a moral allegory or parable? It's just meant to tell us something about truth? We're not to re-arrange it because then we lose some of the truth, but it is not to be taken literally true the way the words in a textbook of geology would? And so what has he done but put geology above the scripture as a source of absolute truth. But there is a danger to this kind of compromise. Where does it stop? At what point do you say that, “Well, this is just allegory” or “This is the moral truth, but this is historically accurate.” Some theologians go so far as to say it really doesn't matter whether Jesus was ever born, lived or died on the cross, or rose again. What really matters is the truth we get out of it. What we receive from it. But what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:17, he says, "If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile and you are still dead in your sins." Overview of Genesis 1 In other words, if the tomb is still full of the body of Jesus Christ, then you have no hope on judgment day. The historical facts mean a great deal. My convictions about this, and if any of you would like to come and talk to me about it, and in a time when we don't have so little time, I would love to tell you why I believe this. Every word in here is inspired word of God. It's all true. My God is big enough to create the universe in six days, fully capable of doing it. And that science rightly understood does not compete with theology rightly understood, but rather supplants it. I really believe that God gave us our minds and our intellect so that we could study the universe and worship him, and that we could give glory to him. Many of the great scientists of history have been true Bible-believing Christians who sought to use their intellect to create praise and worship for God. Well, having said that, let's look at an overview of this chapter, Genesis 1 to try to understand it in a big picture. As I said, I believe this is a chronological account of the creation of the universe. In other words, what I mean is that day two followed day one and day three followed day two. Now, there is a theory called the “Day Age Theory,” namely that the Hebrew word for day, Yom can mean an age or an era, and that there was the first era and then there was the second era, and there was a third era. The problem is it doesn't read that way at all when it says there was evening and there was morning, the first day. You have to ask yourself if he had wanted. . . if God had wanted to communicate to us that he created in six literal days, what language would he use? Could he have been any clearer? And then in the Ten Commandments, it says, Remember the Sabbath day To keep it holy. Do all your work in six days. And rest on the seventh. Why? For God made Heaven and Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. The analogy falls apart if God made Heaven and Earth in six indeterminant eras. I take it to be literally true and in consecutive order, but yet there is a logical framework here. If you tend to look at it, look at it a little more carefully, you can see something. In the first three days — day one, day two, day three — you see a preparation, what I call a preparation by separation. God prepares in each of those three days, what I consider to be realms of inhabitation where the inhabitants of day four, five and six would go live. So day one prepares for day four. Day two prepares for day five. Day three prepares for day six. I'll show you what I mean. In day one, we get the separation of light from dark. What do you get in day four? The sun moves into the day and rules over... The moon rules into the... Moves into the night and rules over it. In day two, you get the separation of the waters above, namely the sky, from the waters below. Well, what do you get in day five? You get the birds to fly in the waters above, and you get the fish to swim in the seas below. And then in day three, you get the dry land. What do you get in day six? Those that live on dry land, including beasts and living creatures, and the human race itself. There is an organization to the way that God did it, and I think it's marvelous and beautiful. Immediate focus on God Now let's look a little more carefully at the verses themselves. We begin in verse 1 with the statement that I already read. “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth,” and then it says in verse 2, “Now the Earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” And so we get in scripture, since this is the very first communication to us as we read scripture, we get an immediate focus on the person of God. In the beginning, God. God is the author and the perfecter of the universe. He is the central actor in all history. God speaks and worlds are simply created. An immediate focus on the person of God, scripture does not try to prove the existence of God, it just assumes it. Immediately, God makes his appearance in the first verse, and it says, “In the beginning,” in the beginning of what? In the beginning of everything that was created. In the beginning of all creation. This is the doctrine of creation from nothing. God spoke into nothing and it was created. He spoke and worlds came to exist. Now, we find out later in scripture that there was a whole bunch of things that happened before Genesis 1:1. They were all within the trinity — Father, Son and Spirit — but they all existed. There was an eternity of fellowship, Father, Son