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Send us your feedback — we're listeningIsaiah 41:10 — Fear Not: Christ Holds You in the Midnight HourScripture (NIV) “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” — Isaiah 41:10 Recorded live here in London, England with Reverend Ben Cooper. Across the world, Isaiah 41:10 becomes the midnight anchor for those searching “prayer for fear,” “prayer for anxiety,” “God help me,” and “night peace.”  From the United Kingdom to the United States, from South Africa to India, and across Canada, people search these words when darkness feels heavy and their thoughts become loud. Night hours often carry hidden battles — intrusive thoughts, fear, loneliness, worry about tomorrow. But this scripture cuts into the darkness with authority. God Himself says, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” His presence is not distant; it is active, protecting, strengthening, lifting, securing. The Holy Spirit ministers to you even now, bringing stillness to what has been unsettled.  its strength when you focus on the One who stands beside you. Jesus holds your mind, your breath, your emotions, your future. His righteous right hand does not slip. His peace is stronger than your fear. Let Isaiah 41:10 settle deeply into your heart tonight — you are upheld by the God who never sleeps.We pray for the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, India and Canada.Prayer PointsPray for fear to break in the name of Jesus.Ask God to calm racing thoughts during the night.Pray for rest for those battling anxiety.Ask the Holy Spirit to fill fearful hearts with peace.Pray for courage to rise where worry has grown.Ask Jesus to carry burdens too heavy to hold.Pray for comfort for those feeling alone.Ask God to strengthen homes under pressure.Pray for hope to replace dread.Thank God that His righteous right hand upholds you.Before you sleep or rest again tonight, speak Isaiah 41:10 aloud. Let this promise shape your breathing, calm your thoughts, and steady your heart. Because God is with me, I will not fear. His strength is my strength, and His hand upholds me tonight Share this midnight prayer with someone battling fear or anxiety. Subscribe to DailyPrayer.UK and continue the Day 3 Global Devotional Arc.Support the showFor more inspiring content, visit RBChristianRadio.net — your home for daily devotionals, global prayer, and biblical encouragement for every season of life. We invite you to connect with our dedicated prayer hub at DailyPrayer.uk — a place where believers from every nation unite in prayer around the clock. If you need prayer, or would like to leave a request, this is the place to come. Our mission is simple: to pray with you, to stand with you, and to keep the power of prayer at the centre of everyday life. Your support through DailyPrayer.uk helps us continue sharing the gospel and covering the nations in prayer. You can also discover our ministry services and life celebrations at LifeCelebrant.net — serving families with faith, dignity, and hope. If this devotional blesses you, please consider supporting our listener-funded mission by buying us a coffee through RBChristianRadio.net. Every prayer, every gift, and every share helps us keep broadcasting God's Word to the world.

Welcome to Day 2737 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2737 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 92:8-15 – Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2737 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day two thousand seven hundred thirty-seven of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. The title of today's Wisdom-Trek is: The Eternal Exaltation and the Flourishing Righteous Today, we conclude our journey through Psalm Ninety-two, the beautiful Song for the Sabbath Day.   We are covering the final, triumphant verses, eight through fifteen, in the New Living Translation. In our last conversation, we affirmed that it is "good to give thanks to the Lord," proclaiming His Unfailing Love in the morning and His Faithfulness in the evening (Psalm Ninety-two, verses one through four).   We wrestled with the temporary flourishing of the wicked—who "sprout like grass"—but concluded that they are destined to be "destroyed forever," for God's thoughts are simply "deeper than anyone can comprehend" (Psalm Ninety-two, verses five through seven). Now, the psalm moves to its magnificent climax.   It declares the eternal nature of God's sovereignty, contrasts the certain ruin of His foes with the flourishing destiny of the righteous, and celebrates the lifelong vitality of those who trust in the Most High.   This final section is a powerful declaration of vindication and blessing, a perfect capstone to the Sabbath celebration. So, let us open our hearts to this triumphant assurance, embracing the destiny of the righteous and the certainty of God's eternal rule. The first segment is: The Eternal Judgment and the Exaltation of the Righteous Psalm Ninety-two: verses eight through eleven But you, O Lord, will remain supreme forever.  Your enemies, Lord, will be destroyed;  all evil doers will be scattered.  But you have made me as strong as a wild ox;  you have poured olive oil on my head.  My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;  my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked foes. After acknowledging the fleeting power of the wicked, the psalmist immediately shifts focus to the unchanging reality of God's reign: "But you, O Lord, will remain supreme forever." The "But" is the most important word in the psalm, signaling the ultimate pivot from the temporary to the eternal.   The wicked are ephemeral, but God "will remain supreme forever."   This affirms His sovereignty over all time and space, including His supreme position over the Divine Council, guaranteeing that His justice will prevail. Because God is eternally supreme, the fate of His enemies is sealed: "Your enemies, Lord, will be destroyed; all evil doers will be scattered." This is a prophetic certainty, a final judgment that will

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“Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans.” (Psalm 119:91 NLT) In our next set of devotions, we’re going to look at God’s perfections. Our goal is not only to get to know Him better but also to prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving. The more we understand about who God is, the more our gratitude will grow. We’re going to start by looking at God’s sovereignty. The fact that God is sovereign means that He has the power and authority to do anything He chooses with His creation. He answers to no one. Luke’s Gospel tells the story of ten men with leprosy who needed Jesus’ touch. Leprosy was an incurable disease. Without Jesus’ intervention, the men had no hope. They asked Jesus for healing, and He extended it to them. But out of the ten, only one returned to give Him thanks. We read, “One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, ‘Praise God!’ He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan” (Luke 17:15–16 NLT). Earlier, he had prayed loudly for a healing, and then he was loud with his praise. I love the fact that the original language uses two words from which we get our English word megaphone. The man was loud in thanking Jesus for what He had done for him. As Christians, we should give thanks to God because we recognize that He is in control of all circumstances surrounding our lives. As Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps” (NLT). Because God is sovereign, He is able to do what He pleases with whomever He chooses whenever He wishes. Some people bristle at that truth. Control—or even the idea of control—is a difficult thing to surrender. They prefer to operate under the illusion that they control their own destiny. The Bible writers held no such illusions. In fact, they saw God’s sovereignty as something to celebrate—something to be thankful for. The prophet Jeremiah said, “I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course” (Jeremiah 10:23 NLT). And we read in Proverbs 20:24, “The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” (NLT). That’s the sovereignty of God. But what about when bad things happen? Is God still in control? Yes. And the Bible tells us that despite the bad things that happen, which many times are inexplicable, God can work all things together for good for those who love Him (see Romans 8:28). As the psalmist wrote, “Everything serves plans” (Psalm 119:91 NLT). That’s cause for thanksgiving because God’s plans put us exactly where we need to be. We never have to wonder whether we’re doing the right thing when we submit to God. Because He is sovereign, we can trust Him as our ultimate authority. Reflection question: What difference does God’s sovereignty make in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The story of Jacob's sons is messy, painful, redemptive, and beautiful. It's the story of betrayal and forgiveness, grief and healing, famine and provision. But more than that, it's the story of how God takes a broken family and forms a people through whom He will bless the whole world. From the very beginning, God's heart has been to include the outsider and heal what's been fractured. This series invites us into that story—not just to watch it unfold, but to find ourselves in it. Because God is still using crooked sticks to draw straight lines—and to build His family today.

Summary Every believer knows the sting of regret and the weight of guilt that can linger long after coming to Christ. In this powerful sermon on Romans 8:1–4, Dr. Michael Easley unpacks one of the most freeing truths in all of Scripture: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We all live with memories of past failures, yet in Christ, those sins are not just forgiven—they're washed away in Him.  Dr. Easley walks through Paul's rich theological argument to show that our freedom from condemnation isn't based on self-improvement or keeping the law. It's entirely rooted in the work of Christ and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead now empowers believers to overcome sin and live righteously. Because God did what the law could never do—He sent His Son to deal with sin once and for all—we can live free from shame and confident in His grace. This message invites listeners to walk not in guilt, but in gratitude, boldly declaring, “I am in Christ.” Takeaways Every believer wrestles with guilt and regret, but the gospel declares us free from condemnation. God's righteousness demands perfection, yet Christ meets that standard on our behalf. Jesus condemned sin in His own flesh, taking our punishment once and for all. The Holy Spirit empowers believers to overcome the power of sin and live righteously. What the law could never accomplish, God accomplished through His Son. To be “in Christ” means to live with confidence, freedom, and no fear of condemnation. To read the book of Romans, click here.Click here for other Michael Easley Sermons.

Today's question, "Why read the Old Testament" is often asked by church going people. It is often stated this way:     ⁃    The Old Testament is so hard to understand.     ⁃    I like the New Testament better than the Old.     ⁃    God seems so angry and mean in the Old.     ⁃    Hasn't the New Testament replaced the Old?     ⁃    All those animal sacrifices are a huge turn off. Why read the Old Testament? Here are four main themes which Pastor will use to answer today's question:     ⁃    Revelation     ⁃    Foundation     ⁃    Confirmation     ⁃    Salvation Revelation: God reveals Himself, the past, the future, His plan, His character:     ⁃    All Scripture is God-breathed. God breaths life. The Old Testament is God's Living word, it's Him speaking, His breath - a God-breathed book.     ⁃    The Old Testament is for future generations - 1 Corinthians 10:11 tells us, "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come." The Old Testament is for all generations. It's not out of date and aids us in understanding the time in which we live.     ⁃    The Old Testament is for our instruction. Not just the story of people from long ago, it is for our instruction. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."     ⁃    The Old Testament is revealing God's character. It shows us what God is like. It's a record of thousands of years and we see His patience with a goal of bringing people back to Himself. Exodus 34:6-7 "And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." God's character is good. Foundation:     ⁃    The Old Testament shows God is our Creator. Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."      ⁃    The Old Testament shows the Sin-Death connection. Death is not natural it is a result of rebellion against God. Genesis 2:16-17 - sin brings death.     ⁃    The Old Testament shows the need for Sacrifice. Genesis 3:21. An innocent animal had to die to clothe Adam and Eve after they sinned. Salvation requires an innocent victim to die for sin.     ⁃    The Old Testament shows Grace and Faith. What saves is God's grace and our response of faith. Genesis 15:6.  Confirmation: The Old Testament confirms what we read in the New Testament.     ⁃    The Old Testament points to Christ. It carries a unified theme that points us to the One that was promised, the One who would defeat the devil. John 5:39-40. Luke 24:27 "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself."     ⁃    The Old Testament points to the Son of Man. Jesus' favorite term for Himself. Daniel 7:13-14. The Old Testament reveals Jesus.     ⁃    The Old Testament points to the cross. 1 Peter 1:10-11 "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 suffering of the Messiah and the glories that would follow."      ⁃    The Old Testament points to the resurrection of Jesus. Luke 24:46-47. Salvation:     ⁃    The Old Testament makes us wise for salvation. 2 Timothy 3:15 "…from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."      ⁃    The Old Testament makes the New Covenant clear. The definition for the word "testament" has changed over the last several hundred years. Testament originally meant "a covenant."  Jeremiah 31:31 "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the People of Judah."      ⁃    The Old Testament makes Messiah's death our's. Isaiah 53:4-5.      ⁃    The Old Testament makes the world's future clear. Philippians 2:10-11 "…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  Isiah 45:23 the Living God says, "By Myself I have sworn, My mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked; before Me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear."  Why should I read the Old Testament? Because God speaks in it! Let Him speak to you through ALL of His Word. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/whats-the-answer Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

Delivered by Celine from the Parish of Santo Marinus Yohanes in the Diocese of Surabaya, Indonesia. Wisdom 18: 14-16; 19: 6-9; Rs psalm 105: 2-3.36-37.42-43; Luke 18: 1-8.GOD ACTS QUICKLY ANDRIGHTLY The title for ourmeditation today is: God Acts Quickly and Rightly. A 6-year-old girl often accompaniedher mother to shop at the market. She notices that her mother always requestsfor discount to the things being bought. What a surprise! She asks for discountmore than half of the price. When the seller objects the discounted price, themother always says: "Sorry, we have nothing, we are very poor." On one occasion thegirl used her small savings to buy something at the shop nearby. She alsowanted to ask for dicount imitating what her mother usually does. Before sayingwhat she wanted to buy, she first said to the shop owner, "Sorry, we havenothing, we are very poor." Then she showed the item she was about to buy.The shop owner took the item and gave it to the little girl for free. In this life we seemeetings between the small and big ones, poor and rich, master and servants,powerful and powerless. The screams and cries of the poor or little ones alwaysattract attention. They shout either directly to certain people who immediatelygive attentions, or openly to the public and it's up to anyone who would payattention to them. Their screams and cries can only stop after their requestsare answered or attended. God has compassionfor these people. God acts quickly and becomes their savior at the right time.They are the people who do not have supporters, defenders and protectors. Theparable of the widow and her case to be solved by the lawyer in today's gospelpassage is an example of how the divine assistance comes at the very time manreally needs. In the scriptures there are many similar examples that show God'shelps come quickly and rightly. Many of us have everexpereinced God's helps comes quickly and rightly. Some people admit that theirprayers have not been answered. Therefore, they tend to view God is not yet intheir side. Some are patient enough to wait for an answer at the right time.Some have given up because they already waited for a long time, then theybecome passive and apathetic. Some even are emotionally driven by anger orhostile towards God because they are frustrated knowing no sign of the Lord'sfavor for them. It maybe true thatthe time is not yet right. Why? Because God is using our neighbors to be thehelpers. For sure, our immediate helps should come from there. The helpsactually come from God himself, who uses neighbors who are near to us. Let's pray. In the name of the Father... O Lord, we pray and we hope for the security and worthiness of our brothersand sisters who are so helpless and distress; may they find your favor andaccept all helps with gratitude. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to theHoly Spirit ... In the name of the Father ...

Why did the Reformers upend Europe? Because God's Word belongs in the common tongue—and in common homes. From Tyndale's plowboy to Knox's "church in the house," Kevin, Scott, and Danny show how Scripture reshaped family life, restored marriage, and redirected education. The stakes remain: man-centered modernity or God-centered discipleship in every sphere.

Pastor KT talks about the importance of obedience and making a sound to the Lord. Because God wants us to be active in our healing.

The story of Jacob's sons is messy, painful, redemptive, and beautiful. It's the story of betrayal and forgiveness, grief and healing, famine and provision. But more than that, it's the story of how God takes a broken family and forms a people through whom He will bless the whole world. From the very beginning, God's heart has been to include the outsider and heal what's been fractured. This series invites us into that story—not just to watch it unfold, but to find ourselves in it. Because God is still using crooked sticks to draw straight lines—and to build His family today.

