Podcasts about because god

Three-story house. Professional basketball career. Six-figure income. Everything he chased from the time he was a kid getting picked on in Fort Worth, Texas.And Norense still felt empty.This episode is a full-circle testimony — recorded live from his first apartment in Brooklyn, New York, on the first Monday he's ever missed posting since launching the Mind Bully Podcast in 2021. Not because he quit. Because God finally answered.From being bullied for his gap tooth and skin color, to being sexually assaulted between ages 6 and 8, to chasing validation through basketball, achievement, and women, to standing in a new city with less money than he's ever had — and more peace than he's ever felt — Norense delivers one of the most honest episodes of the entire show.The message? Gratitude. Not the Instagram kind. The kind that only comes when you've been through enough to finally see God's hand clearly.In this episode:Why achieving everything you dreamed of can still leave you hollow — and what that emptiness is actually telling youHow placing your identity in performance, roles, and achievement is a form of idolatry — and how to break freeThe connection between childhood wounds, sexual assault, and the desperate search for worth through external validationWhy suicidal ideation is a lie from the pit of hell — and what God's Word says about who you are when the voice gets loudWhat it means to be led by the Spirit versus living by your vices — and why the two lives can look dangerously similar from the outsideWhy exposure leads to expansion — but only if you're consecrated and know who you are firstA live word on gratitude: how to pause in a new season and recognize God's hand before chasing the next thingKey Truth: "The desires God placed on your heart are a heavenly reality of your capacity."Key Verse: Psalm 139:14 — I am fearfully and wonderfully made.If this episode hit you:Rate and review the Mind Bully Podcast — it helps more homes and hearts find this message.

The Desert Fathers knew something that many of us have forgotten. The greatest danger to the spiritual life is not always the obvious sins we can name. Often it is the secret satisfaction we feel when we discover the weakness of another. There is something in the fallen heart that delights in comparison. The moment another stumbles, we instinctively move ourselves a little higher. We become observers, commentators, judges, analysts. We speak about “discernment” while quietly nourishing condemnation. We discuss another's failures while remaining remarkably blind to our own. Abba Poimen cuts through all of this with terrifying simplicity: “Who am I? And judge no one.” That is the beginning of monasticism. It is also the beginning of Christianity. Notice how often the Fathers return to the same theme. A brother falls. Another brother is tempted. Someone has a concubine. Someone frequents the baths. Someone neglects his duties. Yet the holy elders are almost never interested in discussing the sin itself. They are interested in the response of those who witness it. The real question is not, “What did he do?” The real question is, “What happened in your heart when you saw it?” The Presbyter of Pelousion stripped eleven brothers of the schema because of their failures. Later his conscience tormented him. Why? Because he discovered something humiliating: the same old man lived in him. The same fallen nature. The same capacity for sin. The Fathers never deny the existence of sin. They deny our right to stand above sinners. That is an entirely different thing. Again and again the Fathers teach that when we expose another's wound, we expose our own. When we delight in uncovering another's failure, God permits us to see the sickness hidden within ourselves. Timothy advised that a tempted brother be expelled, and shortly afterward the very temptation he condemned descended upon him. Why? Because God wanted to punish him? No. Because God wanted to heal him. Nothing teaches compassion like discovering that the line between saint and sinner runs directly through one's own heart. The most moving story in this collection may be the one about the brother abandoned in the ravine. The anchorite's solution was simple: “Expel him.” Abba Poimen's solution was different. He sought him. He called him. He embraced him. He fed him. He restored hope to him. The brother had already condemned himself. He did not need another judge. He needed a father. The Church has never lacked judges. What she continually lacks are fathers. A father sees the wound beneath the sin. A father sees the despair beneath the failure. A father sees the battle that nobody else sees. And because he sees it, he goes after the lost sheep. The Fathers teach us something even more demanding than refusing to judge. They teach us to actively support the struggling brother. One brother tells Abba Poimen that he enjoys the company of virtuous men but avoids those with bad reputations. The Elder's answer is astonishing: “If you do a little good to the good one, you ought to do twice as much good to the one about whose sin you have heard.” Twice as much. Not less. Not avoidance. Not suspicion. Not gossip disguised as concern. Twice as much. Because he is sick. When someone is physically ill, we do not withdraw our care until they recover. We increase it. We visit them. We pray for them. We encourage them. We sit beside them. Why then do we often do the opposite when a brother becomes spiritually ill? The Fathers understood that perseverance is often sustained by hidden acts of mercy. A word of encouragement. A meal. A visit. A refusal to repeat a rumor. A willingness to believe that grace is still at work. A determination to remember the brother's dignity even while he struggles. Many vocations have been saved by such acts. Many have also been lost through their absence. St. Ephraim says elsewhere that we must never become the occasion for another's withdrawal from the brotherhood. Those words should terrify every monastery, every parish, every Christian community. Whenever someone leaves wounded, discouraged, or broken, the question should not merely be what happened to them. The question should also be what happened to us. Did we strengthen them? Did we encourage them? Did we bear their burden? Did we pray for them? Did we conceal their weakness and protect their dignity? Did we seek them when they wandered? Or did we stand at a safe distance discussing their failures? The saints are not those who never see sin. They are those who see it and respond with tears rather than judgment. They see a fallen brother and remember their own weakness. They see a wound and cover it. They see a sinner and move closer rather than farther away. In the end, this is exactly how Christ has treated us. Every one of us has been the brother in the ravine. Every one of us has been the sinner whose shame was visible to Heaven. And Christ did not expose us. He sought us. He embraced us. He fed us. He covered us. The closer a man comes to God, the less interested he becomes in revealing the wounds of others and the more eager he becomes to bind them up. That is the way of the Desert Fathers. It is also the way of Christ. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:14:24 Anna: My daughter is asking for an understanding on judging based on Desert Fathers 00:36:42 Maureen Cunningham: What if the person is abusive to you ? 00:37:01 Maureen Cunningham: Like an alcholic 00:39:41 Julie: Like instead of assuming the sleeping monk is lazy or spiritually weak, but really is he exhausted from spiritual struggles, fasts, etc… 00:42:40 forrest: Sorry for a late comment for #15: the Greek word for "cover up" is the same used in the Septuagint Exodus 12:13 for the Angel of God "passing by" the houses marked with blood. 01:04:05 Julie: The wanting to be loved and needed by others. Our passions are hard to cut 01:10:57 una: Wait, what about the baby? 01:17:03 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️ 01:17:19 Janine: Thank you

Proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for. . . . — Isaiah 40:2 God's people had ignored his law and had closed their ears to the words of his prophets. As a consequence, the people were taken into captivity and exile. Because they would not listen to the voice of grace, they heard the crack of the whip of discipline.But the same God who disciplines his people restores them by his mercy. God called Isaiah to speak tenderly and with assurance to his exiled people, proclaiming that their time of captivity was over and that their sins were forgiven. What a comforting message!Because God loves his people, he disciplines them. And along with disciplining his people, God also forgives them. God forgives his people, and he also restores them.There is no remedy for guilt except in God's forgiveness. No medicine can calm a heart tormented by guilt. No therapy can stifle the desperate cries of a conscience plagued with remorse for wrongdoing. Only God's forgiveness can lift the heavy burden that crushes us.Have you been forgiven by God? Do you enjoy the peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7)?Now is the time of grace. If your heart weighs heavy with sin, now is the opportune time to turn to God in repentance and seek his forgiveness. Lord God, speak to our hearts with your restoring mercy. Lift the weight of our guilt, forgive us, and lead us from discipline to renewal, bringing the peace that only you can give. In Jesus, Amen.

In this message, “Loved Enough To Correct: Do You Revel In God's Rebuke?”, we explore a truth that many believers struggle to embrace: God's correction is not a sign of His rejection—it's evidence of His love.In a culture that often avoids conviction and resists correction, Scripture reveals that the Lord disciplines those He loves and rebukes those in whom He delights. His goal is never to shame us, but to transform us.In this sermon, you'll hear about:Why God lovingly rebukes His childrenHow correction reveals His delight and care for usWhy some people seem untouched by conviction while others experience God's disciplineThe role of repentance, humility, and godly sorrow in spiritual growthHow God's discipline produces holiness and a harvest of righteousnessThrough passages from Hebrews 12, Proverbs 3, Revelation 3, James 4, and Joel 2, this message reframes God's rebuke as one of His greatest acts of love.Because God doesn't correct us to push us away—He corrects us to draw us closer.If you've ever wrestled with conviction, discipline, or seasons where God seemed to be confronting areas of your life, this message will encourage you to see His correction through a different lens.The question isn't whether God corrects His children.The question is: Do you receive His rebuke as proof that you are deeply loved?

Christians ought to excel in the grace of cheerful generosity. Why? Because God says so? How? Only when we have enough extra? Cheerful generosity is a grace given from a grace received, the grace of Jesus Christ.

Send us Fan MailHave you ever looked at your life and thought:"Things are going well... so why do I feel drained?"Many high-capacity leaders learn how to achieve, perform, and earn affirmation from others. But success and alignment are not always the same thing.In this teaching, Coach Tom explores the hidden cost of living from performance instead of purpose and shares five signs that you may be out of alignment with who God created you to be.You'll discover:• Why success can still leave you feeling hollow• The difference between affirmation and true alignment• How your energy may be revealing deeper truths• Signs that you've outgrown a previous season• Why purpose—not performance—creates lasting fulfillment• Practical steps to realign your life with God's designIf you've been feeling restless, depleted, or uncertain about your next season, this message will help you get clear about who God created you to be and how to move forward with greater confidence and purpose.Because God only wants you to be one person:The person He created you to be.Key TakeawayAlignment produces energy, joy, and impact.Success without alignment eventually drains you.Alignment with God's design creates fruitfulness that lasts. __________________________You can connect with Coach Tom at:https://greaterformation.com/Email: Tom@GreaterFormation.com P.S. ... If you are stalled in life, or particularly if you are in transition, here are two ways I can help you Get Clear, Get Focused and Be Fruitful!1. Grab a Free Copy of my "4 Key Steps to Clarity and Fruitfulness" Document.  It's a Blueprint to help you move ahead.  Click Here2. Work with me:I can help you Clarify, Plan, and take Bold Steps into Your Future. Book a Free 30-Minute Clarity and Fruitfulness Session with me: Click Here 

DOWNLOAD KEYNOTES SLIDES “Living Through Love” Part Four of the Series: “Rooted& Grounded” Message by Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min. This sermon, part four of the “Rooted and Grounded” series, teaches that believers must be rooted and grounded in God's love as a primary responsibility. Drawing from Ephesians 3:17–20 and 1 John 4, the message emphasizes that true love does not originate from human effort, emotion, or personality, but from God Himself. The sermon contrasts phileo love, which is relational, emotional, and often expects reciprocity, with agape love, which is sacrificial, unconditional, and comes only from God. Because God is love, those who are born of God are empowered to love beyond natural limits. A key theme is that believers are called to “live through Him”—through Christ and through the love God has imparted. God's love is demonstrated through Jesus, who became the sacrifice for sin, not because humanity first loved God, but because God first loved us. This perfect love also casts out fear, giving believers confidence, peace, and freedom from torment. The sermon concludes by reminding listeners that God does not merely possess love—He is love. Therefore, abiding in love means abiding in God, and living through love is evidence of knowing Him.

Welcome to Wellspring Church!What difference does the doctrine of the Trinity make in everyday life? On Trinity Sunday, Pastor Billy Waters explores why the Trinity is not merely a difficult theological concept to understand but the very foundation of Christian life, worship, and community.Drawing from Scripture and the Church's historic teaching, Billy reminds us that God is one God in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While the Trinity can feel mysterious and even frustrating to fully grasp, it is not meant to leave us distant from God. Instead, the Trinity reveals that God is eternally relational, a communion of love into which we are invited. Because God himself is a community of persons, the Church is called to reflect that same life of love, unity, and fellowship.

Introduction: Mark 1:8 - I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Since I'm a Member of the Body of Christ… (1 Corinthians 12:12-31) I shouldn't DOUBT the Part I Play (1 Cor 12:14-20) Because That DENIES My Purpose (1 Cor 12:14-17) Because That DISHONORS God's Design (1 Cor 12:18-20) I shouldn't DOWNPLAY the Roles of Others (1 Cor 12:21-26) By Acting Like I Don't Need ANYONE ELSE (1 Cor 12:21-24) By Exclusively Focusing on My NEEDS (1 Cor 12:25-26) By Shining the Spotlight onto ME (1 Cor 12:27-31) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: How is the Church Like a Body? Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:36Please turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12-31. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12-31. Isn't it frustrating to witness someone not do his or her job correctly? Maybe you have an employee or a direct report who constantly comes late, makes excuses, or has a suspicious number of grandparents that he has funerals he has to attend.01:06How many grandparents do you actually have? You hire a contractor to carry out a project in your house and he makes huge mistakes. And he acts very inconvenient when you come, when you ask him to come back and fix those mistakes. Your waitress has a horrible attitude and never checks on your table because she is constantly texting. You know what's even more frustrating than that? Witnessing or experiencing someone else.01:36not allow others to do their jobs correctly. You watch your favorite team lose yet again because one key player can't get his act together and he messes it up for everybody. You have a boss who is an expert in incompetence. He expects everyone to do their jobs as well as his job. You have a co-worker who makes your job so hard you can't finish this project at work because she has constantly dragging your feet and she is not communicating with you.02:10And instead of accepting that blame, taking it on herself, she points the finger of blame at you and says that it's your fault.02:19You know what's infinitely more frustrating than all the examples I've given already?02:24Witnessing a Christian refuse to do his or her job in the church.02:30or experiencing another Christian attempt to hinder you from carrying out your job in the church. Instead of contributing to the team, this person backs away, tries to go solo and do his or her own thing. Instead of building others up and encouraging them, they tear others down and diminish them. Wasted potential is a sorry sight to behold. Misused talents are squandered resources.03:02Missed opportunities for ministry are to be grieved. As you learned over the past eight months in 1 Corinthians, the church is commanded to be unified and purified. Unfortunately, this unity is undervalued, ignored, and tested by many who should know better. This purity is jeopardized, abused, and cast aside by many who claim to know and love Jesus Christ.03:30Excuses are made and commitments are unkept. Complaints are spoken instead of genuine praise. Zooming in on me and what I want is far more common than focusing on us and what we need. Am I describing you? Am I describing your contribution to the church?04:00Ask yourself, am I contributing to the unity and purity of Harvest Bible Chapel, or am I subtracting from it? Are you neglecting to do your job in the church? Are you standing in the way of others and making it hard for them to carry out their jobs in the church? Take a moment to go before the Lord and consider those questions.04:32Quiet your heart and ask God to convict you today. Ask God to challenge you today. Ask God to change you today. Go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we come before you as your people for the most important appointment of the week. May we not be distracted. Or may we truly dial in to what what you want to teach us this morning. Lord, may you show us who you've called us to be and what you've commanded us to do. I pray we'd all walk out of this room with a different vision of the church and a different idea of what we are called to do individually in the church. I ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We are in the Q&A section of 1 Corinthians. Paul is addressing questions that this congregation asked him in a previous And last week, Pastor Jeff showed us Paul's answer to the Corinthians' question about spiritual gifts. Every single believer is given at least one spiritual gift that is to be used to bless the church and advance the gospel. No one is skipped over. No one is forgotten. No one is left giftless. And these gifts are to unite, not divide.06:00And Paul continues to answer this question in chapter 12, verses 12 through 31, by providing a powerful illustration. He compares the unity of the church body to the unity of a physical human body. Check out what he has to say in verse 12 of chapter 12.06:30So it is with Christ. I'm going to ask you a very easy question, and I'm even going to let you cheat to get the right answer. So everyone, look down and give yourself a quick once-over. Come on, go do it. Are you ready for my question? How many bodies do you have? It's not your question. Just one, you got the answer right. Great job.07:01I'm asking you an easy follow-up question. You can look down again if you have to. How many body parts do you have? Do you have more than one body part? Yes, you have more than one. According to Dr. Google, which is never wrong, you have 78 organs, 206 bones, and 30 to 40 trillion cells. You have individual body parts, legs, feet, toes, toenails, arms, Arms, Hands, Hands, Fingers, Fingernails, Heart, Lungs, Kidney, Stomach, Pancreas, Head, Eyes, Ears, Nose, Nose, Nose, Hairs, Mouth, Teeth, Gums, Tongue, Uvula.07:41And on the list goes. Sorry, Pastor Jeff's uvula was swollen this week, and you're talking about it a lot, so I had to add that.07:50He was sick. That was the reason why.07:54But these individual parts do not operate or function independently from one another.08:00Instead, they work together as one body. They serve different roles. They carry out the same mission to keep you alive and kicking. And Paul is saying this truth about your physical body applies to the church body as well. Yes, we all have different roles. We all have different functions. But we do not operate independently from one another. We work together as one body.08:30same mission to lift high the name of Jesus Christ by making disciples.08:37And you may be thinking, hold on a minute.08:39This illustration seems to break down a bit because I've always had my physical body.08:44It's the only one I've got.08:46How did I become a part of the church body?08:48When did that happen?08:50It's a great question.08:52Thankfully, Paul answers it in verse 13.08:55He says, For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. You realize at one point you didn't exist. There was no you. Then you popped into existence and you grew in your mother's womb. And at one point you were born into this world with your physical But if you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, if you have been saved and given new life in Him, you have experienced more than just one birth. According to God's Word, you've experienced a new birth. And on your spiritual birthday, you were brought into the body of Christ. You became a part of the body of Christ. And this second birth is a work of the Holy Spirit, who Paul That sounds really cool. What in the world does that mean? Baptized in the Holy Spirit. Well, 2,000 years ago, John the Baptist baptized men and women in water as a sign of their repentance. But John was up front. He was very clear that he was not the point. He was not the be-all and end-all. He came to point to someone greater than him. He says, He says, I baptize with water, but He will baptize with the Holy Spirit.10:37Who is this greater person?10:39Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit?10:42Jesus Christ Himself.10:46This has massive implications for my life, your life, and the life of this church body.10:52This means that I, Taylor Samuel Brown, wasn't just baptized in water on July 30, 2000 by Pastor Jesse Boggs at Northgate Church. Yes, that was an important day. That was an important baptism. But I experienced an even more important day, an even more important baptism years prior. Before that, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ. I was saved from my sins.11:25I was made into a new person.11:27I was brought into the body of Christ.11:32My water baptism was simply an outward symbol of the salvation I experienced.11:39Of this baptism in the Holy Spirit that I experienced.11:45And Paul even says that I drank of the Holy Spirit.11:50Again, sounds great, but what in the world does that mean? Well, think about it this way. When you drink something, you are filled with that liquid, aren't you? Whether it's water, coffee, wild cherry, Pepsi, or kombucha. When you drink a liquid, you are filled with that liquid. When you drink of the Holy Spirit, you are filled with the Holy Spirit. He lives within you. He takes up residence within you.12:20If you have trusted in Christ, you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. You have been filled with the Holy Spirit. In verse 13, Paul mentions different factors that would divide people back in his day. He mentions ethnicity and social status. In 2026, we live in a world where we are constantly being tried to be ripped apart because of our many differences. We have different backgrounds. We have different skin colors. We come from different financial situations. We have different careers. We have different personalities. We have different temperaments. We are different in so many ways. And as we'll discover soon, that is good news to celebrate. But we are the exact same in the most important ways. We have the same Heavenly Father. We have been redeemed by the same Savior.13:20been changed by the same Holy Spirit. We belong to the same body. Our differences may be great, but our unity in Christ and His Spirit is even greater. So after this long and theologically heavy introduction, you may be thinking, all right, this is all very interesting, but what's the point? I get it. I'm a member of the body of Christ.13:49Now, you need to be encouraged to do your job in the body of Christ. Now, you need to be encouraged to let other people do their jobs in the body of Christ. So on your outline, since I'm a member of the body of Christ, number one, I shouldn't doubt the part I play. I shouldn't doubt the part I play.14:19Some of you in this room and watching online struggle to truly believe that you have an important part to play in the life of this church. You may think to yourself, I mean, sure, this is my church and I'm involved, but if I left, nothing would change. No one would notice. I don't have an upfront role that matters. I don't play an instrument. I don't really matter here. And as one of your pastors, it deeply saddens me that some of you feel that way about you.14:51It deeply saddens me that you believe a lie about yourself instead of believing what God's word says about who you are. You do matter. You do have a part to play at Harvest. This church does need you and it wouldn't be the same without you. And I'm not just saying that to make you feel good. I'm saying that because that's what God's word says. Listen to what Paul says in verses 14 through 17.15:19For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?15:49I didn't doubt the part I play. Letter A on your outline, because that denies my purpose. Because that denies my purpose. You claiming that you have no part to play in the body of Christ because you don't have the gifting of another person is as ridiculous as your foot saying, I have no part to play in the body because I'm not a hand. I'll never be able to hammer a nail into the wall. I'll never be able to type on a keyboard, so I just give up.16:18I mean, sure, your hands can't do, your feet can't do what your hands can do. But your hands can't do what your feet can do as well, right? Walking is pretty important, right? Most of you don't agree with that. Walking is really important, right? Your hands can't do that. Okay, good. Man, you are sitting right now, but eventually you will have to get up and walk away.16:45You claiming that you have no part to play in the body of Christ is as insane as your ears saying, I have no part to play in the body because I'll never be able to look at the Grand Canyon. I'll never be able to stare up at a starry night. So I'm just going to tune out and call it a day. I mean, yeah, your eye is important, but your eyes can't do what your ears can do. Without your ears, you wouldn't be able to hear anything. Just imagine if your entire body was just just one feature. Eyes are beautiful, aren't they? I love my wife's eyes the most, and I could stare into her eyes for hours. But imagine if Kate was just a big eyeball and nothing else. There's a big eye bouncing around my house and sleeping in the bed next to me at night. That sounds like the premise of a horror movie. I mean, yeah, I'd still love her because I made a vow to her 12 years ago, but That'd be pretty rough. That'd be hard. A big eye has 20-20 vision, but it can't really do anything else. A big ear has great hearing, but it can't really do much else. Now imagine if every single person in this church had the same exact gifting and function. Would that be productive or disastrous? It would be a total and complete I have been in a room with thousands of preachers before.18:20Imagine if those thousands of preachers tried to carry out the same function in the same church.18:27There would be arguments about who does what.18:29The bills would never get paid.18:31The building would fall in disrepair and probably burn down.18:34Preaching is an essential function of the church, but is not the only function.18:41Some of you men in this room do have a preaching gift.18:44We are so thankful for you. You realize it's very different. It's very unique to have this many guys who can preach a message in a church. That doesn't happen everywhere. God has gifted this church. But others of you guys do not have a preaching gift. And that is not something to be upset about. That is not a bad thing. Not everybody has the gift of preaching. Not everyone has an upfront role.19:14If your part is behind the scenes, it matters. Maybe your part is in the AV booth. Without Mike back there, without all the AV team back there, no one would be able to hear the sermons. I'd just scream at the top of my lungs for you to hear me. Without Ben and Lincoln working on the sermons afterwards, people across the country and across the world wouldn't be able to hear it, which does happen.19:43Maybe your part is being on the prayer team. You show the rest of the body what it looks like to faithfully lift up the needs of the saints to the Lord. Maybe your part is security. You function as the antibodies of the church that keeps the rest of the body safe. Maybe your part is working at Harvest Academy or working as an adult leader in Arrow. You are training up the future generation in Jesus Christ.20:14is leading a small group. You are on the front lines of congregational care and discipleship. Maybe your part is on the relocation and building committee with Pastor Rich and the others. You help formulate the budget. You count on Sundays. I can keep going and going and going. Without a doubt, you do have a part to play. Stop believing that you do not matter. Stop being envious of others. Stop denying your purpose at harvest.20:45I shouldn't doubt the part I play because that denies my purpose. Letter B, I shouldn't doubt the part I play because that dishonors God's design. Because that dishonors God's design. Let's look at verses 18 through 20. But as it is, God arranges the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be?21:18When you badmouth a team's starting lineup and strategies, who are you ultimately dishonoring? The coach who decides who starts and designs the place. If you pick apart every single detail of a restaurant and complain about it to everyone that you know, who are you dishonoring ultimately? The manager, the owner, who decides who to hire, who makes all the big decisions. If you complain about your gifting and part in the body, who are you ultimately dishonoring? God himself. He is the one who created you. He is the one who designed his church. Paul says that God arranges the members in the body, each of them as he chose. When you are discontent with your part in the church, you aren't just hurting yourself, and you are hurting yourself.22:13You aren't just shortchanging your fellow members. You aren't just making ministry hard for the pastors, elders, and other leaders. You are accusing God. You are saying something about Him that is not true. You are shouting this message to your Creator. God, you made a mistake with me. I deserve a do-over. You could have done better. Is that a great message to send to the most important and powerful person the universe. No, it is not. Because God doesn't need a do-over. Because he nails everything on the first try. God did not make a mistake with you. He designs you purposefully and puts you into his church with purpose and design. It's a complete waste of time, energy, and effort to resist the Lord. So cut it out. Get on board with his plans for the body. Lean into your God-given part instead of backing away from it. Do your job in the church because it was personally chosen for you. Since I'm a member of the body of Christ, I shouldn't doubt the part I play. Since I'm a member of the body of Christ, number two on your outline, I shouldn't downplay the roles of others. I shouldn't downplay the roles of others.23:44from sabotaging yourself to sabotaging others. It is foolish to stand in your own way, but it is wicked to stand in the way of other people. As we just talked about, many of you struggle with a low view of yourself and how God has gifted you. Others of you have the exact opposite problem. You have a low view of others and how God has gifted them.24:13In the next several verses, Paul warns you to not downplay the roles of others in the church. Listen to verses 21 through 24.24:43which are more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it. I shouldn't downplay the roles of others, letter A on your outline, by acting like I don't need anyone else. By acting like I don't need anyone else. So Paul turns the tables on the Corinthians as well as you and me in these verses. He flips the scenario.25:13First, he says it's dumb for a foot or an eye to say that they're not a part of the body. Now he says it's dumb for the eye or the head to tell other parts of the body that they don't matter. This kind of attitude is arrogant. This game of comparison misses the point. You know, naturally, we all create lists of importance and systems of ranking.25:43a to-do list that you want to complete, right? Where do you put the items that you think are the most important? Top of the list, right? Where do you put the items that you think are probably the least important? At the bottom of the list. Several months ago, many of you took part in the college basketball brackets, right? You decided which teams you thought were the best and which teams you thought were the worst. If I were to ask you your favorite movies, you could list them very quickly. If I were to ask you to list your least favorite movies, you could do it even quicker. We naturally evaluate everything. We're constantly grading other people's performances. We form our own personal rankings. And this was happening in the Corinthian church back in the first century. There were the spiritual elite at the top of the charts who looked down on those they thought were weaker, less honorable, and even unpresentable.26:45Paul says those brothers or sisters who seem weaker are actually indispensable. Those who seem to have a less than honorable role deserve greater honor. Those who seem unpresentable should be treated with the utmost respect. You may be thinking, oh, Pastor Taylor, I'm not spiritually elite. I don't look down at other people. I don't act like I don't need anyone else.27:16Are you sure about that? Are you sure? Do you make excuses for why you can't be in community with other believers? Do you refuse to join a small group or be involved in other ministries that we offer here like fishermen, live, laugh, lunch, precepts, mugs and moms? You say you don't have time or energy for these things, but inwardly you know that's not true.27:43By not joining a small group or participating in any of these ministries, you are communicating a loud and clear message, I'm doing just fine on my own. I don't need anyone else. I am self-sufficient. Maybe you are a part of a small group of one of the other ministries that I mentioned, but as soon as you walk in, you put up your defense shields. You don't share a detail of your life with anybody. No one knows anything about what you're struggling with or how they can pray for you because you don't.28:13tell them. You don't want to trust anybody else because they might let you down. You were hurt in the past and so you think, well, it's going to happen again, so I'm not even going to try. Are you someone who comes in late and leaves early because you are terrified of knowing others and being known? You're acting like you don't need anyone else. Are there people in this room or the other service that you actively avoid?28:45Is there a guy in your small group that you intentionally leave out of conversations and hangouts? Is there a woman down the aisle from you who you are blatantly rude to face to face and make fun of behind closed doors? All of these behaviors are childish. All of these behaviors are reflective of the Corinthians, not Christ. All of those behaviors hurt the body and do not help the body.29:14I shouldn't downplay the roles of others by acting like I don't need anyone else. Letter B, I shouldn't downplay the roles of others by exclusively focusing on my needs. By exclusively focusing on my needs. Let's read verses 25 through 26. That there may be no division in the body, that the members may have the same care for one another.29:44All suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together.29:53Have you ever been walking around your house minding your own business whenever you stub your pinky toe on the bed or a bench or a chair?30:01Let me ask you, in that moment, is it just your pinky toe that reacts?30:07Does the rest of your body think, man, sucks to be pinky, too bad for him.30:11I'm just gonna kinda do my own thing for a little while he calms down. No, when you stub your pinky toe, the pause button is pressed on life and nothing else matters. Your whole body reacts, your face grimaces, your mouth yells out some things that you hope nobody else hears. Your back arches, your hands reach down and grab your damaged foot and you pogo stick around on the undamaged foot and then your eyes inspect the damage. Your whole body reacts to the pain.30:43You ever had a bad back problem? Or a nagging tooth pain? Are you able to compartmentalize that and not think about it? Now when your back hurts, it's game over for your day. If your tooth is throbbing, you have one all-consuming thought, end the pain right now. Your whole body feels the pain of even its smallest member.31:12The same should be true of the body of Christ. If one person is in pain, all of us should be in pain. If there is a need, we should all rise up to meet that need. If someone in your small group has a big surgery or a major medical issue, start a meal train. Go visit them in the hospital. Take care of tasks around the house.31:41If there's someone on your serving team who loses a family member, show up at the funeral. Show up at the visitation. Your presence will speak far louder than any words you could possibly share. Care about the pain of other people. Meet the needs of others. Care about what other people need, even more than what you need. If one member suffers, all suffer together.32:11If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Here's a question that's been nagging at me all week. Do I love to celebrate the victories of other people? Very often the answer is no. What about you? Do you love to celebrate the victories of other people? Do you rejoice with other Christians?32:41When something good happens to another Christian in your life, do you think, praise the Lord, what a blessing? Or do you think, man, when's it going to be my turn? Nothing good ever happens to me like it does to that guy. When there's a couple in this church that has a solid marriage and really great godly children, do you think to yourself, man, what a great example that I want to follow? Or do you think to yourself, when will my family get it together? I'll never be like Mr. and Mrs. Perfect. I wish they'd stop rubbing it in my face.33:13You have to understand that other people's success is not your failure. According to Paul, their success is your success because you are a part of the same body. Let's share in the pain together. Let's share in the joy together. Let's thank the Lord in the good times together. And let's trust the Lord in the hard times together.33:41I shouldn't downplay the roles of others by acting like I don't need anyone else. I shouldn't downplay the roles of others by exclusively focusing on my needs. Finally, I shouldn't downplay the roles of others by shining the spotlight onto me. By shining the spotlight onto me. Let's wrap up with verses 27 through 31. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, These verses are jam-packed with a ton of stuff that we cannot get into. We don't have the time right now.34:41But it's really important to see that Paul mentions an office that no longer exists today. The office of apostle. Some churches have not got that memo yet. God is not posting apostleship jobs on Indeed. He is not hiring or looking to fill that position in 2026. Paul also talks about the sign gifts like speaking in tongues, miracles, and healing. Thankfully, I don't have to wade into that controversial topic because Pastor Jeff did it last week and he'll do an even deeper dive this summer.35:11Sometimes it pays to be the associate pastor.35:15But for now, catch the principle that Paul is communicating instead of getting bogged down in the details.35:21And the best way to do that is to answer the layup questions that Paul asks.35:25Let's go through the list.35:26And you have to participate.35:27You have to answer the question.35:29There's one obvious answer for all of them.35:31Are all apostles?35:33Good job.35:34Are all prophets?35:36Are all teachers?35:38Do all work miracles?35:39Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? What's Paul's point? God has given every single believer a spiritual gift or several spiritual gifts, but he has not given any believer all the spiritual gifts. That's not possible. You know, we have a lot of talented musicians and vocalists here at Harvest, don't we? Let's give them a round of applause and thank them for all they do for us.36:13You know, Jesse Hogan, he can sing, he can play the guitar, he can play the drums, he can play the piano. He can play three instruments and I can play none. I guess I shouldn't rank our abilities, right? I shouldn't compare. I'm sorry, I'm still learning that lesson myself. I shouldn't compare with Jesse. Jesse can play all those things, but he can't play every single instrument in the world of which there are over 1,500.36:39Also, Jesse can't play all those instruments at the same exact time. If Jesse tried to come up here and do a one-man band and try to run between the guitar, the piano, and run between the drums, he would make a total and complete fool of himself. Because prideful exaltation always leads to forced humility. Jesse needs the rest of the band around him.37:09He needs everybody else. He needs the vocalists who can't reach the notes that he cannot. He needs Chris or Jay on bass. Jesse needs everybody else working with him. You know, the Corinthians were experts in self-exaltation. Many in the church wanted to shine the spotlight onto themselves. Look again at verse 31. Paul says, On a first glance, it may look like Paul is commanding the Corinthians to seek after the biggest and best gifts, but that totally misses the point of what he's actually saying. If you pay attention to the context, he's saying the exact opposite. This word, earnestly, is most often used in the context of envy and jealousy. A better translation of this verse is, But you are jealous for the higher gifts Paul is not commending them He is not celebrating them He is correcting the Corinthians Because they desired the flashy and showy gifts Serving wasn't on their mind because they wanted to show off Paul is telling them You're not the point So stop trying to be You're not in competition with one another You are working together Be in sync with one another do your job and help other people do their job as well. And he concludes by saying, and I will show you a still more excellent way. What is that still more excellent way? It is the way of love, which Pastor Jeff will talk about next week. This whole topic of spiritual gifts and the unity of the body should be viewed the lens of love.39:05The love of Christ for us, our love for Christ, and our love for each other. Otherwise, we'll miss the point of why God even gifted us in the first place. If you have been saved by Christ, never forget that you belong to Christ. Never forget that you belong to Christ's beloved body. Since you're a member of the body of Christ, you shouldn't doubt the part that you Since you're a member of the body of Christ, you shouldn't downplay the roles of others. As this sermon concludes, some of you in this room may feel a bit left out because you're not a Christian. You are not a member of the body of Christ. As of now, you are a detached hand or foot that has no function in the church body. As of right now, you are a detached eye or ear that is not connected to anything greater than yourself. As of now, the life-giving blood of Christ does not flow in you and through you. I have to warn you, if you continue in this state of self-isolation, you will wither away and die in your sins. You will experience a life without purpose, and you will endure an eternity separated from the giver of life.40:35and the other recipients of his life. If that's you, I beg you to turn from your sin and turn to Jesus. Place the full weight of your faith upon him, what he has done through his life, death, and resurrection. And then, and only then, will you be forgiven and given new life. Then, you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You will be filled with the Holy Spirit. You will be brought into the body of Christ.41:04you will be placed into the perfect role that you were made for. You will be given the high honor and responsibility of serving Christ and his body. We'd love for you to join us. Let's pray. Father, we come to you and we thank you for your word. We thank you for the encouragement and the conviction that we all experienced. Lord, if there is someone in this room who is currently not a member of the body of Christ, who is not saved. May today be the day where they finally say no to sin and yes to your son.41:43And for the rest of us, Lord, may we do our jobs.41:47May we let other people do their jobs.41:49May we work together and encourage each other.41:51Lord, we thank you for all that you're doing with this new building project.41:57Lord, none of that matters if we can't work together now.42:01May we be faithful now.42:03May we work together now. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 12:12-31What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Re-read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 - What does it mean that we are baptized in the Spirit and drink of the Spirit? Why is this so important for church unity? Do you ever doubt the part you play in the body of Christ? How can you fight against this discouragement? How do you see professing Christians standing in the way of others and downplaying their roles in the church? How do you see this disturbing trend within yourself? What does it look like to prioritize the needs, hurts, and victories of other members in the church body over your own? BreakoutPray for one another.

