Podcasts about bible old

Michael Lofton goes over a basic introduction to how the Bible (Old and New Testament) was preserved throughout the ages.

God’s Word is packed full of power ? power unlimited ? to transform your life. But one of the biggest problems people have with the Bible is understanding it. Making sense of it. Knowing where it comes from, and where what they’re reading today fits into the big picture. Well, I think it’s time we did something about that. Join Berni, as he takes a look at the power that God has already given you, from a different perspective.Support the show: https://christianityworks.com/channels/adp/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pastor Steve Perez | February 21, 2023 The Fountain Apostolic Church DRAFT (2023) Learn more at tfachurch.com/plus Sermon Notes: 3 Key Points to Having Revival in our Church Preach the uncompromised Word of God Teach the whole Bible: Old and New Testament. This generation must have a full revelation of Almighty God, staying balanced in preaching & teaching. Acts 20:27 2 Timothy 4:2 John 8:32 Pray for convicting power of the Holy Ghost Comes by the preaching and results in leading the hearers to true repentance & conversion. John 16:8 Acts 2:41 Acts 8:35-36 Renounce the deception of coexisting with the world. Passionately seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon all meetings. Give room in your public services & small groups for the full expression of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:4 Acts 2:4 Acts 4:31 Acts 8:17-19 Acts 10:44-45 Acts 11:15

The Taiping Rebellion: Toward Thistle Mountain In this episode, we follow Hong Xiuquan on his way to Thistle Mountain, the first real base area for the Taiping Rebellion. We start with some big picture things about revolutions. What Makes a Revolution Successful At the beginning, we go over some of the universal aspects in many revolutions, not dependent on an ideology: Regaining control of national destiny Throwing out foreign occupiers Desire for national strength Ending injustices against a nation What makes a revolution successful: It explains the national situation It shows how a nation should reform itself It shows how to have victory over the troubles a nation is dealing with Hong Xiuquan's Travels to Thistle Mountain Hong Xiuquan went home after five months in Guangxi. He went back to teaching at a school and continued working on tracts for the Taiping movement He met foreign missionary Issachar Roberts and was exposed to the full text of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) for the first time. This allows him to revise his tracts later when he gets to Thistle Mountain. After falling out with Roberts, Hong hits the road again and goes to find Feng Yunshan in the Thistle Mountain region of Guangxi. He arrives to find an active community following his teachings. The search begins for a formal base area. If You'd Like to Support the Podcast Subscribe, share, leave a rating. Give once, give monthly at www.buymeacoffee.com/crpodcast Subscribe to the substack newsletter at https://chineserevolutions.substack.com/ Also... Please reach out at chineserevolutions@gmail.com and let me know what you think!

The Scripture is an endless source of inspiration...Uitgegeven door SAGA EgmontSpreker(s): Katie Haigh

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Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Reason as memetic immune disorder, published PhilGoetz on LessWrong. A prophet is without dishonor in his hometown I'm reading the book "The Year of Living Biblically," by A.J. Jacobs. He tried to follow all of the commandments in the Bible (Old and New Testaments) for one year. He quickly found that a lot of the rules in the Bible are impossible, illegal, or embarassing to follow nowadays; like wearing tassels, tying your money to yourself, stoning adulterers, not eating fruit from a tree less than 5 years old, and not touching anything that a menstruating woman has touched; and this didn't seem to bother more than a handful of the one-third to one-half of Americans who claim the Bible is the word of God. You may have noticed that people who convert to religion after the age of 20 or so are generally more zealous than people who grew up with the same religion. People who grow up with a religion learn how to cope with its more inconvenient parts by partitioning them off, rationalizing them away, or forgetting about them. Religious communities actually protect their members from religion in one sense - they develop an unspoken consensus on which parts of their religion members can legitimately ignore. New converts sometimes try to actually do what their religion tells them to do. I remember many times growing up when missionaries described the crazy things their new converts in remote areas did on reading the Bible for the first time - they refused to be taught by female missionaries; they insisted on following Old Testament commandments; they decided that everyone in the village had to confess all of their sins against everyone else in the village; they prayed to God and assumed He would do what they asked; they believed the Christian God would cure their diseases. We would always laugh a little at the naivete of these new converts; I could barely hear the tiny voice in my head saying but they're just believing that the Bible means what it says... How do we explain the blindness of people to a religion they grew up with? Cultural immunity Europe has lived with Christianity for nearly 2000 years. European culture has co-evolved with Christianity. Culturally, memetically, it's developed a tolerance for Christianity. These new Christian converts, in Uganda, Papua New Guinea, and other remote parts of the world, were being exposed to Christian memes for the first time, and had no immunity to them. The history of religions sometimes resembles the history of viruses. Judaism and Islam were both highly virulent when they first broke out, driving the first generations of their people to conquer (Islam) or just slaughter (Judaism) everyone around them for the sin of not being them. They both grew more sedate over time. (Christianity was pacifist at the start, as it arose in a conquered people. When the Romans adopted it, it didn't make them any more militaristic than they already were.) The mechanism isn't the same as for diseases, which can't be too virulent or they kill their hosts. Religions don't generally kill their hosts. I suspect that, over time, individual selection favors those who are less zealous. The point is that a culture develops antibodies for the particular religions it co-exists with - attitudes and practices that make them less virulent. I have a theory that "radical Islam" is not native Islam, but Westernized Islam. Over half of 75 Muslim terrorists studied by Bergen & Pandey 2005 in the New York Times had gone to a Western college. (Only 9% had attended madrassas.) A very small percentage of all Muslims have received a Western college education. When someone lives all their life in a Muslim country, they're not likely to be hit with the urge to travel abroad and blow something up. But when someone from an Islamic nation goes to Europe for college, and co...

