POPULARITY
4 episodes with before god
4 episodes with before god
3 episodes with before god
6 episodes with before god
3 episodes with before god
5 episodes with before god
2 episodes with before god
3 episodes with before god
2 episodes with before god
We're launching a brand new sermon series called Revival Ready! In this opening message, Pastor Chris unpacks what it truly means to prepare for a move of God. Revival starts with a posture of humility, repentance, and surrender. Before God brings renewal, He calls us to return to Him.
Before God was involved, a whale was a scary sea creature, after God, it became Jonah's submarine, Before God was involved a lion was a scary animal, after God got involved, the lion was Daniel's roommate! Listen as Pastor Andrew reminds us that God always changes our perspective! Psalm 25:4-5 4 Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
Before God can build something through you, He must do something in you. In this convicting message, Pastor Corey Erman teaches from Haggai 1 on the call to Consider Your Ways a challenge to align your priorities, put God first, and make room for His glory in every area of your life.To support this ministry and help us reach the nations with revival visit RiverWPB.com or text GIVE and any amount to (855) 968-3708.
Pastor Kevin unpacks Elijah's story to show how faith overcomes fear. Discover why God's past moves build today's courage and how listening to His voice can shift your focus from fear to faith. It's time to step out of the cave and into God's purpose.Scriptures Referenced1 Kings 18:39-45, 19:3-18; Psalm 46:1-7; 2 Timothy 1:7; Galatians 5:1; James 2:26; Revelation 12:11Key InsightsSometimes God will move immediately; other times, there is a waiting period.The move of God yesterday lays the foundation for faith-action today.The most powerful part of your testimony isn't about you.Fear doesn't need a lot of evidence. It just needs a small voice with the right lie.Before God speaks to your fear, He will minister to your need.God wants us to respond to His voice, not the chaos all around us.Prayer TargetsPlease join us in prayer for:A hunger for the Word.Tears for the lost.Testimonies to share.Get sermons delivered automatically: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Pocket Casts | YouTube | Your Favorite Podcast AppWe would love it if you would consider joining us in person for one of our Sunday gatherings.Gathering TimesSundays, 9:00 AMSundays, 11:00 AMThursdays, 6:00 PMContact InfoSpringhouse Church14119 Old Nashville HighwaySmyrna TN 37167615-459-3421 Additional ResourcesConnect online: Download our appVisit our website at SpringhouseSmryna.com.Subscribe on YouTubeGiving: Online tithes and offeringsJoin us online: LivestreamLearn what we believe.Find out what ministries we support.Discover Springhouse Theatre CompanyCCLI License 2070006
Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song and Praise
Third Sunday after Pentecost June 29, 2025 Faith, Okemos I Kings 19:15-16, 19-21. Psalm 16, Galatians 5:1, 13-25[26], Luke 9:52-62 The apostle Paul wrote, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 …it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me… [And these words from Paul's letter to the church in Rome: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death. So that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life…So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:3-4, 11] As I was preparing this week for a small group study of the life and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I thought a lot about his vocation as a pastor in Germany in the 1930's and 40's, about his participation in the escalating resistance to Hitler's Nazi regime. Dietrich came to believe that Christ truly lived in him and that Christ Jesus living in him did battle with the forces of darkness within his own soul and within the soul of the nation he deeply loved. My brothers and sisters, I believe that Jesus living in Dietrich also lives in now each of us. Know that in our restlessness and fear in this troubling time, Jesus is doing battle in and with us against our leanings toward despair and anxiety and cynicism, against our leanings toward disgust and hatred of other sisters and brothers perhaps in all three branches of our government with whom we may have come to increasingly distrust and despise. I think of the huge budget reconciliation bill now before Congress, a bill affecting countless of the poorest, the most vulnerable among us, a bill negatively affecting our efforts to conserve and preserve the Earth. Members of Congress and we whom they represent could easily give way to what St. Paul includes in what he calls “the works of the flesh”: heightened strife, anger, quarrels, dissensions, and factions. But if it is really true that “it is no longer [we] who live, but rather Christ Jesus who lives in [us]”, then our hearts, our words, and our behaviors radically change. Then these beautiful words increasingly become who we are: people of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But let us make no mistake: as long as we live in a fallen world, we remain vulnerable to speaking and acting badly, even in a congregation so full of love as this one we so cherish. In uncertain, stressful times we could can be nasty or at least indifferent to each other. We could hurt one another even if unintentionally, whether we are young or old, whether new or long-time members. That was certainly true in the little church in Galatia. Harsh, ill-considered, judgmental words and behaviors toward one another threatened to irreparably break the bonds of love and kindness that held them together, wounds that effectively muted their witness to God's mercy and grace. The little church in Galatia and our congregation in Okemos, Michigan did have this in common: the same crucified and risen and healing Jesus Christ who lived in the Galatian congregation 2000 years later also lives in us. They were then and we are now the very presence of Christ! Individually and collectively, we are called to be the very presence of Jesus in this time and in this community whenever our love for one another and for our neighbors especially in Meridian Township is clearly expressed. But when these Galatian sisters and brothers sinned against each other, and if and when we sin against one another, this same indwelling God who spoke plainly and firmly in their hearts through this little letter to them from Paul, now speaks words of judgment plainly and firmly in our hearts. Christ Jesus dwelling in their hearts, this Jesus, through the Holy Spirit who convicted them of their sins, now truly dwelling in our hearts, will convict us of our sins against each other. But Jesus, the Son of God, gave them, and now will give us both the courage and the humility to repent, to put to death our pride and stubbornness, and to ask for forgiveness from those we have hurt. It has been and it will be a wonderful thing to be part of a congregation where members can courageously acknowledge to one another their lack of kindness or patience or gentleness or self-control. It has been and it will be a wonderful thing when we can say to one another, “Please forgive me” and to hear back, “I forgive you.” It is a wonderful thing when we regularly practice confession and forgiveness with one another! This practice may be the most primary, most powerful, deepest witness we can give to our own families, to our neighbors, to a country, to a world so divided, so full of hate. Confession and forgiveness “levels the playing field.” In it no one of us is either higher or lower than any of our siblings. Before God we are all sinners. And in Christ Jesus, we are all saints, truly cleansed and forgiven through Jesus' death on the cross for us. Until we reach our heavenly home heaven, we will always be both sinners who need to repent and saints who have been forgiven. There is great freedom is this dual reality. We are set free from having to prove how good we are, how much better or better behaved we are than others, how surely “we are right” and “they are wrong.” At the same time, we no longer need to wallow in guilt or remorse for how awful we are, for how badly and stubbornly wrong-headedly we've lived. Christ in our hearts continually sets us free! Jesus through the Holy Spirit struggles in us and with us and for us to name and dethrone the false gods that deceitfully promise a better, happier, safer life if we only we isolate ourselves, cut ourselves off from people with whom we disagree or whom we regard as beneath us. I want to witness to our life in following Jesus, who is our Life, who day after day resides in our hearts, a life that keeps getting richer and richer. I want to share a little of what that was like in my own life this past week. Just days ago Janet Boyer was on my mind. I called her and rejoiced with her in her gratitude to God for still having her voice after major thyroid surgery performed dangerously close to her vocal cords. Then I think the same day, I was asked to see Jane and her daughter and some close friends. Jane, a member of Immanuel, Grand Ledge, was in hospice care, just hours away from her death. Together we prayed and hugged and commended Jane into God's eternal embrace. Then I privileged to be with a developmentally disabled young man in jail who as I was leaving promised to pray for me as I for him. Then on Thursday evening Phylis and I were with a very crowded church in Grand Rapids, blessed by the presence of Nadia Bolz-Weber, a very down-to-earth, unpretentious ELCA pastor, who testified of the unending grace of God even in and from her mother's womb, the grace of God through years of drug addiction, and to this day sharing the beautiful fruits of the Holy Spirit with countless people who were lost… Nadia sensing even in her darkest hours that Jesus was not far from her. She could echo the words of St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live but it is Christ who lives in me.” With her we sang many songs that evening, songs including these two verses of Amazing Grace… I believe that experiences like those given to in these last few days…expressions of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, given and received, are meant to be experienced by all of us, all of us in whom Jesus dwells, all of us whom Jesus calls to courageously follow him for the rest of our lives. Please sing with me “Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song” [ELW 808] Amen. JDS
Before God ever gave the world a prophet, a king, or a pastor—He gave the world a father. Before there were positions, platforms, or pulpits —there was a garden…and in that garden, God planted a man. Not as a ruler to dominate, but as a reflection of Himself— A cultivator, a protector, a name-giver…Fatherhood is sacred. Not just functional. Not just biological. Not optional. It's part of the Very Good design of God.
This Episode is a recording of a message delivered at First Baptist Church of Massillon on Sunday, May 4th, 2025. Notes No guest today. In addition to my work at WeddingChaplain.com, I am also a local church pastor. In May 2025, our church went through a series called "No Ordinary Family." For the first part of the series, I discussed my passion for wedding ministry and my book, Before God and These Witnesses: How to Start a Marriage Ministry to Save Your Church, Reach Your Community, and Change the Culture While You're at It. I share some of my favorite stories from my wedding ministry over the past twenty-five years: the good, the bad, and the crazy. I also call for our church and others to re-engage the wedding world. Churches should be the central place couples turn to when they get engaged. The church should own the wedding industry, not watch from the sidelines. The link on Amazon to purchase a copy of the book is here: https://www.amazon.com/Before-God-These-Witnesses-Community/dp/1662876270 To visit the First Baptist Church of Massillon Website: FBCMassillon.org For more on David Anderson or WeddingChaplain.com David Anderson's Linktree Profile The Wedding Chaplain Website Find the Wedding Chaplain on social media: On Facebook On Instagram Twitter: @weddingchaplain On LinkedIn On Pinterest Sponsor: EWed Insurance
In this message, Pastor Marco explores the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac. Before God would use Abraham to father many nations, He first tested what was in Abraham's heart. God was more concerned with who Abraham was becoming than with what he was called to do. Like Abraham, we shouldn't just ask God, “What should I do?”—but instead, “Who am I becoming?”