A Sermon for the Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity Ephesians 6:10-20 by William Klock If you haven't noticed, we have a mouse problem.  Usually the mice stay to the attic or the crawlspace, but for some reason, this year, they've decided to go everywhere.  For the last six weeks I've been plugging holes and setting traps and experimenting with bait: everything from peanut butter to dog treats to Veronica and Meredith's maple fudge.  All to no avail.  They don't touch the traps, but they poop right next to them as if to say, “Do you really think we're that stupid?”  And Friday, Friday was the last straw.  The last while has seemed like a steady stream of setbacks and disappointments.  This week I was working on my book on preaching while sending feedback to a couple of guys I've been advising on preaching.  I've been really struggling with that book and this week, chatting with these two guys, I finally kind of identified the obstacle I've been running up against and I don't really know how to get around it, and that's left me frustrated and discouraged.  And the City of Courtenay.  They won't clear the leaves in their little “conservation” area anymore, so I cleared the sidewalks, but then Thursday's storm blew the leaves back even deeper, so Friday morning I was using a snow shovel to move them out as far away as I could from the church so the wind wouldn't blow them back and in the process I strained something in my leg.  And then the news coming out daily this week from ACNA and about bishops not doing what bishops are supposed to do and bishops allegedly doing things that bishops aren't supposed to do.  I was really, really discouraged on Friday.  I'm rarely tempted to give up, but Friday I was close.  And then I heard a noise, and I turned and saw a mouse dart across the room and into the storage cubicle in the Sunday School.  So I got up to see where the mouse went.  I didn't find it, but I did find the nest.  In the seasonal banners.  It was gross.  The mice had peed and pooped and chewed holes in them.  And that was it.  Stick a fork in me.  I'm done.  I packed up my things and went home.  I tried the Elijah therapy.  I had a snack and a nap.  It didn't really work. I came back yesterday morning to clean up the mouse mess.  I checked the traps first.  I wanted revenge.  But alas—nothing—as usual.  So I started sweeping and mopping and vacuuming and while I was doing that I was praying—mostly for the death of the mice.  But somewhere between the mopping and the vacuuming it hit me.  Of all the things wrong with the world and wrong with the church, it wasn't the mice.  People sin, bishops sin, I sin—but not the mice.  The mice, as annoying as they are, the mice are doing exactly what God created them to do.  They're upstairs peeing and pooping and chewing on the banners, because that's what God made them to do and in doing it they give him glory.  And while I was discouraged and tempted to just give up, they were happily doing their thing, not caring at all that I'm out to get them—laughing their little mouse laughs at me as they poop right next to my traps.  Looking for a new place to build a nest after I kicked them out of the last one.  And as I vacuumed up their poop St. Paul's words from our Epistle kept running around my head like a mouse on a wheel: Stand firm! I—we—need to be like the mice.  We need to be what Jesus has made us to be and in that we will give God glory.  And, of course, in doing that, we'll catch the attention of the enemy, who will do his best to oppose us, to discourage us, to persuade us to throw in the towel.  Our Epistle today is from Ephesians 6—just about at the end of the letter.  The first part of the letter is about who we are—or, better, who Jesus has made us through his death and resurrection.  In Chapter 2 Paul writes that if we belong to the Messiah—if we have put our faith, our trust, our allegiance in him—then we are already “seated with him in the heavenly places”.  If by faith we are in the Messiah, then that's who we are: we're part of God's new creation, seated with our king in glory.  But of course, this is one of those “already, but not yet” things.  It's begun, but it's not yet finished.  Think about it.  When he rose from death, Jesus won the decisive battle over sin and death.  But that doesn't mean the war is over.  Sin and death, the principalities and powers of the old evil age still, nevertheless, continue to fight on even though they've already lost.  It won't be over until the gospel and the Spirit have gone out to bring God's new creation to the ends of the earth—until the knowledge of his glory covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.  And here's the point that Paul is trying to make here at the end of Ephesians: Because we've been united with Jesus the Messiah, because what's true of him is true of us, because we are seated with him in the heavenlies, that means that we've been recruited to take part in this great messianic battle to carry the gospel and God's glory to the ends of the earth—to proclaim the victory Jesus won on the cross to the people who haven't yet heard that good news, who haven't yet heard that he's the world's true lord. And if we do this, we will face opposition.  That's why, when you make it clear for example, that your church isn't in the business of playing musical chairs with other churches, but about going out to proclaim and live the gospel to bring people to Jesus, the devils will fight you.  That's why, when you make it clear that you're not going to compromise with the philosophies, with the politics, with the systems of the world, the devils will fight you.  That's why, when you make it clear that you're going to live out new creation and make the glory of God known here and now, the devils will fight you.  They will fight you.  They will throw hurdles in your path.  They will go for the weakest link and they will cause your leaders to stumble and fall.  They will do whatever they can to discourage you and tempt you to throw in the towel. And so Paul writes to the Ephesian Christians and he says, “The one thing left to say is this: Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.”  Don't be strong in yourself.  That won't cut it.  Be strong in the Lord, because he's the one who has won the victory.  “Put on God's complete armour,” he says.  “Then you'll be able to stand firm against the devil's schemes.”  And, to be clear, it's the devil's schemes.  “The warfare we're engaged in, you see, isn't against flesh and blood.  It's against the principalities, against the powers, against the cosmic powers that rule the world in this dark age, against the wicked spiritual elements in the heavenly places.” I expect this took some time to sink in with Paul's original audience—especially his fellow Judeans.  It's not that they didn't believe there are unseen forces in the world.  That's a problem unique to people today with all of our post-enlightenment materialistic thinking.  If we can't see it, it doesn't exist.  People in the First Century knew better than us.  They knew there are spiritual powers we can't see.  The issue is that when we think of enemies, we almost always think of people.  It's the guy on the city council who wants to take away the tax exempt status of churches.  It's the people in the wrong political party.  It's the people in that foreign country that hate us.  It's the Communists or it's the Muslims or the alphabet people or the pronouns people.  Paul's people thought the same way.  Judeans thought it was the pagans.  Their enemies were the Greeks who tried to stamp out their way of life back in the Second Century B.C.  It was the Romans who presently ruled them and whose grip was getting tighter and tighter.  Paul knew that as persecution came to the churches at the hands of unbelieving Jews and pagan Greeks and Romans Christians would be tempted to start thinking the same way about them. And Paul's wanting them to understand here that none of those people is the real enemy.  Maybe they once were, but when Jesus died on the cross and rose again, he redefined the battle.  Jesus didn't go to the cross to defeat the Greeks or the Romans or the Communists or the Muslims.  He went to the cross to defeat sin and death and the powers of evil—those powers that, since the serpent tempted Eve, have infiltrated God's good creation and corrupted it, that have caused us to worship idols instead of God, that have caused us to forsake our vocation as the stewards of his creation and priests of his temple, that have caused us to turn on each other instead of loving each other as God loves us.  Jesus came like a new Adam to defeat not us, but the powers of evil, and in the process to forgive us for our rebellion and treason and to restore us to our old vocation, to do the job he created us for in the first place.  That's what it means to bear his image. And Paul knew that this meant Jesus has called us to fight at his side.  Not to fight the Greeks or the Romans or the Communists or the Muslims, but to fight the powers of evil, the principalities and powers and spiritual forces that have infiltrated creation and brought darkness where there should be light.  Again, at the cross he won the decisive victory, now he calls us into his gospel army to proclaim that good news.  To announce to the world that Jesus is Lord, that there is forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God through him if we will only come in faith and give him our allegiance.  The Greeks and the Romans, the Communists and the Muslims aren't the enemy.  It's the dark powers behind them.  And never forget that those dark powers were once working in us, too.  And they're often much closer to home—even doing their work of corruption in our own house—if you've followed the ACNA news the past couple of weeks.  But the good news is that Jesus can deliver those people, just as he delivered us. This, by the way, is why Jesus hasn't just done the war all at once.  Because God is patient, loving, and gracious he's chosen to fight this war over the long term, giving the whole world the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news about Jesus.  Giving time for the gospel and the Spirit to infiltrate the systems and powers and people of this old evil age to undo what sin and death have done. So, Paul writes, stand firm and be prepared to fight—the real enemy.  And for that he says we need to take up the whole armour of God.  That's verse 13.  And this is really telling.  If you were paying attention when we read the Old Testament lesson this morning—the one from Isaiah 59—what Paul says here should sound familiar.  Through Isaiah the Lord promised that he would send a redeemer to set the world to rights.  Our Old Testament lesson is a promise of the coming Messiah, of Jesus.  Here's what we read: “‘The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment…And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,' declares the Lord.” Jesus was the first one to put on this armour and now, because we're united with him, because he's made us part of his new creation, and because he's called us to enter the battle and to stand firm against the darkness, he shares his armour with us—otherwise we wouldn't be able to stand at all.  And here's the armour as Paul describes it in Ephesians, starting again at 6:13: “For this reason you must take up the whole armour of God.  Then, when wickedness grabs the moment, you'll be able to withstand, to do what needs to be done, and still be on your feet when it's over.  So stand firm!  Put the belt of truth around your waist; put on justice/righteousness as your breastplate; for shoes on your feet, ready for battle, take the good news of peace.  With it all take the shield of faith; if you've got that, you'll be able to quench the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word.” It starts with truth.  A Roman soldier's belt or girdle was sort of the thing that everything else attached to or hung from.  Put on truth as your belt.  Everything else depends on that.  In Isaiah's vision the Messiah was to come to set this broken world to rights and that begins with the truth.  The reason the world is in the mess it's in is because we believed the serpent's lie—that we could be like God.  Brother and Sisters, the truth is that that's idolatry.  Every other sin cascades from that.  The great lie that permeates the world is that we can do and be whatever we want.  That we can make our own reality and define goodness for ourselves.  But Jesus has come to remind us of the truth—the truth of the original creation and the truth of God's new creation.  And so before we go to battle evil, we've got to tie that truth around us.  The gospel isn't about our feelings; it's not what we make it; it's not about what we think might offend or not offend people; it's about the truth, the reality of God's goodness and his good creation and his purpose to set it and us to rights revealed in the good news about Jesus.  Tie that on and the rest follows naturally. Second, as a breastplate, put on God's justice or righteousness—remember in Greek they're the same word.  It's a reminder that at the heart of the gospel is God's plan to set this broken world to rights—to undo everything that's wrong, to undo all the sad things, to wipe away all the tears—ultimately and eventually to wipe every last bit of evil and sin and darkness from creation and even death itself.  And it's a reminder that when God raised Jesus from death, he overturned the world's false verdict against him and declared him to be in the right—and that if we are united with him, then we share in that verdict, in his vindication. And then for our shoes: peace.  “How beautiful are the feet of the one who announces peace…who says to Zion, Your God reigns.”  This is the place where Paul changes that Old Testament image from Isaiah.  Instead of vengeance, he calls us to put on peace.  The Jews wanted vengeance on their enemies, but Paul's reminding us that the Messiah, through his death, has reconciled us to God.  He's given us peace.  And that peace isn't just for us; it's for everyone.  And it's on our feet.  We stand on it.  The enemy will try to knock us down by making us think we're in this for vengeance—that we need to go after the Greeks or the Romans or the Communists or the Muslims, but if we stand on peace, on reconciliation with God, we will stand firm and remember that our fight is not with flesh and blood, but with the devil. The fourth bit of armour is the shield of faith.  In the ancient world an enemy might shoot flaming arrows at you, so you soaked your wooden shield in water.  We soak our shield in faith.  That means in the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah and in our own responding faith—remembering that he's won the victory and trusting that he will empower us to stand firm in this gospel battle and win in the end.  And that goes with the helmet of salvation—like a gospel thinking cap, it reminds us Jesus has rescued the captives.  You and I no longer belong to sin and death, but to the Messiah.  It reminds us, too, why we're waging this battle: to free the men and women still captive, still slaves to sin and death. So far this armour is all for defence.  The Christian has only one offensive weapon and that should remind us about the nature of this battle.  It's not against flesh and blood, but against the unseen forces of evil that infiltrate the systems and institutions of the world.  Our sword, the weapon by which we advance the kingdom of God is the word.  In Isaiah 11:4 the Messiah smites the earth with the rod of his mouth and slays the wicked with the breath of his lips.  It's a wonderful illustration of the power of God's word and God's Spirit—not violence, but his creative and life-giving word—to free and to transform and to set the broken world right as it confronts the great lie with God's truth. But our Epistle doesn't quite end there.  Truth and justice, peace and faith, salvation and the word are all essential if we are going to stand firm.  To take up these things is to be the people that Jesus has made us through our union with him.  But union is about more than putting these things on, it's about real, literal union—or communion—with him.  We need to talk with our commander.  And so, in verses 18-20 Paul writes: “Pray on every occasion in the Spirit, with every type of prayer and intercession.  You'll need to keep awake and alert for this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.  And also for me.  Pray that God will give me his words to speak when I open my mouth, so that I can make known, loud and clear, the secret truth of the gospel.  That after all, is why I'm a chained-up ambassador.  Pray that I may announce it boldly; that's what I'm duty-bound to do.” Paul was in prison because of his preaching, because he'd put on the armour of God and because he'd proclaimed God's truth.  But he knew that prison could not stop the march of the gospel and so he asked his brothers and sisters to pray for him—and not only for him, but live prayer, because that's what it means to be united to Jesus and to be baptised in God's Spirit—to be in constant communion with God.  It's not just about formal prayer—like when you sit down with your Prayer Book and your Bible and you prayer the prayers and pray the Psalms.  It's a life saturated with the presence of God and with communion with him. I don't know how it works.  I don't think anyone does.  I've read books and books on prayer and it remains a mystery, but the best ones all conclude: I don't know how it works, but I know it works.  Prayer doesn't change God—as if somehow hearing from me causes him to realise that my ideas and my plans are better than his.  But prayer changes things and it changes me and it changes us and things—kingdom things, grace things, glory things—happen when we pray and live in that communion with God. Brothers and Sisters, to pray is to act on and to live out the reality of Jesus' cross and of the new creation he's made us.  It's to know that, through Jesus and the Spirit, we can now walk with God the way Adam and Eve once did.  That we live in his presence and in his grace and in his love.  It's to know that he is our strength.  And so to pray, is to be what he has made us, it's to consciously reject our rebellion and sin, and to be his new creation.  The mice—they know nothing of sin, nothing of rebellion.  Mice have always been what God made them in the beginning.  And, like I said, because of that, mice give him glory even when they're just doing the ordinary things mice do.  We, on the other hand, rejected that life.  Jesus has given it back, but it's a struggle.  That's why Paul urges us to put on God's truth and justice, his righteousness and peace.  And it's why he urges us to pray without ceasing.  Because reliance on God is the only way we'll put to rest our old nature and be able to live into the new one he's given.  To pray is to look back to the cross in gratitude and to look forward in hope to God's new world, and find our life and our strength and everything else that matters in him—so that we can stand firm and so that we can glorify him. So, Brothers and Sisters, stand firm.  Stand firm and be the new creation that Jesus has made us.  Remember that we stand with our king in the battle, but that this battle is not against flesh and blood.  It's against the dark powers that corrupt flesh and blood, that make us hate and that make us enemies of one another.  Stand firm in God's truth and justice, stand firm in his peace and his salvation.  And confront the world with the good news of Jesus, crucified and risen.  And pray, pray, pray, remembering that he is with us and that he is our strength and our hope. Let's pray: Merciful Lord, grant to your faithful people pardon and peace; that we may be cleansed from all our sins, and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Because God is Jesus, Life is Grace.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 5th of November, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of John 17:17:”Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.” Then we go straight to John 4:42:”Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”Remember what happened? After Jesus had told the woman at the well her whole life story, she knew that He was a prophet indeed, and she ran into the village and told them, ”I've found the Master. I found the Messiah.” She told them that He has just told her her whole life story and she's never seen Him before. Isn't that amazing? Then the whole village was saved and they came out to meet Jesus at the well, and that is when they said, ”We don't believe that He is the Christ because of your story. No, we believe He is the Christ, not because of your words but because we have heard it for ourselves.”I want to tell you today, and I'm saying this with the greatest love, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate authority. Now, He is the Word. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. (John 1:1) People are not interested in our opinions, they want to know what Jesus says about the matter. That's why when you go to a high court and you have to give evidence, they make you put your hand on the Bible and they ask you to swear that you'll tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Why? Because God's Word is final. It is the ultimate answer.I want to speak to families who are experiencing disputes within their family. You want to know about inheritance; you want to know who's going to get the business; who is going to get the farm when dad dies, or maybe dad has died, or what's going to happen with the children when they leave school? You need to go to the Bible. You need to go to the Word and see what the Lord Jesus says about the situation. You say, ”No, but times have changed now.” No, they haven't. Nothing has changed. Go to the Word, hear what God says and apply it to your family, to your situation, your workplace, wherever it might be, and you'll be surprised how things will be agreed to, not because of what you said, not because of what I said, but because of what the Word says. Jesus bless you and have a lovely day,Goodbye.

Growing In God Podcast Program Number: GIG #275 Title: Christ the King   Web Description: Why are the nations in an uproar? Because God has established Christ as King and has given all the nations to Him. God is not moved by their uproar, and neither should we be as believers in Christ. He is our refuge, He is our focus, and His unshakable Kingdom is the reality of our lives right now.   Show Notes: We read in Psalm 2 that the nations are in an uproar, and today we see how true that is. It is difficult to find a nation where positive things are happening. Every nation is facing negative consequences as people devise a vain thing. Like no other time in history, whole populations all over the globe are embracing vain and ridiculous ideas to believe in. Meanwhile, governments and rulers take their stand against the Lord, His will, His Kingdom, and His people. They counsel together against Israel and against Judaism and Christianity everywhere.   It seems like the world is spinning out of control. And as much as we pray for things to change, they just seem to go from bad to worse. That should come as no surprise to us as Christians. The Scriptures make clear that things will be difficult in the days before the Kingdom of God is established. And we are to be focused as believers on His Kingdom coming. So do not be focused on whatever is happening in the world. Instead, keep looking to the Father, to Christ, and to His Kingdom, knowing that God is in charge.   How is God responding to all the ridiculous ways the nations are acting in their defiance of Him? According to Psalm 2 He is laughing. In other words, He is not bothered. He is not losing control. He is not moved off His throne. God is securely planted as the One who is in charge. And He has installed His King on Zion, His holy mountain. That is where we stand in Christ. We can live today in His Kingdom, taking refuge in Him, seated with Him in the heavenly places, and proclaiming that He is ruling over every situation.   Key Verses:   •       Psalm 2:1–5. "The kings of the earth take their stand … against the LORD and against His Anointed." •       Psalm 2:6–8. "But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain." •       Psalm 2:9–12. "How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" •       Psalm 24:1. "The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains." •       Ephesians 2:4–6. "God, being rich in mercy … seated us with Him in the heavenly places."   Quotes:   •       "This is the scream of people who are refusing the Lordship of Christ, the Lordship of the Scriptures, the Word of God in their life: 'The Word of God is not going to be our moral compass. It's not going to rule over our life and how we live it and how we act one towards another.'" •       "There is going to be a moment where God begins to respond to each and every one of these that He's dealing with, each and every one of these ones that think they are bringing about their will on the earth and their kingdom on the earth, including satan himself. They are going to be addressed personally by the Lord, and they are going to be terrified at His response." •       "Whatever you're experiencing, whatever we're going through, whatever will happen around us in this uproar of the nations, take refuge in Him. Keep your focus upon Him. Keep absolutely in the front of your mind and heart that He has installed Christ the King upon Mount Zion."   Takeaways:   1.    The nations are in an uproar. But they are in an uproar because the Father has granted the ownership of those nations to Christ. 2.    God is not shaken, and Christ the King is not shaken by whatever is going on in this world. He is laughing at the plans of the world because they are already thwarted by His Word as the God of all creation. 3.    We tell of the decree of the Lord that He is the King. We take refuge in Him personally. And we are those who proclaim that the nations are His, and He has installed His King upon His Holy Mountain.

