Podcasts about bibles

Twenty years after the release of The Jesus Storybook Bible, Sally Lloyd-Jones joins Ginny for a heartfelt conversation about the unexpected journey behind one of the most beloved children's Bibles ever written, and why the way we tell children about God matters more than we often realize. Sally shares the personal experiences that shaped her writing, from growing up with an image of a demanding God to discovering the overwhelming kindness and love at the heart of the gospel. Together, they explore why stories have the power to reach children (and adults) in ways that lessons never can, how wonder and imagination nurture lifelong faith, and why simplifying truth is one of the hardest—and most important—tasks of a writer. The conversation also looks ahead to the upcoming 20th anniversary Jesus Storybook Bible tour, the creative process behind Sally's books, the importance of preserving childhood in an age of screens, and why reading great stories aloud continues to shape hearts across generations. Whether you're a parent, grandparent, educator, writer, or simply someone longing to rediscover childlike wonder, this episode is a beautiful reminder that God's story has always been a story of grace, and that the best stories don't just teach us, they change us. Get your copy of the renowned Jesus Storybook Bible here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. Acts 1:1-5 Spencer Carey Download TranscriptGood morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. We did it you guys. We made it through 2 Samuel. 1 and 2 Samuel.And now we're in the book of Acts. So if you're new to our church, we typically, not exclusively, but the majority of what we do is we walk through books of the Bible. And we're gonna go verse by verse, passage by passage. And we're in Acts chapter 1 today. As we begin the book of Acts, we'll be in this for the next season. We're in the first five verses of the book of Acts.That is on page 1053, 1053 in your black Bibles. The main text will be coming from the Bible. So we will hold a Bible and read that with this. There'll be other texts. They'll be on the screen. But we're gonna introduce the book of Acts because it is wise when you jump into a book to have some context for what you're actually studying.So I want to point out three things as we begin to introduce us, I think, well to understanding the book of Acts. If you grab a study Bible, like the ESV study Bible, you open it up before we start reading a book. If you're gonna study it, you're gonna see different introductory elements. And I'm gonna give you three that kind of help us frame our time together in the book of Acts. Genre, author, and purpose. So let me hit those very quickly.It's important to first know the genre because not all scripture is the same. You don't read Proverbs like you read the Psalms, like you read Genesis, like you read the Gospels, like you read the epistles, the letters in the New Testament. They are all, they come from different genres. So it's important to understand what you're reading before you jump in. The book of Acts is historical narrative. Functions like the Gospels in that way.It's historical narrative. It's a bunch of stories that tell the story of how the church began starting in the first three decades of the church is what the book of Acts and 28 chapters covers. So from around 33 AD to around 60 to 65 AD, we're gonna read a bunch of stories and teachings that shaped the church early on and that we get to be shaped by as well. So it's one of the longest books in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke is the only book that's longer and we'll be in it for a bit. So the second thing that is helpful to know is the author.And the author is Luke. So Luke was inspired by God to write this. So let's introduce ourselves to Luke. We don't know a ton. Here's what we do know. Luke was likely Greek.Okay. He may have been Jewish, it's debated, but if he's Jewish, he's very what you would call Hellenistic, meaning he's very Greek influenced. So he's Greek. What we also can see from the letters of the New Testament is he's likely a doctor. So likely a physician like Mike Goble who was just standing here leading us in prayer.He's a doctor. It's also clear that he's an historian. He was tasked with the job of both telling an orderly account of the Gospel in Luke of Jesus Christ and his life, his ministry, his death, his resurrection and the book of Acts, which tells the story of the early church. So some will say that Paul wrote most of the New Testament. It's actually not true. When you go by word count, Luke actually was inspired to write most of the New Testament because Luke and Acts is longer than all Paul's 13 letters combined.Fun fact. Three, purpose. Okay. Why is the book of Acts and our Bibles? Why did God inspire it? Why was it so important that it became an essential part of what's called the New Testament canon?What is the official books of the New Testament? Why do we have this? That's what we get to look at today. One of the things that's clear when you read the book of Luke is that there's this foreshadowing of the inclusion of the Gentiles. So that's basically, I would assume everybody in this room that comes from a non-Jewish background.There's this foreshadowing that the Gospel is going to go to the nations and that we're going to be included. And the book of Acts is going to show us how. How we are brought into the household of faith. So we're going to see this. We're going to look at the values and the witness and the Gospel that spread all that comes out of this. We're going to look at key figures like Philip and Peter and James, the brother of Jesus Christ, and Paul.We're going to look at all of this. And when you actually, if you look at a Bible and you go to Acts, oftentimes they're going to have the subscript that we have from the earliest manuscripts that says Acts of the Apostles. And if you read that, it may lead you to believe that this book is primarily about the work of the apostles. But what we're going to see is this book is primarily about a God rescuing his people and his rescue plan for the nations. And then even more of the point, one of the things that makes Acts so unique and so essential is it gives us the most comprehensive window into the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.We're going to read a lot about the Holy Spirit. No book in the Bible mentions the Holy Spirit more than the book of Acts. It would be wrong to say that this book is only about the work of the Holy Spirit, because God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are both present and loom large in this book. But there's no other book in the Bible that gives us a more upfront window to the work of the Holy Spirit than the book of Acts, which makes this very helpful for us as we want to be a Spirit empowered people and the season that we're in trying to be missional and planting a church. So we're very excited to be able to walk this book together.And what we're going to see today and these first few verses and what we're going to see throughout this series can be summarized in this sentence, the Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world. That what we're going to see is the Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world. So let me pray and then we'll walk through this introduction together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news of the gospel that we just sang about, that we just prayed for, that we just recited from the Scriptures. God, I pray that you would help us be, have open eyes to see how you started your church and what it's built upon.And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, go to verse one. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. So let's pause there.Out the gate, there should be some questions that jump off the page. Who's Theophilus? When did you do all this, where you dealt with all the things that Jesus began and taught? And that is why understanding Acts, it's very helpful to have a working general knowledge of the book of Luke. The gospel of Luke helps us understand the book of Acts. Luke functions very much like a part one and Acts functions very much like a part two.So what I want to do a little bit today is to go to the book of Luke and to help us see a little bit of how this helps us understand Acts. I want to go to Luke chapter one. This will be on the screen. You can look up here and hold that place in Acts because we'll come back to it. Luke chapter one says, many have undertaken to draw up an account of these things that have been fulfilled among us just as they were handed down to us by those who were, who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.So this is very similar to the introduction to the book of Acts. Who is Theophilus? We don't know for sure. We know that his name means lover of God. Theo and Phyllis, those are two different Greek words to come together, lover of God. It is very likely that he was a wealthy Christian who put the money forward for Luke to do the work of gathering all these reports.It takes time and energy and effort and money to go and travel throughout all of the New Testament world and to put together what is the gospel of Luke? What is these stories that tell us about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? And we should be familiar with that concept because we know today they are investigative reporters, that they make their living, they get paid to go out and do investigative work and put together reports from Bob Woodward and his work all the way to reporters like Christopher Rufo today. They are all types of different people that get paid to put together reports.And that is what Luke was. He was an historian who got paid and traveled to go and put together this gospel of Luke that tells us about Jesus Christ. And what I appreciate about Luke is that he's not only just giving us a bunch of facts about Jesus, he does the work of organizing it into a story. So when you read it, like the other gospels, it has story arc. So most stories, the gospels, stories in the Bible and stories that you go and you watch in the movie theaters, most stories have a general story arc.There's an introduction, there's rising tension, so there's going to be some different plot things that happen. There's rising tension, there's a climax, and then there's resolution. That's the majority of stories. And when you read the gospel of Luke, there's an introduction to who Jesus Christ is. He was born. And then all of a sudden, very early, you see the rising tension as he's ministering and establishing and teaching the kingdom of God.He's got the tension with the Pharisees and the religious leaders. And there's this tension that builds all the way towards Jerusalem where Jesus Christ is crucified, where he is resurrected. And then there's this resulting action, which is the commissioning of the church. And I appreciate that because it makes reading the gospels a lot of fun. It helps us see that he's a good storyteller in pulling all these stories together for us to see. But buried in the end of the gospel of Luke, in what we just read a few minutes ago, is a bit of a cliffhanger.And I also appreciate the art of a cliffhanger. My oldest recently has gotten really into books. She loves reading. And what happens sometimes is that she'll come down tired. And she's like, I'm so frustrated because I just want to go to sleep. But every chapter, there's just this cliffhanger.And I just have to keep reading. And it's like, I love that you love reading. We're going to have to learn to live with a cliffhanger for a bit because you actually need to go to sleep. But cliffhangers do that. They kind of leave something lingering that draw you into the next part. And that's what's the genius of the end of the gospel of Luke.And I want to go back to what we read just a few minutes ago so that we can see that. You get the very end of Luke, chapter 24, verses 44 through 49. This is how the gospel of Luke ends. Then he said to them, this is on the screen, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Okay. That's what we call biblical theology.That's the reality that the entire Old Testament, all of it points to Jesus Christ. And he sang it. Listen, law, the prophets, Psalms, all of it points to me. Verse 45. Then he opened their minds to the scriptures, which is Jesus Christ, opening their minds to understand.46, And said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. 47, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed and is named to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. So Jesus points to the climactic work, his death, his resurrection. And then he tells them in verse 47, really a preview of what is ahead. He nods to, you're going to go and preach.It's going to be the message of this gospel of his life, death, and resurrection. You go preach that there's going to be a call for repentance of sins. They're going to experience forgiveness that washes and covers us. This is what you're going to proclaim, and that message is going to the nations. You are going to be witnesses of this. But first, you're going to go to Jerusalem, and you're going to wait, because power is going to come from on high.Wait for the promise of the Father. It's coming, but you go into Jerusalem first, and that's like the cliff thing. Oh, wait, what? And it's like, oh, I want to know more about that. And here's the good news. You don't have to wait a year for part two of the movie to come out.You can just flip over the book of Acts, which is what we're in. So go back to verse one. Now, we have a good working knowledge of what Luke is doing in the gospel of Luke. Pick up in verse one, the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, verse two, until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Which just for a moment, I appreciate that what is clear is that when Jesus is teaching his disciples throughout his ministry, the Holy Spirit is present with him, teaching his followers.Verse three, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Okay, so there's a period of time between Christ's resurrection and his ascension, which is what we're going to look at next week is when he ascended to the right hand of God the Father. That period of time is 40 days. So in that 40 days, when you look and read the end of the gospels and you pick up in this part of the book of Acts, we don't get all likely of what Jesus did during that period. We can tell that he appears to them at various times.He's not with them every second, but he appears to them and what he's doing is he's preparing them. He's teaching them the kingdom of God and he's preparing them for what awaits them. He appears to them in Jerusalem. He appears to them on a mountain in Galilee. He appears to them on a lake in Galilee and he's doing the work of preparing them for what's next for the unfolding plan to reach the nation. So he's preparing them, but also what I like in this passage is it points out that he's also establishing that he is alive, that there are witnesses who have seen Christ.That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians, he points out that there are 500 people at one point that saw Jesus in the flesh. So Jesus is both preparing his church for what is ahead and establishing I am alive through all types of eyewitness accounts that we read in the scriptures. So he's in the period of preparation preparing them for what's next over that 40 days and now he's here verse 4. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.So Jesus is getting ready to ascend, but he tells them you're going to wait. You're going to wait in Jerusalem. You're gonna wait for the promise of the Father and that's foreshadowing what we're going to see the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church. You're gonna wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon you. Now at this point, it's very likely Jesus has taught them all about water baptism from the moment that he's baptized until now.And they should have the understanding at this point that baptism is the new covenant sign that you belong to God. But what they're going to learn is that faith does not begin with water baptism. It doesn't begin with water that faith begins with fire. That faith begins with fire that comes upon you when the Holy Spirit changes you into a new creation in Christ Jesus. When you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit overtakes you and changes you into someone who is new that you belong to Jesus Christ. And then you enter the waters of baptism to declare that you belong to him, which is why we as good Baptists baptize after someone is converted to Jesus Christ.That's what he's giving a nod to here at the end of this verse five. So he's telling them they need to wait. You're gonna go to Jerusalem and you're gonna wait for the Spirit to come upon you. And then you're going to begin to see this wonderful redemption plan that's going to unfold. And the rest of the book of Acts is how that plan unfolds. God in his people with them, bringing them into his mission to reach the nations.And I personally am very thankful that God brings us out of the stands and into the game so that we get to participate with our God in doing the most important eternal work there is. Around this time every year, I get excited because football is not far away. Okay. I love football. It's my favorite sport. I like other sports.Football is my favorite. I like how in August as the first game approaches, how delusional I get into thinking I will convince myself by the end of August that Lenora Sellers may be a Heisman candidate for the University of South Carolina. It's going to happen. I can convince myself of that delusion while also know I can't wait for the disappointment. It's going to be so exciting. I hold those two intention simultaneously and I get excited because I love watching the Gamecocks.I love watching us take on like blue blooded SEC programs like Kentucky and Mississippi State on the SEC Plus Network where we usually play. I just I look forward to it. I like pro football. I like watching. I'm a huge Indianapolis Colts fan. I love watching every season.I was like one time we won the Super Bowl in my entire life and I enjoy doing it. I love watching it. But let me tell you something. When I play football, I had way more fun. When I got to play football growing up, I mean Friday nights were way better than Saturday mornings in the stands. Friday nights in the field were far superior to ever watching something on TV or being there in person to watch it.No, it was a lot more rewarding, a lot more fun to be in the game playing. And what I appreciate about our God is that this wonderful redemption plan that He has given us, that He's unfolding for us, we get to participate in. That we get to wait for the power of God to come upon us and we get to be obedient to where He calls us to go. We get to see the spirit change people's lives. Guys, there's nothing more wonderful in this world than declaring the good news of Jesus Christ to someone who does not believe. And then God goes to work in their heart, brings them to faith in Jesus Christ.And then 10,000 years from now, you are standing in the presence of Christ with that brother's sister because you leveraged your life now for eternity. There is nothing more important. There's nothing more glorious. There's nothing more wonderful. And none of that happens unless the Holy Spirit is present. None of that happens unless the Spirit goes to work.We're like little kids that just want to get in the game and we're like three feet tall and we want to dunk a basketball and we can jump two inches off the ground and we're dreaming up just I want to dunk it and then we get picked up and we get to participate. And that's what the spirit does in us. He works in us in a way where we get to be a part of this, the Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world. That's what all of this is about. And that's what we're gonna see throughout the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world.I just want to give you a preview of what's ahead. I want us to see how this this theme of the Holy Spirit and God's church taking Jesus to the world, how it shows up all over the place. Because we'll work through Acts 1, then we'll get to Acts 2. And in Acts 2 we're gonna see at the festival of Pentecost where all the Jews are coming in to celebrate that at the right time the Holy Spirit will descend upon the church. And then Peter who, think about this, just six weeks before that was denying Jesus Christ repeatedly, stands up what we'll see at Pentecost and preaches a sermon where 3,000 plus people, their eternity has changed and the church begins.And then we're gonna watch from Acts 3 to Acts 6 as the church explodes in Jerusalem. The Spirit working in profoundly wonderful ways as people are being changed. And with that comes what Jesus promised. That if you declare the good news of Jesus Christ, you will be persecuted. You will suffer and they do. And as the church begins to declare the good news of Jesus Christ and powerful, wonderful things begin to happen, the church begins to be persecuted.And that comes to the head in Acts 7 when Stephen, a servant of Jesus Christ, is declaring the gospel and he's murdered and martyred for his faith. And then we'll see how the Spirit uses that. Because the Spirit uses that to expand the church further. When we get to Acts 8 we'll see how this plan is unfolding because they're gonna spread when they're being persecuted into Samaria, into Syria. And now the gospel is spreading. And then we'll follow this as Acts 10 to Acts 12 we'll see the finally how the Gentiles are included and how God works in that.We'll see in Acts 13 at Antioch when the church is commissioned and Paul and Barnabas are sent to go and take the gospel to Asia Minor into Europe and the gospel begins to spread from Acts 13 to Acts 20 all over from Turkey to Greece. The gospel begins to go everywhere. And then as we finish the book of Acts we're gonna see in Acts 21 to 26 when Paul is giving a defense for the gospel as being persecuted, being imprisoned, and that he uses his imprisonment for the gospel to go forward. He uses imprisonment to get the gospel to Rome. He's like I want to get to Rome. So I'm gonna be in prison and that's where I'm going.And then Acts 27 there's a shipwreck and then Acts 28 he finally gets there. And what I love about Acts 28 is when he gets there guess what there are any Christians there. That's what God does. He keeps working in lots of different people. But you keep reading this the Holy Spirit and God's church taking Jesus to the world.You keep following chapter after chapter after chapter and then all of a sudden you get to 28 you get done reading it and it just ends. It's like Luke just dropped the pen and said I'm done. It's the wildest thing. Go read through the book of Acts. I encourage you guys as we start this series go read through the whole book. And you get to the end and it's just like this isn't complete.And we know that Luke knows how to write a story because you can read the gospel of Luke and you can see such compelling story arc and how it and it just that's not we just have this rising tension and it just stops. He just quits writing and it's clearly so incomplete. It's not like any other book in the Bible just stops. And the question that should linger is why. Why? Why is it just that?And the answer is because the story isn't finished. Acts continues. The story isn't finished. The gospel is still trying. We're still taking the gospel to every tribe nation and tongue. The story isn't over.The church keeps going. Years ago there were some clever Christians that came up with a church network name called Acts 29. Which was brilliant. But it was a statement on it keeps going. That we are living and Acts continues. That the story continues.And it does. It continued in the first century as the gospel spread from North Africa to as far as Spain over to India and to Asia. The gospel spread as of the next few centuries as the church began to be further established as they were once a persecuted minority. Faith becomes a majority faith in the Roman empire. And the church begins to grow and to expand and that eventually you follow the centuries and centuries later that there were some Christians who were being persecuted for their faith by the established church of England. And they say we want to go to this new place called America.And they travel to America and that kind of starts a big wave of Christians moving and pastors moving and missionaries moving to America. And eventually you saw land in this state where they start churches from the coast up to the upstate. And eventually at around the early 1900s people came to this part of the river and they began a new church. First Baptist Church of Casey. And this church ministered for a century and then all of a sudden another church started up in the area of Mill City Church. And then a few years later we merged together as one church, Mill City Church.And the spirit is still at work taking Jesus to the world. And what I love is that if you've ever read a book, you ever watched a movie that leaves the ending ambiguous? That leaves a cliffhanger? Instead of getting frustrated, what I like to do is I like to dream a bit. I like to imagine what actually is going on and what could be. Like if you watch the movie Inception, you get to imagine does the top fall or does it keep spinning?And you get to dream a bit about what that can be. If you read a book like The Giver, you get to imagine does he make it? Did he die in the snow or did he make it to experience reality? Whatever story has this ambiguous ending that is unclear, you get to dream a little bit about what that gets to be. And when you read the book of Acts, what I want us to do is I want us to dream a little bit. When we walk through this series, I want to dream about what can be.That if the Holy Spirit is at work in the church to take Jesus to the world, then let's dream a little bit. Because I'll tell you something, we dreamed for years about doing what we just prayed about earlier. For years we dreamed about planting a church. We want to multiply this church. We want to expand to a different part of the city. And then finally God put the pieces together.And if you've been here the last six months, you remember to hear this story. And I'm excited about sending out Oak Ridge. I'm excited about our little small version of Acts continued that we get to do. I'm excited that Mike who is just standing up here and that Isaac get to head out with right now it seems like 60 of y'all counting to go and take the gospel to a very strategic place on exit 51 to reach that part of Lexington that expands all the way into Gilbert and as far as Leesville. Like I'm pumped about that. But if we do that and we go, yes, we did it.We nailed it. We accomplished it. Then we missed it. If we think we've arrived at this, if we think that Jesus Christ's blood was poured out and wrath came upon him, that he conquered death at the resurrection, that he ascended to the right hand of God the Father to be king over all of creation, that the Holy Spirit descended upon the church for just Mill City in Oak Ridge. We missed it. So we need to dream a little bit.We need to dream about what can be. Dream about how God can continue to work because we got work to do. I'm gonna put up a timeline that'll hopefully help visualize this. You can go to that slide. Christ ascended almost 2,000 years ago. Like literally we're getting close to almost literally 2,000 years ago.Okay. At some point he's promised he's going to come back. He's going to return. Now you go to the next slide. I don't know where we are in this timeline. Don't get hung up on this.If you were in the book of Revelation, it's clear that you know we don't know where we are in this timeline, but we're somewhere in the middle of this. Now this expands for thousands of years. We've got a small place in that timeline where we have work to do until he comes back. And we should dream about what that gets to be. Because here's the deal. We've talked about this and we'll keep saying this, that once we set out Oak Ridge, everyone has work to do.There's no neutrality in how this is going down in January. Oak Ridge is going out and they've got work to do. And everyone who's staying here, we have work to do. So I want you to dream. How are we going to be obedient to the call to go and make disciples? How are we going to do that in our version of the Acts-continued story?What are we going to do? I want to give you some considerations for how you should think of this. Some of you need to start taking your faith more seriously. Some of you come on Sundays and you go to a group and or hopefully both. But what it has largely been is a time for you to be filled up.And don't miss something. We want we want you to be filled up. We want you to grow in maturity. But maturity in Christ is not just consuming and being filled up. It's pouring out. That God fills us so that we might multiply ourselves into others.That we might make disciples. The great commission is to make disciples. And some of you need to press into maturity. You get the wonderful opportunity to do that. You get to go deeper into the Bible, deeper into the discipline of prayer. You get to help you have a zeal for evangelizing, for sharing the gospel with your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers.And then I hope you get people that are coming around that don't know Jesus or just new to Jesus and you get to sit with them and point them to who Jesus Christ is and say, come follow me as I follow Christ. There's no better way to use your life than for the sake of helping others know Christ. And you get to. And this next season, you get to be a disciple maker. Some of you will have the opportunity to become a leader in training in your group. And you should take it and you should want this because community groups are the means by which we advance the mission in our city.Okay. Our groups are how we reach our city and our group leaders, you can talk to them. Leading a group is wonderful, but it's also quite difficult at times because the good work that God calls us to do is difficult. That's told to us. And what you get to be as a leader in training is not only grow in knowing more of Christ and maturity, but you get to be a helpful and healthy part of your group. You get to breathe life into your group that when everyone just opts out last minute and the person who was supposed to bring the meat just says, I got the sniffles and I'm out.But you're just like, I'm okay. Well, I'm jumping in. What do you need? That you're going to be a helpful part of your group. And some of you should aspire to them. You should want that.You should want to be a leader. You should want to say, hey, come follow me as I follow Christ. And I want to follow you as you're following Christ. We should want that. There's another thing I want to point out. And when I say this, this is autobiographical.When I led a group, it's reality in my group. Now, I already told my group leader, I'm like, this isn't, this is, this is not just us. This is widespread, but I want to put up group content for a moment. All right. This is last week's group content. This is second Samuel.We have five different versions of group content that show up. It's typically this format. If you're not in a group, you should be in a group and you'll see this and it's pretty great, but there's a gospel centered section. There's a community section. There's on mission section. Something that I've noticed that happens in not just my group, but in a lot of groups is that we will love discussing the Bible.We will love getting deep. We'll get the community and everyone has updates and we'll share and we'll talk. And then all of a sudden it's like time to leave and kids are going crazy and someone hurt themselves. And, and, and, you know, because they ran into the wall or something downstairs, not a, not an adult, but a child. And then it's on mission and it's like, ah, we should do it, right? Yeah.Cool. All right. Let's go home. I'm not going to ask you to show your hands, but how many times does that get buried? That's an afterthought. And it's like that, that needs to come to the foreground.There might be weeks where it's just like, ah, you know what? I love, but let's, we're eating a meal. Let's, let's, let's share some life updates. Let's, let's have some time for this. Let's not miss this because we have friends and neighbors and coworkers who we need to understand the eternal situation that right now they are journeying towards an eternity under the wrath of God because of their sin.And the church is plan a for advancing. You are the person that God has put in their life to tell them Jesus is better, that, that eternity is real and God wants you and is for you and desires you. And it's you. And we need to remember that because what could happen when you get to a church of our size is that you can get comfortable and you can think there isn't a need, but there is. And we can't miss that for a moment. So some of you, some of us need to regain our missional hustle in this season as we dream about what we could be in this Acts continued story.Some of us, some of you need to step up and serve. We've run some Numbers that are out of retreat. We kind of looked at all this stuff. There are 58 members of our church who currently do not serve in any capacity. Now there are some folks who have very, very real legitimate excuses, members of our church who have legitimate excuses for why that cannot happen.But there's a lot that don't. And here's the problem. There's 58 members of our church right now who've set in their commitment. They're committed to serving the church, but they're not serving in any capacity. When we send out Oak Ridge, there's going to be that number drops to 54. Now that tells us a couple things.First Oak Ridge is about to go out with a bunch of people who've served for years. And what Mike and Isaac are going to tell you is guess what? There's more where that came from. You got more work to do there. But what that means for us is that we're losing a big part of our church that has served for years.Like if I put up a chart right now, which I don't have, but if I put up a chart of all the different areas that people serve in our church and I just put in bright colors all the different people who've committed to go to the Oak Ridge church plan and the next slide, after they're gone, it just gets real dark. And it's because we will have opportunities for everyone to pick up a shovel and go. And I'm excited about that. I think you should be too excited about the opportunity to step into Kid City and breathe life into it, to our kids excited to step into hospitality and into groups and a bunch of different ways and to serve and to hustle and to grind because Jesus Christ is worth it.He's worthy of our worship and our service that is worthy of the gospel going forward. We're going to have a variety of ways that we get to dream. And I want you to dream. I want you to have personal dreams where you pray about this. I hope the series of Acts opens that up for you. I've got some.I want to share one of just one that's personal to me. That I feel called to this land and in this area. All right. That wasn't always the case. At one point when I went to seminary, I was like, I'm never coming back. I said it out loud.I'm never coming back. And I came back. Let me tell you something. I love this people. I love this place. Okay.My family history, they came over like 300 years ago to Pelion and they like never left. Like Pillion, West Columbia, Casey Lexington, you draw a triangle and my people have posted up in that area for 300 years. And I personally, I want this part of the Midlands, I want the Midlands to see scores and hundreds and thousands of people come to Christ. Because there's so, I know you think there's, there's lots of people that are, there's lots of churches that there are thousands of people in and around you that do not know and are not following Jesus Christ. And what I'm also seeing is that there are a lot of churches in our area that are dying as a statistical fact.There are a lot of churches in our area that are running in the red financially, that if they lose a few members, they're losing a big part of their church. They're physically dying. They are like a roof replacement away from just, it just have to shut the doors. My personal dream right now is that I want to see men in this church aspire to the office of overseer elder pastor. I want to see men in this church who want to step up and become pastors and pastor churches in this area over the next 10 years that need to be replanted, that need to be revitalized, that need life again. And right now there's a massive pastor shortage across the country.There's a massive pastor shortage. There's a bunch of boomers who are retiring, who are dying, and it's not being filled with younger generations. So what I want to see is men in this church. I want you to pray some dangerous prayers and I want you to ask, do I need to be the kind of man of character that says, follow me as I follow Christ as I shepherd the people of God here or somewhere else? And that's my personal part of the dream. And for the next 10 years, I want to see that happen all over the city.I want 50 years from now the Midlands to look dramatically different in churches because for the next 10 years, we leveraged our time, our energy, our money, and our people to send out pastors and teams of people to go and make more disciples in this city. And I want it to go further because it's been a few years since we have sent a missionary to the foreign mission field. It's been a few years and there are unreached peoples that get the smallest amount of resources and people. And some of you need to go and you don't need to be here in five years. And some of you need to have a conversation with Ben Johnson at 1040 Hub with Tim.Where's he at? Tim Rice over there, who works with IMB. We got missions, opportunities, good Lord. I'd love to see someone go to the nations, but we're going to have to pray and we're going to have to dream and we're going to have to own our part of the Acts-continued story. So in this next season, let's dream a little bit.Let's pray some dangerous prayers. Let's let the Holy Spirit work in a way that gets us in the game. Let's be obedient even when it feels risky, even when it feels uncomfortable. Let's own our part of our very small part, but important part of the story of the Holy Spirit and His Church taking Jesus to this city and the world. Let's pray.Heavenly Father, I pray that You might work in us in this season to stir us towards faith and trusting You. And the fruit of that would show up in beautiful, eternal ways. God, that first means that in this season there are people that do not know You that need to. There are people in this room who do not know You, have not surrendered their life to You, do not see You as Lord, and they need to. And I pray that You open their eyes to who You are and a baptism of the Holy Spirit would take over their lives. God, there are folks in this room that are going, that are going with Oak Ridge, and I am so thankful for their obedience to go, to be uncomfortable, to take risks.Lord, may You bless their labor, and may there be people in the kingdom of God a thousand years from now because they were obedient to go. And God, may You stir in us. May You give us a hustle. May You empower us for the good work that You have right here and beyond for years to come. In Jesus' name, amen.Transcript

The greatest gift God has ever given to wicked, sinful people is because of his great love to us. Those people that aren't believers do not understand why believers love to worship God in church services, or read their Bibles at home, or tell others about their great gift of salvation. Believers are not afraid, even of the rod of God, because believers know that God uses the rod to correct us, to draw us closer to him.