Generation Tux Show Notes Today's guest is Jessica Garrabrant. She is a Showroom Manager for Generation Tux in Columbus, Ohio. Generation Tux is the leading online rental company for Tuxedos and Suits. Jessica will discuss her role in the company and how the tuxedo rental process has evolved over the years. She will share how Generation Tux strives to make the process easy. We will discuss renting versus buying, suits versus tuxedos, styles, and the best choices for both indoor and outdoor ceremonies. And as a bonus, Jessica will tell us about their new Dog Tuxedo line in partnership with the ASPCA. Generation Tux website: https://www.generationtux.com For Generation Tux social media accounts, please find them all linked below: · Instagram · Facebook · Pinterest · Twitter · TikTok · Youtube To visit Jessica's store in Columbus, Ohio, click here: https://generationtux.com/showrooms/columbus Generation Tux is offering listeners of the Wedding Chaplain Podcast a special 20% discount. Email David at david@weddingchaplain.com to get the promo code. For more on David Anderson or WeddingChaplain.com David Anderson's Linktree Profile The Wedding Chaplain Website Pick up a copy of David's Book, Before God and These Witnesses, today: https://www.amazon.com/Before-God-These-Witnesses-Community/dp/1662876270. Find the Wedding Chaplain on social media: On Facebook On Instagram Twitter: @weddingchaplain On LinkedIn On Pinterest Sponsor: EWed Insurance
“I know the plans I have for you…to give you a future with hope.” That's a popular Bible passage, giving hope to people who are in a hard times, but it's only half of the story. Before God gives this promise, God says to settle down and make homes and families there – in this case, in a foreign country as refugees. Our faithful actions now – even if they seem small and insignificant – are part of ushering in God's promise of a future with hope. This message is presented by Pastor Sarah.The Scripture lesson comes from Jeremiah Chapter 29, and our Gospel is from John, Chapter 21.
Before God's Gone May 11, 2025 Psalm 61 Exodus 13:21-22 Exodus 33:7-11 Numbers 9:15-23 1 Kings 6:1, 11-13 1 Kings 8:10-11 Mark 15:37-38 John 1:14 Acts 1:2-8 Key PointsFrom the very beginning, [...]
Before God does something through you, often times he will do something in you. Before Peter and John saw the lame man healed in Acts 3, Acts 2 happened. They sought the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room, and the Spirit showed up, filled them up and sent them out. Listen as Pastor Joel walks through the story in Acts 3 to unpack 6 challenges in following a Holy Spirit prompt.
Today's guest is Kayla Satava. Kayla is a dance instructor at the family-owned Prestige Ballroom Dancing Studio in Northeast Ohio. While she teaches all kinds of dance classes and programs, today we are talking about engaged couples getting ready for their first dance. When the DJ announces at your wedding, "The bride and groom will begin their lives together with their first dance," what will you do? Kayla does not want you to leave one of the most important parts of your special day to chance. This will be the first time all of your loved ones see you together on the dance floor as husband and wife. Kayla talks about practicing and preparing for this big moment. Kayla and her dad also teach a Marriage Enrichment Dance Program. A healthy and happy marriage requires trust, patience, and great communication skills, which are also needed to be a good social dancer. Many couples use dance lessons to reconnect with each other, and these classes are set up to do just that. Prestige Ballroom Dancing Website: https://www.prestigeballroom.com/ Facebook (Hudson Studio): https://www.facebook.com/PrestigeBallroomHudson/ Facebook (North Canton Studio): https://www.facebook.com/NorthCantonBallroom For more on David Anderson or WeddingChaplain.com David Anderson's Linktree Profile The Wedding Chaplain Website Pick up a copy of David's Book, Before God and These Witnesses, today: https://www.amazon.com/Before-God-These-Witnesses-Community/dp/1662876270. Find the Wedding Chaplain on social media: On Facebook On Instagram Twitter: @weddingchaplain On LinkedIn On Pinterest Sponsor: EWed Insurance
Teacher: Adam Barnett Responsibility – the state or fact of having a duty (an obligation requiring loyalty and faithfulness). We carry the responsibility of sharing God's love and truth with others (through word and deed). We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. - 2 Corinthians 5:20a An ambassador is the highest-ranking diplomatic officer, designated by a government as its resident representative in a foreign land. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 1) Promise: you will receive power. 2) Person: the Holy Spirit. Before God sent the Church into the world, He sent his Spirit into the Church. "Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But with the Holy Spirit, the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you." - Corrie ten Boom “Without the power of the Holy Spirit, our work will be drudgery. With it, it becomes a joyful task, a refreshing service.” - D.L. Moody 3) Purpose: to be a witness. “The church is closed today due to lack of power.” 4) Place: intentional and spontaneous. But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. - 1 Peter 3:15 5) Prayer: trust God with the outcome. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. - 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
Before God made you, he imagined all you could become. He had a clear imagine of you at your fullest potential, then he went about forming you individually, equipping you with every strength, gift, talent, attribute, trait, and passion to one day become all he imagined. Genesis 1:27 “So God created human beings in his […]
Before God used Gideon to defeat Israel's enemies, He told him to tear down the idols in his own home. This message is a challenge to every believer: are we standing against the culture—or quietly blending in? We talk real about sin, courage, spiritual warfare, and what it means to follow Jesus when it costs something. If you've ever felt the tension of truth versus acceptance, this one's for you.
Before God used Gideon to defeat Israel's enemies, He told him to tear down the idols in his own home. This message is a challenge to every believer: are we standing against the culture—or quietly blending in? We talk real about sin, courage, spiritual warfare, and what it means to follow Jesus when it costs something. If you've ever felt the tension of truth versus acceptance, this one's for you.
Today's guest is Ken Blackman. Ken is a relationship coach, speaker, educator, and author of the upcoming book Powerful Woman, Confident Man: The New Art of Loving Passionately and Building a Resilient, Fulfilling Relationship. Ken's calling is to guide couples through intimate human connection. Using truth, transparency, and compassion, He shows committed couples how to co-create a relationship that uniquely serves them. Ken and I discuss what engaged couples can do now to avoid problems years from now. We also discuss warning signs in engaged couples that will not disappear after marriage. I ask Ken to unpack his central theme, empowered Intimate Coupledom. Ken's Website: https://kenblackman.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kenblackmancoach/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KenBlackmanPersonal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KenBlackman For more on David Anderson or WeddingChaplain.com David Anderson's Linktree Profile The Wedding Chaplain Website Pick up a copy of David's Book, Before God and These Witnesses today: https://www.amazon.com/Before-God-These-Witnesses-Community/dp/1662876270. Find the Wedding Chaplain on social media: On Facebook On Instagram Twitter: @weddingchaplain On LinkedIn On Pinterest Sponsor: EWed Insurance
The abundant life isn't found in our work for God. It's found through God's work in us. Before God can work through us, He must work in us. The abundant life is a life of eternal value with supernatural power, freedom, victory, and liberty. In John 10, Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd. He guides us in how to live an abundant life, fully surrendered to Him. When Jesus talked about an abundant life, He was not talking about material prosperity or promising an easy life. Following Jesus can be very costly, but He is the only place where we find true freedom and satisfaction. The abundant life is the resurrected life! The power of resurrection only comes by way of a crucifixion. The abundant life is not found through commitment but through consecration. Consecration is more than commitment; it's about a crucifixion. You are consecrated to whatever you're willing to die for. Are you consecrated to the Good Shepherd? The abundant life is the obedient life. Following Jesus means trusting the Good Shepherd enough to do whatever He says to do. Through Jesus, you can have more than an average life. You can have an abundant life! ● Connect with us on Social Media ↴ Facebook: / abundantlifels Instagram: / abundantlifels ● Connect with Pastor Phil ↴ Facebook: / philhopperkc Instagram: / philhopper_kc Web: https://livingproof.co/resources/books/ ● Learn more about the A-Life Discipleship Journey: https://alife.livingproof.co/ More information on our sermons: https://livingproof.co/sermons/ Do you want to see your life changed by Jesus? Visit our website: https://livingproof.co/ #AbundantLife #Sermon #Jesus #John1010 #GoodShepherd
To see the POWER of God 1. Recall the PROMISES from God2. Recognize the PREPARATION to GodBefore God accomplishes his purposes through his people, he always prepares the hearts in his people.3. Respond and be PROACTIVE for God With God the smallest step of faith can activate the mightiest of miracles.4. Remember the PRESENCE with God5. Realize the PEACE of God--------DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH RON MOOREGet Ron's Daily Devotional to your inbox each morning; visit biblechapel.org/devo.CAREGIVINGDo you have a need we can pray for? Do you need someone to walk alongside you? Do you know of another person who needs care? Let us know at caregiving@biblechapel.org.GROWTH TRACKWe all have a next step - what's yours? To learn more about our Growth Track and to take your next step, biblechapel.org/connect.