  Theme: “Abide in Me” — Living in Continuous Union with Christ Pastor Matthew's sermon centered on John 15:1–8, where Jesus describes Himself as the true vine and His followers as the branches. The message explored what it means to truly abide — to live in continual fellowship, obedience, and dependence on Christ rather than drifting in and out of relationship with Him. Opening Challenge — The Call to Be the Church in Battle Pastor began by reminding the congregation that church is not a comfort zone but a place of kingdom warfare: “If you just come here to feel better, you're in the wrong spot. But if you come here to do warfare and be part of the kingdom of God, you're in the right spot.” He announced upcoming baptisms as outward signs of abiding faith, underscoring that commitment to Christ must be continuous, not seasonal. The Vine and the Branches (John 15:1–8) Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser.” God's desire is not attendance or numbers, but fruit — the visible results of spiritual life. “Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes.” Pastor noted pruning can feel painful, but it's how God refines us for greater fruitfulness. Greek Word Study: The word abide comes from the Greek meno — meaning to dwell, continue, tarry, or remain. “Nothing in that definition says you can run in and out on the Lord. Abiding isn't convenience — it's commitment.” Abiding Produces Fruit and Eternal Impact Without the vine, branches can do nothing. Pastor warned that even successful lives apart from Christ accomplish nothing eternal: “If you're a father or mother not walking with God, you may give your kids everything this world offers — but you're doing nothing eternal in their lives.” He contrasted earthly inheritance with spiritual legacy, reminding parents of David's last desire: “When David died, he didn't talk about his possessions — he said, ‘I want to see you on the other side.'” The Power of Abiding Faith Pastor shared a personal story from his time working in the coal mines. While working with a coworker who had backslidden, an equipment alarm malfunctioned. Pastor quoted John 15:7, declaring: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” He prayed over the system, and despite the electrical connection being physically broken, the alarm set successfully — a miraculous sign that led his coworker to repent on the spot. “That wasn't just setting an alarm — that was God showing a man He still loved him and was calling him home.” The Secret of Strength — Dwelling in His Presence (Psalm 91) Linking John 15 with Psalm 91, Pastor explained that abiding is dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, living under the shadow of His protection. “Some people just want to date Jesus — visit Him when it's convenient. But we're called to marry Him, to take Him home, to walk with Him every day.” True abiding keeps believers under divine covering: “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.” Warnings Against Neglect Pastor identified two of Scripture's most sobering warnings: Judges 16:20 — “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Samson, and he knew it not.” Luke 19:44 — “You did not recognize the time of your visitation.” These verses illustrate the danger of taking God's presence for granted. “The most terrifying thing isn't hellfire — it's that the Spirit could walk out of your life and you wouldn't even notice.” He urged believers not to become so busy or distracted that their priorities drift from God: “If you've got too much going on to spend time with God, you've got too much going on.” Three Voices in Psalm 91 Pastor unpacked Psalm 91 as a conversation between three voices: The author (Moses or David) declaring, “He is my refuge.” The witness, telling another believer, “Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place…” God Himself, responding: “Because he has set his love upon Me, I will deliver him.” He emphasized that effective witnesses live what they preach: “This ‘my' has convinced the ‘your' to make his God their God — that's powerful witnessing.” The Eternal View — God Outside of Time Using an illustration of a parade, Pastor explained that God sees the entire timeline of history at once: “You and I are standing on the street watching one float at a time. God sees the whole parade — beginning to end.” Because God knows the end from the beginning, believers can trust Him and call things that are not as though they were, provided they are abiding in His Word. Closing Appeal — Abide and Be Rescued Pastor closed by inviting unbelievers and prodigals to come home: “If you're trapped in sin, God saw your condition and sent His Son to rescue you. He didn't bargain — He paid it all.” He urged believers to realign their priorities and renew their commitment to abide daily, not occasionally: “You should have decided yesterday that you weren't quitting today.” Communion and baptisms followed as symbols of continual abiding in Christ. Core Message “Abide in Me.” Stay connected, remain faithful, dwell daily, and continue in His presence. Without abiding, there is no fruit; without the vine, there is no life.

God did something kind, something that he didn't have to do, when he made an oath to Abraham. Because God has never lied, he doesn't need extra proof to show that he is telling the truth. But he was willing to do what it took to help Abraham trust him. Gerald Liles | November 2nd, 2025 _________________________________________ We're Incarnation Tallahassee! Visit our website! www.incarnationtlh.org/
 Watch the Livestream youtube.com/live/ZSeuKYY3J2w

The story of Jacob's sons is messy, painful, redemptive, and beautiful. It's the story of betrayal and forgiveness, grief and healing, famine and provision. But more than that, it's the story of how God takes a broken family and forms a people through whom He will bless the whole world. From the very beginning, God's heart has been to include the outsider and heal what's been fractured. This series invites us into that story—not just to watch it unfold, but to find ourselves in it. Because God is still using crooked sticks to draw straight lines—and to build His family today.

This week, Pastor Jeff is teaching our new Faith Question and Truth Bomb! Faith Question #5: What else did God create? Truth Bomb: God created all things, and all His creation was very good! Because God is love, everything He creates comes from His loving nature. Genesis 1:31 "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good…"

Because God desires for the earth to be full of his knowledge and glory as the waters cover the sea, we must expand the temple. Genesis 2:5–15 (ESV): 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Revelation Dates: February 1843 – July 1843 Revelation Places: Nauvoo, Illinois Section 129 - Historical Background: One of the saints in England, converted by Heber C. Kimball, was a faithful man named William Clayton. Three years after his baptism, Clayton moved his family from England to Nauvoo and in 1842 became a secretary and scribe to the Prophet Joseph. Over the next two years, William Clayton was present and recorded significant revelations, instructions and sermons given by Joseph, including the following three sections of inspired instruction.  Recap: There are two kinds of beings in heaven: resurrected beings and spirits of the righteous. If God sends you a messenger, ask to shake his hand. If he is a resurrected being, he will do so and you will feel his hand. If he is a righteous spirit, he will not shake your hand but will simply deliver the message. If he is an angel of Satan, he will try to deceive you by attempting to shake your hand but you will feel nothing. Section 130 - Historical Background: Orson Hyde gave a talk at a meeting attended by Joseph Smith. Afterwards, Joseph made some corrections to the talk and answered questions from the group. Several brethren, including Wilford Woodruff, took extensive notes which became  section 130. Recap: Jesus is a distinct, glorious personage. Angels reside with God the Father on a globe like a sea of glass. Those who will reside with God will be given a new name. The timing of the return of Christ is not given. A person will have an advantage in the next life by gaining more intelligence and knowledge in mortality. When we receive blessings, it is because of obedience to that law pertaining to that blessing. The Godhead is described. Section 131 - Historical Background: A small group of people went with Joseph to Ramus, Illinois and a discussion with the Prophet was held. The apostles carefully recorded these notes of gospel gems which became section 131. Recap: In the celestial kingdom there are 3 degrees. To obtain the highest degree, one must enter into the everlasting covenant of marriage, for time and all eternity. To receive your calling and election sure, it will be by revelation and sealed through the priesthood. One cannot be saved in ignorance. Spiritual matter is tangible, but too refined to see it. Section 132 - Historical Background: Joseph Smith learned the doctrine of plural marriage gradually. He first became acquainted with it early in his prophetic career as he translated the gold plates. Under the reign of Lehi's son Jacob, the people began to practice polygamy, justifying their immoral behavior on prophets of old, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Soloman. Here, the Lord declared polygamy as a sin unless the Lord had commanded it. As early as 1831, while Joseph was revising the Old Testament, he again came across the accounts of ancient prophets being commanded to practice polygamy. Joseph asked the Lord about it. What he received was such a shock that Joseph didn't dare record it. The most frightening part was the declaration that Joseph himself would be called upon to introduce this doctrine to the whole church. Joseph carried this burden for over a decade, when on July 12, 1843, at the request of his brother Hyrum, Joseph finally dictated the revelation, known today as section 132. Through the years, this revelation had haunted Joseph Smith. Even after dictating the revelation, it wasn't made public until after Joseph's martyrdom 11 months later. It was finally published to the saints in 1852. Recap: “Thus sayeth the Lord”, a new and everlasting covenant of eternal marriage must be accepted to achieve exaltation. This new covenant must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, as it must for all covenants entered into through priesthood keys and proper authority. Any covenant not made properly will have no effect after death. Thus the Lord's house is a house of order, not of confusion. When marriage is performed under the laws of men it will end at death, and those people will remain single and becoem angels; whereas celestial marriage performed under the laws of God will remain in effect for time and eternity, and those people will continue to increase and progress to godhood. The plurality of wives is forbidden unless God commands it, as He did in ancient times to Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and David. Because God commanded it, there was no condemnation. Joseph Smith is also commanded of God to introduce plural marriage into this, the last dispensation. Emma is commanded to accept this law and consent. The same abides for all who are commanded to enter plural marriage, that the first wife must give consent. Note: Emma did consent to obey the "law of Sarah," but only temporarily. Joseph was sealed to a number of wives, however there is no record of any children resulting from these sealings. Nevertheless, Joseph's example opened the door to the patriarchal order of matrimony under the Lord's strict conditions. Only 5% of the saints were permitted to live the law of plural marriage, yet the entire church suffered the avalanche of new persecution. Following the supreme court of the United States' decision declaring the practice of polygamy illegal, the prophet Wilford Woodruff sought the Lord for direction. In 1890, the Lord released the church from further efforts to extend the number of plural marriages in the future. The sacrifice, persecutions and suffering of the members had been sufficient, just as Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son Isaac was sufficient.

True thanksgiving begins with knowing who God is and recognizing what He has done. Psalm 136 calls us to give thanks for both the person and works of God, whose steadfast love endures forever. God reveals Himself through His names—Yahweh, the faithful covenant-keeper; Elohim, the powerful Creator; Adonai, the sovereign Lord; and El Shamayim, the God of heaven. Because God is good, everything He allows in our lives works for ultimate good. His loyal love—hesed—never fails or ends. Genuine gratitude flows from this deep understanding of His character, not just His blessings. Like the Pilgrims who thanked God despite hardship, believers are called to live with continual, visible thanksgiving, trusting His presence, power, and eternal faithfulness. 

We continue "Opening up Romans" by moving into chapter 2, where Paul begins to apply the devastating critique of fallen humanity's sin to the Jewish people. Because God's judgment is important and based on truth, none of us- not even the moral and religious- can escape condemnation for hypocrisy apart from genuine repentance and faith in the gospel of Christ. Intro: From he openly idolatrous and immoral to the sanctimonious and hypocritical moralist Paul's logic in Romans 2:1-3 1. hypocrites practice what they condemn v. 1 2. God's judgment rightly falls on all who do such things v. 1, therefore 3. the self-righteous hypocrite will not escape God's judgment v. 3 NO EXCUSE (v.1) NO ESCAPE (v.2-3) FLEE TO CHRIST: There's no escape from Gods.s judgment except in God- into the wounded side of Jesus. * to the newcomer: your decent morality can't save you * to the long-time believer: don't sit on the judge's bench- live in daily repentance * to the self-righteous: God will not let you use other people's sins to hide your own * to the discouraged sinner: God's judgment is real, but so is his mercy- run to him Conclusion: Romans 2 drives us to Romans 3

Megan Floyd Year B – All Saints Sunday – November 3, 2024               Luke 6:20-31 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, who calls us into holy living for the sake of the world. Amen. *** We are gathered here today on All Saints' Sunday… the day the Church sets aside to remember those we have loved and cared for, who have died during the past year.   We gather to celebrate them… even though it may stir up the grief within us… we know… that our grief honors their place in the story of our lives…   And we take comfort in the promise that our dear ones are resting in the embrace of our Lord.   We, as a community of faith, trust in the Good News that Jesus has defeated death… so that death is no longer the end…   And we trust in the Good News… that we are a forgiven people, called and claimed by God and redeemed through God's love.   We trust this Good News… this promise for us as disciples… as followers of Christ… because we know that God's enduring faithfulness is forever and ever, Amen.   And yet we know… that while the goodness that God offers is free to all people… we know that being a disciple… a follower of Christ… still comes with a cost.   The cost of discipleship… is that it must change your life… it must change how you live… how you love… how you treat others, especially the poor and hungry.   The cost of discipleship is that it transforms your whole being… when you allow your life to become one with the life of Christ…   It's not a change that we make so that we can receive the promised goodness of God… those promises are already ours.   It's a change that comes in response to what Jesus offers when we take seriously what he calls us to do…   It's not easy… this life of discipleship… which is why we need God's grace and forgiveness every day.   It's not easy… but this life of following Christ… this challenging and difficult life… this holy and beautiful life… this is the life that Jesus calls us into.   Because this kind of life… this way of living… is what brings closer the kingdom of God and allows us to be co-creators with God in the ever-unfolding new creation.   We hear this call today into a holy and loving, yet challenging and difficult way of life…   We hear it in the blessings and woes… and in the call to love those who are against us, and to turn the other cheek.   And these words from Jesus today might make us uncomfortable… and that's ok!   My friends… the truth is, if the Gospel of Jesus doesn't make you uncomfortable, at least sometimes, then you aren't reading it closely enough!   I know these words make me uncomfortable… but I know that they are still Good News, and so I stick with them because I trust Jesus.   Presiding Bishop Curry once said that Jesus is always on the side of the poor and oppressed, and so whenever we read scripture, we should strive to hear it from their perspective…   because when we do… we can't help but to hear Christ's words as Good News.   And what sounds like Good News for only the poor… and only those who are persecuted… really is Good News for all people.   This way of life that Jesus calls us into, for both the rich and the poor, calls us into lives of equality, dignity, and love…   It disrupts the social hierarchy that those on top cling to with fervor, and it demands that they fully recognize the inherent value and worth of all human life… but again… especially the lives of those who are on the margins.   This way of life calls us to overthrow systems that depend on the suffering and struggle of many to support the few…   And Jesus is not preaching about theoretical concepts… he is calling us to recognize the real human lives of those around us who are hurting… and to understand that we are connected.   This way of life… this life of discipleship… it calls us to be accountable for our actions… it shines a loving light onto our sin, so that we might repent, and be reconciled with those we have harmed.   Listen… We know that Christ lives in us, and so when we honor the light of our God that is present in all people… then working to repair broken relationships also reconciles us back to God… and puts us back into right relationship.   And I know that I want to be right with God, and I'm sure you do, too. This really is Good News for all people!   Jesus calls for a reversal of the usual way of responding… and instead calls us to the more difficult path of making room for repentance, forgiveness… and reconciliation.   This is most certainly… Good News! …it's so good, and so important, that it actually comes up multiple times in our lectionary.   During our Bible Study this week, I thought I was having déjà vu, until I realized that I preached on this same text about loving our enemies and turning the other cheek back in Epiphany, on February 23…   But for today… we are hearing this call into a loving, yet difficult way of living… under the shroud of All Saints' Day…   And, given the day… these seem to be a strange selection of readings to hear as we remember our loved ones.   Except that this Good News… is not only good for all people living… it is good news for those we have loved and lost.   Because this difficult life that Jesus calls us into is full of grace and forgiveness, and it is marked by the ever-present opportunity to turn back…   to hold each other accountable… in loving and non-violent ways, for the purpose of healing the relationship and restoring the community.   …and it is marked by the continual invitation to be reconciled with God. And I believe God will succeed in God's promise to reconcile all of creation.   Because God's desire for us, more than anything… is that we get this right… because love… is so very important.   This life that Jesus calls us to… this holy and beautiful, challenging and difficult… life of discipleship… is so important, because it is a foretaste of the kingdom to come.   And the joy that we have as disciples… is that we get to live in this glory now… and celebrate all the ways that God's love shines through us.   And so, as I hear these words from Jesus today, I know that God's desire for us to be reconciled in this life is also… only a foretaste of the full reconciliation with God that will come after we die.   After all… that is God's promise to us… for ourselves… and for those we love.   That death no longer has the final word… that we, who set our hope on Christ, are claimed and redeemed as beloved children of God, in this life and beyond,   …and that we will be raised anew with Christ on the last day.   And so, the hope and celebration of All Saints' Day lie in our trust that this life Jesus calls us into… this beautiful and difficult life, grounded in God's enduring promises of renewal…   …will be for the praise and glory of Christ now and always, forever and ever. Amen.  