Join us this month as Pastors Mitch Kimbrell and Craig Combs examine what it means for a Christian to live under the law when the Bibles says that Christians are free from the law.

Is there something from your past holding you back? It could be 50 years ago, or 5 days ago. Regardless, past regrets, guilt, and shame have a way of holding on to us. We replay the stories we have no way of changing because what is done is done. You can’t go back. You can’t undo it. So, what do you do? Too many of us are serving life sentences for sins Jesus already died for. We keep dragging yesterday into today and wondering why it’s so hard to move forward. We allow our worst moments to become our identity. We introduce ourselves to God with our failures, while He calls us by our name. Maybe you wish you had made different choices. Maybe you stayed too long, left too soon, trusted the wrong person, or became someone you’re not proud of. Maybe you did things that still haunt you. Or maybe things were done to you that have created a deep shame. Maybe you’ve asked God to forgive you a thousand times, but you’ve never forgiven yourself. You’ve accepted His grace for everyone else while withholding it from yourself. Regret has a way of convincing us that our past gets the final word. Shame whispers, “This changes everything.” But grace declares, “No, Jesus does.” Once, there was a woman caught in a shameful act of sin and brought before a crowd for Jesus to judge. Now imagine that for a moment. You know what you did, but imagine standing before a crowd with your sin announced and Jesus looking right at you. You have no excuse. No justification. It’s just the truth of what you’ve done as your full identity. What would Jesus say to you? You don’t have to guess. What He said to one daughter about her guilt and shame is what He says to every daughter about her guilt and shame. Hear Jesus today. John 8: 2-11, “At dawn Jesus appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, which with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir’,’ she said. ‘THEN NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU.’ Jesus declared. ‘GO NOW AND LEAVE YOUR LIFE OF SIN.’ How incredibly remarkable. Jesus didn’t turn away. He didn’t shame her. There was no condemnation in the presence of Jesus—not by Him or anyone else. And don’t miss this. Jesus knew everything. He knew the details no one else knew. He knew every choice that led her there. He knew the things she was ashamed to say out loud. There were no secrets remaining before Him. Yet Jesus did not condemn her. Instead, He invited her to leave it all right there and walk away without that burden. Without that secret. Without that regret. Without that shame. A woman set free from the very mess she had created. A woman given a new life as fully forgiven. And that is you. How do I know that’s you? Because not a single one of us is without sin. No one has gotten this all right. We’ve all failed and fallen short. Every single one of us deserves condemnation, but praise God, we don’t receive what we deserve. We receive what Jesus purchased for us instead. There are two things Jesus says to this woman, and I believe we often embrace one while completely missing the other. First, He says, “Neither do I condemn you.” We love that part. We underline it in our Bibles. We thank Him for it. But then we spend the rest of our lives condemning ourselves. Isn’t that strange? Jesus releases us while we keep ourselves imprisoned. Jesus says, “I don’t condemn you.” And we reply, “Thank you, Jesus, but I do.” He says, “You’re forgiven.” We say, “Yes, but I’m ashamed.” He says, “I’ve removed your sin.” We say, “Yes, but I still carry it.” Can I lovingly tell you something? It is not humility to carry what Jesus died to remove. Some of us have made self-punishment our penance. We secretly believe if we carry our shame long enough, somehow we’ll finally pay for what we’ve done. But my sister, that’s not repentance—that’s pride dressed up as punishment. You cannot pay for a debt Jesus already paid in full – stop trying. If Jesus doesn’t condemn you, then who gave you permission to condemn yourself? The second thing Jesus says is, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” Notice He didn’t say, “Neither do I condemn you, now stay here and live defined by what you’ve done.” No. Grace never leaves us where it finds us. Jesus didn’t simply free her from condemnation, He freed her for transformation. He drew a line in the sand that day. Everything before this moment was her past. Everything after this moment would become her future. And do you know what Jesus refused to allow? He refused to allow her past to cross over that line. I wonder if that’s what Jesus is doing for you today. Perhaps He’s drawing another line in the sand – not because He has grown weary of forgiving you, but because He is weary of watching you carry what He has already removed. How many times has He offered you this forgiveness? Every single day of your life. And every day you’ve picked it back up again. You’ve brought Him the same regret. The same shame. The same failure. Not because His forgiveness isn’t enough, but because you’ve struggled to believe it really applies to you. Today can be different. Today can be the day you finally realize that you cannot change what you did, but it has never changed the way Jesus sees you. You think what you did changed everything, but you’re wrong. WHAT JESUS DID CHANGED EVERYTHING. Your choices are not more powerful than His cross. Your failures are not more powerful than His forgiveness. Your past is not more powerful than His grace. He hung on that cross to forgive you. Not partially. Not temporarily. Completely. And now He asks you not to carry this beyond the line He has drawn. He already died for this, and He doesn’t want a part of you dying too. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” That includes you. Not someday. Not after you’ve punished yourself long enough. Not after you’ve finally become who you think you should be. Today. And my sister, that doesn’t merely include you – it is about you. If you were the only person in the world, Jesus would have died for you. He would have stretched out His arms on that cross simply so you could hear Him say, “Neither do I condemn you.” He drew the line to create a boundary for your past. Don’t drag your past across the line He has drawn. He meant it when He said, “I do not condemn you.” And He meant it when He said, “Go now and leave this.” The enemy wants you looking over your shoulder, grieving what cannot be changed. God invites you to lift your eyes and look ahead at what can still be redeemed. You may not be able to rewrite the story, but God is able to redeem it. He has never once looked at a broken life and said, “There’s nothing I can do with that.” In fact, broken pieces are often His favorite place to begin. At some point, you have to stop visiting the graveyard of your past and start walking into the purpose of your present. What happened matters, but it doesn’t get to matter most. God’s grace is greater than your greatest regret. You cannot change yesterday, but you don’t have to keep carrying it into tomorrow. So today, I want you to picture Jesus bending down and drawing a line in the sand for you. On one side is everything you’ve done. Every regret. Every failure. Every shame-filled memory. And on the other side is the abundant life He died to give you. Hear Him say it one more time: “Neither do I condemn you.” And then hear the rest of His invitation: “Go now.” Leave it here. Leave it forgiven. Leave it buried. And walk away free. And you know what free women do … they help set others free. There are others just like you. Others dragging around that same guilt and shame. Others who have suffered too. And now you, with the power of the Holy Spirit within you, and the personal experience of forgiveness and freedom, you can lead those women to the same encounter with Jesus and the line he has drawn for them. LET HIM USE YOU NOW! Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Seattle Seahawks head coach and Super Bowl LX champion Mike Macdonald is our guest on the podcast today.Topics:01:10 - Looking back at winning a Super Bowl02:50 - God is in control03:58 - Turning the page to 202606:04 - Running "it" forward07:50 - A journey of faith11:28 - The impact of other coaches of faith13:37 - Bibles for Christmas14:45 - Favorite "God moment" at Super Bowl LX17:25 - The battle of "control" as a coach18:50 - Pointing to God at the Super Bowl podium postgame21:02 - Trusting the Lord no matter the circumstances23:18 - A culture of loving, serving and caring for others25:15 - Who is Jesus and what is God teaching Mike right now?Have a question? Got a guest suggestion? Want to advertise with us? Email us - jason@sportsspectrum.comWATCH all of our podcast episodes on our YouTube page:https://www.youtube.com/SportsSpectrumMagazineSign up for our Sports Spectrum Magazine and receive 15% off a 1-year subscription by using the code PODCAST15https://www.theincrease.com/products/sports-spectrum-magazine Do you know Christ personally? Click below to learn how you can commit your life to Him.https://sportsspectrum.com/gospel/

Should we pray for Satan? Can he be saved? What is the best Bible version? What are your thoughts on demon possession and deliverance for believers?