This week, the team answers the following Bible questions: I just wanted to ask a question about the Table of Stones. How many commandments were written on each tablet? A friend of mine told me that since the commandments establish a covenant, it is likely that they were duplicated on both tablets (10/10) in which a copy was made for each party. It got me confused as I'm used to 4/6 but I don't have any proof or historical evidence about it. Hope you can answer my question. God bless us all! If every word in the Bible is true for all generations and I know it is then why do men whose cover is God wear hats during our service. Should the elders in the Church at least inform the body why they allow hats and long hair in Church? Would it be fair to say that "2 Peter" and "Jude" are the two least read books of the New Testament? What are the problems with these two books? If good works are not required for salvation, why does the Bible say faith without works is dead in James 2:14? How was god formed? The KJV Bible, is the New Covenant the same as the New Testament, or are they different? Who is the beast of 7 heads and 10 horns motioned in the book of Revelation? When we dream of many frogs in our home, does that mean we have bad spirits in our house? Are the names of Pharaoh's magicians who contested with Moses mentioned anywhere in the Bible (Old or New Testament)? Why did God choose Saul to be the first king of Israel and Jonathan the first prince if David's line was always going to be The Promised One?

In episode 9 of season 2, Prof. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston talk with Alan Padgett, Professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, about miracles: Is it outrageous to believe in them? This discussion focuses on the miraculous as found in the Bible (Old and New Testament) and approaches to inexplicable events in Christian history and in contemporary life. Show notes are available at https://enterthebible.org/audio/2-9-miracles-is-it-outrageous-to-believe-in-them Watch video version at https://youtu.be/ajQ1aLyH0cYSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NKJV

In episode 8 of season 2, Prof. Kathryn Schifferdecker and Katie Langston talk with Alan Padgett, Professor of Systematic Theology at Luther Seminary, about the demons: Is it absurd to believe in them? This discussion focuses on the demonic as found in the Bible (Old and New Testament) and approaches to evil in Christian history and in contemporary life. Show notes are available at https://enterthebible.org/audio/2-8-demons-is-it-absurd-to-believe-in-them Watch video version at https://youtu.be/amjfr8WUj10.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The book of Esther is one of only two books in the Bible- Old or New Testament- that never mentions God, the Lord, Yahweh, or any other of His Names. In fact one theologian said the writer of Esther seems to go out of his or her way, to not mention God. And yet, the Almighty and His Divine providence are present throughout the entire narrative of one young Jewish woman's act of incredible bravery. The subtext of the book of Esther is 'the silent sovereignty of God.' But the main point of the book is the fact that God's glory reigns, and that perhaps, "You Were Made for This Moment". That is the title of Pastor Max Lucado's new book. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Pastor Lucado talks about his exegesis of the book of Esther, how the events surrounding her situation are so parallel to our own today. Esther's story is about having faith in the face of incredible adversity. Like modern believers today, she had been acquiesced into a dominant culture that had watered down her faith and enjoyed many of the benefits it brought. But when the crisis came, her faith became fire, and she saved millions of her people from certain death. She was in fact, made for that moment. Pastor Lucado lets us see how Esther's story is our own. That in fact we were, Made for This Moment.

Today we look at the fourth principle for Catholic Biblical Interpretation from Dr. Smith's book. This principle focuses on the unity of the Old and New Testaments with Jesus being the climax of the great narrative of salvation.  Further, we see examples from Jesus himself of how to read the scriptures. For a more thorough treatment, check out:Smith, Steven C. The Word of the Lord: 7 Essential Principles for Catholic Scripture Study. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, 2012.Also, check out: The Case for Jesus by Brant PitreQuestions? Ideas for Future Shows?Contact us at:j.link@dbqarch.orgj.sevcik@dbqarch.org

I've got this in Bible Old testament King James Version.God is the source of all living things and natures here on earth.People are the highest living things creation of God.

God's Word is packed full of power ? power unlimited ? to transform your life. But one of the biggest problems people have with the Bible is understanding it. Making sense of it. Knowing where it comes from, and where what they're reading today fits into the big picture. Well, I think it's time we did something about that. Join Berni, as he takes a look at the power that God has already given you, from a different perspective. Support the show: https://christianityworks.com/channels/adp/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