Read OnlineGod so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:16–18Saint John the Apostle is identified in his Gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” a title that appears multiple times and has been consistently understood in the Church's tradition to refer to John himself (cf. John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20). By calling himself the beloved disciple, John was revealing his interior experience of the perfect love he encountered in Jesus. Certainly, Jesus loved everyone—equally and without limit. Yet John includes this personal designation not to claim favoritism, but to offer a personal testimony to the divine love made manifest in Christ's humanity—love he experienced firsthand and which changed his life.Love plays a central role in John's writings—not only in his Gospel but also in his letters and the Book of Revelation. In his First Letter, likely written to the Christian communities he helped convert and shepherd, John declares: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 John 4:16). This is both a personal sentiment and a profound theological affirmation. John speaks from both divine inspiration and lived experience; he had walked with Love Incarnate. To say “God is love” is to profess that love is not something God merely does—it is who God is. God's love is not a feeling, not sentimentality, but the pure, self-giving, eternal communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—a love that precedes and surpasses all creation.That mystery lies at the very heart of today's Solemnity. Because God is Love in His very essence, love naturally flows from His divine nature in superabundance. God loves because He is Love. Today's Gospel reveals the most perfect expression of that divine essence: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” This eternal, Trinitarian love is made visible in time when the Father sends the Son, conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.Why does God give His Son? So that we might not perish but have eternal life. That is, so we may be drawn into the very life of God—into the Trinitarian communion of love. God desires to rescue us from condemnation and to share with us His Divine Existence.This is the essence of Divine Love. This is the Trinity. And this is the astonishing invitation extended to every soul: To believe in the Son is to begin participating in the eternal love that flows ceaselessly between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit—a love that never ends. We are invited to be caught up by the love of God into Love Himself: the eternal communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.Trinity Sunday is set apart on the Church's calendar to renew our awe, deepen our understanding, and intensify our worship of the central mystery of our faith: that God is One in essence and Three in Persons. While every liturgy honors the Trinity—through prayers to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit—this solemnity invites us to pause and gaze more intentionally into the inner life of God as it has been revealed to us. We do not celebrate a theological abstraction but a divine Personhood: the eternal exchange of love between the Father and the Son, perfectly expressed and eternally proceeding in the Holy Spirit.Reflect today on the Most Holy Trinity. We were made to share in Their Life and Love. Though the fullness of the Trinity remains a mystery beyond human grasp, it is not beyond human encounter. Through grace, revelation, and contemplative union, God draws us to Himself—not to explain Himself, but to be consumed by Him. Celebrate this day by repeatedly praying one of the most ancient and simple prayers in the Church:Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen! Most Holy Trinity, I love You and trust in You!  Image: Leandro Bassano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Sometimes Christians speak about the body as though it barely matters. As though spiritual growth and physical stewardship are completely separate things. But Scripture paints a very different picture. God created your body intentionally. Jesus came in a body. Jesus rose in a body. And one day, we will receive glorified bodies. Your body matters to God. In this episode, Justin Roethlingshoefer (Own It Show, The Power of Ownership) explained how many people live disconnected from their bodies entirely. Ignoring exhaustion. Ignoring stress. Ignoring burnout. Ignoring emotional pain. Until eventually the body begins sounding alarms we can no longer ignore. Anxiety. Fatigue. Autoimmune struggles. Hormonal issues. And often we wonder: "Why is this happening to me?" But perhaps sometimes the better question is: "Have I been stewarding what God entrusted to me?" Not from condemnation, but from invitation. Because God is not trying to shame you. He is inviting you into abundant life. And at the center of that invitation is identity. Justin shared that for years, he believed his worth came from achievement and performance. But God taught him that he did not need to earn what had already been freely given through Christ. You do not have to prove your value. You already have value. And from that secure identity, you can begin making decisions that honor the life and body God has given you. And when you care for your body fully, you can also show up for the things God has for you fully. We hope this episode blesses you!   Blessings, The Delight Your Marriage Team (Shownotes written with AI assistance) PS - Want to learn more about Justin and his work? Check out his website at https://justinroethlingshoefer.com/. His books are available at here and his newest book, Holy Health, is set to release this August. We are excited about it! Thank you again, Justin, for your insights and for being on the show! PPS - Ready to take the next step in healing your marriage? We want to help. Schedule a free Clarity Call at https://delightyourmarriage.com/cc PPPS - Here is what a recent Coaching Graduate had to say: "DYM has shown me that change for my marriage start with changing myself. Through Belah's videos its abundantly clear that I am the one that needs change but these changes are only possible through Christ and his grace and desire to see me have a relationship with him first and then allow him to present me again to my wife as the man of God she has always wanted to be with." ......................................................... Delight Your Marriage is dedicated to helping married couples discover true intimacy and helping heal emotional, spiritual, and physical intimacy--biblically. For the last 10 years, through our practical tools, group coaching, and podcast, we have seen hundreds of marriages transformed- from couples who were on their way to signing divorce papers to couples who had pretty good marriages but just wanted to connect more. We are honored to get to walk alongside men & women as they become who God created them to be and see their marriages transformed in the process. If you'd like to learn more about us and our programs, please visit https://delightyourmarriage.com/ Want more on-the-go content? Follow us on Facebook for insightful clips and marriage coaching insights. Catch up on the podcast on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@delightyourmarriage) or your favorite podcast streaming platform. Ready to take the leap and do the work to heal your marriage? We'd love to chat with you. Schedule a free Clarity Call here: https://delightyourmarriage.com/cc Thank you for listening and God bless!

THIS IS IT | The Gideon 300 Remnant Many believers are feeling an unusual pressure right now. The warfare seems heavier. The attacks seem more intense. The resistance feels stronger than ever before. But what if that's not because you're doing something wrong? What if God is refining His Gideon 300? In this powerful message, Pastor Todd Coconato unpacks one of the most relevant stories in Scripture for the season we're living in. Gideon started with 32,000 men, but God reduced the army until only 300 remained. Why? Because God wasn't looking for the biggest crowd. He was looking for those who were fully surrendered to the assignment. I believe we're witnessing the same thing today. God is raising up a remnant. Men and women who understand that ministry is not a title, a platform, or a career. It's a calling. These are believers who are committed to the King's business regardless of the warfare, opposition, or challenges they face. If you've been feeling stretched, tested, refined, or under pressure, this message will encourage and strengthen your faith. Don't quit. Don't back down. Don't lose heart. You may be part of God's Gideon 300 for such a time as this. Watch now and discover why the battle may be intense, but the victory belongs to the Lord.

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MAY. 17, 2026You will conquer your Jericho (1)"The Lord said to Joshua: 'See! I have given Jericho into your hand.” Jos 6:2NKJVHere's what you need to know about the walls of Jericho: They were immense. They wrapped around the city like a suit of armor, forty feet above the ground. They were impenetrable. Here is what you need to know about Joshua: He didn't bring the walls down-God did. And God will do that for you too. Your Jericho is your fear, anger, bitterness, or prejudice. It's also your insecurity about the future; your guilt about the past; and your negativity, anxiety, and proclivity to criticize, over-analyze, or compartmentalize. Your Jericho is any circumstance, attitude, or mindset that keeps you from joy, peace, or rest. Jericho blocks your way, so its walls must fall! "Go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess" (Jos 1:11 NKJV).The verb translated as "possess" means "to occupy by driving out previous tenants and possessing in their place." But Satan won't leave without a fight, he will resist, he will push back. But he will not win. Why? Because God has already declared that you are the victor. "The Lord said to Joshua: 'See! I have given Jericho into your hand.'" God did not say, "Joshua, take the city." God said, "Joshua, receive the city I have taken." The same can be said about you and your challenge. You say, "If God has done it for me, what do I have to do?" (1) Receive your victory by faith, just as you received your salvation. (2) Speak victory. Be sure your words line up with God's words. (3) Walk out your victory, one day at a time.You will conquer your Jericho Speak victory.Share This DevotionalMAY. 18, 2026You will conquer your Jericho (2)"Joshua...lifted his eyes...and behold, a Man stood opposite him." Jos 5:13 NKJVIn late January 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received a threatening telephone call at his house. It was not the first foreboding message he'd received. But on this night, as his children and his wife lay sleeping, the weight of the Civil Rights Movement was too heavy. He decided that the risk was too great. He began to map out an exit strategy. At midnight he bowed over the kitchen table and began to pray, "I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I've come to the point where I can't face it alone." King described what happened next. "I experienced the presence of the Divine as I have never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: 'Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever!" When facing a daunting challenge, Dr. King shifted his focus and turned to God. The Bible says: "When Joshua was by Jericho...he lifted his eyes...and behold, a Man stood opposite him." After Joshua lifted his eyes from Jericho, a divine messenger stood before him with the solution to his problem. As long as your eyes are only on your problem, you won't see your problem solver. You must look up. "I will lift up my eyes to the hills— from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord" (Ps 121:1-2 NKJV).You will conquer your Jericho God will be at your side forever.Share This DevotionalSend us Fan MailSupport the showChanging Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

In today's gospel lesson, Jesus shares the Holy Spirit with his disciples, telling them "if you forgive he sins of any, they are forgiven..." Pastor Jonathan explains that this is Jesus way of telling his disciples that God's forgiveness is not only unconditional, it is meant to be shared. Because God's forgiveness is unconditional, our failures are not the final word.

Istrouma Baptist Church (ASC) May 24, 2026 ========== May 17 - Cultivate Welcome! We're glad you've joined us today for our Sunday morning worship service! For more information about Istrouma, go to istrouma.org or contact us at info@istrouma.org. We glorify God by making disciples of all nations. ========== Connection Card https://istrouma.org/myinfo The Fruit of the Spirit is - Faithfulness Galatians 5:22 Faithfulness is consistency over time empowered by the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness…" Galatians 5:22 Because God is faithful to us, the Spirit produces faithfulness through us. 1. Faithfulness revealed "He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler." Psalm 91:4 "If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself." 2 Timothy 2:13 2. Faithfulness produced "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful." 1 Corinthians 4:2 "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful…" 1 Corinthians 10:13 3. Faithfulness practiced - Time - Family - Church family - Finances Slide: Because God is faithful to us, the Spirit produces faithfulness through us.