Before God moves He instructs His prophets to give instructions to His people at various locations throughout biblical history. Old Testament 1.Mount Ararat – Noah was instructed to build the ark (Genesis 6:13-22). 2.Haran – God instructed Abram to leave his country (Genesis 12:1-4). 3.Mount Moriah – Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-14). 4.Egypt – Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dreams and gave instructions to store grain (Genesis 41:25-36). 5.Mount Sinai (Horeb) – Moses received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-21). 6.Wilderness of Paran – The 12 spies were sent to explore Canaan (Numbers 13:1-3). 7.Plains of Moab – Moses gave final instructions before Israel entered the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 31:1-8). 8.Jericho – Joshua was instructed on how to conquer the city (Joshua 6:2-5). 9.Bethel – Samuel warned Israel against choosing a king (1 Samuel 8:10-18). 10.Zarephath – Elijah instructed the widow to make bread during famine (1 Kings 17:8-16). 11.Mount Carmel – Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and gave instructions for sacrifice (1 Kings 18:30-40). 12.Nineveh – Jonah instructed the people to repent (Jonah 3:1-10). 13.Jerusalem – Jeremiah warned about Babylon's invasion (Jeremiah 25:1-11). 14.Babylon – Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dreams and gave divine guidance (Daniel 2:24-49). 15.Exile in Persia – Ezra and Nehemiah instructed Israel on rebuilding the Temple and the city walls (Nehemiah 2:17-20). New Testament 16.Bethlehem – An angel instructed Joseph to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus (Matthew 2:13-15). 17.Jordan River – John the Baptist instructed people to repent and be baptized (Matthew 3:1-12). 18.Galilee – Jesus instructed the disciples on the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). 19.Road to Damascus – Jesus instructed Saul (Paul) to go into the city (Acts 9:3-6). 20.Antioch – The Holy Spirit instructed the church to set apart Paul and Barnabas for mission (Acts 13:2-4). 21.Philippi – Paul instructed the jailer to believe in Christ for salvation (Acts 16:30-34). 22.Corinth – Paul was instructed in a vision to keep preaching despite opposition (Acts 18:9-11). 23.Patmos – John received instructions for the seven churches in Revelation (Revelation 1:10-20).Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sendme-radio--732966/support.
In Part 3 of our Community series, we explore the power of unity and how it sets the stage for God's anointing, breakthrough, and presence in our lives. Looking at 2 Samuel 5, we see how Israel's unity at Hebron led to fresh anointing, new territory, victory over the enemy, and the return of the Ark of the Covenant. Unity isn't just about getting along—it's about making space for God to move. When the church is unified, we're positioned for greater impact. Before God expands a church, He unifies it. Before God moves in our lives, He calls us to unity. What could God do in your life if you truly pursued unity in your heart, home, and relationships? Join us as we unpack how unity fuels the miraculous and why division is one of the enemy's greatest weapons against the church. Don't miss this powerful message! From Sunday 02.23.25
Before God even created the world, He already had a perfect plan: He would send His only Son to die for us because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. When we choose to accept His gift of salvation, He writes each of our names in the Book of Life. He's calling us to Himself so that we can be saved from the destruction of this world's end, and spend eternity with Him.
Before God even created the world, He had a perfect plan already in place that the blood of Jesus would wash away our sin because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. His plan included each of us, His followers, by name in the Book of Life, and He is calling us to Himself so that we may be saved from the destruction of this world's end and spend eternity with Him. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/640/29
Jezebel is always in close proximity to God's chosen ones. He or she has come to manipulate, control, distract, and destroy. This person is no stranger, but a character in your close network... friend, family, and even spouse/companion. Before God elevates you, you must be able to assess who your Jezebel is and manage them accordingly. You and I can only serve one God, therefore it's essential we remove them from any positions of influence or dominance. Be discerning, be disciplined, be blessed- not stressed.
Today we will finish our study in Luke 10. From thiswonderful chapter we have learned from the sending of the seventy (vv. 1-16),that we are to be ambassadors for Christ. We are His representatives,“standingin His stead, beseeching people to be reconciled to God through the blood ofHis cross”(2 Corinthians 5:18-21). From the story of “Good Samaritan” (vv.25-37), we are taught that as Christ followers, we should be “good neighbors”. Weshould be willing to take the time from our busy life to stop and help theperson closest to us that has a need of any kind. Now in these last verses of Luke 10, we are reminded not toforget that the most important thing that we are to be is worshippers (vv.38-42). Before God calls us to go as ambassadors, or serve in the house(church), He calls us to worship Him. We were created for the purpose ofworship! Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:23-24,“But the hour iscoming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spiritand truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, andthose who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." You can't help but notice, especially when you study theBook of Revelation, that all of heaven and eternity is about worship. In theopening scene of heaven in Revelation 4:8-11, we find the “four livingcreatures” never resting day or night, as they give glory and honor and thanksto Him who sits on the throne saying,"Holy, holy, holy, Lord GodAlmighty, Who was and is and is to come!"Then the twenty-four eldersfall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives foreverand ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:"You areworthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created allthings, And by Your will they exist and were created." And Revelation 5:13-14 ends with another worship scene! Yes, we are created to worship. And for sure we willworship God, or we will worship someone or something else. If we are notworshipping God, we are worshipping ourselves, money, sports, cars, houses,work, or anything that consumes our attention, time, and pocketbook. The devil,just like he did with Jesus in Luke 4:1-12, will do everything he can to distractus from worshipping our Father in heaven, and many times it is with very goodand legitimate things. Martha got distracted with her service to Jesus! She was doingsomething that was very good and commendable. But Jesus pointed out that shewas “worried and troubled about many things(v. 41). Mary received Jesusinto her home and then neglected Him as she prepared an elaborate meal that Hedid not need! Certainly a meal was in order, but what we do with Christ is farmore important than what we do for Christ. Remember, it is not an either/orsituation; it is a matter of balance. Mary had done her share of the work inthe kitchen and then had gone to "feed" on the Lord's teachings.Martha felt neglected after Mary left the kitchen, and she began to complain andto suggest that neither the Lord nor Mary really cared! Few things are as damaging to the Christian life as tryingto work for Christ without taking time to commune with Christ."Forwithout Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Mary chose the better, thegood part, the part that could not be taken from her. She knew that she couldnot live "by bread alone" (Matt. 4:4). Whenever we criticize others and pity ourselves because wefeel overworked, we had better take time to examine our lives. Perhaps in allof our busyness, we have been ignoring the Lord. Martha's problem was not thatshe had too much work to do, but that she allowed her work to distract her andpull her apart. She was trying to serve with the wrong spirit! If servingChrist makes us difficult to live with, then something is terribly wrong withour service! Today, are you taking time to“sit at the feet of Jesus”? God bless!
In the Christian life, faith can be seen in two ways. First, there is the single act of faith in Jesus that results in our salvation (John 3:16; 6:40; 20:31; Acts 4:12; 16:31; Eph 2:8-9). This refers to our justification before God and is a one-time event that is never repeated. Justification is declared because God has imputed His righteousness to us at the moment we trusted in Jesus as our Savior (Rom 5:17; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9). This results in our eternal salvation and is conditioned only on faith in Jesus (Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16), for “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Act 4:12). Second, after being born again, God calls us to a walk of faith where we continually trust Him at His Word and obey His directives (2 Cor 5:7; Heb 10:38; 11:6). The walk of faith focuses largely on what we think (Rom 12:1-2), say (Eph 4:15; Col 4:6), and do (Jam 1:22). God's Word sanctifies us as we walk by faith in Him (John 17:17), and this glorifies Him and advances us to spiritual maturity. Justification sets the ground for sanctification, but does not guarantee it, as the Christian must possess positive volition and make ongoing good choices that are rooted in divine viewpoint. Some believers, like the prodigal son, may turn to a sinful lifestyle. Faith that Justifies us Before God Our righteous standing before God starts the moment we believe in Jesus as our Savior. This is the Jesus of Scripture and history, and not a fake Jesus like those taught by Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, or one we create in our imagination. Jesus is the second Person of the Trinity; He is God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14; 20:28; Col 2:9). Prior to His incarnation, God the Son was involved in planning our salvation with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father sent God the Son into the world to fulfill a divine mission. God's Word tells us, “The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14; cf., John 4:34; 7:29; 8:29; 20:21). The Father's great mission was to make salvation available to everyone. This act of God was done in love, as it is written, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16), and “He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10; cf., Rom 5:8). The Son agreed with the Father, saying, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38), and “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). When God the Son came into the world and took upon Himself humanity, He executed His mission flawlessly. The divine mission began in time and space nearly two thousand years ago when God the Son took upon Himself humanity. The writer to the Hebrews cites the words of God the Son as He was about to enter the world, saying, “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says [to God the Father], ‘Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, but a body You have prepared for Me'” (Heb 10:5). The third Person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, facilitated the mission by bringing about the hypostatic union within the womb of the virgin Mary (Isa 7:14; Luke 1:30-35; Gal 4:4). The angel Gabriel told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). At the moment of conception in the womb of the virgin Mary, undiminished deity was combined forever with perfect humanity. Eventually, Jesus was born, and God “became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The apostle Paul tells us, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9). God's Word also informs us that Jesus was a Jew, born a son of Abraham, in the line of David (Matt 1:1), the promised Messiah (Matt 1:1, 16-17; John 1:41). Jesus grew in human wisdom (Luke 2:40, 52) and lived a perfectly righteous life before God and man. The record of Scripture is that Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21), was “without sin” (Heb 4:15), “committed no sin” (1 Pet 2:22), and “in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). In His humanity, Jesus walked in perfect conformity to God the Father's holy character and divine revelation. This is important, for Jesus' sinless life qualified Him to go to the cross and pay the ransom price for our sins. Jesus said, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). When the divinely appointed time came for Jesus to go to the cross (John 12:23; 13:1), He went willingly (Isa 53:10; John 10:18). Just hours before the crucifixion, Jesus said to His Father, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). Then