and Spirit, before Genesis 1:1 ever came to be. Father, Son and Spirit have always existed. If they are Trinity today, they were Trinity yesterday. They will be Trinity tomorrow. They have always been Father, Son and Spirit, and they were Father, Son and Spirit before the earth was created. And so Jesus prays in John 17, “And now Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the creation of the world.” So the Son had glory with the Father before Genesis 1:1 ever came to be. Glorify me with the glory I had in your presence before the world began. But yet... You know what else, the salvation plan itself was worked out before Genesis 1:1 came to be. There's many verses about this in the New Testament. I like this one in 1 Corinthians 2:7, it says, "No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden, and that God destined for our glory before the world began." Isn't that marvelous? The whole wisdom, the plan of God for your salvation was worked out in completion before Genesis 1:1. It's all figured out ahead of time. And so it says in Revelation 13:8, that Jesus is the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. In what sense was Jesus slain from the creation of the world? In the mind of God, Jesus died on the cross. Before Genesis 1:1, he had it all worked out. Nothing surprised him. Now, it says that God created the Heavens and the Earth. Now, as we see Genesis 1 unfold, the Heavens, in Genesis 1 means the physical Heavens. But we learn later from scripture that there is a spiritual realm as well where God dwells, and so we say, “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name,’ etcetera. Also it talks in Ephesians about a spiritual force of evil in the heavenly realms. They were good when they were originally created, but there is a heavenly realm, a world of spirit beings. We find out more about them in the book of Revelation. You remember those living creatures that were around the throne? Those are spiritual beings. And God created them at this time as well. So we have the Heavens and the Earth, but we also have the physical Heavens, namely outer space, the universe, then innerspace, the atmosphere, etcetera, where the birds fly. So you have both the sun, the moon, and the stars in the Heavens, and we also have the birds flying across the Heavens. God created it all. And he also created the Earth. And then it says, “The Earth was formless and void." The Hebrew is powerful here. It says, the Earth was tohu wa-bohu. Isn't that great? Tohu wa-bohu. And I learned Hebrew, I said that over and over, I had to memorize it, but formless and void, tohu wa-bohu. Like a desert, a trackless waste, a sense that it's like a world waiting to be ordered and organized. I get the image here of a potter taking some clay and throwing it down on the center of the wheel. And then beginning to take his hands and arrange it and create it in beautiful order, and that's what he does in the six days. And it says that darkness was on the surface of the deep. The Hebrew word for deep usually refers to the depths of the ocean, but it could just be deep of the universe, the sense of infinitude. The darkness was over it. The light had not yet been created. There's a sense of foreboding, a sense of immediacy, a sense of the universe waiting for God to form and shape it. Darkness later in Scripture tends to symbolize evil and ignorance from God. Ignorance of God. And so into all of this, God is about to create. And it says "The spirit of God is hovering over the waters." It's an amazing thing that the second verse of the Bible mentions the third person of the trinity. Father, Son and Spirit, active at creation. Now, we don't see the Son active as we will see in a moment, but the Spirit of God is there, hovering. Now, the Hebrew word for spirit can also mean wind, but winds don't hover, do they? You all came to work... I mean to church, this morning, and you saw the wind. Was the wind hovering? No, it was blowing. Alright? The wind does not hover, but the Spirit does like an eagle over its nest. And so the Spirit was waiting to move out with God's creative plan. And so we see the Trinity active, we don't see the Son, but we realize later in Colossians chapter 1, that the Son... By the Son, Jesus Christ, all things were created, things in Heaven and in Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created for Jesus and by Jesus. And so that's what we believe, Father, Son, and Spirit, and then the six days of creation unfold from there. And I believe that the whole thing is the preparation of the male and female, or the man and woman to make their entrance as the culmination of the six days of creation. God is getting everything ready. And so just like he did with the first physical creation, so he is doing now with the spiritual creation, isn't he? There will some day be a new Heavens and a new Earth, the home of righteousness. And so Jesus says in John 14:2, "In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you,” for I'm going to do what? "To prepare a place for you." Isn't that marvelous? Jesus has been getting this place ready for you for thousands of years, and he's getting you ready for the place as well, so there's a sense of preparation. I think the same thing happened with the physical creation as well, God getting everything ready for the appearance of the human race. Day one Verse 3, And God said, “Let there be light, and there was light, and