God's Word is packed full of power … power unlimited … to transform your life. But one of the biggest problems people have with the Bible is understanding it. Making sense of it. Knowing where it comes from, and where what they're reading today fits into the big picture. Well, I think it's time we did something about that.   About the Bible – Old and New We've all heard of those word association tests that psychologists use. You know, they say ‘black', you say ‘white'; they say ‘rabbit' and you say ‘carrot'; day/night; God/mmm love; devil/mmm evil; Bible/hmm … Bible? How do you respond to that? Stuffy, old, irrelevant? Well, different people will have some different views but actually in Australia where I live, the Bible is one of the least trusted of all historical documents. Over the last week and a bit on the program we've been talking about the incredible power that we unlock, when we read the Bible. But this thing that we call “the Bible”, it's a big book, it's massive and it can be daunting. So today I thought it might be useful just to have a look to see what this Bible is exactly. I want to share with you a secret, it's sad but true. I never read a book cover to cover until I was in my early twenties. I managed to get through school and university and did pretty well I might add, without ever reading a book from beginning to end. I remember at university, in first year English, we studied the book Wuthering Heights which absolutely bored me to tears, I'm sorry and I never opened the book once. There are companies that publish crib notes, you know the summary of the book and a summary of what's in it and a summary of what some of the critics say, so I just quickly read those, crib notes, wrote essays and did, by and large, reasonably well. And I never, ever liked libraries either. You know how libraries have this kind of dusty, dank smell; all of them are the same. Every library on the planet has the same smell. I thought about it for a while, I thought ‘Berni, why don't you like libraries? Why did it take you so long to read books?' The answer I guess has two parts. Firstly, libraries for me always felt really big and inaccessible. They have tens of thousands of books and in the old days when I was at university, they had card systems for accessing, for finding things, I mean these days they have computers. The old card systems had what they call the Dewey Classification system and finding anything just took so incredibly long. And secondly, when you did find the stuff, there was always so much of it, there was so much time involved to, I don't know, look through all those books and research them. I mean, some people are natural book worms, well I'm not. I still frankly don't like libraries. I'm sorry if you're a librarian, I just don't like libraries. I haven't darkened the doorstep of one since I finished my last degree quite a few years ago now. You know something; I think for a lot of people the Bible is exactly like that. It feels big and inaccessible. There are many, many people who wouldn't mind having a read but, for goodness sakes, where do you start? Well today let's break it down a bit, let's make it a bit more accessible. I remember when I started Bible College only a few months after becoming a Christian, everyone took for granted that we knew about the Bible. The reality was, I didn't and my hunch is, I wasn't alone. Let's unpack it a bit, let's demystify it a bit. All of a sudden you know it becomes a whole bunch more accessible. The thing that we call the Bible is made up of 66 different books written by different people over somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 years. That's the kind of period over which the Bible was written. And it wasn't just written by different people but at different times and the last book was written, well almost 2,000 years ago. There are essentially two parts to the Bible, this was complete news to me when I first opened it, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and when I started at Bible College I didn't know which one was which. The Old Testament, well the Old Testament is God's story and the story of how He interacted with and engaged with His chosen people, the Israelites. The Old Testament is written completely B.C., before Christ, before Jesus came to be on earth with us here. What Christians call the Old Testament is in fact exactly the same as the Jewish Hebrew scriptures, Jews still use those same scriptures today, Christians call it the Old Testament. It's written mostly in the original language of Hebrew, the language of the Jews. Now there's small parts of books like Daniel which is written in a language called Aramaic which is the language that Jesus actually spoke but by and large, the Old Testament was originally written in the language of Hebrew. And what we have today, the thing that we call the Old Testament is an English translation of that. Now there are lots of funny name books, Deuteronomy and Judges and Chronicles and there's Ezekiel, there are 39 separate books and there are kind of 4 main parts of the Old Testament. The first 5 books, Genesis to Deuteronomy, are the Jewish or Hebrew Law, the Torah. And then you go Joshua through Ezra and Nehemiah and that's kind of the history of what God did and how His people responded. And then after that are the wisdom books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Lamentations. And the rest of the books in the Old Testament are written by men called Prophets. Men whom God called to call His people back to Him. That's the Old Testament, it's a story of God engaging with Gods people. And the New Testament is 27 books. Now, it was mostly written in the language of Greek. The first 4 books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are gospel accounts, they're the historical account of Jesus' life and His ministry. And the next book, the book of Acts is the story of the first 20 or so years of the Church after Jesus rose again to be with His Father. Then there's a whole bunch of letters called Epistles from people like Peter and John and Paul, written to Churches that they were involved in or in some cases, to individuals. This may be old hat to some, but I know to many, just a simple understanding of the basic structure of the Bible is going to be a real help. I know that when I was a new Christian, no one ever bothered to explain it to me – I wish they had. Now some people might be saying to themselves, that's all well and good, but how accurate is the Bible. Because before the printing press was ever invented by Gutenberg in 1450, the Bible – there's this massive thing, the Old Testament and New Testament – was transcribed over and over by hand by people called Scribes who copied them by hand. It's hard to imagine. But these days, there's a science called Textual Criticism. It studies whether any errors crept into the Bible as it was copied through all these generations manuscripts. And what it tells us, is that having studied thousands of manuscripts, the levels of accuracy are remarkable. I mean it's a science, people have done it. There are very, very few words or sentences where there is any doubt what was originally written. And blessedly these days, this thing called the Bible has been translated into easy to read, contemporary versions. No more thee's and thou's – great, modern day, accurate, easy to understand translations. And did you know that in the Bible, over half of the 66 books, over half, you can read in half and hour or less. Now look, in a few minutes we can't hope to do anything but scrape the surface. Today we've just talked about some basic factual stuff. No-one really taught me this stuff. I remember becoming a Christian and going and sitting in a Church and people just teach from the Bible which is wonderful but no-one ever explained to me that it was 66 books written by a whole bunch of people over different periods of time. That some of it was stories and history and some of it was letters and some of it was poetry. But when you simplify and demystify all that stuff, it turns out that it's just a wonderful book. And with the many contemporary translations, it's much, much easier to read than I ever thought. As I started to read the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament, I was completely blown away by this amazing Jesus. Who would have thought … the Bible.   Getting Practical – Useful Resources I have to tell you, that thing they call the Bible was a real problem for me. I mean, first coming to grips with the fact that it is what it says that it is, the Word of God but then, just getting into it. It's made up of 66 separate books written over about 1,500 years in different times, in different places and different cultures. So there are words and names and places and concepts and ways of thinking … well, we're not always familiar with them. We're continuing in our series ‘Power Unlimited' – because that's what Go's Word brings into our lives so today, we're going to get down and really practical on just how to get into the Bible because unless we do, we're going to miss out on much of the power that God wants to pour into our lives. Over the years I've discovered a few very simple helps or resources that have made such a difference in making sense of God's Word. You see, it turns out there's a whole bunch of people much smarter than me who have done some great research and put the information together in such easy usable ways and all their work makes getting into God's Word, the Bible, so much easier for the likes of you and me. Today I just want to share some of those resources with you. I remember twenty or so years ago, just after I became a Christian, I started attending a tiny little Baptist Church in the southern suburbs of Sydney. A little place called Oyster Bay. Our pastor, Phil, was a passionate and gifted Bible teacher and that man has had a huge impact on my life. Now as well as Sunday services, the Church used to have these little home Bible studies and we'd meet one night a week in someone's house. In our small group, five of us would gather together. And at the time, the particular little home fellowship that I'd joined, was studying the Old Testament book of Hosea. So we'd lob in there each Wednesday evening, we'd have a cup of tea and some fellowship and then we'd sit down and do a Bible study together. And right through that book, over and over and over again, Hosea talks about Ephraim – that word is mentioned 29 times by Hosea. So I remember asking these people, most of them had been Christians for a good many years, “Okay, who or what is this Ephraim thing?” I mean, Hosea kept talking about it and so it seemed to be quite central to what he was saying. But you know something, no-one could tell me who or what Ephraim was. Now it turns out the Ephraim was one of the tribes of Israel, Ephraim was one of Joseph's sons and there's a whole history around this tribe and how they rebelled against God, but we didn't know that in that Bible study so a lot of what God was saying to us, through this amazing, powerful book of Hosea, well it was frankly lost on us. And that sort of thing happens a lot more than you might think. Consider the story of the Good Samaritan. It loses its whole meaning if we don't understand the Samaritans and who they were and what the Jews thought of them. Now when Jesus told that story to the assembled masses they all knew the Samaritan story but we don't, it's not natural to us. And there are names and places and concepts and ways of thinking in the Bible that are foreign to us, because we're separated from them by time and culture. It might have made sense to the people back then but not to us now. And unless we understand those things, we miss out on the richness, on the gravity, on the power of what God is trying to say to us. I remember coming to grips with the Jewish system of blood sacrifice in the Old Testament. Now I kind of think about blood sacrifice and it's pretty ghastly to me here and now, but it's something I really had to understand to understand what Jesus did for me on the Cross. So I decided I was going to find out, not just skim the surface, not read through a story and have them talk about Ephraim or Samaria or all these other things I didn't know about and miss out on what God was trying to say to me through the story. Now these accounts were written such a long time ago and God has preserved them and kept them accurate for us here and now but there is indeed a gap of culture and time in history that we have to bridge to understand completely what's happening in what's been written. I mean after all if the Bible is God's Word and if God is speaking to us through it, I decided I needed to know what He was saying. And surprisingly, that's not as difficult as I thought it would be. Right now, I'm going to talk about a handful of really simple resources that made absolutely the world of difference. The first one was my Bible, a simple English translation, not the King James with the ‘thees' and ‘thou arts', there are so many good contemporary language translations available to you and me today. The New International Version or the NIV as it's called, is really popular. I happen to use the New Revised Standard Version (the NRSV). There's a translation called The Message which is really in here and now language. The Contemporary English Version (CEV). The New English Translation (NET). Which one is the best one? The one you're going to read. You can get a thing called A Study Bible, it's got not just the words of the Bible, but it's also got a huge amount of resources packed into it. It explains the meanings of different words, there are notes and maps and cross references. They're really good, they don't cost a whole bunch more than a Bible with just the Bible words. So if you want to do more than just skim across the surface, it's really good to have one of those – a Study Bible. Check them out. One of the most helpful features in a Study Bible is a summary of each book: who wrote it, when, to whom and why because context is so important isn't it? Before I read Ephesians I read four or five paragraphs in my Study Bible which explain the context and all of a sudden the book of Ephesians made a whole bunch more sense to me. A Study Bible is a really worthwhile investment and it's not much more than an ordinary Bible. You can get one from a Christian bookshop or you can buy one online. I happen to have an electronic one these days on my tablet device. The second resource is my Bible dictionary. Now I happen to purchase a Bible dictionary called the Holman Bible Dictionary, years ago – it's just one, single volume. You can get Bible dictionaries that are 25 volumes, mine is just one volume and it has pictures. So when I was reading and it talked about the Temple in the Bible, I could go to my Bible dictionary and look at it and see a picture and plans and explaining the different parts. So I'm able to read a few paragraphs in just a few minutes, and I'm there, I understand what the writers saying about the Temple, about the Holy of Holies, wow! When the Bible talks about Ephraim I look it up, half a column, three minutes, I know who or what Ephraim is. The story of the Good Samaritan; who were the Samaritans? What was their relationship to the Jews? Ah! That's what Jesus meant by the story of the Good Samaritan. And lastly, the third resource was a Bible timeline. It's one of these things you can fold out and it's about four pages wide that show the chronology of the Bible. You read about King David, when was he king? Who was King before him? Who was King after him? What else was going on? Which prophets were writing when David was alive? And all of a sudden you put the whole Bible thing in time sequence, that's huge. And just to top things off, let me tell you about two stunning websites. The first is biblegateway.com where you can compare different Bible translations. The second is studylight.org, it has Bible dictionaries online, the meanings of Greek and Hebrew words, and so many more great resources. All free. So let me ask you? Do you take Jesus seriously? If you do then we need to take the Bible seriously. And for just a small investment on your part in just a few simple resources, they pay such huge dividends in hearing and understanding what God is saying to us today through His Word.   Listen and Learn If you spend anytime with me here on the program one of the things you will know is that I'm really passionate about God and what He has to say. Not in a religious sort of a way but in a Jesus sort of way. The thing that really strikes me about Jesus when you read about Him, is how plain and matter of fact He was about sharing with people who God is and what His plans are. Over these last couple of weeks on the program we've been looking at what it means to lay hold of God's power unlimited, God's resurrection power that's available to you, as you open His Word the Bible and listen to what He has to say. The Bible is God speaking to us and He means to challenge us and stretch us and encourage us and bless us through His Word. One of the ways that many people get God's Word into them is by listening to people speak. Radio programs like this or on television and of course, if you attend a Church. But how can preaching and teaching be a part of really getting God's Word into us? Over these last twenty years or so, the time that I've been a Christian, I've seen two things. On the one hand I have been so blessed by some really good teaching and on the other hand I've seen some pretty bad stuff too. In my very first Church, a little Baptist Church, our pastor's name was Phil Littlejohn. Now Phil was a gifted teacher, he just had this ability to open God's Word and speak God stuff into my heart. I learned later this is a real gifting, different people have different gifts and abilities given to them by God and teaching is one of them. Jesus had that, I mean time and time again when He opened His mouth people were amazed because He spoke with a plainness and a power and an authority that they hadn't heard before. And you know something, He didn't always tell them things they wanted to hear. “Love your enemy.” “Take up your cross and follow me.” “Lose your life for my sake and you'll gain your life.” It's not exactly good marketing, I mean the spin merchants would not have let Him get up and speak like that today. I've spent quite a bit of time looking at how Jesus preached. It's real, it's powerful. It's balanced on the one hand and radical on the other and it sort of, well, it cuts through all the selfish rubbish we go on with, right to the heart of what God wants to talk about. And my prayer is that when I discharge my gifting to teach in my own way, I'll always try to teach like He did. But you know I've also sat in Churches over the years and listened to preachers drone on with dry and theoretical, completely cerebral stuff, that's not relevant to my life. On more than one occasion I've walked out after church and two hours later I ask myself “Do I remember what he talked about?” And the answer is, “No, not really.” Or you listen to other speakers and there are lots of words and they're very entertaining and they make people laugh and they tickle their ears with great stories and things they want to hear and they yell and people slap them on the back afterwards, ‘praise the Lord' but I've been to some of those too and well, I felt like I'd been at the Lord's table to be fed but I left hungry and empty. The flip side of that is that with some other preachers, I can remember years later what they were talking about, years later in difficult circumstances God seems to bring into my heart the words they spoke to me. Preaching and teaching is one of the ways that God gets His Word into us. You see it right through the Bible; He uses men and women to speak to others, to teach them. I mean the Samaritan woman at the well; she went and told people about Jesus. Paul and Peter and all the other guys that went out preaching. The question is, how do you get the most out of that? How does preaching and teaching play a part in us reading our Bible and unlocking the power unlimited that God has for us? Well, here are just some of my observations. I see people come into a Church on a Sunday and listen to the preacher and they don't take any notes and they don't bring their Bible and they don't follow what the preacher's saying in their Bible. I take my Bible with me, I open my Bible and I read what the preacher is talking about. People can speak all the words that they like, everything that they say, they can crack jokes and have great stories – the most important thing is God's Word, the most important thing is what God is saying. And secondly I take some notes. I mean you can't even get through kindergarten on a half an hour a week without taking notes. You know, if we take God seriously, if we want to follow Jesus and really take that seriously, you know something, we've got to take learning seriously. Do you know what a disciple is? A disciple is literally “a learner”, that's what the word disciple means, to be a learner. And thirdly, the thing I do when I've listened to some really good preaching, is I spend some time afterwards in God's Word reading it for myself. Sometimes it's not until you get home and you pray it through and you spend some time in that passage and maybe looking at some other related ones, that God really drops it into your spirit. I mean, years ago I heard a preacher teaching on a profound passage: 1 Peter 5:6,7: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you. Now I've learnt so much from what God taught me through that preacher in this passage but I've learned just as much and maybe even more from pondering and praying over this scripture and looking at other related passages. Learning in my heart – that's when I humble myself, when I get off my little tin pot throne and just walk each day faithfully with God. He's the one who later opens the doors; He's the one that's got an eternity ready for me. I've looked at this whole thing of preaching, and listened to some incredibly sermons and some dreadful ones too, I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of preaching; dead and alive. Dead preaching is full of words, it's boring and dry or maybe it's hyped up and frothy and bubbly but at the end of the day, there's no eternal food there because God's Word is not being preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's only God's Word by the power of the Spirit that can change us. I can't change you, I can't say things in my own strength that will change your life, but if I'm speaking God's stuff, if the Holy Spirit somehow takes God's stuff and puts it into your heart, that's when change happens and only God can do that. This is how the Apostle Paul put it: 1 Cor 2:1-5: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God Can I encourage you to be discerning as to what you listen to? Go and listen to the preachers who are proclaiming God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.. Go and have a read about how Jesus preached in the Gospels Matthew or Mark or Luke or John, the first four books of the New Testament. It's edgy and profound and real and dealing with the hard issues, and find yourself some preachers like that. Not ones that just entertain and tickle your ears with things you want to hear. The ones that open up God's Word and say, ‘Well, what's God saying to us today?' and then take what they said home, open your Bible there where they left off and go and lay hold of God's power unlimited for you, for your life.