He went to the cross and “offered Himself without blemish to God” (Heb 9:14), and “gave Himself for our sins” (Gal 1:4). Jesus paid our sin debt by means of His “precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:19). While on the cross, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor 15:3), and He died in our place, “the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18). Jesus' death on the cross was a one-time event, as He “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time” (Heb 10:12). After Jesus paid for all our sins, “He said, ‘It is finished!' And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). Jesus' death on the cross satisfied every righteous demand of God the Father concerning the payment for our sins (Rom 3:25), for “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Jesus paid the price for all our sins. There's nothing more to pay. After Jesus died, He was placed in a grave and was resurrected to life on the third day (Acts 2:23-24; 4:10; 10:40; 1 Cor 15:3-4), never to die again (Rom 6:9). Because Christ died for everyone (John 3:16; Heb 2:9; 1 John 2:2), everyone is savable. The Bible tells us that God has brought “salvation to all men” (Tit 2:11), that He “desires all men to be saved” (1 Tim 2:4), and is “not wishing for any to perish” (2 Pet 3:9). Once we understand who Christ is, as God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14), and what He has accomplished for us on the cross—having died for our sins, was buried, and raised again on the third day (1 Cor 15:3-4)—we can then exercise our faith by trusting in Him as our Savior. To receive salvation, the unbeliever is told to “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31a). Jesus is the object of our faith. To believe in Christ as our Savior means we trust Him to accomplish for us what we cannot accomplish ourselves: eternal salvation from the lake of fire. Faith in Christ is the only condition for salvation. Faith does not save; Christ saves. Faith is merely the instrument by which we receive the free gift of God, which is eternal life. Though the gift was very expensive for the Lord, it is offered totally free to us, for “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). And it is “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). Only the empty hand of faith accepts the gift. It offers nothing but is open to receive that which is offered by another. God's gift is available to everyone, for “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16), and “he who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47). No payment is required from us to receive it. It's a free gift. The only sin that keeps a person out of heaven is the sin of unbelief, the individual choice NOT to trust in Jesus as one's Savior. The one who rejects Jesus as Savior is judged by God on the sole ground that “he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). These are the ones who “are always resisting the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51; cf. John 16:8), who “do not believe” in Jesus as their Savior (John 16:9), and “are unwilling to come” to Him so that they “may have life” (John 5:40). Those who willingly reject Christ as Savior will, after death, experience eternal separation and punishment away from God for all eternity, for “if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15). This need not happen. Hell is avoidable for the one who trusts in Christ as Savior, for “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16), and “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Salvation is a free gift from God (Rom 3:24; 6:23), offered by grace alone (Eph 2:8-9), through faith alone (Gal 2:16; 3:26; 2 Tim 3:15), in Christ alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), totally apart from human works (Rom 4:4-5; Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5). For lost sinners, the matter is simple: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Once we have trusted in Christ for salvation, God then bestows on us forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43; Eph 1:7), the gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17; Phil 3:9), eternal life (John 10:28), and many other blessings (Eph 1:3). And having entered into a relationship with God through Christ (John 1:12; Gal 3:26), we are then called to a life of holiness and righteousness (1 Pet 1:15-16), as we learn His Word (2 Tim 2:15; 3:16-17; 1 Pet 2:2; 2 Pet 3:18), walk by faith (2 Cor 5:7; Heb 10:38), and advance to spiritual maturity (Heb 6:1). This new walk with God will honor Him and edify others (Eph 4:1-2; 5:1-2). Dr. Steven R. Cook
Before God can use us to impact others, we first need to go to Him for wisdom in using what He's given us. Part of being a follower of Christ is allowing Him to call the shots in every area of our lives -- including our money. When we seek His will first in our finances, He not only blesses us, but He blesses others through us.
Before God created the heavens and the earth, He thought about us. This Podcast is about God's thoughtfulness.
Before God gives the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, He commands that Israel be consecrated. Another word for “holy” to be consecrated means to be pure and set apart, and the consequences are literally life and death. Find out why God calls Christians to be consecrated and what it means to live a holy life for Christ on Earth.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Let's look first today at what Noah did. He literally prepared a wooden box (an ark) to save his family from a rain that he had never seen happen. Therefore, his obedience wasn't motivated by reason or natural understanding. We know it was an act of radical obedience simply because of the enormous size of the ark and therefore the time required to complete the project. Second, let's be encouraged by the fact that Noah prepared the ark in reverence. The Greek word translated reverence here was translated piety in Heb. 5:7. “In the days of His flesh, He (Jesus) offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.” It means both Jesus and Noah received well what God told them to do. It describes an attitude of heart that is devoted to accomplishing the will of God. That's why they both received grace to obey, and God gets the glory. We have been commanded to love one another as proof of being Jesus' disciples. Faith enables us to receive Jesus' commandment well, which moves us to confidently seek God for grace to love for His glory. Third, let's consider why he built the ark. I see two motivations in this verse. God told him to, and he loved his family. So the two motivations were obedience and love. Let's note what drove the obedience and love. It was faith—faith that rose up within him when he heard God speak. But Noah wasn't always a man of faith. In Gen. 6:5, God described Noah along with everyone else on the planet at that time. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Then in 8-9 we find an unexpected declaration. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD…Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.” Noah was like Enoch. God chose to act favorably toward Noah. He didn't deserve it. God's grace to Noah was a favor, an act of 100% grace, not a reward for good deeds. Before God revealed Himself to Noah, every intent of Noah's heart was only evil continually. At some point in his life, God gave Noah faith. He believed he continuously walked in God's presence and that God would reward him if he continuously drew near to Him. It was by faith that Noah built the ark and loved his family. Fourth, Noah inherited the righteousness of Christ, which is given in accordance with faith. If God gives faith, then God gives righteousness. They are a package given in love. If we believe in Jesus Christ and intentionally practice abiding in Him, drawing near to Him for grace to trust and love, then we also are heirs of righteousness. Like Noah, may we receive well God's call to live to love with Jesus. I encourage you to draw near to the throne of grace all day, in every situation and relationship. You are building your ark one plank at a time by faith for the benefit of those you love.
Before God announced His love to the whole world through Jesus, there were 400 years of silence from God in Israel. And then, the angels announced Jesus's birth! Jesus told the world that He came so we could know God's love. God wants to bring you to a new understanding that you need to be saturated in who Jesus is, because Jesus is our very Hope. He brought heaven to earth in Jesus, so that you might experience Him, and know that God dwells in you. You are coming to know that God is doing something bigger and greater in the world—and it's YOU! Jesus came to enlarge God's family, and you are His family! You are living proof that Jesus is alive!
Before God announced His love to the whole world through Jesus, there were 400 years of silence from God in Israel. And then, the angels announced Jesus's birth! Jesus told the world that He came so we could know God's love. God wants to bring you to a new understanding that you need to be saturated in who Jesus is, because Jesus is our very Hope. He brought heaven to earth in Jesus, so that you might experience Him, and know that God dwells in you. You are coming to know that God is doing something bigger and greater in the world—and it's YOU! Jesus came to enlarge God's family, and you are His family! You are living proof that Jesus is alive!
Pastor Matt Surber, of Mission City Church in San Antonio, TX, continues in our Christmas series.Waiting is one of life's hardest challenges, especially when it feels like God is silent. Whether you're praying for healing, financial relief, or a breakthrough, it's easy to wonder if God cares or if He's even there. But God's silence doesn't mean His absence. His delays aren't His denials, and while you're waiting, He's working—often in ways you can't see. Before God works for you, He's working in you, building trust, patience, and a deeper reliance on Him.At just the right time, God sent Jesus to save the world, reminding us that His timing is always perfect. If you're struggling in a season of waiting, take heart: God hasn't forgotten you. He loves you, and He's working all things together for your good. What if the God you're waiting for is waiting for you?Missioncity.church_______________________________Sermon Notes are available at missioncity.church/watch/
As we enter the Christmas season, let's remind ourselves of the name of our God. Before God became flesh and was named Jesus, He went by the name YAHWEH. What does the name YAHWEH tell us about God's character? Join us as we explore that thought.
Faith begins with believing who God is before it believes in what He will do. It is living by the power of Christ instead of self, and that results in answered prayer! Before God does something for us, He will do something in us. You're chosen to bear fruit resulting in answered prayers, not ‘make a wish' petitions. Listen to the short podcast, “Unlocking Impossible Prayer” & find your favorite streaming app for this episode at https://bit.ly/m/Life-Journeys
Before God does something new, He calls His people to prepare. In this series, we discuss what it looks like to be ready for the new thing that God wants to do in us and through us. Connect with us further at storyperu.com
Before God does something new, He calls His people to prepare. In this series, we discuss what it looks like to be ready for the new thing that God wants to do in us and through us. Connect with us further at storyperu.com
Before God does something new, He calls His people to prepare. In this series, we discuss what it looks like to be ready for the new thing that God wants to do in us and through us. Connect with us further at storyperu.com
“Before God shifts you to a higher level, a higher dimension in Him, there will likely be a battle. The battle causes something on the inside to get tougher, your faith to become more prominent. When you fight and win, not only do you gain ground, but you can now keep the ground.” – Carlos Rivera
A Pastoral Perspective Ester 4:14, Matthew 5:13-14, Daniel 2, A Troubling and Forgotten Dream Daniel 2:1-7, Ecclesiastes 5:3, Daniel 2:29, Daniel 2:2, Daniel 2:4, Daniel 2:5, Daniel 2:6-7, The Death Penalty Daniel 2:8-13, Tactful Discretion Daniel 2:14-18, Daniel 11:32, Daniel 1:17, Hebrews 4:16, Exodus 34:6-8,, A Sovereign God Daniel 2:19-23, God is sovereign over v20 wisdom and power v21 times and epochs v21 kings v21 wisdom and knowledge v22 profound and hidden things v22 darkness v22 light Matthew 17:2, 1 Timothy 6:16, Giving God the Credit Daniel 2:24-30, Numbers 12:6-8, 1. v14 Use Discretion and Discernment 2. v16 Unique Boldness Before Rulers 1 Kings 18:15, 3. v18 Unwavering confidence Before God in Prayer 4. v19 Unhesitating Worship of God 5. v28-29 Unrelenting Drive to Credit God Application Point: Live an Uncompromising Life!