In this episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal delivers a rich expository sermon on James 5:1–6, one of the most striking prophetic passages in the New Testament epistles. Drawing on the Jewish literary and cultural context of James's original audience — Jewish Christians scattered from Jerusalem by persecution — Tony unpacks why this text is not a blanket condemnation of wealth, but a devastating judgment oracle against those who hoard riches and oppress the vulnerable. Along the way, he explores the eschatological weight of accumulated wealth, the theology of God's omniscient justice, and the stunning comfort available to the suffering believer. The episode closes by returning to James's thesis: that trials of every kind, including economic oppression, can be counted as joy because of who God is and what He has done in Christ. Key Takeaways James is a deeply Jewish book written to a specific audience — Jewish Christians dispersed from Jerusalem by Saul's persecution, not a general audience of wealthy or Gentile believers. The prophetic "Come now" signals a judgment oracle, not a direct address — James is not rebuking wealthy members of his congregation, but pronouncing eschatological judgment on oppressive landowners using a technique common in Amos, Malachi, and Micah. Hoarding wealth is not morally neutral — it is self-condemning — The corroded gold and moth-eaten garments are not just symbols of decay; they serve as legal evidence against those who refused to use their wealth for God's glory and the good of others. Withholding wages from laborers constitutes a form of murder — In the ancient world, depriving workers of their wages could literally cost them their lives. James draws on Old Testament law to frame predatory economic exploitation as a capital sin. God sees and hears the cries of the oppressed — The wages of defrauded workers "cry out" to the Lord of Hosts, echoing the blood of Abel in Genesis 4. God's justice is not passive or delayed out of ignorance — it is certain and coming. Matthew 25 reframes Christian mercy as care for the body of Christ — The sheep-and-goats judgment is not a general humanitarian mandate, but a specific call to care for persecuted brothers and sisters — and to recognize that mistreating them is mistreating Christ Himself. Trials are counted as joy through the doctrine of imputation — Suffering is not stripped of its pain, but it can be moved from the loss ledger to the profit column because God uses adversity as the instrument of sanctification and glorification. Key Concepts The Prophetic Address: Who Is James Actually Talking To? One of the most common misreadings of James 5:1–6 is assuming James is directly rebuking wealthy Christians in his own congregation. Tony Arsenal corrects this by grounding the passage in its literary and historical context. James employs a well-established prophetic technique — seen in Amos, Malachi, and Micah — of addressing an absent party in order to pronounce judgment on them, while simultaneously comforting those who overhear the oracle. His audience is the dispersed, impoverished Jewish Christians who fled Jerusalem under Saul's persecution. There were almost certainly no wealthy landowners in the room. The "Come now, you rich" is a judgment declaration directed outward, designed to assure the suffering poor that God has seen their oppressor and will act. Far from being a proof-text for radical poverty, the passage is a pastoral comfort wrapped in prophetic fire. Corroded Gold as Legal Evidence Against the Soul James's claim that gold and silver have "corroded" is deliberately shocking — and theologically precise. Gold, uniquely among metals in the ancient world, does not corrode. By saying it has already corroded, James is not making a metallurgical claim but a moral and eschatological one. The accumulated, hoarded wealth of the oppressor has lost its purpose. It sits idle while workers starve, and in doing so it becomes evidence — a legal witness — against its owner in the court of divine justice. Tony draws a direct line between this image and Jesus's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about treasures stored on earth being subject to moth and rust. Both brothers — Jesus and James — appear to be drawing on the same shared wisdom, likely rooted in the same household and the same mother's instruction. Unused wealth does not just fail to help others; it actively indicts its holder. Counting It All Joy: The Accounting Logic of Sanctification Tony closes the sermon by returning to James 1:2 — the thesis statement of the entire letter — and unpacking the word "count" as an accounting term, directly related to the doctrine of imputation. Just as righteousness is reckoned to the believer in justification, so suffering can be reckoned as joy in sanctification. This is not a call to pretend pain isn't real, or to perform contentment. It is a theological reframing: what belongs in the loss column of the ledger can, by faith, be moved to the profit side — not because the trial was pleasant, but because God is sovereign, good, and working all things toward the believer's conformity to the image of Christ. The oppressor means their wickedness for evil. God means it for glory. The supreme example is the cross itself — the only truly innocent man, suffering the worst evil ever committed, for the redemption of His people. Memorable Quotes The corrosion of that gold serves as evidence for the condemnation of those who are harming you — and the corrosion of this wealth is an indication of the corrosion of their very souls. He sees your pain. He sees your suffering. He sees your victories even when no one else is celebrating them. He sees you — and that should be a great source of comfort. Imputation is an accounting term. And when we count it all joy, we're taking what should be a red line in the loss ledger — what should be an expense — and we're able to move it to the profit. Not because it didn't hurt, and not because we wanted it to happen, but because our God is good enough to not rob us of the chance to be sanctified. Full Transcript Tony Arsenal: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you." It's always a little, uh, strange to sort of jump into the middle of a series, and, um, you know, Wes is one of the most competent preachers that I know personally, so I trust that he has given you a good and satisfying overview. Uh, but I don't feel like I would be doing my responsibility if I didn't at least touch on a few things, uh, related to the, the intro to James that I think is relevant for this particular passage in a way that maybe is not relevant for the rest of the book. So some of this I hope is review, I, I anticipate is review, but I think it's worth, uh, touching on. James, as you know, is the, the half brother of Jesus. He was the leader of the Jerusalem church, and specifically he was sort of the figurehead of the Jewish church as a whole. Um, the Jewish church was the only church for the very early part of the church's growth. There were always, uh, Gentile believers. Even in the Old Testament, there were Gentiles who trusted in the Lord of Israel and the God of Israel. They were often called God-fearers. They rarely converted all the way to Judaism, but they were sort of seen as an attachment to the Jewish people. They didn't participate in all of the blessings of the Jewish people, but they did participate in most. They often had the same kind of protection. They were in a form of covenant with God. Um, they were able to worship and offer sacrifices. The temple itself had a whole portion of the temple dedicated called the Court of Gentiles, specifically for these Jewish worshipers. And as the church spread, primarily through persecution, which we'll touch base on here in a minute, as the church spread out from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, and ultimately to the ends of the earth, it took on a, an increasingly Gentile Greek flavor. As more and more primarily initially Greek converts came into the church, and then of course, as it spread to other sort of non-Hellenistic lands, other, other types of people, other nations, other people groups joined the church, the scriptures which-- the New Testament we receive primarily from Paul, at least in terms of the epistles, um, also began to take on a more Gentile flavor. Not because Paul was a Gentile, but because Paul was ministering primarily to Gentiles What we'll see here is that James is a very Jewish book. I'm sure that along the way there's been several kinds of things pointed out to you to show that, but I wanna show a couple things that not only establish James as the author, James the brother of, of Jesus, but also root the, not only the author, but the audience in a distinctly Jewish Christian, uh, context. So you don't have to turn there, I'll read this, but in Acts, uh, 15, which is the, the great Jerusalem Council, uh, we read this. It says, "With the following letter..." So the, the council meets, they make a decision about what k- what parts of the Jewish law were going to be commended to and recommended, uh, and required for the Christian believers, the Gentile Christian believers, and when they're done, they send this letter to all of, all of the churches. And it says, "With the following letter, the brothers, both apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are at, of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings." Now, I don't know about you, but I always sign my emails the same way, right? I've got, like, my work signature that I have to use, that the, the hospital makes me use with all the proper formatting and colors and fonts, but I always have the same signature. Mine is very simple. I just say, "Thanks," right? I just sign it as, "Thanks," above my signature, and I'm sure you all have that sort of characteristic way you sign a s- sign an email, or maybe it's the way you say goodbye at the end of a phone call. My father-in-law always says, "So long," which is a phrase you don't hear very often, so it's very distinct to him. We all have these little tells in our communication that sort of tip off who they're from. If you turn quickly back over to James 1, so just flip the page, uh, to the left here, he starts his letter by saying, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, greetings." It's the only two letters in the New Testament that we have where the author identifies himself, sends to a sort of generalized audience, and then signs it, "Greetings." Now, James, the brother of Jesus, was the leader of the Jerusalem Church. He was the leader of the Jewish ch- the Jewish Church in general, and he signed the letter coming from the Acts Council as sort of the presiding minister. If, if we were, y- you might call them, like, the moderator of your business meeting, or we would call them the moderator of our presbytery or our session in the Presbyterian context I come from. He was the one who sort of, like, presided over there, and so the letter that went out to the churches was signed in his name and written, drafted by him. So we see this characteristic way that the letter is addressed with this final word, "Greetings," which is not used frequently in the New Testament We also see when we look at the language carefully that the audience of this, uh, of this letter, it's debated and there are good arguments, but i- in my opinion, it's very clear that the audience of this letter is not Jewish Christians in general or, uh, Jews who have not yet converted. There are some people who would say that 'cause they're called the 12 tribes. But instead it is the Jewish Christians who originally dwelled in Jerusalem and were sent out into the countryside after the persecution that was started primarily by Saul. If you look at Acts, Acts 1 which is, uh, the passage where Saul begins to persecute the church or where Saul kinda comes on the scene as the persecutor of the church, there's a couple distinct, um, distinct linguistic markers we should touch base on. Starting in verse one it says, "And p- Saul approved of his execution. And there arose a day-- that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. They were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made a great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church and entered the house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison." When we look at this and we compare it to that, uh, again, that first verse of James where he says to the ones who are scattered, we see that there's a pretty strong linguistic parallel that tells us that the people he has in mind for this letter, the people he's addressing, are the same people who were dispersed or scattered out of Jerusalem in the persecution. When he says to the 12 tribes in the dispersion, that word dispersion is not really a translation. It's what we call a transliteration. So it's not like we've taken a word and sort of given it an English word. We've just changed the word, the letters over to English letters. In Greek, the word is diaspora, dispersion, and in, uh, Acts 1, the verb used to, to sort of describe this scattering of them is diaspero. And it is a picture of scattering seed. This is what a farmer would do. So it's not even the normal word we would use when someone is fleeing persecution. It's this idea that God has scattered Christians out into the world, in this case by persecution. He scattered them out into the world to be planted. A lot of this is where we get phrases from Tertullian about the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Now, why does this matter? As I mentioned, we often think in Gentile categories when we're reading the New Testament, and for good reason. One, we're all, all Gentiles, I'm presuming. I, I don't, I don't think-- I think I mentioned this last time, and no one came up and corrected me. I don't think anyone here is ethnically Jewish with ancestry that they're directly aware of, you know, where they trace their lineage directly back. Europe is a, a big amalgamation of just about everything, so most of us probably have a smattering of different ethnicities. But none of us are ethnically Jewish to the idea that we would, uh, identify as such in the same way. And even if we were, we've been raised and grown up in a Gentile context. We live in the West. We have-- We think in different categories. And what's more is most of the New Testament is written primarily to Gentiles by someone who is ministering to Gentiles. So Paul uses a fair amount of, of Hebraisms or things that are related to the Old Testament. Of course, he's explaining the Old Testament, and he makes ample reference to the Old Testament because that is the word of God, and it is profitable for our teaching, our correction, our reproof, and ultimately for our, our sanctification. But he uses metaphors and language in a way that is not common to the Israel context that Jesus and James and Peter and the other apostles were raised in. We don't have time to go there, but there's even some metaphors that Paul uses that are actually used the opposite way in, uh, in the more Hebraic Jewish, uh, epistles we have. One example that comes to mind is, um, Paul looks at the concept of milk, and that's not necessarily a good thing, right? It's not a bad thing, but it's what immature believers use, right? They can't handle the meat of the Bible. They have to be given the milk of the gospel before they can progress to the meat. In the Book of Hebrews, which I don't think was written by Paul, and in other places, Peter uses milk as a way to talk about nourishment, right? We think of the land flowing with milk and honey. Milk was not seen as some sort of substandard food that was only for babies. It was seen as, like, the richest, best thing that you could eat. We all have a linguistic environment that we grow up in. We all have a shared vernacular. You know, if I say something like, "You can't get there from here," everyone knows what that means. Obviously, you can get there from here, but you have to take this circuitous route. We know what that means. I think if we went around the room, we probably would find that there is this shared language. And then if we took individual families, we'd find that even within those families, there's further narrowing down of sort of like inside jokes and words that are used in ways that are not necessarily the same as others So when we read James, or when we read the letters of Peter or the letters of John, we should default to thinking more along the lines of comparing them to the words of Christ in the Gospel, first and foremost, and then to the Old Testament before we start to think about them necessarily comparing them to Ja-- or to Paul or to other kind of first century Hellenistic literature. That's not, of course, to say that Paul and James contradict. I'm sure that we went through a long explanation with much detail when you got to James chapter two, which is, of course, the most famous example. Paul uses the word justification or justify in a legal sense to make or to declare someone to be righteous. It's the verdict that the judge delivers, and it communicates the status. It actually performs what it says. When the judge says, "I find you not guilty," it changes your status from being potentially guilty to being cleared of all charges. Paul uses it slightly differently. He's not using it in the sense of to make someone righteous or to declare them righteous. He's using it to say they've been shown to be righteous. They've been validated. They've been vindicated. And if we get that mixed up, that's the source of all sorts of confusion. So when we come to this passage, and we'll get there, I promise, when we come to this passage, we have to understand some of the metaphors and the language that's being used draws from an existing body of shared cultural language that is foreign to us and is in some ways foreign to the rest of the New Testament, apart from what we see in the Gospels And it's important to remember, and this is why it's so key to land, that the audience of this letter is the persecuted, poor Jewish Christians who probably had a fairly comfortable life, relatively speaking, living in Jerusalem. These are city folks. These are people that live in Jerusalem or farm into the fields immediately around Jerusalem. They were established. They owned land. They probably had family that they had to leave, and now they're scattered out into the country with nothing. They're sent out into the world with no jobs, no family connections, no social welfare. Because they've left the Jewish faith, at least from the perspective of the Jews, they can't even go to their Jewish brothers and sisters and rely on the hospitality that's required in the law of Moses This is so important when we think about how James opens the letter and delivers what I think is his thesis statement. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of every kind." Trials like not knowing where the next meal is gonna come from, not knowing where the next roof over your head is, not being sure you can feed your children. We all face real trials and tribulations in our life. Some of them are related to our faith, and some is just the fallen human condition in the fallen world we live in. But we're talking here about a totally different category of, uh, trial and persecution than most of us hopefully will ever experience That brings us to our actual passage now. James opens up this section with a linguistic marker that signifies this is a change in topic. He says, "Come now," or another way to translate it might be, "Now listen. Listen up." When my son is doing something that, uh, I need him to stop or I need to give him instructions, I hold him by his shoulders and I say, "Look at my eyes. I want your eyes right here. Look at my eyes." That's what Paul is doing. He's stopping and he's interrupting the flow of language. This shows us this is a new topic and a new audience. James is not speaking to rich Christians in his audience. First, 'cause there likely weren't any rich Christians directly in his audience. Remember, these are the, the poor Christians scattered out into the Judean countryside, into Samaria He's using a technique that's really common in the prophets. It's common in Jesus, where he's addressing the people who are not really listening as a way to establish that they will be judged, to hold them accountable, but also to comfort those who are hearing the message. This is a form of prophetic address. We see this in Amos, where he's chastising the Jewish leaders. Uh, in Malachi and Micah, this happens. Malachi is primarily, at least initially, is primarily, uh, a book that is railing against the rich leaders in Jerusalem who had oppressed their own brothers and sisters. The chances that those Jewish cr- uh, Jewish leaders were reading his prophecy or hearing his prophecy is pretty slim. So he was addressing a different group to establish the judgment that he was proclaiming on another party. Jesus does this when he says like, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees." There were probably scribes and Pharisees in the audience there, but he wasn't just talking to the people in front of them. He was pronouncing a judgment oracle, a judgment prophecy on all people who fit that category, and James is doing the same thing here James is not opposing wealth generally. Sometimes James is used as kind of a New Testament example to justify the idea that we should all be poor and wear shabby clothing and walk around barefoot and dirty all the time. Right? This is a key passage that's used, uh, in parts of the church that really emphasize sort of a poverty-based lifestyle. Think of like the wandering monks of the Middle Ages or the, the, um, sort of more radical exclusionists that exist even in our day. I remember when I was in college, I was really enamored with this figure named Shane Claiborne. Some of you have probably heard of him, and I remember I was so impressed because he, he didn't buy new shoes. He just cut new shoes out of duct tape and put them back together. Now, there's some, you know, there's some rugged, uh, rugged get-it-done-ness that, uh, I think us, uh, New Englanders can appreciate, but God does not call us to wear duct tape shoes, at least not universally. I'm not gonna comment on whether he calls Shane Claiborne to do that. I also don't think Shane Claiborne does that anymore. Um, some of us he may call to a lifestyle of poverty in association with a mission field or in association with a specific calling. He does not call us generally to be poor or to not gain wealth What he is opposing here is the refusal to use wealth appropriately for God's glory and the accumulation of wealth just for wealth's sake We'll see that as we unpack the language here a little bit. He establishes that he's not just talking about the earthly hoarding of wealth, as though somehow the very act of accumulating wealth was itself the problem. What he's doing is he's pronouncing an eschatological judgment on those who hoard wealth and use it to oppress others. We see here he says, "Come now, you rich, and weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you." Th- that word weep and howl, those are li-- those are words that are most commonly used in prophetic literature to describe the final cry of anguish. Think about the weeping and gnashing of teeth that Jesus talks about. This is the language he's using. He's talking about the final estate of those who refuse to submit their wealth to God He says, "Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be the evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasures in the last days." Now, remember what we said. We, we should read this not in light of some general wisdom, although it is general wisdom that if we accumulate wealth, it tends to not actually go well for us if we're not utilizing it in God-honoring ways. But we should read this in light of the most obvious connection, his big brother, Jesus, who taught his people, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be." To maybe land this linguistic, uh, this linguistic connection a little more, I don't know, vibrantly, I'm gonna speculate a little bit. So if you don't like it, then you can disregard it. This is not God's Word. This is a speculation. I can just imagine little Jesus, little nine-year-old Jesus, and probably little six or seven-year-old James and the rest of their siblings, and there's quite a few of them. And we have Joseph, uh, who maybe at this time was still living, although probably not. We know he was living until Jesus was later, you know, 12, he was still around, but we don't know exactly when he left the picture. But he was a carpenter, and he was not, probably not overly wealthy. Uh, they had had to pick up and move, you know, cross-country anyways. They-- We don't know exactly where they were from initially, but they went to Bethlehem, and then they returned to Nazareth. They probably didn't have a lot. There were a lot of mouths to feed and only one business. They didn't have a farm. They didn't own livestock that we know of. I can just imagine a time when little J- little James or one of his sisters was frustrated about the fact that they didn't have anything. And I could picture Mary getting down and going, "Do not store up treasures in, in, uh, in heaven or on Earth. It's all gonna waste away." The same way we might tell our children kind of a, a moral kind of story. Sometimes we have this picture, last time I was here I, I spoke on Philippians 2, we have this idea that Jesus was somehow like Superman, that he, he was just pretending to be a normal human most of the time. As it touches his humanity, as, as we think about Jesus as a human, he had a, his own human set of thinking faculties, his own human knowledge. He grew in wisdom and stature is what Luke teaches us. Well, where did he get some of this wisdom? There's a good reasonable argument to be made that some of the pr- more proverbial type sayings that we see in Christ, that they actually come from the wisdom of his mother and father. And a really good reason to believe that is James relies on the same exact, uh, sort of proverbial wisdom to l- land his point. He doesn't create his own metaphor, he goes back to, at the very least we can say he goes back to the words of Christ. That's a very safe position to take. But this is the shared linguistic context that they both grew up in And he says, "You've done this in the last days." Now, the, the phrase last days in the Bible, uh, in the New Testament generally refers to the time period from Christ's resurrection to his return. We, for a lot of reasons, think about it as kind of like that climactic end period in time. Depending on your, your persuasion, maybe this is when the Antichrist comes, or maybe this is before or after, or maybe during the time when the church is raptured. But in either case, we think of that sort of last period in time before Christ finally comes back. But the New Testament writers are really talking about the entire duration, from Christ's resurrection to his return is what they're referring to. But it does have in view this idea that we are in the last times. The, the final judgment is not necessarily strictly something that's out there in the future. We are living in the last days now, and so what we do and what we say and, and how we worship and if we worship is eschatology. It is the theology of the last times He also positions this as though this is a universal thing going on with those who hoard wealth. This is a very shocking image. Um, we have very good ways to preserve things in our modern world, right? We have ways to m- to make, uh, stainless steel that won't rust, or at least won't rust quickly. But most things in the ancient world, even most precious metals, corroded. Um, I remember when I was growing up, there was this project in my hometown. I lived in a, a little town called White Bear Lake in, in, um, Minnesota, although little is relative. It's pretty big compared to most of what we have out here. And I remember when I was maybe 12 or 13 years old, they had this big building project to build this brand-new, beautiful lakeside pavilion in the center of town, and it w- just gleamed in the sun. It was so gorgeous, and it was made of copper, and everybody loved it, and two years later, it was bright green. I think it's still bright green. I think they figured out it wasn't worth repairing, so they, they just, they just make sure it doesn't keep getting worse, and at some point, I'm sure they either have or will tear it down. But the one metal in the ancient world that didn't do this was gold. It's part of why gold is such a durable measurement of wealth is because it doesn't wear out. It doesn't corrode. It's very soft. It's very easy to damage it, which is why we don't build statues out of it, or we don't build, uh, buildings out of it usually, but it didn't corrode. So when James says here, "Not only your silver, which tarnishes and corrodes, but your silver and gold have corroded." Not are corroding, but have corroded. The rich hearer of this is probably, you know, sitting around like Scrooge McDuck with a pile of gold coins thinking, "Ah, it looks pretty good to me." And what James is saying is, "No, no, no. No, it's corroded. It's eating away at your heart. It's lost its value because you refuse to use it, and so it sits in a pile doing nothing for no one, except serving to further your own condemnation." This is such a crazy, shocking situation that the insanity of not using your wealth, period, the insanity of sitting on your wealth in the ancient world is going to serve as a form of evidence justifying the condemnation of these wicked fools And further, the corrosion of this wealth is an indication of the corrosion of their very souls. There's something about money. I was-- When I was here a couple times before, I preached one of the wealth passages out of Ecclesiastes, and there's something about money that has a unique way of really, really wrecking us. Either we don't have it and we want it, or we have it and we don't wanna lose it, or we have it and we don't spend it wisely. It seems like there's an infinite number of ways to screw it up. And we landed last time that the gospel is good news because with the nearly infinite ways of screwing it up, we're going to screw it up. But the one way that he talks about screwing it up here is hoarding it and sitting on it and not using it Moving on into verses four and five, James moves us now to a more sort of temporal register. He starts out by talking about what wealth is and what it's doing and how it will ultimately affect the entire life and eternity of those in his targeted audience, those he's proclaiming this prophetic, uh, judgment against. But in verse four, he moves back to the behaviors that are being, uh, being engaged in to show the state of these people's souls. He says, "Behold, the wages of the laborers you, who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter." James here points at the, at the behaviors that show this hoarding behavior, and he does it for a number of reasons. One, he needs to call out sin. That's part of the role of a Christian, and especially a leader or a minister in the church, is, um, to not only call out sin in the body of, of Christ, but in a, I think a very particular way, and there's all sorts of, uh, all sorts of theological controversies flying on around about Christian nationalism and other associated things. Some of it is just the spirit of the age. Um, post-COVID, there's a, a real strong sense that our government has failed us and we need to replace it with something else. But there is a, a true way, and I, I think some of those things are a little misguided, but there's a true way that the church, particularly her leaders, should be speaking to the culture around us, and yes, even to the government, to proclaim the truth of God into a wicked and godless culture. This might take the form o- of a m- minister who goes to a town hall meeting to speak out against a gambling association that's going to be forming, or a, an elder in the church or a deacon in the church who goes to speak to, uh, to the city hall or to the state legislature about the wickedness of abortion and about what we see it does to women's lives when they are fooled into thinking that this is the right thing for them. Again, the church is not the state, and the state is not the church, and we should be very careful not to cross those lines for all sorts of reasons. But we as a culture, as a Christian culture, in the United States particularly, have lost sight of our responsibility to speak truth in all circumstances to those in power So James is doing that, of course. But even more so, this is a way that he establishes for his direct audience, for the Jewish poor Christians who have been scattered in this diaspora, in this dispersion. He looks at them in a sense and says, "I see you. I see what's happening to you." And as God's representative, as his chosen voice for this message, as his inspired author, God sees you too This goes back again, the first two chapters of James serve as kind of a thesis statement and table of contents for the whole book. We get an idea of what may have been happening, the actual, uh, acts that were being engaged in, in, in chapter two verse six, he says, "You have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?" James has in mind here a form of predatory land purchasing, where the rich were sort of sweeping up property. They were sweeping it up, and then they were charging probably exorbitant prices to those who would lease the land to try to eke out a living. Does that sound at all like any of our current context, right? When's the last time any of us have tried to buy a house and found anything reasonable? Well, a large part of that is that there are big companies that are scooping up all the land and buying all the, the developments. Now, I'm not commenting on those particular situations. I don't know those people. I don't know their hearts, and some of those things actually are doing good things for the community. But we're familiar with this idea of someone who will purchase a resource, who will then jack the price up in order to turn a profit on it. I'm not opposed to turning a profit. Y- y- yeah, it takes money to run a business, and you have to, you have to recuperate those funds if your business is going to survive. But there's a, there's a way that that can be done that is a predatory act These rich landowners were getting fat on those that they were victimizing In our, in our modern world, we tend to think of someone who is overweight as unhealthy, for good reason, right? Too much weight, and I say that with someone with a little too much padding around the middle, so no, no judgment on this, but too much weight is not healthy, right? We hear that from our doctors, that there's a healthy weight range and there's an unhealthy weight range. In the ancient world, obesity was not the concern, right? Malnutrition was the concern. And so when you see, uh, a king in the Old Testament who's, who's noted to be fat, that's not always negative. Sometimes it is, but he's noted to be fat or he's noted to be large. Even the word for glory, I'm sure you've heard this before, the word for glory in the Old Testament has to do with being heavy. So this idea of weightiness or, um, being able to eat enough to actually gain weight instead of being thin was seen as a good thing, but not when you use it as a way to victimize other people. A person who gathers wealth honestly and enjoys it, that's, that's Proverbs right there. That's the Book of Ecclesiastes in its sort of positive sense, is that we, when we accumulate wealth and we use it for God's glory, it's perfectly okay for us to also use it for our enjoyment. God wants us to enjoy the fruit of our labor. But when we accumulate wealth and use it as a way to gain power over someone and to abuse them, that is what James is railing against here And ultimately, with the audience that James is writing to, this is a form of murder. This is why he says, "You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter." Because a person who can't feed their family in the Old Testament or in the New Testament era was likely to see them die. There are not a ton of people in modern America that are starving to death on the streets. It's not to say it doesn't happen. It's not to say that there's not things like food insecurity or malnutrition, but there are, there are plenty of places people can go to get their basic food needs met. It was not like that-- It's not like that in most of the world now, and it certainly was not like that in the ancient world. And so a, a landowner who again refuses, we're talking about the Jewish landowners, refuses to obey the Jewish law to leave some leftovers for the poor, and instead gleans all the way to the corner so that they can turn a little bit of extra pro-profit, is not only sinning against the Old Testament law, but is committing murder in the strictest sense by refusing to preserve the life of these poor, uh, Christians who are destitute And again, James is encouraging his readers here that the Lord has not ignored their plight. We can think back to the Book of Habakkuk, where Habakkuk basically lodges a lawsuit against God, saying, "You are not paying attention. You're not doing your thing. You're not being faithful to your covenant." And God says, "Let me show you how faithful to my covenant I am. The Chaldeans are on the way." And Habakkuk is like, "Whoa, wait a second here. That's not what I had in mind." God sees the oppression of the poor. He knows when His people are targeted. He knows when children are abused or when widows are ignored. He knows when the government does something to shut down a church, or when the medical institution refuses to acknowledge your personal rights. He sees those things, and He's not ignorant, and He's not static. He's not sleeping on those things. The purpose here is to comfort the oppressed by showing that God is not ignorant of what has happened to them. Just two quick Old Testament examples that use similar language. In Genesis 4, we read of Cain and his murder of Abel, and in verse eight it says, "Cain spoke to Abel his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?' And the Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.'" Numbers, uh, 35 verses 30 says, "If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom from him who has fled to the city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land except for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it." There's a rich history in the Old Testament of language of inanimate things, land, blood, wealth, other kinds of things that give testimony to God in some way, and specifically of these inanimate, uh, impersonal things testifying to the sin of the people that dwell around them. Even Christ says, "If these people do not worship me, the rocks will cry out." Now, the rocks are not literally crying out, although it certainly would be within God's power to make the rocks sing. But Christ is not saying in that passage that the rocks are going to form mouths and begin singing Hosanna or whatever song they might have been doing. What he's saying is that the very rocks themselves give testimony to the glory and goodness of God. So even if the people around here fail to do so, the entire rest of creation is doing so, and that is what James is saying here. My dear brothers and sisters scattered in the dispersion who have nothing, and in society's eyes are nothing, some of you are facing persecution. Some of you will be killed for your faith, but God sees because the wealth that is being accumulated on the breaking of your own backs is crying out. The corrosion of that gold serves as evidence for the condemnation of those who are harming you We often want justice in the moment. I think we always want justice in the moment, don't we? I think it's a really hard discipline to say, "That person wronged me, but I'm okay letting God sort it out." That is a hard pill to swallow, but it is often the pill that we have to take. It's the medicine that God uses to further our justification, our j- our, uh, excuse me, our sanctification Paul says, you know, "Do not take vengeance. Let the Lord do that." We can trust, and this is where the comfort of this passage comes for us, brothers and sisters, we can trust that when we are wronged, that when someone has done something to us that is a violation of God's law, that that sin will be punished. Now, when we're dealing with other Christians, that sin has already been punished, and so it is not, it is not appropriate for us to hold onto that and to take vengeance. That's what the parable of the unmerciful servant is all about If I as a Christian refuse to forgive my brother and sister when they've wronged me, it's me saying that I'm a better judge of their sin and I'm a better executioner than the Lord is when he punished that sin on the cross. But that sin was not atoned for when we're talking about unbelievers. When we're talking about those who will ultimately end their earthly life and find themselves waking up in flames, that sin has not been atoned for, and so God will have his justice, and we will have our justice. We won't turn there, but in Revelation, we're familiar with the passage, I think it's chapter six, where the martyred saints are under the throne and they say, "How long, O Lord?" Well, God doesn't answer their question, but he gives them new clothes. When Job cries out and he's, he's saying, "I don't understand why this is happening. Why are you targeting me, God? Why, why are you a hunter with your arrows in my liver?" God doesn't tell him why, but he says, essentially, "I'm God and you're just going to have to trust me that this is right." We see a very similar, uh, kind of situation here when we think about when, uh, when Abraham, uh, when God tells Abraham what he's about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah, and then Abraham negotiates, apparently negotiates with God, uh, trying to secure the salvation of the city for the sake of the righteous. And we read starting in verse 20 of chapter 18, he says, "The Lord said to, to Abraham," he says, " 'Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. If not, I will know.' " God is always seeing and investigating the sin of people We're, we're teaching my son, August, the children's catechism, which is a, a great resource. Um, and one of the questions is, "Can you see God?" And the answer is, "No, but he always sees me." Now that may feel at first to some people like a little bit of a heavy-handed answer, but knowing that God sees us is not just there to correct our sin. It should do that, right? Even the secret sins we commit in the dark when, when we're not being watched by anyone else, even, even those God sees. But do you know what else He sees? He sees your pain. He sees your suffering. He sees your victories even when no one else is celebrating them. He sees your progress. He sees you, and that should be a great source of comfort Now this passage, especially verse six, can be a little bit hard to apply because although we're the targeted audience, we're not the target of the judgment oracle. So I think what we have to do, we have to, we have to think about this in light of the way that God talks about the judgment of unbelievers in other places in the scripture, and how that helps us to understand kind of what our, what our status is. If you'll take your Bibles and open to Matthew chapter 25, I think the, um, the account here of the goat and sheep judgment, uh, is instructive for us Starting in verse 31, it says, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King answered them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those on the left, 'Depart from me for you for, uh, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, I was naked and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also, uh, they also will say, answer saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not minister to you?' Then he will answer them saying, 'Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Now, this passage is sometimes understood as a general command to feed the poor or the sick, or to visit those in prisons, or any of the f- the sort of mercy ministry things that, that, um, are mentioned here. And those are all things that Christians should do, right? We should be engaged in, um, in mercy ministry to the poor, to those who are destitute. We should be mindful and thoughtful of those who have needs around us. What this passage is teaching, though, is not a general command to feed all people, but a specific command to care for your brothers and sisters in Christ when they have a need He doesn't say to the righteous, "You did these to everyone." He says, "Whatever you did to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me." All of the things that are listed here, the, the six mercy ministries that are listed by Christ here, are things that persecuted Christians were suffering at the time, persecuted Jew- Jewish Christians, and that would be common experiences for, for Jewish Christians and for all persecuted Christians. Right? They're hungry. They don't have food. Our diaspora Jewish Christians don't have land to farm, and even if they're able to scrape together enough funding to lease out a farm, they're being, uh, they're being totally overwhelmed by the cost of that. The sort of homeowners association dues of these pyramid schemes that were going on in the first century, they were so exorbitant that it wasn't even subs- subsistence farming. Christians were being thrown in, uh, in prison. They didn't have enough money to replace their clothes when it wore out. They couldn't have access to clean water. We take clean water as such a, such a basic thing, and it's so easy. You just turn on the tap, or you just go to the store and you buy a bottle of $7 water. It wasn't like this in the first century. If you didn't have a well, you didn't have water, unless you had someone who cared enough to share this precious resource with you. And so what Christ is saying to, to his people, both in the immediate audience on the Sermon on the Mount, uh, and in this, the Olivet Discourse here, what he's saying to his people is when someone in the body of Christ does not have what they need, the body of Christ should step up and make sure that that is the case, that they take care of that person. And likewise, he's saying to those who are not a part of the body of Christ, "Depart from me, I never knew you." Now, the intro to this, why it sometimes is called a parable, is the sheep and the goats. We sometimes go way too far into the arena of comparing the behavior of sheeps with the behavior of the people here, right? Sheep are nice, they're affable, they listen to you. In reality, from what I understand, sheep are pretty dumb and can be very stubborn, right? And then we, we read and we go, "Goats are stubborn, they're rebellious, they're not really good for anything." Well, there's a reason people have goats on farms. They, they can be stubborn, right? They can be destructive, but they also serve a purpose. So the point here is not that sheep are good and goats are bad. The point is that sheep are not goats and goats are not sheep. And, uh, another point that comes with this is sheep don't become goats by behaving like goats, and goats don't become sheep by acting like sheep. I have some friends that will tell you they have very affectionate, friendly, lovable goats, right? I'd, I would... If I could get my kids one of those little pygmy goats that everybody loves, I would do that, 'cause they can be very kind, very sweet, and they're very smart. But they're not sheep. And if you read this passage carefully, this fact that those who are taken to the right are, are in fact taken to the right is not because they fed the poor. It's not because they ministered to Christ by feeding the least of these. They did those things because they were part of the kingdom The King says to those on His right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The sheep on the right were always going to be the sheep on the right. They were predestined according to the counsel of God's will before all time to live and walk in good works. That's just Ephesians 2 there. That's also just James 2 there. You have faith, I will show you my faith by my works. This is evidence language, loved ones Likewise, the ones who are told to depart into eternal darkness were also predestined not to inherit this kingdom. No kingdom was prepared for them before the foundation of the world. They have no inheritance. They have nothing. They will end up in the state that they are trying to impose on these poor Jewish Christians. They will end up in the state that they may be trying to impose on some of us in this room And for the final verse here in, in chapter five, in verse six here, there's a lot of discussion and debate in the commentaries about who the identity of this righteous one is. It says, "You've condemned and murdered the righteous person, he does not resist you." Now, some commentators will take the fact that this is the singular righteous person, that he has been murdered and h- was condemned, and will take this as a reference to Christ. And that would, would make good sense, right? The Jewish, the wealthy Jewish landowners, the wealthy Jews in Jerusalem who per- who persecuted and cast out, um, the Christians, they were in the same group of people who condemned and murdered Jesus And at least at the time of writing this, and in many ways in our own day, God is not necessarily resisting them. He's allowing them to store up judgment for the coming day of wrath There are others who will take this as sort of the hypothetical singular, right? The righteous one or the righteous person is this, uh, representative hypothetical person that represents all of the persecuted Christians. And so it's more like saying, um, to the, the wealthy landowners who are persecuting Christians, "You have condemned and murdered the Christians, the righteous people, and we do not resist you." Now, at the end of the day, it's, it's always good to have good, sober, well-intentioned, text-based debates about what the Bible means. We can and we should try to convince others, uh, when we think they're wrong about what the scripture means. So that's not what I'm saying here. But in many ways, which of those two perspectives it actually is doesn't change the interpretation of this passage. Like we read in Matthew 25, like we read in Acts 9 when Christ comes and confronts Saul, what you do to God's people, you are doing to Christ himself. What you do to the body, you have done to the head. It's a little bit weird to say that when I stub my toe, I injure my head, but that's true, right? I don't injure my toe as though it's some separate piece. It's not like I'm a Lego man where I can just swap out a hand that gets cracked and put it back on. When I injure my toe, I injure myself. My whole body is injured even though it's specific to a part of my body. When you-- when someone persecutes you, when they, uh, try to extort your wealth, your funds, when they try to harm your body, when they try to take away your children, all things that are happening not just out there in the world, but in our country, even in our own region. When they try to tell you that because you don't wanna play a basketball game, that you can't play sports at all. When a city taxes a portion of a church's property because they don't think it's being used for religious purposes, they are doing that to Jesus Christ himself, and God will not be mocked This should call us both to faithfulness and to encouragement How people treat Christ or how people treat Christ's people, including how we trust, tr- uh, treat Christ's people, shows us what we think about Christ. The people who take care of the church do so because they love God, and they do it out of a regenerated heart that already loves God. And the people who hate the church do it because they hate Christ, and they do it out of their wickedness and out of their wicked heart This brings us back again to the thesis statement of James. "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." And then he says later in that, uh, first chapter in verse nine, "Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of the grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower fails, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him." Now, you're all coming up to the end of James here. Um, we probably have two, two more sermons, I would guess, and the rest of this chapter is reinforcing this. It's unpacking for the immediate audience and therefore for us, it's unpacking that although the rich have their punishment coming to them, that likewise our consolation, our comfort from Christ is also coming to us. He closes the whole letter out, he returns to his thesis statement to say, "I'm not going to pretend that the trials you're going through are joyful, but you can count it all joy." You can reckon it, you can impute it as joy, my brothers and sisters. You can put it in the joy column instead of the t- the pain column, right? We had discussion about the beautiful word imputation in the announcements and scripture reading in the beginning here Imputation is a, is an accounting term. And when we count it all joy, we're taking what should be a red line in the, in the loss ledger, right? We're taking what should be an expense, and we're able to move it to the profit. We're able to move it to the positive side, not because it didn't hurt and not because we wanted it to happen, but because our God is good enough to not rob us of the chance to be sanctified When we are oppressed and opposed, those who are oppressing and oppose us mean it for evil, just like Joseph's brothers, uh, and Pharaoh, and all sorts of wicked men in, in the Old Testament and in our own world. Pilate, Herod, you mean, you name it in the Bible, this applies. They meant their wicked acts for wicked things, but God, rich in mercy, works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And what is that purpose? That we might be transformed into the image of Christ so that Christ may be glorified and He may be the firstborn among many brothers. When we face trials and suffering of every kind, it leads us to our sanctification and to our ultimate glorification. We do not earn those things. We don't sanctify ourselves any more than we justify ourselves, or that any more than we will glorify ourselves or will raise ourselves from the dead. That is all God's work from start to finish. But God does use these things that He brings us through as a way to bring about that work It's like he bends us over the hammer, over the anvil of trials, and he hammers us until we become a sharp sword in the hand of, in his hand. Or he polishes us with a rough cloth until we become a smooth, beautiful gem, right? Think of any number of refining things that need to be done. It always involves, if the thing was, uh, was a person, it always involves something that would hurt a little bit. It always involves a little bit of damage to wear away the impurities. Our sanctification and our glorification is no different than that. He uses adversity. He uses the wicked actions and intentions of, of evil men and women. He uses those things to glorify us. So although we should never, uh, we should never seek those things, right? You don't have to go and make yourself the soft target to the wicked people. It's okay to keep your head down. There's nothing wrong with that. The Jewish Christians were probably doing their best to keep their heads down most of the time, and that's fine. There's not any words in scripture about being a coward if you don't, if you don't put a target on your back. But your target is gonna get there eventually, and that's not a bad thing. We can welcome that. We can count it as joy because of who God is and what he's done. The supreme act of suffering, the supreme act of, of evil happened to the only innocent person there ever was, and it happened to him for us.  this episode is available below.