Episode 37– Show Notes We continue the discussion from the last episode which had launched from the chapter in our favourite Apologetics book - "How Darwinism Dumbs Us Down: Evolution and Postmodernism". This time we discuss the theists’ side of deriving confidence in our knowledge (quoting the book): “an absolute mind as the basis for trust in human cognition”, i.e. being in God’s hands when it comes to what we can know.So what does happen when theists face their own source for determining truths and knowledge, which boils down to a reliance on God not deceiving them. Are they Dumber?We discussed the philosophy of how we can know that an all powerful God isn’t deceiving us and then we couldn’t help ourselves and turned to the passages in the Bible (Old and New Testament) where God does actively deceive. (See 1 Kings 22, Ezekiel 20:25 onwards and 2 Thessalonians 2:11 for starters)Ed thought that it might still be OK to live under a good loving God who may well be deceiving so that he (Ed) would just think what he was supposed to think. The question of knowing whether God is indeed good then comes to the fore. We looked at that too and had great trouble seeing how we could get there without merely trusting God’s supposed message to us that He is good.Links:Andrew’s YouTube clips on prophecies of Trump’s election win:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gIAtDxyTaMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfDouDlHM88 Frances’ article by Dallas G Denery II, associate professor of history and chair of the history department at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he discusses the history of the theologians’ struggle with the issue of divine deception.https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-scientific-revolution-made-an-honest-man-of-god Ed’s Christian site “Answering Islam” that claims to show that Allah is deceiving:https://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allah_best_deceiver.htm Frances’ quote by Bertrand Russell on the absence of good:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absence_of_good The Unbelievable episode on ontological argumenthttps://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable/Episodes/Unbelievable-Debating-the-Ontological-Argument-Peter-S-Williams-Peter-Millican Doubts Aloud Links:The 50 Arguments for Faith book: “Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy and Science” by Mike Licona and William Dembski. (It can be found on Amazon.) Please leave us a review on iTunes and we will respond to any question asked there with the review. Or give feedback and ask questions using : doubtsaloud@gmail.com Join the Facebook Group discussions:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1023280847835278/ Meet us all in person (after Covid19) at the monthly “Unbelievable Christian and Skeptic Discussion Group” in central London, see: https://www.meetup.com/Unbelievable-Christian-and-Skeptic-Discussion-Group-London