God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light day and the darkness He called night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” So the beginning of the shaping of the physical universe is the creation of light. The creation of light. Now, light is a form of communication, is it not? You're all looking at my face or looking at something, maybe you're looking at the Bible, you're looking at something, but light is hitting off something and coming into your eyes. It gives you information about the world around you. Light is also a source of energy, ultimately when God creates the vegetation, it will be a source of food. So the first creative act of God in shaping the universe that he's made is saying, “Let there be light” and there is light. What's so beautiful is the same thing happened in your soul when you came to faith in Jesus Christ. It says in Corinthians, that God who created light out of darkness spoke the same thing into your soul. He said, Let there be light in your soul when you didn't even know Jesus or believed, and then you were born again by the power of the spirit. It's the same creative power. God speaks and there is light where there wasn't any before. Isn't that beautiful? And I've got... When I was at MIT, we got into all these debates all the time, Well, how could there be light if there wasn't a sun? Well there's light in here, and the sun isn't too bright. That thing creates light, there's all kinds of light bearers around us. I can't ever see up there, don't think that I'm not thinking of you, but when I look up, I get blinded by the lights that come down here. But the fact of the matter is that there's all kinds of light bearers, but God himself is the ultimate source of light. He is the one that creates light, and so he doesn't need the sun. He can wait until the fourth day to make the sun. So it says in Revelation 22:5, "There will be no more night in that finally eternal city, there will be no sun, there will be no light of the lamp, for God Himself will give the city light." He's fully capable of doing that. Doesn't need the sun. So we dispensed with that one. There are a harder debates, but that was an easy one. Day two Then the first separation we see on the first day, light from darkness. Remember preparation by separation. Light from darkness, and God calls the light good. The second day in verse 6, it says, "And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water, and so God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it, and it was so. And God called the expanse sky, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day.” Now, in the King James version, you know what the King James version is for expanse? Firmament. Isn't that a great word? I love that word, firmament. The Hebrew word for expanse, or firmament, is connected to a verb, which means to spread out like with a hammer, like with beaten metal. So if you imagine some metal and you hammer until it gets thin and spread out. So it's something thin and yet firm. Day three Job 37:18, it says, "Can you with him spread out the sky, strong as a molten mirror." Same Greek... Hebrew word, there's a sense of spreading out and yet firmness, and so this firmament is spread out and it's a separation of the waters above, from the waters below. The third day in verse 9, it says, "God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear, and it was so. And God called the dry ground land and the gathered waters, he called seas, and God saw that it good. Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so, the land produced vegetation, plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning, the third day." So this is the third great separation, the separation of the waters from the dry land. And we see God's great power. Do you realize how easy it is to separate? To say the words separate water from land, but you realize how many trillions of gallons of water we're talking about? In the book of Isaiah, it says that God gathers the seas as in a jar, it's nothing to him. He can move that water around. He'll do it again with the flood and then he'll move it back off again, God can move the water anywhere he wants. God is immensely powerful. And so he takes these trillions of gallons and moves them and sets a boundary for the sea and says, You'll go this far and no further. Have you ever seen that boundary, it's called the beach. You go there and there's nothing all that powerful about a beach. Alright, you think, “Well, this isn't much protection.” I bet people down there right now aren't feeling very protected from the ocean, but there is not much protection. You know what stops the ocean? It's the command of God. You're going to go this far and no further, the waters could easily inundate the Earth if God said, but he controls it. And then God speaks and creates vegetation, creates plants, and they come up and each come up according to their kind, and that's such an important word here in Genesis 1. We have the word kind connects, I think to genetics. There's a sense that when you take a tomato seed and plant it in the ground, you're going to get a tomato and not an eggplant. If you bought a packet of tomato seeds and you got eggplant, what would you do? You'd think you'd been ripped off. That somebody had... you didn't think that you were seeing evolution occurring right before you. You'd think somebody put the wrong seeds in the packet, you expect to see a tomato coming