Tony Alamo with Tony Alamo World Wide Ministries Kingdom Life Over Democracy: Repentance, Authority, and the Word That Rules Forever Ep230 How To Have Gods Life Living In You Part 128: Tony Alamo continues How to Have God's Life Living in You with gospel music, international listener letters, ministry updates, doctrinal teaching, warnings about rebellion and false authority, and a call for listeners to repent, receive Christ, and live under the kingdom of heaven rather than the changing laws of man. Gospel Music, Ministry History, and a Call to Repentance In this Tony Alamo program, How to Have God's Life Living in You — Part 128, Tony Alamo opens Program 230 with a recorded song and references to Gary S. Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, and the ministry's earlier television history. He recalls the ministry's work with hippies on Hollywood Boulevard, its broadcasts from Los Angeles and other locations, and his belief that God called the ministry to preach repentance and the kingdom of heaven. The corrected transcript notes that claims, religious opinions, political statements, accusations, and doctrinal assertions are preserved as speaker statements and were not independently verified. Letters From Italy, Angola, India, and Zimbabwe A major part of the episode features Sharon reading listener letters from Italy, Angola, India, and Zimbabwe. These correspondents thank the ministry for literature, ask for Bibles and teaching materials, describe missionary needs, and report that Tony Alamo's newsletters and broadcasts are influencing people in their communities. Tony responds by emphasizing the ministry's reported international outreach, the need for gospel workers, and the importance of supplying Bibles, literature, tapes, concordances, food, clothing, water, and other practical support to people he describes as strong Christians in desperate conditions. Africa, Missions, and Practical Ministry Support Tony spends extended time discussing Africa after the Angola letter, describing needs for clean water, toilets, food, medicine, clothing, gospel literature, and missionary assistance. He says the ministry has purchased water tanks, tools, and supplies while looking for ways to provide drinking water and support evangelism. He contrasts what he presents as real missionary work with televised prosperity-style preaching, arguing that genuine Christians in poorer regions are not asking for luxury, but for Bibles, food, water, and the means to spread the gospel. These claims should remain framed as Tony's ministry statements rather than independently verified reporting. Warnings About Judgment, Nations, and End-Time Deception The episode then shifts into a more confrontational sermon on judgment, Scripture, government, war, disease, media, and religious institutions. Tony references Matthew 24, Judges 13, the Philistines, Israel, Rome, the United Nations, the Vatican, presidents, terrorism, Waco, the World Trade Center, and other controversial topics. He uses these themes to argue that when people or nations reject God's Word, God may turn them over to wicked authorities or destructive consequences. Because the transcript flags historical, political, medical, legal, and religious claims for verification, these sections should be treated strictly as Tony's statements and doctrinal assertions. Democracy Versus the Kingdom of Heaven The central theological contrast is between democracy and the kingdom of heaven. Tony argues that democracy allows people to assert their own opinions and change laws, while the kingdom of heaven requires submission to God's unchanging Word. He teaches that God's laws cannot be voted on, revised, or protested, and he links rebellion against divine authority to Adam and Eve's original sin. In his view, believers must leave the mindset of worldly democracy and begin thinking, speaking, and living as citizens of the kingdom of God. Authority, Rebellion, and the Bible as the Standard Sharon reads teaching material about humanity's resistance to being ruled, the sinful nature inherited from Adam and Eve, and God's ultimate authority. Tony responds by arguing that true authority belongs to God and to those who preach the gospel, not to governments or institutions that oppose the Bible. He challenges common interpretations of authority in Scripture, rejects reincarnation, describes demonic influence as the explanation for certain spiritual phenomena, and insists that Christians must judge all things according to God's Word. The Bible remains the controlling standard for his message, and obedience to it is presented as the only path away from rebellion. Salvation Prayer and Closing Invitation Tony closes by telling listeners that they need to understand the kingdom-of-heaven life, turn away from the world's systems, and come to Christ. He presents Jesus as loving, saving, and able to give rest to those who are burdened. The episode ends with a salvation prayer in which listeners are led to confess sin, affirm belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and God come in the flesh, believe in His resurrection, invite Him into the heart, and thank Him for saving the soul. Sharon then gives ministry contact information for receiving Program 230 on CD or audio tape, and the broadcast closes with another recorded song.

A liberal woman took her kids to the dentist the other day. The dentist is a Christian and he had placed Bibles in the waiting room. That apparently set off this lady who fired off an angry rant on social media. She was so triggered by the presence of God’s Word that she canceled the appointment. The woman defended her rant by saying that America is not a Christian nation and she did not appreciate a private business putting Bibles in the waiting room. Well, I hate to break it to this lady – but America is a country where we embrace religious liberty. And a private business owner can put whatever he wants in the lobby of his lobby. Honest to goodness – the intolerance of these liberals is something to behold. Not sure what’s worse – getting a root canal or being forced to listen to an unhinged, far-left loon. At least you get drugs with the root canal. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the Podcast of Southwest Bible Fellowship in Tempe, Arizona. WHO ARE WE? • We are a group of people who are committed to living the grace life as set forth by the apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. • We come together to study our Bibles, and yes, we believe we have God's perfect Word in the King James Bible. It and it alone is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice! • We do not come together and study our Bibles for the intent of being smarter than others. We understand that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is purely vain and serves no Godly purpose. • We do come together and study our Bibles for the intent of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. (Philippians 3:10) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that we have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ liveth in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. (Galatians 2:20) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that because Jesus Christ shed His blood for us and we should not live for ourselves but for Him, who died for us and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:15) • We do not claim to have attained to these lofty goals, but we press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) You can donate to this ministry through www.butnow.org and the PayPal button on the homepage.

Tony Alamo with Tony Alamo World Wide Ministries Kingdom Ambassadors: God's Law, Gospel Witness, and the Life of Christ Within Ep229 How To Have Gods Life Living In You Part 127: Tony Alamo continues How to Have God's Life Living in You with gospel music, listener letters, ministry updates, warnings about false prophets, and a call for believers to live as ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven under God's unchanging Word. Letters, Gospel Music, and a Global Ministry Message In this Tony Alamo program, How to Have God's Life Living in You — Part 127, Tony Alamo opens by introducing Program 229, offering free copies of the broadcast, and preparing to read letters from listeners around the world. He also includes gospel music performances connected to J.D. Sumner and The Stamps, while explaining that literature, tapes, Bibles, and The Messiah book are distributed free of charge through the ministry. The corrected transcript notes that no outside verification was performed, and claims made in the program are preserved as speaker statements. Prayer, Fear of the Lord, and the Mission of the Broadcast Before reading the letters, Tony leads the congregation in prayer, asking God to anoint the program, speak through the message, save souls, and strengthen the church with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. He emphasizes the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom and connects the broadcast to the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. His prayer frames the episode as both outreach and instruction, asking that the kingdom of God and God's will be brought to earth through the preaching and hearing of the Word. Letters From Greece, Cameroon, Michigan, and Mexico A major portion of the episode centers on letters read by Sharon from Greece, Cameroon, Farmington, Michigan, and Chihuahua, Mexico. These listeners praise the ministry's literature, request Bibles and Messiah books, describe spiritual encouragement from tapes and teachings, and share testimony about leaving confusion, drugs, drinking, or empty religious experience behind. Tony uses each letter as an opportunity to comment on evangelism, truth, repentance, literature distribution, and what he presents as the worldwide reach of the ministry. Warnings About False Prophets, Media, and End-Time Deception Tony repeatedly warns listeners to watch out for false prophets, false teachers, religious compromise, media influence, and what he describes as end-time deception. He links catastrophes, famine, plagues, geopolitical concerns, terrorism warnings, and institutional claims to his broader teaching about the last days. Because the transcript specifically flags several geopolitical, religious, medical, and institutional claims as unverified, these sections should be treated as Tony's statements and not presented as independently verified reporting. Democracy, the Kingdom of Heaven, and God's Unchanging Law The central teaching contrasts earthly democracy with the kingdom of heaven. Tony says citizens may protest or change laws in a democracy, but God's laws are settled in heaven and cannot be voted in or out. He teaches that believers are no longer primarily Democrats or Republicans, but kingdom people living under the commonwealth of heaven. In this framework, the Bible becomes the constitution of the kingdom of heaven, and Christians are called to live by it, speak from it, and refuse to replace God's Word with personal opinion, politics, or cultural preference. Ambassadors, Scripture, and the Example of Job Sharon reads from a teaching about believers as ambassadors who must speak only what the King of the kingdom tells them to speak. Tony expands on this by saying Christians must know, live, breathe, and obey the Bible as the kingdom's constitution. He then turns to the book of Job, using God's questions to Job as a lesson in humility before the Creator. Tony argues that if even Job was humbled by God's wisdom and power, listeners should not presume to question God's Word or resist being ruled by it. Salvation Prayer and Closing Invitation The episode closes with a direct salvation appeal. Tony tells listeners not to fight the Lord or assume they are wise, then leads them through a prayer confessing sin, affirming belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, accepting His death and resurrection, and inviting Christ into the heart with the Father by the Spirit. Sharon then provides ministry contact information for receiving the program, and Tony signs off by blessing listeners before closing with another gospel music performance.

Patrick plunges into the fallout from COVID-19, dissecting shifting narratives around public health, mixed messages from authorities, and the emotional toll on listeners facing mandates, coercion, and suspicion of pharmaceutical campaigns. He moves quickly to challenge misconceptions about the Catholic Church’s history with vernacular Bible translations, offers plain answers on moral issues borrowed from movies, and fields rapid-fire questions on everything from sacramental marriage for converts to the best study Bibles for Catholics. Spirited calls and tough questions swirl together as Patrick weighs faith, fear, and the search for truth, all without missing a beat. Audio: Fauci talks to a man on his doorstep: “I’m not taking a shot that was made in 9 months” – 2min - https://x.com/IngrahamAngle/status/2082310100698431570/video/1?s=46 (04:35) Audio: Fauci montage (Masks, Herd Immunity, Schools, Lockdowns, Lab, and Gain of Function) – 5 min - https://x.com/AckerenBrenda/status/2052823529142227259/video/1?s=46 (07:40) Ernesto - (email) – When did the church stop burning people for reading the bible? (14:53) Connie (email) - I work in healthcare and was coerced into getting this shot. (19:52) Dominic - What is morally right in a situation seen in the Mission Impossible movies, where you have secret agents trying to save the world? (22:12) Jared - I am a former Protestant pastor who has become Catholic. How do I moderate my understanding of the Bible? (28:00) Prince - Is there a karaoke version of the Patrick Madrid album? (31:30) Nathaniel (12-years-old) - If Catholics translated the Bible, why did Catholics oppose William Tyndale? Theresa - I go to a Lutheran Church and they never talk about sin? Anna (email) - I have some friends who are familiar with the group, Catholic Utah, my understanding is that they no longer exist. Elizabeth – The Lutheran Church doesn’t consider homosexuality a sin. (40:03) Sam - I am Catholic and from the Eastern Church. If a family wants to be baptized, do they need to receive the sacraments of marriage? (44:02) Joe - If a Catholic disagrees with the Immaculate Conception or Papal Authority, at what point do they go to hell? (46:45)

6:22 - Prayer request for friend who lost everything in a fire. / 9:53 - What do you think about Bibles on the moon and having communion on the moon? / 16:51 - Did Jesus suffer while He was dead? / 30:39 - A deacon at my church is posting racist content online, and our pastor isn't handling it well. What should we do? / 39:18 - Followup to the racist deacon on the severity of different sins. / 52:19 - Is it wrong to use instruments in church?

Send me a text about this episode!Today I'm joined by Rhonda Wax, a pastor's wife, mother of four, grandmother of fourteen, and a lifelong homemaker whose heart for hospitality shines through every season of her story.Rhonda shares about building a warm and welcoming home, learning to loosen the grip of perfectionism, and finding worship even in the ordinary tasks of the day. We also talk about Sabbath rhythms, a creative and brilliant way to teach children stewardship, and the beautiful legacy she is leaving through prayer-filled Bibles for her grandchildren.This is a conversation full of wisdom, practical encouragement, and a gentle reminder that homemaking is not about creating a perfect picture, but about making a safe and loving place where people can be known, nourished, and pointed to Christ.SHOW NOTESAll links, resources and notes are on the blog. Click the link below or go to theartofhomepodcast.com/blog and search "Rhonda Wax".https://www.theartofhomepodcast.com/post/rhonda-wax-homemaker-portrait-biblical-hospitality-simple-home-rhythms-leaving-a-legacySubmit Your Go-To Hosting Recipe by August 7, 2026. Your recipe may be published in our next magazine issue. Submit full original recipe, including all ingredients and clear steps to magazine@theartofhomepodcast.comSupport the showHOMEMAKING RESOURCESHomemaker's Journal, AoH Seasonal MagazinePrivate Facebook Group, Homemaker ForumJR Miller's Homemaking Study GuideSUPPORT & CONNECT Review | Love The Podcast Contact | Text/Voicemail-use the link at top of description | Website | Email  Follow | Follow The PodcastSupport | theartofhomepodcast.com/supportDISCLOSURE**Buy | as an Amazon affiliate, AoH receives a small commission at no extra cost to you when you use our links to purchase items we recommendAI Content | Portions of this episode's copy and/or show notes may have been drafted with the assistance of AI and then reviewed and edited by a human, Allison Weeks.

Send us Fan MailThis Podcast is part of a 10-year project to complete an in-depth, daily study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Episode Notes: If you've ever wondered what God's blessing really looks like in the life of a believer — not in theory, not in abstraction, but in real, lived experience — then 1 Chronicles chapter 14 is a chapter you don't want to miss. Because tucked inside this short but compelling chapter is a portrait of David at his best: a man walking in step with God, listening to God, depending on God, and experiencing God's blessing in unmistakable ways. And here's the remarkable thing: the blessings in David's life in this chapter are not random. They're not accidental. They're not mysterious because they flow from very specific choices David makes… Choices that you and I have to make all the time. 1 Chronicles 14 shows us: How God blesses a life that seeks Him,How God blesses a life that obeys Him,How God blesses a life that consults Him,And how God blesses a life that honours Him. This chapter is filled with examples — practical, personal, spiritual examples — of what God's blessing looks like when a believer walks closely with Him, and it's a chapter that quietly asks each of us: Do you want God's blessing in your life?So today, we're going to explore this chapter together.We're going to see how God blessed David, and God blessed David.And we will also discover how those same principles apply to us, right now, in our own lives, in our own homes, in our own walk with the Lord.So, let's open our Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 14….Support the showThis podcast is not associated with the Bible Project YouTube channel or any other associated podcasts that use the name 'Bible Project'. It is entirely the work of Jeremy R McCandless...Follow and support me on Patreon.Jeremy McCandless | Creating Podcasts and Bible Study Resources | PatreonTo receive my weekly newsletter and keep up to date with all five of my podcasts, subscribe at:Jeremy McCandless | SubstackCheck out my other Podcasts.My History of the Christian Church: https://thehistoryofthechristianchurch.buzzsprout.comThe L.I.F.E. Podcast: (Philosophy and current trends in the Arts and Entertainment Podcast).https://the-living-in-faith-everyday-podcast.buzzsprout.comThe Renewed Mind Podcast. My Psychology and Mental Health Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568891The Classic Literature Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568906To visit my Author page on Amazon and view my entire back catalogue of books on both Amazon and Kindle, and now also on Audible, Visit:Amazon.com: Jeremy R Mccandless: books, biography, latest...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit. In five minutes or less, you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs, gaining wisdom while spending time in God's Word. There is no substitute for biblical wisdom. As you listen and apply the principles of these practical chapters, you will notice that the way you handle challenges improves over time. Here's a great verse for the week, reminding us that we want the kind of "influencers" who will speak the truth in love: "He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue." (Proverbs 28:23) Be sure to visit the Shop at Keep the Heart for books, Bible studies, beautiful Bibles, and more! NEW: Peace Beyond Panic: A Heavenly Perspective on Anxiety and Depression by Dr. John W. Vaprezsan Apply: Living What We Learn-A 31-Day Devotional by Francie Taylor FOR COUPLES: Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions by Francie Taylor Vitamins for the Soul: A Study on Maintaining Spiritual Health by Kathy Ashley Support this podcast HERE Follow Keep the Heart on Instagram Like Keep the Heart on Facebook

Welcome to Day 2914 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2914– “Joyful Return, Insightful Response”  based on Luke 10:17-24 Putnam Church Message – 07/19/2026 The Good News According to Luke: “Joyful Return, Insightful Response.”   Last time our message was “Practical Talk to Those in Ministry,” where we learned to leave the harvest in the hands of the Lord who is the Lord of the harvest. Today, we continue with our thirtieth message from Luke's narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Today's message is: “Joyful Return, Insightful Response.” Our core passage today is Luke 10:17-24, on page 1612 of your pew Bibles. The Seventy-Two Return 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. 22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” Opening Prayer Father, we come before You today with joy and humility. Thank You for calling ordinary people into Your Kingdom work. Thank You that the name of Jesus is greater than every power of darkness, every accusation of the enemy, and every fear that troubles our hearts. Lord Jesus, help us rejoice in the right things. Teach us to celebrate Your victories without becoming proud of our usefulness. Remind us that our greatest joy is not what we accomplish for You, but that we belong to You. Open our eyes to see what prophets and kings longed to see. Give us childlike hearts that receive Your truth with faith and obedience. Holy Spirit, guide us now as we listen to Your Word. Amen. Introduction: A Story - Returning From the Battle In the early nineties, a few years after Desert Storm, General Norman Schwarzkopf wrote an autobiography titled It Doesn't Take a Hero. Near the middle of the book, he describes his thoughts as he headed for his first combat command position in Vietnam. He was a West Point graduate, full of energy and idealism. He went to Vietnam, as he said, for “God, country, and Mom's apple pie.” But later, after a second tour of duty, he returned from a battle-scarred landscape where young men under his command had died or had lost parts of their bodies to landmines. He came home to a divided nation, and he wrote with exhausted realism, “I realized then I was really tired of being a commander… I thought, Thank God it's over. I'd saved as many lives as I could… I wanted to get home to my family.” Same geography. Same war. Same mission. But what a difference between the man who went out and the man who returned. In Luke 10, the seventy-two whom Jesus sent out also return from the battlefield. But the seventy-two return with joy. In our last message, “Practical Talk to Those in Ministry,” we watched Jesus send them out two by two. He told them the harvest was great and the workers were few. He sent them like lambs among wolves. He told them to travel light, offer peace, heal the sick, and announce that the Kingdom of God had come near. They went out as messengers of the King. / Now they return. And they come back like children running through the door after seeing something amazing. “Lord,” they say, “even the demons obey us when we use Your name!” They had gone out to announce peace, but they discovered that the name of Jesus also carried authority over the powers of darkness. Jesus rejoices with them. But He also corrects their perspective. He lifts their eyes above the thrill of ministry success and says, in effect, “Yes, rejoice that evil is retreating. But do not build your joy on power. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” That is our theme today: The greatest joy of a disciple is not what we do for Jesus, but that we belong to Jesus. Which brings us to our four truths today which are found in your bulletin insert on the side that is titled: Joyful Return, Insightful Response Main Point 1: Kingdom Ministry Pushes Back the Powers of Darkness The seventy-two return with joy and say, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use Your name.” That little word “even” carries their surprise. Jesus had told them to heal the sick and announce the Kingdom. But apparently, as they ministered in His name, demons also submitted. They saw firsthand that the mission of Jesus was not merely moral improvement, social kindness, or religious instruction. It was war against the dominion of evil. Luke has been showing us this from the beginning. Jesus confronted demons in the synagogue. He delivered the man in the region of the Gerasenes. He gave the Twelve authority over demons. He healed the boy whom His disciples could not help. And now the seventy-two discover that the authority of Jesus extends through them as well. This is where we need to understand the Bible's bigger supernatural worldview. The late Dr. Michael S. Heiser often reminded readers that the Bible presents a spiritual world populated by heavenly beings. In the Old Testament, we see scenes of God's heavenly council, sometimes called the Divine Council. God is the Most High, the Creator, the supreme King. But Scripture also shows lesser spiritual beings who serve, rebel, accuse, deceive, or oppose God's purposes. In Job 1 and 2, we meet “The Satan,” or “the adversary,” appearing among the heavenly beings. In that setting, the word functions like a title — the accuser, the challenger, the prosecutor. By the time we reach the New Testament, Satan is clearly presented as the great enemy of God's people, the tempter, the accuser, the ruler of a rebellious kingdom of darkness. So, when Jesus says in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning,” He is not giving the disciples a small compliment. He is interpreting their ministry as part of a cosmic victory. Every sick person healed, every demon rebuked, every message of Kingdom peace proclaimed — all of it was evidence that the usurper's rule was cracking. The adversary was falling. Object Lesson: The Flashlight in a Dark Room Imagine turning off the lights in a room and then switching on a flashlight. The darkness does not negotiate. / It does not hold a committee meeting. / It simply retreats where the light shines. That is what happens when the Kingdom of God advances. When Jesus walks into a synagogue, demons cry out. When Jesus steps into Gentile territory, a legion of demons loses its captive. When Jesus sends out His followers, evil spirits submit to His name. Not because the disciples are impressive, but because the King is present through them. Ancient Israelite Context For a first-century Jewish listener, this would not sound like a mere private spiritual experience. It would sound like the long-awaited victory of God. Genesis 3:15 promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. Psalm 91 spoke of trampling lions and serpents underfoot. Daniel 7 envisioned the Son of Man receiving authority, glory, and sovereign power. The prophets looked forward to the day when God would defeat evil and restore creation. Now Jesus says, “You are seeing the beginning of that victory.” The Kingdom has come near. Modern Illustration We may not always see dramatic confrontations with evil spirits, but we still see the Kingdom push back darkness. When an addict finds freedom in Christ, darkness...

Send us Fan MailWhat if the story of Jesus didn't begin in the Gospels?In this message from Bible Open Sunday, we walk through Genesis 19–24 and discover how God's promises remain faithful even when people fail. From Abraham and Isaac to the unnamed servant and Rebekah, these stories reveal a beautiful picture of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Bride—all pointing to Jesus long before the New Testament was written.Together, we explore:Why God's promises don't depend on our perfection.The relationship between Isaac, Rebekah, and the Gospel.How the Holy Spirit points people to Christ.Why the Bible ultimately ends with a wedding, not a battle.How every page of Scripture reveals God's plan of redemption.Whether you're new to the Bible or have been reading it for years, this message will encourage you to see Genesis through the lens of the Gospel and deepen your confidence in God's unchanging faithfulness.

I once heard someone say, you tell me how your spend your time, and I'll tell you who or what your God is. For kids growing up in today's over-scheduled smartphone-saturated world, it's reasonable to assume that most kids spend far too little time or no time at all reading and studying their Bibles. This means that they spend more time focused on nurturing their allegiance to the idols of this world, rather than on nurturing their relationship with the One true God. We need to make it priority one to model regular Bible reading to our kids, while involving them in learning how to read the Bible by reading with us. Teach your children read the Bible regularly. Teach your children to read the Bible rightly, by seeking to understand it's intended meaning rather what they might think it means. And finally, read the Bible repetitiously, pondering, meditating on, and re-reading a passage. Parents, lead your children into embracing a hunger and thirst to know God's Word. 