Before God does a great work through you, He wants to do a great work in you. Your Father wants you to be secure in him and to draw you close … to show you who He is and to speak to who you are. In this sermon, Brandon Stacey talks about the importance of knowing who, whose and what we are in our fight for the faith. Before we can contend, we need to know we are called by God. His grace, mercy and love calls us and gives us guarantees in our fight.
Ever felt paralyzed by fear despite your skills and experiences? That's exactly where I found myself on my podcasting journey, even with a background in public speaking and broadcast journalism. This episode is all about navigating those moments of doubt and discouragement, drawing inspiration from the biblical story of Joshua. By leaning on God's promise to be with us wherever we go, we can choose courage over fear and fulfill our divine callings. Courage isn't just a solo act, though; it's about living boldly for God in every part of our lives. We'll discuss the vital role of seeking and speaking His truth with unwavering bravery. Let's embrace the courage God offers and step boldly into the lives He has called us to lead._________“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9 NIVSEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives! Where in your life do you face a challenge or have an obstacle? Without a doubt, every one of us has moments and seasons of discomfort, distress and even danger. How do we respond? What character trait defines us? Let's consider what God said to Joshua in this Scripture and “Seek Him” about what He's saying about courage to us!WHAT: What is God saying through this Scripture? Instead of being fearful or discouraged, God wanted Joshua to live with strength and courage no matter where he went. ~ What makes you afraid or discouraged today? According to Matthew 28:20, is God's promise to Joshua true for you, too? WHY: Why does this Scripture matter? Courage is the ability to do what God has called you to do no matter what. ~ What is God calling you to do no matter what? How does knowing God is with you help you face the hard parts of this? HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth? Psalm 31:24 encourages us, “Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord” (CSB). We will find our greatest courage, not in the depths of ourselves, but in the Lord. As we look to Him, our reserves of strength and courage are filled by Him. That's when we're able to live out all that He's called us to do no matter what. ~ How have you been trying to fill your courage tank? How does God want you to fill it? Where is He leading you that will require all the courage you can get from Him?SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! Before God spoke Joshua 1:9 directly to Joshua, Moses had already challenged Joshua with this in Deuteronomy 31:6, saying “to him in the sight of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous…'” Joshua became a strong and courageous leader. Thing is, what we speak into the lives of those God has entrusted to us may be the very foundation that prepares them to hear what God is calling them to. How are you speaking strength and courage into the life of someone God has entrusted to you?______________________The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media. Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org
Now that you've made peace with your past, what is your next step? Are you afraid of repeating failures you've made before? Before God set Joshua out for the new season, God had a private dialogue with Joshua to tell him exactly what he needed to know. Joshua needed to know what he was doing, who he was doing it with, where he was going, and why. But God did not tell him how. God told Joshua only what he needed to know so that he could process and move forward with the same courage he had 40 years prior, the moment he was deemed a failure by human standards but a success by God's standards. Monologue: Autumn's son has the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Brazil. Message: Autumn tells believers the next step of listening and receiving from a loving God to bring you into the new season. Question: “Is it okay if I'm a Christian but my therapist is not?” Praise Report: A listener shares her experience with finding a new church to call home after a divorce from her ex-husband and God restoring a huge part of her life that she thought was gone. Bible References: Joshua 1 Numbers 13:25-14:10 Links from the show BOOKS: www.autumnmiles.com/resources SPEAKING: www.autumnmiles.com/speaking MERCH: autumnmiles.square.site If you have a question for Autumn, testimony to share, or other inquiry for the Autumn Miles Ministries, click here and fill out the form, or send us an email at hello@autumnmiles.com Join us on social media! Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheAutumnMiles/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/autumnmiles/ Click here to join our weekly and monthly newsletters and get updates on our podcast and exclusive content! If you feel led to give to the Autumn Miles Ministries, click here to donate. Thank you for supporting Autumn Miles Ministries!
When facing a new season, there is something missing in our day and age that we need to be doing. We go go go, move on to the next without a thought about anything that's in our past that may still be deeply affecting how we step into the new season. We need to take the nation of Israel's lead and make space to grieve and mourn the bad things, make peace with the things we won't be able to get over, like the death of a person, and celebrate the good things. Before God even called Joshua to lead the nation of Israel into the Promised Land, God gave them a GIFT of time to mourn, make peace, and celebrate Moses' life. What things of your past are affecting how you step into the new? Monologue: Autumn shares her experience with her six week sabbatical and a special gift her husband gave her. Message: Autumn dives into the private conversation God had with Joshua and what believers can take from His words to Joshua. Question: “How do you handle your best friends moving in together when they're not married?” Praise Report: A listener shares how God restored them after she and her husband were victims of a scam that put them in a position of asking for help, endless phone calls with authorities, and facing financial burdens they never faced before. Bible References: Joshua 1 Deuteronomy 34 Links from the show BOOKS: www.autumnmiles.com/resources SPEAKING: www.autumnmiles.com/speaking MERCH: autumnmiles.square.site If you have a question for Autumn, testimony to share, or other inquiry for the Autumn Miles Ministries, click here and fill out the form, or send us an email at hello@autumnmiles.com Join us on social media! Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheAutumnMiles/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/autumnmiles/ Click here to join our weekly and monthly newsletters and get updates on our podcast and exclusive content! If you feel led to give to the Autumn Miles Ministries, click here to donate. Thank you for supporting Autumn Miles Ministries!
For years now, even as headlines about the development of AI have become more frequent and more dire, I really never worried about it much, because I couldn't think of anything in scripture that sounded a great deal like a superintelligent machine. I'd read the end of the book (Revelation), I knew how it ended, and it wasn't in a robot apocalypse... so all the fears surrounding that possibility must therefore be much ado about nothing. (I did write a fictional trilogy for young adults back in 2017 about how I imagined a near-miss robot apocalypse might look, though, because I found the topic fascinating enough to research at the time. It's called the "Uncanny Valley" trilogy, where the "uncanny valley" refers to the "creepy" factor, as a synthetic humanoid creature approaches human likeness.) When I finished the trilogy, I more or less forgot about advancing AI, until some of the later iterations of Chat GPT and similar Large Language Models (LLMs). Full disclosure: I've never used any LLMs myself, mostly because (last I checked) you had to create an account with your email address before you started asking it questions. (In the third book of my series, the superintelligent bot Jaguar kept track of everyone via facial recognition cameras, recording literally everything they did in enormous data processing centers across the globe that synced with one another many times per day. Though at that point I doubt it would make any difference, I'd rather not voluntarily give Jaguar's real-life analog any data on me if I can help it!) Particularly the recent release of Chat GPT Omni (which apparently stands for "omniscient" --!!) gave me pause, though, and I had to stop and ask myself why the idea that it could be approaching actual Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I recently read a book called "Deep Medicine" by Eric Topol on the integration of AI into the medical field, which helped allay some potential concerns--that book contended that AGI would likely never be realized, largely because AGI inherently requires experience in the real world, and a robot can never have lived experiences in the way that humans can. It painted a mostly rosy picture of narrow (specialized) AI engaging in pattern recognition (reading radiology images or recognizing pathology samples or dermatological lesions, for instance), and thus vastly improving diagnostic capabilities of physicians. Other uses might include parsing a given individual's years of medical records and offering a synopsis and recommendations, or consolidating PubMed studies, and offering relevant suggestions. Topol did not seem to think that the AI would ever replace the doctor, though. Rather, the author contended, at the rate that data is currently exploding, doctors are drowning in the attempt to document and to keep up with it all, and empathic patient care suffers as a result. AI, he argues, will actually give the doctor time to spend with the patient again, to make judgment calls with a summary of all the data at his fingertips, and to put it together in an integrated whole with his uniquely human common sense. Synthetic Empathy and Emotions? But, "Deep Medicine" was written in 2019, which (in the world of AI) is already potentially obsolete. I'm told that Chat GPT Omni is better than most humans at anything involving either logic or creativity, and it does a terrific approximation of empathy, too. Even "Deep Medicine" cited statistics to suggest that most humans would prefer a machine for a therapist than a person (!!), largely due to the fear that the human might judge them for some of their most secret or shameful thoughts or feelings. And if the machine makes you feel like it understands you, does it really matter whether its empathy is "real" or not? What does "real" empathy mean, anyway? In "Uncanny Valley," my main character, as a teenager, inherited a "companion bot" who was programmed with mirror neurons (the seat of empathy in the human brain.) In the wake of her father's death, she came to regard her companion bot as her best friend. It was only as she got older that she started to ask questions like whether its 'love' for her was genuine, if it was programmed. This is essentially the theological argument for free will, too. Could God have made a world without sin? Sure, but in order to do it, we'd all have to be automatons--programmed to do His will, programmed to love Him and to love one another. Would there be any value in the love of a creature who could not do anything else? (The Calvinists might say that's the way the world actually is, for those who are predestined, but everyone else would vehemently disagree.) It certainly seems that God thought it was worth all the misery He endured since creation, for the chance that some of us might freely choose Him. I daresay that same logic is self-evident to all of us. Freedom is an inherent good--possibly the highest good. So, back to AI: real empathy requires not just real emotion, but memories of one's own real emotions, so that we can truly imagine that we are in another person's shoes. How can a robot, without its own lived memories, experience real empathy? Can it even experience real emotion? It might have goals or motives that can be programmed, but emotion at minimum requires biochemistry and a nervous system, at least in the way we understand it. We know from psychology research on brain lesions as well as from psychiatric and recreational