"Marriage First" Makes Your Life Unstable At the end of my life, I want to hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  That's the goal that keeps me grounded—and I know many of you share that desire. But here's a hard truth I've learned through years of walking with couples: when our marriage or family becomes our first priority instead of God, everything starts to crumble. Why "Family First" Doesn't Work I once had a conversation with someone I deeply love who said, "You think God has to be first—but I think family should be first." His heart was sincere, but the fruit of that mindset showed otherwise.  When family is first, everything depends on emotions—how your spouse treats you, how the kids behave, whether things feel peaceful at home. That's not stability. That's shifting sand. We see the effects of this all around us. Divorce rates hover around 50%. Even pastors and counselors admit they rarely had a healthy marriage modeled for them.  Most people are doing their best, but without a biblical foundation, their "best" can't hold up when life gets hard. The Biblical Order That Brings Stability Scripture gives us the right order: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself." — Mark 12:30–31 That means I love my first neighbor—my spouse—because I love God. Why do I forgive in marriage? Because God is first.Why do I love my husband well? Because God is first.Why do I serve my family with joy? Because God is first. When we build our lives on that rock, we become steady—even when the storms hit.  Illness, loss, special needs, mental health struggles—these things shake every marriage. But when God comes first, everything else finds its right place. Feelings Aren't God—God's Word Is We live in a "follow your feelings" culture. If you don't feel in love anymore, the world says, find someone new. But feelings aren't truth. God's Word is. You're serving the King of Kings, and your marriage is part of that assignment. Like the Roman soldiers in Gladiator fought for the glory of Rome; as believers, we live for the glory of God. That means our choices in marriage—our words, our intimacy, our tone—should all be for His glory. Believers are called to die to ourselves. That includes our moods and even our sexual desires.  Scripture is clear: "Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time... then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you." — 1 Corinthians 7:5 That's not about coercion or obligation—it's about love expressed God's way.  When I choose intimacy with my husband, it's not because I feel like it every time. It's because I love God. And when I embrace His design with joy, the byproduct is a beautiful, connected marriage. Marriage as a Path to Holiness Author Gary Thomas famously asked, "What if marriage is meant to make us holy, not happy?" The amazing thing is—when we pursue holiness, happiness often follows. That's why we teach the Delight Your Marriage Framework: Husbands need to have respect, admiration, and wholehearted intimacy. Wives need to feel safe, known, and wholeheartedly cherished. We love our spouse in the way they receive love, not the way we prefer to give it. Because real love is about understanding and serving the other. (You can download the full framework at DelightYourMarriage.com/framework.) The Power of God's Word to Transform David Wood—a former atheist and sociopath whose life was radically changed by Scripture. Even after becoming a Christian, he noticed that when he stopped reading the Bible for a few days, dark thoughts would return. That's how powerful God's Word is—it changes us from the inside out. If you're struggling to love your spouse, to forgive, to stay faithful, start here: get your nose in the Word. Not scrolling. Not skimming. Reading. Slowly. With a heart open to hear God. Even one verse a day in a physical Bible can soften your heart. Make it a habit. Let the Word wash over you. Final Thoughts If you have put your marriage above Jesus, it's not too late to turn it around. He is a safe person to put your trust in. You can trust His Word and His design. It is on purpose, for a purpose… and it is Good.   Blessings,   The Delight Your Marriage Team   PS - If you are interested in taking the next step, putting God first, above your marriage, we would love to talk with you. Schedule a free Clarity Call and chat with one of Clarity Advisors. PPS - Want to see this work in your churches? Our In-Person Training is launching nationwide in January and we would love for your church to be a part of it. Click here to learn more. PPPS - Here is what a recent graduate had to say:"The DYM program has helped me grow as a husband and learn how to better serve my wife and our relationship has been growing in all areas as a result.  She just told me this week that she used to feel tension when I came home from work and that tension is gone. Big change which has led to growth for us both. Belah's insights and coaching have been amazing and I've discovered God's purpose for us and our marriage at a new level!  Thanks DYM!"

Have you ever hit a season where everything just feels… stuck? You're showing up. You're doing “all the things.” But inside, it feels like nothing is moving? In this episode, Ashleigh Mayfield opens up about what it really looks like to lead yourself through a stuck season — with honesty, vision, and grace.She shares six practical (and spiritual) things that strong leaders do when life feels heavy, including: 1️⃣ Getting honest without getting harsh 2️⃣ Revisiting the vision when the environment changes 3️⃣ Simplifying your focus so you can breathe again 4️⃣ Seeking counsel, not a crowd 5️⃣ Taking imperfect action even when you're scared 6️⃣ Guarding your atmosphere so your character stays intactThis one will remind you that you're not broken — you're just being rebuilt. Get ready to laugh, get convicted, and feel the fire again. Because God's not done with you yet, friend.

Because God has adopted us as His beloved children through Christ, we are called toreflect His character in the world. To imitate God means living out of our new identity, lovingwith Christlike sacrifice, and pursuing unity as one family, so that the world sees the crossthrough us and is drawn home to Him.

The story of Jacob's sons is messy, painful, redemptive, and beautiful. It's the story of betrayal and forgiveness, grief and healing, famine and provision. But more than that, it's the story of how God takes a broken family and forms a people through whom He will bless the whole world. From the very beginning, God's heart has been to include the outsider and heal what's been fractured. This series invites us into that story—not just to watch it unfold, but to find ourselves in it. Because God is still using crooked sticks to draw straight lines—and to build His family today.

God is the mystery and love at the center of reality that we call our lives, and we are here to pay attention to that! Because God speaks through the hieroglyphics of the things that happen in our actual lives. At the Eucharist table, we experience that God works through life, through people, and through physical, tangible, material reality to communicate His loving presence in our lives.*NOTE: George in referring to "Parker Palmer" throughout this teaching was actually meaning to say "Frederick Buechner." Apologies for missing that in the live recording. SLIDE GEORGE READ IN OUR GATHERING“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” Frederick Buechner

In his sermon, Pastor Chad Glover uses the Gospel Bridge to answer the question, “What is the gospel message?” He shares how to receive the gift of salvation and know that you are in a right relationship with God. Salvation is a free gift from God. Because God's standard is perfection, no one is good enough to get to Him on their own. But Jesus suffered and died and rose again so that you could have eternal life! That's good news. Two equations in the message of the gospel:Jesus' Death + Jesus' Resurrection = The GospelBelief + Confession = SalvationJoin Pastor Chad as he shares what the gospel message is, and make the decision to place your faith in Jesus today! Key Scripture: Romans 6:23 Connect with us on Social Media ↴Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abundantlifels/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abundantlifels Connect with Pastor Phil ↴Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhilHopperKCInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/philhopper_kc/Web: https://livingproof.co/resources/books/Learn more about the A-Life Discipleship Journey: https://alife.livingproof.co/ More information on our sermons: https://livingproof.co/sermons/Do you want to see your life changed by Jesus? Visit our website: https://livingproof.co/

Because God's mission is to reign through humans, we must create image bearers who righteously rule on his behalf. Genesis 1:20–23, 26–28 20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Main Idea. Only the blood of Jesus brings sinners out of darkness and into fellowship with God. Question. Why do we need the blood of Jesus to have fellowship with God? 1. Because God is holy (v.5) 2. Because sin breaks fellowship (v.6) 3. Because Christ's blood restores fellowship (v.7) Takeaways (for walking in the light). Cling to Christ. Confess your sin. Live in fellowship.