Introduction: What About Spiritual Gifts? (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) Spiritual Gifts are FROM God and FOR Every Believer. (1 Cor 12:4-6) Spiritual Gifts Are to Be Used to BLESS the CHURCH. (1 Cor 12:7) Spiritual Gifts Come in Many FORMS. (1 Cor 12:8-10) 2 Corinthians 12:12 - The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. Hebrews 2:4 - while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Wisdom Knowledge Faith Healing Miracles Luke 9:1 – And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases Prophecy Distinguish between spirits Tongues Interpretation of tongues Spiritual Gifts Are Given at the HOLY SPIRIT'S DISCRETION. (1 Cor 12:11) SEEK God. Consider the INTERSECTION. Take an ASSESSMENT. Take the Spiritual Gifts Test! Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: What About Spiritual Gifts? Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:38Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of 1 Corinthians 12.00:45While you're turning there, let's just pause for a second, and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me00:53to be faithful to communicate God's Word accurately and clearly as I should.01:01And I will pray for you to be open to receive what it is that God said. All right, let's pray. Father, sometimes we come to your word and I guess some passages seem to hit some of us more than others. And we're about to enter into a section that according to your word literally is for every single one of us. So I pray.01:31That Your Spirit would be the power behind the wisdom of Your Word and that You would continue to conform us into the image of Your Son, not just individually, but as a church body. Father, glorify Your name as we immerse ourselves into Your Word now. We pray in Jesus' name and all of God's people,02:02Amen. Look at 1 Corinthians 12, verse 1. Paul says,02:07Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.02:18This section of 1 Corinthians has been a big Q&A section.02:25They had sent Paul questions and he was responding with answers.02:28And up to this point, we've mainly been dealing with earthly matters. We've been talking about liberty and marriage and gender. And now we're on to more, I guess you could say, spiritual matters. And he says, concerning spiritual gifts, look at that verse 1, I do not want you to be uninformed. I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.02:58Spiritual Gifts. Wow, that's a phrase that really describes the church today. Right? Because as always, church, we will go to either side of the extreme. When we talk about spiritual gifts, immediately you're going to have some people on one end of the spectrum that just completely neglect or ignore them. And think, oh, that's just like,03:28Goofy, charismatic stuff, but we're like sober-minded people. You completely dismiss the role that the Holy Spirit has in the work of the church. They're just neglected. And we do church according to human intellect and creativity. And then you have people on the other end of the spectrum that don't neglect the gifts. You could say they misrepresent the gifts of the Holy Spirit.03:58And over on the other extreme, people are doing all kinds of goofy things in church saying that it's a work of the Holy Spirit. We're slain in the Spirit and we're hooping and hollering and barking and howling. It's a gift of the Spirit. Excuse me. Absolutely essential in your work for Christ. Absolutely essential04:28in the health of the church, in the health of this church, you have to understand what spiritual gifts are, and you have to use your spiritual gift in the church. All right, look at verse 2. He says, you know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols. However, you were led. What he's doing here is he's setting up a contrast.04:58by idols.05:00And we're going to see this as we go throughout this section,05:03but the Corinthians in their former pagan lifestyle05:07learned a lot of bad methods of worship.05:11Pagan methods of worship.05:13And they brought those into the church.05:15Like, I guess this is how we worship.05:17And Paul here is making the contrast.05:20Like, look, no, no, no.05:22You used to be led by idols.05:24Now, now you are led by the Holy Spirit of God.05:30The Holy Spirit. Somehow, despite how essential His role is in the church, He just doesn't seem to get the press that the other members of the Trinity get, right? I mean, we talk about Jesus a lot. His sacrifice on the cross for our sins. His resurrection from the dead.05:58We talk about God the Father a lot. But God the Holy Spirit, just is essential. The Bible says that every Christian, every born-again Christian receives the Holy Spirit. That's Romans 8 and 9, among other places. That's God's presence abiding in you. Why? Why does God's Spirit live in you? Well, there's two main reasons. One is for character, right?06:28The Holy Spirit manifests the character of Christ in you. That's the fruit of the Spirit. That's Galatians 5. That's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That's what the Holy Spirit does in the life of the believer manifesting those characteristics. So it's character. The other reason the Holy Spirit lives in believers is for service.06:58And that's what we're talking about in this passage today. Every believer is given a spiritual gift to be used in the church. And you're like, wow, you know, how do I know that I even have the Holy Spirit? Well, look at verse 3. Paul says, therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says,07:28Jesus is accursed. And no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit. So how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? Here's a foundational test. How do you regard Jesus? And I don't just mean what do you say about Jesus here in church on Sunday morning or at small group. I mean in your heart, in your innermost being privately,07:58How do you regard Jesus Christ? In your heart, is Jesus Christ everything to you? Because your true heart disposition towards Jesus is manifest by the Spirit. If you're born again, Paul says, you cannot curse Jesus. And apparently some of that stuff was happening in the Corinthian church. That's a whole other study for another time.08:28Paul says, if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you absolutely will regard Jesus Christ as your Lord. The Holy Spirit. He's not just for preachers and missionaries, by the way. The Christian life, every Christian's life, is a Holy Spirit-led and empowered life. So the question that Paul's getting into here, and Pastor Taylor's going to be talking about this more next week, here's the question on the table.08:58They asked. He's answering, so what about spiritual gifts? I mean, what are spiritual gifts? And how is it that the Holy Spirit uses spiritual gifts in the church? So on your outline, what about spiritual gifts? What about them? Paul's giving us a great foundational teaching on Holy Spirit gifts.09:28Number one, write this down. Spiritual gifts are from God and for every believer. Look at verses four through six. He says, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities,09:58is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. He says there's many kinds of spiritual gifts, but notice he says they all come from God. And he really wants to make that point clear because you notice he mentioned every member of the Trinity as being the source of spiritual gifts. You notice that? He talks about the Holy Spirit in verse 4. He talks about Jesus Christ, the Lord, in verse 5. He talks about God, the Father,10:28in verse 6. Spiritual gifts are gifts that come from God. Now, understand that spiritual gifts are different than talents. Okay? Like a skill that you have to play an instrument or to paint a mural. Spiritual gifts are different, but listen. I can show you biblically, and that's a study for another time.10:58come from God. Absolutely.11:03But here we're talking about ministry gifts.11:06Church ministry must be Spirit-powered, not done in the flesh.11:15Why?11:19Because if we're just doing ministry in our power, in man's power,11:25we're going to get man's results.11:27But when ministry is done in God's power, we get God's results. So which do you want? At the end of the day, I want to see what God can do in this church, not what I can do. But you notice the end of verse 6, beginning of verse 7, to everyone, to each. Listen, because every Christian possesses the Holy Spirit, all Christians, all Christians are given a spiritual gift.11:59It's so fascinating because every gift is a characteristic of Jesus Christ Himself. You realize He had everything perfectly. Think about that. Jesus, God in the flesh, who embodied every characteristic perfectly. You see the Holy Spirit giving us a spiritual gift. What's going on here? Here's what's going on. The church is called the body of Christ.12:29And each member is given a gift so that collectively, we as the body of Christ become a sort of representation of Jesus Christ himself. It's absolutely mind-blowing. But God wants the church to be Christ-like, and this is how it happens. We each use our spiritual gift. We're collectively built up in all of the characteristics that Jesus Christ possessed perfectly in the Incarnation.12:57So, spiritual gifts from God for every believer. All right, number two, spiritual gifts are to be used to bless the church. Look at verse 7. He says, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For the common good.13:28It's kind of funny when you think about it. You're given a spiritual gift, right? But in a real sense, the spiritual gift given to you isn't even for you. Isn't that strange? God's given you a gift, but He goes, oh, that's not for you. That's for everybody else. You see, my spiritual gift is supposed to benefit you.13:57benefit me.14:01And that's why we believe in every member of ministry at Harvest Bible Chapel.14:05If you're attending here, if you consider this your church,14:09we're not shy about asking where do you want to serve.14:15Not because we're like, we need help.14:18We do need help.14:21But that's not the primary reason.14:24It's because if you're part of the church, God has gifted you to bless the church. Right? So I have to ask you, how is God using you in this church? How's God using you? If you've been given a gift that's for the common good, how is that working in your ministry?14:55Now look, I've got to tell you, we are so blessed at this church. We were talking about this not too long ago, but we have a crazy high percentage of people who are actively serving in this church in so many ways. We're not there yet, but that number needs to be 100%. And if you're attending this church and you're not serving, please hear me.15:26I just want to lovingly tell you that God hasn't called anyone to warm a seat. Nobody's spiritual gift is attendance. We need you to be using your spiritual gift for the common good. All right? So spiritual gifts are from God for every believer. Number two, spiritual gifts are to be used to bless the church.15:54And number three, spiritual gifts come in many forms. Here's where we need to spend some time. In this section here, Paul lists nine spiritual gifts. Now, this list is not exhaustive, okay? Actually, we're not going to look there today. We're going to stick in this passage as is our custom. But you can see also Romans chapter 12. You can see Ephesians chapter 4. There are other gifts than the ones that are listed.16:24here. This isn't exhaustive. This is more just representative. Spiritual gifts come in many forms. Let's look at verses 8-10. Paul says, for to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit.16:54To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit. To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, the ability to distinguish between spirits. To another, various kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation.17:24of tongues.17:27Alright, so with spiritual gifts there are two categories.17:31There are speaking gifts and there are serving gifts.17:35But there are also two kinds of gifts.17:38There are permanent gifts.17:40There are gifts that were given that will be active in the church until our Lord returns.17:46And there are gifts that are temporary that were only for a time and purpose.17:51And this is where we get controversial.18:00Because this is where a lot of people have a lot of different opinions. But are you ready to go to Sunday school for a few minutes? Three of you? Okay. Thank you. Tristan always has my back. Always. And some of you are like, I don't know if I want to get out of here.18:23this road. Well, we're going through 1 Corinthians. This is next. And we receive God's Word as presented, right? So let's do it. But I want to talk about temporary gifts. And please hear me out before you storm out. That door's hard to slam, but it can be done. Before you storm out, before you throw anything at me, I would like you to please hear me out for a few minutes, all right?18:53Because this isn't my opinion. This is what the Bible says if you read it straightforwardly. Temporary gifts, sometimes they're called sign gifts. Those are the more miraculous type gifts. Please hear me because this is where I'm going to be misquoted, but not you. Listen, those gifts are not normative today.19:23Do I believe that they still happen? 100% I do. But they are not normative. Okay? So if somebody's like, well, what is Jeff's position on some of these sign gifts? I do not believe that they are normative today. I'm going to show you why. Can God do them? Yes. But, listen close. These sign gifts, are these spiritual gifts19:53that are possessed by people in the day of Paul and the apostles. And the answer is no. They're not possessed by people as they were in Paul's day. God still does them on occasion, not normative, but they're not possessed by people. I want to talk about miracles for a moment. Pastor Taylor and I were talking about this last week.20:23I think when we read the Bible, we get this idea that miracles were just like happening all the time, right? Like Moses woke up and like before his oatmeal, he like fired off five miracles. Boom. Not a man a meal, not oatmeal. But actually miracles in the Bible were actually very rare.20:53And apart from Moses' day, and apart from the day of Jesus in the apostles' ministry, miracles performed through men were actually very rare things. So why did we see so many miracles, especially in Moses' day, and especially in Jesus' and the apostles' day? Because this is why.21:21God performed miracles through people to verify or prove when new revelation was given. That's why it was normative in Moses' day. That's why it was normative for the apostles. Because God was giving new revelation, and that was the way He verified it. Any knucklehead can run around and say,21:51this is the new word of the Lord. And like, how can you prove that? Anybody can say that. God would verify what is actually revelation from him by backing it up with people who were giving not just this message, but performing these miracles. That's why you see that in Jesus. Why did Jesus perform so many miracles? Why did Jesus perform miracles? He's putting on a show, right?22:21He wanted to dazzle people, right? Hey, check this out. Check out what I can do. Anybody got two fishes, five loaves? Let me show you a trick. No! Jesus wasn't an entertainer. Why did Jesus do all the miracles? Actually, He referred to them as signs. Why? Because they were done to prove He is who He said He is. He's like, I'm God in the flesh. And of course, you're going to have people that were like, pfft.22:51I'm not buying that. But when you see this man raising the dead, healing the sick, feeding multitudes, you're like, there's something more to him. Right? Jesus' signs proved he is who he said he is. You're like, awesome, but what about spiritual gifts? Well, same principle here. Listen, to back the apostles'23:21while the New Testament was completed, was being completed, God authenticated the gospel with sign gifts. That's what the Bible says. You're like, where does the Bible say that? Many places. I'll give you a couple. Okay? Like 2 Corinthians 12. Look, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works. You see?23:51the true apostles were performing miracles. It was to authenticate the gospel message. Same thing in Hebrews 2.4. It says, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. Same principle as God was giving us the New Testament. You see, in those days, they didn't have the New Testament completed yet.24:21was being worked on by the Holy Spirit. So when somebody got up and said, let me tell you this message from God, how do we know it was from God? He backed it up with miracles. That's why when you go through the book of Acts, you see miracles less and less and less and less as you go through the book of Acts. We spent like three years in Acts, and that's what you see. In 1 Corinthians here, the book that we're studying, it was one of the earliest24:51written. So sign gifts were still very much a thing when Paul wrote this, but they were on their way out and they were ending as normative spiritual gifts when the New Testament was completed. That's why in none of the other epistles you see any talk about the spiritual gifts of miracles or healings or tongues or interpretation of tongues. You don't see that in any other25:21book in the New Testament.25:25Because it was phasing out.25:28We have God's word complete in written form,25:31so we don't need to verify it with a miracle.25:35God wrote it all down for us.25:37All right?25:39So, with that backdrop, I'm going to go through these quickly.25:44Each one of these could be a sermon,25:45and that's not the intention.25:49Interestingly, Paul does not explain them. He just lists them. I want to give you a little definition for each, a little understanding. So look at your spiritual gifts here, starting in verse 8. The first one is wisdom. What is wisdom? That's just skill in applying the Word of God. Do you know who typically possesses this gift are people that are counselors, whether it's formally or informally, people that are able to say, I understand how to incorporate God's truth.26:19into my life.26:21I can help you incorporate God's truth into your life.26:23It's applying the Word of God.26:24That's wisdom.26:26Next is knowledge.26:30That's understanding the Word.26:34It's somebody that can see Bible facts and knows how they fit together.26:39You know what's amazing?26:40Did you ever see these Christian authors?26:43They take like one subject and they write a whole book about it.26:46That's always amazing to me.26:48Like, how do they do that? They wrote a whole book about one subject? Well, I think a lot of them have the gift of knowledge. Right? Next is faith. Gift of faith. Now, obviously, this is faith beyond believing to get saved, because every follower of Christ has that kind of faith. Right? But you ever notice that there are some Christians that you meet that just seem to have a deeper,27:20Confidence in the Sovereignty of God. You know what I'm talking about? There's some Christians you meet, they could be going through just the worst trials a human being can go through, and they're just like, you know what? God's in control. He's got this. And they're just completely unflappable. They have the gift of faith. Those people are typically the best prayers. Right? Next on the list.27:48is healing.27:51Now again, I believe that this is one of the gifts27:55for people that was phasing out at this point.28:01But what is healing?28:02Well, it's just supernaturally healing a physical illness.28:12I wish I had that gift.28:14I wish it was still a thing.28:17And you might say, well, Pastor Jeff, I think it is still a thing. Because I saw this guy on TV. He was slapping people on the head deaf and they were getting up with full hearing. Interesting about those people, they never go to the cancer ward or the children's hospital. I mean, if I had the gift to heal people, that's the first place I'd go. You're like, oh, so you don't believe in healing? Oh, yeah, yeah. Look, listen.28:47Let's be clear. God still heals. I believe that 100%. And I have seen in this church God miraculously heal people. I believe that God heals. I'm not convinced that Benny Hinn ever did. All right? So next is miracles. Miracles. Like, wait a minute. What's the difference between miracles and healing? I'm not going to bore you with the long systematic Thompson Chain reference.29:17But here's the thing. That word for miracles, when you trace it through the New Testament, was most often connected with casting out demons. That's the difference. That's the distinction. See, that's what Jesus was talking about. Look at Luke 9.1. We'll have it on the screen. It says, and he called the twelve together, look, and gave them power and authority, here it is, over all demons and to cure diseases. So miracles.29:47In the New Testament referred to casting out demons. Again, I believe that was an apostolic era. Do I believe God still does that 100%? Absolutely, yes, He does. Normative? That a person has the gift and is running around doing that? No. All right, next is prophecy. Prophecy. Now, when we think prophecy, when we hear that word, what's the first thing we think of? Like future stuff, right?30:17Tell us the future. Well, sometimes, actually rarely, that's part of it. But you realize that's not what prophecy literally means at all. Do you know what the word prophecy is? It literally breaks down to a compound word that means speak before. You're like, speak before what? Speak before an audience. That's what prophecy is. It's somebody that stands in front of a group of people and says things.30:47Before Them. That's prophecy. It's the public speaking of God's truth. That's what happens when I get up here, Taylor or Brian or Justin or whoever stands up here proclaiming the Word of God. That is prophecy. We are speaking before. Right? Next is distinguishing between spirits. If you're interested, we did a whole sermon series on this.31:17A couple years back, this is what we more commonly call discernment. It's the ability to evaluate if something is from God or not. And in that sermon series, I'm not going to preach it all now, but I'd just like to remind you that that is something that we are all called to do. We are all called to discern what is from God and what is not from God. And again, I'll remind you that we live in a day that it is more crucial than ever because we live in a day where we have access to more information.31:47than we've ever had. You open up your phone, you're going to have 10,00031:51preachers giving you contradictory31:54message about31:55thus saith the Lord. How do we know31:57what God actually said? Discernment32:00is the gift to be able to32:01tell, he's not saying what God32:03said, but this guy definitely is, right?32:05Right?32:10Some people have that gift.32:13Alright, next gift is tongues.32:18Next gift is tongues.32:21You're like, are tongues for today?32:26People ask that, are tongues for today?32:31Yeah, tongues are for today.32:32How would you eat your ice cream otherwise, right?32:38Listen, I'm not going to go too far into this.32:42Oh, you're scared? No, not at all.32:43We're actually going to be doing a very deep dive in this. We're spending four weeks on this subject. But what is tongues biblically? Tongues is the ability to speak in a foreign language unknown to the speaker. It's a known language, by the way. It's not gibberish. It's somebody speaking an already existing language that that person doesn't know. They're just speaking it. Like I said, we're going to spend so much more time on this. And then interpretation of tongues is just simply that.33:13a person that was gifted with the ability to translate what the tongues speaker says. Many forms. One spirit. Oh, speaking of the Holy Spirit, number four. Spiritual gifts are given at the Holy Spirit's discretion.33:47Look at verse 11.33:52He says,33:54All these are empowered by one in the same Spirit34:01who apportions to each one individually as He wills.34:09As He wills.34:11The Holy Spirit, in His sovereignty, determines who does what. That's the Holy Spirit's job. Understand, as your pastor, I did not get to choose your gift. Like, oh, you want to be a part of our church? All right. Prophecy. Okay, how about you? You want to join the church? All right. Healing. You're like, you totally didn't listen to that sermon, did you? I don't get to determine that gift.34:41get to determine that gift. You know what? Preaching looks like a lot of fun. I think I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit for the prophecy gift. He is the one who determines the gift. It is a gift. And the gift giver determines the gift that he wants to give you. The gift giver determines the gift35:12that he wants to give you.35:19And I know this is a hard sell in our day.35:23I mean, Murph, you get it. You go back. We get it.35:27The gift giver determines the gift he wants to give. We get it. The younger people don't get that.35:33Like, why not? Because you know what we do in our day?35:38You know what we do in our day? We have a big event.35:42We have a baby shower, a wedding, little Joey's birthday party. He's turning five. Going to have his party at the Chuck E. Cheese. Do you know what we do today? We tell people what gifts we want, don't we? We do that. Little Joey's turning five. He's registered at Target. Right? Right?36:10Or, yeah, I'm getting married. Yeah, I'm getting married. Yeah, I'm registered at Target. We tell people the gifts that we want. I'm getting married. I want this toaster. I want this knife set. I want this vacuum. And then, I mean, we've done it. Aaron and I will go and be like, okay, this is the vacuum they want.36:40and we buy it and we wrap it up. And then they act surprised when they open it. They open it up and they're like, oh, you got me exactly what I was asking for. Oh, you shouldn't have. But you go back a generation, the gift giver determined what gift you got. Don't try that with the Holy Spirit, okay? You're baptized.37:11I'm registered at Target.37:15Well, we don't get a say in it.37:17It's His gift, right?37:19It's His gift.37:19Do you think I would have signed up for this?37:25Oh no.37:26Oh no.37:30He'll make a better choice than we would anyways.37:33Alright.37:35That's all well and good.37:36But that's really not the question37:39that we're asking right now.37:40The question that we're asking right now is how do I know what my spiritual gift is right I mean it's clear he's given all of us each of us a gift to represent the body of Christ and we're to use it in the common good we saw the kinds and you're like awesome what is my spiritual gift how do I find out what my spiritual gift is all right I'm going to give you three things we're going to close with this three things how do I know what gift I've been given letter A seek God38:10You're like, that sounds like a cop-out. No, look. If you make your life about on-your-face praying and in the Word and just get serving in the church, the Spirit's going to do what the Spirit does. He's going to be at work through you. You're going to figure that out real quick. So just don't worry about seeking a gift. Seek the gift giver. He'll do what He does.38:40That's what he does. Seek God. All right? Letter B. Consider the intersection. Like, what's the intersection? I was studying for this this week. I came across something. I thought it was super helpful. It's one of those diagrams where everything intersects. What do they call that? A Venmo diagram?39:10Venn. Not Venmo.39:20What's a Venmo?39:23Oh, that's giving money.39:26Also a spiritual gift. Right!39:30So you could Venmo your...39:31Alright.39:33I just feel like I had like an inception moment here.39:37Alright.39:38Consider the intersection.39:39Yeah.39:40All right. So I came across this Venn diagram. And I thought it was helpful. I'm going to try to recreate it here. But there's three things here. First of all, this circle here, we're going to call that, we're going to call this one ability. We're going to call this one ability. What is it that you seem, not complicated,40:10You seem like you're able to do this. Right? Of all the gifts. You're like, you know what? That's something that I seem like I'm able to do. I mean, I'm not boasting or anything. It just seems like something that I'm able to do. Okay? And then, with this one, we're going to call this one affinity. That's an idea. Okay. That's affinity. Like, well, that's an idea. Like, what do40:40I enjoy doing.40:42If somebody was like, you can do whatever you want in the church, whatever you enjoy most,40:46what would be the line I get to the front of first?40:50What's my affinity?40:53And then the third thing here, my circles are getting less and less circle-y, but I think you get the idea.41:01This one we're going to call affirmation.41:12You know, you have people maybe in your small group or other people in the church that are, they say to you, you know what? You seem like you have a real gift for teaching. You really seem like you have a gift for praying with people. So the point is this. Consider the intersection right here.41:39This is very likely your spiritual gift. I would say extremely likely. What you're able to do, what you love doing, and what people affirm that it seems like God has equipped you to do, that is very likely your spiritual gift. All right? Then letter C, assessment. Seek God, consider the intersection or assessment. We have a QR code.42:10Go ahead, take your phone out and give that a scan. Pastor Rich sent this along. But this is an online assessment. And really, I think between seeking the Lord, considering the intersection, doing the online assessment, I think that's going to get you all on your way to giving you a deeper understanding of what your spiritual gift is. So go ahead. Go ahead, do the...42:41Either scan that or Venmo me some money. Since you have your phone out and I just learned what Venmo is. Do I have a Venmo? Never mind. Aaron says I don't have a Venmo. All right. Our worship team would make their way up. While they're coming, you know, when I was in high school, I played soccer.43:11In my junior high year of playing soccer, the coach didn't like me. Why? Because I was unlikable. So I sat on the bench most of the season. Now, I knew I had the ability.43:39senior year, we had a new coach, and I didn't sit for one minute that entire season. In fact, I was co-captain of the team. But I got to tell you, I think back to that junior year of playing soccer, and I just remember feeling incredibly frustrated because I felt incredibly useless. You know, you put your shin guards on, you put your cleats on, you put your44:09your soccer uniform on.44:12And you just, I just sat there and watched the whole season.44:16Just sat there.44:21So many times I thought, why am I even here?44:25Why am I even here?44:26What am I doing?44:29I want to tell you, you don't have to worry about that with God's team44:34because there are no bench warmers.44:39God doesn't tell any of His children, you know what? You're nice and all, but you go sit over there. We don't really need you. Or you just wait, and if we decide there's a place we can squeeze you in, we'll see if we can do that. No, no, no, no, no. God's Word has made it very clear that He has called and He has gifted every single one of you.45:08this church. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, so often we get a gift and we don't say thank you, but Father, we thank you not just for the gift of your Holy Spirit himself who lives within us, but the gift that he has given each of us to serve you and your church. For some people here, Father, this is probably brand new teaching.45:38Never really considered this. And for some people here, Father, maybe we've known this and have sort of strayed from it. But I'm asking today, Father, that your Spirit would grip every heart in this church and grip the church collectively so that we truly, as the body of Christ, might represent the person of Christ.46:08as these spirits are at work in us. So Father, I pray for the person here who maybe has been coming to this church but just hasn't stepped up. Remind them, Father, it's not just a matter of the elders and pastors and ministry team would value your input. Remind them, Father, that you have equipped them to serve your church.46:38We do so to your glory and honor. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 12:1-11What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What does it mean that spiritual gifts are for the common good (1 Cor 12:7)?Are sign gifts such as healing and miracles still possessed by people today? Why or why not?Why is it important to understand that the Holy Spirit is the One Who chooses what gifts believers receive (1 Cor 12:11)?How do you know if a ministry is done by the power of the Holy Spirit, or done in the flesh (that is, just by “human power”)?BreakoutPray for one another.

Intro: “Let no-one deceive himself…” 1. Don't think too highly of yourselves! (3:18-20) Because God outwits this world's “wisdom” 2. Don't think too highly of human leaders! (3:21-23) Because in Christ every pastor & everything belongs to you all Because in Christ you all belong to God 3. Instead, view human leaders as servants of Christ (4:1-5) o Gospel-stewards who must be faithful o In Christ's judgement alone o Which happens when Christ returns o To reveal the real motives in hearts o And provide grac

"We Build Strong Families"Joshua 24:15The Church Series - Part 4 - The Most Important System of GovernancePastor Nate ClarkeMay 17, 2026Virginia's proposed Constitutional amendments on Abortion & Marriage - How to VOTE BIBLICALLY: https://youtu.be/Y8z8xTFsOn8How should Christians respond to wickedness in the world? https://youtu.be/2OJUIM9YRwASERMON NOTES:- Our Vision: Worship God, Equip the believers, Reach the lost- Our Values: Grounded in His Word, Guided by His Presence, Building Strong Families, and Fulfilling the Great Commission- Joshua 24:15- We build strong families- Systems of governance: The family (Eph 5), the Church (Eph 4), the government (Rom 13)- "Peace in society depends upon peace in the family." Saint Augustine- Your family story is not the obstacle to God's plan, it is often the setting for it.- Natural Families      - God ordained & designed: husband + wife = children.- Genesis 1:27-28- Genesis 2:24- Deuteronomy 6:6-9- "When parents receive a child from the hand of God, they receive a life to be shaped and molded." Elisabeth Elliot     - Example: Joseph, Mary, and Jesus- Broken families     - Example: Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 37)     - God's plan is not hindered by man's dysfunction (Genesis 50:20)- Blended families     - Example: Jacob, Leah, Rachel (Genesis 29-30)     - God works even in complicated family systems - Adopted families     - Example: Moses & Pharoah's daughter (Exodus 2)      - God used his adoption to position him with influence and access that he would use to deliver Israel- Restored families     - Example: Prodigal son (Luke 15)     - God can redeem any situation- Spiritual family     - Example: Jesus and his disciples- Mark 3:31-35- Ephesians 1:5 NLT- Romans 8:15 NLT     - Because God is a provider, what you lacked in your natural family, God can give you in your spiritual family.- Your family story is not the obstacle to God's plan, it's often the setting for it.- Joshua 24:15bOasis Church exists to Worship God, Equip the believers, and Reach the lost.We are led by Pastor Nate Clarke and are located in Mechanicsville outside Richmond in Central Virginia.STAY CONNECTEDInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/oasischurchva/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OasisChurchRVA/Website: https://oasischurch.online

Wednesday Night Teaching "Holy Justice" (Luke 13:1-5) What do you do with the parts of the Bible that feel severe? The passages where God's judgment lands swiftly and people die, where nations are destroyed, where the cost of sin is immediate and real? If we're honest, those passages can produce more questions than comfort. In this Wednesday night teaching, Elder Mike Hess walks through Luke 13:1-5 and a series of passages across the Old and New Testaments, including Leviticus 10, 1 Chronicles 13, and Numbers 4, to show that God's justice is never a miscarriage of justice. It is always an expression of who He is: holy, infinitely wise, and never wrong. Hess addresses four commonly misunderstood biblical concepts (justice, holiness, grace, and sin), examines the stumbling blocks that lead us to question God rather than submit to Him, and shows that perfect justice is ultimately found at the cross of Jesus Christ, where the wrath of God was satisfied so that sinners could be declared righteous. Because God is holy, we can trust Him completely, with our questions, our pain, and our future. May 20, 2026 Mike Hess Presented by McGregor Podcast 2026 Visit Our Website at McGregorPodcast.com New to McGregor? Plan a visit at mcgregor.net/plan-a-visit

You were never meant to live constantly empty.In this episode, we're closing out Trimester 1 of Abundance Unlocked by talking about what it truly means to live from overflow instead of exhaustion.If you've been feeling drained, overextended, emotionally tired, or spiritually disconnected, this conversation will help you reconnect with the true source of abundance.Because God didn't call you to barely survive life.He called you to overflow.

In this message from Exodus 20:7, Pastor Jared Richard continues Bay Leaf Baptist Church's series through the Ten Commandments by turning the congregation's attention to the Third Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." Using a word association exercise with names like Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, and Adolf Hitler, Pastor Jared establishes that names are far more than titles — they represent the full weight of a person's life and character. Because God's name, Yahweh, is a revealed, personal, and representative name that encapsulates all of who He is, it carries a holiness that demands our deepest reverence. As Exodus 3:15 declares, "This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations." Pastor Jared then walks through the many ways God's people misuse His name, going well beyond the obvious offense of profanity. Drawing from the Old Testament, he identifies three ancient patterns of misuse — sorcery, false prophecy, and false oaths — and shows how each has a modern equivalent. The prosperity gospel, for instance, mirrors ancient sorcery by invoking God's name as a tool to claim health and wealth, effectively turning the relationship between God and man into a transaction. False prophecy lives on whenever someone attaches "God said" to their own spiritual intuition or personal agenda, and false oaths persist whenever we use God's name to prop up promises we have no intention of keeping. Ultimately, Pastor Jared anchors the sermon in the gospel. Every person in the room has broken this commandment and stands guilty before God. But Jesus, who declared in John 12:28 that His aim in going to the cross was to glorify the Father's name, perfectly honored what we have profaned. He was condemned for blasphemy so that blasphemers could be forgiven. Because of Christ, we are now free to hallow God's name as we were created to — calling upon it in worship, prayer, and lives of genuine integrity that reflect the Lord we claim. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

Why doesn't God answer the prayer you have been praying the longest? The one for the marriage that fell apart anyway. The one for the loved one who still died. The one for the addiction you keep falling back into. If unanswered prayer has shaken your faith, you are not alone, and this sermon was made for you.In this message, Pastor Brandon walks through Luke 18:1 through 8, where Jesus tells a strange and surprisingly hopeful little story about a powerless widow, a heartless judge, and the kind of prayer that simply does not give up. Jesus actually tells Luke ahead of time why he is telling this parable. Verse 1 says it plainly. So that we should always pray and not give up. That is the whole point.Pastor Brandon is honest about something most pulpits quietly avoid. Unanswered prayer is one of the most common reasons people walk away from their faith. He is not talking about small prayers for a parking spot or a suit that fits. He is talking about the prayers that come out of desperation. The ones whispered through tears at 2 AM. The ones that get a deafening silence in return.The widow in the parable is helpless, voiceless, with no one in the world to fight for her. She is the picture of someone who has nothing left but a plea. The judge has all the power but no heart. He does not care about God or the woman. Eventually he gives her justice just to get her off his back. Then Jesus flips the whole thing. He says, if even that judge eventually came through, how much more will the just, loving, compassionate Father bring justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night.Pastor Brandon also walks through the story of Joseph from Genesis, a 17 year ordeal of pits, slavery, false accusations, and dungeons. At every step, Joseph almost certainly prayed for one thing, to get back to his family. God answered, but in a way Joseph could never have scripted. The prayers were never ignored. They were folded into a bigger plan. In the end Joseph could look his brothers in the eye and say, you intended this for evil, but God intended it for good (Genesis 50:20).One of the most arresting lines in the message is this. God will always answer your prayer. Every prayer. But it is going to feel unanswered. Because God's timing is not Amazon Prime. He does not give a delivery date. He guarantees a delivery. And when you finally see what he was doing in the silence, you will realize his hand was in it all along.The whole teaching lands at the cross and the empty tomb. The greatest injustice in human history did not get the final word. God rolled the stone away. And because Jesus rose, you can trust that whatever pit you are sitting in, whatever prayer feels frozen, God is still moving. He is moving every chapter toward the day when he makes all things right.