Send us Fan MailThis Podcast is part of a 10-year project to complete an in-depth, daily study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Episode Notes: Have you ever noticed how quickly good intentions can turn into painful outcomes when God is not honoured as He deserves?  How something that begins with joy, unity, and celebration can suddenly collapse under the weight of careless attitude or worship? That's exactly what happens in 1 Chronicles chapter 13. David has just become king. The nation is united. The mighty men have gathered. The tribes have pledged loyalty. Joy is rising in Israel like the dawn of a new day. And David's first great desire is a noble one: to bring the ark of God back into the centre of Israel's life. It's a beautiful desire. It's a holy desire. It's the right desire. But in this chapter, we discover something sobering: A right desire carried out in the wrong way can lead to disaster. If you've ever wondered why God cares so deeply about the way we worship or if you've ever asked why sincerity alone is not enough…. If you've ever felt the tension between God's kindness and God's holiness…Then 1 Chronicles 13 has something to say to you. So, let's open our Bibles, settle your heart, and join me as we explore what it truly means to honour the Lord…Support the showThis podcast is not associated with the Bible Project YouTube channel or any other associated podcasts that use the name 'Bible Project'. It is entirely the work of Jeremy R McCandless...Follow and support me on Patreon.Jeremy McCandless | Creating Podcasts and Bible Study Resources | PatreonTo receive my weekly newsletter and keep up to date with all five of my podcasts, subscribe at:Jeremy McCandless | SubstackCheck out my other Podcasts.My History of the Christian Church: https://thehistoryofthechristianchurch.buzzsprout.comThe L.I.F.E. Podcast: (Philosophy and current trends in the Arts and Entertainment Podcast).https://the-living-in-faith-everyday-podcast.buzzsprout.comThe Renewed Mind Podcast. My Psychology and Mental Health Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568891The Classic Literature Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568906To visit my Author page on Amazon and view my entire back catalogue of books on both Amazon and Kindle, and now also on Audible, Visit:Amazon.com: Jeremy R Mccandless: books, biography, latest...

Join us for Week 3 of This Is the New Testament! Raechel and Amanda are joined by Lee Eric Fesko to discuss Philippians through 1 Timothy together. Listen in as they consider what it looks like to grasp God's glory by walking in the footsteps of Christ, including His suffering. Open your Bibles with us this week! This episode corresponds to Week 3 of She Reads Truth's This Is the New Testament reading plan. You can read with the She Reads Truth community on our site, in our app, or with our This Is the New Testament printed or digital Daily Reading Guide.In this episode:Use code FAITH15 for 15% off the Faith in Practice collection at ShopSheReadsTruth.com.She Reads Truth on Instagram & FacebookRaechel Myers on InstagramAmanda Bible Williams on InstagramLee Eric Fesko on Instagram*If you purchase something through our links, She Reads Truth may earn an affiliate commission.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Magellan AI - https://docsend.com/view/5vdvbdx7cr4tikmyPodscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

We're back with Rev. Rachel for week three of our Spiritual Rhythms series, and this week we're talking about one of our absolute favorite things — Scripture. But maybe not in the way you're used to engaging it. Here's something worth sitting with: most of us who love the Bible tend to engage it almost entirely through our heads. We study it, analyze it, cross-reference it — and that is genuinely wonderful. But there's a whole other way of being in Scripture that most of us in the evangelical tradition have barely touched, and it's actually one of the oldest Christian practices in existence. It's called lectio divina — divine reading — and it's been around for about 1,700 years. Long before the printing press, long before people could read their own Bibles, Christians were using this practice to actually experience and be formed by Scripture, not just informed by it. And today, Nicole and Rev. Rachel walk you through it live, using Psalm 119:9–16. Here's how it works: the passage is read four times, slowly. The first time, you just listen. The second time, you notice what word or phrase sticks with you. The third time, you ask the Holy Spirit how it connects to your life right now. And the fourth time, you ask God how He's inviting you to respond. What you're looking for at the end isn't more information — it's peace. It's the gentle conviction or comfort of the Spirit meeting you right where you are. We also talk about the digital fast from last week — and why your phone might be revealing more about where you actually place your trust than you'd like to admit. (Pro tip from Rev. Rachel's college students: buy an old school alarm clock. Seriously.) And the core idea we keep coming back to all series long: right pace creates right perspective. When we slow down enough to let Scripture read us — not just the other way around — something shifts. That's the invitation this week. Check out my free download to walk through these practices together:https://nicoleunice.kit.com/spiritualpractices This Week's Practice: Lectio DivinaTry it yourself with Psalm 119:9–16 — read it four times, slowly: Read 1 — Just listen. Let the words wash over you. Read 2 — What word, phrase, or image sticks with you? Read 3 — Ask the Holy Spirit: how does this connect to my life right now? Read 4 — Ask God: how are you inviting me to respond? Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

The Pirates of our Times   Huge! This Changes Everything! Secrets Revealed! The Real Reason… ALL CAPS! What You're Not Supposed to Know About… Something That Shouldn't Exist… See Recipe in Comments Below[1]     Is this what it takes to get our attention now?   You would think so. When we search through YouTube looking for a favorite news outlet, we now slog through sensationalist titles and AI-generated title pages that entice us to view by showing extreme emotions: anger, fear, distress, shock.   Not comforting, is it?   It's a weekly challenge for me when I try to choose a graphic that authentically represents the content of the teaching. At some point I think we have to admit that no matter how intriguing the title or graphic, mostly the same people will read and the same people will delete. Probably at most, an especially intriguing title will cause a tiny percentage of people to open an email who normally delete it. We are becoming more wise…or perhaps fatigued…with sensationalist content.   The ability of AI[2] to offer us not just curated viewing, shopping, music, or social media posts, but to communicate with us like an actual person in Customer Service chats or Chat GPT, creates an illusion of an interested and caring person we know. How cool is it that YouTube lets me know when a new beading or archaeology video is released?   Honestly, though, it's digital machinery that has been fed immeasurable amounts of data. As I found out last week, it's also been fed pirated books (Creation Gospel workbooks!) and videos (Creation Gospel videos!). The AI in turn cheerfully offers the information free to seekers.   There was a foreshadowing of this back in 2003 when we first went online with www.israelnet.tv, offering teaching programs from some of the best-known Messianic teachers of the day. Our tech guy contacted us and said he was watching someone download multiple programs simultaneously in real time. This was in spite of clear copyright cautions. We only had permission from the teachers to stream to our audience, not to re-distribute the programs for personal use.   With a little bit of investigative work, we tracked down the email address of the pirate. My burning question was, what kind of person steals Bible teaching? There's much more lucrative content out there. Bible teaching? Really?   I sent the faceless Torah pirate an email, and kindly but firmly explained that we knew he was downloading copyrighted programs. I also explained that we did not have permission to distribute the material randomly; we were only licensed for the specific use on Israelnet.   Instead of an apology, the pirate went into the old trope: The Bible doesn't belong to anyone. It's free. Bible teaching should be free.   Pretext.   Aaargh, matey!   Sure the Bible is free. They're in the top drawer of any hotel nightstand. An institution known as the Gideons gives away free Bibles. Most people have an extra copy they'd be happy to give away. But there was a reason Yeshua chose one of the disciples to carry the donation money bag.   Even though Yeshua was quite handy with multiplying loaves and fishes, they had to eat.   Relying on miracles instead of working is not the Scriptural example. Miracles are for when we reach the limit of human skill, access, or knowledge.   In my reply to the gentleman pirate, I agreed that the Bible is free. In fact, our Creation Gospel programs and workbook royalties are designated to support Torah-based orphanages, not pay salaries. My husband and I had full time jobs, so we didn't rely on donations to pay the grocery bill or car payment. We donated our time and money. Other teachers, however, were full time ministers. They needed the income to support their ministries and families.   Not being as handy with loaves and fishes as Yeshua, they had to eat.   At the least, if this gentleman wanted to re-distribute the teachers' programs, then he should obtain permission like Israelnet did. He should explain why the costs the teachers incurred, such as travel, studio, equipment, utility bills, (our streaming T-1 line back then was $1000 per month!), software, etc., was okay for him to remove from their pockets because he knew better than they did to whom their teaching and production work should be disseminated.   So in our times, AI developers are free to redistribute all the intellectual property it can consume, even apologizing for not listing everything due to “copyright rules.” It's like nodding and saying “no” at the same time.   It's not something we'll change, however. In fact, it's so incorporated into our daily activities that it's probably impossible to disconnect unless we go off-grid. We're being sluiced down that funnel faster and faster. The current Western trend toward socialism and communism is a symptom. The pirate's reasoning that all Biblical content should be free is rapidly expanding. We feel entitled to confiscate anyone else's hard work because it's the “moral” thing to do. Share. Lift up the downtrodden. Love your neighbor.   Sometimes we feign asking permission by passing onerous laws to tax and take property. Others simply take without permission and know that the wealth from it will more than equip them to face their accusers in court by the time it makes it that far. The ultimate settlement is calculated as the cost of doing pirated business. The Author's Guild reports that the median annual income from book sales is just $15,000 for full-time authors. We're not all John Grisham. The authors are never going to recover the income they've lost to pirates and AI even when the case makes it to court.   Yes, I agree. Love your neighbor as yourself.   But what about “Thou shalt not steal”? That's in the Bible, too.   Pretext.   Yes, that's what the Torah calls it.   A pretext is when we make up a reason to conceal the actual reason we do or don't do something. Pretext tends to spread like wildfire. We'd all like to avoid confronting our own fears, failures, laziness, aggressiveness, greed, or apathy if someone can come up with a pretext that sounds way better than “my fear,” “my laziness,” “my aggressiveness,” or “my greed.”   Numbers 11:1-6 is an example of a pretext:   “Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp… The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna.”   The fire started with a taste for free meat and fish. This was the pretext. They even invented facts to go with the pretext: we ate free fish in Egypt; we have no appetite.   The opposite was true. The fish wasn't free in Egypt. Even the straw for the bricks they had to find for themselves. They did, too, have an appetite. The ignoramuses even listed all the things they were craving.   The manna, the Word of Heaven was not tasty enough for their uncontrolled, greedy appetites.   It helps to know what preceded the complaining. For the first time, the organized camp moved with the Tabernacle, following the Ark of the Covenant and expected to give feet to the commandments they'd learned:   “So they moved out for the first time according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses.” (Nu 10:13)   The Israelites had entered a new stage of responsibility in their walk to the Promised Land. No longer newly-saved milk-dependent babes in the wilderness, they had multiple commandments in which to walk. They were now organized by camp, directed by leadership. There was no map to their journey, only the Ark that traveled ahead looking for the place for them to rest.   When we don't know exactly what lies ahead, we often look back. What we see when we look back takes on a glory and sheen that it never had when we were living it. Truth be told, we were miserable. But those reconstructed memories and invented facts make great pretexts.   Our present challenge is more than just leaking away of intellectual property or orphanage funds through pretexts or outright theft. Like I said, we won't stop this flood until Yeshua returns. There's no way to separate out an answer on a search engine that was stolen versus one that was taken from an open source. Our present challenge is more than just clickbaiting viewers or listeners to read, watch, or listen to a program when they have thousands of choices each day.   Let's put the two together.   We are in a transition period. We hear the footsteps of Messiah. We also know that the period just preceding his return is one of chaos, turmoil, war, weather phenomena, family conflict, rebellion, and mass confusion.   In the middle of this, a remnant is called out of that darkness in the “wilderness of the peoples.” What we feel as tribulation is really just a test. Tribulation is for the unrepentant. Yet, we, too, become scared, nervous, anxious, and angry. We're not sure we know how to follow the Ark. Organization? The Beast uses those! Help!   Yes, the Beast is full of cravings and greedy desires. He does use organizations to clickbait and entice us, to offer us any pretext for complaining about the journey. To overwhelm us with “free” choices: Cucumbers? Fish? Melons? Garlic? Onions? Pick me! Pick me! I love free!   All our choices do cost something no matter the pretext or the truth of the Word. The only free thing is our salvation. After that is a wilderness journey of learning, and each lesson costs us some effort. And unlike the wilderness of the first Exodus, this Greater Exodus doesn't come with a visible Moses or a leadership appointed by him. This is a bit scarier because it's more than a bit greater than the first one! (Je 16:14-15; 23:7-8; Is 43:16-19)   You know what? I used AI to look up those verses faster than I could on Logos. I don't think AI is the Beast. It's a tool, but we need to know how to and how not to use it, just like we need to know how to use and not use the organizations to which we belong or which we use. We don't put faith in government, medicine, recreation, education, or any other system. We use them, but they will ultimately fail…repeatedly. They are tools, but they are not the Kingdom. We must recognize where they fail and use them wisely where they are honest and successful.   While the wicked and lukewarm world with no clear direction enters this stage of confusion that precedes the Kingdom, knowing only an indiscriminate throwing off of every yoke, we are to walk with clarity. Training in the Word equips us, calms us, balances us.   This is why I know that trying to find the most enticing graphic or clickbait title is not going to get lots more people to open a newsletter. In fact, statistics tell me that fewer than 50% even open the weekly email.   People are weary and wary. When they do open those links that imply they HOLD THE NEXT GREATEST SECRET CONSPIRACY, they already anticipate that it will under-deliver.  They know we're overrun with the pirates of our time. It's kind of like those sea monkeys I ordered from the back of a comic book when I was seven years old. I still have no idea what that cloudy mess was, but the ads made me think something alive, mysterious, and fascinating could be had for the cost of postage and few bucks.   And I get it.   I, too, have to search for ways to promote books like Scorpions Ascent or a conference, to politely ask the readers or viewers for a minute or two to consider whether the book or event is a good fit for them. I don't want to be a time pirate, yet on the other hand, if we don't do something to attract the eye, the message is shouted down by edgier content producers. At what point do we become a time pirate? These are wilderness dilemmas, but Yeshua goes ahead of us so we won't get lost.   My prayer is that we are quietly growing a trained remnant that doesn't need superlatives, all caps, world-shaking prophecy insights, and carnival ride doctrines. They are faithfully collecting tasty manna in the Torah portions each week. They don't need pretexts to justify their lust for the doctrinal carnival rides because they are not afraid of walking in the chaos Scripture warned us would accompany the period before Yeshua's return.   AI can only appear to know you by your first name. It cannot know you at all. It is data programmed to identify your habits captured either legally or illegally by analyzing your keystrokes, questions, searches, and preferences. The upside is a quick search for a simple, non-life-changing question. The downside is that from now until Yeshua comes, we will not likely know for sure what images or voices are real. Oh yeah, that's in the Bible, too.   A minister of pretext doesn't really know you, either. He or she knows human fears, greed, cravings, laziness…even the good desire to do righteous things for your neighbor. The minister of pretext's bait draws out the “rabble,” sharing confusion and darkness because they feed one another half-truths that become whole lies. In the end, it consumes them together. It doesn't bear the fruit of righteous things. He's a pirate who baits our scroll…em…scrolling time.   As we navigate this greater exodus, let us deliver what the apostles of Yeshua delivered and what Moses and the leaders in the wilderness delivered. Truth. Truth still matters.   A human being doing the honest work of the Kingdom can hold truth and the good of others at the same time. It can give without stealing. Truth can be firmly upheld without being unkind. It can make manna tastier than anything from The French Laundry.   That is something the world desperately needs right now. Real human beings unafraid of the giants, robots, and raging, confused nutters. Strong, yet gentle messengers of Yeshua aren't driven by their own fears, but by the good news promises of the gospel. They may not remember where you shopped online six months ago or that you like loom beading videos, but they know you are the Father’s treasured possession. This kind of knowing becomes a comfort to others:   For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness—nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority. But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. (1 Th 2:3-8)   Isn't this a great passage Paul wrote to comfort the Thessalonians? These are words of relationship, not something Paul asked AI to write for him. Even back then, the recipient of a letter could sniff out a genuine letter from AI. A pastor who loves the flock is a gift from above AI will never duplicate.   This Shabbat is “Shabbat Nachamu,” the Shabbat of Comfort that follows the fast of Tisha B'Av. The readings for the weeks following are also comforts that the destructions will someday come to an end, and the hard work of walking through the chaos and confusion of the wilderness will come to an end.   The great thing about the Ark seeking out a resting place for the Israelites three days' journey ahead of them in the wilderness? It is said that its cloud lifted up the low places, leveled the high places, and killed the scorpions and snakes in their path. It shaded them from the heat or cold. The journey was nothing to be afraid of, nothing  for which they needed to collect pretexts beforehand for failures. They were being afforded the comforts they would need even through the challenges of the journey.   It was those on the fringes the cloud had expelled for complaining who were consumed by the fire. It's way bumpier and hotter out there where the cover of the clouds of glory is thin. The Presence of the Father can also sniff out a reluctant traveler on this journey. Leave the pretexts out there in the fire with the pirates, and report to your place in the cloud.   Complaining is the opposite of comforting. Complaining is the opposite of comforting. Complaining is the opposite of comforting.   “'Comfort, O comfort My people,' says your God. ‘Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins.'A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together;' for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Is 40:1-5)     [1] The recipe in Comments will be a link that ka-chings the content provider's account and takes you to a “recipe page” that buries the recipe within dozens of ads. Clickbait. [2] Fun Hebrew/English Coincidence Fact: The first AI pirate: in Hebrew: ?????, Ai means “heap of ruins.” It was a Canaanite city located just east of Bethel. It was the site of a major battle in the Book of Joshua. At first, the Israelites were defeated because a warrior named Achan (“troubling, troubler”) took treasure and hid it. After Achan was put to death, Joshua led a successful military ambush to capture and destroy the city. Pirates of Ai are in a heap of trouble. Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

What will happen at the end of times? Today we look at Ezekiel 38 and begin to unpack these two difficult chapters (Ezekiel 38 & 39) and attempt to bring clarity to these important prophecies of the end times. Grab your Bibles and join us! Check out our Bible Study Guide on the Key Chapters of Genesis! Available on Amazon just in time for the Genesis relaunch in January! To see our dedicated podcast website with access to all our episodes and other resources, visit us at: www.keychapters.org. Find us on all major platforms, or use these direct links: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6OqbnDRrfuyHRmkpUSyoHv Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/366-key-chapters-in-the-bible/id1493571819 YouTube: Key Chapters of the Bible on YouTube. As always, we are grateful to be included in the "Top 100 Bible Podcasts to Follow" from Feedspot.com. Also for regularly being awarded "Podcast of the Day" from PlayerFM. Special thanks to Joseph McDade for providing our theme music.   

Every Wednesday, I host TRUTH TALK LIVE on the Truth Network. Here's what I discussed recently. Five hundred years ago, William Tyndale published his English translation of the New Testament—and eventually paid for it with his life. Tyndale believed ordinary Christians should be able to read the words of Christ for themselves, rather than depending entirely on someone else to tell them what Scripture said. In this live episode of Truth Talk Live, Peter Rosenberger explores Tyndale's dangerous mission, the price paid to place the Bible in our hands, and the biblical illiteracy that persists despite our unprecedented access to Scripture. Along the way, a caller raises a provocative question: Why are some churches removing Bibles and hymnals from the pews while placing everything on screens? Owning a Bible is not the same as reading it. Reading it is not the same as understanding it. And understanding it is not the same as submitting to it. Who has the final word in your life? Recorded live on Truth Talk Live.

Send us Fan MailThis Podcast is part of a 10-year project to complete an in-depth, daily study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Episode Notes: In 1 Chronicles chapters 11 and 12, we meet all the king's men. Not the ones who failed to put Humpty Dumpty back together again, but the ones God gathered around David to build a kingdom, establish a throne, and shape the future of Israel. These chapters mark a dramatic shift in the book. Saul's tragic story has ended in chapter 10. And now David's story begins. In chapter 11, we see David crowned king in the first three verses. Then he captures and occupies the city of Jerusalem. The city that will become the spiritual heartbeat of Israel. Now, if someone is simply reading through the Bible, they're going to hit this long list of names and probably think, “Oh no… another genealogy.” They may skim it. They may skip it. They may wonder why it's even there. But these names are not filler, and they should not be thought of as boring because they contain a spiritual lesson that every believer needs to hear. What is that lesson? What do these warriors, leaders, and loyal followers teach us? Well, let's open our Bibles to 1 Chronicles 11, and let's find out together who the king's men where….Support the showThis podcast is not associated with the Bible Project YouTube channel or any other associated podcasts that use the name 'Bible Project'. It is entirely the work of Jeremy R McCandless...Follow and support me on Patreon.Jeremy McCandless | Creating Podcasts and Bible Study Resources | PatreonTo receive my weekly newsletter and keep up to date with all five of my podcasts, subscribe at:Jeremy McCandless | SubstackCheck out my other Podcasts.My History of the Christian Church: https://thehistoryofthechristianchurch.buzzsprout.comThe L.I.F.E. Podcast: (Philosophy and current trends in the Arts and Entertainment Podcast).https://the-living-in-faith-everyday-podcast.buzzsprout.comThe Renewed Mind Podcast. My Psychology and Mental Health Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568891The Classic Literature Podcast:https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568906To visit my Author page on Amazon and view my entire back catalogue of books on both Amazon and Kindle, and now also on Audible, Visit:Amazon.com: Jeremy R Mccandless: books, biography, latest...

Faith grows not only through Scripture but also through the power of testimony. When we share what God has done in our lives, it strengthens others and opens their hearts to believe. A remarkable story from 1992 illustrates this truth. While serving as a missionary in Tanzania, a group of theology students committed to reaching a remote village, and God provided for every need in ways that defied all reasonable odds. From a grieving family to stranded tourists to finding one specific person in a city of 175,000, God orchestrated a chain of events that provided the exact amount needed for Bibles and books for new believers. The lesson is clear: God does not need our resources. He needs our willingness. When we say yes to His work, He takes care of everything else.

Welcome to the Podcast of Southwest Bible Fellowship in Tempe, Arizona. WHO ARE WE? • We are a group of people who are committed to living the grace life as set forth by the apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. • We come together to study our Bibles, and yes, we believe we have God's perfect Word in the King James Bible. It and it alone is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice! • We do not come together and study our Bibles for the intent of being smarter than others. We understand that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is purely vain and serves no Godly purpose. • We do come together and study our Bibles for the intent of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. (Philippians 3:10) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that we have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ liveth in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. (Galatians 2:20) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that because Jesus Christ shed His blood for us and we should not live for ourselves but for Him, who died for us and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:15) • We do not claim to have attained to these lofty goals, but we press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) You can donate to this ministry through www.butnow.org and the PayPal button on the homepage.

Welcome to the Podcast of Southwest Bible Fellowship in Tempe, Arizona. WHO ARE WE? • We are a group of people who are committed to living the grace life as set forth by the apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. • We come together to study our Bibles, and yes, we believe we have God's perfect Word in the King James Bible. It and it alone is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice! • We do not come together and study our Bibles for the intent of being smarter than others. We understand that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is purely vain and serves no Godly purpose. • We do come together and study our Bibles for the intent of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. (Philippians 3:10) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that we have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ liveth in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. (Galatians 2:20) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that because Jesus Christ shed His blood for us and we should not live for ourselves but for Him, who died for us and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:15) • We do not claim to have attained to these lofty goals, but we press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) You can donate to this ministry through www.butnow.org and the PayPal button on the homepage.