from a tomato seed. God said that it would grow according to its kind, and genetic material in the seed and the vegetation grows up. And so now everything is ready. Separation by... Preparation by separation is all done. The three days are ready, and now we're going to get the inhabitants moving in. When I was a student at MIT, there was something called moving day. It was right around this time, maybe a little bit, a week or two ago. And all the students would come and they would double and triple park on Beacon Street in Boston, and they'd move all their things out. Their parents would be there, the U-hauls would be there. Day four And then they'd move into the places that had been prepared for them. Well, I think that between day three and day four, we get moving day, and now we're going to get the inhabitants moving into the realms that had been prepared for them. In verse 14, it says, "God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to move to mark seasons and days and years. And let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the Earth, and it was so. God made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day... " Interesting word, "and a lesser light to govern the night. And he also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on Earth to govern the day and night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning the fourth day." I think the word govern is very interesting. We get the sun and the moon, somewhat like kings within realms, don't we? The sun is the king of the day, the moon the king of the night. Later we're going to get another king. And that is man, created male and female in the image of God to rule over the dry land and over all that has been created on Earth. And then on the seventh day, we get the ultimate king, God himself sitting down to rule over all of it. So we get these leaders, and yet at the same time, the sun and the moon are servant kings, aren't they? They are serving the Earth, they give light to theEarth, and we use the sun to mark our days and seasons and years, don't we? And the moon also serves the Earth in ways that we can't fully understand, but the gravitational pull has a certain effect on us. The sun and the moon both serve the Earth. There's an Earthbound focus here in the 16th century. An astronomer named Copernicus discovered that it was not the sun that traveled around the Earth, but it was the Earth that traveled around the sun. Well, that is true, it is true. No question about it. But yet here in Genesis 1, the purpose of the sun is Earth-bound. Did you notice that? It's created to give light to the Earth, and the stars as well have an Earth-bound focus. Notice how in... I think it's in verse 17, it just nonchalantly says, he also made the stars. Do you know how many stars there are? Billions of galaxies. And how many stars are in each galaxy? Billions of stars. Do you know that God gave Adam and Eve the job, Adam the job, of naming the animals. But he reserved the job of naming the stars to himself. It's too big for us. We can't handle it. We named stars like star C17 and sector B3, we can't... we run out of names. But God doesn't run out of names. He knows, and it says in Isaiah, “because of his great power and his mighty strength, not one star is missing, and he calls each one of them by name.” God's immense power with the stars. Now, around that time, way back then, ancient cultures, they worshipped the stars, didn't they? They looked up at the starry host and they saw them as representative of deities. But God created the stars by the breath of his mouth, they are not to be worshipped, but they are servants just like the sun and the moon. And they have an Earth-bound focus, it says at the end of history, in Matthew 24:29. Jesus himself said, "The sun will be darkened. The moon will turn, will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies would be shaken." In other words, when history is done here on Earth, history is done out there as well, and then there will be a new Heavens and a new Earth, the home of righteousness, Earth-bound focus. Day five Fifth day, verse 20, "And God said, Let the waters team with living creatures and let birds fly above the Earth across the expanse of the sky, so God created the great creatures of the sea, and every living and moving thing with which the water teams according to their kinds and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and increase in number. And fill the water in the seas and let the birds increase on Earth. And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day." Here we get a tremendous proliferation of species, one after another, but each of them proliferate according to their kinds. Again, the genetic information passed from the parent to the child, never across, or a confusion about that. You're never going to see a bird mate with a fish or vice versa, but they proliferate according to their kinds. And notice also that God created the great creatures of the deep. In the Babylonian and Canaanite creation myths, the good god had to wrestle with a sea serpent or an ancient kind of figure of evil, and when he had slain it, then creation came out of that evil sea creature. Here God just makes the whales and lets them play in the water. Isn't that beautiful? God creates the immense creatures of the sea. Some of them, I don't even know that we've discovered all of them down in the depths of the sea, and there they