Introduction: How Should I Receive the Lord's Supper? 3 Things You'd Better Get Right: (1 Corinthians 11:17-34) PURPOSE. (1 Cor 11:23-26) What is the Purpose of the Lord's Supper? REMEMBRANCE. (1 Cor 11:24-25) PROCLAMATION. (1 Cor 11:26) ANTICIPATION. (1 Cor 11:26) Luke 22:15-16 - And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” POSTURE. (1 Cor 11:27) PREPARATION. (1 Cor 11:28-34) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: How Should I Receive the Lord's Supper? Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:36Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of 1 Corinthians. So 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and let's just bow our heads and I'm going to ask that you would please just take a moment to pray for me that I would be faithful to do nothing but clearly communicate the Word of God as presented. And I will pray for you to have your hearts open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today in this passage. Let's pray.01:07Father in heaven, we are talking today about something that is very serious to you and therefore should be to us. So I pray we would all be dialed in. That we would, as Pastor Taylor prayed earlier, our hearts would be ready to receive what it is you want to tell us and that we would, respond accordingly.01:41Thank you, Father, for being a God of truth, being a God of grace, the love that you've shown us, Father.01:51We praise you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.01:56All of God's people said, Amen.01:591 Corinthians 11.02:01Many, many, many years ago at a previous church, before our Wednesday night kids activities, one time a month, we would have a potluck. And somehow, this particular potluck Wednesday snuck up on us. And Erin was like, oh no, tonight's the church meal thing. And she was running around the house trying to find something.02:31to take over. And lo and behold, Mother Hubbard's cupboards were bare. And she goes, what are we going to... Well, she found in the cupboard that once upon a time, she bought a whole bunch of rice bowls from Big Lots. They were on clearance. She bought a whole bunch of these. They were like these individual serving thing, you know, you put water in it and throw it in the microwave and ta-da, cheap lunch.03:01So she bought a whole bunch of these on clearance. And she's like, this is all that I have to share at the meal. So she made a whole bunch of rice bowls. And by the way, they were all different flavors. She's like, I'll just make them all and just mix them together. Like I said, it came in several mouth-watering versions.03:33So we had jasmine and teriyaki and salmon and I don't know, chocolate caramel. And anyway, she took all of these rice bowls and put them like in a casserole dish. And she goes, all right, now here's what I need you to do. She says, I need you to get over there early and sneak this in so that nobody knows where it came from. And I'm telling you this because you need to know that I was an accessory to this crime.04:00So mission accomplished. I snuck the bowl in. I was poof gone like a ninja. Nobody knew where that dish came from. So we had our meal. We had our kids program. And at the end of the night, I went to sneak back to get our casserole dish. And inside the dish was a note. And the note said, whoever made this, please give me the recipe.04:35So today we're going to be talking about a good old-fashioned potluck because Corinth had a fellowship meal. Sort of like the one we had that one Wednesday night a month. And they would have this fellowship meal. They'd have their potluck and then afterwards they would take the Lord's Supper together and they made it a Real Seen.05:03Look at verse 17.05:06Paul says, But in the following instructions, I do not commend you.05:12Because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse.05:20Paul's like, You guys, you're ruining worship.05:28You're ruining your worship time.05:30And that's a theme that goes through chapter 11, 12, 13, 14. Paul's like, you're ruining it. Look at verse 14. I'm sorry, verse 18, excuse me. He says, for in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I believe it in part. Divisions. We spent a whole lot of time talking about that. There were cliques. Everybody had their favorite preacher, and there were divisions.05:59Literally, the word divisions means arguing over opinions. And there was a lot of that. Paul says, yeah, I certainly believe it. Verse 19, interesting side note, he says, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. As I said, we spent a lot of time talking about the factions.06:29the cliques and the divisions in chapters 1-4.06:34But Paul points out here, you know, there is one good thing about factions.06:42He says all of the fighting has a way of showing you who is genuine.06:50Who's an authentic, mature believer and who's not.06:56But Paul says, you want to learn who's spiritual?06:59You want to learn who is unspiritual and probably unsaved? Paul says, just watch how people handle disputes. And that is 100% true. Watch how people handle disputes, and you'll see how spiritual they are. But he goes on. Verse 20, he says, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat, For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. You see what's going on here? Paul says you're making the Lord's Supper into something that is not the Lord's Supper. At their fellowship meal, first of all, we saw there's cliques. Everybody sit with their people.07:59Don't sit with anybody else. Make sure you sit with your people. And Paul pointed out some of them were, they were showing up early and just eating all the stuff that they brought to share. They're showing up with their casserole dish full of the hodgepodge rice bowls, and they're just sitting and eating it all themselves. They got their tuna noodle casserole or their beef stroganoff that they meant to share with everyone.08:29and they're just hogging it down themselves.08:35He says, you're not sharing.08:37And as a result, some of the poorer people were going hungry.08:44Oh, and if that's not enough, some of them were showing up early, not only eating too much, but they were drinking too much.08:52He says, some of you are drunk.08:53I mean, can you see this scene?08:56You're showing up for church for a fellowship meal before the Lord's Supper is even served. Some people were drunk. Paul was rightly outraged. Look at verse 22. He kind of lets them have it. He goes, what? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate?09:26those who have nothing. What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. Paul's like, what are you doing? Can't you be a hog at home? Like, what's going on here? Do you hate the church? Is that what's going on here? Do you get happy about being cruel to poor people? Paul's like, what do you want me to say? What do you want me to say?09:57I'm not going to say that.10:01It's a serious rebuke.10:04Because there's a serious problem.10:07They were making a mockery of something that should be absolutely sacred to the church.10:14And that's the Lord's Supper.10:19What is the Lord's Supper?10:23You read about the Lord's Supper in all the Gospels.10:26But it was Jesus' last meal with His disciples before He died on the cross. They were Jews celebrating the Passover meal. So what is the Passover meal? Well, that was a sacred observance that God gave the nation of Israel to remember that they were hopeless slaves in Egypt and God saved them. He sent someone to deliver them from bondage.10:56The Passover meal would have four different cups at different intervals in the meeting. You would eat bitter herbs together. There would be a retelling of the Exodus story. They would eat unleavened bread. They would sing some of the Psalms. That's what the Passover meal was. And in the Lord's Supper, when Jesus had it with His disciples, He made it new. You see, it went from, remember, the Exodus to remember that Jesus Christ came to save you from your sins. And you can trace this in your Bible. The early church did it on a regular basis, Acts 2.42. And at some point, the early church started doing it weekly, apparently, from Acts 20.7.11:52But in Corinth, the Lord's Supper was tacked onto a meal of gluttony and drunkenness and selfishness. So in the section we're looking at today, Paul says, you, Corinth, are greatly dishonoring the Lord with your conduct. And he says, if you're coming together to take the Lord's Supper as a church, you better get a clue as to what the Lord's Supper is about.12:26All right, so on your outline, how should I receive the Lord's Supper?12:31This is something that we do as a church.12:34We are going to do it in a few minutes.12:36So I think this is something that we should really tune into.12:43How should I receive the Lord's Supper?12:44Well, there's three things you better get right.12:48All right?12:50I alliterated them for you so that something not just for today, but every time we take the Lord's Supper together, these three things, you've got to get these right if you're going to do this. Number one is purpose. Purpose. What is the purpose of the Lord's Supper? Why do we do this? Well, Paul, That's where he starts. He goes, maybe you need reminded. Maybe you've been so off base you just need reminded of what this is about. Look at verse 23. He says, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread. Stop there for a second. Most scholars believe that 1 Corinthians was actually written before the Gospels were completed. So this information that Paul is giving is directly from Jesus. So Paul says, let me remind you what the Lord's Supper is about, the purpose. On your outline, what is the purpose of the Lord's Supper? It's really about three things he's going to show us here. Letter A, why do we take the Lord's Supper? Letter A, R is for remembrance. Remembrance. Look at verse 24.14:20He says, when Jesus, the night He was betrayed, He took bread, verse 24, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The body, the bread represents the body.14:49The bread represents the body of Christ, the incarnation, the glorious mystery that God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth, became a man. But notice in verse 24, Jesus said, this is my body which is, what are those last two words? I'll give you another run at that. This is my body which is for you.15:19You should have that underlined in your Bible for you. Do you realize everything that God did in the incarnation was for you? Why did God become a man?15:49It was for you. Why did he suffer the way that he suffered? For you. Why was he willing to lay down his life as a sacrifice? For you. And he says, do this. Do this. That's a Do this. Why do we receive the Lord's Supper? We're commanded to do that. Do it, church. Do it, small groups. Do it. This is something that we are commanded to do. Verse 25, he says, in the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.16:49It's a new covenant in the blood of Christ. What is a covenant? It's just a promise. It's an agreement. There was an old covenant where sins were atoned with the blood of animals. But this is the new covenant. This is a new promise where Jesus said, I will take away all of your sins forever with one sacrifice.17:19It's the covenant of blood. See, blood speaks to the violent death that Jesus endured. It made the new covenant possible. But notice both the body, the blood, the bread, the cup, and both do this in remembrance.17:49on this because we talked about this three weeks ago. But in the Jewish mindset, remembrance was more than just recalling something. You know, it's not like we come to church like, wait, who are we worshiping? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Jesus, that's right. Now I recall. Remembrance is so much more than that. We saw this back in chapter 10, verse 16, where Paul said, taking the Lord's Supper together as a church is participation.18:19That's what remembrance is about. It's embracing everything that the body and blood means.18:30See, the Lord's Supper isn't just about reminding ourselves of an event that happened so long ago. This is about our life right now. This is who God is. This is how He has revealed Himself. This is what He has done because of His love for me. He laid out his life for me.18:51He calls me to carry my cross and follow him daily.18:57The Lord's Supper brings us to that place where we're engulfed with all of that.19:05It's remembrance.19:10What's the purpose of the Lord's Supper letter B?19:11It's proclamation.19:13Look at verse 26.19:17He says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.19:29As often, He says that again in verse 25, there's no magic number.19:36As often, some churches do it weekly, some monthly.19:39As often as you do it, what are you doing?19:43He says you're proclaiming the Lord's death. You realize when you take the Lord's Supper, you're giving a sermon. It is a beautiful and profound thing that when we take the Lord's Supper together, church, it is as if we together are giving a sermon together. Every time you take it, you're preaching a sermon. You're like, well, what's the content of my sermon? When you take the Lord's Supper, you're saying, I believe that Jesus is the Messiah.20:15I believe He is the Son of God.20:18I believe that Jesus died for me.20:22I believe that my sins are forgiven, not by anything that I can do, but by everything that He did on my behalf.20:29I believe that.20:32You're preaching a sermon every time you do this.20:36You proclaim the Lord's death.20:40So the purpose of the Lord's Supper is remembrance, His proclamation, letter C.20:43It's anticipation.20:46You proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.20:49Do you see that? Until He comes.20:52We believe that Jesus is returning.20:57Do you believe that?20:58Do you believe Jesus is coming back?21:01Well, when you take the Lord's Supper, you're saying that you believe that.21:05Right?21:06That we are going to...21:08When we take the Lord's Supper now, We are communing with Jesus. We are participating in this together. But do you realize what we're saying? We're saying that we believe that someday we will commune with Him personally at the marriage supper of the Lamb. You know that's how the Bible describes heaven. That's how the Bible describes the return of Christ and the The Bible describes as the marriage supper of the Lamb. Have you ever been to a wedding? Have you ever been to a wedding reception? They are a real hoot. It's a big party and there's so much laughter and joy and celebration. And that's exactly how the Bible describes our ultimate reunion Jesus Christ when the church is brought into His presence and glory.22:17Jesus talked about this.22:18Luke 22 verses 15 and 16.22:22And He said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.22:29Look at this.22:30For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.22:37So we are communing with Christ spiritually.22:41now in the anticipation that today's going to come when we are communing with Christ in His actual presence. Can we grasp how sacred this is? Do you see why this is such an important remembrance that the Lord has given us?23:11One of them we celebrated last week in baptism. This is the other one. Do you see why this is so important? And that's where Paul starts. He's like, remember the purpose of the Lord's Supper. It's remembrance. It's proclamation. It's anticipation. So how should I receive the Lord's Supper? Well, three things you've got to get right. The first one is purpose. This is why we do it. Number two is posture.23:41Posture.23:47Talking about the posture of your heart.23:50What is your heart's attitude in going into the Lord's Supper?23:56Because it matters.23:57Look at verse 27.24:00Paul says, Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Unworthy manner. Did you realize that you can take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner? Did you realize that? That's what the Bible says. Let's be clear. It doesn't mean sinless. The Bible is crystal clear on that. If you had to be sinless to receive the Lord's Supper, none of us.24:38would take it, right? We just leave the trays up here and look at them. None of us could do it. Well, so how can we take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner? Well, there's really two ways. One way you can take it in an unworthy manner is being unrepentant. First of all, the Lord's Supper is not for unbelievers.25:09And if you're here, and we are so glad that you are here, but if you're here and you're like, you know what, I have not personally received Jesus Christ. I think I'm seeking right now, and I'm trying to understand, and we're so glad that you're here. But if you are not a born-again believer in Christ, you absolutely should not take the Lord's Supper. This is for His people. Okay? But, If you are here, and you say that you are a born-again believer in Christ, but you have resolved yourself to some sin. Meaning this, look, we all sin, but we're talking about being committed to the sin. You know what I'm talking about. It's, I'm not committed to seeking repentance right now. There is a sin in my life right now that God has been speaking to me through his word his spirit has been bringing great conviction in me there's the sin in my life and i have just been telling god no i have been just flagrantly disobeying god and i know what he wants me to do and i've refused to do it if that describes you you should not take the lord's supper you should not take the lord's supper if you are in a state of being unrepentant flagrant Rebellious, Unrepentant Sin. The second way you can take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner is being not just unrepentant, but being irreverent. Meaning, you don't receive it in an attitude of worship. And church, I think we can be so prone to this, that it's time to take the Lord's Supper, we just mindlessly go through the motions. That we line up, we take the elements, we have our seat, we bread, cup, done, and we've given like no thought to it. We never really stop to think about what was happening. That's just what we do. We go through the motions. That's irreverent. And when you do that, notice he says, you're guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. When you do that, when you take the Lord's Supper, unrepentant or irreverent, you are dishonoring Jesus and all that He's done. Because you didn't receive the Lord's Supper in a posture of worship. You understand the gravity of that? Imagine I brought an American flag up here. And I just threw it on the ground and stomped all over it. I'm not going to. But I just threw it on the ground and stomped all over it and wiped my feet on it. Would you be outraged by that? You should be. And I said, well, what's the big deal? It's just a piece of cloth. You're like, the big deal is what that represents.28:37That's the big deal. And an even bigger deal is what stomping on that represents. You see, it's the same principle with the Lord's Supper. That's why we are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord when we do it irreverently. It's like stomping on the flag. It's stomping on Jesus. Because God takes this very seriously.29:07If you're in sin, that you haven't confessed to God, you haven't turned from, you sinned against a person, and you haven't made things right with them, you haven't sought horizontal forgiveness, you should not take the Lord's Supper. You should just quietly abstain. All right? And look, if your heart isn't in it, if you're like, you know what, if I go do this today, it's just going to be a mindless ritual. It's not going to be active worship.29:37for me, then you should not take the Lord's Supper. You should just quietly abstain. But we are in a room of peer pressure, right? Where you're like, but if everybody gets up to take the Lord's Supper and I don't, what are people going to think? Who cares? Who cares what people think?30:08By the way, no one's noticing. No one has a scorecard. Well, you didn't get up and take communion today, but I'll write that one down for the record. Nobody cares. All right? What matters isn't what people think. What matters is what does God think? Because if you take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner, you're guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and you should be way more concerned with what God thinks.30:41You should receive this in a posture of worship.30:49So, number three, how should I take the Lord's Supper?30:52Well, we saw the purpose.30:53We saw the heart posture.30:58Three, P is for preparation.31:03Because of the seriousness of this, We should prepare ourselves. Look at verse 28. He says, let a person examine himself then. And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. Examine yourself. You should do this before church every Sunday anyways. But especially before you take the Lord's Supper, you need to take time for personal inventory. You need to ask yourself right now in my life, am I personally, actively, seeking the Lord.31:42Have I prepared myself to commune with the Lord?31:48And if you refuse to examine yourself, look at verse 29.31:53He says, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.32:06If you take this irreverently, you're bringing judgment on yourself. Now the word judgment is literally chastisement or discipline. Okay? And understand, he is talking to believers here. Like, well, what kind of judgment am I going to face if I irreverently take the Lord's Supper? Well, he tells us, verse 30, he says, that is why.32:36Many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. If you're a believer who takes the Lord's Supper in an irreverent way, God will discipline you physically. Do you see that? All levels. Some end up weak, just not feeling great.33:06Some are ill, like really not feeling great. And Paul says, and some have died. Like done feeling anything. Right? There are so many prayer requests that have to do with health things. Do you notice that? Anytime somebody says, hey, does anybody have any prayer requests. Very rarely do we hear the, hey, I have an unsaved neighbor, pray that the Lord opens the door to share the gospel, or pray that I can better disciple my kids. Those are more rare. It seems to me like 90-some percent of prayer requests, we just drag out all these health things. And there are so many people here dealing with health issues.34:05And I have to ask you, in light of this verse, could it be that your health issues have been brought on by God for taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner?34:33You're like, does God do that? Yeah. Yeah, He does. Now, obviously, listen, listen close. Obviously, no one is saying that that is the cause of all sickness and death. Nobody's saying that. But if you call yourself a Jesus follower and you take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner, you are a candidate for God's discipline.35:02And for some of you, that might be exactly why you are sick. That might be exactly why you've had this physical thing going on that you just can't get over. For some of you, that's why. Look at verse 31 and 32. He says, but if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.35:32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Paul just basically here says judge yourself or God will. Either take an honest assessment of your heart and act accordingly or disregard the state of your heart. Take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner and God will act accordingly. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.36:01Are you saying I could lose my salvation? Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not. In fact, he clarifies that in this verse. God will discipline you, even let you die. He says so that you won't be condemned with the world. But that's how serious this is to God. God will remove you from the earth before he allows you to discipline.36:31honor him in the way that you take the Lord's Supper. I'm going to last two verses. He says, so then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for judgment.37:01About the other things, I will give directions when I come. Okay, so easy application for the Corinthians, right? Paul's like, so here it is, Corinth. When you have your potluck, can you just wait for everybody to show up? Can you do that? Like, oh, Paul, that sounds so un-American. Wait to eat? We don't do that.37:35I just laugh sometimes I'll hear people say, you know, I got stuck at such and such place. I had to go six hours without eating. Like, wow, I can't believe you're alive to tell the tale. Look, you can wait. You can wait. Right? Paul says, he says, are you hungry? You can't wait.38:01Why don't you just eat at home instead of being drunken hoggers at church before the Lord's Supper? How about that? But you see, there's a principle for them and for us. The Lord's Supper should be worshipful. Prepare yourself for it. Poor worship team would make their way back up.38:33to apply this right now.38:36I'd like you to just bow your heads.38:39I'd like you to just bow your heads and close your eyes.38:41I just want you to focus on your own heart.38:47Because in just a few moments, if our communion servers also would come up, in just a few moments, we are going to take the Lord's Supper.38:57And I want you, first of all, to just, in light of this passage, is to remind us why we're doing this. This doesn't save you. This doesn't make you into a more spiritual person. Paul tells us exactly the purpose of this. We are remembering. We are proclaiming. We are anticipating. That's why we're doing this. Also, your posture. This is a sacred act of worship.39:30And I have to ask you, is that the posture of your heart right now? Are you here to worship? Or have you been checked out even before you walked in the door? How is the posture of your heart right now? In preparation, examine yourself. Is there unconfessed sin that you have committed yourself to?40:05Look, believer, you are forgiven in Christ. You need to live like it. Are you genuinely seeking the Lord right now? Father in heaven, we're about to come to your table. And I don't know of any other teachers in your word that's more serious about this event than this passage that we just looked at. Father, this is a very serious thing to you. So Father, I pray that none of us would take this in an unworthy manner, that we would have the faith to stay in our seats and pray rather than invite discipline on ourselves.41:02Father, we thank you for this meal and everything that it means.41:08That God, you so loved us.41:13And you so wanted our sin removed from us that you came and did the job yourself.41:24So Father, as a church, let us, in receiving this, proclaim the excellencies of your grace as we anticipate the day that we get to sit down with Jesus personally at the marriage supper of the Lamb. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 11:17-11:34What was your big take-away from this passage / message?How would you explain the Lord's Supper to a brand new Christian, who is completely unfamiliar with the ordinance?Jesus said to take the Lord's Supper “in remembrance” of Him. What exactly does that mean? How does this relate to the concept of “participation” (1 Corinthians 10:16)?What are some ways a believer can take the Lord's Supper in an “unworthy manner” (1 Cor 11:27)? Does this mean you have to be sinless? Why or why not?1 Cor 11:28 says “examine yourself”. What exactly are you examining in yourself before you take the Lord's Supper?BreakoutPray for one another.

Get the notes!Unlocking the Depth of Hebrews 1:1–3 | Complete Masterclass CurriculumFor many believers, the opening verses of the Book of Hebrews are familiar, yet their profound theological weight is often left unexamined. In just three verses, the author packs an astonishing amount of covenant history, original Greek wordplay, and high-priestly imagery to establish one undeniable truth: Jesus Christ is supreme over all.If you are looking to take your church, small group, or personal study past surface-level readings and into a rigorous, substantive exploration of scripture, our newly released Hebrews 1:1–3 Complete Masterclass Curriculum provides the ultimate professional-grade framework.The Core Lesson: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of the SonThe letter to the Hebrews was originally written to first-century Jewish Christians who were enduring intense social persecution and alienation. Under immense pressure, many were tempted to abandon their faith in Christ and retreat to the familiar, comfortable rituals of the old temple system.To counter this danger, the author of Hebrews builds an unshakeable, “better than” defense of the Christian faith, starting with the very nature of divine revelation:1. From Fragmentary Past to Final PresentIn the Old Covenant, God spoke polymerōs (“in many portions”) and polytropōs (“in many ways”). For over a millennium, revelation unfolded fragment by fragment through visions, types, and the lived object lessons of mere human prophets. But “in these last days,” God has spoken a final, definitive word to us en huiō—“in a Son”. This isn't just a change in message; it is a massive qualitative upgrade in the status of the Messenger.2. The Essential Deity of ChristJesus is explicitly revealed as the apaugasma (the absolute radiance and outshining) of God's glory and the charaktēr (the flawless, exact representation) of His essential nature. Because God does not share His glory with created beings, these precise terms establish Christ's absolute equality with the Father. He is not a lesser duplicate; He is God manifest in bodily form, actively upholding the entire cosmic order and the laws of physics by His powerful word.3. The Finished Work of the High PriestPerhaps the most revolutionary insight for a Jewish audience was the declaration that Christ “sat down” after making purification for sins. In the ancient Tabernacle and Temple structures, there were no chairs. The Aaronic priests could never sit because animal sacrifices only covered sin, meaning their work was never finished. Jesus, operating under the eternal order of Melchizedek, offered His own blood once and for all, completely removing sin and sitting down to signal that our redemption is eternally complete.Packaged for Your Ministry: What's Inside the Curriculum BundleTo help you seamlessly transfer these rich theological truths to your congregation or study circle, we have packaged this exhaustive study into a clean, publication-ready digital download. Built with structural outlines and indentations, the text copies perfectly into Microsoft Word for effortless printing and distribution.The complete package includes: Teacher's Instructional Guide: A strategic blueprint featuring an instructional roadmap, critical Greek linguistic breakdowns, historical context explanations, and engaging classroom discussion starters. Student Study Guide: A comprehensive student companion complete with a detailed vocabulary tracker (propitiation, apaugasma, charaktēr), a structural outline, and targeted reflection questions for personal life application. Evaluation Quiz: A clean, standalone, 10-question multiple-choice assessment sheet designed to reinforce student comprehension without spoiling the answers. Answer Key & Detailed Explanations: A thorough grading asset that provides paragraph-length theological defenses for every correct answer, turning evaluation into an additional teaching opportunity.Elevate Your Biblical Teaching TodayStop settling for surface-level curriculum. Give your students the substantive, mature, and objective biblical instruction they are looking for.Whether you are preaching from the pulpit, leading a Sunday school class, or guiding a home small group, the Hebrews 1:1–3 Complete Masterclass Curriculum will bring academic rigor and deep spiritual assurance to your study.[Click Here to Download the Full Hebrews 1:1–3 Curriculum Pack Now]Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Why was Noah favored in God's sight? Because God is full of kindness and compassion.

The big question for today is, can we find contentment in things? Have you ever listened to a very successful person complain about the fact that his wealth doesn't make him happy? How the success of life has left him or her empty? Of course, you have. We've all heard stories like that, but pay attention to that—because it's really important. Watch people roll their eyes when they hear those stories. Why do they do that? Because they're thinking, “Yeah, just give me some of that emptiness. I'd like to live on that side of town for a while,” but that attitude misses the point that's trying to be made. From the past to now, there have been at least multiple millions of these stories, these laments from very successful people who would trade it all to be content. Millions and millions of successful, but unhappy people. It's when we're confronted with numbers like that, that we should say to ourselves, “Wait a second…I need to think that through. Maybe having things and fame and success really doesn't satisfy.” It's then we start walking the right road to contentment. April Motl is a writer in California who works with her husband in ministry. Recently, she made a fascinating point. She said, “About six months ago, my husband said he thought the Lord was trying to teach him to be content with mediocrity. ‘Mediocrity? Never! We should always be striving for the best,' I thought to myself. But in light of a few life lessons of my own, I think I now understand what my husband was saying. It's easy for us to want the best life has to offer, but sometimes ‘the best' is learning to be content with what we have.” Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. Because God has said, never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” You don't actually need to hear another story of unfulfillment from someone you've admired to know that stuff doesn't ultimately satisfy. You have only to think about your own life and realize that what God has given you materially is not the ultimate prize. It's only when you're in harmony with Him that you begin to know a life of contentment. Let's pray. Father, we know in our hearts that things don't bring fulfillment. That fact is plain to us, no matter how much we have. Help us be mindful that in you alone, we find the desires of our hearts. Remind us daily not to pin our hopes for the future on what we can acquire today. In Jesus' name, amen. Change your shirt, and you can change the world! Save 15% Off your entire purchase of faith-based apparel + gifts at Kerusso.com with code KDD15.

Because God loves us, He has given us His Holy Spirit to protect us from evil. This week, we hear how we receive His help, by prayerfully obeying His Word. Visit: abideatascadero.orgEmail: info@abideatascadero.orgInstagram: @abide.calvary_atascFacebook: @AbideCalvaryAtascadero

Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done Introduction In this message, Coleton walks through one of the most important lines in the Lord's Prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” — Matthew 6:10 Jesus is not giving His followers empty religious words to repeat. He is teaching them how to partner with God in the renewal of the world. This prayer is not passive resignation. It is an invitation into participation with God. Coleton structures the sermon around three major questions: What is Jesus telling us to ask for? Why doesn't God just do it without our prayers? What does this mean for our prayers practically? Throughout the message, Coleton emphasizes a central truth: prayer matters because God has chosen to work through the prayers of His people. 1. What Is Jesus Telling Us to Ask For? We Are Asking for God's Kingdom and God's Will Coleton explains that Jesus teaches us to pray for two connected realities: God's Kingdom to come God's will to be done These cannot be separated. God's Kingdom is the place where God's will is actually happening. Coleton uses a quote from Dallas Willard to explain this idea clearly: “God's own ‘kingdom,' or ‘rule,' is the range of His effective will, where what He wants done is done.” — Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy The sermon explains that every person has a small “kingdom” — a sphere where their choices shape reality. God's Kingdom is the sphere where His desires, purposes, goodness, and authority reign completely. So when Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom come,” He is teaching us to pray: Let more of what God wants happen here. Let more of heaven invade earth. Let the qualities of God's reign spread into places where they are absent. Coleton says we see the qualities of God's Kingdom most clearly in Jesus. When Jesus walked the earth, He announced: “The Kingdom of God has come upon you.” Then He demonstrated what that Kingdom looked like. Coleton walks through example after example from the Gospels: Abundance Where There Was Scarcity John 2 Mark 6 Jesus multiplies provision and turns lack into overflowing abundance. Truth Where There Was Hypocrisy John 3 Matthew 23 Jesus exposes false religion and reveals truth that leads to life. Freedom Where There Was Bondage Mark 5 Jesus delivers people oppressed by evil and restores them to wholeness. Healing Where There Was Disease Matthew 8 Mark 5 The Kingdom of God pushes back sickness and brokenness. Restoration Where There Was Alienation John 4 Jesus restores dignity and relationship to the Samaritan woman. Hospitality Where There Was Hatred Luke 19 Jesus welcomes Zacchaeus when everyone else rejected him. Life Where There Was Death John 11 Jesus raises Lazarus and reveals that death does not get the final word. Hope Where There Was Despair Mark 5 Jesus enters impossible situations and brings hope again. Love Where There Was Hatred Acts 9 The Gospel transforms persecutors into followers of Jesus. Justice Where There Was Oppression Acts 16 God breaks chains and overturns systems of darkness. Coleton repeatedly reminds the church: When Jesus extended the Kingdom, He extended these qualities into people's lives. So praying “Your Kingdom come” means praying: Bring freedom here. Bring healing here. Bring justice here. Bring peace here. Bring restoration here. Bring hope here. This prayer is asking for the realities of heaven to invade earth. 2. Why Doesn't God Just Do It Without Our Prayers? This becomes the heart of the sermon. Coleton addresses a question many people quietly wrestle with: “If God is sovereign, why does prayer matter at all?” His answer is simple and profound: Because God has sovereignly chosen to work through people. God Has Always Worked Through Human Partnership Coleton goes back to Genesis. God did not need Adam and Eve to tend the garden. He could have done everything Himself. Yet He intentionally gave humanity responsibility, authority, and participation. God chose partnership. Coleton quotes Dallas Willard again: “We are meant to exercise our ‘rule' only in union with God, as He acts with us.” Human beings were designed to work alongside God in stewarding creation. Prayer is part of that design. Prayer Is Not an Afterthought — It Is Part of the Way God Ordered the World Coleton strongly emphasizes: God does not need intercessors. He chooses intercessors. He quotes Tyler Staton: “Prayer is the means by which we push back the curse that's infected the world and infected us.” This is one of the central ideas of the sermon: Prayer is how God has chosen for His Kingdom to advance. Coleton gives practical analogies: God could have nourished us without food — but He chose food. God could have sustained life without oxygen and blood — but He chose those means. God could have worked without prayer — but He chose prayer. Prayer is not magic. Prayer is partnership. Your Prayers Actually Matter Coleton passionately confronts the idea that prayer changes nothing. He says believing prayer does not matter fundamentally misunderstands how God designed the world. He points to passages showing the consequences of prayerlessness: We Miss Things When We Don't Pray 2 Chronicles 16:9 We Make Bad Decisions Without Seeking God Joshua 9:14 Some Things Do Not Happen Apart From Prayer Mark 9:29 Coleton makes an important clarification: This is not because God is angry or withholding. It is because this is the structure God established. He quotes Charles Spurgeon: “If you may have everything by asking, and nothing without asking, I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.” Even Jesus intercedes now for believers. If prayer did not matter, Jesus would not still be praying. 3. What This Means for Our Prayers There Is Power in Your Praying Coleton wants believers to leave with confidence. Not confidence in themselves. Not confidence in perfect wording. Confidence that God has chosen to work through prayer. He says: Prayer works powerfully because God has set it up that way. Coleton quotes Skye Jethani: “We are active participants with God in the writing, directing, design, and action that unfolds.” Prayer is participation in God's work in the world. Because of that, believers should actually expect God to move when they pray. Leonard Ravenhill's quote drives this home: “You cannot estimate the power of prayer… because He has committed Himself to answer it.” 4. Practical Ways to Pray “Your Kingdom Come” Coleton closes the sermon with deeply practical guidance. Pray for Kingdom Qualities Where They Are Missing He encourages believers to look for brokenness and pray specifically for God's Kingdom to invade those places. Tyler Staton's quote summarizes this beautifully: “Ask for Jesus to come anywhere and everywhere you know God's kingdom of love and peace is lacking.” Examples: Pray for friends who do not know Jesus. Pray for healing. Pray for Memphis. Pray for injustice. Pray for broken families. Pray for mental and emotional struggles. Coleton encourages practices like: Prayer walks Prayer drives People watching and praying Using reminders like a “Pray for Memphis” hat Prayer becomes a lifestyle of seeing the world through the eyes of God's Kingdom. Pray the Promises of God Coleton teaches believers to pray Scripture because God is faithful to His promises. He quotes John Wesley: “The best we can say to God in prayer is, what he hath said to us.” He then walks through promises believers can pray confidently: Comfort “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” — Matthew 5:4 Freedom and New Life “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.” — 2 Corinthians 5:17 Peace Philippians 4:6–7 Greater Works John 14:12 Rest Matthew 11:28–29 Provision Matthew 6:33 Philippians 4:19 Malachi 3:10 Wisdom James 1:5 Restoration Joel 2:25–26 Isaiah 61:3–4 Strength 2 Corinthians 12:9 Isaiah 40:31 Coleton encourages believers to pray these promises boldly because they reveal God's heart and His Kingdom. Pray for the Things Jesus Did Coleton says the Gospels reveal what the Kingdom of God looks like. So believers should read about Jesus: healing, restoring, forgiving, freeing, reconciling, and pray for those same Kingdom realities to happen around them today. Trust God When Prayers Aren't Answered the Way You Want Coleton ends with honesty and pastoral wisdom. Not every prayer is answered the way we expect. Paul prayed for the “thorn in the flesh” to leave, but God said: “My grace is sufficient for you.” Sometimes God's Kingdom advances through weakness rather than the removal of suffering. Coleton reminds the church: The apostles experienced miracles. The apostles also experienced tragedy. Yet they never stopped believing in prayer. The call of the believer is not to understand everything perfectly, but to trust God in the mystery. Final Challenge Coleton closes by bringing everything back to one foundational truth: Prayer has power because this is how God designed the world to function. Just as: food satisfies hunger, water quenches thirst, oxygen sustains life, God has chosen prayer as one of the primary ways His Kingdom advances in the earth. Jesus teaches His followers to pray because prayer truly matters. Discipleship Group Questions When you hear the phrase “Your Kingdom come,” what do you naturally think about, and how did this message expand your understanding of it? Which “Kingdom quality” from Jesus' ministry (healing, restoration, justice, freedom, hope, etc.) do you most long to see break into your own life or your community right now? Why do you think God chose to work through human partnership and prayer instead of simply doing everything Himself? What keeps you from believing your prayers truly matter, and how did this sermon challenge that mindset? What is one practical way you can begin intentionally praying for God's Kingdom to come in Memphis, your family, your workplace, or your neighborhood this week? Culture of Gospel Share this with someone in your life who doesn't know Jesus What if prayer is not about escaping the world, but partnering with God to heal it? Jesus taught that God's Kingdom brings hope where there is despair, healing where there is brokenness, and love where there is hatred—and He invites ordinary people to become part of that renewal.  