https://bethanyworshipcenter.comBethany Worship Center is a church in Celina TX that equips and empowers families and individuals to excellence today and for generations to come.Basic Tenets of the FaithThe Bible: The entire Bible (Old and New Testaments) is the divinely inspired truth delivered by God. The Bible is the ultimate example of how to live one's life of faith.The Godhead: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit, are three distinct persons, existing in a unified form as one body. God is the creator and sustainer of the universe. He is revealed in the Bible. He is eternal, with no beginning and no end. Jesus Christ was the human incarnation of God the Father. He was born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life and died by crucifixion for the sins of the world. He was resurrected from the dead on the third day and exalted to heaven with God. The Holy Spirit is the essence of God which moves among the people, touching believers here on Earth.The Church: The church is the Body of Christ here on Earth. Its mission is to spread the word of God to all the nations.The Future: In the near future Jesus Christ will return to claim his bride, the church. This event is called the Rapture of the Church. Current and past Christians will be taken to live with Christ forever. Later Christ will return to earth in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Last week Dr Christopher Peppler wrote THIS article about Jesus and His Bible. What did he use before the full Bible (Old and New Testaments) was available? How did He interpret the texts that He did have at His disposal? What do we learn from this? Have you bought all Your Christmas Presents Yet? There are … TruthTalks: Jesus and His Bible Read More » The post TruthTalks: Jesus and His Bible appeared first on Truth Is The Word.