are, giving glory to God, their creator. Do you know that the humpback whale, do you ever wonder how the humpback whale fishes? Probably you didn't, but I'm going to tell you. The humpback whale lets out a stream of air bubbles out of its blowhole, and it swims upward in a spiral, breathing out the whole way. And what this does is it creates a curtain of bubbles, and all that krill and small fish, they don't go through the bubbles, they stay in there, and then it moves up through the center and eats them. Isn't that a marvelous thing? And God created that. We could go on and on with all the beauty and the wisdom in the creation of God. And God created these sea creatures. Day six Now we come to the sixth day, the climax of all the creation, and the sixth day comes to us in two basic steps. We get the beasts of the earth created first, and then we get the creation of man, of male and female in the image of God. First the creation of beasts of the dry land. Verse 24, it says, "God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds, livestock creatures that move along the ground and wild animals each according to its kind, and it was so. And God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along on the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." Did you notice a phrase I kept saying over and over? According to their kinds, five times in two verses. God has said that these creatures are to multiply according to their kind. He had already said it about vegetation as well. It couldn't be clearer, that the proliferation of species is going to be along genetically determined lines according to the purposes, the wisdom, the plan of God. We get livestock, we get reptiles and game, how many species are there on Earth? Who can say? But God created them and created every one of them for his glory. But then we get the second step in the sixth day, and this is the culmination of it all, the creation of man. It says in verse 26, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule." Here we get the special act of creation. God's speaking in a way that he has not spoken up to this point. He says, Let us create man in our image, in our likeness. A number of years ago, in the early '70s, there was a book called “Chariots of the Gods.” Do you remember that book? Chariots of the Gods? There was a theory posed by this guy, and he took it from this verse, that our creators are actually extra-terrestrial beings from outer space. And why? Because there's a plural here, let us create in our image, etcetera, plural. Could it be a precursor of the trinity, Father, Son and Spirit? Could that be a better explanation than that we are descended from extraterrestrial beings? I think the scripture makes it clear. This is kingly language. He's speaking like a king, and I think he is speaking within the Trinity, within the triune Godhead saying let us create in our image. It's a statement of intention. Let us make man in our image and our likeness. And in verse 27, we get a statement of execution. So God did create man in his image, in the image of God he created him male and female, he created them. Statement of intention, statement of completion. When God intends, he completes. How unlike us he is. But he intends and it comes about in the image of, and likeness of, God is implanted to us from creation, it's very significant. It sets us apart from all of the rest of what he's created. Our skeletal structure, that which is left in the earth after we die, does not separate as much from the beasts of the Earth, does it? It is that which is implanted when God created us in his image. Now, what is the image and the likeness of God? There is a sense of God like character and characteristics. There's a mental side to it, the ability to think, to reason, to remember, to plan, there's the feeling side of it. The ability to emote, to have passions and feelings, all of that part of the image of God. There's a moral side to it as well. The ability to approve of what is right and to glory in it, to rejoice in that which is good. I think the physical side comes into it as well. Though our physical structure does not separate us from the beast, yet it is significant to God that we are created in his image. And so Jesus, the firstborn of the new creation has a resurrection body. And so that is a clear indication of the image of God even extending to our physical side as well. And then there's the relational side, male and female, both created in the image of God. There's a relationship there, and we are going to proliferate and cover the Earth and so there's going to be a relationship, not just between the male and the female, but between descendants and others as well. There's a relational side to the image of God, and there's also in terms of our role, a connection with the image of God. We are to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the Earth. We’re to subdue the Earth and rule over it. This is very God like, is it not? Just as we rule over the Earth, so God rules over us and all he has made. And so the image of God extends to our role, namely that we should rule over the Earth. Now, of course, sin has entered the human race. It has defaced the image of God, has it not? And so the image of God, though it still remains. Yet it is twisted, it is perverted by sin, and yet when Jesus Christ came and died on the cross, he began that redemptive work, that redemptive work of taking the image of God