I want my faith to be more than just something I believe. I want to know what God actually wants to do with my life. But then that voice kicks in… you don't have time, you don't know enough, you're not ready for that. So you wait. In this message, we talk about what it actually looks like to follow Jesus in everyday life. Not when things change, but right now. Because God isn't waiting for a different version of your life. He's inviting you to use what you already have—and it might matter more than you think.

Peter Adam - Psalm 62 reminds us that prayer is not polished performance but honest dependence. Because God alone is our rock, salvation, and refuge, we can both wait quietly before him and pour out our hearts to him. David's prayer is filled with praise and patience, but also grief, fear, frustration, and protest. He teaches us that trust and honesty belong together: 'Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge'. As we follow the Lord Jesus—the man of sorrows who wept, suffered, and cried out to his Father—we are invited to bring every burden, sorrow, and weakness to God in prayer, trusting that he hears, comforts, and saves.

Peter Adam - Psalm 62 reminds us that prayer is not polished performance but honest dependence. Because God alone is our rock, salvation, and refuge, we can both wait quietly before him and pour out our hearts to him. David's prayer is filled with praise and patience, but also grief, fear, frustration, and protest. He teaches us that trust and honesty belong together: 'Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge'. As we follow the Lord Jesus—the man of sorrows who wept, suffered, and cried out to his Father—we are invited to bring every burden, sorrow, and weakness to God in prayer, trusting that he hears, comforts, and saves.

On the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, this homily reflects on the encounter between Christ and Saint Photini, focusing on the deeper moral psychology of repentance. It explores how we instinctively justify our sins and construct explanations to protect ourselves, even in the presence of divine truth. Drawing on Scripture and the witness of the saints, it shows how true healing comes not through self-defense, but through humility, repentance, and stepping fully into the light of Christ.  Enjoy the show! --- From Justification to Repentance: The Samaritan Woman St. John 4:5–42 "He told me all that I ever did." (John 4:29) There is nothing new in the idea that God knows everything about us. The Prophet David proclaimed it long ago: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Hades, Thou art there… The darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night shineth as the day." (Psalm 138/139:7–12) The question, then, is not whether God knows our deeds. The question is: what do we make of that knowledge? What does it mean that we cannot hide from Him? First, we must remember something essential: God's omniscience is not cold or distant. The One who knows all things is also the One who is quick to save. There is nowhere we can go that is beyond His love. Nowhere we can fall that is outside His reach. But there is also a harder truth here. The only way to experience His mercy, the only way to receive His salvation, is through humble repentance. The Samaritan woman—whom the Church honors as Saint Photini—stood before Christ and heard Him reveal her life: "You have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband." Imagine the temptation she must have felt in that moment. To defend herself. To explain. To justify. Her life—what we might call "serial monogamy"—is exactly the kind of brokenness that our culture normalizes and even celebrates. And the human mind is very good at protecting such patterns. As we have said before: our fallen moral reasoning often works like this—first we decide instinctively what we want to be true, and then the advocate in our mind builds a case to defend it. We become our own lawyers, our own spokesmen, our own cheerleaders. We can justify almost anything. We may even convince others. But this is not real justification. Because we are sinners, the only true justification is in the blood of Jesus Christ—who offers Himself "on behalf of all and for all." And yet the fruit of that offering can only be received through repentance. This is why we celebrate Saint Photini. Not because of her past. But because of her response. St. John Chrysostom points out that Christ does not begin by exposing her sin. He draws her in gently. He speaks first of water, then of living water, then of worship—only gradually revealing the deeper truth. He does not crush her. He heals her. And when the truth finally comes, she does something extraordinary. She does not argue. She does not justify. She does not run away. She receives it. And in receiving the truth, she is freed. St. Nikolai Velimirovic notes the striking contrast: the woman who once avoided others out of shame becomes the one who runs into the city proclaiming Christ. The one who came to the well alone now becomes an apostle to her people. What changed? Not the facts of her past. But her relationship to the truth. She encountered the All-Seeing Eye of Christ—and instead of hiding, she stepped into the light. She saw the truth of her life, repented, and changed. From that moment on, the presence of God was no longer a source of fear, but of illumination: a light in the darkness, a refuge in chaos, and a guide to perfection. For this reason, she is called Photini—"the Enlightened One." But her story could have ended differently. She could have done what we so often do: she could have listened to the clever voice within her mind, the one that explains everything, defends everything, justifies everything. She could have held onto her sense of her own righteousness, her own goodness, her own narrative. God would not have left her. He never leaves anyone. But instead of bringing comfort, His presence would have brought pain. Because God does not lie. And those who live in lies cannot be at peace in His presence. The light of Christ illumines all—both good and evil. If we let go of our illusions, that light becomes joy. It becomes healing. It becomes life. But if we cling to our illusions, that same light becomes painful. It exposes what we refuse to surrender. God's light does not change. We do. "The truth of the Lord endureth forever" (Psalm 116:2). And so does His mercy. And so does His patience. The question is: how will we respond to that truth? Will we defend ourselves? Or will we repent? Will we hide in explanation? Or will we step into the light? Saint Photini shows us The Way. She heard the truth. She accepted it. She repented. And she was transformed. In Christ, let us do the same. Let us choose repentance. Let us choose the light. Let us choose salvation.

Introduction: Authority & Submission: God's Plan for Order. (1 Corinthians 11:2-16) God's Plan For Order Must Be UNDERSTOOD. (1 Cor 11:2-3) God's Plan for Order Must Be APPLIED. (1 Cor 11:4-6) God's Plan for Order Started at CREATION. (1 Cor 11:7-10) God's Plan for Order Brings BALANCE. (1 Cor 11:11-12) DECISION TIME: Are You On Board with God's Plan for Order? (1 Cor 11:13-16) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: What About Gender Roles in the Church? Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:36Open up those Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians 11.00:42And as you do so, just please take a moment to pray for me to faithfully and clearly communicate the Word of God.00:53And I will pray for you to have a heart that is open to receive what God said.00:59Alright? Let's pray.01:05Father, we once again just ask for Your Spirit to be at work with Your Word in a supernatural way that we can't fully describe, but it always brings about life change when Your Spirit works that way. Father, I pray that You would help us to eliminate any distractions and to just take this time to laser focus on your word and what you've communicated to us here, Father.01:43We pray in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, amen.01:50Amen.01:51Amen.01:53When I was in college, I worked at Walmart.01:56This was in Ohio.01:58And one of my jobs at Walmart was when a customer bought something heavy, like a trampoline or an anvil or whatever Walmart sells, it was my job to get it in their car.02:13And I remember this one lady in particular, I was putting something heavy in her car, and she said, Are you married?02:24She wasn't proposing to me, by the way.02:26She was much, much, much older. And I was much, much, much younger. She goes, you married? And at the time, I was not. I said, no. She said, if you were, would you let your wife wear pants? And I got to tell you, I was young and a brand new Christian. And I was like, as opposed to what?02:59I just wasn't sure that I had a say in that matter. Is my wife going to wear pants? I'm like, that's a thing? I didn't know that was a thing. Well, it's a thing. It is a thing. In Corinth, it is a thing even more than ever today.03:26talking about, and I later discovered what she was talking about, gender roles, attire, what is appropriate, what is a woman? God created them male and female. We're going to talk about gender roles today.03:56And in this section, it's kind of a Q&A section. And here, next question up, we're going to see is what about gender roles? We're going to give you a little background here so you understand why Paul was writing what he wrote. But the church in Corinth, they had a lot of problems. And one of the problems they had was they had issues with feminism.04:28Now listen close because this, you have to understand this to understand why Paul is saying the things that he did here. But in that culture, in the Corinthian culture, married women would wear a veil or a head covering as a sign of modesty and submission to their husbands.04:56When a woman wore a veil, it was her way of saying, I'm taken. I'm not interested. I'm not available. You know, sort of like in our culture, we wear the wedding ring. That's your way of saying, look, I have been claimed. I'm not looking for someone else. All right? Some cultures today still use head coverings or veils in a similar custom. It was a sign of modesty and submission.05:26Well, some of the Corinthian women, in the name of liberty, would protest the traditional male and female roles. And they would make a statement that they're liberated women. They'd make the statement by throwing away their head coverings. And some would even take it a step further than that. And say, I'll show you how liberated I am. They would shave their heads.05:57and protest.06:02Now in past time and going through 1 Corinthians, we talked a lot about the prostitution in Corinth.06:10And let's just say prostitutes didn't wear veils.06:15Because prostitutes were going around saying, I'm available.06:21And you see some of the liberated Corinthian women were like, throwing their veils away too. Women rejecting their roles. Men abdicating their roles. It's an issue as old as the human race. Like, well, what about today? Well, obviously veils really aren't a thing in the American culture.06:58I'm not great at mincing words here, okay? But let's just be honest. In our culture, there are clear signs of masculinity and femininity, right? There are clear signs of that, right? Don't you dare leave me up here. There are clear signs in our culture of masculinity and femininity, right? I don't judge.07:24Okay, so if you come across a woman who has a purple crew cut, a skull tattoo on her face, and she's wearing combat boots, would you immediately think to yourself, that's very feminine? Would you? Would you? Okay. Or what if you came across a man, who was wearing mascara, and he had his fingernails painted pink, and he's wearing a pink mesh half tank top. Would you say, that's masculine? Would you? No. There's obvious signs of what's feminine and what's masculine. You're like, so this passage today is about clothes. Yeah.08:26And more than that, it's about men being men and women being women living the roles as God designed them to be lived out. And these roles for men and for women must be reflected in attitude, they must be reflected in conduct, and they even must be reflected in appearance.08:53This passage is about the fundamental way that God is at work in everything in the universe. It's a divine order that Satan would want to disrupt. Here's the real issue on the table in this passage. It's the issue of authority and submission. Now, as soon as you say the dirty S word in church, people get their guards up. Like, submission. Submission.09:23People get their guards up. There's already this like animosity. Submission. Really? This is the sermon you went with on Mother's Day? Submission? I do the preaching calendar in July. I did not see this coming until about like two weeks ago. And then I was like, oh dear. Here's the problem though with submission. You know what the problem is with submission?09:53Submission is people don't understand it.09:57I want to give you a couple biblical truths about submission to help us set up this passage.10:03It's an acronym, SOFT.10:08Listen, ladies, it's okay to be soft.10:11That's how God designed you, soft.10:14So what is submission?10:15S. S is for strength.10:18Listen, you know why people don't like to hear submission?10:21Because they think submission is weakness.10:23Submission is strength. I'll prove it very easily. Who was the most submissive person to ever walk the planet? Do you know? Jesus Christ. Jesus did not do one thing that wasn't in complete submission to his Father's authority. Jesus never had a day where he's like, well, the Father wants me to do this, but I don't feel like doing that. He never had a day like that. Jesus was He was completely submissive to the Father's will every second of His life, and He loved it. Okay, another question. Who was the strongest person to ever walk the planet? Jesus. The most submissive person ever somehow is also the strongest person ever. So is submission weakness? Submission is strength.11:24O.11:25Soft.11:26O.11:27O is for order.11:29Listen, when we talk about submission and authority, it's just the way God made everything to function.11:35It's just the way.11:36Everything that we see, everything that's unseen.11:38Submission, authority.11:40Authority, submission.11:41That's the way God structured the universe.11:44It's in the spiritual realm.11:48All right, we'll talk about that in a few minutes.11:51It's all over the earth.11:53The government, your workplace, the church, the home, authority and submission in every arena of life. It's everywhere. Authority and submission. The focus here in this passage has to do with men and women. Men and women are equal, but we're different. That's okay.12:23some roles for men and some roles for women. It has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. It has nothing to do with that. It's your workplace. You are under your boss's authority, but that doesn't mean he's better than you or she is smarter than you. It's just about the structure that's been established. It's about order. It's about order. Somebody has to make decisions.12:52decisions out. It's just the way it works. Everywhere. All right? S, O, F and T go together. Faith and trust. Faith and trust. Do you have faith? Do you have faith? Well, one of the key ways faith is expressed is by submitting the authorities that God has placed over you. So long as the authority is not asking you to sin.13:22We express our faith by submitting to the authorities God has over us at our workplace, in the church, in the home. Faith says, God, I trust you by submitting to the authority that you placed over me. That's an act of faith. And it takes an incredibly strong person to be able to trust God to that degree. So here's the principle for this passage. Please really tune in here.13:52because this is the principle of this passage. And I was very careful I worded this. I'm going to read this to you twice, okay? But here's the principle of this passage. Christians should, in the name of laying down their rights, as Brian talked about last week, Christians should conform to their gender-specific patterns of dress and appearance that their culture identifies with being male, and female because God wants these roles embraced because authority and submission in these roles is God's plan for order. Let's say that again. This is the short version. If you want the long version, stick around. Christians should conform to their gender-specific patterns of dress and appearance that their their culture identifies with being male and female. Like, why? Because God wants us to embrace those roles. Why? Because authority and submission in these roles is God's plan for order. All right? That's the short version. Now, let's take a look at the text and see what exactly God said on your outline. Authority and submission, God's plan for order. That's what this is. This is God's plan for order.15:22This is the way God orchestrated everything. Authority and submission, God's plan for order. Number one, write this down. God's plan for order must be understood. It must be understood. Look at verse 2. Paul says, Now I commend you, because you remember me in everything, and maintain the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.15:52Paul is front-loading a very hard topic with praise. Paul says, you seek my counsel on everything. I appreciate that so much about you. You hold the traditions. Literally, that word is translated doctrine in other places in Scripture. Paul's like, you're people that care about the truth and harvest. Let me commend you. Listen, I know that this is a controversial topic. I get that.16:22And I know that this is an extremely unpopular topic. But you know what else I know about this church? That you come here because you want to know what God said. You come to this church because you believe that we want nothing more than to represent the Bible in our sermons, right? Check the record. That's all any of us have ever tried to do is just reflect God's truth. And I commend you for that.16:51Even when it's hard. Look at verse 3. Verse 3 is the thesis of the whole thing. Paul says, but I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. You see, here's the thesis. Authority and submission is God's design.17:22He says the head of man, the head of every man, is who? Christ. You're like, Jesus isn't the head of every man. Wait 15 minutes. Every knee will bow, okay? But the head of every man is Jesus Christ. Man, we better get on board with that sooner than later. Okay, the head of the wife is what?17:56You are so much more reluctant to say this one, aren't you? The head of the wife is the husband, right? And the head of Jesus is God. You see, Paul's just giving the thesis here. There are roles that have been established. And I love how he puts the hard one sandwiched between two very obvious ones. Do you see that?18:25It's obvious, right? The head of man is Christ, obviously. And the head of Jesus is God, right? Jesus completely submissive to the Father in all things, right? John 14, 28. Jesus regarded the Father greater than Him. And He says the head of every wife is the husband.18:51that men are called to have authority. There's the problem. Another problem that we have with submission. Because we don't get what authority means either. People get this idea that authority means man sits on the throne and chop, serve me, everything for me, my way, my preferences. That's not what authority means at all. Do you know what authority means. Biblically, authority is I have to make decisions that are going to bless and protect the people that God is entrusting to me. That is true in my home. I have to make decisions to bless and protect my family. That is true in the church. I have to make decisions in this church, and our elders have to make decisions in this church that's going to bless and protect the congregation, the people who come to this church, the members, the sheep of this fold.19:52That's what authority is.19:57And you see, Paul lays out this thesis.19:59You can't deny any of these things.20:03If you look very close, in every case, it's about trusting God by submitting, right?20:10How does man trust God?20:12Well, man trusts God by submitting to Christ.20:15I want to jump to the last one.20:17How did Jesus trust his Father?20:21He trusted His Father by submitting to Him. So how does the wife trust God? Right there in the middle, by submitting to her husband. Also, the other side of that, the authority in every case is not dominating. It's lovingly leading. Do you see that? How does Christ lead man? Lovingly. How did the Father lead Christ?20:51Therefore, how should the man lead his wife? Lovingly. So if you believe this universal law of authority and submission, then you're going to get the rest of the passage. All right? Number two, God's plan for order must be applied. God's plan for order must be applied. Look at verses 4 and 5.21:22He says, every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.21:31But every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven.21:43So Paul is applying this principle here.21:45He's talking about prayer and prophecy.21:47What's that?21:48It was just talking about women preachers, right? No. No, the women as pastor thing, Paul makes that very clear in just a couple of chapters. You can write it down. Chapter 14, verses 34 and 35, Paul talks about women as pastors.22:18about that in this passage. This passage, he's focusing on the head covering customs, and later, like the pastor thing, we're going to get into the other gender issues. Chapter 14. So, he says, men, when you pray, when you prophesy, wherever that is, he says, your head should be uncovered. And women, you should have your head covered. Why did Paul say that?22:48because in Corinth, again, this is a culture-specific tradition, but in Corinth, if a person covered their head, that was a sign of being feminine. That was a very effeminate way to present yourself. And what Paul's simply saying here is, men, don't do that. Men, in Corinth, hey, don't cover your head.23:18Don't do it.23:20You're like, well, what about the Jewish men?23:24Because, you know, the Jewish men covered their head when they pray.23:27Yeah, that is a Jewish custom.23:29Came from the rabbis, not from the Bible, because of Moses being veiled after he talked to God.23:36So what about the Jewish men in Corinth?23:39Paul's like, no.23:41Jewish men, don't cover your head.23:43Why?23:44Because if people in Corinth see you praying with your head covered, they're going to think you're effeminate. Right? And you're like, all right, is this for all churches? I mean, is this for us today? I mean, tell me, Pastor Jeff, should I go home and throw away my Yankees cap? Are people going to think I'm effeminate if I wear that? No. Look, this is obviously, obviously, it's a Corinthian-specific issue.24:21Because, you know, Paul only addressed gender and veils in Corinth.24:27You don't see this anywhere else in the New Testament, not to any other church.24:35So what Paul is saying to the Corinthians is this.24:39Accommodate yourself to the customs of the Corinthians.24:42In other words, church, here's the principle.24:45Here's the principle that does apply to us. Don't violate customs that have significance in your culture. That's what he's saying. Don't violate customs that have significance in your culture. Meaning this, men should do what men do, and women should do what women do. Don't try to make some statement of liberation by taking on the appearance of the other gender.25:18In verse 6, he addresses the feminists. He says, For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. Again, Paul here is speaking to the feminists. What he's saying here is this. Ladies, you want to protest?25:44Okay, you're making some kind of statement. You refuse to act like a lady. Is that what you're going for? Then just, okay, just shave your head. How about that? Because the response for these Corinthian church ladies would be like, shave my head. I'm not going to do that. That's like, that's disgraceful. Paul's like, then put a veil on Miss Corinth. Paul's being very facetious here. He says, look, you've got to go with the cultural norms.26:14when it comes to being male and female. You've got to know what's happening in that culture and you've got to go with it. Right? Like when we go to Thailand, some of the churches in Thailand, many of the churches in Thailand, when you go to church, the men sit on this side and the women sit on this side. They don't have a middle. All right? So when I go to Thailand, I don't just go strutting into the church like, I'm free in Christ. I'm sitting with the ladies. Because all the men are going to be like, that American guy. Is he a little weird, isn't he? Like, no, we sit with the dudes. Because that's just part of the custom. That's part of the culture. Right? That's what Paul's talking about here.27:14He's saying, look, boy, this is a hard sell. This is such a hard sell. When I got into ministry, I never imagined this would be a hard sell. But now that we live in a day of drag queen story hour and transgender stuff, the Bible just here says, embrace gender distinction. You know what it is in the United States in 2026. Your look, the way you act, your role.27:43If you're a man, be a man. If you're a woman, be a woman. That's what Paul's saying here. You've got to apply God's plan for order. Thirdly, authority and submission, God's plan for order. Thirdly, God's plan for order started at creation. Look at verse 7. He says, for a man to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. Stop there. Paul's saying, men, you are to lead. Not abdicate that role in submission. If too many men that just aren't stepping up, being the servant leader in the home that God has called them to be, that's a problem. There's a problem in Corinth. It's a problem.28:43in our day today. Man, you've got to step up and lovingly lead your family.28:50That's what Paul's saying here. Stop shrinking back.28:54He says, man, you're the glory of God. Then he says, woman, you're the glory of man.28:59This is how authority and submission was established. Man is the glory of God, means man was made to manifest God's will.29:10And woman being the glory of man means that woman was made to manifest man's will. You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Since when? Since creation. Look at verses 8 and 9. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man.29:40Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. Stop there. Authority and submission. The Bible says very clearly here and in Genesis 2 that woman was created to help man. And we need all the help we can get.30:10says the woman was made from man for man. Do you think God could have created men and women at the same time? Do you think that's possible? I think he could have if he wanted to. So why in the world did God create man first and then take woman from the man? Why did he do that? Why didn't he just create them both?30:40at the same time. And the answer is right here. He's establishing his plan for order.30:46Because look at verse 10.30:49He says, that is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels.30:59Paul's saying, so, if you accept God's plan, authority and submission, God's plan for order, if you accept God's plan, show it by dressing the way that's reflected in your culture because of the angels. What? Whoa, what? Because of the angels. Yeah, obviously, duh, because of the angels. What do the angels have to do with any of this? Here it is, listen.31:37God's plan for order, authority, and submission. Do you know who gets that more than anybody? Do you know if you scoured the universe and you were looking for someone who understood this more than anyone, do you know who you would get? An angel. They get God's plan for order. They get it. They're like, okay, there's authority, there's submission. God's my authority. He says to do something, I do it.32:07They get how it works. Do you know what else they get? Angels get that rebelling against God's plan is a very bad idea. Speaking of angels, look at Jude, verse 6. And we studied Jude a few years ago. You can look up this whole sermon online. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, God has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. You see that? Because of the angels, Paul is pleading here. He goes, ladies, look, as soon as you talk about these matters of men and women and authority and submission, there's a lot of women immediately want to throw the whole thing out. And Paul is pleading here. He's like, ladies, look, God's plan is good.33:07And if you're not on board, learn from the angels who weren't on board that God takes it very seriously when his plan for order is rejected. God was serious about his plan for order at creation, at Corinth, and at Harvest Bible Chapel today. God's plan for order started at creation. Number four, God's plan for order brings balance. Look at verses 11 and 12. He says, nevertheless, in the Lord, woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. For as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.34:07God's amazing plan of order to work. We all have to do our part. We all have to work together. We're not independent. That's what he's saying. We're not independent. God designed us to be interdependent. That's how order works. The home, the church, understand.34:37Neither were designed to function just by man. The home, the church, neither was designed to function just by woman. In order for the home and the church to be at their absolute healthiest, both men and women have to be faithful to the roles that God established in creation.35:07Let's look at verse 12 again. This is so beautiful and so profound at the same time. He says, for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman, and all things are from God. Yes, man is called to have authority. And moms, moms, You have the responsibility and privilege to make your son a man who is going to serve God faithfully in his role. That's what Paul's talking about here. Yes, woman was taken from man at the beginning, and ever since then, man has come from woman, and man has been shaped by woman. Meaning, those of you who are moms of sons, listen, you made a son and now you are making a man. So moms, you hone your son into a man who's going to lead with love. You hone your son into a man who's going to lead with kindness, who's going to show respect. Moms, you make your sons into men of humility and self-sacrifice. Because moms, your impact on your son will ultimately exponentially manifest throughout the whole world with the impact that he's going to have when you send him out of your house. So you see there's balance. Every role fulfilled God's way advances his kingdom and glorifies the name of Jesus Christ. That's why Paul says, All things are from God. Number five. Decision time. Are you on board with God's plan for order? Look at verse 13. Paul says, judge for yourselves. Is it proper for a wife to pray to God, with her head uncovered. Judge for yourself. Paul's saying, in other words, is it appropriate for a woman to fight being feminine? Is that proper? Verse 14, he says, does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him? But if a woman has long hair, it is her glory, for her hair is to her for a covering. Judge for yourself, Paul says, authority and submission. Embracing God's gender roles. Is that proper? Is that appropriate? I think it's right back on the hair thing. Paul's like, hey, even beyond the Corinthian culture, he says, nature teaches men shouldn't have women's hair. He says, but it's It's right on a woman, though. So interesting. Paul says that the veil they wore, the head covering, it was just sort of an accent for the hair that God designed the woman to have anyways. Tradition came from somewhere, didn't it? And you're like, oh, all right, fine. Man doesn't have long hair. Woman should have long hair. All right. Here's where we get legalistic, right?39:06You ready for the legalism? We've got to define what's long hair. Four inches? Five inches? I don't know. Maybe the standard is just this. Every dude has got to shave their head. Women have to be tripping over their hair. It has to be that long. How about that? You guys, I'm not interested in legalism because God's Word certainly isn't.39:38Look, in our culture, men don't need to have a crew cut to look manly. In our culture, women can look extremely feminine with shorter hair. All right? Because in their culture and in our culture, it's about the heart. And that's why Paul says, judge for yourself. Look, be honest. If you've chosen a hairstyle because you're trying to be rebellious. That's a hard thing. If you've chosen a hairstyle because you're trying to make a statement with it, that's a hard thing. That's what he's addressing here. And if you're trying to make some kind of feminist statement with your hair or whatever, I just want to say this as lovingly as I can. If you're trying to make a statement with some feminist thing. Nobody here really cares about your statement.40:42But, God cares about your heart.40:48That's the bottom line.40:52That's the bottom line.40:54And probably my favorite verse in the whole passage is the next one.40:58Paul says, If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.41:06Paul says, because he knows, look, nothing's changed. He knows writing this, people are going to be like, I'm sending Paul an email. And I'm sure there are people thinking that about me. And this is what God says. He's like, look, if you want to fight about living out and representing your gender role, you're not going to sway the church. Because God made a distinction between men and women.41:34We are God's church, so we're going to keep the distinction. Because God has a plan for order. For men, for women. And it's godly authority. And it's godly submission. Our worship team would make their way up. That was the introduction. Now here's the sermon. Men.42:04Act like a godly man. Women. Act like a lady. Act like a godly lady. This is God's plan for order. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I pray that you would give us understanding.42:38Because our whole culture would just rail against this passage today. We live in a culture that can't even define what a woman is when you have made it very clear that you want us to be the people that you've created us to be. Father, I pray that we would find great joy and fulfillment and contentment and contentment.43:09And finding our identity in Christ.43:14And living out the role, whatever that is, wherever you have us, however that looks, God.43:23Let us be a people that are shaped by the truths of your word.43:28We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 11:2-11:16What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Explain 1 Cor 11:3. What does this say about authority and submission pertaining to God's plan for order?Is this passage teaching women should wear head coverings at Harvest? Why or why not? How does this apply today?Read 1 Cor 11:10. What do angels have to do with women understanding the roles of authority and submission? See also Jude 6.Why do you think this topic is such a source of contention (1 Cor 11:16)?BreakoutPray for one another.

Mother's Day @ Crossroads — More Than You SeeDoes what you're doing really matter? The quiet sacrifices. The unseen prayers. The ordinary moments that feel repetitive, exhausting, and unnoticed.In this Mother's Day message, Pastor Randy reminds us that faithfulness often feels invisible—but that doesn't mean it's insignificant.Through Galatians 6:9 and several powerful biblical examples, this message speaks to anyone who has ever felt tired, overlooked, discouraged, or unsure if their investment in others is making a difference.Because God does some of His deepest work in the moments we're most tempted to overlook.If you've ever wondered:“Is this working?”“Am I making a difference?”“Does God see any of this?”This message is for you.You are shaping more than you see.God sees what others miss.And you don't quit… right before the harvest.