Introduction: We're Not Putting on a Show (1 Corinthians 2:1–5) Because the show will replace God's MESSAGE. (1 Cor 2:1–2) John 17:17 – Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. Because the show will replace God's METHODS. (1 Cor 2:3–4) Because the show will replace God's MISSION. (1 Cor 2:5) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 2:1-5What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What are some ways you have seen a church make the Gospel into a show / performance?Why does God prefer to work through weak people instead of strong & talented people (1 Cor 2:3-4)?How can you tell if a “good preacher” is a real Spirit-filled preacher, or a talented man just using his own gifts?BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Open those Bibles up to the book of 1 Corinthians. We're going to be in chapter 2.Let's just pause for a moment.And I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's Word accurately and clearly.I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what God said in His Word.Alright? Let's pray.Father, there are so many things that compete for our attention and devotion.Give us a hunger for your Word, because it is through your Word that we know you.So I pray, Father, that our appetites would be for nothing but the bread of your Word.Let us dial into what your teaching is here in this passage, Father. We pray in Jesus' name.Amen.Amen.1 Corinthians chapter 2, are you there?I was today years old when I learned what that phrase meant.How many people have heard that? I was today years old. How many have heard that one? How many of you used that?Some of you are like, I don't know what you're talking about. Well, maybe you're not hip like Justin Cady,knowing all the vernacular of the children.But let me give you an example. I was today years old when I learned that on a box of tic-tacs,do you know when you open it up, there's this little oval in here? Do you know what that's for?That is to serve the tic-tac. Did you know that?Have you been just eating your tic-tac straight from the box like a wolf?Did you know that you're supposed to use this thing to...Ta-da!Maybe you can flick it in your mouth.Never mind.I'm going to give you, in all seriousness, the biggest and most shocking thing.The whole phrase I was today years old means there's something I should have known.I'm just finding out this thing that I should have known my whole life and wow, it changes everything.Well, here's the biggest one of all time.Did you know that you have the ability to take power out of the cross of Jesus Christ?Did you know that? You might be leaving here today saying I was today years old when I learned.I can empty the cross of Jesus Christ of its power. Do you realize you have that ability?The Bible says we do have that ability. Look back at chapter 1 verse 17.We covered this a couple of weeks ago, but very briefly because I knew we would be hitting it hard this week.But chapter 1 verse 17, Paul says, "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel,and not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."What? I can take power away from the cross of Christ? That's what he said.How can I take power away from the cross? How can I empty the cross of Christ of power?He tells us right here in verse 17 by relying on eloquent wisdom.Look at chapter 2. We're going to look at the first five verses, but I want us to read it all first.I want us to be very clear what the Lord is saying here.Paul says through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "And when I came to you, brothers,did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were notimplausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."See a theme there? Over and over and over he's talking about wisdom.And you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, hang on, timeout Pastor Jeff, hang on."I thought wisdom was a good thing, right?And we've had whole sermon series on wisdom and there's books in the Bible called wisdom literature.I thought wisdom was a good thing. Why are we poo-pooing wisdom here today, Pastor Jeff?Well, wisdom is one of those words that can have different connotations depending on the context.A lot of words like that, right? Like the word aggressive.Is that a good word or a bad word?Well, depends on where we're using it, right? It's great if you're playing hockey.It's bad if you're in a meeting. See?Or how about the word judge? You hear that word judge, is judging good or bad?Well, depends how you use it. We are commanded to judge to discern.But we are forbidden to judge in the sense of criticizing people like we talked about in the sermon on the Mount.So you see, judge is bad or good depending on the context. And it's the same with wisdom.Because the Bible is clear there is God's wisdom and there is man's wisdom.And the obvious point of this passage, all circles around this idea of not man's worldly, earthly wisdom.That's the point. He says it in verse 1. He says it in verse 4. He says it in verse 5.So to sum up this passage, here's what Paul is saying.He's saying, "I didn't come proclaiming man's wisdom. My message was not in man's wisdom and your faith can't be in man's wisdom."You're like, "What's he saying? What's the problem here? Why is he so adamant about this?"Well, you have to understand something about the Greeks.You have to understand something about the people that lived in Corinth.You see, for them, public speaking was entertainment and competition.Now please dial in here, because if you miss this, you're going to be so confused as we go through these verses.Public speaking was entertainment and competition.They would actually compete for money and prizes and fame with public speaking.So for the Greeks, those in Corinth, public speaking was putting on a show.Public speaking was a performance.Remember, they didn't have TV.They weren't sitting down to entertaining themselves by watching the Judge Judy or whatever.They didn't have the internet where they would sit on their phone and death scroll through countless videos about cats.That's not how they were entertained.They were entertained in the Greek culture by two things, really.Sports, we get that, right? But their other form of entertainment was public speech.And public speech, listen, public speech was evaluated on eloquence.We get that, because how many countless TV programs do we have about judging talent?Right? The Americans got talent and American Idol and The Voice, The Mass Singer, what else is there?All these shows where, you know, so you think you can dance, we're constantly evaluating the talent level of people on these programs.Public speaking was that in Corinth.Now, do you see the issue?Paul came to them with a speech, the Gospel.He came to them with a speech and he came to a culture that evaluates a speech based on the performance of the performer.So if you look at this passage again, I'm going to look at it again, just abbreviating it, but you could substitute this phrase where it talks about wisdom.You could substitute putting on a show. That's what he was talking about here.Paul's saying, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming you the testimony of God by putting on a show."And then down in verse 4, "My speech and my message was not about putting on a show."And then in verse 5, "Your faith might not rest in the show, but the power of God."You see? That was the issue for that culture.And you're like, "Phew! Stinks for that culture because I get a... You know what, Pastor Jeff, it would be absolutely horrible.I mean, that would be terrible if people today turned the Gospel into our show.I mean, could you imagine how tacky it would be if people made church a performance?We don't have to stretch our imagination, do we?What do you see when you go to a lot of churches and Bible conferences, right?Fog machines and lights and how about a man pole dancing and swallowing swords?That happened at a men's conference.And oh, every spring I gag as I see churches promoting this summer at such and such church, summer at the movies.Life lessons according to Toy Story 2.I'm like, "Really? You've preached through the whole Bible and you're out of material and now we're turning to Pixar.Really?We made it into a show.Come to our church. We're dropping Easter eggs out of a helicopter.Oh, you know what the worst is. This could be... And this is personal opinion. This is the worst.The pastors that get on stage dressed up like a character.Have you seen this? Have you seen this nonsense?Pastor Taylor sent me a video for the record making fun of it.He sent me a video of a pastor that got on stage and their whole thing was Indiana Jones.And look, I love Indiana Jones, but the pastor was dressed like Indiana Jones.It was so stupid. He had a whip and he's just standing up there.It was so foolish.I have a... Noa guy who's a pastor, local-ish.We're talking about what's happening in church, what's going on in your ministry right now.And he went on and on and on bragging. He bought an evil-can-evil costume and preached as evil-can-evil.I'm like, "Great. Did you have to spend 20 minutes explaining to the people under 60 who evil-can-evil is?"Like, "Really? That's church?"What are we doing?If you sit these people down that are putting on these performances, these pastors,that are putting on these performances, like, "Why are you doing this?Why are you standing on stage waving a silly whip around like Indiana Jones? What are you doing?"They would say, "Well, that's how I get people to church.""Hey, no need to thank me, Jesus. I have a brilliant plan to fill the seats."And just as sad, churchgoers applaud these gimmicks because they get attention, right?That's why we're sharing these videos. They get attention.Oh, but then we get out to do each other, don't we?He dressed like Indiana Jones next week, harvest."You come to church next week. I'm going to be dressed as Darth Vader."[sighs]Your faith is weak.Won't that be awesome?You're like, "No, Pastor Jeff, that would be stupid."And you're right.We're going to top the other guy, and then we're going to top ourselves, right?Okay, so my thing with Darth Vader, people are clapping and giggling for that.So what am I going to do next week that's better than that, right?Just like one of those Lord of the Ring elves or something, and we'll blast fireworks on stage.What are we doing?This is exactly what Paul's talking about here.This is the principle. Lofty speech, human wisdom, plausible words.It's making the gospel into a show in order to win people.Paul says, "I didn't do that when I came to you in the Harvest Bible Chapel.We're not doing that either."And somebody right now is like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, come on, what's the big deal?"Lighten up.I mean, if it draws people to church,why wouldn't we apply a little worldly wisdom?Listen, we are not putting on a show.We are not putting on a show.That is a hill that I will die on.You're like, "Well, what's the issue?"Well, let's revisit the text here, and we're going to see it's a much bigger issue than you think.We're not putting on a show.Write some things down. Number one, because the show will replace God's message.That's why the show, the show will replace God's message.Look at the first two verses again.Paul says, "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to youthe testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you."Except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."When I came to you, you can revisit this story."Acts chapter 17, Paul was in Athens and he preached and responds, "Not so great."Then Acts chapter 18, he goes to Corinth.He's alone and he's looking around and he's like, "This place is even worse than Athens."And Paul here is saying, "So when I came to you, did I come with the fancy talk?Did I come like your public speakers putting on a show for you?"He's like, "No, no, no, no, the Gospel isn't about that.I didn't come to you like one of your philosophers.I came to you as a witness of Jesus Christ."And I love this.What is it?He says, "For I decided."It wasn't a whim.It wasn't one of those tweak and go things, last minute change.He goes, "No, no, no, no, no.I made the decision ahead of time that I'm not going into Corinth and I'm not going to try to dazzle them into the kingdom."By the way, do you think Paul could have?Do you think he had the ability to dazzle people with the knowledge that he had?Yeah, he could have.He said, "I will not do that."So what was your plan, Paul?He tells us this was my plan, verse 2, "For I decided to know nothing among you."Except what?Say it.Jesus Christ and say it.Him crucified.That's it.That's all I wanted to know.That's it.The only thing I wanted to know.The only thing I wanted to teach.The only thing I wanted to talk about was Jesus Christ and Him crucified.You're like, "Oh, time out question.Isn't there more to the Bible than that?"I mean, isn't there more to the Bible than that?Nope, there's not.Listen, the cross of Jesus Christ is literally everything.Everything.How is it that a person is saved?How is it that a person can have their sins taken away and the promise of being in glory with their God forever?How does that happen?The cross of Jesus Christ.How do we know that God loves us?How do we know that the God who created us has a love and compassion and He really cares for us?How do we know?The cross of Jesus Christ.How do we know that God is holy, that God is a God of justice?How do we know that God always upholds His Word, always does what He says?How do we know that?The cross of Jesus Christ.How does God feel about sin?How does God feel about our rebellion, our thumbing, our noses at Him and our...How does God feel about our sin?Where do we get our answer? Shout it out.That was the weakest shout it out I've ever heard.Come on, you can even hit the Sunday School Answer here.How do we know how God feels about sin?Where do we look? Tell me.The cross!That tells us.You know, I was really hitting this this week, hard thinking,is there anything that's not finding its foundation in the cross?I couldn't think of anything.And somebody's like, well, how about money?How about money, Pastor Jeff?Does the cross speak to money?Yeah, it does.Why do we give?Because God is a God who expresses His love through giving.And the cross of Jesus Christ tells us why we should be generous givers.Read 2 Corinthians chapter 8.He talks all about that there.So yes, the cross is a foundation even for giving.Oh, okay, okay, Pastor Jeff.Very slick.What about marriage and sexuality?I bet the cross doesn't talk about that.Oh, you got me. No, you didn't.Who did Jesus die for?His bride.Jesus died so that He could have a bride that was spallus.And heaven is described as the marriage supper of the Lamb.And husbands are to conduct themselves in a home in the pattern of Christbecause the purpose of a marriage is to put on a graphic displayof the relationship Jesus has with the church.Husbands represent the self-sacrificing love of Jesus Christ to their wives.Do you see how the cross speaks to marriage?We could do this all day.Fight me.Fight me.Show me something.Show me something that the cross of Jesus Christ doesn't cover.Doesn't explain.Paul says, "I wanted to know nothing.I decided I'm not going to know anything except Christ and Him crucified."Then I'm going to tell you, church,it is absolutely baffling to me when I see all these goofy gimmicks that people are doing in churches.It's absolutely baffling to me when we're dressed up like Indiana Jonesor Evil Can Evil or Super Mario or whatever.It's absolutely baffling to me.I'm like, do you realize the message that we have in the Word of God?Do you know what this message is?The message is God spoke everything into existence.He created us in His image.We rebelled against Him so God in His love came to this earth as a manand demonstrated supernatural abilities proving who He was.And then in the ultimate act of love, He sacrificed Himself on the crossso that we could be forgiven and then they put Him in a tomb and He rose from the dead.And that's not it.Then He flies to heaven and He's making a place because He's going to come backand He's going to take us so that we can be there with Him forever in a place that's so glorious.And like, is there anything better than that?There's the greatest message in the world.And somehow we think it needs bling.We think we need some kind of a gimmick to make Jesus exciting.What are you talking about?That's Paul's point here.It's the greatest message and it always will be in any attempt to put on a show.It's not going to enhance the gospel. It's going to replace the gospel.You know what I mean by that?Take our good friend Indiana Jones.I hope you weren't in that service.But if you were, could you imagine what people were talking aboutwhen they walked out of church that day?Do you think they walked out of church going, you know,after watching the pastor get around and waving his silly little whip around?Do you think people walked out of church going, Jesus Christ is so awesome?Do you think they walked out of church going, oh how wonderful the salvation of Godthat He would so love us?I'll tell you what people said walking out of that church.People walked out going, man I got to find my temple of doom VHS.We've replaced the message of how to be safe from hell with nonsense to entertain people.Well, at harvest Bible Chapel, Bible is our middle name.We are committed to pillar number one, proclaiming the authority of God's word without apology.Why are we so committed to nothing but expository preaching, representing the word?Why are we so committed to that?Like why are you so hard-nosed about that?I'll give you three reasons why.Number one, because it's commanded.God said this is what we were to talk about.So that's what we're going to talk about.It's commanded.Second reason that we're so committed to the word of God is it's literally the only thing that's effective.God said He is watching over His word to perform in Jeremiah 1.God says Isaiah 55, that His word always accomplishes the purposes for which He sends it out.It's effective.Nothing else will change a person.But the Spirit of God working through the word of God.That's it. That's the only way change happens.There's another reason that we're so committed to the word of God is because it's unifying.In John 17, Jesus was praying for us, and Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth."Sanctify means set apart.Jesus said, "Regarding His people, regarding us, we are to be set apart in the truth."Like where do we find that?Right there, Jesus said it.As He was praying to His Father, He says, "Your word is truth."So Jesus said, "The thing that must unify us, church, isn't some gimmick or a favorite form of entertainment.The thing that must unify us is the word of God. Get under the word."That's why we're committed to that.And you know what? I got to tell you this personally.This is so freeing for me.This is so freeing.I don't have to wonder what to say to you.See, we don't get in our offices through the week and we're like,"Oh, Pastor Taylor, what do you think we should say this week?Let's come up with some really great thing that's going to really fire people up."We don't have to do that.We just have to share the word of God.It's so freeing. I don't have to think, "How do I top last week's show?"I mean, people were really entertained last week.How do I top that?It's freeing for you, too.It's freeing for you.We talk about witnessing.One of the main obstacles people have about witnessing,I hear this all the time, Pastor Taylor,you've heard it a billion times as well, give or take.But you know what people say about witnessing?They say, "I don't know what to say."I would share my faith, but I'll be honest with you.I don't really know what to say. Yes, you do.You know exactly what to say.What do I say?Try this. Try Paul's technique.Nothing but the cross. How about that?Nothing but the cross. Share that.Do you know about the cross? Share that.You know, when people come to you and they're like,"Well, you know what does the Bible say about politics?"And like, Republicans and Democrats, you're like,"Well, do you know that Jesus Christ died for your sins?Did you know that?"And then they're like, "Well, what does the Bible say about AI?"I mean, AI is kind of scary.What does the Bible say about that?And your response is,"Do you know that God loved you so muchthat He sent His Son to die on the cross for you?That's how much God loves you."And they're like, "Well, does the Bible say anythingabout in vitro fertilization?"And she's like, "No, no, no. All I know is that Jesus died for you."That's all we need to know.We're not putting on a show because the showwill replace God's message of the cross of Christ.Number two, write this one down.We're not putting on a show because the show will replace God's methods.The show will replace God's methods.Look at verses 3 and 4 again.He says, "And I was with you in weakness and in fearand much trembling.And my speech and my message were notin plausible words of wisdom,but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."Paul reminds them, he didn't come to themlike a boxer going to the ring.Like, "I fired up."Yeah!You see, there's really goofy, like,WWE professional wrestlers.Do you ever see these guys that come to the ring with the fireworks?Yeah!Yeah, and Paul's like, "That's not how I came to you.Like some goofy entertainer."He says, "I came to you. Use the three words, 'weakness,' fear, and trembling."What do you mean?What do you mean by that?Well, you look at how it's used biblically.Trembling is talking about mental anxietyover an important issue.That's when you feel something heavy in your heart and mind.You feel something so heavy that it's like weighing on you.And here's what I mean.Have you ever had the unfortunate business of having to give somebody newsyou didn't want to give them?Unfortunately, in my role, I've had to do that too many times.And it's so heavy on you.You're driving to the person's house because you have to tell them face to facethat there's been a terrible accident and things don't look good,that heaviness that you have while you're heading there.And delivering the message, just...That's what he's talking about.Or the heaviness, like if you have to confront somebody about their sin.Like, it's been brought to my attention that so-and-so is involved in a relationshipthat shouldn't be involved in.Now I gotta go talk to them about that.You see, you don't walk into that like a WWE wrestler, do you?Like, "Hey, guess what? I got news for you.There's been a terrible tragedy!"Like, what's the matter with you?No, that's the heaviness of having to deliver a serious message.That's what he's talking about here.Paul says, "This was my posture when I was with you.Not exactly the celebrity showman that the Corinthians would have preferred."Paul is saying, "I came in weakness because I didn't want to put on a showbecause I didn't want to get in God's way."Why, Paul? Why?Because the show will replace God's methods.You're like, "Well, what is God's method for reaching lost people?What is God's method?"It's the foolishness of preaching from a weak preacher.That's God's method.Did you ever say something like magnanimous, you have this really idealistic convictionand then the word of God kind of changes your mind on that?What I mean is, in past time I've said things like,"Well, you know what? The messenger is insignificant. The message is everything."After my study this week, I'm not so convinced of that anymore.Yeah, look, we established already that the message cannot be replaced.We already talked about that.But you cannot separate gospel content and gospel communication.Because according to this, in 117 that we already talked about at the beginning,you can suppress the power of the gospel message if attention is taken away from thatand put on the speaker.And you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. Hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.Are you telling me that popular people can't be faithful preachers?"Sure they can.So long as the spotlight isn't on them, you see.You're like, "Well, where's the line? Where's the line?"It's a hard issue. I'm not sure that we can see the line, but I know that God can.And I know that there is a difference between preaching Christ and showing off.And please hear me. You don't need to dress up as Indiana Jones to show off in church.You can dress like Pastor Taylor.You know, you really hurt his feelings by laughing just there.There is nothing wrong with how you're dressed.I'm sorry, Pastor Taylor.Do you know what this thing is for in a tic-tac box?You put the tic-tac in there.Moving right along.You don't need to dress up as Indiana Jones to show off.You can dress like Pastor Taylor, but unlike Pastor Taylor, you can try to make yourself the star.Unlike Pastor Taylor, you can put all the attention on yourself.You know, the message of the cross, you know what the message of the cross is?The message of the cross is about the humiliation of God.And preaching and witnessing require the humiliation of man.If you're sitting here today and you're like, "Well, I'm not really anything special.I'm just a sinner saved by grace."Well, if that's your attitude, then that's exactly why God wants to speak through you.Because you've found nothing to boast of in yourself.And instead, all you can do is exalt Jesus Christ.The power is in the gospel, which is why it must be preached by someonewho isn't going to drown out the gospel message with the sound of tuning their own horn.So we're not putting on a show because the show will replace God's method of preaching through weak men.One more.We're not putting on a show, number three, because the show will replace God's mission.Look at verse 5.He says that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.See here Paul's landing. This is the end game.The results.Here's the bottom line.If you're dazzled by men, your faith is going to be in men.But if you are dazzled over the power of God, if your experience is with the power of God,then your faith is going to be in God.What you win people with is what you win them to.See we're not putting on a show, why?Because if we win people with the show, with entertainment, we've won them to entertainment.And guess why people are going to come to harvest?Because they want entertained.But if we win people with Jesus, we've won them to Jesus.And people are going to come to harvest because they want to know Jesus.Putting on a show replaces God's mission.Instead of making disciples of Jesus, I'm making disciples of me.There's a very pragmatic problem with that too.If the church is replacing God's mission for the show, it leaves the converts vulnerable.Why? Because there's always a more impressive performance.There's always a more charismatic personality out there.There's always a better show somewhere else.And that's why, listen, that's why people bounce around churches.People bounce around churches looking for something more entertaining.They're not going to use the word entertaining.They want something that is going to be more appealing to them.We hear it all the time."Oh Pastor Jeff, we love harvest.We love the people here and we love you.But such and such church has a better playground.We've got little kids and they need better facilities like that with playground and stuff.I had one family.I said, "Oh Pastor Jeff, we love harvest."But he said, "My kid, he had a 12 year old kid.He said, "My kid loves the concert atmosphere at such and such church, so we're going there."I'm like, "First of all, Dad,I seriously doubt the wisdom of leaving the decision of the spiritual direction of the familyin the lap of the most immature member of the family.That's a problem.But is that how we're picking churches who has the best concert?You see, if the faith of the responders is produced by the preacher's show,what if the preacher leaves?What happens when that preacher retires?What are we going to do now?Worse, what if the preacher fails?See, you replace the mission for the showand Paul says you're missing out on God's power.God's power, you're like, "Well, what is the power?What is the power?"You're like, "Oh, I know this one.I know what the power is because I've seen this on TV."Who's that guy that's...He slaps people and heals them?What's his name? Benny Hill?Hen, Benny Hinn.Benny Hill's different.I've seen that show.He slaps the people and they're down.And then he waves at a group of people and they all fall down.That's the power of God, right?Well, back in chapter 1 verse 18 of Pastor Taylor preached on last week,we learned what the power of God is.You know what the power of God is?The gospel.The gospel. Romans 1.16, the gospel is the power of God.You're like, "Well, do we see the power of God at Harvest Bible Chapel?"Yeah.Every time that we have a baptism serviceand you have somebody stepping in to the tubgoing, "I turn from my sin and I receive Jesus Christ, I am born again."You're witnessing the power of God.Every time somebody chooses forgiveness,"I was wronged, I was offended, I want to forgive, I want the relationship restored."Every time that happens, you're seeing the power of God.Every time somebody uses spiritual gifts to minister to others in the church,you're seeing the power of God.You see, the power of God is a changed life.You're the power of the Holy Spirit.That only comes from Jesus.In church, we are doing a major disservice to peopleto replace people experiencing His power with people enjoying my performance.I have no power at all.I can't save anyone.I can't change anyone.Only Jesus Christ can do that through His Spirit.So we're not putting on a showbecause the show will replace God's mission of making disciples of Jesus.The Harvest Bible Chapel, there's no tricks for results herebecause the Gospel just simply points to the bloodied Jesus Christ on the crossand says, "There, right there on the cross is your salvation.There on the cross is your example.There on the cross is your victory.There on the cross is your power."So this is a call for discernment.Look, are you new here?You're a first-time visitor here today?Have you been bouncing around visiting churches?And this is just one of many that you've been checking out.Or maybe you're somebody who's been attending for a while.Maybe you're even a member who's been thinking about moving on.I just want to ask you a couple of questions in light of what God says here.What are you looking for in a church?Wait, wait, maybe that's not the right question.Maybe the better question is what should you be looking for in a church?More fireworks?More pizazz?Or is Jesus what you really want?Are you saying, you know, I want to know the Gospel.I want nothing more than to experience the power of God in my life.Well, wherever you choose to worship,I would encourage you to make your decision based on the right factors.I have no say over what other churches do.I have some say here in a harvest Bible chapel.We're not putting on a show.We buy our heads as the worship team makes their way back up.Father in heaven, we bow before you as people who live in a culturebombarded by entertainment.Bombarded by churches trying to win people through goofy stuff.Father, your word is so clear on that in this passage.That your Gospel doesn't need help.It's just He's proclaimed.Father, I'm sorry for all the times that I thought it was about me.I'm sorry God for all the times that I was trying to factor in some element of creativityor something to really wow people and your Gospel doesn't need that.My efforts will just replace the pure, simple, clear message of the crucified Christ.Father, I pray for all of us that we would have the discernment that only comes from your spirit.That as we are evaluating where we are worshiping and how we are worshiping,we're evaluating the methods that you've laid out in your Word.We're evaluating the mission that you've laid out in your Word.We're evaluating the message that you've given us, Father.Give us discernment.We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