and restoring it, so that we are created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24, "And we know that when Jesus comes back, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is." Isn't that marvelous? And so we're actually going to go past the image of God that Adam and Eve experienced before they fell, and we'll be established in the eternal perfect relationship with God in Heaven. Something that was held back from Adam as we'll discuss next week, depending on what he would do with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The image and likeness of God imparted, and it is imparted to both male and female, both the male and the female have the image of God, no one more than the other, and so they are created. So gender also becomes a very important part of God's plan, how can we fill the Earth and how can we multiply except by the way that God has ordained male and female. Equality of worth established here at the beginning in that the image of God is given to both male and female. Now, equality of worth does not necessitate equality of roles or our different roles. Male has one role, the female, another. And that is even tied to biology. But also to others as well as we'll discuss next week, but yet it is clear that the image of God given to both male and female. Now, Satan has been working so hard recently to blur and to make strange no distinction really between male and female. And this is something that we need to go back to the very beginning and say that gender was given to the human race at the very start, and it was given to each one of you at your own creation as well, a gift from God. So this is the culmination of creation. And then God gives them their mandate. He says, "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the Earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Now realize, as I said, all leadership coming from God is meant to be servant leadership. We're not to subdue the Earth in a crushing sort of way. It says in the book of Revelation that God will destroy those who destroy the Earth. It was not meant to be a destructive thing, but rather a serving thing, as we'll see next week more carefully. I believe that ultimately we were meant to be “scientist-worshippers.” Not worshippers of science. I mean, scientist worshippers of God. We're supposed to go around as we proliferated without sin. We're supposed to fill the Earth, holy and righteous, we would be, and we're supposed to pick up every rock and look at it, look at what's under the rock, those creepy crawlies that God made and realize that God made them. And we're supposed to study them, study the soil and what's in the rocks, and give glory to the God who made it. We're not supposed to worship and serve created things more than the Creator who was ever praised amen? But we're supposed to study, and we're supposed to know and understand the glory that God has put in his creation, his own glory. And so it says in Habakkuk 2:14, "The Earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What in all that's been made here in the six days can have the knowledge of the glory of the Lord? Only man." And so we're supposed to take that knowledge and fill the Earth and know what God has done and worship him. We can still do it, we who have been recreated now through Christ, we can be scientist worshippers. Study what God has done and give him glory, for God has put glory in this world. God gives them a blessing and gives them vegetation and fruit for food, both to them and to the beasts of the earth. God’s reaction to his creation And then God sits back and reacts to what he has done. It says in verse 31, "God saw all that he had made and it was very good, and there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” God declares it all good. There is no evil in the universe at this point, though there are created spiritual beings who will rebel and will fall. Yet at this point, all things Satan included were good. And God richly enjoys his work, doesn't he? He's pleased with it. If you don't think God is pleased with his creation, read the final chapters of the book of Job, as God boasts about different things he's made. Did you make that? Could you do this? I did this. Were you there at the time? God loves his creation, because it's glorious. The Heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands. The entire creation in all of its vast array was complete. Day seven In verse 1 of chapter 2, "Thus the Heavens and the Earth were completed in all their vast array." Isn't that a great word? Their complexity, their interwoven systems were created. Only God fully understands them. But they're all done. They're finished, and so God rests in verse 2, chapter 2, it says, "By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing, and so on the seventh day, he rested from all his work." Now, we should not think of this rest, as I said on Wednesday, as some kind of build-up of lactic acid in the muscles of God. God doesn't get tired the way we do. He doesn't have muscles that have lactic acid that builds up. He didn't need to kick back and rest because he was so exhausted with the work he had done. Creating is exhausting work. And on the seventh day, you just need to rest. Is that what this is? I don't think so. The image I get instead is of a marvelous throne room with a red carpet going right down the middle, and God just moves through his creation, comes up the stairs, turns