Two words, but a valuable reminder about how important Mom is and why she is. I had occasion to stay at my son and daughter-in-law's house while I recovered from a painful injury. They set me up with a wonderful little "apartment" in their basement - recliner, remotes (of course), kitchenette. And like all the babies in our family, a night monitor. Now, I needed some help in the middle of the night, but I hadn't touched the pager. Suddenly, I hear my daughter-in-law's feet coming down the stairs. In my 3:00 AM haze, I said, "But how did you know?" She smiled and gave those two little words: "Mom ears." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Mom Ears." There's something a lot of us have to celebrate in the mother that God put in our life. Those Mom-ears who heard our silent cries over the years, who heard our need when others would only see our deed. Who heard the unspoken fears, the unspoken pain, and carried them to the throne of God. Sadly, mom-ears have also heard mean words that they didn't deserve, angry words that left a scar, rebellious words because we didn't want to hear what we now know was wisdom. But somehow, a Mom heart could reach for some of God's amazing grace, and forgive, even though wounded. As a dad, I learned early how important it was for me to seek and respect what my wife heard in our kids, believe me. Those times when I got home and I was ready to drop a bomb on a disobedient child, she would intervene with "actionable intel" of what was going on behind the scenes in their life. I'm not sure moms fully know their massive power to define their child's life for better or worse. Proverbs 31:26 says, "She speaks with wisdom on her tongue." And in a verse worth considering, our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 14:1 it says, "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." Sure, I know moms who've turned their God-given Mom-ears to the seductive song of our world, "all about me." And their children languish under the awful cloud of "I'm not worth much. My Mom doesn't think so." Deafened moms can't hear themselves nagging, controlling, criticizing, diminishing - hoping to make a "super kid" and crushing them in the process. The Mom-ears that have tended to miss their children's cries are those who stopped listening to the One who gave her those children. Psalm 127:3 says, "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." It's so easy to succumb to the selfie drumbeat of "my rights, my pleasure, my flourishing." And a sort of deafness can grow. Deaf to those quiet little cries in the night, the intuition to drop everything and listen to someone I love. The Heavenly Father's promptings as He (in the words of the Bible) "gently leads those who have young" (Isaiah 40:11). But thank God many of us were blessed, not with a perfect mom, but with a mother whose ears truly heard us. If you have a mom with those wonderful "ears," would you tell her how her finely-tuned heart shaped your life and changed your life while you can. If you're a Mom who wants to have better ears for your children, just know there's amazing power to do that. In the Jesus whose relentless love led Him to die for our sins, which are the great relationship-wreckers. There is no greater life-force on earth than a woman whose ears are always open to the voice of God and the voices of those she loves. And for the one who listens to all this with little to celebrate - because your Mom really wasn't one - there is a higher hope. Because God has said, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget. See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands" (Isaiah 49:15-16). That's right, with nail prints. His ears listen all day, all night for the deepest cries of your heart.

Because God has made it clear in Scripture, Christians should live with assurance of eternal life, and pray fervently, knowing God hears our prayers.

In this message, Pastor Seth unpacks a powerful and often misunderstood truth: you can connect with God through creation—but creation was never meant to replace the Creator. Starting in John 20, where Mary encounters the resurrected Jesus and mistakes Him for a gardener, we see something profound—the first picture of resurrection is found in a garden. This moment reveals that God has always used creation not just as a backdrop, but as a way to reveal Himself and speak to His people. We break down three core purposes of creation: Creation testifies of God, glorifies God, and connects us to God. From the precision of the universe to the worship of the heavens, everything in creation points back to Him—not to itself. At the same time, we confront a growing cultural distortion. In a world where people are turning to astrology, crystals, and “the universe” for guidance, Scripture is clear: when creation leads back to you, it becomes idolatry—but when it leads you to God, it becomes worship. This message brings both clarity and invitation. If you've felt spiritually dry, it may not be distance—it may be that you haven't discovered how you were designed to connect with God. You'll walk away with practical ways to encounter Him in everyday moments—whether you're on a trail, in your backyard, or simply paying attention. Because God is not silent in creation… the question is: are you listening?

Honoring Leadership Authority (1)  (audio) David Eells, 5/3/26 Father, it says in Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge… Help us to know how to cooperate with You in these days to come. We make our own future because You tell us that we reap what we sow. Lord, we would like to cooperate with You and be led by Your Spirit. Please, Lord, open our understanding and give us wisdom how to cooperate with You. Please help us to avoid the great tribulations that are going to come upon those who have been rebellious historically. We see that this cycle is about to start again, and we see that Your people once again are rebellious to Your Word, and in ways that we are rebellious to Your Word, it brings tribulation upon us. And we're asking You, Father, to please have mercy upon us and open our eyes and give us Your grace. We ask it all in the name of Jesus. Thank You, Father. Well, I've been thinking about this, and I feel like the Lord is showing me that what I'm going to share with you today could save some lives in the days to come. I just ask you to be patient with me and let me share this with you. I'm going to start in Romans 13. There's a thing going around in the patriot movement that preachers in the end times are working for the government, the beast government, and are going to be preaching Romans 13. Well, I was preaching Romans 13 before they ever thought about that, and I don't believe we should depart from anything that the Word has to say. I don't care who's doing it wrong out there. Romans 13 is in the Bible, and it comes from God Almighty, and now I'm not working for the government. In fact, I don't even think they like me. But at any rate, I think we need to obey this, because if we don't, it promises judgment. Let's read it. Rom.13:1 Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. Now, the people who don't believe in the sovereignty of God believe that there's good and there's bad. God's got the good, the devil's got the bad. But that's not biblical at all. God works all things after the counsel of His own will. (Eph.1:11) And He is even over the devil. If you read the Book of Job, you'll see that the devil had no free will. He was only permitted to try to tribulate God's people with God's express permission. God permits this if His people go astray or walk out from under the blood. The devil is there, as I say, like a mad dog, ready to give them a reason to get back under the blood. And the curse is out there to chasten God's people and bring them to the place of repentance to receive God's blessing. Jesus became a curse for us; He bore the curse on Himself. (Gal.3:13) But if you're out there doing your own thing, then you're under a curse. Well, He's telling us here, and He warns us that there's no power that's not of God on this earth. God claims the power over vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. And I'll just point out to you one place in Daniel chapter 4. Listen to this now because some of you don't believe or obey this. Daniel chapter 4 says the same exact statement three times. When God does that in a text, believe me, He wants you to get the point. Well, the first one was spoken by a holy one, who came down out of heaven and spoke it to Nebuchadnezzar, and it's in Dan.4:17 The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the lowest of men. 25 … and seven times shall pass over thee; till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And then it's stated a third time, A voice came out of heaven and spoke it in Dan.4:31 … there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken:… 32 … thou shalt be made to eat grass as oxen; and seven times shall pass over thee; until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. So God said three times in Daniel 4 The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.  And we just read in Romans 13 that there is no power but of God, and the powers that be are ordained of God. For that reason we respect these authorities. Rom.13:2 Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God: and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment. See, when you rebel against the powers that be, whoever they are, you rebel against the ordinance of God. And He says, ‘They that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment.' Now, I'm going to tell you, a lot of Christians are going to come under judgment because they don't understand this principle. It's very, very important. First, He says, there's no power but of God. Now, you need to realize who these people in power were back in those days. They were Herod and Pilate and Caesar and, even in later days, the Hitlers and the Mussolini's and the Stalin's and the Idi Amins and people like that. God is saying that He's still in control of all that. As a matter of fact, He raised up every beast empire that ever ruled over God's people, and God took credit for it in the Scriptures every time. And now we're coming to another beast empire, and God's people don't know this principle that we're looking at here, which is absolutely and totally important if you want to escape this judgment that's coming. Let's look at Act.4:25 who by the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David thy servant, didst say, Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples imagine vain things? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves in array, And the rulers were gathered together, Against the Lord, and against his Anointed: How many of you know that in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, those who are filled with the Holy Spirit are also called God's anointed. Christos is the word there. We are the anointed of God when we are saved and filled with His Spirit. Now, where it's spoken here in the Book of Acts, this is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was God's Anointed. The body of Christ is still on the earth, and we, being anointed, are vessels through whom He can continue to do His work. That's the way it was planned from the beginning. I want to read on in Act.4:27 for of a truth in this city against thy holy Servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, (two vessels of dishonor that ruled at that time. I'll point out to you that Jesus wasn't even disrespectful to the leadership He met at the time of His trial. You understand?) both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together, 28 to do whatsoever thy hand and thy council foreordained to come to pass. So, even the crucifixion of Jesus was totally foreordained of God, and He used Herod, and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles, and the people of Israel to bring to pass the crucifixion of the body of Christ. Now, this was spoken by the Holy Spirit out of the mouth of David. And Jesus was the David of His day, the son of David. Once again, this is going to happen in our day because it's a repetition of history. History keeps on repeating. So we're looking at this on a larger scale in our day. We're looking at ‘the people's imagining a vain thing, the kings of the earth setting themselves in array, the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed.' The same thing is going to happen. This is one of those prophecies that's fulfilled repeatedly. And the Lord foreordained this. Well, at this time, Jesus, Who didn't sin and took our sacrifice, became our sacrifice; His body took the punishment, He was crucified for us. But He also told us we have to take up our cross and follow Him. The fact that the church is rebellious doesn't mean that Jesus could have taken all the punishment. The reason is that the Bible says Heb.10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. So, when you walk in rebellion to God's Word, there is still crucifixion. There is still judgment upon the body of Christ, that is, the outer man, the man that's in rebellion. The Lord told us that we have to take up our cross and follow Him if we want to be His disciples. And that cross is for the crucifixion of the old self-life. And so God is about to do the same thing again. He's raising up the nations of the world, the kings and presidents of the world, to come against Him and to come against His anointed. And He foreordained this to come to pass.  Now, in Romans 8, we can see that it is indeed going to happen. Rom.8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; 34 who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? God loves us. He saw us from the foundation of the world as a finished product. And we're actually in creation mode now. It's that we cannot take this old flesh, that old man with us. And there is a crucifixion foreordained.  Rom.8:36 Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Why are we conquerors, in some cases, by being slaughtered? How could that be? For one thing, one of our enemies is this old man, this old life. It is an enmity with God, meaning the flesh is the enemy of God, according to the Scriptures. So, we're conquering this old man. Jesus conquered, in a type for us, the body of Christ. He conquered it on that cross, right? He went to the cross, He overcame, He was victorious. And we, too, in a spiritual way, have to take up our cross in order to be victorious. And God has created this world to cooperate with us in this process. But we go through many things we don't have to. And that's what I want to talk about today.  Rom.8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Don't think that because you end up in a crucifixion that God doesn't love you. It is because He loves you that you're going through that. He is preparing you for another Kingdom, a Kingdom in which this old flesh cannot rule, cannot reign. I want to go back to Romans 13 and reiterate what was said here, Rom.13:1 … for there is no power but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Therefore he that resisteth the power, withstandeth the ordinance of God: (If we resist the power that God has put in place, again, this was spoken about in the time of Herod, and Pilate, and at the time of Caesar, and so forth. If you rebel against the laws that be and the leaders that be, when there's no need for it whatsoever, then God says, You're going to receive judgment. Why are judgments coming? I believe many of God's people are going to rebel and won't obey. And I'll point out to you what the Scripture has to say about that. But we need to totally respect the authority of what we call the beast government. In fact, reading on it says, and they that withstand shall receive to themselves judgment. Okay, this is an important point here. Rom.13.3 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And wouldest thou have no fear of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same: Now, how do we determine what is evil works? Well, for one thing, an evil work is when you do not respect the authority whom God put in position, and we're going to look at that. When I was younger even those of a different party spoke respectfully to the president, or about him, calling him “Mr. President” even if they disagreed with him. We saw what Daniel said. There is nobody in a position of authority who wasn't put there by God. Even Nebuchadnezzar, who was what? The king of the great eagle of Babylon. The head of the nation. Sounds familiar? God put that man in there. Daniel chapter 4 said this three times. Well, didn't Nebuchadnezzar conquer the people of God, kill many of them, take them away captive, into bondage? Exactly. And God still told them that He put this man in authority. They were to submit. And if they didn't, they were going to receive judgment. Why does God promote a beast kingdom over God's people? It's because God's people are in rebellion. God gave authority to the beast kingdom to crucify Jesus Christ. Was it because of His own sins? No, because He bore our sins. What was God crucifying there? Our rebellion was being crucified there, you see. We were crucified with Christ, the Bible says. Rom13.3 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Now, we have to let the Scriptures tell us what is an evil work, right? And some people are already rebelling because they don't believe what the Scriptures are saying here in chapter 13, verses 1-3. Even now, they're rebelling against them. And the reason is that they're rebelling against them because they don't know how to cooperate with God. They don't know God's purpose. If you knew God's purpose, you would see a perfectly good reason for obeying this and respecting the leader. I just saw 4 leaders of the MAGA movement rail and revile (sins) President Trump because in their pride they disagreed with him but no one voted for them. And I can assure you they are headed for a spanking. Even if he was wrong, none of them have made the great changes he has at the threat of his life. They are giving the enemy ammunition. But people make God captive to their own mind and their own understanding. Listen, we don't know anything that God knows or even the president knows. And so, if we have to understand something before we'll obey it, that's just rebellion against God. God made the rules, so we're just here to obey Him. And we know that if we obey Him, we will see the good fruit of it, and we will ultimately understand.  Rom13.3 … And wouldest thou have no fear of the power? do that which is good, (In other words, do that which is good in God's eyes, even according to this. That's a God-ordained law to be subject to the higher powers.) and thou shalt have praise from the same: 4 for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake. (In other words, for conscience of God, you should obey what the word of God says concerning rulers, concerning presidents. You should obey.) Let's go now to Tit.3:1 Put them in mind to be in subjection to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready unto every good work, 2 to speak evil of no man, not to be contentious, to be gentle, showing all meekness toward all men. Again, this is addressing the same thing that Romans 13 says. But he carries us a little further. He wants us to even speak evil of no man and be meek towards all men. If the Lord wants us to be this way towards the rulers of this world, and we're antagonistic towards them, or insolent and rebellious against them, then we're rebelling against God. Why is it that we should have this attitude towards rulers who may not even know God? Well, for one thing, in 1 Corinthians 5, we're commanded of the Lord not to judge those who are without. He said, Do not ye judge those that are within, but those that are without, God judges. (1Cor 5:12) So, God doesn't want us ever to judge the lost. They don't have any choice because they haven't received grace from God to grant them repentance, to grant them the faith that they need to walk in His Kingdom. By the grace of God, He's given us a new nature, and we desire to do the things that are pleasing unto Him. If they don't have that grace of God, we certainly can't judge them. We'd be judging ourselves. We're forbidden to judge those who are without, to be angry, to be critical, as though they could be something other than what they are. They are what they are, and they do what they are. We want grace from God, so we give grace to everyone else, right? We want unmerited favor of God, so we do not judge what He commands us not to judge. We don't see that spirit of judgment in the scriptures of holy men towards even pagan government rulers, evil government rulers, and I'm going to point this out to you in just a few places here.  Let me now look at 1Pe.2:13 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: (People say, well, maybe it's not an ordinance, maybe it's a law. They're trying to get out of it. But actually the word here is ‘every creation of man.') whether to the king, as supreme; (God is telling us to submit to a king as supreme in judgments concerning the natural earth.) 14 or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: (In other words, if we submit to the rulers, we will give honor to God in the earth. We will show people that we are law-abiding people, and that we keep His laws. God's laws, as we can see over and over, are to submit to man's laws. I know there is a condition to that, and we'll get to that too.  1Pe.2:16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all men. (Even wicked men, we don't have to treat them insolently or contrary. The Bible even says, ‘Love your enemies.' We don't have to treat them insolently, or arrogantly, or rebelliously, or speak evil things. He says, Honor all men.) Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (Listen to this. Honor the king? You know, he didn't say, ‘worship the king' He said, ‘Honor the king.' And the translators believed this not to be the King of kings. We know we're supposed to honor Jesus as the King of kings. This means we're not to be insolent or arrogant, we're not to speak evil of the natural king or president. We are to submit and be respectful. And if we disagree, we must do it respectfully.) I'm going to read Exo.22:28 Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people. (Some are calling him Hitler and antichrist. And as we've seen, this is not just talking about a religious ruler, somebody who's right, or honorable, somebody who is Christian; He says, ‘honor the king.' How many kings do you know of on planet Earth who are born-again Christian people? So, He's talking about the ‘king over you', whether he be a president or a king. Honestly, I think where we're going... that the president will eventually be a king. There just isn't going to be any difference, and anyway, it's somebody who is in a position of rulership, and we're supposed to honor them. Let me share what the apostle Paul said in Act.23:1 And Paul, looking stedfastly on the council, said, Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day. 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: and sittest thou to judge me according to the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? (That was a good point he made, but he called this ruler a whited wall.) 4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? (Paul was right in what he was saying, but this was not permissible, according to what we've just read.) Act.23:5 And Paul said, I knew not, brethren, that he was high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of a ruler (not any particular ruler, but just a ruler) of thy people. So, Paul repented here. He spoke evil of a ruler. It may seem like he had a pretty good reason to do so, but we know the rules. We've read the rules. We know what God has told us already. And he wanted to be seen as respectful by those who are without, because they questioned him. Why would you say this to God's high priest? You're supposed to be seen as respectful to God's high priest. And so Paul knew that he should not give a bad name to Christians, and to not have people revile his God, he backed up and basically said, Okay, I repent.  The word says, Thou shalt not speak evil of a ruler of thy people. And when Paul was basically being interrogated, like in chapters 26 and 24, we read he was always totally respectful to these, what we would all recognize as evil rulers. Why does God do this? Because God doesn't want us to give Him a bad name, or to give Christianity a bad name. He wants us to be seen by ignorant people in the world as somebody who is totally respectful to authority and submissive, not as rebels. Act.26:24 And as he thus made his defence, Festus saith with a loud voice, Paul, thou art mad; thy much learning is turning thee mad. 25 But Paul saith, I am not mad, most excellent Festus; (They were used to speaking respectfully to rulers, even evil rulers,) but speak forth words of truth and soberness. 26 For the king knoweth of these things, unto whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him; for this hath not been done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. 28 And Agrippa said unto Paul, With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian. 29 And Paul said, I would to God, that whether with little or with much, not thou only, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, (meaning, a Christian) except these bonds. In other words, he was showing compassion for their souls, even these evil rulers. He wanted a good witness to go across to them, and he wanted them to have a chance to be saved. We should be the same way. The Bible says, ‘Know no man after the flesh.' We're supposed to see people through the light of the gospel, so every man is given his opportunity to be saved, right? And we want to be a good witness of Christ to every man, to love our enemies, not make enemies. Even as we're going to see people who are recognized as people who have killed multitudes of God's people. Act.26:30 And the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them: 31 and when they had withdrawn, they spake one to another, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. (Would they have said this if he had insulted them?) 32 And Agrippa said unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar. So, his humble representation of Jesus Christ in front of them said that the guy's not guilty and wanted to turn him loose. I think that is a good example of what the apostle Paul did to respect rulers, even evil rulers, even the kind of rulers that crucified Jesus Christ. And as Jesus Himself was respectful to leaders and rulers because He did not want to cause a stumbling block, right? Let me give you another example in Jude 1:8 Yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh, and set at nought dominion, (Notice that) and rail at dignities. (If we had translated that in modern-day English, it would be dignitaries. This is talking about somebody who should be respected. Like a leader high up in government, or in religion, somebody of authority. And then he gives what I think would be an extreme example here:) 9 But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil (He picked the very worst; if it's true of the devil, it would be true with anybody else we ran into, right? So he's making an extreme example here to prove his point.) he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, (So he didn't bring a railing judgment against the devil. Should we bring a railing judgment against anyone? Or should we bring a railing judgment against a leader, or a ruler, or somebody that the Lord tells us we should be submitting to? We don't find anywhere in the scripture of any respectful person railing at authorities. But there are Christians who do it today. And I'm telling you, in some cases, this railing against the government is going to cost them their life because they're in rebellion against God's word, and He said in Romans 13 it would cost them their life. It would bring judgment upon their head. So even Michael, somebody who is a high dignitary himself, the leading warrior angel for God Himself, somebody of no little position. But yet, he didn't even bring a railing accusation against the devil when the devil was contending for the body of Moses.) but said, The Lord rebuke thee. (Michael didn't take the authority to do it. He let the Lord do it.) 10 But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed. (Some people rail at dignities today. People who aren't nearly as lowly as the devil. And they rail at them and speak evil of them. And God is saying here, “Be very careful, because they don't understand that the authority of God is behind this person.” God is the One Who puts anybody in a place of power, according to what we've read in Romans 13, as a minister of His. That's what it says there, a minister. In fact, the word there is diakonos, a deacon. They are a deacon of God. He sent them to do this job. Does that mean they're holy? No, because God's got vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. You have to respect the vessels that He sends to you, who have been given authority over you, even if they're vessels of dishonor. That's the example we see in the Scripture, repeatedly, by every holy man of God. Notice, … these rail at whatsoever things they know not. They don't understand the sovereignty of God in promoting this man over them. The Lord promoted the beast kingdom over His people in every instance. And when people like Mordecai, Daniel, and Joseph were under these people, who in some cases had slaughtered their own brethren, there was total respect in every case because they knew that God had put this person there.  10 But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed. Wow! They're destroyed! So, this is a really dangerous thing to do, especially at the time we're coming to right now. Now let's go to 2Pe.2:9 the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment; (Now, we've been reading about judgment and punishment. And this is going to come upon people because they rebel against the constituted authority that God brought forth.) 10 but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. (What dominion have we been talking about? He's talking about the worldly rulers that He's put over people, even in the case of Satan, despise dominion.) Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities: (Now, why would we tremble? Because God stands behind this person. If He's put them into a position of power over us, and He has, He tells you to submit. Why? Because He's bringing us to our cross. We have to submit. There'll be a day when we will have authority over all of them, but right now, He tells us to submit.) 2Pe.2:11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord. (Those holy angels that are around us who are totally submitted to God, couldn't they bring an accusation against us, just like we try to bring one against some other dignitary? God says this is foolishness. Do you see its foolishness?) 12 But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, (Wow, those who scoff at dominion that God has put over them, He says they are going to be taken and destroyed like animals, like beasts. You want to know why a lot of destruction is going to come to a bunch of what we loosely call ‘Christians' in these coming days? This is one of the reasons right now.) railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, (So, they're ignorant of the fact that God put this person over them and to submit to them.) Well, what about Jesus? Jesus went to His cross. He submitted the whole way, and He didn't give us any reason to rebel or to fight or to take up the sword. He forbade all of that. He said that ‘He that takes the sword, shall die by the sword.' He wouldn't let his disciples take up a sword to defend Him. (Mat.26:52) And when He was before those evil rulers, He didn't resist. He understood this principle of submitting to authority, even the dishonorable. We still represent the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth to all mankind. And they need to see us as people who are humble, submissive, people who do not seek our own will but who seek the good of all around us, including the lost people. Even as Paul was very humble towards those kings, to desire their souls to be saved. And we should be that way even with the most reprobate of leaders that we know of in this country or in any other. We should always have their soul in mind. Today, people take their own authority. They want to rail and fight against the government, thinking that in this way they can stop something from happening that the Bible says is going to happen, which is ridiculous, you know? God Himself is the One Who prophesies that this will happen. And He never tells us that this is against His will. It's a repetition of history. It's happened already before. Railers have caused evil men to shoot at the president.  Don't you know that He can change government if a man is put in there that is totally contrary to godliness and if he's totally immoral? God still put him in there. Let God do what He wants to do, put the man in, take the man out. According to Daniel, He's the only One that does that. Shouldn't we leave that up to God? People are saying today, ‘We're going to take this country back.' You know what? That's rebellion against God. You want to take the country back? Go out and preach the gospel. That's God's method. Let God handle the government. We've been commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to go out and do the Great Commission. You want to take it back, but you're never going to get it back by self will. Now, while you're out there fighting with the government, doing your self-will thing, who's going to be doing what we've been called to do, to actually save people of this system? The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes it. (Rom1:16) That's our job. That's what we need to do. We can give scriptural advice humbley. Let God take care of the government. Let Him rule through the government, and let Him raise up the biggest beast the world has ever seen, because that's what He said He was going to do. Let's just leave that up to God, and we'll just take care of what He told us to do, right? Let's get out of His business, take care of what He told us to do. God bless you, saints. I hope this is helping you understand. So let's look again at 1Pe.2:13 Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; 14 or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well. 15 For so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: (God wants us to reflect the life of Christ-likeness. People need to see Jesus in us. He wants the wicked to know that we are law-keepers.) 16 as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. We're trusting God and His sovereignty through rulers by submitting to them. So, how far should we go, and what examples do we have? We have the example in the Book of Esther. The people of God had been conquered and were under the authority of the Persian Empire, being ruled over by this pagan king. But they wanted their own nation and be ruled by their own people, but they got there because of rebellion. In fact, every time they were conquered by a foreign nation, it was because they had rebelled against the word of the Lord. And today, we're coming into just such a time. So we need to learn our lesson and submit to the word of the Lord.  Est.2:21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate, (the King's Gate is a place of government, and Mordecai was a part of the government. He probably was a representative for the nation of Israel, which was being ruled by Ahasuerus at the time. The King's Gate was also a place of judgment and of counselors.) two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those that kept the threshold, were wroth, and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus.  22 And the thing became known to Mordecai, who showed it unto Esther the queen; and Esther told the king thereof in Mordecai's name. 23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king. (Mordecai saved the king's life from Bigthan and Teresh, who were two of the king's chamberlains who were going to lay hold on the king, and he put a stop to it. This is what they would have considered a pagan king who was ruling over them, a worldly king, keeping God's people in bondage. Mordecai honored the king. In all the things that he did in the Book of Esther, Mordecai was never once anything but respectful of the king and of his governor. And in this case, his governor was Haman, a man who really had an ambition to wipe out the people of God.) Est.3:1 After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. (Now, we're just looking at it in the letter, what actually happened, not spiritually. The king and his governor, and we say, “Well, how far do we go with this honoring the king thing?” Well, I believe we are going to see that next.) 2 And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed down, and did reverence to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not down, nor did him reverence. (In other words, dishonoring the king, things go just so far; we cannot worship anybody but the living God. We cannot pledge allegiance to anybody but if we did it would be the living God. You may say, “Well, how come Mordecai served the king?” Because if you don't obey God's word, you won't serve the king. So in serving the king, you're serving the Master. You're serving the King of kings. He said to obey, to submit to, and to serve the king, and to honor the king. Therefore, if you don't do that, you're not serving God. Now, we come to a place where the king is permitted by God to cross his line that he's drawn in the sand. And that is, we're not permitted to worship anybody but the Lord God. And we're not permitted to take the mark of the beast because that's an identification of unification with the beast and being a member of that kingdom, which we're not. We are in the world, but we're not of the world. We don't belong to the world. And so, the example that we get from Mordecai, as he always spoke well of, he always served, he always respected the king and his governors, but he drew a line and would not step over it. He would not bow down, nor pay reverence to Haman in this case. Est.3:3 Then the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai, Why transgressest thou the king's commandment? (He'd always obeyed the king's commandment before, but now he came to a place where he wasn't going to do it. And we can't either. Read Foxes Book of Martyrs; they would not bow and died rather than bow.) 4 Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew. (Meaning, that he can't worship any other god but the true and living God.) 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not down, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. 6 But he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. (Mordecai believed in the sovereignty of God. He believed he should obey God no matter what the consequences. And the consequences of this were big, I mean, major. He believed that God was in control and that if they submitted to governors and kings, God would be in control. And we should know that. But many teachers of Christianity have destroyed the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Instead of giving in to willy-nilly Arminianism.) So, that's a really good example. We have another one in Daniel chapter 3. This is Nebuchadnezzar addressing the three Hebrews. And they, along with Daniel, had always been totally polite, submissive, and obedient, and yet this is the first time we read that they are rebelling against the king. They were submissive even in this fiery trial. Dan.3:15 Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. (So, one way or the other, we're going to be delivered here. Even if it's through death.) 18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated. (Time, times, and a half a time was three and a half years in tribulations, so seven times is seven years, you see. And this is a symbol, in fact, that Nebuchadnezzar here represents the beast. As we saw in the Book of Esther, in a natural way, that was the head of the beast's kingdom. Some people call him the Antichrist, which is false. He is just the head of the body of the image of the Beast. Both of these were images of the Beast. People would say today, “David, are you saying that we should submit to the Beast?” Yes, in every generation that God's people were taken captive, they were expected to submit, commanded of the Lord, and we don't see any place where Daniel or the three Hebrews were not submissive except in this one thing. The same thing that we saw in the Book of Esther, and that is worship, or bowing down to. There's only One Who is above all, and when they want to carry you across that line, there's always the higher order that we have to submit to, right? And so, yeah, we're talking about the beast here. Some people want to make war on the beast when they see him coming. We don't see that example in the scriptures anywhere. No, remember, God is the One Who is sovereign. He is the One Who has ordained the beast to conquer His people. It is coming because His people need a crucifixion. So God has ordained this. If God's ordained it, who are you to fight against God? We don't have any authority to do this in the Scriptures. We have to submit to God's will, even if it means, like the three Hebrews, going to the cross. Even if it means we physically lose our lives, we submit. We're not going to fight. They didn't fight. We don't see any example of that in the Scriptures. We have a good word in Pro.24:21 My son, fear thou Jehovah and the king; (Fear a pagan king? Yes, because God has put you under His authority. God has given Him power over you. Therefore, we should fear and obey God.) And company not with them that are given to change: (So, anybody that's not going to do this, don't company with them.) 22 For their calamity shall rise suddenly; And the destruction from them both, who knoweth it? Pro.16:13 Righteous lips are the delight of kings; And they love him that speaketh right. 14 The wrath of a king is as messengers of death; But a wise man will pacify it. (We saw how Paul answered the king. It was an unrighteous judgment, but he was humble, submissive, and respectful. He did not rail at the king, as many are doing today.) 15 In the light of the king's countenance is life; (This is God speaking. He's saying that your life is in this man's hand.) And his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain. (That could give you a symbol about what he's really talking about here. In the time of the latter rain, it will be very important to honor the king.)16 How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! Yea, to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver. I want to share something that happened to me and how it relates to this teaching. On our website, we have many articles, and we made a page that was very unflattering, I would say, to the king. And believe me, presidents these days are becoming more like kings because of all the presidential directives they're taking over more power from the balance of powers. And so, this webpage was very unflattering, looking into the psychological problems of this particular king. And I don't know, I just didn't feel right about it. I felt something was wrong, but I really wasn't connecting this teaching. We generally look at the prophetic significance of presidents, and where they could be leading us, and so on, and I didn't think there was anything wrong with it.  So, when I felt nervous about it, and I didn't know why, I asked the Lord to give me a couple of verses. I opened my Bible up, and I just blindly stuck my finger down. And I put my finger down in this very next chapter here of Proverbs 25:6. Remember that number, 25 and 6.  And it said, Pro.25:6 Put not thyself forward in the presence of the king, (I said, Okay, Lord.) And stand not in the place of great men: 7 For better is it that it be said unto thee, Come up hither, Than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince, Whom thine eyes have seen. 8 Go not forth hastily to strive, Lest thou know not what to do in the end thereof, When thy neighbor hath put thee to shame. A lot of people are going to go forth to strive against the beast government. Because they don't understand what God has ordained it to, or what He's ordained it for. Many, many Christians are going to lose their lives because they will fight. God doesn't want you to do that. If any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth. That's what the Lord said. He's got a plan. He wants you to submit. Then, a very interesting thing happened because I asked him to give me another verse. Guess what I got? Another chapter 25 verse 6! Wow, that's significant! What are the chances of that happening? I'd say pretty much a wild chance that that would happen. 2Ki.25:6 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 7 And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon. (That's very interesting. Zedekiah led a rebellion against the king of Babylon. He was commanded to submit by God Almighty, but he didn't and this happened to him. And he represents Babylon, the modern-day kingdom of the United States, over the rest of the world. And prophetically speaking, Babylon was called in Ezekiel 17, the Great Eagle. And in Daniel, it was the head of the image of the beast, the world empire of that day. It had conquered God's people and brought them into bondage. And Zedekiah was their puppet king that they had set up, and he rebelled. And that's very significant. The whole story there is very significant of the days that we're in. But Zedekiah led a rebellion, and the Bible tells us quite a bit about that rebellion.  Jeremiah spoke to Zedekiah in Jer.27:5 I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it unto whom it seemeth right unto me. The Lord is in control. We may want to take control or take political power; we may want to, as some people say, “take America back,” but if God has given the pagans authority over you, and given the rulers of a worldly kingdom authority over you as a Christian, then God's done that. What He's saying is, “I've got authority here, and I've got power, and I give the rulership of this world over to whoever I desire.” And we need to remember that. He raised up the King of Persia to conquer Babylon and to set the people free.  Trying to take power doesn't mean God's with us. God waited many years to promote Trump as a type of the Persian, Cyrus, to conquer Babylon DS and to set God's people free. When has God put a Christian in the head office. I only know of once but the people threw him out shortly after. The Jews tried on their own many times to conquer the beast and failed. God wasn't with the Jews, and He's not with the Christians these days to have political power either. If it were, it would have happened, but it hasn't happened. People who have come into power are quite distinct from Christianity. Does that mean we're supposed to honor them? It certainly does. Just think about Mordecai, and Daniel, and others; we read a story about Paul. Just think about these people and who they were submitting to and what they had done. Think about what the king of Babylon had done here. He had conquered Israel, killed many of their people, and took the remainder into bondage. Verse 6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, (The one-world order. And what did he command God's people to do in Daniel chapter 3? Bow down to the image of the beast. And of course they refused, but many others didn't refuse. But God says He gave them into the hand of this beast.) the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. 7 And all the nations shall serve him, (Beasts are kingdoms. The kingdoms served Nebuchadnezzar and they were a part of the image of the beast.) and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman. (Yes, that is happening for America as a modern-day Babylon. The head of gold that rules over the nations, that has conquered God's people and has brought them into submission. And now our Cyrus is flipping the whole system of Babylon who killed a lot of people. When the people try it on their own they end up like Zedekiah and the people that followed him who lost their lives.) 8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith Jehovah, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. (So God threatened His people that any nation, including them, that didn't serve the king of Babylon, He would use that king to destroy them by the sword, famine, and pestilence. This was because God ordained a cross for His rebellious people and they refused it.)  9 But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: (Zedekiah and his people disobeyed and refused their cross under the beast of Babylon and totally rebelled against God. You're going to hear false dreams, prophecies, and visions from the false prophets. In the next chapter, they said that they weren't going to serve the king of Babylon. Jeremiah said, “Oh, yes, you are, seventy years.” “Oh, no, we'll be free from him in two years,” Hananiah said. Well, these were the same people that were saying they were going to escape the beast and that didn't happen and they didn't fly away either. Here they are, finding themselves in the hands of this beast kingdom, and their prophets are saying, “We're out of here, we're going to be free, we're going to be free from this bondage.” And Jeremiah said, No, it's not going to happen until after 70 years.  So, don't listen to your false prophets, who preach a prosperity doctrine that this is not going to happen to you. After the Man-child ministry begins in Revelation 12, the tribulation beast comes in 13 with the mark. A beast killed the flesh of Jesus and it will do the same with His body. Because this is history repeating.  10 for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. (In other words, God is going to take the side of the beast and use him and His sword, famine and his pestilence to destroy the person that didn't submit, who rebelled against the words that we've already read about submission to the king.) 11 But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, saith Jehovah; and they shall till it, and dwell therein. 12 And I spake to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Jehovah hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? I believe we're coming to the place where God will very plainly demand that His people submit to the beast kingdom. I didn't say worship it, and I didn't say take the mark of the beast. I didn't say pledge allegiance to it, but they will have to submit. He said this to every nation that would not serve the king of Babylon. Jesus taught His disciples that they could flee but they couldn't fight, even to deliver Jesus the Son of God from the Roman beast.  You say, “Well, this is the Antichrist we're talking about.” No, not really. That's a false doctrine. It's not even found in the Scriptures. Let's talk just for a moment about who the Antichrist is. And should we submit to the Antichrist? Let's take the term “the Antichrist” and see exactly what it says. The first thing we find out is that it has nothing to do with what people have been taught through prophecy that it means.  1Jo.4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: (Notice, every spirit, not just a spirit, but every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God.) and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already. (The Antichrist was in the world then. It's in the world now. It has nothing to do with some man coming on the scene now, because it didn't say a spirit. It said every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ. A spirit that does not agree with the Word of God, a spirit that's not renewed by the Word of God. That's the spirit of the corporate Antichrist, every spirit, every lost spirit that's born from beneath is a member of the Antichrist, you see, because their spirit is unregenerate. In the New Testament there is no individual man called the Antichrist.) 1Jo.4:4 Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: (See, there are only two there, those that are serving God and those that are not, Christ and Antichrist. Jesus said, “There are two men in the earth, right? One shall be taken and one shall be left.” (Mat.24:40) It's the body of Christ and the body of Antichrist.) because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. (Antichrist is a spirit that speaks against Christ, (it's ‘anti'-Christ) or in disagreement with Christ, or does not confess, which Greek word means ‘speak the same as' Christ  That spirit doesn't confess Christ. How many Christians don't confess Christ? To the extent a Christian speaks things that are contrary, or in other words, they don't “speak the same as”, they don't confess Christ, they speak contrary to Christ. That's antichrist coming out of them. To the extent that what we loosely call “a Christian” is not submitted to the Word of God and does not agree with the Word of God, to that extent, they're antichrist and will probably take his mark. Now, every lost person is antichrist. Are you going to be persecuted by the antichrist? Well, of course. Anybody around you who is carnal, a Christian or not, everybody around you who's lost, is a member of that body. They all submit to the antichrist spirit. They do not agree with Christ. So, therefore, you say, “Well, I can't submit to this guy because he's the Antichrist.” Well, no, he may be just the head of the body of the Antichrist, like Nebuchadnezzar, like Pharaoh, but what did God say in every case? Submit. The antichrist is also mentioned here. 1Jo.2:18 Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; (So they heard the same thing. Antichrist is coming, and he's correcting them.) whereby we know that it is the last hour. And John spoke of it here, too, in 2Jo.1:7 For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. (Now, listen, the Bible says, If any man speak, let him speak as an oracle of God. Say what the Bible says. The Bible never says the antichrist is an individual. Never. The antichrist is the whole body. The Bible never says the beast is the individual. Although it says every man is a beast. You see? All of them together make up a beast. And when Daniel spoke of the beast kingdoms, he spoke of multitudes of people that were beasts. You see? So, that doctrine is a false doctrine of the letter and not the Spirit. Now, do you have to deal with the king or the president the way the Bible commands? Yes, of course. If not, you're rebelling against the word of God. And then you're not serving your King, ‘capital K”. We have to serve the “little k” kings in order to serve our King, although we do not have to cross that line of worship, right? So, remember that. I think what Jesus said in John chapter 18 here is significant. Let me read this to you. Joh.18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (So, our kingdom is not of this world, and we can't fight either. You know, when Jesus was taken before Pilate, He was submissive. He didn't fight. He didn't grab a sword. He rebuked Peter for grabbing a sword to try to keep him from doing that.  And in Joh.19:10 Pilate therefore saith unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee? 11 Jesus answered him, Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin. (So, Pilate didn't have any power except what God gave him. Nobody's got any power over you except what God gives them. That's why you can totally rest in this whole situation. We have to submit to the ‘powers that be' because it's commanded of the Lord.) This puts us in a position of weakness, does it not? That we cannot fight with our enemies? God has put them in authority over us, and He tells us to submit to them. Let's read Mat.16:21 From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. 22 And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee. (You know, there are people saying today that none of God's people will go through a crucifixion, or go into the hands of the beast, none of them will have to go to their cross. But we all have to lose our life in order to gain our life. That's what Jesus said. I believe what the Lord has shown me very plainly is that if we will willingly give up our life, meaning our soulish life, we will be spared. And if we don't, we will have to give up our physical life.) 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: (See, who is it that's trying to stop us from going to the cross? It's the devil; okay, notice this.) thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men. (Men don't want to give up their life, their psuche, their soulish life, their fallen life, but look at how Jesus responds.) 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Jesus was going to His cross, and He was telling them that they're going to be His followers, they have to do the same thing and they did.  We're put here in the hands of people who've been given physical power over us and vastly outnumber us. And in most cases, it means a spiritual cross. We just submit and obey what the word of God says, even though these people who are, in many cases, obnoxious and persecute us, speak against us, do things against us, and take authority over us. You think that's not right to take away our rights, all these kinds of things. But we're like lambs to the slaughter; in most cases, it's that simple.  In many cases, it will even come down to a physical, denying the Lord in order to escape physical death or else submitting to our cross to have eternal life. In some cases, it will come down to the physical aspect, especially in the days to come, because we've been warned about that from the scriptures.) 25 For whosoever would save his life (That's the word psuche, soulish life, I'm not talking about physical life.) shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life (that's psuche again) for my sake shall find it. (We're speaking about the higher life, the zoe life. God is going to give us the greater life if we will give up this carnal life, the soulish, or self-life.) 26 For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? 27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds. (He wants us to take up our cross and follow Him, and if necessary, even to death, like the three Hebrews who were already dead to self so the beast could not kill them.) 1Pe.1:20 who (speaking of Jesus) was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake, 21 who through him are believers in God, that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God. And in 1Pe.2:20 For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, (In other words, unjust suffering. The whole world's going to turn against Christianity, turn against the most peaceful people on this earth. And many are going to see it as very wrong, very evil, and they're going to be tempted to react to that. But listen to what the Lord says.) ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For hereunto were ye called (We were called to suffer for the name's sake.): because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: (Wow! Well, Jesus went to the cross, gave His life, so that we would be able to give our life. You see, we were crucified with Christ. (Gal.2:20) What was accomplished there was the crucifixion of this old man. But now, it's being manifested as we walk it out.  22 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: (We're going to have to turn the other cheek and love our enemies, to give a soft answer and give answers that show respect. They need to see Jesus in us, somebody who's not retaliating or fighting. Have you ever seen Christians who like to threaten people? I have; I see them all the time. They're very self-willed, and some of them are very angry. But we're told, Rom.12:19 Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord.  1Pe.2:24 who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. (So even this sin of self-will, of rebellion against God, if we will repent, if we will confess it, if we will give up our anger, there's forgiveness.) If you don't believe that Christianity has been rebellious against God, you haven't been reading the Bible. The more you read it, the more you accept what it says, the more you're convicted that we have failed God, and we've rebelled against Him. You learn about the crucifixion of the self-will, and you see self-will is a total rebellion against God. God is going to have a holy people. One way He's going to do that is through persecution. The persecution and the tribulation that's coming is going to do a great work in purifying God's people, in delivering God's people, a powerful work. God's people are going to be holy through what we go through, especially if you will submit to the crucifixion, if you will treat the leadership of this world the way we see in the examples we've looked at.  We're saved by grace through faith. We should submit and put our faith in God as Jesus did, and let God be the Judge. He is Sovereign. Please read our book Sovereign God for Us and Through Us. It will give you such rest and peace to understand God's plan that He is in control of the nations, the wicked and all the people around you. You can rest in Him. You can put your faith in Him. He is your Savior. He will deliver you through death to self, sanctified, meet for the Masters use. He will give you a fear of the Lord, so that you will respect His Word, so that you will obey His Word, even when your flesh doesn't want that. God bless you.