Retro week 1 (Eat the Scroll)- Blockbuster Video, Crystal Pepsi, and reading the Bible: Old habits we need to bring back. Why is it important to not just read the Word of God, but to ingest it? Pastor Jason Baugh shares part one of this collection of talks. Society changes, morals change, circumstances change, but the word of God never changes.

The theme of Covenant runs throughout the Bible - Old & New Testament - and shapes God’s relationship with humans. Knowledge and understanding of covenant can give rise to faith and enable us to overcome impossible odds. This week we look at the Covenant God made through Jesus - the new and better covenant that defines our relationship with God today

The theme of Covenant runs throughout the Bible - Old & New Testament - and shapes God’s relationship with humans. Knowledge and understanding of covenant can give rise to faith and enable us to overcome impossible odds. This week we look at the Covenant God made with Moses and how the Old Testament Law points us to Jesus and freedom.

The theme of Covenant runs throughout the Bible - Old & New Testament - and shapes God’s relationship with humans. Knowledge and understanding of covenant can give rise to faith and enable us to overcome impossible odds. This week we look at the Covenant God made with Abraham

The theme of Covenant runs throughout the Bible - Old & New Testament - and shapes God’s relationship with humans. Knowledge and understanding of covenant can give rise to faith and enable us to overcome impossible odds. This week we look at the first Covenant mentioned in the Bible - the covenant declared to Noah.

The Bible has Old and New Testaments. The New Testament is a new and better covenant

Happy Wednesday, friends. I have refused for many years to call Wednesday 'hump-day' as a matter of principle, and I still refuse, so don't hold your breath hoping for me to wish you a happy hump-day at some point. It won't happen, unless I have been kidnapped and forced to do the podcast against my will, at which point, I will signal my need for rescue by uttering that greeting. Hopefully, we won't have to cross that bridge at any point in the future, but this podcast has many enemies, so you never know. Today's Bible readings include Leviticus 26, Ecclesiastes 9, Psalms 33 and Titus 1. As we have mentioned before, Ecclesiastes is not the happiest of Bible books. I'm not sure that I'd go to this book if my soul was downcast, and I was desperate for an encouraging pick-me up. That said, there is indeed wisdom to be found here, and the whole thrust of the book is found in its finale, so let's hold off on being too harsh until we get there. One of the profound observations that Solomon is going to share with us today is that life simply isn't fair, and he is going to share that truth with us in a bunch of different and soul-crushing ways. You might be saying - I don't think I'm up for much of a soul-crushing episode of the podcast right now - what with a virus stalking the lands like an invisible and scary stalky thing, and you'd be right, and that is why this is NOT going to be a soul-crushing episode, but a soul-LIFTING episode. So - just hang on. Let's read Ecclesiastes and come back and discuss. Wow. That was a bummer. Hang on for a few more minutes, because good news is coming. First, let's discuss the bad news we've just read. Solomon has just told us in several different ways that life is not fair at all. Consider: vs 2. Solomon says that DEATH awaits all - the virtuous and the sinner, the fool and the wise. UNFAIR! "2 Everything is the same for everyone: There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath." vs. 11 - the best don't always win, though it would be fair for them to do so. "Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them." vs 15. Poor heroes who are wise are completely forgotten because they are poor, "15 Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man." That's just in chapter 9. If you've been paying attention, Solomon has already told us numerous unfair things as well. How about Ecclesiastes 8:14, "There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile." Ouch! This is the height of unfairness! How about 7:15, "In my futile life I have seen everything: someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil." Or 6:2, "God gives a person riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy." And finally, 3:19-22 "For the fate of the children of Adam and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile. 20 All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knows if the spirits of the children of Adam go upward and the spirits of animals go downward to the earth? 22 I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?" Are you depressed yet? Wow - that's some heavy stuff. People often think Christians are pollyannas or sunshine-pumpers - people given to irrational and excessive optimism. I'm honestly not sure you can read the Bible - Old or New Testament - and come away thinking the Bible is anything but genuine, authentic, truthful and gritty. The Word of God does not whitewash things. I'll admit - many preachers do. Many televangelists do. Some moms and dads do. Some Sunday School teachers also....but the Bible doesn't. Solomon shows us today that life is NOT fair. Those who try hardest don't always win. Some wonderful people die young and some horrible people live a long and materially blessed life. Sometimes the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. Who can understand such things? But the real thing is what Solomon keeps coming back to: death. In his understanding - death comes for all, and the rich/wise/virtuous/humble are no better off than the wicked/foolish/haughty or animals, from what he can tell. And there's the important pivot for us. As far as Solomon knew, death was the same for all. There are some hints that he knew the righteous would be ultimately rewarded and the wicked ultimately punished, but it is like he is peering through the fog and can't really see clearly at all. Despite all his wisdom and learning, he is utterly perplexed. I wonder how much of that is due to the 1 Kings 11:4 dynamic? ("When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.") Probably quite a bit, actually - but the other thing that made things about the afterlife foggy was the fact that God had not revealed it Old Testament believers as fully as Jesus does in the flesh. And when Jesus comes on the scene, we learn just precisely how UNFAIR things are - especially eternal things. One of the greatest little summations of that unfairness is found in Luke 22:37 For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in me: And he was counted among the lawless. Yes, what is written about me is coming to its fulfillment.” Luke 22:37 This, my friends, is the absolute pinnacle of unfairness. Jesus, the perfect God-man, was counted as a rebel, as a sinner, as a criminal that deserved the worst punishment of all, crucifixion. He knew no sin, but suffered the penalty for all of our sins. There has never been something so unfair happen before or since, and there never will be again! Romans 4:25, "He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." 1 Corinthians 15:3, "3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures," 2nd Corinthians 5:21, " He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Colossians 2:14 "He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross." John 6:40, ""For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” If only Solomon could look upon this most unfair of all things. I am quite sure it would completely erase his lamenting, and cause him to joyfully exult in the divine unfairness of it all - the sacrifice of the perfect Jesus for His most imperfect sheep. Solomon was absolutely right that life was and is unfair, but he just misunderstood the direction that the River Unfair flowed. It does not flow against us, brothers and sisters, but for us in every way - thanks be to Jesus the Messiah! Meditate on this beautiful and glorious bit of unfairness and rejoice that you see more clearly than the wisest man of ancient days (because of Jesus.): He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