Spiritual Amnesia: Remembering God's Faithfulness That Fuels Praise Sam Choi Download I want to say the saints of All Peoples Church greet you. We were sent out eight years ago from Cities Church, and it's a joy to serve you this morning. We're going to be going through all of Psalm 105. There's 45 verses, and so we're going to pick it apart in chunks instead of me reading the whole passage at one time. I want to start off with Psalm 105:1-5, and I want to invite you to have your Bibles out if you have a paper Bible. If not, use your phones. We're going to go through the text together.Most of you don't know me. That's okay, but I love you, and I've been praying that the Lord would give me a heart to see you as my people, even though you're not my people. That He would give me a heart to feel towards you what He feels towards you, and that I would be faithful to serve you this morning. I'm grateful for my family to be here. Just want to honor them. They're sitting there, and I love them, and I love to do life with them. So we're in Psalm 105:1-5.And if you have an ESV Bible, or you can click on it in your phones, would you read this out loud with me?Psalm 105:1-5, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.”Psalms like this have been historically hard for me because it's calling me to do that which I don't feel like often doing. What do you do when the psalmist calls you to praise God, remember His works, and tell of His wondrous works, and seek His face and His presence continually, and you're like, “But I don't feel like it”?Have you ever been in that situation where you got a worship leader, a very peppy worship leader, he's like, “Come on, God's people, let's praise the Lord.” And you're like, “I don't want to.”And so you're in a dilemma. What do you do? Do you fake it? Some of you know how to fake it, like you know the right things to do. E minor plays, you put your hands up because it's the time. The drums are going. You've been conditioned by church. You just know how to go through it, right? Or you're just like, “No, I'm authentic. I'm not going to praise if I don't feel like it.” Right? There's a spectrum in here. The psalmist is calling us to do something that isn't normal. It isn't natural to praise another. It's not. You aren't born with a desire to praise others and thank others. We are born with an inward bent, and so what do we do?Spiritual AmnesiaI want to show you the key to this passage that will free your lips, free your hearts. See, the key to this passage is in verse five. Verses 1-4 give us 10 commands. Sing praises, give thanks, over and over again. And I'm not going to throw law on you, “Hey, guys, have you given thanks this week? Try this week now. If you've only done 5 out of 10, let's go to 6 out of 10, church this week.” Because that won't last. Now, we can shame you, we can guilt you, we can rile you up to have a week of doing it, but you'll forget eventually, and I forget. So what's the key? The key is verse five. “Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered.”Remember, remember, remember.It's repeated a few times throughout the psalm. This is the key that unlocks the rest.The reason why our praise is sparse, our hearts can be full of grumbling rather than gratitude, is because we've forgotten. We have spiritual amnesia.Do you remember what 2021 was like? We were just coming out of the throes of COVID, and my family and I, we live five blocks from George Floyd Square. We just had a contentious election. And on top of that, we had a new church, and one of my good friends was trying to get me removed as a pastor. It was the lowest moment of our life, by far. And my wife and I were brought low. One of my children woke up in the middle of the night regularly with night terrors because there were fires around our home and marches coming around us. Do you remember this time? Something about living here, just this happens a lot, right? You guys are in the news.And during that time, I got a text from a family that I didn't really even know, and they said, “Hey, we'd like to give you $1,000 of spending money, fly you to Anna Marie Island, give you a giant Airbnb that we can no longer use, and bless you.” And that trip was the greatest vacation of all time.My wife and I wept regularly with our Bibles open, worshiping, saying, “God, you see us. You know us. Oh God, you care about us. We're not forgotten. Even though we feel forgotten, we're not forgotten.” And I made some declarations during that time. “God, I'll never forget this. You provide for us. You see us. You know us. You don't forget us.”And guess what I've done?I forgot about that.Have any of you guys been like that where God provides in a supernatural way, and it's so sweet, and you're like, “God, I'll never doubt you again!” Anyone? And then we forget, and then we're anxious again.He provides for you over and over again, and then we forget. This is kind of a problem with God's people: we forget what He has done. What the psalmist is going to try to do is ground our praise in memory, to remember, remember.What do we need to remember? Well, let's look at the next verse, verse 6,“O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!7 He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth.8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,9 the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac,10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,”What do we need to remember? We need to remember the Lord. And what do you need to first remember about the Lord? It's that although you may have forgotten him this week, He has not forgotten you.The psalmist calls us to remember, but what do we remember first? Verse 8:“He remembers…”We all forget. We all can be fickle.The Lord isn't. The Lord, He is our God, and He remembers you, church. He remembers you even when you have forgotten Him, and even go further than forgotten, forsaken Him. He remembers you. That is the ground, that is the foundation, that is the security, you can have this morning. It's not that your memory is like an elephant. I will never forget you, Lord. It's just like Peter's grandpa. Peter's grandpa could forget at times, with dementia, but the Lord did not forget him. And I hope that encourages you this morning because some of us here are going through circumstances that are so painful. There are unmet longings or unanswered prayers where you feel, “Certainly, God, you have forgotten me. You have forgotten me. I don't believe this here. Yeah, maybe it's true for so and so, but not for me. You've forgotten me.” And God wants every one of you people this morning to remember He remembers you. He knows every prayer you've prayed. He knows every trial you've gone through. He knows every unmet longing of your hearts. He knows the anxieties. He knows everything. And you need to know that He remembers you, and He's near to you this morning.So what the psalmist is going to do is he's going to go back into history. David is going to remind us of what God has done through several different acts in Israel's history. Something that is important for you to know is that there's not a single person who was hearing this psalm originally who was at the original events. Why is that significant for you?Because a lot of times when we read God's Word, we can feel like it's distant from us, it's sterile. “Yeah, God, you did that back then, but what are you doing now?”See, when David is speaking to his people, and the context is actually in Chronicles. David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, and he says these words, you can see it in Chronicles. And it's a reminder that the stories from the past are our stories.See, nobody was there alive when we were going to read about Moses. No one was there, and none of you were there either. And we can often be like, “Well, yeah, that was just for them.” But one of the biggest burdens I have for you this morning, church, is for you to walk away saying, “That's my God.”Those stories are your stories. Remember Galatians 3. If you are in Christ, all the promises that you are an heir of Abraham's line. Yes, you may be Scandinavian, and you may be a Midwesterner here, and you're not ethnically Jewish, but the same God who walked with Moses and Abraham and rescued His people, that's your God. So as we go through these portraits, if you grew up in church, and you know the Father Abraham and all that kind of stuff, the temptation is you're going to be like, "Yeah, I know." But that is your God.Oh, church, fight for your heart this morning. Be like, “Wow, He did that? He did that? That's my God?” That's what I'm going to try to model for you as we go and exalt over each of these stories. And so what I'm going to do is what David tries to do. He tries to remind a forgotten people what God has done and who He is, and who He is for us. So the first one we're going to look at is that God is a fierce protector, if you're a note-taker, from verses 12-15.1. God is a fierce protector.Verse 12,“When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it,13 wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people,14 he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,15 saying, ‘Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!'”Okay. So we see a lot of things in this passage, and I don't want to oversimplify, but God is a fierce protector over his people. Think about God's people at this time. They are small. They're vulnerable. They're a remnant. They're barely a blip, and they're traveling through foreign territory. They don't have an army, really. They're cooked. They have no hope of making it as a nation, as a people, and yet God jealously fights for his people. He fiercely protects his people.Think about Abraham and Jacob, or Abraham and Isaac, with Abimelech and Pharaoh. God is able to stop the abuse of Sarah. It doesn't matter how powerful the person is, God is greater still. He fiercely protects his people, and some of you need to be reminded of that. We're exiles, church. Don't forget, this world is not our home. If you feel like you're an exile, you're a remnant, you're a sojourner … good!You're remembering one of your identities. And so when we're here and we have these protesters outside and the world who doesn't love Christ and obey him pushes against us, this is a reminder this is not our home, and yet we have a fierce protector over us.Any of you parents here, you guys are fierce protectors of your children, right? You know that any desire you have to protect your kids is just a shadow of how God feels towards his kids?You care about protection because God cares about protection. Being made in the image of God, you are just reflecting what he's like. And so if you think that you care about your kids, infinitely more your Heavenly Father cares about you, church. He's a fierce protector. Oh, church, put your hope in him afresh, that you are protected by him!One of my children recently said to me, “Dad, do we need to live here? It's hard to live here. It doesn't feel safe.”And that's heartbreaking to hear that from your child. But you know the safest place is to be in God's will, no matter what happens. You can move out into the boonies, in the most safe, conservative area with the most amount of cops, and die if you're out of the will of the Lord. And you could be right in the firestorm of everything, and you are untouchable until the Lord says, “It's time to go home, son.”Do you believe the Lord is a fierce protector over you? Or are you anxiously trying to control and protect your life in a perfect way where you actually don't need him? Remember the Lord, he's a fierce protector. Now, how does he protect? The next portrait we want to see of God is that he's sovereign over all things, even hard and evil things.2. God is sovereign over all things.Let's look at verses 16-25:“When he summoned afamine on the land and broke all supply of bread,17 he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.18 His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron;19 until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.20 The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free;21 he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions,22 to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom.”Let's stop right there. We'll continue in a moment.This is an amazing reversal. Think about it. This is the superpower of the world, and you've got a guy (Joseph) who gets betrayed by his brothers, and God sends him ahead of time through great evil and trial so that he could bring salvation to the rest of the world when a famine is coming. This is amazing. He goes and he starts as a slave, goes to prison after a little psych-out where it looked like he was going to be good, and then over years of languishing in a prison, when you think he probably said, “God, have you forgotten me? I'm in a prison. I didn't do anything wrong. Yeah, I was annoying to my brothers and a little arrogant, but I don't deserve prison. Oh, Lord, have you forgotten me?”And the Lord elevates him in due season to be at the right hand of Pharaoh so he could bring salvation to his people when the famine hits. And there's a lot to learn there, because remember: what his brothers did to him was evil, was wrong, and that's why when Joseph meets his brothers, what does he say? He says, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”And I want to remind you of that. There's a lot of evil done towards us and evil we do, and God is working it for good. And oftentimes, I think when we hear stories like this, we think super American individualistic. What I mean by that is like, yeah, yeah, this situation is bad, and somehow he's going to work it good for my life. Yes and amen, but so much more than that. God is never doing one thing. Your suffering isn't meaningless. He's actually working in that great evil against you to bring about good, not just for you, but beyond you.He's writing a greater story, a grander story, for all kinds of people, not just you. So your suffering isn't meaningless. Joseph probably thought this was meaningless, but God had purposes to save the entire world through this. This is amazing. What a reversal. But then let's keep reading, because then it gets crazy…Verse 24,“And the Lord made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes.25 He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.”Okay, let's talk about this just for a moment. I'm not going to, in a few moments, try to explain how God's sovereignty over all things harmonizes with human free choices, but let me say a few things and then for the rest you can email me at jonathan@citieschurch.com. He's on vacation, you could flood him with really hard questions. Don't do that. So oftentimes in scripture, we have two different lenses when we see things that happen. So we have on the ground. On the ground, Egypt is nervous and scared and anxious about this people group that is growing among them. “Maybe they'll turn against us.” Those are all normal human thoughts that they thought until Pharaoh was like, “Okay, let's subject these people, because they could turn against us, and that's not going to be good.” So Pharaoh wanted to subject Israel, God's people, the Hebrews.But then sometimes in scripture, like Psalm 105, you kind of zoom out 30,000 feet and you get God's divine perspective. He was working in that without violating Pharaoh's desires or the Egyptians. They wanted to subject them in an evil way, and yet God is somehow sovereign over that. That's a mystery that many have spilled much ink over. But both are true in scripture. And so in Psalm 105, we are looking at the larger view. Whenever you confuse those views, that's where a lot of times problems come. But I want you to notice that even in doing that, God is setting up something greater. Because if he didn't set that up, his people wouldn't be able to plunder the Egyptians and leave with great triumph and bring judgment on a very wicked world. And let me make this point now. I said that God is sovereign over all things, even evil things. And you know who has a problem with evil things? Not just you. God does. Any sense of justice you have is just a mere echo of God's divine wrath and righteous anger towards wickedness and injustice. And so make no mistake. Yes, God is sovereign in all things … but the next section, God is a righteous judge. Let's look at verses 26-36.3. God is a righteous judge.Verses 26:“He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.27 They performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham.”Let's stop there. I'm not going to read the rest of that section because it's a little longer, but why don't you just look at it briefly. What is he doing here? He's turning waters into blood. He's throwing frogs at them … like crazy. Flies, gnats, hail, lightning, and it all culminates in the striking down, in verse 36, of the firstborn. Egypt was a wicked nation. They were a wicked nation, and they oppressed peoples greatly. They subjugated God's people for 400 years. God is not okay with that. And Egypt put a lot of hope and trust in their different gods. They had gods for this, gods for that, and what Yahweh is doing, God is systematically going down the line and showing that, “I reign over that. I reign over frogs. I reign over water. I reign over every single thing.” He puts them in their place because God will have no other gods. He will not share his throne with another. And so let this give you hope when you feel like there's injustice done. Who is making it right? Know that the Lord is a righteous judge. Yes, the timing may not be what you would choose, but if you saw his perspective, you would understand his timing. The Lord is a righteous judge.Church, you don't need to be the judge. You don't need to retaliate. You don't need to have vengeance. The moment you take it in your hands, you are forgetting that the Lord is a righteous judge.Someone needs to remember that. Someone has wronged you greatly, and you feel the burden of taking it into your own hands, or you feel the burden that you can't forgive them because if you forgive them, they're going to get away with it. Don't forget the Lord is a righteous judge.But he doesn't just judge Egypt. He's seen 400 years of unmet prayers and longings from his people. 400 years, generations without wages and without provision. So the next portrait we see is that God is a lavish provider.4. God is a lavish provider.Not just a provider, a lavish provider. Look at verse 37. “Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.39 He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.40 They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river.42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.”Church, have you let this become a fairy tale for you? Have any of you guys been in the desert or in a desolate place?And can you imagine if we were hiking together and all thirsty, and I'm like, “Hey, guys, watch this.” And I just hit a rock and water came out. That would be insane. That'd be the craziest thing you ever saw in your life. And yet we see that and we're like, “Yeah. That's cool. That happened. I saw it in Prince of Egypt. It's a good movie.” Right? That's your God! He did that!They were starving and God gave them manna. Just appears on the ground, they got to collect. They wanted protein, because they didn't want to be vegans, and God sends them quail.That's crazy, church. That's our God. He provided for them. That's your God. He covered them at night. He led them through the day. That's your God.Why do I keep saying that's your God? Because sometimes we forget that that same God who did that is the same God who knows you intimately and walks with you right now. Those stories are your stories, church. That's your story. That's your God. That'‘s your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, whatever grandfather. They went through that. That's your family lineage. That's your heritage. And so some of you, your bank account is low. You're in massive debt up to your eyeballs. You're struggling with so many anxieties and pressures, and you're worrying, and you're wondering. God is a lavish provider. Oh, Church, put your hope in Him. Put your trust in Him. If He could provide then, He can infinitely provide more for you now. Amen? Amen. Now, God needs to provide a lot of things. We have things that we need, and He cares about them. But there's something that we need most, and let's look at this last portrait, the singing Savior. 5. God is a singing Savior.Look at verse 43,“So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.”Now, what we see in Exodus is that when the peoples were delivered from Egypt, Miriam led God's people with a tambourine and a song she wrote, and people were singing, right? But the Hebrew right here is ambiguous about who's actually singing.And when I hear this language, it reminds me of another passage. Would you turn with me to Zephaniah 3:17? If you're not familiar with your Bible yet, it's in the end of the Old Testament. It's one of the sweetest passages, and I want you to hear the parallel language that you hear here. One thing I want to remind you is that anything that we do on this side of eternity that's from the will of God, it's just a shadow and echo of God's heart and what's going on in heaven. When you see someone come to faith and you rejoice, what's going on in heaven? There's a party. It's an echo. So as Israel is rejoicing, what they don't know is that there is another one rejoicing, too. Read with me if you have your Bibles right now, Zephaniah 3:17,“The Lord your God is in your midst. A mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exult over you with loud singing.”Write that on a note card, tape it on your mirror, and brush your teeth every morning. And stare at that. The Lord sings over you like an embarrassing father who delights in his children.The Lord doesn't just save begrudgingly. He delights to save. It brings him great joy. Yes, God is a righteous judge, but he does not delight in the death of the wicked. But God delights to save. He sings. He's a singing Savior. So the greatest need that we have is met in Christ, that Christ saved us. Christ Jesus died for us, and He delights to save His people. Remember that. He delights to save you. It wasn't a duty. It wasn't begrudging. It was His joy, and He sings over you. For some of you, the reason why you don't praise is because you've forgotten that He delights over you, and so this whole Christian thing is just so regimented and so just religious and going through traditions. The Lord sings over you, church. Now, I want you to notice something. The next verse. The next verse is another thing that He provides for us richly, and it's also connected to verse 11.“And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the people's toil." So the Lord provides for His people not just a temporary residence, but in Christ, if you are in Christ, church, you get to inherit the entire world. And the ultimate rest that we have is that we get Jesus. Oh, if you're weary, if you feel displaced, if you're longing and you feel like this earth is not your home, something's wrong, nothing's satisfied, your ultimate destination is Jesus forever on this redeemed world. And Israel gets it in parts, but not in its full. But for us who are in Christ, one day we'll inherit everything, and the greatest inheritance is that we get Jesus. It's the greatest need we have. So if you feel like, man, this world is just not enough, it's not cutting it, it's because you were made for another. You were made for the land that has Christ at the center. Now, if God's people are saved, set apart, rescued, what should be the result of that? Let's look at verse 45,“that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.Praise the Lord!”This is so important. If you haven't been listening, please hear me right now. This order is super important. What comes first, obeying or saving? What comes first, obeying or saving? I'm not trying to trick you. Saving. No, it's obeying. Just kidding. No, it's saving. Saving is first!He brought them out of Egypt. He brought his people out of slavery so that they may obey. That order is the difference between Christianity and not. You are not saved because you obey, but because you are saved, you will obey. This is important here. Another sign of our spiritual amnesia is that you don't obey because you forgot what the Lord has done, and some of you, you don't obey because you're not saved yet. So I just want to say this to you. I don't know you. I only know a few of you. If your life is not one where you're progressively becoming more like Jesus and obeying him more and more in all the stuff of life, then you should have insecurity if you are actually his. And if that's you, come, pray with someone today. Wrestle with it. Examine your heart. Do I actually know the Savior? Because you can't know the Savior and the Savior not change you. You can't. It's impossible. There is no category in scripture, except the category that we have in the West, that you can know Christ and stay the same. Will it be perfect? No. Will you stumble? Yes. Will you still sin? Yes. But over time, will it be true? Yes. Not fully, but truly, over time, Christ will transform you. So if you are not obeying Jesus in every area of your life, oh church, remember the Lord who saved you. Remember the Lord who loves you and sings over you. Don't forget the order. You're saved and set apart to obey. And what does God want to do when we obey? What is he trying to do? Because when we obey, Jesus is taking us by the hand and showing us how to truly live the life he wants us to live, truly be human, truly live the life of abundance he's called us to live. And when we do that, we reflect his heart and his character to the nations, to our neighbors, to our coworkers. God is calling you to show what he's like in your obedience. He has purpose behind him setting you apart to be his.Tell of His Wondrous WorksSo we've gone through the whole psalm, and I want to end with a few points … Look at your life. Is your life characterized by one of praise and gratitude and seeking his presence and his face continually? Ask your friends, ask your spouse, ask your kids, ask people who know you. Does that sound like me? Or am I slow to speak of the things of the Lord? This is something that can be cultivated over time. So I want to challenge you, Cities Church, to practice this habit. Practice it for those who have families, fathers and mothers.Practice telling of his wondrous works to each other. It's not something that can always be natural, but you can grow in it.My wife has us set aside a jar every November to write down things that God has done this last year, and then we read it out loud the week of Thanksgiving and praise the Lord. That's a little simple habit you can try to bring into your life.For those of you who are in community groups, and I hope all of you are in community groups, don't turn this building into just a service where you come and you're like, "Feed me, ah," and you just get your goods and then you go and you leave to do something you want to do. Cities Church is a family to belong to, and Sunday services are absolutely essential, but they're not sufficient for full formation to follow Jesus and become like him. So fight to be in a community group if you're not. And if you're in a community group, regularly have times where you can take time to say, “What has God done? Let's tell of his wondrous works.”And you know how sweet it is to be part of a community who does this? Because check this out. There will be seasons where your heart is cold and someone else is buzzing because God has done great works. And they share, and you hear, and your heart gets warmed, and you're like, "Oh, yeah, the Lord!" You know what that's like? And guess what? Maybe a season or two later, you guys switch spots. This happens a lot of times in marriages.And this person who used to be burning hot have gone through some fiery trials, and they're struggling, they're languishing. And then you're like, "Brother, do you remember?" "Sister, do you remember what he did for you?" You can remind people of his wondrous works and how he worked in their life, and how he worked in your life. How sweet would it be to be part of a church family where you could do that for each other? Older saints in here, go out of your way to share: "Hey, son, come here. Let me tell you something about what the Lord has done.”Younger saints, talk to older saints. Tell me stories of God's faithfulness. Stir up my faith. Build my faith. I want to exhort you that today, over lunch, share of something the Lord has done in his wondrous works. Stir each other's faith. And if you're like, “I can't remember anything”, pray. We planted a church this last year, and they're going through this discipleship curriculum. One of the first things that they do is they do an inventory of three moments where God really showed up in your life, to write it down, so that you can share it with others. And the whole group was like, "I don't know." But then when they actually sat down and were quiet, they're like, "Oh my goodness, God has done great works." We forget, don't we? Church, you have a treasure trove of stories of God's faithfulness for you, but we forget. So write them down. Rehearse them, share it with your kids. Tell it with your neighbors. Tell it with your coworkers. May the Lord open up our mouths and share.And so church, it's been good to be with you, and I want to remind you, the Lord has not forgotten you.You may have forgotten him, and I forget him too, but the Lord has not forgotten you. And that is the great confidence you have.Remember, you have been saved. That leads to obeying. You don't obey to get saved. Remember that the Lord is a fierce protector over you, and that even in the hardest moments of your life, he is sovereign even over that thing.God is a righteous judge and he will redeem and make all things new, and he will right every wrong.And that God is a lavish provider. He can redeem the years the locusts have stolen in your life, no matter how painful or how impossible. He is the God who can give you water out of a rock.That is your God, church. That's your God. Don't you sleep on that. That's your God. And he's the God who saves you with joy and gladly sings over you. And if you don't know this savior, oh, would you talk to someone this morning? Would you not leave if you don't know the sweetness of this savior who delights to save? The righteous judge who judged himself so that you could stand free. Would you come? I'd love to pray with you, and I know there's a number of people here who would love to talk with you. Let's pray.Father, thank you for who you are. And Lord, we confess many of us have forgotten you have been far kinder and better to us than we remember. Sometimes our hearts can be filled with grumbling and amnesia where we forget. And so God, we recenter our hearts, and we look back at your faithfulness, not just to God's people from all generations, but our own lives. I pray for a special gifting over Cities Church that we would grow to be able to tell of his wondrous works. That you would loose our tongues to be able to share. So many in this room have great stories of your grace and your kindness, but they forget it or they're timid, and would you loose their tongues so that this whole church will be full of praise and thanksgiving and gratitude. Oh, God, may we seek your face continually, seek your strength continually. Oh, God, we need you. And Father, if there's anything that I said that was in error, either in manner or in content, would you please correct me and let no one here remember. But God, all that is actually from above, that is from your Word, let it deeply shape us. Let the Word do its work in our hearts. And God, as we transition to the Lord's Supper, help us be freshly reminded that this table is a reminder that you are the Savior, and you delight in us. And you save us, not because we obey, but that it leads to obedience.Let everyone be freshly reminded of the sweetness of the gospel of grace. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Audio Transcript Beautiful singing. So I've not met you. My name is Aaron, and I'm the preaching pastor here and glad that you're with us today, this last Sunday of July. And so if you have a bow with you, if you'd open up to the book of Exodus today, our texture study is going to come from Exodus 12, verses 21 through 28. Although we're going to be spending our time in all of Exodus 12, this will be our primary spot is 2128. And if you don't have a Bible with you, if you're not, there are Bibles scattered throughout the pews. If you want to find your way to Exodus, essentially on page 31, our text, if you want to open there, and then as you open your Bibles, please do keep them open. And so if you're visiting with us, so we do a style of preaching called expository preaching. And so we're going to spend a lot of our time just in the text and kind of throughout the sermon. I'm going to be pointing us back to the text. And so I want us all to see what comes from the text. And so please do keep the Bible open. So Exodus 12:21 through 28. So please hear the words of our God. And then I'm going to pray and then we'll get to work. So the Bible says that Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin. Touch the lentil and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of the house until the morning, for Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And we seize the blood on the lintel and on two doorposts. Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter into your home and your houses to strike you. You shall observe this right as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come into the land that the Lord will give you as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? You shall say, is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. For he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses when people bowed their heads and worshiped, then the people of Israel went and did so as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did. That's God's word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me? Lord, we're here because we want to hear from your word. Lord, we know that your word tells us that through the folly of preaching that you indeed do speak. You speak through your word, through the power of your holy spirit. And so God, in this time, that is our desire, that is our ask, that is our request indeed, that you would speak. God, please keep me from error. Please keep me from stumbling. Help me to speak only that which is true. Please help the congregation just have good listening ears to hear what your spirit is saying to us today. Pray this out in Jesus name. Amen. So this morning, as we gather together, we do so. It's a slight detour what we had planned at the start of our summer preaching schedule. So at the start of our summer, the original plan was to have this sermon series that we've had been working through in Exodus. The sermon is the beginning part of the life of Moses. And we're up to the plan was to the start of chapter seven, which is where we were last week, as Moses and his brother Aaron approached Pharaoh for the second time to tell Pharaoh to let God's people go, as Pharaoh was holding God's people in bondage as slaves. From there, then the original plan, starting this week, and to go back into our study of the Gospel of Luke, which is a study that we've been working through for some time. However, today, and actually the next few weeks, there's going to be a little bit of a detour from that plan, which the detour has actually been on my mind for, I guess, a few weeks now, particularly when I was away on vacation, where I thought it'd be good for us as a church just to spend a little bit more time in the life of Moses, doing so in ways that relate to our church pillars, which you can see in the banners behind me. Worship, connect, grow and go. And I thought it'd be good for us to do this again just for a few reasons. So, first, we haven't done this in a while. So it's been actually well over a year since the last time we took time to, like, intentionally think through our church pillars in a sermon context. So we're probably due to do this again. Second, the fall approaching typically brings a little bit busier time in church life. So I actually thought it might be good for us to maybe refocus a bit as a church before things get busier. Third, as a church, it's actually really easy to detour on the things that God would have us to do. So we know this, the busyness of life, the challenges of life, the disappointments in life, the frustrations in life, the false hope of life, even sometimes like the successes of life, which we'll be talking about more just a bit. These things all have a way of, like, detouring us from the things that God would have us to do. So I thought it'd be good for us just to refocus a bit, to hopefully stay focused on the things that God would have us to do. Which, by the way, the reality of losing focus, being distracted, forgetting the things that God has done, things that God would have us to do. This is actually very present in our passage today where we see in the text today, God instituted things within, like the calendar, as a means to help his people actively remember, to help them to not, like, detour away from him, the things that he would have them to do and not do. So starting today and over the next couple weeks, what we're gonna do is continue to look at Exodus stories about Moses. I think give maybe some fleshing out of our four church pillars that hopefully we can learn from and apply to our own lives. So today, from our text, the primary pillar we're going to focus on is that of worship, which for us not only is our first pillar, but this is the most important and most Central of the 4. This is the pillar that actually meant to be like, the fuel, the motivation that leads into the other three pillars. Now, before we get into the heart of our passage today, just for a few moments, let me just remind us where we left off last week in chapter seven. And after that, I was going to give you some, like, flyby details in Exodus and what happened from that passage where we left last week in chapter seven to our text in our today in chapter 12. So just where we left off last week, we started that first. So as mentioned for a second time, Moses and his brother Aaron, who was like a prophet to Moses, went before Pharaoh to tell Pharaoh yet again, for a second time to let God's people go, where they also performed a miracle before Pharaoh, turning a staff into a great serpent. Whereas when last week, as Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh, God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. So for a second time, Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and refused to let God's people go, which we talked about a lot last week. This had to be, at least in some ways, if not a lot of ways, hard for Moses to grasp and accept. I mean, God already had promised to free his people God even told Moses that he was going to be the deliverer. Moses is now doing the very thing God would have him to do. However, at least not yet. In chapter seven, freedom did not come. So one of the things we talked about a lot last week, for Moses, this had to be hard for him to grasp and accept. In this reality. This actually is true for much of his life, where often Moses would do the very thing God would have him to do, instruct him to do, only for the things to not work out in ways that Moses necessarily would want him to do, where over and over again, at least in the moment, things did not work out the way Moses hoped. And for us, this actually is part of the reality of our faith. Yes, we can do the right things, the very things that we know God would have us to do, but according to his secret will, things might not work out, at least not according to the timeline that we might have. That's where we were beginning of chapter seven last week. And then from there, over the next few chapters, which maybe you can read through this week, we see almost like this cyclical pattern on display where the Lord would continue to send Moses, his brother Aaron before Pharaoh, where Moses would continue to tell Pharaoh to let God's people go, where that message would be accompanied by signs and wonders. Yet God would continue to harden the heart of Pharaoh as Pharaoh refused to let God's people go. He even though in the cycle, even though there's these great signs and wonders, even though God did all these things, Pharaoh would still refuse to let God's people go. Now, if you've read through Exodus before, you remember that these series of signs and wonders were found in a series of plagues of judgment on Egypt. Was there a series of plagues that not only testified to God's power and God's glory, but it does seem, although this is debatable, it does seem that with each of these plagues, which were 10, that each of these God was like systematically defeating the many gods of Egypt. Let me just give you a few examples on this. So the first plague, you may remember, this is the Nile river turning to blood. And this seemed to be the Lord taking an attack on the Egyptian God who, like, watched over the Nile. Then the second plague involved, like frogs, like, overfilling the land of Egypt. And it seemed like this is the Lord, like, attacking Egyptian fertility God, who was resented as a frog dropping down, like to the ninth plague, which involved darkness over the land. This seemed to be the Lord attacking, defeating Ra, the Egyptian sun God, and the 10th plague, which we'll be talking about in part in our text today, involved the death of the firstborn of the land, which included the death of the son of. Of Pharaoh, with Pharaoh himself being revered like a godlike figure. As mentioned, there's a little bit of debate on this if this is actually what's happening, but it does seem that if you look at the 10 plagues, it does seem to be a direct correlation between the plagues and one of the many gods of the land. Okay, now just a couple of quick things I want to mention before we get to our text. So if we go back in as it relates to worship, this pillar that we're focused on this morning. So worship was really always at the heart of God. In the Exodus, he would free his people from the bondage of slavery so that they might worship him. And we don't have time to work through all the places that we see this, but really from Exodus 3, where God came to Moses and revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush of the great I am, where at that scene, the Lord also commissioned Moses to be the deliverer of the people. At that scene, worship was at the heart of God so that through his deliverance, through the freedom of his people, they might worship him. And this continues on from like the first time Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh, they commanded Pharaoh to let God's people go. Why? So that they might worship the Lord. Then each of the plagues in this sickle event that continued to happen over and over again, Moses and Aaron continued to approach Pharaoh to tell them the same basic message. The purpose is why? So God's people might be free to go and worship him. So worship is at the heart of Exodus, including at the heart of our text today, as worship is always at the heart of our God. Thus, if we're going to follow our God, worship will be on our hearts as well. Okay, so that is an introduction. Maybe fill in some of the gaps for us. Let's look back at the passage. Our passage day involves, like, what took place right before this 10th plague and the death of the firstborn of the land. Well, our text today details some really important information, not only for the book of Exodus, but really for all of scripture. Because our text today involves the Passover. Our primary text today starts in verse 21, but just give maybe just a little bit more context if you want to look up to some of the details in verses 1 through 20 of chapter 12. In those verses, we see God came to Moses to let Moses, let the people know that they were to get ready. Because the long wait of waiting upon the Lord to free them from slavery, the long wait was about to be realized. Freedom was about to come. The Lord's patient timing had now arrived. In the preceding verses, the Lord let Moses know that this freedom from bondage was going to change really everything for his his people, including their calendar, where from the day that they were freed, it was gonna be such a monumental work of God that salvation. So going forward, that day of deliverance would be the first day of the first month of their new calendars. Making this new calendar centered on this salvation from slavery, which would be a marker that they were to never forget, but to always remember the salvation of their God. Furthermore, starting the start of chapter 12, the Lord gave to Moses some instructions on how this freeing would take place, which I'm guessing is not maybe a way that Moses would have expected, particularly as he witnessed the power of God on display all throughout Exodus. Because the Lord let Moses know that this freeing that he was about to do to bring salvation for his people would actually come through a Passover lamb. With the lamb being like one of the most gentle creatures in all creation, yet all powerful God would bring about his glorious salvation. How through a lamb. And how the Lord would do this would be on the night of freedom, the night that all this things is about to take place. Yes. God would send a destroyer who would come to bring judgment, which is destroyed here mostly as like a death angel. The death angel, yes, would come into the land, would take the life of all the firstborn from the greatest of the land, including Pharaoh's own son, to the least of the land, to even the firstborn of all the cattle. That is, unless the home had a Passover lamb who provides salvation of death and judgment. So in this dialogue between the Lord and Moses, Moses informed on the night that the death angel was to come, the people of God were to enjoy like a meal of fellowship together. A meal that they were to eat in haste, even instruction how they eat this meal, and they eat this in haste because of how quickly salvation was about to come for them. And this meal was centered on this, on this Passover lamb, which was a lamb that was to be a lamb without spot and blemish. This guy's people fellowshipped around this lamb. They were to take the blood from the lamb and cover the sides of the front door with the blood. So on the night that the death angel came, as they saw the death angel saw the blood of the lamb, death would pass over the home. So God's people not only could be saved from judgment, but through the blood they would be set free to eternal or to a land that is to come, which we'll talk about more in just a bit. By the way, let me also mention the yearly calendars not only were to mark this night of the passover lambs, the calendar to mark the start of the calendar, mark this night, but in the beginning of chapter 12, going forward each year, God's people, from generation to generation were to continue to celebrate this Passover meal together so that they would actively remember that which the Lord had done for them and how salvation was found through the blood of the lamb. So in a very real way, on that night, the Passover lamb died so that they could live being set free. And the theme of our sermon today, be set free to worship the Lord. So with those instructions in the preceding verses given to Moses and the Lord, now in Our text, verse 21, if you're going to take your Isaiah, we see that Moses took that which is given from the Lord. So now he can convey that information to the people. So in text we read that Moses called all the elders of God's people together to tell them, hey, this is what is about to take place. This is how the Lord was finally going to free us. Through this blood of the lamb, Moses instructed the elders to go select lambs from the midst of their flocks. In doing so, according to the clan that you are from, as you go to the flocks to select a lamb, this Passover lamb that you're. The Lord then instructed in the text that this lamb that was slain, that they do next is take a bunch of hyssop. Hyssop is kind of like a. Like a bushy shrub. And this hyssop is to act almost like a sponge or a brush by which they would take the hyssop and dip it into the blood of the lamb that was just spilled, that was collected in a basin, our text tells us. And with the blood of the lamb now on the hyssop, they're then to touch the lintel, which is the top beam of the door, to put blood there. And they're also to put blood up and down on the two sides of the door. So in a very real sense, the home would be covered by the blood. And on that night when the death angel came, because of the blood, they were safe. Verse 22, because they were safe in the blood of the lamb, we read that none were to go out of the house until the morning, which for me is probably not instruction. I would need. Right. Death angels, come in. I'm going to stay safely behind closed doors, behind the blood. No interest nor curiosity was taking place outside. But obviously for some, maybe more curious in nature than me, might be tempted to see what was happening, maybe in a real sense, wanted to see death. This is a real instruction for them. Yes, you might be curious, intrigued, what was taking place that night. But you must fight against temptation. You must stay covered by the blood until the morning. Because if not, if you give in to your temptation, you will perish. But in verse 23 of our text, in this last and most terrifying of plagues, for the Lord himself will pass through to strike the Egyptians, those not covered by the blood, but where the Lord sees the blood on the lentil on the two doorposts, the Lord himself will pass over the door. And he will not let the destroyer, the death angel, enter into your house to strike you. Meaning as real and as powerful as death is, this death angel was even death was under the authority of the Lord, where, under the authority of the Lord, death would strike only those who, according to the will of God, were being judged that night, where death would pass over according to the will of the Lord, those who would live as life and death ultimately are in the Lord's hands. Now for us, let's just hit pause here just for a second, just to consider what an incredible and awesome, albeit terrifying night this must have been for God's people. So let's just try to put ourselves in their shoes and just kind of think through some of what has already taken place. So for a very long time, God's people, the shoes they were in were the shoes of slavery, doing hard labor, doing many things that were just not pleasant at all in life, where for years and years they're praying, pleading to the Lord to come and set them free, only for Moses to show up. But as he shows up, he basically tells us, hey guys, I am the answer to your prayers. I am indeed the long awaited deliverer who God would use to free you from slavery. Yet as we remember in our study, as he showed up, chapter five. For God's people, things actually went from bad to worse as Moses approached Pharaoh for the first time. Pharaoh became so annoyed at Moses that he ended up punishing the people by demanding that not only we continue to make bricks as slaves, but going forward, they'd also now have to start to like, collect the straw for their brick making work. And from there, all these terrible, terrifying plagues fell upon the land, which some of these actually affected God's people as well. These terrifying plagues came, and at different points, they actually kind of looked for God's people, that Pharaoh was going to finally let them go, only for Pharaoh to change his mind as the Lord continued to harden his heart to keep God's people in slavery. So from chapter five, when Moses showed up until our text today, which just covers a lot of time here for God's people, this is an absolute roller coaster of emotions, ups and downs, twists and turns, hopes, disappointments, and all of it is leading to this, this one big, awesome, terrifying night where Moses had just let them know through the elders, death is going to enter into the land. However, even through death that is about to come, their salvation would also come. And it would come from all things through a blood of a lamb, as through the lamb, salvation would come through judgment. Now for us to put ourselves in their shoes. Imagine knowing all this history and now getting this message from Moses, from the elders of the clans that salvation was coming through the blood of a lamb. Well, keep going to text verse 24, if you want to take your eyes there. As he got this message of salvation through judgment by the blood of the lamb, we see they also get some more instructions and how it passed down the Passover. And because they get more instructions again here, I think this stresses just how important this passing down was to the Lord. Verse 24, God's people will continue to celebrate this meal each year as a rite, as a statue for you and your sons forever. Meaning this is not just something they were to celebrate on the day they were set free, on that night as they celebrate the meal together. This is something that God's people from generation to generation would continue to celebrate, to continue to remember all of their days. By the way, if you read through the Old Testament over and over again, Scripture actually is pointing God's people back to this very night, this salvation from the Lord as a means to draw them back to worship. Verse 25. On that day when you come into the land that the Lord will give you, which the land that they're being saved too. So not only were they being saved from the judgment, saved from slavery, but God's people are also being saved to a land, a land in the text, a land that God promised to give to them, which we know is a land flowing with milk and honey. And as he entered into that promised land, even then the salvation of God found in the blood of the land, even then this right was to be on their minds, which only continues to stress the importance of this salvation. Where Even then, this rite in the text, this statue, this service, even then is one you are to keep and observe. Now, this here, the Lord telling his people that to keep this service even as they enter into the promised land, this incredible land flowing with milk and honey. I think this is actually the Lord like, maybe already addressing a real challenge that would be before them, which is the challenge of, like, things working out. We're in this challenge. There's a real temptation. When things like work out for us. Do you think that we actually no longer need the Lord or temptation maybe to put the Lord on the back burner of our life? And I do think for us, we know this challenge in our own lives, where, when things are kind of going well, how quickly it is to lose track of dependency, depend upon God. Where, when things are going well, whatever that well thing is, that can quickly become like our priority, where we maybe try to fit the Lord around that priority rather than making him the priority, keeping him the priority for us. Yes, no doubt there are challenges our faith when things do not work out the way that we hope, which say it earlier, this is true for much of Moses's life. But at least for me, from my own experience, there are often more challenges to my faith, more challenges to my dependency upon the Lord. When things are going well, keep going. Verse 26. When the children, the next generation, who are not present on this night, when they say to you, as you remember this Passover, what do you mean by this service? Why is it that we're celebrating this meal over and over again? What's the big deal? What's its purpose? Why the lamb? Why the blood? Verse 27. As they come with you with those questions, you are to say to them, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. You are to teach them that we do this, to remember, to never forget the night that the Lord passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, where on that night he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses. Just a couple quick thoughts on this here. First, the question the children ask. What do you mean by the service? This is actually an obvious and legitimate question here. The generation that came after, they weren't there on that night, they did not have firsthand experience of how God redeemed his people. So it's not like, just like innately, they would have known all this. They would have needed someone to tell them, to explain to them the why, the what, the how that they were doing. They would need someone to come to them with, like, beautiful feet to pass on the Story of salvation through a lamb, which in the context here specifically was their parents. And for us just explaining to the children, this actually is the heart of like evangelism, discipleship. None of us just innately know all these things as you're saying earlier. We're all like on this hell bound race. So we need someone to have to explain things to us, just like someone had explained things to us. So as we learn about the things of Jesus Christ, now in turn we pass down that which we received. And with beautiful feet we explain things to others. We explain all the things that we know that is true and believe about our God and ultimately the redemption found in Lord Jesus Christ. Something kind of tied to this. So there's a phrase, but there's a time actually use, times we actually use here. Basically it says like one generation like believes the Gospel, which is the good news found in the redemption of Jesus Christ. But without like proper evangelism and discipleship, what can happen is the next generation then starts to like basically assume the gospel and then inevitably the following generation forgets the gospel. And this is such a true statement, not only because what we see this in church history proves to be true, but even in the Old Testament people of God, where over and over again one generation would believe, but the next generation would kind of assume before the following generation would just kind of forget about things all together. Only for the Lord to have to do some type of gracious work or maybe some type of work of judgment to bring his people back to himself. So this here in the text of needing to answer the question to the next generation to teach them about the salvation from our God church, this actually is really important. This is something that ought to be a real high priority for us as a church. For us, this is something we can't get detoured away from doing. Back to the text, the end of verse 27, after the Lord gave to Moses all this information from the Passover meal, this discipleship command to teach the next generation. We see the hearts of the people were soft before the Lord. And in the text the people like bowed their heads and they worshiped him, which hold on to this, we'll come back to this at the end. Verse 28. As the people had their hearts soft, soft before the Lord worshiping the Lord, then the people of Israel went and did so as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. So they did. Which here just kind of notice how basically the same thing is said twice in the text. Went and did so, and then at the end, so they did. I think this is emphasis on the obedience of God's people, whose hearts were soft, whose hearts were stoked to worship, where they were joyfully willing to do the things that God would have them to do. Now, this is where we ended our text today. But I do want to finish off the story this in chapter 12, starting at verse 29, if you want to keep going or keep looking there. So according to what God said, at midnight that night the death angel came and indeed struck down the firstborn of the land from the son of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the cattle, where, according to his word, only those who were saved on that night were the ones who were covered by the blood of the lamb. And after this final plague hit, finally, at least in the moment, the heart of Pharaoh softened to the point that he would let God's people go. The text tells us that 600,000 men, not counting women, children, were set free that night, bound for the promised land, where they left actually by plundering Egypt on their way. And as the people of God headed out, they did so still with soft hearts, still with hearts of worship. At the end of Exodus 12 tells us that they desired to obey God to keep the Passover from generation to generation. We're in verse 50, similar to verse 28, to further emphasize the soft heart to follow and obey God. We see in verse 50 all the people of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded. Moses and Aaron is on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their host. And that's actually we're going to end in our text today. But before I end, I do want to give you some organized thoughts from this text as it relates to worship and how I wanted to do this. Just maybe try to answer a few questions on like the why, the how and the what of worship. Okay, so some thoughts here. So let's start out with the why. And I do think it's always most important for us to get the why right before we move on to the what and the how. This is really important as a church. We must get the why right of worship. So some of the whys of worship, as I start to answer some of the whys, I do want to mention again, worship was at the center of why God desired to free his people from slavery in Egypt. Now, yes, the desire of God is also one that was tied to, like God's love, where in his love he would do this for his people. This desire of God to free his people also is one that's tied to his promises, where in his word, God promised indeed he would free his people. And we know God is a God who makes and keeps promise. But even those realities are ultimately tied to worship. We're to say it again, throughout the story of Moses that we've been looking at this summer. God would free his people. Why? So that they could worship Him. So for us, why? This is why. This is why we exist, to worship God and why we should worship God. Well, we see throughout Exodus, throughout Scripture, because our God is the one who is worthy of our worship. Because our God is the one who is glorious in all who he is, as the great I am, which is Exodus 3 in all that he does, including his great salvation. And so for his glory, the Lord is calling us to worship. That's a real why of worship. Why? Worship is always at the heart of our God. Why? Because he's worthy of it. Because his glory actually demands us to worship Him. Very much tied to this why worship? This also is our design. So God created mankind to worship him, to keep him at the center, at the priority of our life, where all that we are to do in life, even the roller coaster relied in life. Big things, little things, even little things like eating and drinking, they all are to be done in worship of him, to bring glory to our God friends. That's actually why we exist. This is part of the why of worship. This is where we find joy, we find meaning, we find purpose is in worshiping our God for us as church. This is why worship is not only a pillar, but the pillar, the most important pillar. Where our desire as a church is to joyfully pour out our lives in the worship of our God, knowing that is where our meaning, that is where our purpose is found. However, unfortunately, tragically, sinfully, we know this as individuals, even as a church as a whole. This is something that we can easily detour from where there's so many other things that can get us sidetracked. So many other things like pull at our hearts in worship. We start to worship other things other than God. And if we do that, if we detour from our worship of the Lord, we must be quick to repent, to get this right, to put and keep God at the center. Because if we miss worship, the why of worship, everything else is a house of cards that will not stand so for us. Even this morning, if you know, like the worship of the Lord, if it's not at the center of your life, where any like somehow you detoured and you're trying to put your hope in other Things repent come back to him. Which actually leads the next question relates to a how question. And the how question, I'm not referring to like, you know, some type of posture. Like, this is how we do it. This is how we worship. By this posture, rather the how here, I'm actually referring to, like, how is it even possible for us to come to God in worship? And this actually is a pretty important question for us to know and understand. Because we actually all are sinners. And like Pharaoh, even by birth, by choice, we actually all have hard hearts. And because we are sinners with hard hearts before God, we can't approach Him. We can't come to God on our own because God is like, perfect in all that. He is perfect in his holiness, perfect in his glory. So we can't, like, just like waltz in and try to approach the Lord in worship, like, just kind of on our own. And likewise, it's not like we somehow can, like, worship our way to God. So this is actually important question of how that we must know. So, like, how is it that we can actually worship God as sinners? Well, in the text today, we need the Lord to act on our behalf. Our text today, the Lord acted through the blood of the Lamb, so that his people would be saved from judgment, that the Lord would pass over so they'd be set free, that they might worship him without the blood of the Lamb. They'd been bound in judgment as sinners, rightfully. And for us, as real as the blood of the Lamb was in Exodus 12, as real as it was the salvation of God bringing his people out of slavery, the blood of that Lamb. That salvation in Exodus 12 is ultimately a pointer to a better, more spotless lamb that was to come, an even better salvation. The Lord provided for his people a better Lamb, the Lamb of God, as God himself came to us in the person of the great God man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world, which Jesus did by willingly, joyfully laying down his life for his people, which he did on a cross where the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, spilled His blood for us, where he died in our place, so that through him, through Jesus, him alone, we'd be saved from judgment. We'd be set free, bound for eternal promised land that is to come. So that through Jesus, friends, that's how we can worship God. It's only through him, through us putting our faith in him, trusting in him, in the blood of his eternal covenant. It's us calling upon the name of Jesus as our Lord, as the One who died for us, only to rise again from the dead on the third day. Which, by the way, is why, as a church, why we say the wooden cross and empty tomb mean everything to us. Because without it, without Jesus being our true Lamb, we would still be in the bondage of sin and there would be no possibility for us to worship God. We can only come to God the Father and worship through him, by the way, because Jesus Christ not only died as the Lamb of God, but because he rose again on the third day, which was a Sunday. Now, our entire calendar is actually marked with Sunday being the first day of the week, which is actually a unique and special day by which we were to gather together as a church body and worship, where we gather together not only to worship the Lord, but we do so in ways that we're sitting under his word, where we sing his praises, where over and over again, we celebrate the new Passover meal, the Lord's Supper, to help us to remember, to never forget what Jesus has done for us actually leads to the what of worship. So what should our lives look like if we're going to spend worshiping God? Well, in the text, the heart of worship, our lives will look like having soft hearts before God. Soft hearts that are like, joyfully obeying all the things that God would have us to do, doing all the things that God has to do, and not doing the things that he would not want us to do. And these things change from being burdens or maybe even options. But when we're worshiping the Lord of soft hearts, all these things now become like the desire of our heart, where we want to do the things that God would have us to do, which is true of God's people in the text. So for us as a church, some of the things it looks like all includes not forsaking, meeting together on Sundays, which is a habit that's easy to get into. But like God's people, we're to celebrate the Passover each year. Now, as God's people, we are to celebrate Jesus death and resurrection. Each Sunday we set our hearts to serve him, to serve others, not out of duty, but out of delight, because our hearts are soft to worship. And I know for various reasons it can be challenging at times, but at the heart of worship, these are challenges we seek to overcome. In our language, this is very much tied to the pillars of connect and grow, to come to be around God's people week after week after. Furthermore, what. What are we going to do if we're Going to worship God tied to our pillar. To go in the text, what we will do say we're going to pass down the message of our faith from generation to generation. This is, this is part of our worship. We're engaging our lives in evangelism and discipleship. Word of a heart of worship. We're explaining to others the tenets of our faith. Centering on the salvation of God found in Jesus Christ is one not only we celebrate today and hopefully every day, but the one that we'll celebrate and worship even as we enter into the eternal promised land that is to come, where forever and ever our worship will be to the Lamb who was slain, the one who is worthy. So yes, today a little bit of a detour of what was originally planned. But my hope is that this detour actually keep us on track on that which is most important to us as a church family, which always starts, always ends with worship. Through Jesus we are set free, forgiven of our sins, bound for the promised land so that we might worship him all of our days and all the way throughout eternity. As I close, if you know, for a host of different reasons, maybe you've detoured in your own life from this worship of Christ. So may the chorus of the song that was actually popular a few years back when I first made Christian, may this song, by the grace of God, be a true of you today. Just simply says I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for Jesus who is the true lamb of God, who came to take away the sin sins of the world. And Lord, this morning we confess again that without Jesus there's no way we could come to you in worship because of our hard hearts, because of our sin. Lord, thank you for your grace and your kindness, your mercy on us to help us to trust and to believe. And Lord, I do pray that today all of us that have hearts to worship Jesus. And Lord, I pray for those here maybe have yet to trust in Jesus, who've yet to have their lives covered by the blood, that today that you would do that in their life, that you would take out a heart of stone, but put in a heart of flesh that is now soft towards you. And Lord, I do pray that you'd help us to keep the worship of you always at the center of all that we do. Pray us on Jesus name, Amen. The post The Passover – Exodus 12: 21-28 appeared first on Red Village Church.