James 4:2–3 reminds us of a simple but often overlooked truth: sometimes we don’t experience what God offers because we don’t ask for it. In seasons of stress, responsibility, and духов pressure, it’s easy to rely on our own strength instead of turning to God for the grace we desperately need. Yet His grace isn’t limited—it’s available, sufficient, and meant to sustain us daily. Highlights We often miss out because we don’t ask God for what we need God’s grace is available daily—but requires dependence Stress can tempt us to rely on control instead of surrender Right motives matter when bringing requests to God God meets us in weakness, not in self-sufficiency Prayer is the pathway to experiencing sustaining grace His strength becomes evident when we reach our limits Have an idea for our newsletter? We want to hear from you! Take our survey below: Take Our Survey! Do you want to listen ad-free? When you join Crosswalk Plus, you gain access to exclusive, in-depth Bible study guides, devotionals, sound biblical advice, and daily encouragement from trusted pastors and authors—resources designed to strengthen your faith and equip you to live it out boldly. PLUS ad free podcasts! Sign Up Today! Full Transcript Below: Diligently Asking for God’s Sustaining Grace By: Emily Rose Massey Bible Reading:“…You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:2-3, ESV). When we are taking steps in obedience to God, the resistance to moving forward grows stronger, and it feels like we are treading through mud just to take a step. My husband, Paul, and I have been experiencing this since we started leading a new ministry at our church, while juggling all the rest of our responsibilities, caring for our boys, and our own individual lives. Even though it’s exhausting and sometimes discouraging when things feel so chaotic and stressful, I must remind my heart that our God is stronger and will use whatever seems to be standing against us (especially our own sinful flesh!) to grow and deepen our faith and sanctify us. But this doesn’t mean it isn’t painful or that I am quick to learn how to depend on Him!Personally, I am working on resting in the new mercies of today and being quick to repent and ask for forgiveness. I feel like I have failed a lot in my behavior towards Paul and my boys these last few weeks. I don’t want to blame it on hormones and lack of sleep (although I know this adds fuel to the fire, so to speak). Because God’s grace is available to me. But am I asking for it diligently? Probably not as much as I should.If His grace is truly sufficient (and it is), do I live like I’m dependent upon it daily and praying without ceasing throughout my day? The book of James is a wonderful guide for believers. In chapter 4, we discover that we must protect our hearts from worldly thinking. Often, when we are trying to take control of our lives and not rest in God’s grace and provision daily, we resort to either neglecting God’s ever-present help or asking God with wrong motives:“…You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:2-3, ESV). James 4 merely tells us that if we want something, we should ask God for it rather than resort to sinful means. It stands to reason that there are some things that we will not get unless we ask for them, but if we ask, we will receive them. So, if there is something that we want, we need to ask. Christians should be praying and asking God, especially for His supernatural grace. Intersecting Faith & Life:Instead of trying to control what feels so uncontrollable in our lives and allowing our circumstances to dictate our mood or behavior, let us boldly come to the throne of grace and ask our Father for His unwavering and sustaining grace. He is faithful to provide. We must remember that God’s grace is sufficient and that He is our ever-present help in times of need, but sometimes our actions do not reflect these truths. It’s much easier for us to either complain about our stressful, difficult circumstances or take matters into our own hands to fix or change what seems to be causing us to feel so overwhelmed. We must remember to come to the Lord and ask for His grace when we have reached our limits. The Lord is so faithful to provide all things that we need because He is a gracious Father who cares deeply for His children. Let us approach Him as His child today, boldly and humbly asking for His sustaining and powerful grace to carry us through each challenging moment. He is so faithful in every season, especially in the difficult ones. When you feel weak, remember that it is a good thing- that is precisely when you will experience His power and strength that will sustain you and carry you through it all! Further Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Hebrews 4:15-16 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Audio Transcript Today. And I’m going to be preaching a message from the Bible in order that we would hear God speak to us. So the passage that we’re going to be studying is First Thessalonians. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and open up to the Burke, the book of first Thessalonians. It’s like right in the middle of the New Testament. So there’s Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and there’s first and second Philistines, Thessalonians. And if you don’t have a Bible, there should be some blue Bibles in, around on the chairs. You can grab one of those and open up. Because I’m just going to be reading through this passage verse by verse as I preach through it. So first Thessalonians, chapter 5. I’ll be reading verses 1 through 11. Here’s what the word of the Lord has for us today. Says now, concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. And they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. And we are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet. The hope of salvation for God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. Please pray with me and we’ll get started. God, thank you that you speak through your word, even through the folly of man like me. God, I pray. Please keep me from error and help. Help me to speak what you have for us this morning. And I pray, Lord, that you would give each person here a heart to receive your word and ears to hear what you are saying. And so God meet with us here as we look at your word and study it together. In Jesus name we all pray. Amen. Okay, so before I jump into this passage, on the day of the Lord, I’M going to read to you two different poems that are written in the 1800s concerning the return of Christ. And each of these are from two different perspectives of when Christ returns. So just listen to these poems. This first one is called the Advent by Christina Rossetti. It says, watchmen, what of the night? The stars are dim and the morning is at hand and we must watch for him. Watchman, what of the night? The night is long Wait till the day star arise with shout and song. Where are the lamps? They are trimmed and burning bright. Where is the bridegroom? He cometh in the night. Is there a cry? Yes, there is a sudden cry the bridegroom is at hand, his hour is nigh the bridegroom comes, he comes to claim his own. The winter is quite past and the flowers are blown the time of singing birds is come at last the night is wearing out and the day is past. It’s the first poem. Here’s the second poem. That’s called the Food. Foolish Virgins by Alfred Tennyson. Here’s what it Late, late, so late and dark the night and chill Late, late, so late but we can enter still Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now, no light had we for that we do repent and learning this the pride groom should Surely we’ll relent Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now no light so late and dark and chill the night O let us in, that we may find the light. Too late, too late, ye cannot enter now have we not heard? The bridegroom is so sweet O let us in. Though late to kiss his feet no, no, too late, ye cannot enter now now both of these poems speak of the sobering event that is the day of the Lord. Some will be found awake in the light with their lamps burning bright, but others will be found asleep in the dark. And these poems reflect the somber reality of the parable of the Ten virgins that Jesus. Jesus teaches concerning his coming. And it also reflects what our passage is speaking about today. And when the Son of Man comes, what will he find? Which will you be? When the Lord returns and when we have to give an account for our souls, will you be sober and awake in the light, or will you be drunk and asleep in the dark? My hope is that studying this passage this morning will give you the answer as we study this passage. So that being said, look with me at First Thessalonians, and before I do that, I’m going to give you a little bit of context concerning this passage. So First Thessalonians was written to the new believers in Thessalonica, only a few months after Paul and Timothy had to leave due to persecution. The church at Thessalonica was very young and they were without any leaders. And therefore Paul wrote this letter to encourage the Thessalonian church, to remind them that sanctification in the midst of persecution was God’s will for their lives. And he desired to clear up any confusion about the Lord’s second coming. So about a month ago, I preached on 1 Thessalonians 4, 4 verses 13 through 18, concerning the state of those who die in the Lord, and about Jesus’s second coming, when he will bring his people to himself. The Thessalonian believers at the time were confused about what was happening when a believer died and if they would experience the Lord’s second coming or not. And so in our last passage, Paul affirmed the Thessalonians that, yes, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep, and those who are alive will not precede those who have fallen asleep at the coming of Christ. Rather, the Lord himself will descend with a shout and with a sound of the trumpet. The dead in Christ will be raised first, and then those who are alive will be caught up together with them to always be with the Lord. And so, after clearing up this confusion, Paul now has more to say in chapter five concerning the day of the Lord. And so, before I get into this, I’m just going to mention that some Christians view this passage as a separate event from the gathering of God’s people that is talked about in chapter four, which is known as the Rapture. And so those that view this as two separate events, this is called dispensational premillennialism. And other Christians view the gathering of God’s people in chapter four. And then what we’re about to read here in chapter five as the same event. And this view would be called historical premillennialism. Or there’s also other views that take these two events to be the same one. And so all of these views, both of these arguments that are made from historical premillennialism and dispensational premillennialism, they both have reliable theologians that back behind them with strong biblical arguments. I personally tend to think that this is the same event when Christ returns, based on what Paul describes in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. But I also find myself going back and forth at times. So regardless of your eschatological view, your end time view on this, the main point is that Jesus will return on the day of The Lord, which is what our passage is looking at here. So look with me at verses one through two. God’s word says now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, which side note, brothers here is referring to brothers and sisters in Christ at Thessalonica. Brothers and sisters, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The day of the Lord mentioned here is referring to the great day of God’s judgment upon all mankind. And this will be after the tribulation, when all the earth will be judged and God will melt the elements of the earth in his wrath in order to wipe it clean of all of its evil and make all things new. Second Peter 3:10 says this. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise and the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed for the wicked and the ungodly. This will be a terrifying day, for God is holy and he is a consuming fire against all unrighteousness. But for the righteous who have faith in Christ, the day of the Lord will come with rejoicing and praise to God as justice is established on the earth once and forevermore. And so concerning the times and seasons, that our passage begins with the day of the Lord, Paul says he has nothing more to write to these Thessalonians about this. And this is likely because Paul already taught the Thessalonians that no one knows the times or the seasons when the day of the Lord will occur. Not even the Son of God knows. Only the Father knows when Christ will return and when finality will come to the earth. And so Paul had also taught the Thessalonians that when the day of the Lord comes, it would be like a thief in the night. And so these are chilling words meant to wake up everybody who hears them. And so Jesus himself said that he would come like a thief in the night in the Gospels. And so Matthew 24:40,44 says this. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on the day that the Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready for The Son of man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. So Jesus compares his second coming to that of a thief breaking into a home in the middle of the night. When a person least excited, and this is how the majority of the world will experience the second coming of Christ. It will be sudden and completely unexpected and it will leave each person empty handed before the judgment seat of God. And just as the poem I read to you at the end, there will be a sober reflection that it is too late to now enter in to God’s kingdom with Christ when He comes. And so verse three gives us more insight onto this saying. While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape. Here we learn that there will be a false sense of peace and security before the day of the Lord’s coming. And this sense of peace and security, it will not come from the Lord, but it will be found in the world through one’s possessions or through a trust in the government, or trust in a world leader. It will be a misplaced peace and security. And Jesus taught that just as people were eating and drinking and marrying in the days of Noah, on the day when the flood came and swept them away, so will be when the Christ returns on the night the thief arrives. The world’s false sense of peace and security will not be able to keep them from the hour that their souls must give account to the living God. Our passage says sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains. Just as labor is inevitable once labor has begun, so the sudden judgment of God will inevitably come upon the earth and there will be no escape. These words are terrifying to hear. Just as the words in the poem that I read a couple weeks ago. We had a major storm that rolled through in the area with warnings of severe hail and multiple destructive tornadoes that could roll through the area. And at one point as this storm was going over all of Dane county and all throughout the Midwest, in the middle of the dark clouds and the continuous booming thunder which I think many of you here experienced, there was sirens that began to sound in the middle of the storm and echo across the Madison area, warning that a tornado has been sighted and to seek shelter immediately. Immediately. These verses and others like it that we’re reading here, it’s like the sound of tornado sirens. They are warning all who will listen that impending destruction is coming like a thief in the night, and if one is not prepared and ready for his coming, there will be no escape which is Deeply chilling and sober words in this passage. But to take a shift from this heaviness, we get to verse four. In verse four, we get to some very much so needed Good news. Verse 4 says, but you believers in Thessalonica, you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief, for you are all children of the light, children of the day. We’re not of the night or of the darkness. So here Paul brings some much needed clarification. The day of the Lord is not going to surprise believers as it will surprise the rest of the world. And this is because the Thessalonian brothers and sisters are not in darkness, but instead they are children of the light. Now, what exactly is Paul saying here? 2Nd Corinthians 4, 6, I think gives us a pretty clear understanding of what Paul is saying. And here’s what it says. For God, who said, let light shine out of darkness, he has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So what Paul is saying is the same God who said, let there be light has now brought light into man through faith in him, and Jesus himself is the light of the world. When a person places their faith in Jesus, the light of Christ is made manifest within them as God gives them a new heart and new desires to follow God’s word. Through faith, God’s people become children of the light that they may walk in good works, that the Holy Spirit enables them to do, works that reflect Christ and bring spiritual light upon the earth. And in contrast, the world is described as living in darkness, and this represents spiritual darkness. As people live in rebellion against God and unable to walk in godliness and unable to understand the truth of God’s word. In the darkness, the world rejects God and seeks pleasure without him by living for their passions of the flesh, which results in sin and death. But children of the light, they do not live this way because they have seen Christ and they have come to the knowledge that Jesus is the Lord. And they devote their lives to following Christ and from putting away darkness and putting away sin. Sin hides itself in the dark, but righteousness shines brightly in the light of day. God’s people are not of the night or of the darkness any longer. They have turned from darkness and now live in Christ’s glorious light. And because God’s people live in the light, they know Christ and they know Jesus is going to return. Therefore, God’s children will not be surprised or caught off guard when Christ arrives. They will be ready with lamps burning in the night, and they’ll be ready to meet their groom and be brought to his side. Those living in darkness, they ignore the warnings and do not expect or desire the day of the Lord to come, which is why it surprises them. But God’s people, they hear the tornado sirens and they turn to Jesus for shelter by the grace of God. So children of the light live in the day where they expect their Savior to return, and their hearts long for his coming to make all things new, where darkness and sin will rule no longer. And so, that being said, my first application from this passage for believers here is, live as children of the light. If you have faith in Christ, the light switch, the spiritual light switch in your life has been flipped on. No longer do you live in darkness where sin is your master, Jesus is your master, Jesus is your guide in this day. His Word is a lamp to your feet that you may walk in a different way from how the world walks and stumbles in darkness. Because you are children of the light, you’re gonna look different. And that is actually okay. Jesus wants us to live differently and to shine our light bright so that others may see our good works and glorify our God who is in heaven. The time for dwelling in darkness is over for the believer, and the time for living for Christ in the light has just now begun. So, so, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, just like the Thessalonians, live as children of the light, for you no longer live in darkness. You are free to walk in the light of Christ and good works that glorify him. Moving on to verse 6, it says so then 6 and 7 says so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and sober. For those who sleep, they sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. And so if anybody here is already starting to fall asleep a little bit, this is to you, go ahead and wake up, be sober. Don’t let my sermon put you to sleep. No. So Paul here, he’s like, further emphasizing the difference between believers who are children of the light and then non believers who are living in darkness. Paul says that those who are living in the dark spend their time sleeping at night and getting drunk at night. What’s important here is that Paul isn’t talking about what physical sleeping and drunkenness does. He’s actually using these as metaphors to communicate that unbelievers are spiritually asleep and drunk. And as they live in darkness, so those living in the darkness without God and without the light of Christ, spend their time spiritually asleep at the wheel. Sleep and drunkenness are both states where reality is distorted and one is not able to fully understand what is going on around them. Unbelievers are oblivious to spiritual truth that is found in God’s word through faith in Christ. They have no awareness of what God’s will is for their lives or any true understanding of that Jesus is going to return and demand an account for their soul. Instead, they live in sin and drown out God’s truth through being intoxicated with what the world has to offer. But Paul, as already pointed out, that’s not who we are referring to. Believers. We are not of the night or spiritually asleep at the wheel. Rather, God’s people are alive and are awake. Therefore, let us not hit snooze on the things of God and sleep spiritually as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. Highlight underline Circle this in your Bibles because I think this is the most important application in our passage today. Keep awake and be sober Because God’s people are children of the day and understand the will of God and they understand the will of God and that Jesus is going to demand an account for the way that we live. So we must keep spiritually awake and remain spiritually sober. As I said before, the day of the Lord being related to a thief in the night is meant to sound the alarm in our minds and nudge God’s people to stay awake and to be alert. Time and history is moving towards one end and that is the day of the Lord. Today, if you find yourself distracted by things of the world or just like kind of living on autopilot going from day to day, then hear the word of the Lord to you this morning. Keep awake and be sober. God has work for you to do today to honor him and to point others to Christ so that they may turn from darkness into light. Be aware of God’s will for your life and be ready for Christ to return so that when he does, you may hear him say these good words that are well done, my good and faithful servant. And when I say understand God’s will, I mean his revealed will through His Word applied to each day. So what Christ asks us to do and the ways he calls us to love one another and to love God. If the day of the Lord changes nothing about how you live day by day, you may be spiritually asleep at the wheel and drunk on the world. While I was working at a collegiate ministry in New Mexico called the Christian Challenge, back when I was a young Buck. Shortly after I’d graduated, there was a staff meeting where I was working at this collegiate ministry, and we had to make some big decisions on where we were going to send college students on summer mission trips with our partner missionaries. And one of the partner missionaries actually got kicked out of the country only months before the trips are going to happen. And so, as this happened, there were some other providential opportunities that had presented themselves, but were certainly a large pivot from what the ministry had originally planned for. And so in the middle of our meeting, the director named David, who was sort of a mentor to me, he said something that I will not forget. He said, what is God doing through all this? He didn’t say it out of anger or out of doubt, but he said it in, like, curiosity and in wonder, like, what is it that the Lord is doing among us? In this unforeseen pivot is the Lord closing one door, one partnership, and now opening another to proclaim the Gospel to another nation? And as David asked these questions to all of us in our staff meeting, it kind of just like snapped me out of my narrow focus where I was just thinking, how do we fix this? Where do we send students? But David, he was thinking, what is the will of God in this circumstance? And what is it that God is doing today in my life? What is it the Lord is doing here that we may keep in step with him and his plans so that he would be glorified? Therefore, just as David was awake and sober of the situation, we too should keep awake and be sober and pondering, what is it that the Lord is doing in my life today? For the Lord is among us, and he is preparing to come on that great and mighty day. Do we perceive it or are we asleep? Moving on to verse eight, it says, but since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. Here Paul gives some practical applications for us on how God’s people are to remain sober before the day of the Lord. They do this by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is the hope of salvation. Here Paul attaches these virtues to pieces of armor similar to the armor of God that’s found in the book of Ephesians. And so faith and love are to be central to a believer’s life, like a breastplate and hope of salvation protects one’s mind from fears or doubts, knowing for certain that they are saved in Christ. And so Paul communicates that these pieces of armor keep a believer soberly aware of God’s will and his truth in their lives. These three virtues are mentioned together in other letters as vital virtues that work together in one’s life as they walk with Christ. For one’s faith angers oneself to Christ, bringing salvation and sanctification that results in good works. One’s love grows their affection for God and for their neighbor to fulfill the greatest commandment. And one’s hope of salvation spurs them on towards what lies ahead, knowing salvation is guaranteed through the finished work of Christ on the cross. Each of these virtues are a gift from God, and each of them keep a believer soberly fixed on Christ and on his return. So moving to verses 9 through 10, God’s word gives us an incredible truth to end on. So verse nine look with me in your Bibles it says, for God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him. Now, talking about God’s wrath is generally an uncomfortable topic. Therefore, the day of the Lord is not an easy day to process, and this passage is not easy to process. For the day of the Lord is when God’s wrath is poured out on all ungodliness and wickedness on the earth. But throughout this passage, Paul again and again affirms God’s people that the day of the Lord will be different. For those who have found in Christ, the day of the Lord won’t surprise them like a thief in the night. You are not children of darkness or of the night. You are not asleep or drunk on the world. You are alive, awake and sober. Children of the light. Why? Verse answer gives us why. For God has not destined his children of wrath. Sorry, his children of the light for wrath, but he has destined us for salvation through Jesus Christ who died for us and now is alive. This is such a sweet assurance to hold onto. It is a verse that you could memorize and really meditate on day by day because its promise is so sweet to God’s people. And it is my last application from this passage Christian remember, you are not destined for wrath, but for salvation through your Lord Jesus Christ. Even when life is difficult or you’re enduring something that is really heavy or difficult in your life. Hear God tell you this morning I have not destined you for wrath, but for salvation in Jesus Christ. For God’s people who believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, judgment and wrath are not what God has in store. Instead, a beautiful inheritance awaits God’s people, forgiveness of sin, new hearts that beat for God, new lives that are restored and made whole, a new glorified body, joy in the presence of Christ, peace that endures, love that never fails, and eternal life with God and with his people that will never end. That, Christian, is what you are destined for through faith in Christ. Verse 10 also affirms what Paul had previously said in chapter 4, that those who are asleep, which Paul is now no longer talking about, the same sleep as those in darkness, but those who have died with faith in Christ, those who have died and are now asleep as believers, they are also destined for salvation. This means that whether you are awake with faith in Christ or asleep from death with faith in Christ, you will live with Christ in His presence. Death cannot change what God has done for his people. Whether awake or asleep, you are destined to live with Christ in the end when he returns. And if you’re here and you know you are walking in darkness apart from God, then I have some really, really good news for you. All people are born into this world, living in darkness, asleep to the things of God and drunk on the distractions and pleasures of the world. All of us here in this room begin this way. We are separated from God and deserving God’s just wrath that deals with evil, evil that is within us. Yet a light has dawned on the earth in the form of a man. And this man was God himself. He performed many signs and wonders in fulfillment of the scriptures. And he lived a perfect life without sin and with his pure and righteous life. This God man willingly love. He laid down his life for you and for me on the cross. He endured the wrath of God so that all who believe in him by faith could be brought from darkness into light. He bore our sins. He paid our penalties on the cross so that man could be reunited with a holy God and become children of of the light. This God man, this is Jesus the Christ who has died for us. And if anyone, including today, anyone here, turns away from their sin and believes in Jesus as the Lord of their life for the forgiveness of their sins, they will be forgiven and new life will begin in the the light. That’s what happened to the Thessalonian believers when they turned from idols to serve the living God. And it can happen for you if you will believe. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Our passage then ends on verse 11 that says, Therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing so. My final encouragement to you from this passage is the exact same thing. Red Village Church Continue to encourage one another here that the day of the Lord is coming near and keep encouraging one another to stay awake and to be sober. Keep building one another up through faith and love and hope that is found in the salvation we have in Christ. Remind one another that God has not destined us for wrath, but for salvation in Christ. Keep sharing the gospel, keep gathering as the family of God at church. Keep reading your Bible and keep praying to the Lord about all things. Live as children of the light together that God’s kindness and love may be put on display so that many who put their faith in him may be ready for the day of the Lord when he returns. That being said, please pray with me, Lord, this passage is sobering and thinking about your coming. And yet there is great hope that is found in Christ through your finished work on the cross, offering forgiveness and a place of shelter from the wrath that we poured out on the great day of the Lord. And so I pray for everyone here. God, help us to be ready to be awake, to be sober. Help us Lord, to continue in doing the things you call us to for your will and for your glory. And God, if any here do not know you, I pray that today would be the day that they would turn from their sin and put their faith in Jesus as their only hope of salvation and as a means of new life to walk in your marvelous light. And God, I pray, be glorified with the rest of our time as we gather here this morning. In Jesus name we all pray. Amen. The post The Day of the Lord – 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 appeared first on Red Village Church.