around and just sits down to rule over it. That's the picture I get. He's ruling over his creation, that's his rest. Sovereign king, sitting down to rule. John 5:17, Jesus said, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working" If God ceased working, you would cease to exist. But God never ceases working, instead he sits and rules over his creation. Verse 3, it says, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it, he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” This is the Sabbath rest, and I believe that Adam and Eve observed the Sabbaths before they fell, and they were to continue to be observed on and on. It's a sense of consecration up to God, a sense that he is our king, our ruler, and that someday we will come into our final Sabbath rest in eternity with God. . . once our probation is over. That's what the Sabbath was to be. And so it is today for us to observe a special day of worship points to our future glory. Now, we have looked in an incredibly quick way at Genesis chapter 1. We have skipped more things that could have been discussed than you would imagine. You would not believe how long this sermon was the first time I wrote it. So count your blessings. Name them one by one. But we have looked very carefully and quickly at Genesis chapter 1. Applications: Now we should come to a time of application. I could be the rest of my life telling you every point of application from Genesis 1. I've taken out four, but there are others besides. You think of them, you think of how should I live as a result of this? One of them, perhaps though, is weeding out false concepts. Henry Morris, who's a student of the book of Genesis says that the first statement of the Bible, “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth,” weeds out many of the false philosophies of our day. It refutes atheism for the universe was created by God. It refutes pantheism, the idea that the universe is God. For God is transcendent above what he has made. It refutes polytheism, for God was alone when he created all things. And it refutes materialism from matter, the stuff that everyone wants so much was created by God. He spoke it into existence. It refutes dualism, the idea that there's a good God and an evil God battling it out because there was one God and he created all things good. At the beginning, it refutes humanism, because God is the center of his creation, he rules over it all. We are not the center of the universe, but God is. And it refutes evolutionism as well. Time and time again, it's clear that God created all things and created them to replicate after their kinds according to his wise purpose. It refutes many of the false ideas of our day. The second is worship. We should go through Genesis chapter 1, and we should worship God. We should go through the word, we should sing that song, “This is my Father's world.” The God who made the Heavens and the Earth is my father, he loves me, and he sent his son to die on the cross for me. There's a sense of wonder and awe, isn't there? Psalm 8, it says, “When I consider your Heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man, that you care for him?” We look up at the stars and we are humbled by it, and yet we realize that he's made us a little lower than the angels. He has put a special place for us in Heaven by his own creative plan. There's a sense of wonder and awe and of worship. Psalm 139, verse 14, "I will praise you, O God, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." In creation, there is worship. The third is work. I already quoted John 5:17, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working." You know, Jesus did it the way we should have done it, we were created in the image of God. Adam should have had Jesus' idea. He said, I do nothing on my own. I do whatever I see my father doing, whatever I see my father do, that's what I will do. My work comes from his creation, and I observe what he does and I'm gonna be energetic and creative with my life. And now that work has moved over also into a spiritual realm as we're building the kingdom of God, as we're getting ready for a new Heavens and a new Earth, we can work at it. Our work comes out of the original creation because God is doing a new creation as well. And the final is walking righteously, walking righteously because God created everything, he owns everything as well. Including you. Look at your right hand. Go ahead and look at it. Say, “God made this, God owns this. And some day, God is going to ask me what I did with this.” See, out of the idea of creation comes the idea of accountability, stewardship, and some day, God is going to ask us what we did with it. It's his right to do, and he will do it. Now, in all of this, you should see the glory of God. In all of this, if you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, You should have a hunger and a thirst to know a God like this. Today, give your life to Jesus Christ if you don't know him. If you have never come to faith in Christ, come up and talk to me. Say, “I want to know the God who sent his Son to die on the cross for my sins. I want to know him, I want to follow him.” If you have given your life to Jesus Christ, but you've been walking around in a blah sort of way, come back to Genesis 1. And let the veil be stripped from off your eyes so that you can give him the worship and praise that he deserves. Give him the glory and the honor due to his name.