Telling the Story: Part 3 Acts 7:35-53 by William Klock “Made by hand.”  When we see that, it usually means something good, doesn't it?  Someone careful hand crafted this thing.  Carefully stitched it together.  Put care into baking it.  You can probably trust it, because it was well made.  And, of course, it was made with love. But if we went all the way back to ancient Israel, “Made by hand” had a very different meaning and connotation.  For us it (usually) signals something good; for them it signalled idolatry.  “Made by hand” said that this thing was not made by God or that God had not commanded it to be made, but wicked humans made it anyway.  And when it came to things involved in worship, it meant idolatry. This idea has come into our language too.  You'll sometimes hear Christians—usually on the Puritan end of the spectrum—talk about this or that thing in worship or this or that doctrine being “man-made”.  The Puritans called it the “Regulative Principle” and the idea was that everything Christians do in worship should either be something God explicitly commanded (like reading the Bible or singing or preaching) or something that good and necessary consequence demands. We Anglicans follow what's called the “Normative Principle”, which means that we have freedom in our worship, as long as what we do is not forbidden by scripture or goes against biblical principles.  But you'll often hear folks who follow the Regulative Principle say things like, “Your liturgy or your hymns are ‘man-made'” or “Your traditions of using musical instruments or observing Easter, Christmas, and other holy days are ‘man-made'” and by that they mean that they're unbiblical and wrong.  Some would go so far as to call these things “idolatry”. The “RP” isn't our tradition, I think more than anything else in Protestantism it has led to sinful, ungodly, and unwarranted schisms, but I do respect the fact that it grew out of a commitment to take worship very seriously.  People who follow it understand that how we worship God is serious business, not something frivolous.  I think most Christians today err in taking zero care in how they worship God.  But you can't read the New Testament and you certainly can't read the Old Testament without realising that how we worship is serious business.  God takes it seriously and so should we.  I'll come back to this, but keep it in the back of your mind as we work through the end of Stephen's speech. I want to pick up where we left off in Acts 7.  We've been making our way through Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin—the body of Jewish elders.  He's been accused of blasphemy and of speaking against torah and the temple and Moses.  And instead of defending himself, what he's done is to tell the story of Israel and Israel's God.  He's telling it in a such way that they should—hopefully—see that he's not speaking against any of those things that defined them as Jews.  He's telling the story in such a way that they'll see—hopefully—that the gospel is not a departure from Israel's story, but rather the very culmination of it—the very thing that torah and temple and Moses were pointing toward all along.  And so he began with Abraham and the call of Israel, and then Joseph, and then Moses.  And as he's telling not just the story, but their story, he's highlighting its themes of forgiveness and grace and also that when God acts, when God does new things, it's almost never what anyone expected—but afterward you can always see that, in fact, the signposts had always been pointing to that new thing.  Like I said last week, the figure of Moses towers over the story of Israel and Stephen knew that.  But he also knew, as Moses towered over the story, he did so like a signpost, with his arm outstretched, pointing the people straight to Jesus.  He knew, you can't use Moses to argue against the gospel. So let's pick up at Acts 7:35 where we left off. [Page 1087 in the pew Bibles, way down in the very bottom right corner of the page.] “So,” Stephen continued, “this same Moses—the one they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler or judge?'—this is the man God sent as ruler and redeemer, by the hand of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.  He did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and led them out, through the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.  This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers.'  And this is the one who was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who had spoken to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to give to us.” Stephen's continuing the story of Moses he began in last week's text.  Moses was rejected by his own people—at least at first.  And there was nothing controversial in telling this part of the story.  And there's nothing controversial in his reminding the Sanhedrin that despite that early rejection, Moses was indeed the ruler and redeemer the Lord had sent to his people.  Moses did signs and wonders in both Egypt and in the wilderness.  He's the one who parted the Red Sea.  He's the one who met God on the mountain and came down with God's living words, with the torah and with the instructions for the tabernacle.  And—Stephen makes a really important point here—Moses was also the one who told the Israelites that he was not the end-all-be-all of rulers, redeemers, or messiahs, because one day the Lord would raise up a “prophet” from amongst them—a prophet in comparison to whom Moses would pale. The Sanhedrin knew he was talking about Jesus.  The people had already suspect that Jesus was this greater prophet whom Moses had prophesied.  More than once he was asked, “Are you the prophet who is to come?”  So Stephen's making it clear, just as Moses had been rejected by the Israelites of his day, so Jesus was rejected by the Israelites of his.  We've touched on this last week. But now Stephen takes it a step further.  Look at verse 39.  It's not just that Moses was rejected by his people in the days before he was actually called by God.  The more embarrassing thing for Israel was that they'd rejected Moses after he'd been called, after they'd been through the Red Sea, after they'd seen the signs and wonders and had the torah and the tabernacle.  Stephen goes on: “This is the one whom our fathers had not wanted to obey, but instead rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, by saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us; for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt—we don't know what has become of him!'  They made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to an idol. They celebrated things their own hands had made.” Remember what happened in Exodus?  Moses went up the mountain to meet God.  And he was up there for forty days and nights receiving the law.  And the people became afraid.  They thought that Moses surely must have died on the mountain, so they gave Aaron their gold and implored him to make a golden calf, an idol, so that they could have a god who would protect them.  It was a shameful moment for Israel.  They'd just received the Ten Commandments.  They'd just been told by God: You shall have no other gods.  You shall not make a carved image.  And Moses had asked them, “Will you do all these things?  Will you give yourself to the worship and service of the God of your fathers, the God who has saved you from Egypt?  The God who has decalared, ‘I will be your God and you will be my people?”  And the people had enthusiastically declared, “We will!  All this we will do!”  And just days later, they didn't. As eating the forbidden fruit was the primal sin of the human race, idolatry was the primal sin of Israel: worshipping something as if it were God when it wasn't.  Aaron had tried to explain to Moses that he'd merely thrown the gold into the fire and that the calf had formed and jumped out of its own accord, but everyone knew that's not how it works.  Idols are made by human hands and the prophets drove that point home over and over down through Israel's history.  To worship an idol was absurd.  The pagans were fools for doing so.  First, you create a god with your own hands and then you worship it.  “How stupid is that?” the prophets asked.  And yet the golden calf wasn't the last time Israel would worship an idol.  That primal sin came back over and over and over.  When Jeroboam rebelled and led ten of the tribes of Israel to form their own nation, he set up two golden calves, one at Bethel and one at Dan to discourage his people from going to the temple in Jerusalem.  No matter how devoutly Israel worshipped the Lord, idolatry was never far off.   Look at verse 42: “Then God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it stands written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me in those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?  You took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Rhephan, the carved images you made to worship! I will remove you beyond Babylon!'” Stephen quotes Amos 5.  Even during Israel's honeymoon period with the Lord, Amos condemned them.  Even then, while they brought their sacrifices to the Lord, they were worshiping pagan gods like Moloch and Rhephan and all the “host of heaven”. So the Jewish priests and rulers have charged Stephen with blasphemy and now he turns the tables.  He never actually defends himself.  Instead, he retells the story of Israel from the beginning and shows how it leads straight to Jesus and now, again, he turns the tables on them.  He accuses them of the very thing they've charged him with.  Just as Israel had rejected Moses, so Israel's priests and rulers have rejected Jesus.  And—since their most significant charge seems to have been that he was speaking against the temple—and that was precisely the same charge on which Jesus was arrested and crucified—Stephen makes his second point or his second charge against them.  Verse 44: “Our ancestors had the ‘tent of meeting' in the desert. [That's another name for the tabernacle.] God had commanded Moses to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.  Our ancestors in their turn brought it in when, with Joshua, [meaning they brought it with them into Canaan, the promised land] they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our ancestors, and it was there until the time of David.  David found favour with God, and requested permission to establish a Tabernacle for the house of Jacob.  But it was Solomon who built him a house. [Stephen is referring to the permanent temple in Jerusalem.]  Now his key point: “The Most High, however, does not live in shrines made by human hands. The prophet put it like this: ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool! What sort of house will you build me, says the Lord, Or what place will you give me to rest in?  My own hand made all these, did it not?' Yes, David planned the temple.  Solomon built it with the Lord's blessing.  But Stephen quotes Isaiah 66.  The Prophet Isaiah had rebuked the people using the very words that Solomon had prayed at the dedication of the temple.  It is God who has made all things.  The idea that human beings can make anything—even the temple—that can contain God, well, that's the real blasphemy.  Solomon knew that with this glorious temple on the mountain top, that with God's presence manifest in a cloud of glory, that Israel—always prone to idolatry—would start to think that they had God in a box—to put as we might put it.  Solomon warned them.  Isaiah warned them.  And now Stephen is pointing his finger at the Sanhedrin and is saying, “When Jesus said he'd tear this building down and rebuild it in three days, he wasn't blaspheming it.  When I said that this is precisely what Jesus has done and when I say that Jesus has, indeed, built a new temple by purifying a new people and filling them with God's own Spirit, I'm not the one blaspheming the temple.  No!  You're the one's blaspheming God!  You think you've got God in a box.  You're thinking like the pagans.  You've gone back to our people's primal sin!  Heaven is God's throne and earth his footstool.  The entire cosmos he's made cannot contain him.  What fools you are to think your puny temple can contain him!  The temple was the signpost pointing the way to what God's done in Jesus and the Spirit.  It was the signpost telling us all along that God's plan was one day to enter this world as one of us, as the Righteous One, so that he could rescue us—from sin, from death, from the idolatry that has plagued us from the beginning—by filling us with his Spirit and turning our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.  By filling his people, not so we can guard it a box of stone, but so we can carry his presence to the ends of the earth.  But just like our ancestors, you refused God's redeemer because you couldn't let go of your building, your box made by hands.” You can almost imagine Stephen standing there in front of the Sanhedrin and with him stand Moses and Isaiah and Amos and all the other prophets nodding at his words.  He closes his speech in verses 51-53: “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are uncircumcised! You always resist the holy spirit, just as your ancestors did before you!  Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? And you killed those who announced in advance the coming of the Righteous One—and now you have betrayed him and murdered him.  You received the law at the command of angels, but you didn't keep it!” They were the people God had chosen to steward his glory.  They were the keepers of the great story of God and his redemptive plan.  They, of all people, should have known better, but when the story came to its climax, they refused to listen.  They'd stried to slam the book shut.  It's not just that they rejected the Messiah and handed him over to the pagan Romans to be crucified.  Stephen's point is that they were doing what idolatrous Isreal had always done.  Even though the kind of obvious idolatry that had got them exiled to Babylon had been rooted out since their return to Judaea, they were still at heart idolators.  As Stephen recounts the story of Israel, what we find is that it's not just a story of redemption.  It's also a story of rebellion that reminds us how desperately humanity needs God's redemption.  Even the people with the law and the temple, even the people with Moses and the Prophets suffered from the same rebellious attitude that infects the human race.  As Calvin once put it, the rebellious human heart is a factory of idols.  We can take even the good things of God and turn them into idols as the Jews had done. Stephen takes the high ground.  He stands with Abraham and  Moses, with Solomon and David, with Isaiah and Amos.  The Sanhedrin, for all their moral posturing and charges of blasphemy, Stephen opens the book they'd slammed shut and shows that in reality they stand with Joseph's wicked brothers, with the Israelites who rejected Moses, with the Israelites who had given their gold to Aaron to cast a golden calf, with Jeroboam and all the others who had set up idols throughout the land.  The temple was good, but it was made with hands.  God had promised through the Prophets that one day he would make another, a better temple—and it would be better precisely because it wasn't made by human hands. Brothers and Sisters, that's us.  And as I was thinking and meditating on this over the last few weeks, I was wondering what this means for us.  I think the biggest takeaway from Stephen's speech—at least this part of it—is simply to hear him proclaim the glory of the God who has become present with us in Jesus, the Righteous One.  Jesus has, like a greater Moses, delivered us from our bondage to sin and death.  I don't think it's likely that we're going to end up like the Sanhedrin, rejecting Jesus and the Spirit in favour of the temple and the torah. But, I do think there's a warning here, even if it's a little oblique.  Brothers and Sisters, it can be very easy for us to make idols out of otherwise good—and even essential—things.  In an age of apostasy—and especially for those of us who came out of the battles for orthodoxy within Anglicanism, it can be very easy to make an idol of our theology and of our orthodoxy.  We can make idols of the traditional Prayer Book, of the old hymnals, of our classical Protestant worship.  Good things.  Orthodoxy—right doctrine, right theology, right understanding of God and of ourselves—is absolutely essential.  But Brothers and Sisters, none of these things stand in place of Jesus; none of them stands in the place of the Spirit; none of them stands in place of the Triune God.  None of them ought to undermine the unity that Jesus and the Spirit have given us with other believers.  Bp. Cummins understood this and it's why the Reformed Episcopal Church exists: because Bp. Cummins knew that Christian unity is rooted not in bishops or in sacraments, but in Jesus the Messiah.  It's good to be right in our doctrine and practise.  We should take theology and worship seriously, but we should also be humble about them.  We should acknowledge that despite our best efforts, none of us will ever—at least not this side of eternity—have a perfect theology or perfect worship.  And we ought always to guard against pride, because being proud in our imperfect theologies and imperfect worship inevitably causes us to treat them as idols.  We lose our focus on Jesus.  And no matter how right we may be, we lose our witness and cease to give glory to God. So let Stephen be a reminder to us to keep Jesus at the centre of our being and of our life together, at the centre of our church.  Let our good doctrine and our good worship be the things that keep him there.  But let him always be our God, let him always be the one we worship and glorify.  And, I think, if are faithful in that, we will be faithful in giving glory, not to ourselves, not to our theology, not to our Prayer Book, not to anything made with hands, but to the God of glory. Let's pray: God of glory, as we hear your word, as we learn the story of redemption, teach us to see and to keep Jesus, the Righteous One, always at its centre.  Give us the grace and wisdom necessary for sound doctrine and worship, not that we be “right”, but that we might always keep Jesus at the centre of our life together, that we might worship you and faithfully make your glory known to the ends of the earth.  Amen.