In this profound episode of the Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb delve deeply into the Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30), exploring its implications for Christian assurance. Building on their previous discussion, they examine how this parable speaks to the mixed nature of the visible church, the sovereignty of Christ over His kingdom, and most significantly, the doctrine of assurance. Through careful theological reflection, the hosts unpack how true believers can find solid ground for assurance not in their own works or fruit-checking, but in the promises of Christ and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. This episode offers both encouragement for those struggling with doubts and a sobering challenge to those resting in false assurance. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Tares teaches that the visible church will be mixed until the final judgment, containing both true believers (wheat) and false professors (tares) who may appear outwardly similar. True assurance is not based primarily on good works but on the promises of Christ, the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, and the evidences of grace in our lives. False assurance is a real danger, as many who think they belong to Christ will discover at the final judgment that they never truly knew Him. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 18) provides a helpful framework for understanding biblical assurance as the proper possession of every Christian. Christ's role as the divine Master of the house (the world) and Lord of the angels is subtly yet powerfully affirmed in this parable, grounding our assurance in His sovereignty. Good works are the fruit of assurance, not its cause—when we are secure in our salvation, we are freed to serve Christ joyfully rather than anxiously trying to earn assurance. The final judgment will bring perfect clarity, revealing what was hidden and separating the wheat from the tares with divine precision that humans cannot achieve now. The Doctrine of Assurance: Reformed Understanding The Reformed tradition has always emphasized that believers can and should have assurance of their salvation—a conviction recovered during the Reformation in contrast to Rome's teaching. As Tony noted when reading from the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 18), this assurance is "not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation." This assurance rests on three pillars: the promises of God in Scripture, the inward evidence of grace, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirit. What makes this understanding particularly comforting is that it shifts the foundation of assurance away from our performance to God's faithfulness. While self-examination has its place, the Reformed understanding recognizes that looking too intensely at our own hearts and works can lead either to despair or to false confidence. Instead, we're directed to look primarily to Christ and His finished work, finding in Him the anchor for our souls. The Problem of False Assurance One of the most sobering aspects of the Parable of the Tares is its implicit warning about false assurance. Just as the tares resemble wheat until maturity reveals their true nature, many professing Christians may outwardly appear to belong to Christ while inwardly remaining unregenerate. As Jesse observed, "The tares typically live under false assurance. They may attend church, confess belief, appear righteous, yet their hearts are unregenerate. Their faith is maybe historical, it's not saving, it could be intellectual, but it's not spiritual." This echoes Jesus' warning in Matthew 7 that many will say to Him, "Lord, Lord," but will hear the devastating response, "I never knew you." The parable teaches us that this self-deception is not always conscious hypocrisy but often the result of spiritual blindness. As Jesse noted, referencing Romans 1, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 2, the unregenerate are "not merely ignorant, they're blinded... to the spiritual truth by nature and by Satan." This understanding should prompt humble self-examination while simultaneously driving us to depend not on our own discernment but on Christ's perfect knowledge and saving work. Memorable Quotes "Assurance is the believer's arc where he sits Noah alike quiets and still in the midst of all distractions and destructions, commotions and confusions." - Thomas Brooks, quoted by Jesse Schwamb "When we are confessing, repenting, seeking like our status in Christ because of Christ, then we have confidence that we are in fact part of the children of God. When everything is stripped away from us and all we're crying out is only and completely and solely and unequivocally Jesus Christ, then I think we have great reason to understand that we should be confident in our assurance." - Jesse Schwamb "The sacrifice and the service that a husband performs for his wife, whom he loves and trusts and is committed to and knows that she's faithful and committed to him, that is not causing that faithfulness. It's not causing that trust and that love. It is the outcome and the outflow of it." - Tony Arsenal on how good works flow from assurance rather than cause it Resources Mentioned Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 7:21-23, Romans 1, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 2, 2 Timothy 3:5 Westminster Confession of Faith: Chapter 18 "Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation" Thomas Brooks: "Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices" YouTube Channel: My Wild Backyard Khan Academy: Educational resource recommended during "Affirmations and Denials" segment Full Transcript Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 466 of the Reform the Brotherhood. I'm Jesse. Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. We're going back to the farm again. Can't stop. Won't stop. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I'm stoked. [00:01:02] Discussion on the Parable of the Tears Tony Arsenal: The last week's discussion was interesting and I think, um, it's gonna be nice to sort of round it out and talk about some things you might not think about, uh, when you first read this parable. So I'm, I'm pretty excited. Jesse Schwamb: Oh, what a tease that is. So if you're wondering what Tony's talking about, we're hanging out. In Matthew 13, we are just really enjoying these teachings of Jesus. And they are shocking and they're challenging, and they're encouraging, and they're awesome, of course. And so we're gonna be finishing out the Parable of the Tears and you need to go back and listen to the previous conversation. This, this is all set up because we have some unfinished business. We didn't talk about the eschatological implications. We have this really big this, this matza ball hanging over us. So to speak, which was the, do the TAs in this parable even know that they are tarry, that they are the TAs? And so in this parable, the disciples learn that the kingdom itself, God's kingdom, the kingdom that Jesus is enumerating and explaining and bringing into being, they are learning that it's gonna be mixed in character. So that's correcting this expectation that the kingdom would be perfectly pure and would have, would evolve righteous rule over all of the unrighteous world. And so it's a little bit shocking that Jesus says, listen, they're gonna be. Tears within the wheats that is in the world, the seed that God himself, the sun has planted and that they're gonna exist side by side for a long time. And so we, they have to wait patiently and give ourselves to building up the wheats as the sons of the kingdom and be careful in their judgment, not to harm those who are believers. We covered a lot of that last week, but left so much unsaid we couldn't even fit it in. This is gonna be jam packed, so I'm gonna stop giving the tees instead start moving us into affirmations and denials. [00:02:45] Affirmations and Denials Jesse Schwamb: It's of course that time in our conversation where we either affirm with something really like or we think is undervalued or we deny against something that we don't really like or is a little overvalued. So as I usually say to you, Tony, what have you got for us? [00:03:00] YouTube Channel Recommendation: My Wild Backyard Tony Arsenal: I am affirming a YouTube channel. Um, I, I think the algorithm goes through these cycles where it wants me to learn about bugs and things because I get Okay, like videos about bugs. And so I'm, I'm interested. There's been this, uh, channel that's been coming up on my algorithm lately called My Wild Backyard, and it, it's a guy, he's like an entomologist. He seems like a, a like a legit academic, but what he does is he basically goes through and he talks about different bugs, creepy crawlies, looks at like snakes, all that kinds of stuff. It seems like his wheelhouse is the stuff that can kill you or hurt you pretty bad. Nice. But, um, it's interesting and it's. It's good educational content. It's, you know, it's not sensationalized, it's not, uh, it's not dramatized. Um, it's very real. There's occasionally an instance where he, he's not, sometimes he will intentionally get bit or stung by an, uh, by an animal to show you what it does. So he can experience and explain what he's experiencing. And sometimes he just accidentally gets bit or stung. And so those are some of the most interesting ones. So like, for example, just looking at his, his channel, his most recent, um, his most recent video is called The most venomous Desert Creatures in the US ranked the one previous was. The world's most terrifying arachni isn't a spider. And then previous to that was what happens if a giant centipede bites you? So it's interesting stuff. If you are one of those people that likes bugs and likes creepy crawlies and things, um, this is definitely the channel for you if you're not one of those people. I actually think this probably is the channel for you too. 'cause it kind of demystifies a lot of this stuff. Um. You know, for example, he, he will commonly point out that, um, spiders don't wanna bite you and they just wanna leave you alone. And, and as long as you leave them alone, even, even something like a black widow, which people are terrified of, and I think, right, rightfully so. I mean, they can be scary. Those can be scary bites. He'll, he'll handle those, no problem. And as long as he's not like putting downward pressure on them, uh, they have no interest in biting, they really just want to get away. So even seeing that kind of stuff, I think can help demystify and, and sort of, uh, make it a little bit easier. So my Wild Backyard, he can find it on YouTube. Um, he's safe for kids. He's not, he's not cussing even. I mean, I think occasionally when he gets bit on accident, you might, you know, you might have a beep here or there, but, um, he's not, he's not regularly swearing or things like that. And he does a pretty good job of adding that stuff out. Jesse Schwamb: What a great title for that, isn't it? This, yeah. Confluence of your backyard. That space that seems domesticated is also stealing its own. Right. Wild. And there's a be Yeah. Both those things coming together. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It, it's interesting stuff and it's really good. I mean, it's really compelling videography. He does a good job of taking good photos. You'll see insects that you usually won't see, or spiders you usually won't see. Um, so yeah, it's cool. Check it out. [00:05:51] Discussion on Spiders and Creepy Crawlies Jesse Schwamb: What are you, uh, yeah, I myself would like to become more comfortable with the arachni variety. If only be, I mean, I don't know. It's, it's a weird creature, so my instinct is to be like, kill them all. And then if I can't find them and I know they're around, then we just burn everything that we own. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: They just can't sink into the ground fast enough. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. There's something about the way they move, like their, their bodies don't move the way you would anticipate them to. Right. And it freaks, it just weirds out human sensibilities, so. Right. Jesse Schwamb: They're also like, I find them to be very surprising. Often. It's not kind of a, a very like, kind of measured welcome into your life. It's like you just go to get in the shower and there's a giant spider. Yeah. Oh yeah. Although I guess that spider, he's, he or she's probably like, whoa, where'd you come from? You know, like, yeah. He's like, I was just taking a Tony Arsenal: shower. You know what's interesting? Um, I saw another video was on a different channel, um, like common jumping spiders. Yeah. Which there are like hundreds of species of common jumping spiders. Jesse Schwamb: True. Tony Arsenal: Um, but spiders and jumping spiders specifically, actually you can form almost like a pet bond with, so like the, that jumping spider that like lives in your house and sees you every day. He, he probably knows who you are and is like, comfortable with you. And they've done studies that like you can actually domesticate jumping spiders, so they're not as foreign and alien as you might think. Although they certainly do look a little bit strange and weird. And the way their bodies move is almost designed to weird out people like it just the skinness, like the way their legs skitter and move it, it just is, it's, it triggers something very primal in us to That's wild. Be weirded out by it. Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: It's wild. I love it. That's a good, a affirmation. I'm definitely gonna check that out. I, any, anything? I really want to know what the, what like the terrifying arachni is. That's not a spider. Tony Arsenal: It's a, well, it's called a camel spider, but it's not really a spider. Oh, Jesse Schwamb: I know what you're talking about. That is kind of terrifying. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. They, they actually don't have any venom. Um, yeah. Check out the video. I mean, it, it was a good video. Um, but yeah, they're freaky looking and, um, but even that, like he was handling it No problem. Yeah. Like it wasn't, it wasn't aggressive with him once Wow. Once it figured out it wasn't, he wasn't trying to hurt him and, and that it couldn't eat him. Um, it, it just sort of like hung out until he let it go. So Jesse Schwamb: yeah, just be careful if you watch it one before bed or while in bed. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Probably not right before bed. Yeah. You'll, you'll get the creepy crawlies all night. Jesse Schwamb: I love it. But there's something somewhat. Like invigorating about that isn't there? Like it's, it's kind of a natural, just like kind of holy respect for the world that God has created, that they're these features that are so different, so wild, so interesting and a little bit frightening, but in the sense that we just draw off from them because they're so different than what we are. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: And you know, again, there's places you would be happy to see them, but maybe your bathtub or like shooting out, like, you know, like where you live, the jumping spiders are legit and they will just pop out on you, you know? Yeah. You're just doing your own thing and then all of a sudden they're popping out. I think part of that is just that what, what gets me is like them just, you know, like I remember in my basement here, once one popped out from a rafter and then I was holding, happened to be holding up broom. My instinct just naturally was to hit it. I hit it with the broom and it went across the room and fell on an empty box and sounded like a silver dollar had hit the box. Like it was just a massive, I mean, again, like, it's like fish stories, like it's a massive spider. It was a big spider. Yeah. But you just don't expect to, to see that kind of thing. Or maybe, maybe I should, but anything that moves in that way, and again, like centipedes, man, forget it. We have those too, like in our basement. Like the long ones. Oh yeah. Yeah. That thing will come like squiggling down the wall at you, like eye level and you just wanna run up the stairs screaming like a little girl. Tony Arsenal: Yeah, you do run up the stairs screaming like a little girl. It's not that you want to, it's that usually you do. I don't mean like you specifically, although probably you specifically. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There's, yeah, you just react. Well, j Jesse enough freaking out. I mean, we're getting close to Halloween, so I suppose it's appropriate, but, uh, enough of that. What are you affirming or denying today? Jesse Schwamb: Once again, without like any coordination, mine is not unlike yours. I know you and I, we talk about the world in which we live, which God has created, and this lovely command, this ammunition to take dominion over that. And one of the things I appreciate about our conversations is I think you and I often have maybe not like a novel. Kinda perspective on that, but one that I don't hear talked about often and that is this idea of taking dominion over what it is possible to know and to appropriate, and then to apply onto wisdom. [00:10:27] Affirmation: Khan Academy Jesse Schwamb: And so my information is in that realm. It's another form of taking ownership of what's in the wild of knowledge that you can possess. And again, equal parts. What an amazing time to be alive. So I'm affirming with the website, Khan Academy, which I'm sure many are familiar with. And this website offers like. Thousands of hours. Uh, and materials of free instructional videos, practice exercises, quizzes, all these like really bespoke, personalized learning modules you can create for topics like math, science, computing, economics, history, art. I think it goes like even starting at like. Elementary age all the way up into like early college can help you study for things like the SAT, the LSAT AP courses, and I was revisiting it. I have an open account with them that I keep in love and I go back to it from time to time. And I was working on some stuff where I wanted to rehearse some knowledge in like the calculus space, do some things by hand, which I haven't done. And I was just like, I'm blown away at how good this stuff is. And it's all for free. I mean, you should donate if you. You get something from this because it's a nonprofit, but the fact that there are these amazing instructional videos out there that can help us get a better understanding of either things we already know and we can rehearse the knowledge or to learn something brand new essentially for free. But somebody's done all the hard work to curate a pedagogy for you. Honestly, this is incredible. So if you haven't looked at that website in a long time or maybe ever, and you might be thinking, what, what do I really wanna learn? Lemme tell you. There's a lot of interesting stuff there and it's so approachable and it's such a good website for teaching. And if you have children in particular, even if you're looking for help, either helping them with their own coursework or maybe to have like kind of a tutor on the side, this is so good. So I can't say enough good things recently about Khan Academy 'cause it's been so helpful to me and super fun to like just sit and have your own paced study and in the private and comfort of your own home or your desk at work or wherever it is that you need to learn it. To be able to have somebody teach you some things, to do a little practice exercises, and then to go on to the world and to apply the things you've learned. Ah, it's so good. Tony Arsenal: Nice. Yeah, I've, I've never done anything with Khan Academy. I'll have to check it out. There's, um, there's some skills of needing to brush up on, uh, at work that I am probably not gonna be able to find in my normal channels, so I'll have to see if there is anything going on there. Um, but yeah, that's, that's good stuff. And it's free. Love freestyle. It's, and of course, like Jesse Schwamb: things like this are legion. So whatever it is, whatever your discipline or your field of study or work is, there's probably something out there and, uh, might, I humbly maybe encourage you to, if you use something like that and it's funded by donations, it's worth giving, I think, because again, it's just an amazing opportunity to take dominion over the knowledge that God has placed into the world and then to use it for something. I mean, I suppose even if all it is is you just wanna learn more about, like for me, I, I find like the subjects of, of math and science, like just endlessly fascinating and like the computing section I was looking at, I, I don't know much about like programming per se, but there is such a beauty. Like these underlying principles, like the, the organization of the world and the first level principles of like physics for instance, are just like baffling in the most glorious kind of way. How they all come together. So having somebody like teach you at a very like simplistic level, but allow you to grasp those concepts makes you just appreciate it leads me to doxology a lot when I see these things. So in a weird way, it ends up becoming maybe not a weird way and the right way. It becomes worship as often as I'm sitting at my desk and working through like a practice problem on like, you know, partial differential equation or, or derivatives is what I was working on today. And ah, it's just so good. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one. I, it's not be super nerdy, but you, are you ever like at your desk studying something? And it might not be like theological per se, but you just have a moment where you're overcome with some kind of worship. Do you know what I'm talking about? Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I, um, this we're the nerdiest people on the planet, but let's Jesse Schwamb: do it. Um, Tony Arsenal: when I find a really fun, interesting. Uh, Excel formula and I can get it to work right. Uh, and it, and then it just like everything unlocks. Like, I feel like I've unlocked all the knowledge in the universe. Um, but yeah, I hear you like the, the Excel thing is, is interesting to me because, like, math is just the description. Like it's just the fabric of reality is just the way we describe reality. But the fact that we can do basically just take math and do all these amazing things with it, uh, in a spreadsheet is really, uh, drives me to praise. Like I said, that's super nerdy, but it is. Oh, you're speaking my language. Jesse Schwamb: I, we have never understood each other better than just this moment right now. We, we had some real talk and, uh, a real moment. Tony Arsenal: Yes. Welcome to the Reformed math cast. Jesse Schwamb: We're so glad that you're here. Tony Arsenal: Yes. We're not gonna do any one plus one plus one equals one kinds of heretical math in, up in here. Jesse Schwamb: No. Tony Arsenal: Well, Jesse, I have a feeling that, excuse me. Wow. Jesse Schwamb: We don't edit anything out. Listen, I'm choked up too. It's it, listen, love ones just so emotional. The moment Tony and I are having it. We're gonna try our best right now to pivot to go into this text, but it's, it's tough because we were just really having something, something special. You got, you got to see there. But thank you for trying to Tony Arsenal: cover for me for that big cough. Jesse Schwamb: This is like presuppositional editing. You know, we don't actually do anything in post. It's not ex anti editing. It's, it's literally presuppositional. [00:15:52] Theological Discussion on Assurance Jesse Schwamb: But to that end, we are in Matthew 13. This is the main course. This is the reason why we're here. There's lots of reasons to worship, and one of them is to come before and admire and love our God who has given us his specific revelation and this incredible teaching of his son. And that's why we're hanging out in Matthew 13. So let me read, because we have just a couple of really sentences here, this really short parable and that way it'll catch us up and then we can just launch right back into we're, we're basically like, we're already in the rocket. Like we're in the stratosphere. We're, we're taking it all the way now. So this is Matthew chapter 13. Come hang out here. It's in the 24th verse. And this is what we find written for us. This is the word of the Lord. He put another parable before them saying. The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the weeds and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also, and the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said to him, then, do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, no less than gathering the weeds, you root up the weed along with them. Let both grow until the harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into my barn. Tony Arsenal: That's good stuff. That's good stuff. Um, you know, we, we covered most of. I don't know, what do you wanna call it? The first order reading of the parable last week. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: On one level, the parable, uh, as Christ explains it, uh, a little bit down further in the chapter is extremely straightforward. It's almost out, it's almost an allegory. Each, each element of the parable has a, a, a figure that it's representing. And the main purpose of the story is that the world and specifically the church, um, is going to be a mixed body until the last days, until the end of time. And so there's, there's the Sons of God or the Sons of the Kingdom, uh, and then there's the sons of the evil one. And we talked a lot about how. These two figures in the parable, the, the, the weeds or the tears? Um, tears is a better word because it's a specific kind of, uh, specific kind of weed that looks very much like wheat at its immature stages. Right. And you can't actually discern the difference readily, uh, until the weed and the wheat has grown up next to each other. Um, and so, so part of the parable is that. The, the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the enemy, or the sons of the evil one, they don't look all that different in their early stages. And it's not until the sort of end culmination of their lives and the end culmination of things that they're able to be discerned and then therefore, um, the, the sons of the devil are, are reaped and they go off to their eternal judgment and the sons of the kingdom are, uh, are harvested and they go off to their eternal reward. What we wanted to talk about, and part of the reason that we split this into two episodes. Is that we sort of found ourselves spiraling or spiraling around a question about, uh, sort of about assurance, right? And false assurance, true assurance. And there is an eschatological element to this parable that I, I think we probably should at least touch on as we we go through it. Um, but I wanted to just read, um, it's been a little while since we've read the Westminster Confession on the show. So I wanted to read a little bit from the Westminster Confession. Um, this is from chapter 18, which is called of assurance of grace and salvation. This is sort of the answer to Jesse's question. Do the, do the tears know their tears or, or could they possibly think that their wheat? So this is, uh, section one of chapter eight. It says, although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presuppositions or presumptions of being in favor with God in the state of salvation. Which hope of their shall perish yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. And so we, in the reform tradition at least, which is where we find ourselves in the reform tradition, um, we would affirm that people can. Deceive themselves into believing that they're in proper relation with God. Jesse Schwamb: Right? Tony Arsenal: And so it's not the case that, uh, that the weeds always know they're weeds or think they're weeds. It's not even the case. And this was part of the parable. It's not even the case that the weeds can be easily distinguished even by themselves from, uh, from the weeds. So there is this call, uh, and this is a biblical call. There's a call to seek out assurance and to lay claim to it. That I think is, is worth talking about. But it's not as straightforward as simple proposition as like, yeah, I'm confident. Like it's not just like, right, it's not just mustering up confidence. There's more to it than that. So that's what I wanted to start with, with this parable is just maybe talking through that assurance. 'cause I, I would hate for us to go through this parable. And sort of leave people with maybe you're a weed and you don't know it. 'cause that's not right. That's not the biblical picture of assurance. Um, that's the, that's the Roman Catholic picture of assurance that like, yeah, there's no such thing as assurance and people might not realize, but assurance of salvation is actually one of the, one of the primary things that was recovered particularly by the Reformed in the Reformation. Um, and so I think we, we often sort of overlook it as maybe a secondary thing. Um, but it really is a significant doctrine, a significant feature of reformed theology. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. I'm glad you said that because it is a, is a clear reminder. It's a clearing call as the performers put forth that it is. Under like the purview of the Christian to be able to claim the assurance by the blood of Christ in the application of the Holy Spirit in a way that's like fully orbed and fully stopped. So you can contrast that with, and really what was coming outta Catholicism or Rome at the time. And I was just speaking with a dear brother this past week who. Grew up in the Catholic church and he was recounting how his entire religious experience, even his entire relationship, if we can call it that in a kind of colloquial sense with God, was built around this sense of deep-seated guilt and lack of true performance, such that like assurance always seemed like this really vague concept that was never really fully manifested in anything that he did. Even while the church was saying, if you do these things, if you perform this way, if you ensure that you're taking care of your immortal sins and that you're seeking confession for all the venial stuff as well, that somehow you'll be made right, or sufficiently right. But if not, don't worry about it. There's always purgatory, but there'd be some earning that you'd have to accomplish there. Everywhere along the way. He just felt beaten down. So contrasting that with what we have here. I don't believe, as you're saying, Tony, that's Jesus' intention here to somehow beat up the sheep. I, I think it is, to correct something of what's being said about the world in which we live, but it's at the same time to say that there are some that are the TAs is to say there are some that are the children of God, right? That there are some that are fully crisply, clearly identified and securely resting in that identity without any kind of nervous or anxious energy that it might fall out of that state with God that, that in fact their identity is secure. And as I've been thinking about this this week, I, I'm totally with you because I think part of this just falls, the warning here is there's a little bit of the adventures in Romans one here that's waiting for us, that I like what you said about this idea of, of self deception and maybe like a. Subpart to this question would be, are the, are the terrors always nefarious in their lack of understanding? So we might say there's some that are purposely disruptive, that the enemy himself is, is promulgating or trying to bring forward his destruction, his chaos by way of these tears. But are, are there even a subgroup or another group, uh, co-terminus group or, you know, one in the same hierarchy where there's just a lot of self deception? I, I think that's probably where I fall in terms of just trying to explain that. Yes, I think it was present here is a real quantity, a real identity where they're self-deceived. Imagining themselves to be part of God's people, yet lacking that true saving faith. And this just, I'm gonna go in a couple places where I think everybody would expect in the scriptures, if we go to like Ephesians four, they're darkened and they're understanding alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. And one Corinthians, when Paul writes, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. And then the book that follows the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. And of course then like everything in Romans one, so I bring all that up because E, even at the end, we're gonna get there, the Es, this eschatological reality when you know God is separating out the sheep and the goats. Still, we find this kind of same trope happening there. But the unregenerate, what I'm reading from this. Importantly is that the unregenerate, they're not merely ignorant, they're blinded, as we all were on point to the spiritual truth. Yeah. By nature and by Satan. That that is also his jam. He loves to blind, to lie, to kill, steal, and destroy. So thus, even if they're outwardly belonging to the church, they're outwardly belonging to the world. They're outwardly belonging to some kind of profession. They cannot perceive the reality of their lost condition apart from divine illumination. Who can, that might be stating the obvious, but I think that's like what we're getting after here. I I, I don't know if there's like any kind of like conspiracy here. It's simply that that is the natural state of affairs. So why wouldn't we expect that to be reflected again in the world and that side by side, we're gonna find that shoulder to shoulder. We are, there are the children of God, and there are those that remain blind and ignorant to the truth. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And, and you know, it, again, I, I, um, I don't know why I'm surprised. Uh, I certainly shouldn't be surprised. Um. But Matthew is like a masterful storyteller Yeah. Here, right. He's a masterful, um, editor and narrator. Um, and he's, he's put together here, of course, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Um, and, and there's some good reason to think in the text we're not gonna get too, in the nitty gritty here, there's some good reason to think in the text that Christ actually delivered these parables as a set as well. So it's not just, it's not just Matthew coating these, although it could be. Um, but it, it seems like these were all delivered probably as like a common set of parables. And the reason I say that is because when we start to look at this parable and the one we previously went through, the parable of the soils, um, or the parable of the sower. Um, what we see is the answer to your question of why do some people, you know, why are some people deceived? Well, yes, there is secondary causation. The devil deceives them. They blind themselves. They, you know, suppress the, the, the truth and right unrighteousness. But on a, on a primary causation level, um, God is the one who is identi, is, is identifying who will be the sons of the, you know, devil and the sons of the kingdom. Mm-hmm. This is another, and yet another example of election is that the, the good sower sowed good seed, and the good seed was the elect and the enemy. Although in God's sovereignty, God is the one who determines this. The enemy is the one who sows the reprobate. Right? So all, all men. Star, and this is, I, I guess I didn't really intend to go here, but this is good evidence in my mind for, um, infra laps, Arianism versus super laps. Arianism, right infra laps, arianism or sub lapse. Arianism would say that God decrees, uh, to permit the fall and then he decrees to redeem some out of the fall, right? Logically speaking, not temporally speaking. Super laps. Arianism, which is the minority. It's the smaller portion of, of the historic tradition, although modern times, I think it's a little bit louder and a little bit more vocal, but super relapses. Arianism would argue that God, um, decrees. Sort of the, the decree of election and reprobation is logically prior to the decree of the fall. And so in, in that former or in the super laps area model, the fall becomes a means by which the reprobate are justly condemned. Not, um, not the cause of their condemnation, but a way to sort of justify the fact that they will be separated from God, right? Because of their reprobate. [00:28:36] Exploring the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares Tony Arsenal: I know that there's, there's probably some super lab streams that would nuance that differently and some that are probably just screaming straw man, uh, in a coffee shop somewhere and, and people are thinking you're crazy. Um, but by and large, that's actually a rel, a relatively accepted, um, explanation of it. There are certainly potential problems with, uh, sub, sub lapse agonism as well. But in this, in this parable, what we see is the people who are, um, who are elect, are sowed into the field and the people who are reprobate are also sowed into the field. And so God saves the people who are sewed into the field that are, they elect, he saves them out of this now mixed world by waiting and allowing them to grow up next to the reprobate, um, in sort of this mixed world setting. And then he redeems them out of that. Um, and, and, and so we have to sort of remember. Although it is a pretty strict, sort of allegorical type of parable, it's still a parable. So we shouldn't, we shouldn't always draw like direct one-to-one comparisons here. It's making a theological point, but, um, but it's important for us to re remember that, that it is ultimately, it is God who determines who is the elected and who is not. But it's, it's our sin. It's the devil deceiving us. It's the secondary causes that are responsible for the sons of the devil, right? It, the, the men come to the, to the sower and say, who is done this? He says it was an enemy. Jesse Schwamb: Right? Right. Tony Arsenal: He doesn't say like, well, actually I put the seed there and so, you know, I'm, I, it's not an equal distribution. He's not sowing good seed and bad seed. He sows the good seed and the devil sows the bad seed. [00:30:24] Theological Implications and Assurance Tony Arsenal: Um, and, and that's a, I think that's an important theological point to make. And as far as assurance goes. We, we can't depend on our ability to perceive or sort of like discern election in a raw sense, right? We have to observe certain kinds of realities around us. Um, and, and primarily we have to depend on the mercy and, and saving faith that God gives us. That's right. Um, you know, our, our assurance of faith does not primarily come from fruit checking. Um, we have to do that. It's important, we're commanded to do it, and it serves as an important secondary evidence. But a, a, a person who wants to find assurance. Of salvation should first and foremost look to the promises of Christ and then depend on them. Um, and, and so that's, I think all of that's kind of wrapped up into this parable. It's, it's, it's amazing to me that we're only like two parables in, and we're already, you know, we're already talking about super lapse arianism and sub lapse arianism, and it's, it's amazing. I, I love this. I'm loving this series so far, and we're barely scratching the surface. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it's all there. I think you're right to call that out. It strikes me, like, as you were speaking, it really just hit me higher that I think you're right. Really the foundation on this, like the hidden foundation is assurance and it's that assurance which splits the groups, or at least divides them, or it gives us, again, like the distinct, kind, discrete compartments or components of each of them. So. Again, I think it's help saying, 'cause we wanna be encouraging. That's, that's our whole point here is when the Apostle Peter says, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing of you. That herein we have the scripture saying to us, time and time again, be sure of what God has done in your life. Be confident in that very thing. And so if assurance is, as we're saying, that's the argument hypothesis we're making. That's the critical thing here. [00:32:11] False Assurance and True Faith Jesse Schwamb: Then the division between the children of God and the children of the devil is false versus true assurance. So the tears, I think what we're saying here, basically they typically live under false asserts. They may attend church, confess, belief, appear righteous, yet their hearts are unregenerate. Their faith is maybe historical. It's not saving, it could be intellectual, but it's not spiritual. And of course, like just a few chapters before this, we hope those famous verses where Jesus himself drops the bomb and says, listen, many of you, he's talking to the people, the, the disciples around him, the crowds that we're gathering and thronging all about. He says, many of you're gonna say to me, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy your name? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me. These are not people who knew they were false, they thought they belonged to Christ. Their shock on judgment day is gonna reveal this profound self-deception. And that self-deception is wrapped up in a false type of assurance, a false righteousness. So I think one of the things that we can really come to terms with and grab a hold of is the fact that when we are. Confessing, repenting seeking like our status in Christ because of Christ. Then we have confidence that we are in fact part of the children of God. When everything is stripped away from us and all we're crying out is only and completely and solely and unequivocally, Jesus Christ, then I think we have great reason to understand that we should be confident in our assurance. [00:33:38] Historical Perspectives on Assurance Jesse Schwamb: You know, I was reading this week from Thomas Brooks and did incidentally come across this, a quote, an assurance and reminded me of this passage, and here's what he writes. You know, of course he's writing in like 16 hundreds, like mid 16 hundreds. It's wild, of course, but we shouldn't be surprised that what you're about to hear sounds like it could have been written today for us. In this conversation, but, uh, he writes, assurance is the believer's arc where he sits Noah alike quiets and still in the midst of all distractions and destructions, commotions and confusions. However, most Christians live between fears and hopes and hang, as it were, between heaven and hell. Sometimes they hope that their state is good. At other times they fear that their state is bad. Now they hope that all is well and that it shall go well. Well with them forever. Then they fear that they shall perish by the hand of such corruption or by the prevalency of such and such temptation. They're like a ship and a storm tossed here and there, and. I think that he's right about that. And I think the challenge there is to get away from that. I love where it starts, where he says, what wonderful turn of phrase assurance is the believer's arc or Noah, like, you know, we're sitting and the commotion, the destructions, the commotion, the confusions of all the world. That's why to get this right, to be encouraged by this passage, to be challenged by it is so critical because we're all looking for that arc. We all want to know that God has in fact arrested us so completely that no matter what befalls us, that everything, as we talked about before, all of our, all of the world, in fact is subservient to our salvation. But that's a real thing that cannot be snatched away from us because God has ordained it and intended it, built it, created it, and brought it to pass. And so I think that's all like in this passage, it's all the thing that's being called us to. So. I, I don't want us to get like too hung up. It's a good question, I think to ask and answer like we were trying to talk about here, but you're right. If we focus too much just on the like, let's gaff for these tears. Who are they? Like let's people's, like Readers Digest in People's magazine these tears. Like who are they? Do we have a list of them? Who do we think they are? How could it be me? Is it really me? Am I, am I anxious about that? Really what we should be saying is following what Peter calls us to do that is to be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and his choosing. So even there like our emphasis and focus, isn't it like you're saying Tony about like, let me do some fruit inventory. I got like a lot of good bananas. I got a lot of ripe pears. Like, look at the tree. This, this is good. Even there, the emphasis is to turn our eyes on Jesus, as it were, and to make certain about his work, his calling and his choosing of us. And I think when we do that, we're falling down in worship and in yielding and submission to him, rightfully acknowledging that the righteousness of Christ is the one that is always in every way alien to us and imputed. And that is what makes us sons and daughters of God, that good seed sown by Jesus himself. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I just wanna read, I wanna um, round out a few more paragraphs here out of the Westminster confession because I do think, you know, when we even talk about assurance, we're not even always all saying the exact same thing. And I think that's important because when we talk about assurance of faith, we need to be understanding that this is the rightful, not only the rightful possession of all Christians, but it's the rightful responsibility of all Christians to seek it. So here's, here's section two of that same chapter. It says, this certainty referring to assurance. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a, a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing with our hearts that we are the children of God, which spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption. So. One of the, the things that I think is, is important here is people read this and say the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promises are made. They read that and they think that it's referring to like good work and like spiritual renewal, but it's, it's not, it's the inward evidence of those graces unto which of the promises are made. So it's this inner, inner renewal. It's the spirit testifying to our spirit. And then, um, chapter, uh, section three here, it says. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it, yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given of God. He may without extraordinary revelation there, right there is response to Roman Catholicism in the right use of ordinary means at attain there unto. And therefore, it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence, to make his calling and election. Sure. And thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and in joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience. The proper fruits of this assurance so far is it from inclining men to looseness? Right. [00:38:53] The Role of Good Works in Assurance Tony Arsenal: So we often hear and and I, I think there are good, um, there are good reformed Christians that put. The emphasis of assurance on, or they, they put an overemphasis, in my opinion, on how good works function within our assurance. Right. They, they often will ask us to look to our good fruit as sort of, not the grounding, but as a strong evidence. But at least in terms of the confession here, the cheerfulness in the duties of obedience is the fruit of assurance. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Not Tony Arsenal: the cause or grounding of assurance. So rather than, this is what this last line says. It says so far, is it from inclining? Mental looseness assurance should drive us to obedience and fruitfulness in Christ. And so yes, it is in a certain sense an evidence because if that fruitfulness and obedience is absent from our lives, there's a good reason for us to question whether this infallible assurance is present in our lives. But the assurance is what drives us to this obedience. Um. You know, like, I think you could use the analogy of like a married couple. A married couple who is very secure in their relationship and in their, uh, love for one another and their faithfulness to each other is more likely to cheerfully serve and submit to each other and to respect each other and to sacrifice for each other than a couple that's maybe not so sure that the other person has their best interest in mind. That's or maybe isn't so sure that this thing is gonna work out. I think that's the same thing, like the sacrifice and the service that a husband, uh, performs for his wife, whom he loves and trusts and is committed to and knows that she's faithful and committed to him. That is not causing that faithfulness. It's not causing that trust and that love. It is the outcome and the outflow of it. It's good evidence that that love exists, but it's not caused by it. And assurance here is the same kind of dynamic assurance is not. We can't assure ourselves of our salvation by doing good works. No matter how many good works you do, there are lots and lots of people who are not saved and who will not be saved, who do perfectly good works in appearance. Right. They have the, the outward appearance of godliness, but lack its power. Right, right. Out of right outta Paul, writing to Timothy there. Yes. So that's, that's important for us as we continue to parse all this out, is yes, the fruit is present. Yes. The wheat is to, is discernible from the tears by its final, fruitful status. Right? It grows up to be grain, which is fruitful rather than weeds and tears, which are only good to be burned, but it is not the fruit that causes it to be wheat. It's wheat that causes the fruit to grow. If, if it wasn't wheat, it wouldn't grow fruit, not because the fruit makes it grain, but because it is in fact wheat to start with. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Yeah, that's right on. So I think like by summation we're kind of saying. At least the answer to this question. You know, do the tears know that they're tears? Yes and no. Some do, some don't. I think, yes, there are some that are gonna be consciously hypocritical, willfully rejecting Christ while pretending for worldly gain. I think that's, that's certainly plain to see. And at the same time, do the tears know the tears? Sometimes? No. There's self deceived under spiritual blindness and they have some kind of false assurance. And this idea of, again, coming in repentance before God and seeking humbly to submit to him is I think one of those signs of that kind of true assurance, not a false assurance. And you already stole where I was thinking of Tony by going to Second Timothy again. Thomas Brooks in precious remedies against Saint's device is one of like the best. Books ever. I know that he's really outspoken. He loves to harp on the fact that one of Satan's most effective snares is to make men and women content with a form of godliness without its power. Yeah. And that's often what we're talking about here, I think, is that Satan loves to fish in the shallow waters a profession. And really that can happen in any kind of church or religious culture, that there is this shallowness where that loves religious appearance, prayer, knowledge fellowship, but not the Christ behind them. And so whether we're looking to somebody like Brooks or Jonathan Edwards and we're trying to parse out what are our true affections, not in a way again, that somehow leans well, I feel enough, then somehow that justifies, not inwardly, but again, definitely trying to understand our conviction for conversion tears. For repentance that. Really what we're after is not like just the blessings of Christ, but Christ himself, which I think really leads us to this eschatological perspective then to round all everything out because you know, we talked about before, there's an old phrase, it's like everywhere. A lot of people talk in heaven. Not everybody's going there. And so this idea of like, people will talk about be so great to be there and it's sometimes this, the heaven that they speak of is like absent Christ, you know, as if like, if Christ wasn't there, at least in their perspective, it still wouldn't be half bad. And so I think that does lead us to understand what is this in gathering? What is this? You know, bringing everything into the barn and burning everything else up. And like you just said, if at the beginning you cannot tell the injurious weed aside from that beautiful kernel of wheat that's coming up, but if in the end you can see what's happening in the end, then that brings us all to consummation. What does it mean in this parable? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:44:19] Eschatological Judgment and Assurance Tony Arsenal: And, and I think this actually sort of forces us to grapple a little bit with, with another sort of persnickety feature of this parable that, that I think, I think personally sometimes gets overlooked is we are very quick to talk about this parable to be about the church. And it is. Right. And, and there's reasons to talk like that. But when Christ explains the parable, he doesn't say the field is the church. He says the field is the world. Right. And so we have to, we have to, we have to do a little bit of, um. We have to do a little bit of hermeneutics to understand that this is also speaking of the church, right? It's not as though the church is some hermetically sealed off body that the dynamics of the world and the, the weed and the tears like that, that doesn't happen in the church. But when we talk about the end of the age here, he says the son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom. All causes of sin in all lawbreakers. Right? So, so the, the final eschatological judgment, it's all encompassing. And I dunno, maybe I'm, maybe I'm becoming a little bit post mill with this, um, the, the world is already the Kingdom of Christ. Right? Right. That's right. It, it's not, it's not just the church on earth that is the kingdom of Christ. And so when we talk about this eschatological reaping, um, what we see is, is very straightforward. There are those who are, uh, who belong to Christ, who were sown by him into the world, who were, uh, were tended by him, who were protected by him, who he intended to harvest from the very beginning, right? The good sower sows good seed into the field, and that good seed is and necessarily will be wheat. It's not as though, um, it's not as though, and again, this is one of those ways where like the parables sometimes, uh, are telling a little bit of a different story. Even though they're sharing some themes in the first parable, in the parable of the sower, he sows the same seed into the world. But the seed in that first parable is not the, is not the person receiving the seed. The seed is the one is the word of God. Yes. And so the word of God is sewn promiscuously, even to those who will be hard soil and who will be rocky soil and have thorns. The word of God is, is sewn to all of those people. Across the whole world in this parable. The seed that is the good seed that is sown is and always was going to be weed that was, or wheat, which was going to grow into fruitfulness and be gathered into the barn. Right? That was a foregone conclusion. The, the, when the sower decided to sow seed, all of that said he is the one who did that. He's the one that chose that. He's the one that will bring us to completion, right? And then also the ones that are not of his kingdom, the sons of the devil, they will also be reaped at the end. Actually we'll be reaped before the, you know, they'll be reaped and gathered and, and tossed into the furnace before the sons of the kingdom are gathered together. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: So it, again, this is a parable and even though this is Christ's explanation of the parable, I don't think that Christ was intending to give us like a strict timeline. Right. I don't think he was encouraging us to draw a chart and try to map out where this all happens in order. Um, I do think it's relevant that, that, at least in the explanation of this parable, I mentioned it last week, that, that the rap, the rapture is actually the wicked being raptured. They're the ones that are gathered and taken out of the world and cast into the fiery furnace before the, before the righteous are gathered together and, and brought into Christ Barn. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there's a great unmasking that's happening here in this final stage. I mean, that's critically the point. I think there's a lot of stuff we could talk about open handedly and kind of hypothesize or theorize what it means. But what is plain, I think, is that there's this unmasking, this unveiling of the reality of the light of Christ's perfect judgment. But that judgment is for both parties Here it is coming and what was hidden beneath outward religion or more, a facade is gonna be revealed with eternal clarity. That's just the reality. It is coming. So in some ways it pairs. I think at least well in this, well purposely of course in this teaching because Jesus is saying, hold on, like we talked about last time. Do this is not for you to judge. You are ill-equipped. You are not skilled enough to discern this. And therefore though, you wanna go in hot and get spicy and try to throw out all the weeds. Wait for the right time. Wait for the one like you're saying, Tony has from all of eternity past intended for it to be this way. Super intending his will over all things in the casting of the seed. And as we say, Philippians, of course, finishing that good work, which was started, he will finish. It is God's two finish again. And so he says, listen, that day is coming. There's gonna be a great unmasking. Uh, get ready for it. And the scriptures bear witness to that in so many other ways. So. There's such a journey in these like handful of verses, isn't there? I mean, it's really wild. The things that not like we come up with or we read into the text, but as we sit in it a little bit, as we just spend even a cursory amount of time letting it pour over us, that we find there's like a conviction in a weight in these things that are beyond just the story and beyond just even like the illustrations themselves. What we find is, again, it's as if Jesus himself in his brilliance, of course, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is illuminating the mind in the spirit to open up our conception, understanding of the kingdom of God by bringing it to us through his perspective in our own terms, of course, which is both our language and like the context of the world in which we live, and that simple example of farming and seed. And again, even just that there are these interest weeds that look like wheat. I went on this like rabbit hole this week and did a lot of research on like tears and Yeah, like especially people in like the Midwest United States who like know a lot more about agriculture than I do have a lot to say about this. It's not just like we shouldn't be surprised like. Isn't it incredible that like there are actually weeds out there that look like, yeah, it's a brilliance of just knowing that this teaching is so finely tuned. Like we can even just talk about that. Like the world is finely tuned. This teaching is so finely tuned to these grant theological principles that we can at one point be children and appropriate them enough and assume them into our own intellectual capacity so that we can trust in them. And yet even as like adults with like, let's say like the greatest gift of intellectual capacity, still find that we cannot get to the bottom of them because they're so deep. They draw us into these really, really grand vistas or really like extremely deep cold theological waters. And I just find. That I am in awe then of what Jesus is saying here because there's a truth for us in assurance that we ought to clinging to. And there's also like stuff that we should come back to. We shouldn't just stop it here and put it out of our minds until the next time we, we want to just be stimulated by something that's interesting or that we want to just grab somebody and shake them cage style, cage two style and say like, look at this great thing that I just learned about this, this particular parable. But instead, there's so much here for us to meditate on. And in that, I think rather than the Christian finding fear in this parable, what they should find is great comfort. We should be Noah alike sitting in the ark saying, it is well with my soul. And our reason for that is because we know God has cast a seed through his son Jesus Christ. And to be a child, a child of God is the greatest thing in all the universe. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I, I think that, um, transitions nicely to, uh, I'll make this point quick because we're coming up on time here. Um. [00:52:04] Christ's Divinity and Sovereignty Tony Arsenal: The other little subtle thing that Christ does here in this parable is he, he absolutely asserts his divinity and sovereignty overall creation. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Yep. Tony Arsenal: Right. It, it's almost like a throw. There's a couple little like lines that are almost throwaway lines, right in the, the first, the beginning of the parable here. Um, the parable itself, uh, he says, um, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed into a field. And then he says, um, the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, right? And then when he interprets the parable, he says, well, the, the servants are, the field is the world, right? So he's the master of the world, and the servants are the angels. So he's the master of the angels. And then if, if there was any doubt left in your mind. Says in verse 41, the son of man will send his angels. That's right. And they will gather out of his kingdom, which is the world, all the causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. Right? So we have this, this robust picture that there is election. The the good sower sows good seed into the world, and the good seed will necessarily grow into wheat and will be preserved and protected and ultimately harvest Well, why can we have assurance that that will be the case? Well, because the master of the house is the son of man who is the Lord of the universe and the creator of all things. And his angels do his will. That's right. So, so the whole thing is all wrapped up. Why can we have assurance? Because God is a good God and Christ is a good savior, and the savior of the world is the creator of the universe, right? If any of those facts were not true. Then we couldn't have assurance. If God wasn't good, then maybe he's lying. If Christ wasn't the savior of the world or the God of the universe, the creator of the universe, then he wasn't worthy to be the one who saves. All of this is wrapped up in the parables, and this is what's so exciting about the parables. In most of the instances that we look up, especially of the sort of longer parables, these kinds of dynamics are there where it's not just a simple story making a simple point, it is making one primary point. Usually there's one primary point that a, that a parable is making. But in order to make that primary point, there's all these supporting points and supporting things that have to be the case. If the, if the good sower was not the master of the house and a, a competent, uh, a competent landowner who knew the difference between wheat and weeds, even at the early stage, right? His, his servants go and go, what happened? What's with all of these weeds? They can tell the difference somehow, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: He's immediately able to go, well, this was an enemy. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Tony Arsenal: And while they're bumbling around going, should we go rip it all up and start over? He is like, no, no, no, no. Just wait until, wait until it all grows up together. And when that happens, the Reapers will come and they'll take care of it and they'll do it in my direction, right? Because he's competent, he's the savior, he's the creator, he's the good master, he is the good sower. Um, we can be confi