Happy Wednesday, friends. I have refused for many years to call Wednesday 'hump-day' as a matter of principle, and I still refuse, so don't hold your breath hoping for me to wish you a happy hump-day at some point. It won't happen, unless I have been kidnapped and forced to do the podcast against my will, at which point, I will signal my need for rescue by uttering that greeting. Hopefully, we won't have to cross that bridge at any point in the future, but this podcast has many enemies, so you never know. Today's Bible readings include Leviticus 26, Ecclesiastes 9, Psalms 33 and Titus 1. As we have mentioned before, Ecclesiastes is not the happiest of Bible books. I'm not sure that I'd go to this book if my soul was downcast, and I was desperate for an encouraging pick-me up. That said, there is indeed wisdom to be found here, and the whole thrust of the book is found in its finale, so let's hold off on being too harsh until we get there. One of the profound observations that Solomon is going to share with us today is that life simply isn't fair, and he is going to share that truth with us in a bunch of different and soul-crushing ways. You might be saying - I don't think I'm up for much of a soul-crushing episode of the podcast right now - what with a virus stalking the lands like an invisible and scary stalky thing, and you'd be right, and that is why this is NOT going to be a soul-crushing episode, but a soul-LIFTING episode. So - just hang on. Let's read Ecclesiastes and come back and discuss. Wow. That was a bummer. Hang on for a few more minutes, because good news is coming. First, let's discuss the bad news we've just read. Solomon has just told us in several different ways that life is not fair at all. Consider: vs 2. Solomon says that DEATH awaits all - the virtuous and the sinner, the fool and the wise. UNFAIR! "2 Everything is the same for everyone: There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath." vs. 11 - the best don't always win, though it would be fair for them to do so. "Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them." vs 15. Poor heroes who are wise are completely forgotten because they are poor, "15 Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man." That's just in chapter 9. If you've been paying attention, Solomon has already told us numerous unfair things as well. How about Ecclesiastes 8:14, "There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile." Ouch! This is the height of unfairness! How about 7:15, "In my futile life I have seen everything: someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil." Or 6:2, "God gives a person riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy." And finally, 3:19-22 "For the fate of the children of Adam and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile. 20 All are going to the same place; all come from dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knows if the spirits of the children of Adam go upward and the spirits of animals go downward to the earth? 22 I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?" Are you depressed yet? Wow - that's some heavy stuff. People often think Christians are pollyannas or sunshine-pumpers - people given to irrational and excessive optimism. I'm honestly not sure you can read the Bible - Old or New Testament - and come away thinking the Bible is anything but genuine, authentic, truthful and gritty. The Word of God does not whitewash things. I'll admit - many preachers do. Many televangelists do. Some moms and dads do. Some Sunday School teachers also....but the Bible doesn't. Solomon shows us today that life is NOT fair. Those who try hardest don't always win. Some wonderful people die young and some horrible people live a long and materially blessed life. Sometimes the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. Who can understand such things? But the real thing is what Solomon keeps coming back to: death. In his understanding - death comes for all, and the rich/wise/virtuous/humble are no better off than the wicked/foolish/haughty or animals, from what he can tell. And there's the important pivot for us. As far as Solomon knew, death was the same for all. There are some hints that he knew the righteous would be ultimately rewarded and the wicked ultimately punished, but it is like he is peering through the fog and can't really see clearly at all. Despite all his wisdom and learning, he is utterly perplexed. I wonder how much of that is due to the 1 Kings 11:4 dynamic? ("When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.") Probably quite a bit, actually - but the other thing that made things about the afterlife foggy was the fact that God had not revealed it Old Testament believers as fully as Jesus does in the flesh. And when Jesus comes on the scene, we learn just precisely how UNFAIR things are - especially eternal things. One of the greatest little summations of that unfairness is found in Luke 22:37 For I tell you, what is written must be fulfilled in me: And he was counted among the lawless. Yes, what is written about me is coming to its fulfillment.” Luke 22:37 This, my friends, is the absolute pinnacle of unfairness. Jesus, the perfect God-man, was counted as a rebel, as a sinner, as a criminal that deserved the worst punishment of all, crucifixion. He knew no sin, but suffered the penalty for all of our sins. There has never been something so unfair happen before or since, and there never will be again! Romans 4:25, "He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." 1 Corinthians 15:3, "3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures," 2nd Corinthians 5:21, " He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Colossians 2:14 "He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross." John 6:40, ""For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” If only Solomon could look upon this most unfair of all things. I am quite sure it would completely erase his lamenting, and cause him to joyfully exult in the divine unfairness of it all - the sacrifice of the perfect Jesus for His most imperfect sheep. Solomon was absolutely right that life was and is unfair, but he just misunderstood the direction that the River Unfair flowed. It does not flow against us, brothers and sisters, but for us in every way - thanks be to Jesus the Messiah! Meditate on this beautiful and glorious bit of unfairness and rejoice that you see more clearly than the wisest man of ancient days (because of Jesus.): He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. 4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