medications and experiences with those suffering from neurodegenerative conditions that mood, affect, and personality can drastically change from physiologic tampering, as well. Does it follow that emotions are 'mere' biochemistry, though? This is at least part of the age-old question of materialism versus vitalism, or (to put it another way), reductionism versus holism. Modern medicine is inherently materialistic, believing that the entirety of a living entity can be explained by its physical makeup, and reductionistic, believing that one can reduce the 'whole' of the living system to a sum of its parts. Vitalism, on the other hand, argues that there is something else, something outside the physical body of the creature, that animates it and gives it life. At the moment just before death and just after, all the same biochemical machinery exists... but anyone who has seen the death of a loved one can attest that the body doesn't look the same. It becomes almost like clay. Some key essence is missing. I recently read "The Rainbow and the Worm" by Mae-Wan Ho, which described fascinating experiments on living worms viewed under electron microscopes. The structured water in the living tissue of the worm exhibited coherence, refracting visible light in a beautiful rainbow pattern. At the moment of death, though, the coherence vanished, and the rainbow was gone--even though all of the same physical components remained. The change is immaterial; the shift between death and life is inherently energetic. There was an animus, a vital force--qi, as Chinese Medicine would call it, or prana, as Ayurvedic medicine would describe it, or (as we're now discovering in alternative Western medicine), voltage carried through this structured water via our collagen. That hydrated collagen appears to function in our bodies very much like a semiconductor, animating our tissues with electrons, the literal energy of life. At the moment of death, it's there, and then it's not--like someone pulled the plug. What's left is only the shell of the machine, the hardware. But where is that plug, such that it can be connected and then, abruptly, not? The materialist, who believes that everything should be explainable on the physical level, can have no answer. The Bible tells us, though, that we are body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess 5:23)--which inherently makes a distinction between body and soul (implying that the soul is not a mere product of the chemistry of the body). The spirit is what was dead without Jesus, and what gets born again when we are saved, and it's perfect, identical with Jesus' spirit (2 Cor. 5:17, Eph 4:24). It's God's "seal" on us, vacuum-packed as it were, so that no sin can contaminate it. It's the down-payment, a promise that complete and total restoration is coming (Eph 1:13-14). But there's no physical outlet connecting the spirit and the body; the connection between them is the soul. With our souls, we can see what's ours in the Spirit through scripture, and scripture can train our souls to conform more and more to the spirit (Romans 12:2, Phil 2:12-13). No one would ever argue that a machine would have a spirit, obviously, but the materialists wouldn't believe there is such a thing, anyway. What about the soul, though? What is a soul, anyway? Can it be explained entirely through materialistic means?Before God made Adam, He explicitly stated that He intended to make man after His own image (Gen 1:26-27). God is spirit (John 4:24), though, so the resemblance can't be physical, per se, at least not exclusively or even primarily. After forming his body, God breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7)--the same thing Jesus did to the disciples after His resurrection when he said "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). So it must therefore be in our spirits that we resemble God. Adam and Eve died spiritually when they sinned (Genesis 3:3), but something continued to animate their bodies for another 930 years. This is the non-corporeal part of us that gets "unplugged" at physical death. Since it can be neither body nor spirit, it must be the soul. Andrew Wommack defines the soul as the mind, will, and emotions. I can't think of a single scripture that defines the soul this way; I think it's just an extrapolation, based on what's otherwise unaccounted for. But in our mind, will, and emotions, even before redemption, mankind continued to reflect God's image, in that he continued to possess the ability to reason, to choose, to create, to love, and to discern right from wrong. The materialists would argue that emotion, like everything else, must have its root purely in the physical realm. Yet they do acknowledge that because there are so many possible emotional states, and relatively few physiologic expressions of them, many emotions necessarily share a physiologic expression. It's up to our minds to translate the meaning of a physiologic state, based on the context. In "How Emotions are Made," author Lisa Barrett gave a memorable example of this: once, a colleague to whom she didn't think she was particularly attracted asked her for a date. She went, felt various strange things in her gut that felt a little like “butterflies”, and assumed during the date that perhaps she was attracted to him after all… only to later learn that she was actually in the early stages of gastroenteritis! This example illustrates how the biochemistry and physiologic expressions of emotion are merely the blunt downstream instruments that translate an emotion from the non-corporeal soul into physical perception--and in some cases, as in that one, the emotional perception might originate from the body entirely. This also might be why some people (children especially) can mistake hunger or fatigue for irritability, or why erratic blood sugar in uncontrolled diabetics can manifest as rage, etc. In those cases, the emotional response really does correspond to the materialist's worldview, originating far downstream in the "circuit," as it were. But people who experience these things as adults will say things like, "That's not me." I think they're right--when we think of our true selves, none of us think of our bodies--those are just our "tents" (2 Cor 5:1), to be put off eventually when we die. When we refer to our true selves, we mean our souls: our mind, will, and emotions. It's certainly possible for many of us to feel "hijacked" by our emotions, as if they're in control and not "us," though (Romans 7:15-20). Most of us recognize a certain distinction there, too, between the real "us" and our emotions. The examples of physiologic states influencing emotions are what scripture would call "carnal" responses. If we're "carnal," ruled by our flesh, then physiologic states will have a great deal of influence over our emotions-- a kind of small scale anarchy. The "government" is supposed to be our born-again spirits, governing our souls, which in turn controls our bodies, rather than allowing our flesh to control our souls (Romans 8:1-17) - though this is of course possible if we don't enforce order. With respect to AI, my point is, where does "true" emotion originate? There is a version of it produced downstream, in our flesh, yes. It can either originate from the flesh itself, or it can originate upstream, from the non-corporeal soul, what we think of us "the real us." That's inherently a philosophical and not a scientific argument, though, as science by definition is "the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena." Any question pertaining to something outside the physical world cannot fall under the purview of science. But even for those who do not accept scripture as authority, our own inner experience testifies to the truth of the argument. We all know that we have free will; we all know we can reason, and feel emotions. We can also tell the difference between an emotion that is "us" and an emotion that feels like it originates from outside of "our real selves". As C.S. Lewis said in "Mere Christianity," if there is a world outside of the one we can experimentally observe, the only place in which we could possibly expect to have any evidence of it is in our own internal experience. And there, we find it's true. Without a soul, then, a robot (such as an LLM) would of course exist entirely on the physical plane, unlike us. It therefore might have physical experiences that it might translate as emotion, the same way that we sometimes interpret physical experiences as emotion--but it cannot have true emotions. Empathy, therefore, can likewise be nothing more than programmed pattern recognition: this facial expression or these words or phrases tend to mean that the person is experiencing these feelings, and here is the appropriate way to respond. Many interactions with many different humans over a long period of time will refine the LLM's learning such that its pattern recognition and responses get closer and closer to the mark... but that's not empathy, not really. It's fake. Does that matter, though, if the person "feels" heard and understood? Well, does truth matter? If a man who is locked up in an insane asylum believes himself to be a great king, and believes that all the doctors and nurses around him are really his servants and subjects, would you trade places with him? I suspect that all of us would say no. With at least the protagonists in "The Matrix," we all agree that it's better to be awakened to a desperate truth than to be deceived by a happy lie. The Emotional Uncanny Valley Even aside from that issue, is it likely that mere pattern recognition could simulate empathy well enough to satisfy us--or is it likely that this, too, would fall into the "uncanny valley"? Most of us have had the experience of meeting a person who seems pleasant enough on the surface, and yet something about them just seemed ‘off'. (The Bible calls this discernment, 1 Corinthians 12:10.) When I was in a psychology course in college, the professor flashed images of several clean-cut, smiling men in the powerpoint, out of context, and asked us to raise our hands if we would trust each of them. I don't remember who most of them were - probably red herrings to disguise the point - but one of them was Ted Bundy, the serial killer of the 1970s. I didn't recognize him, but I did feel a prickling sense of unease as I gazed at his smiling face. Something just wasn't right. Granted, a violent psychopath is not quite the same, but isn't the idea of creating a robot possessed of emotional intelligence (in the sense that it can read others well) but without real empathy essentially like creating an artificial sociopath? Isn't the lack of true empathy the very definition? (Knowing this, would we really want jobs like social workers, nurses, or even elementary school teachers to be assumed by robots--no matter how good the empathic pattern recognition became?) An analogy of this is the 1958 Harlow experiment on infant monkeys (https://www.simplypsychology.org/harlow-monkey.html), in which the monkeys were given a choice between two simulated mothers: one made of wire, but that provided milk, and one made of cloth, but without milk. The study showed that the monkeys would only go to the wire mother when hungry; the rest of the day they would spend in the company of the cloth mother. My point is that emotional support matters to all living creatures, far more than objective physical needs (provided those needs are also met). If we just want a logical problem solved, we may well go to the robot. But most of our problems are not just questions of logic; they involve emotions, too. As Leonard Mlodinow, author of "Emotional" writes, emotions are not mere extraneous data that colors an experience, but can otherwise be ignored at will. In many cases, the emotions actually serve to motivate a course of action. Every major decision I've ever made in my life involved not just logic, but also emotion, or in some cases intuition (which I assume is a conscious prompting when the unconscious reasoning is present but unknown to me), or a else leading of the Holy Spirit (which "feels" like intuition, only without the presumed unconscious underpinning. He knows the reason, but I don't, even subconsciously.) Obviously, AI, with synthetic emotion or not, would have no way to advise us on matters of intuition, or especially promptings from the Holy Spirit. Those won't usually *seem* logical, based on the available information, but He has a perspective that we don't have. Neither will a machine, even if it could simultaneously process all known data available on earth. There was a time when Newtonian physicists believed that, with access to that level of data in the present, the entire future would become deterministic, making true omniscience in this world theoretically possible. Then we discovered quantum physics, and all of that went out the window. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle eliminates the possibility that any creature or machine, no matter how powerful, can in our own dimension ever truly achieve omniscience. In other words, even a perfectly logical machine with access to all available knowledge will fail to guide us into appropriate decisions much of the time -- precisely because they must lack true emotion, intuition, and especially the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Knowledge vs Wisdom None of us will be able to compete with the level of knowledge an AI can process in a split second. But does that mean the application of that knowledge will always be appropriate? I think there's several levels to this question. The first has to do with the data sets on which AI has been trained. It can only learn from the patterns it's seen, and it will (like a teenager who draws sweeping conclusions based on very limited life experience) assume that it has the whole picture. In this way, AI may be part of the great deception mentioned by both Jesus (Matt 24:24) and the Apostle Paul (2 Thess 2:11) in the last days. How many of us already abdicate our own reasoning to those in positions of authority, blindly following them because we assume they must know more than we do on their subject? How much more will many of us fail to question the edicts of a purportedly "omniscient" machine, which must know more than we do on every subject? That machine may have only superficial knowledge of a subject, based on the data set it's been given, and may thus draw an inappropriate conclusion. (Also, my understanding is that current LLMs continue learning only until they are released into the world; from that point, they can no longer learn anything new, because of the risk that in storing new information, they could accidentally overwrite an older memory.) A human may draw an inappropriate conclusion too, of course, and if that person has enough credentials behind his name, it may be just as deceptive to many. But at least one individual will not command such blind obedience on absolutely every subject. AGI might. So who controls the data from which that machine learns? That's a tremendous responsibility... and, potentially, a tremendous amount of power, to deceive, if possible, "even the elect." For the sake of argument, let's say that the AGI is exposed only to real and complete data, though--not cherry-picked, and not "misinformation." In this scenario, some believe that (if appropriate safeguards are in place, to keep the AGI from deciding to save the planet by killing all the humans, for example, akin to science fiction author Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics), utopia will result. The only way this is possible, though, is if not only does the machine learn on a full, accurate, and complete set of collective human knowledge, but it also has a depth of understanding of how to apply that knowledge, as well. This is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. The dictionary definition of wisdom is "the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting," versus knowledge, defined as "information gained through experience, reasoning, or acquaintance." Wisdom has to do with one's worldview, in other words, or the lens through which he sees and interprets a set of facts. It is inextricably tied to morality. (So, who is programming these LLMs again? Even without AI, since postmodernism and beyond, there's been a crisis among many intellectuals as to whether or not there's such a thing as "truth," even going so far as to question objective physical reality. That's certainly a major potential hazard right there.) Both words of wisdom and discernment are listed as explicit supernatural gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:8, 10). God says that He is the source of wisdom, as well as of knowledge and understanding (Prov 2:6), and that if we lack wisdom, we should ask Him for it (James 1:5). Wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs as a person, with God at creation (Prov 8:29-30)--which means, unless it's simply a poetic construct, that wisdom and the Holy Spirit must be synonymous (Gen 1:2). Jesus did say that it was the Holy Spirit who would guide us into all truth, as He is the Spirit of truth (John 16:13). The Apostle Paul contrasts the wisdom of this world as foolishness compared to the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:18-30)--because if God is truth (John 14:6), then no one can get to true wisdom without Him. That's not to say that no human (or robot) can make a true statement without an understanding of God, of course--but when he does so, he's borrowing from a worldview not his own. The statement may be true, but almost by accident--on some level, if you go down deep enough to bedrock beliefs, there is an inherent inconsistency between the statement of truth and the person's general worldview, if that worldview does not recognize a Creator. (Jason Lisle explains this well and in great detail in "The Ultimate Proof of Creation.") Can you see the danger of trusting a machine to discern what is right, then, simply because in terms of sheer facts and computing power, it's vastly "smarter" than we are? Anyone who does so is almost guaranteed to be deceived, unless he also filters the machine's response through his own discernment afterwards. (We should all be doing this with statements from any human authority on any subject, too, by the way. Never subjugate your own reasoning to anyone else's, even if they do know the Lord, but especially if they don't. You have the mind of Christ! 1 Cor 2:16). Would Eliminating Emotion from the Workplace Actually Be a Good Thing? I can see how one might think that replacing a human being with a machine that optimizes logic, but strips away everything else might seem a good trade, on the surface. After all, we humans (especially these days) aren't very logical, on the whole. Our emotions and desires are usually corrupted by sin. We're motivated by selfishness, greed, pride, and petty jealousies, when we're not actively being renewed by the Holy Spirit (and most of us aren't; even most believers are more carnal than not, most of the time. I don't know if that's always been the case, but it seems to be now). We also are subject to the normal human frailties: we get sick, or tired, or cranky, or hungry, or overwhelmed. We need vacations. We might be distracted by our own problems, or apathetic about the task we've been paid to accomplish. Machines would have none of these drawbacks. But do we really understand the trade-off we're making? We humans have a tendency to take a sliver of information, assume it's the whole picture, and run with it--eliminating everything we think is extraneous, simply because we don't understand it. In our hubris, we don't stop to consider that all the elements we've discarded might actually be critical to function. This seems to me sort of like processed food. We've taken the real thing the way God made it, and tweaked it in a laboratory to make it sweeter, crunchier, more savory, and with better "mouth feel.” It's even still got the same number of macronutrients and calories that it had before. But we didn't understand not only how processing stripped away necessary micronutrients, but also added synthetic fats that contaminated our cell membranes, and chemicals that can overwhelm our livers, making us overweight and simultaneously nutrient depleted. We just didn't know what we didn't know. We've done the same thing with genetically engineered foods. God's instructions in scripture were to let the land lie fallow, and to rotate crops, because the soil itself is the source of micronutrition for the plant. If you plant the same crop in the same soil repeatedly and without a break, you will deplete the soil, and the plants will no longer be as nutritious, or as healthy... and an unhealthy plant is easy prey for pests. But the agriculture industry ignored this; it didn't seem efficient or profitable enough, presumably. Synthetic fertilizer is the equivalent of macronutrients only for plants, so they grow bigger than ever before (much like humans do if they subsist on nothing but fast food), but they're still nutrient depleted and unhealthy, and thus, easy prey for pests. So we added the gene to the plants to make them produce their own glyphosate, the active ingredient in RoundUp. Only glyphosate itself turns out to be incredibly toxic to humans, lo and behold... There are many, many more examples I can think of just in the realm of science, health, and nutrition, to say nothing of our approach to economics, or climate, or many other complex systems. We tend to isolate the “active ingredient,” and eliminate everything we consider to be extraneous… only to learn of the side effects decades later. So what will the consequences be to society if most workers in most professions eventually lack true emotion, empathy, wisdom, and intuition? Finding Purpose in Work There's also a growing concern that AI will take over nearly all jobs, putting almost everyone out of work. At this point, it seems that information-based positions are most at risk, and especially anything involving repetitive, computer-based tasks. I also understand that AI is better than most humans at writing essays, poetry, and producing art. Current robotics is far behind AI technology, though... Elon Musk has been promising self-driving cars in the eminent future for some time, yet they don't seem any closer to ubiquitous adoption now than they were five years ago. "A Brief History of Intelligence" by Max Bennett, published in fall 2023, said that as of the time of writing, robots can diagnose tumors from radiographic imaging better than most radiologists, yet they are still incapable of simple physical tasks such as loading a dishwasher without breaking things. (I suspect this is because the former involves intellectual pattern recognition, which seems to be their forte, while the latter involves movements that are subconscious for most of us, requiring integration of spatial recognition, balance, distal fine motor skills, etc. We're still a very long way from understanding the intricacies of the human brain... but then again, the pace at which knowledge is doubling is anywhere from every three to thirteen months, depending on the source. Either way, that's fast). On the assumption that we'll soon be able to automate nearly everything a human can do physically or intellectually, then, the world's elite have postulated a Universal Basic Income--essentially welfare for all, since we would in theory be incapable of supporting ourselves. Leaving aside the many catastrophically failed historical examples of socialism and communism, it's pretty clear that God made us for good work (Eph 2:10, 2 Cor 9:8), and He expects us to work (2 Thess 3:10). Idleness while machines run the world is certainly not a biblical solution. That said, technology in and of itself is morally neutral. It's a tool, like money, time, or influence, and can be used for good or for evil. Both the Industrial Revolution and in the Information Revolution led to plenty of unforeseen consequences and social upheaval. Many jobs became obsolete, while new jobs were created that had never existed before. Work creates wealth, and due to increased efficiency, the world as a whole became wealthier than ever before, particularly in nations where these revolutions took hold. In the US, after the Industrial Revolution, the previously stagnant average standard of living suddenly doubled every 36 years. At the same time, though, the vast majority of the wealth created was in the hands of the few owners of the technology, and there was a greater disparity between the rich and the poor than ever before. This disparity has only grown more pronounced since the Information Revolution--and we have a clue in Revelation 6:5-6 that in the end times, it will be worse than ever. Will another AI-driven economic revolution have anything to do with this? It's certainly possible. Whether or not another economic revolution should happen has little bearing on whether or not it will, though. But one thing for those of us who follow the Lord to remember is that we don't have to participate in the world's economy, if we trust Him to meet our needs. He is able to make us abound for every good work (2 Cor 9:8)--which I