 #butGod #consequences #AliveinChrist I've for 99 problems but mercy isn't one! Because God is so rich in mercy, we may have been dead in sin BUT GOD gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. We hope you love this message by Pastor Alex Klimchuk on being alive in Christ! Ephesians 2:4-7, Genesis 50:20, Psalm 73:26, Matthew 28:20, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 2:2 Don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT, & SUBSCRIBE for more biblical teachings! Please follow our websites for more!

The story of Jacob's sons is messy, painful, redemptive, and beautiful. It's the story of betrayal and forgiveness, grief and healing, famine and provision. But more than that, it's the story of how God takes a broken family and forms a people through whom He will bless the whole world. From the very beginning, God's heart has been to include the outsider and heal what's been fractured. This series invites us into that story—not just to watch it unfold, but to find ourselves in it. Because God is still using crooked sticks to draw straight lines—and to build His family today.

Today is a good day to subscribe to the Dwelling Richly podcast on YouTube and get on the Dwelling Richly mailing list at JenniferGRichmond.com Read the Blog Update: jennifergrichmond.com/a-time-for-every-purpose/ After 15 wonderful years serving at La Mirada Church, I'll be retiring as Women's and Children's Pastor. I'm deeply grateful for every moment and every person God allowed me to walk alongside. As I began my comments on this past Sunday, I asked one of my favorite questions: “What's the first thing God gave His people when He delivered them from slavery in Egypt?” A calendar. Because God is the Author of time and seasons, and He's the One who writes every chapter of our lives. This retirement marks the close of one beautiful season and the beginning of another. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, there is a time for every purpose under heaven. So… what's next for Pastor Jennifer? This isn't an ending, it's another step in following Jesus. I'll continue teaching and writing through the Dwelling Richly Bible studies and podcast, encouraging others to let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly. I hope you'll join me! I'm excited for what the Lord will bring! Through this transition, my heart rests in one simple truth: Eyes on Him. We may not yet see everything in this world fully under His rule, but we do see Jesus (Hebrews 2:8–9). That's the focus that has carried me through every season of ministry and it remains the focus now. Retiring from this role doesn't retire my calling. It simply opens a new chapter to serve and shepherd in fresh ways. And as always, the mission remains the same: to point hearts toward the Word, to build up the Body, and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as we let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. God's faithfulness in the past gives me full confidence for the future both for me and for La Mirada Church. I'll continue my ministry of discipleship through writing and teaching the Dwelling Richly Bible studies, speaking at events, retreats, and conferences, and shepherding through biblical counseling. The current study through Philippians will continue, so if you are not yet in that study, today is a good day to start! Get the details on my website and be sure to get on the email list so you get updates about future studies and events.

The end is near, even at the door… and for those who wonder why… why tribulation? Because God is righteous, and sin must be judged. Satan must be dealt with, and God will do it. He has decreed it, and he will bring it to pass.

Because God's good news comes against the backdrop of bad news, we must read all the news. Genesis 3:15–24 (ESV): 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Because God's law cannot enable us to live a holy life, it is certain that all of us who have been converted by grace through faith in Jesus Christ will experience constant conflict with our sin.

From Pastor David Peck | From the sermon series Family Discipleship. Because God created and instituted the family to display His glory, we will study His word to see more clearly how the roles He has given us reveal His character to us individually, as families, as a church and to the world around us. 

Today, pastor Ray Bentley brings us insight on the divine purpose of prayer. Prayer is God's way of solving every problem. You got a problem? Just pray. What should I pray? Just pray. God's will is done. It'll all take care of itself. Because God turns every problem into a blessing. When we pray, put it another way. God is on your side.

Because God’s love for us is unbreakable; rather than trying to win at life, we should live it victoriously. Think about it: If you’re secured in Christ, with such love that you’re beyond victorious, what kind of love are you offering Him in return?

Because God has made a promise to defeat evil, we must live as people of hope. Genesis 3:15, 4:1 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,     and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head,     and you shall bruise his heel.” 4:1: Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”

Because God's power is greater than ours, we ought to obey God, knowing that the joy he gives is greater than suffering humans can inflict.

No matter what tribulations or tragedies come, Christians are victorious over them. How? Because God is for us. In this message, Pastor Chuck Swindoll teaches on the great truths found in Romans 8:31–39. Discover the magnificence of a God who is for you and with you always. Believe that you are more than a conqueror over any of your circumstances. Stand convinced that nothing can come between God's love for you!

No matter what tribulations or tragedies come, Christians are victorious over them. How? Because God is for us. In this message, Pastor Chuck Swindoll teaches on the great truths found in Romans 8:31–39. Discover the magnificence of a God who is for you and with you always.Believe that you are more than a conqueror over any of your circumstances. Stand convinced that nothing can come between God's love for you!

No matter what tribulations or tragedies come, Christians are victorious over them. How? Because God is for us. In this message, Pastor Chuck Swindoll teaches on the great truths found in Romans 8:31–39. Discover the magnificence of a God who is for you and with you always. Believe that you are more than a conqueror over any of your circumstances. Stand convinced that nothing can come between God's love for you!

This week Pastor Jesse spoke about finding Joy in the power of repentance.   Main Points & Scripture: Matthew 4:17 2nd Samuel 11:2-5 Psalms 51:1 Mercy is when we do not get what we deserve! Grace is when we get what we do not deserve! Because God's love and mercy run deeper than your greatest failure, you can still repent! Psalm 51:3-4 In Davids confession, he recognizes: I know I have Sinned I know I sinned against God I know God is right to judge me Psalm 51:7-10 I have found JOY in the God of my salvation!   *This episode was recorded on 10/05/25

What does true generosity look like? Is it measured by the size of the gift, or is it something deeper?In Luke 21:1–4, Jesus praises a widow who gave only two small coins. At first glance, her offering seems insignificant compared to the wealthy donors around her. Yet, in Jesus' eyes, her gift was greater than them all. Why? Because God doesn't measure generosity by the amount—it's the heart behind it that matters.The Scene at the TemplePicture the temple courts: the wealthy making large, noticeable contributions, drawing admiration for their gifts. Then comes a poor widow. No fanfare. No applause. Just two copper coins—economically worthless. Yet Jesus declares that she has given more than anyone else.The difference? The wealthy gave from their abundance, gifts that cost them little. The widow gave out of her poverty—all she had to live on. Her gift was not just generous; it was sacrificial, risky, and rooted in trust.This theme echoes throughout Scripture. In 1 Samuel 16:7, the Lord tells Samuel, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Paul also affirms this in 2 Corinthians 8:12: “If the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.”God doesn't call us to give what we don't have. He calls us to give cheerfully, faithfully, and with hearts surrendered to Him.God Wants Your HeartThe widow's gift also points us to the gospel itself. In 2 Corinthians 8:9 we read, “Though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” Jesus gave everything for us—holding nothing back. When we give sacrificially, we reflect His love and generosity.Maybe you've felt your giving is too small to matter. But Scripture shows otherwise. In John 6, a boy offered five loaves and two fish—and Jesus fed thousands. The issue isn't what you have, but what God can do with it.Generosity in God's Kingdom isn't about status or size. It's about surrender. A gift given in faith is never small. Whether two coins or two million dollars, the real question is: Am I giving out of abundance or out of trust?The story of the widow's mite isn't meant to pressure us into giving more. Instead, it frees us to see generosity the way God does—not as an economic equation but as an act of worship. He doesn't need your money; He wants your heart.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I lost money in my 401(k) when I became disabled, and now it's sitting in an IRA that isn't earning anything. Should I transfer it to a savings account, and what taxes would I be liable for? Also, since my house is paid off, I'd like to understand how reverse mortgages work.I have just sold my house and would like to know the most prudent way to invest the proceeds. I'm trying to be a good steward, but I'm not sure if a savings account, an IUL, or something else would be best.I'm on permanent federal workers' comp and wondering if I'll still be eligible to draw Social Security when the time comes.My friend hasn't filed taxes for five years. How could that affect her children if she passes away, and what steps can she take to resolve it?I was told that if I move my mortgage into a home equity line of credit and deposit my paychecks there, I could pay it off in seven years. Is that really true?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on MoneyLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.