Andy Stanley is lead pastor of North Point Ministries, one of the largest churches in the USA. His preaching and new book ‘Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World’ has caused controversy by stating that the Bible should not be the foundation of Christian faith. To make faith irresistible once more to sceptics in a post-Christian world, believers are not required to defend the Old Testament, but point to the events documented by the New Testament about Jesus - his life, death and resurrection.  Jeff Durbin of Apologia Studios responds to Andy, saying that Christians need to stand on the inerrancy of the whole Bible - Old and New Testament - when evangelising non-Christians. For an exclusive 10% discount on Unbelievable? the Conference 2019 tickets (till 20 June) use promo code SPEAKTRUTH at checkout: http://www.premierchristianradio.com/unbelievableconference  For ‘Irresistible' by Andy Stanley: https://andystanley.com/resources/  For Jeff Durbin: https://apologiastudios.com Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable/Unbelievable-the-Book  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes  

The Middle Ages (500-1400 AD) was the convergence of three powerful forces. The barbarians of the north were forming powerful armies to overthrow the Roman Empire. Islam was born in Mecca and Medina, conquering the Middle East as far as India and spreading across northern Africa and into Spain. Christianity was in the middle region. It was a dangerous time because the light of the Gospel had become very dim. Extremes were weakening the spirit of the church. Desire for political power and moral corruption filled church leadership; out of balance teaching for holy living led to monasticism. Literacy and the Holy Word was taken out of the hands of the general populace leaving them illiterate and void the truth and spiritual life. Into this twilight God sent the Waldensians of Lyon, Italy. John Wycliffe of Oxford University continued the work. John Huss in Prague spread the light further. These were the morning stars that turned up the light in these years of darkness. The light became even brighter through Savonarola in Florence, Martin Luther in Germany, Huguenots in France and John Calvin in Geneva. The light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ was again burning bright and dispelling the dark forces of the convergence. Western Europe and North America are experiencing a similar convergence. Idolatry and false deities from other cultures combined with atheistic and agnostic educators and politicians are seeking to silence the Christian voice in public arenas. Islam with its Muslim religion is pressing hard to replace the influence of the Christianity. All the while, the Christian church has been weakened by her great desire to be relevant, show tolerance and to comply with political correctness. Driven from the public arena, she has become monastic in the great edifices of mega churches. The light has grown very dim in Western Europe and North America. While the church claims to be growing, the dirty little secret is no Christian movement in Western Europe or North America is having significant growth. Indeed most are stagnant or declining. Further, the church has corrupted herself by softening her stance on holiness. The results have been moral failures among her leaders, a shocking rate of divorce in her families, “live-in” relationships, and the embracing of same sex relationships. The good news is, the church has never been defeated. Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” While there have been times the light has grown dim, since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there has never been an era when the light of the Gospel has gone out. It will not go out now! How can we turn up the light in this generation? 3 Explosive Keys to Revival 1. Preach the uncompromised Word of God. Teach the whole Bible: Old and New Testament. This generation must have a full revelation of Almighty God. Stay balanced in the preaching and teaching. 2. Pray until the convicting power of the Holy Spirit comes on the preaching, leading the hearers to true repentance and conversion. 3.   Renounce the deception of being contemporaneous! Passionately seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon all meetings. Give room in your public services and in the small groups for the full expression of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.   Pentecost is what birthed the church and empowered ordinary men and women to turn the Roman world upside down. The life-giving power of the Holy Spirit filled men and women in church of the Middle Ages and they turned back the darkness and the Reformation was born. It is the power of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of God’s glory upon His church that is desperately needed today. That is what will bring miraculous conversions and life transformation. That is what will turn great motivational speeches into life-giving sermons. That is what will cause the hardest heart to desperately want the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what will awaken Western Europe and the North America from this post-Christian, anti-Christian spirit. Get my new study on the Holy Spirit! More Content Like This:

The Bible is the record of two promises God made to mankind.

The Holy Bible : Old Testament : Book of Psalms : Psalm 3 Welcome to the Holy Bible King James Version Old Testiment Book of Psalms Reading by Kate Johnson Burroughs

Sermon on Luke 24:13-35, about the Road to Emmaus, and Jesus' unexpected companionship that brought joy in their grief, and how Jesus also is our unexpected companion. Sermon Talking Points Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com 1. How were the disciples on the road to Emmaus an example of people whose joy had been stolen? Under what circumstances? What had their hopes been (Luke 24:21)? What was so disorienting about the grief they were experiencing? 2. What griefs have you endured? Think of a time when your joy was stolen or overshadowed by a loss. What was disorienting about your experience with grief? 3. How did the unexpected companionship of Jesus on their way begin to reorient them back to hope and joy? What was it about His presence and conversation that made their hearts “burn within them?” Luke 24:27, 30-35. 4. How is coming to the understanding of Jesus being the heart and center of all the Bible (Old and New Testament), like seeing the picture on the top of a puzzle box? John 5:39; Luke 24:27, 45-47. 5. How is the unexpected companionship of Jesus a comfort and joy to us amidst sorrow and suffering? How does it reorient us toward hope and joy? 1 Thess. 4:13; Romans 5:4-5; 1 Peter 1:3-5 6. In what ways is Jesus such a present companion in life, even now? Matthew 28:20; 18:20; John 14:1-6; 1 Cor. 10:16; Romans 6:5-11 7. How can you be an “unexpected companion” to someone experiencing grief, or joylessness? What message can you bring to them to encourage and lift their spirits?