believe means we will also have some form of work, no matter what is going on in the world around us. He will bless the work of our hands, whatever we find for them to do (Deut 12:7). He will give us the ability to produce wealth (Deut 8:18), even if it seems impossible. He will meet all our needs as we seek His kingdom first (Luke 12:31-32)-and one of our deepest needs is undoubtedly a sense of purpose (Phil 4:19). We are designed to fulfill a purpose. What about the AI Apocalyptic Fears? The world's elite seem to fall into two camps on how an AI revolution might affect our world--those who think it will usher in utopia (Isaac Asimov's “The Last Question” essentially depicts this), and those who think AI will decide that humans are the problem, and destroy us all. I feel pretty confident the latter won't occur, at least not completely, since neither Revelation nor any of the rest of the prophetic books seem to imply domination of humanity by machine overlords. Most, if not all of the actors involved certainly appear to be human (and angelic, and demonic). That said, there are several biblical references that the end times will be "as in the days of Noah" (Matt 24:27, Luke 17:26). What could that mean? Genesis 6 states that the thoughts in the minds of men were only evil all the time, so it may simply mean that in the end times, mankind will have achieved the same level of corruption as in the antediluvian world. But that might not be all. In Gen 6:1-4, we're told that the "sons of God" came down to the "daughters of men," and had children by them--the Nephilim. This mingling of human and non-human corrupted the genetic line, compromising God's ability to bring the promised seed of Eve to redeem mankind. Daniel 2:43 also reads, "As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they (in the end times) will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay." What is "they," if not the seed of men? It appears to be humanity, plus something else. Chuck Missler and many others have speculated that this could refer to transhumanism, the merging of human and machine. Revelation 13:14-15 is probably the most likely description I can think of in scripture of AI, describing the image of the beast that speaks, knows whether or not people worship the beast (AI facial recognition, possibly embedded into the "internet of things"?), and turns in anyone who refuses to do so. The mark of the beast sure sounds like a computer chip of some kind, with an internet connection (Bluetooth or something like it - Rev 13:17). Joel 2:4-9 describes evil beings "like mighty men" that can "climb upon a wall" and "when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded," and they "enter in at the windows like a thief." These could be demonic and thus extra-dimensional, but don't they also sound like “The Terminator,” if robotics ever manages to advance that far? Jeremiah 50:9 says, "their arrows shall be like those of an expert warrior; none shall return in vain." This sounds like it could be AI-guided missiles. But the main evil actors of Revelation--the antichrist, the false prophet, the kings of the east, etc, all certainly appear to refer to humans. And from the time that the "earth lease" to humanity is up (Revelation 11), God Himself is the One cleansing the earth of all evil influences. I doubt He uses AI to do it. So, depending upon where we are on the prophetic timeline, I can certainly imagine AI playing a role in how the events of Revelation unfold, but I can't see how they'll take center stage. For whatever reason, it doesn't look to me like they'll ever get that far. The Bottom Line We know that in the end times, deception will come. We don't know if AI will be a part of it, but it could be. It's important for us to know the truth, to meditate on the truth, to keep our eyes focused on the truth -- on things above, and not on things beneath (Col 3:2). Don't outsource your thinking to a machine; no matter how "smart" they become, they will never have true wisdom; they can't. That doesn't mean don't use them at all, but if you do, do so cautiously, check the information you receive, and listen to the Holy Spirit in the process, trusting Him to guide you into all truth (John 16:13). Regardless of how rapidly or dramatically the economic landscape and the world around us may change, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and faith works through love (Gal 5:6). If we know how much God loves us, it becomes easy to not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God... and then to fix our minds on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, praiseworthy, or virtuous (Phil 4:6-8). He knows the end from the beginning. He's not surprised, and He'll absolutely take care of you in every way, if you trust Him to do it (Matt 6:33-34). Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Are you spiritually stuck right now? You are desperate to be more connected to God but unsure how to get started. In this program, we begin our series, The B.I.O Lifestyle: 3 Essential Practices to Becoming a Romans 12 Disciple. Join Chip and our Executive Vice President Andrew Accardy, as they walk through a simple acronym modeled for us by Jesus, that leads to a deeper relationship with God and more authentic relationships with others.Main PointsPurpose: Andrew and Chip talk about how to grow spiritually.Listener Types: They identify three types of listeners: crisis, stuck, and growing.BIO: It's a simple way to grow spiritually: B: Spend time with God daily. I: Be part of a supportive community. O: Live to serve others all the time.Practical Tips: Set aside regular time for God. Read the Bible regularly. Be honest and listen to God. Worship God through singing.Overcoming Struggles: Chip shares his own journey. Encourages discipline and habit. Recommends resources for guidance.Signs of Progress: Desire for closeness with God. Seeking God's guidance. Enjoyment in spending time with God.Broadcast ResourceDownload Free MP3 About Chip IngramChip Ingram’s passion is helping Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, and teacher for more than three decades, Chip has helped believers around the world move from spiritual spectators to healthy, authentic disciples of Jesus by living out God’s truth in their lives and relationships in transformational ways.About Living on the EdgeLiving on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. Established in 1995 as the radio ministry of pastor and author Chip Ingram, God has since grown it into a global discipleship ministry. Living on the Edge provides Biblical teaching and discipleship resources that challenge and equip spiritually hungry Christians all over the world to become mature disciples of Jesus.Connect 888-333-6003 Website Chip Ingram App Instagram Facebook Twitter Partner With Us Donate Online 888-333-6003
Are you bogged down by the dos and don'ts of the Christian life? Have you ever thought, is there an easier way to follow Jesus? In this program, we will wrap up our series, The B.I.O Lifestyle, by learning – that burdened feeling is not what Jesus desires for us. Don't miss Chip and our Executive Vice President, Andrew Accardy, discussing what it means to be ‘on mission' for Jesus. Learn how that biblical perspective can lead you on a supernatural, life-giving adventure with Jesus.Main PointsBIO Operating System: Think of it like this: Before God, In Community, On Mission. It's about connecting with God, being part of a community, and living a purposeful life.Being on Mission: Being on a mission isn't just about going on trips or doing church stuff. It's about having a mindset of helping others every day, like Jesus did.Discovering Your Mission: Each person has a unique role in God's plan. It's like finding your special purpose and using your talents to make a difference.Restoring Christian Reputation: Sometime the Church is known more for what it's against than what it's for. Chip acknowledge the need to restore the reputation of Christians by living out their faith authentically, with love and compassion. Sharing Your Faith: It can be scary, but sharing your faith is important. Start by looking for opportunities, building friendships, and sharing your own story of faith.Practical Steps for Sharing: Keep it simple. Look for needs, make friends, share meals, and tell your story. It's about being real and letting God work through you.Living the BIO Lifestyle: Every day, check in with yourself. Are you spending time with God, connecting with others, and making a positive difference? That's what it's all about.Broadcast ResourceDownload Free MP3 About Chip IngramChip Ingram’s passion is helping Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, and teacher for more than three decades, Chip has helped believers around the world move from spiritual spectators to healthy, authentic disciples of Jesus by living out God’s truth in their lives and relationships in transformational ways.About Living on the EdgeLiving on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. Established in 1995 as the radio ministry of pastor and author Chip Ingram, God has since grown it into a global discipleship ministry. Living on the Edge provides Biblical teaching and discipleship resources that challenge and equip spiritually hungry Christians all over the world to become mature disciples of Jesus.Connect 888-333-6003 Website Chip Ingram App Instagram Facebook TwitterPartner With Us Donate Online 888-333-6003
Are you spiritually stuck right now? You are desperate to be more connected to God but unsure how to get started. In this program, we begin our series, The B.I.O Lifestyle: 3 Essential Practices to Becoming a Romans 12 Disciple. Join Chip and our Executive Vice President Andrew Accardy, as they walk through a simple acronym modeled for us by Jesus, that leads to a deeper relationship with God and more authentic relationships with others.Main PointsPurpose: Andrew and Chip talk about how to grow spiritually.Listener Types: They identify three types of listeners: crisis, stuck, and growing.BIO: It's a simple way to grow spiritually: B: Spend time with God daily. I: Be part of a supportive community. O: Live to serve others all the time.Practical Tips: Set aside regular time for God. Read the Bible regularly. Be honest and listen to God. Worship God through singing.Overcoming Struggles: Chip shares his own journey. Encourages discipline and habit. Recommends resources for guidance.Signs of Progress: Desire for closeness with God. Seeking God's guidance. Enjoyment in spending time with God.Broadcast ResourceDownload Free MP3 About Chip IngramChip Ingram’s passion is helping Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, and teacher for more than three decades, Chip has helped believers around the world move from spiritual spectators to healthy, authentic disciples of Jesus by living out God’s truth in their lives and relationships in transformational ways.About Living on the EdgeLiving on the Edge exists to help Christians live like Christians. Established in 1995 as the radio ministry of pastor and author Chip Ingram, God has since grown it into a global discipleship ministry. Living on the Edge provides Biblical teaching and discipleship resources that challenge and equip spiritually hungry Christians all over the world to become mature disciples of Jesus.Connect 888-333-6003 Website Chip Ingram App Instagram Facebook Twitter Partner With Us Donate Online 888-333-6003
The Promise Land doesn't represent Heaven; it represents the land of dreams that God has given you. Canaan was not a type of Heaven; it was a type of victory. And as you enter the place of victory and dreams, you must have the proper perspective because there will be giants in the way! There are two kinds of mindsets you can have: grape-tasters and giant-talkers. Before God's people could go into the Promise Land, He wanted to do three things: Discover more at https://www.jentezenfranklin.org/?cid=JFPC Watch and subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jentezenfranklinmedia Find Pastor Jentezen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jentezen/ Find Pastor Jentezen on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JentezenFranklin Find Pastor Jentezen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jentezen Giving: https://jentezenfranklin.org/donate/?cid=JFPC Find Free Chapel on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freechapel Find Free Chapel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freechapel Download the Free Chapel App: https://www.freechapel.org/app
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