Celebrating 60 years for our church on Telegraph Road as we prepare to move to our new location on Tenbrook. Because God is good and ever-faithful we must draw near with joy-filled thanks as we look back over the years our church has enjoyed his blessing and presence in our current location, even as we prepare to move to our new location. I. Seven Exhortations to Give Joyful Thanks vv 1-4 (1) Loud Singing (2) Glad Service (3) God's Presence (4) The Knowledge of God (5) An Open Gate to Growth (6) Growth in Gratitude (7) Growth in a Life Centered on God II. The Foundation of Our Gratitude (1) The Character of God - His Goodness - His Steadfast Love - His Faithfulness to All Generations (2) An Inter-generational Faith

In this episode of Don't Miss This, Dave Butler and Grace Freeman study Numbers 11-14 , 20-24, 27 and step into the journey in the wilderness, a story that reveals what it looks like to follow God through seasons of waiting, wandering, and becoming. As the children of Israel move forward, they are guided by a cloud by day and fire by night, learning to trust God's timing in every step. Yet along the way, distractions begin to rise. Complaining replaces gratitude, fear overtakes faith, and comparison clouds their perspective. Again and again, they face the same choice: will they see their circumstances through fear, or will they trust in what God has already shown them? Through stories of manna, Moses' burdens, the spies in the promised land, and the brazen serpent, we see a powerful reminder that what we look at shapes what we experience. The people who focused on fear missed the promise, while those who chose faith saw possibility. And in one of the most striking moments, the Lord invites them to simply look to be healed, pointing forward to Jesus Christ and the power of His saving grace. This episode invites us to consider how we are seeing our own lives. Because God has always been determined to bless His people, even in the wilderness. The question is not just what we are going through, but how we are choosing to see it. When we learn to look to Him, we begin to recognize that even here, even now, He is leading us toward something promised. Chapters: 00:00 INTRO 04:55 Guidance by the cloud and fire 09:22 Moses feeling overwhelmed and tired 11:34 Identifying your support network 14:53 Miriam and Aaron's jealousy of Moses 16:43 Miriam's wake-up call 22:02 Caleb's faith and perspective 25:41 Lessons from the promised land story 29:26 Renewing Faith and Overcoming Temptation 32:00 Moses and the bronze serpent 34:08 Jesus offers spiritual healing 38:17 Balaam's talking donkey adventure 40:43 Balaam's story and blessing Israel 45:15 The priestly blessing explained 47:17 Wrapping up and social media links Sign up for the Don't Miss This newsletter at www.dontmissthisstudy.com #dontmissthis #comefollowme NEWSLETTER LINK: The Don't Miss This video, the prayer poster, and tip-ins for kids, teens, couples and individuals can all be found in this week's newsletter. Sign-up link in bio if you haven't had a chance yet!! www.dontmissthisstudy.com Instagram: @dontmissthisstudy Podcast: Don't Miss This Study Facebook: Don't Miss This Study Follow Grace Instagram @thisweeksgrace Follow David Instagram: @mrdavebutler Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrdavebutler/ Subscribe to the Don't Miss This App https://www.dontmissthisstudy.com/app

There are sins that shock us. And there are sins we commit while feeling righteous. The Fathers place condemnation among the most dangerous of all, because it disguises itself as discernment, zeal, clarity, moral seriousness, concern for truth, or defense of virtue. It allows the soul to remain dark while imagining itself full of light. The monk in Tyre publicly takes the prostitute Porphyria by the hand to save her soul. He does not protect his image. He does not manage appearances. He does not consult public opinion. He risks slander to rescue a human being. The city immediately does what cities always do. It interprets evil. It invents details. It delights in scandal. It spreads rumor as if rumor were truth. This is the ancient world. It is also the modern one. People love condemnation because it relieves them of repentance. If another is filthy, then I feel cleaner. If another is hypocritical, then I need not examine my own hypocrisy. If another has fallen, then I may remain standing in my own imagination. The Evergetinos says something brutal and true: corrupt people readily believe corrupt things because they assume others are like themselves. The suspicious man is often revealing himself more than exposing anyone else. The monk bears this slander silently. He saves the woman, has her tonsured as a nun, entrusts her to the monastic life, and accepts years of false judgment. Only at death does God vindicate him through the miracle of the burning coals. Why then? Because God often waits until the end to expose the blindness of men. How many people have we judged who were secretly dear to God? How many motives have we misread? How many stories have we narrated from fragments and vanity? Abba Isaiah brings the matter into ordinary life. You need something from your brother. Instead of asking simply, you brood. You resent that he did not anticipate your need. You accuse him silently. The Elder says plainly: you are the one at fault. This is devastating because so much of our inner life is built on unspoken expectations. We punish others for failing standards we never voiced. Then we call ourselves wounded. St. Maximos the Confessor goes deeper still. Whoever busies himself with the sins of others has not yet begun repentance. Not advanced repentance. Not deep repentance. Begun. This means many religious people who speak constantly of the failures of the Church, society, clergy, family, culture, and enemies may not yet have entered the first room of spiritual life. They know outrage. They know commentary. They know denunciation. But they do not know repentance. The Gerontikon exposes another horror. A brother obsessed with impurity suspects two monks of sin. The Elder says the passion is in him. This is ascetic psychology of the highest order. What we compulsively detect in others often reveals what is active in ourselves. The lustful see lust everywhere. The proud detect pride everywhere. The deceitful suspect hidden motives everywhere. The bitter interpret everything through offense. They are reading their own soul onto the world. Abba Poimen adds one of the fiercest counsels in the tradition. Even if you think you touched the evidence with your own hands, do not be quick to condemn. The brother who thought he discovered fornication found only two bundles of wheat. This is not comic relief. It is revelation. You do not see clearly. You think you do. That is the danger. The section on St. John the Merciful reveals another blindness. We know the public sin. We do not know the secret repentance. The one we condemn today may already be weeping before God tonight. The one whose fall we discuss may already be rising while we remain unchanged. And here is the sharpest word of all from Abba John the Short: there is no greater virtue than not disparaging others. Why would he say this? Because the man who stops condemning is finally free to begin working on himself. The modern world feeds on accusation. Social media monetizes it. News cycles depend on it. Religious factions organize around it. Whole identities are formed through shared contempt. The Fathers would call this mass demonic pedagogy. You become what you repeatedly contemplate. If you feed daily on the faults of others, you slowly become a soul incapable of compunction. So what is the path? Speak less. Assume less. Ask plainly. Interpret slowly. Pray for the one you are tempted to judge. Return attention to your own sins. Let hidden things remain hidden unless duty truly requires action. And if genuine wrongdoing must be addressed, do so with sobriety, evidence, tears, and fear for your own soul. Here is the fierce conclusion: The soul that needs others to be guilty in order to feel innocent has not yet met God. Because the one who has stood honestly before God loses appetite for condemnation. He has too much to repent of. The Fathers do not ask you to become naive. They ask you to become clean. And cleanliness begins when you stop making a home for suspicion. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:02:57 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 5 Volume III - section 3 00:22:10 vanessa s (vanessa s): My daughter was supposed to go to Israel this summer but Air Canada cancelled all flights due to security issues. 00:22:20 vanessa s (vanessa s): :( 00:27:45 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 5 Volume III - section 3 00:35:22 Julie: Our Imagination can trick us when we start judging …our senses can be hijacked by our Assumptions 00:35:38 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Our Imagination can ..." with

Preaching from Lamentations 3, Prof Frank Macchia reminds us that even amid the devastation of Jerusalem's fall, God's mercies never ceased towards His people. When all hope seemed lost, His compassion remained new every morning. Because God is love, He cannot cease loving. So Jesus forever altered His existence and took on flesh in order to reconcile humanity to God. He entered into the depths of our despair to redeem and restore us into the circle of love in communion with God!

There is power when a specific name is called on. Hypothetically, let's say we're on a boat in Bali, charting to the island of Nusa Pineda. If you hear me say, “Girls, come over here”, you would think, “hmmm, am I a girl? Yes – she wants to show me something and maybe it's something great I don't want to miss. But let's say we're on that boat in Bali, chartering to the island of Nusa Pineda for great adventures and you hear me say, “NURSE!”, you know that means something totally different. That means if you're not a nurse, this doesn't apply to you. But that means if you are a nurse, I need you to come quickly and help with a medical situation. That's all in the calling of a name. The name defines who is needed. You have many names perhaps. Friend, daughter, honey, mom, nurse, teacher … and each calls to you in a different way. For a mother, the sound of “Mom” turns every head in the grocery store. I'm Mom – what do you need? How can I take care of you? Now think about God. He reveals his different names to us for a reason – he wants us to call on him for who we need. The more you know his names, the better you can call on him and the more you can trust him. Remember, this study of the names of God comes from Psalm 9:10, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O LORD, do not abandon those who search for you.” So far, we've studied 5 of the names of God. Let's do a review. Episode #2100: YHWH – The name you've always known since your first breath. A name not spoken, but rather breathed. LORD Episode #2101: Adonai – Lord, Master. The one responsible for you. Episode #2102: Elohim – Creator. The one who makes a new way when there is no way. The one who is making you new. Episode #2103: El Shaddai – God Almighty. The one whose hand is in everything and pours out his blessings on you. Episode #2104: Yahweh Rapha – The Lord who heals you – but not just your body, your mind, your heart, your relationships. Your entire life finds healing in him. Now, today, the 6th name of God revealed by God himself in scripture. A name he wants you to know so you can call on him in a very specific. A name he gives you so you can trust him more. Today's name is likely one you've never even heard of. A name that is very hard to pronounce, so together we're going to learn something new. Repeat after me – Mehhh Ka Desh Kem Together, Mehhh-ka-desh-kem. A name that tells you that you belong to him and he is actively shaping you. A name that gives you identity, value, worth, confidence and rest. A name that tells you to stop performing, stop trying to achieve so hard, stop trying to bend and contort yourself into perfection, and trust Yahweh Mekaddishkem to do his work in you. Is that what you need today? Girl, you don't have to figure this all out – you don't have to force anything – and you don't have to perform to please the Father. He's actually already done the work for you. We find this name in Exodus 31:3, but you won't see it in your English translation Bible. Without studying the original text of Hebrew, you'll completely miss this name God has shared of himself. Here's what you will see in your Bible: The LORD then gave these instruction to Moses: Tell the people of Israel: ‘Be careful to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sing of the covenant between me and you from generation to generation. It is given so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” The LORD who makes you Holy in Hebrew was YHWH Mekaddishkem. Mekaddishkem comes from the Hebrew root “qadash” which means to sanctify, set apart, and to make you holy. So, what God is saying to his people here is I AM THE ONE WHO MAKES YOU FOREVER GOOD ENOUGH. It is my work in you that makes you holy. It's on ME to sanctify you. What does it mean that God will sanctify you? That's hard to explain isn’t it? What does that really look like? My friend, it's this simple and this incredibly unbelievable – You, in your totally flawed and imperfect state within the human condition are set apart for God's divine purpose and he is progressively and continually working on you to be more and more like Jesus. That is something you simply cannot do yourself, no matter how hard you try. What God is revealing to his people here isn't some unreachable complex theology, it's an identity shaping truth meant specifically of this people. YOU BELONG TO ME AND I AM ACTIVELY SHAPING YOU. You are “becoming” in me and through me. And who you're becoming is who he always created you to be – a girl who reflects Jesus! That's holy. That's sanctified. That's forever good enough. Your holiness is not self-produced. Think about God in his infinite and perfect ways – think about his unimaginable creation of the Universe all by just his spoken word – think of his power to do absolutely anything he wishes at any time – now really, do you think there's anything YOU could do that would impress HIM? Never. So, you can't stop trying to perform and earn your way to God's good graces. He's already declared you as worthy of his love. He's already claimed you as his dearly beloved Daughter of the Dance. You've already been set apart because of what HE did, not because of anything YOU have ever, could ever, or would ever do. You are set apart by God – you are different – you are HIS! This wasn't your responsibility. Your change, your growth, your newness comes from a source – that source is GOD – not you. You don't first act holy to be set apart. No, you are set apart, and once you understand that as your identity, you naturally begin to live differently. That's God's active, ever present, holy work happening IN YOU. You can't manufacture this holiness, you can only receive it. Open your hands and receive it. For real, open your hands right now and just receive his holiness. He's set YOU apart to be made holy by HIM. My sister, trying harder isn't your answer. Have you noticed all your efforts continually fall short. You know what gets you where you need to be? SURRENDER. You can't manufacture what God is trying to give you. You can only receive it with that open, surrendered hand and heart. Old Testament was about what you could do. Rules, laws, rituals, ceremonies, cleansing, sacrifices … and God's people continually messed that up. We simply couldn't get it right. We couldn't make ourselves holy. So, that's what our Jesus did for us. We're no longer a slave to continually trying to do the right thing. It's no longer about what you can do and what you can’t do – it's solely about WHO you belong to. This is belonging, and God says, “YOU BELONG TO ME – NOW I WILL MAKE YOU HOLY. I ALONE WILL SANCTIFY YOU.” Because God is the one who sanctifies you, you can know that your failure simply isn't in the way for him. You may stumble, God says that's all part of the process, and this is HIS PROCESS. Surrender and trust him along the way. Now, in closing, notice specifically where this revealing of God's name, YWHW Mekaddishkem comes – it comes after God gives his people the sabbath – a day of rest in his covenant with them. A day where he says, “Stop working. Stop striving. Stop trying to fix everything, and just rest in me. Let me work.” Is that what you need to hear today? Rest is part of the process of you becoming everything God desires of you. Will you trust God enough to STOP sometimes? Will you trust God enough to rest from the work too? YHWH Mekaddishkem means: God is not waiting for you to become holy – He is already committed to making you holy. He is actively sanctifying you. Stop trying to fix everything and start yielding to the one who is shaping you. You can trust YHWY Mekaddishkem completely. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

God doesn't just visit.He dwells.And He meets us where altars are built.In this message, “Where God Comes Down: It's Time To Rebuild The Sacred Altars,” we're invited to rediscover a pattern seen all throughout Scripture—God reveals Himself where people intentionally make space for Him. Altars were never about routine; they were about surrender, remembrance, and real encounters with God.Over time, it's easy for those spaces to be neglected. What was once sacred can become distant. This message calls us back, not to empty practice, but to a life marked by intentional surrender and consistent connection with God.In this sermon, you'll hear about:What altars represent and why they matterHow surrender and devotion create space for God to moveWhy what's been neglected needs to be rebuiltWhat it looks like to prioritize God in the everydayThis message invites us to examine what we've allowed to fade—and asks a personal question: What needs to be rebuilt in your life so God has a place to meet you?Because God still comes down.But He meets us at the altar.

Do We Call What is Holy "Sin" (and What is Sin "Holy") When I was first a believer, I had a very strong view of what was right and what was wrong. I had a sense that anything I was uncomfortable with was definitely wrong. After a lot of of life…and sadly time away from Jesus…and God healing and redeeming my journey, I've come to realize that there are things I am uncomfortable with, but are not necessarily sin. And there are things I am comfortable with that aren't sin necessarily. -- Quote from a recent Coaching Program graduate: The program is great! I love the focus on self-growth, personal responsibility and spiritual practices that unlock God's love in our heart and the heart of our spouse. God truly used this program to change my life... I have a softened heart toward my wife now. I desire to love her the way God desires. I went from a miserable and sexless marriage to a wonderful and passionate sex-filled marriage! -- Because you and I are not meant to be led by what's comfortable. We are meant to be led by the word of God. Today, I want to tackle some really important topics that will help, I think, clarify topics and themes that often trip Christians up. And it makes people love each other less. In your marriage. And your friendships. And your schools. And your workplace. We want to be defining our life in our direction. We do not want to be defining how we should behave and what we should do and what we should think simply because it's the opposite of what the world does. We need to define ourselves by what God wants us to be doing. So today, I'm hoping that when you listen, you will gain a level of freedom in your heart and thoughts that you maybe didn't have before listening. Because God calls us to freedom. In our relationships, in our thoughts, and in our hearts. That's why he came to set us free. And I want that for you. Let's get into it. Blessings, Belah PS - Make the appointment today. Schedule a free Clarity Call (before Coaching prices increase!) PPS - Here is a quote from another recent Coaching program graduate: My biggest marital struggle was resentment and poor communication. I was so unhappy. My husband is my best friend, and I didn't want to be around him or be intimate...[Now,] our communication is so much better.I learned to be vulnerable which showed him I trust him. In return he feels safe to be vulnerable with me.  

Read Online“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.” John 6:53–55Human reason and free will are the most precious natural gifts God gave us. They are what separate us from every other animal. Human reason enables us to think critically, understand concepts, and arrive at conclusions. Central to our human reason is our free will, which enables us to act upon the conclusions we reach or to reject them, choosing instead to follow our disordered appetites and misguided desires. Though human reason was wounded by Original Sin, it was not completely destroyed. We must diligently strive to act rationally and in accord with our common sense, adhering to the natural law that God has written on our souls. However, even though a rational approach to natural law will bring us a long way toward right living, it is not sufficient to lead us into the deeper truths of eternal salvation, promised to us in Jesus' discourse on the Bread of Life, on which we have been reflecting.By natural reason alone, the Eucharist makes no sense. How could that which appears to be a piece of bread be the “Flesh of the Son of Man” and a cup that appears to be wine be His Blood? Yet when we incorporate divine revelation into our reasoning, the Eucharist as the Flesh and Blood of Jesus, the Son of God, makes perfect sense: “...my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.” The Eucharist makes sense, but only when we listen with faith to the revelation Jesus gave to us. Today's Gospel provides the clearest teaching we have ever received on this Precious Gift.Today's Gospel begins by relating that “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?'” (John 6:52). They were quarreling because they were not opening their human reason to the light of Jesus' revealed truth. In this exchange, the Eternal and Incarnate Son of God was speaking a divine truth to them. Jesus spoke clearly and plainly, but their minds remained closed. They heard His words, but they closed themselves off to the Father's Voice, which testified on Jesus' behalf that all He said was true. It seems that some who listened began to understand and believe, prompting the quarrel among them.When you read our Lord's words, what do you hear? Do you hear the Father's Voice in the depths of your conscience, confirming the truthfulness of what you read? Do you hear the Living Word of God echoing within your mind and soul? Do you allow that Word to inform your human reason so that you can conclude that the Eucharist is real, that it is the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God, offered to you so that you can share in eternal life? No amount of human study or intelligence alone will ever convince us of divine truths. God alone can convince us, but only if we listen to His Voice.Truths of faith, such as our belief in the Eucharist, must be more certain than any other natural truth we believe. No rational person would deny the reality of the physical world we see with our eyes or touch with our hands. The noises we hear, the food we taste, and the aroma we smell are all judged as real because we believe what our five senses perceive. When our consciences perceive divine truths, those truths are more certain than all sensory knowledge. Why? Because God is the one directly communicating to us. Reflect today on Jesus' crystal-clear teaching on the Eucharist. We must hear and understand what He said. Our faith in the Eucharist must become certain. Allow the Father's Voice to resonate within your mind so that you are more certain that the Eucharist is the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God than anything else you believe. Strengthen your faith, knowing that His Flesh and Blood bring you to eternal life. My Eucharistic Lord, I believe that You gave Your life for the salvation of all and that the gift of eternal salvation is given to us through the Sacraments. I believe that the Eucharist is Your Flesh and Blood, Your Divine Essence. Please strengthen my faith so that I am more open to the abundant grace You wish to bestow through this Precious Gift. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: The Feeding the Multitude by S. G. Rudl.Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.