Colossians 3:12 Well, we are working our way through Paul's letter to the Colossians in our study of God's Word and we are in the third chapter, Colossians 3, verse 12, and you'll want to turn there in your Bibles, Colossians 3:12. The past two weeks that we've been in the study of Colossians, I would just say admittedly, I think they have been unpleasant. Unpleasant two weeks in the text as we've studied two vice lists and we've seen

The church is growing, the gospel is spreading, and opposition is increasing. Yet through it all, God continues to build His church. In Acts chapter 5, we'll examine the sobering account of Ananias and Sapphira, the continued ministry of the apostles, and their unwavering commitment to obey God in the face of persecution. Let's open our Bibles and discover what this remarkable chapter teaches us about the holiness of God, the courage of faithful believers, and the unstoppable advance of the gospel.Send us Fan Mail Support the show

Their story reminds us that God continually calls His people back to His truth. Every genuine renewal begins when His people once again submit themselves to His Word. The greatest danger facing the modern Church is no longer a lack of access to Scripture but growing indifference toward it. We own more Bibles and possess more resources than any generation before us yet having access to God's Word is not the same as allowing God's Word to shape our lives. Their testimony of these two witnesses has now become our responsibility. May we prove faithful in our generation, not merely by owning a bible, but by believing it, reading it, obeying it, proclaiming it, and passing it faithfully to those who come after us.

Of all the things we can listen to, we must listen to God's voice and what He is saying. We can't afford to miss out on the voice of God. I want to live in such a way that God's voice is the loudest voice in my life.Main Points:1.  With so many voices calling out for our attention, we may find ourselves easily distracted and without focus. After all, which voice will you give your attention to? You can't listen to them all.2. Every day, you can hear the voice of God. We don't just serve a silent deity. We have a relationship with a living God who is involved in the lives of his children. I believe daily we can hear God's voice in our spirit. Every time we open our Bibles, we should expect to hear the voice of God. It is God's Word to us. Are we listening? Are we paying attention?3. Is God's voice the loudest voice in your life? Let's silence the noise around us to hear what God wants to say.Today's Scripture Verses:Mark 4:32 - “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”Hebrews 2:1 - “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”Quick Links:Donate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group

In this episode, we welcome Matt Whitman to the show. He is a pastor, author, host of The Ten Minute Bible Hour. In this interview, we discuss his new book “The Lightning-Fast Field Guide to the Bible: Your Compact Companion for Exploring the Best Book Ever”, the current state of American seminaries, why modern Christendom is ill-equipped to deal with the spread of Islam, the biggest problems with contemporary Christian music, why people don't read their Bibles or read it poorly, and much more. Let's get into it… Episode notes and links HERE. Donate to support our mission of equipping men to push back darkness. Check out our SHOP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you do when it’s over? Not when it’s hard. Not when it’s uncertain. Not when things could still work out. What do you do when it’s OVER? When the divorce papers are signed. When the prodigal still hasn’t come home. When the doctor’s report confirms your worst fear. When the bank account is empty. When the addiction wins again. When what was already bad somehow gets worse. What do you do when you’ve prayed, believed, hoped, waited, and fought … and the situation is now lying in a grave of impossibility? Because if we’re honest, every one of us will face something that feels dead. A dead dream. A dead relationship. A dead opportunity. A dead hope. A dead part of ourselves. Life happens. Hell attacks. Hearts break. And there are moments when we simply cannot see a way forward. Maybe that’s where you are today. Maybe you’ve reached the place where you’ve stopped asking, “How will God do it?” and you’ve started wondering, “CAN God do it at all?” If so, I want to remind you of something that has never changed: Our God is not stopped by the grave. The grave is where human ability ends, but it is not where God’s power ends. In fact, throughout Scripture, God has a habit of showing up where things appear most hopeless. When Sarah’s womb was too old. When Israel was trapped at the Red Sea. When Ezekiel stood in a valley of dry bones. When Lazarus had been dead four days. When Jesus Himself was placed in a tomb. Again and again, God steps into situations everyone else has declared finished. Because what is impossible with man has never been impossible with God. Matthew 19:26 says: “With God all things are possible.” And hidden inside that one sentence are three life-changing truths. With God. All things. Are possible. 1. With God. Not without him, but with him. Whatever you’re going through, are you going through this WITH God? Or are you trying to do this on your own? Are you pushing through with your own strength, looking for your own answers? Are you relying on someone else, but that someone else isn’t God? You will fail and so will everyone else. This is ONLY WITH GOD. So, how do you do this WITH GOD? You seek him. You talk to him. You read his word. You fill your life with nothing but God, then every area of your life is under his power. I’m talking about the music you listen to, the friends you talk to, the books you read, the things you watch. Have you heard that song, “Dusty Bibles”? It says: We got dust on our Bibles, brand-new iPhones No wonder why we feel this way We walk with our eyes closed, blind leading blind folks And I’m done with those idols and dusty Bibles Is there dust on your Bible? Yeah – no wonder why you feel this way. You’ve been trying to do this with WITHOUT God, and my friend, it simply won’t work. Looking back on my own journey, I realize just how patient the Lord has been with me. I tried to do this without him for so many years. I even used him to make my things grow. But it wasn’t about him, it wasn’t for him, and it wasn’t really with him. And yet, he allowed me to do it my own way. He didn’t strike me with lightening. He didn’t even publicly shame me. But what he did do, is he allowed me to create my own messes and struggle. And through his gracious allowance of struggle, I finally came to realize I don’t even WANT to do this without him. Is that where you are? Are you finally seeing through God’s gracious allowance of messes and struggles that you no longer want to do this on your own? Are you finally at the point of surrender in your life where you’re truly praying, “God, if you’re in it, I want it … but if you’re not, I don’t.” Yes, girl, this is learning to do life WITH GOD. And with God, ALL THINGS … 2. All things. Not just some things, but truly all things. This means the things that have always been too big and too hard. The things that seem too far gone, too late, too hopeless. The things that are buried, without life, without a future. That’s ALL things. There has never been a moment when Jesus looked at a situation and said, “Well, that’s beyond me.” Cancer isn’t beyond Him. Addiction isn’t beyond Him. A prodigal isn’t beyond Him. A broken marriage isn’t beyond Him. A shattered heart isn’t beyond Him. Death itself isn’t beyond Him. In fact, one day Jesus walked directly into a funeral procession and completely interrupted it. Luke 7:11-15, “Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.” The funeral was already under way. They were walking this young man’s body to the grave. His life was over. And not only his life, but his mother’s life. Notice the detail is given that this woman was a widow and this young man was her only son. In this culture, that meant not only grief, but this meant desperation. Yes, it was the death of a child, but it was also the absolute crash of her future. Without a husband or a son, she was left without care and faced a life of extreme poverty. And when Jesus became aware of this need, His heart overflowed with compassion. No one asked Him to step in with His power. No one expected Him to change the situation. But His heart responded to her broken heart. The miracle began because Jesus was moved by compassion. Jesus sees what nobody else sees. He sees the tears you hide. He sees the burden you carry. He sees the disappointment you don’t talk about. He sees the thing that keeps you awake at night. And just as His heart overflowed with compassion for that widow, His heart is moved by your pain. He’s not indifferent. He’s not distant. He’s not unaware. He is responding. The miracle—YOUR miracle—begins with the compassion of Jesus. Now understand the true significance of this scene. The body isn’t being carried in a closed coffin; it’s more like a wooden stretcher. The young man is likely wrapped in burial cloths. Under Jewish law, touching something associated with a corpse brought ceremonial uncleanness. Everyone else was moving away from what was dead. Jesus moved toward it. Everyone else saw a corpse. Jesus saw an opportunity for resurrection. Everyone else saw an ending. Jesus saw a beginning. Without even being asked, Jesus walks right up to the body and touches him. Not a coffin as we imagine, but an open stretcher where the dead man is lying. Yes, that’s our Jesus. Throughout the Gospels, we see Him touching lepers, touching the sick, and touching the dead. And never once did the uncleanness spread to Him. Instead, His life spread to them. That’s what happens when Life Himself shows up. “With God all things ARE POSSIBLE.” 3. Are possible. ARE POSSIBLE. Not probable. Not likely. Not easy. Not immediate. But possible. Because the possibility doesn’t depend on you. It depends on God. And if God is involved, the story is never over. If God is involved, the grave never gets the final word. If God is involved, what appears dead today may be alive tomorrow. Yes, your too-far-gone situation. Your without-hope circumstance. Your dead dream. Your untouchable mess. Your shame. Your struggle. Your brokenness. When it is brought to Jesus and touched by Him, it can receive His life. I assure you this is your answer. That thing you’ve been struggling with for years and seem powerless to change—it needs the touch of Jesus. That relationship everyone has given up on and left for dead—it needs the touch of Jesus. That habit you keep fighting but never seem to defeat—it needs the touch of Jesus. That dream you buried because disappointment convinced you it would never happen—it needs the touch of Jesus. That part of your heart that has grown cold, weary, and numb—it needs the touch of Jesus. The same Jesus who walked into a funeral procession and interrupted death is still interrupting impossible situations today. Then Jesus spoke these simple words: “Young man, I tell you, get up.” And death had to let go. The young man sat up. He began to speak. Life rushed back into what moments before had been lifeless. What if the thing you’ve declared dead is only waiting for the voice of Jesus? What if the story isn’t over? What if God is not standing at a distance from your impossible situation, but is already walking toward it? What if the marriage isn’t beyond Him? What if the prodigal isn’t beyond Him? What if the diagnosis isn’t beyond Him? What if the dream isn’t beyond Him? What if your story isn’t over? The widow thought she was walking her son to a grave. She had no idea she was walking him into the presence of Jesus. And maybe that’s where you are today. What feels like a funeral may actually be the setting for a resurrection. Because our God has never been intimidated by dead things. He speaks to dry bones and they rattle back to life. He stands before Lazarus’ tomb and calls him out. He steps into a funeral procession and sends everyone home stunned. He walks out of His own grave on the third day. And He is still the God who brings life where everyone else sees death. So don’t bury what God is still breathing on. Don’t abandon what God is still working on. Don’t give up on what God hasn’t given up on. Because with God… ALL THINGS… ARE POSSIBLE. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Welcome to Soundbites: Topics that are scripturally sound in bite-sized episodes. This week's topic: Anger. Are you angry with someone right now? The strong emotions and reactions that come with anger can get us into trouble. Being angry is not a sin by itself, but the way we express that anger can easily become sinful and harmful. This brief study will give us biblical patterns to follow, helping us to improve in our responses. Anger makes a really poor parking spot for the soul. Don't stay there. Forgiveness is more than an option; it's biblical. (Rebroadcast from 2022) "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." (Ecclesiastes 7:9) Be sure to visit the Shop at Keep the Heart for books, Bible studies, beautiful Bibles, and more! NEW: Peace Beyond Panic: A Heavenly Perspective on Anxiety and Depression by Dr. John W. Vaprezsan Apply: Living What We Learn-A 31-Day Devotional by Francie Taylor FOR COUPLES: Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions by Francie Taylor Vitamins for the Soul: A Study on Maintaining Spiritual Health by Kathy Ashley NEW: Crossbody Sling Bag for Beverage Bottles Support this podcast HERE Follow Keep the Heart on Instagram Like Keep the Heart on Facebook

Welcome to Day 2909 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2909– “The Ultimate Close Encounter”  based on Luke 10:1-16 Putnam Church Message – 06/21/2026 The Good News According to Luke: “Practical Talk to Those in Ministry.”   Last week's message was “A Face Like Flint,” in which we studied the One who set His face toward Jerusalem now sets His grace upon His people. Today, we continue with our twenty-ninth message from Luke's narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Today's message is: “Practical Talk to Those in Ministry.” Our core passage today is Luke 10:1-16, on page 1611 of your pew Bibles. Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two 10 After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.' 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick>who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.' 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.[b] 16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Opening Prayer Father, we come before You today grateful that You invite ordinary people into Your extraordinary work. We confess that we often feel inadequate, distracted, discouraged, or afraid. Sometimes we carry burdens You never asked us to carry, and sometimes we measure ministry by results rather than faithfulness. Lord Jesus, teach us today from Your Word. Show us what it means to be sent by You, to labor for Your harvest, to depend on Your provision, to speak peace, to serve faithfully, and to leave the results in Your hands. Help us see that ministry is not reserved for a few, but belongs to all who follow You. May our lives become faithful witnesses to the nearness of Your Kingdom. Amen. Introduction: Why Would God Use Us? I have often wondered why God involves people in His work when He can do everything Himself. Have you ever thought about that? God does not need our talent. God does not need our strength. God does not need our planning ability. God does not need our committees, schedules, buildings, sermons, songs, or programs. He can do the job better than we can. He can speak a word, and worlds come into existence. He can open blind eyes, raise the dead, calm storms, silence demons, and move kings according to His will. So why does He entrust something as important as building His Kingdom to people like us? People who get tired. People who misunderstand. People who get proud. People who become discouraged. People who argue about greatness. People who sometimes want to call down fire on their enemies. That is the mystery of grace. God does not involve us because He lacks power. He involves us because He loves us, forms us, and gives us a genuine part in His redemptive work. In the previous message, “A Face Like Flint,” we saw Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 is a hinge in Luke's Gospel. From that moment forward, Jesus is moving toward the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. Nothing will distract Him from the Father's mission. Now, in Luke 10:1–16, Jesus does something remarkable. He multiplies the mission. Earlier, He sent the Twelve. Now He appoints seventy-two others, or seventy depending on the manuscript tradition, and sends them ahead of Him into the towns and places He plans to visit. This means the ministry is expanding beyond the inner circle. The Kingdom is not a private project for the Twelve. It is not merely the work of clergy. It is not limited to those with public titles. Jesus is building a people who are sent. And in this passage, He gives practical talk to those in ministry. That includes pastors, teachers, elders, deacons, missionaries, children's workers, worship leaders, caregivers, parents, grandparents, encouragers, prayer warriors, business owners, neighbors, friends, and every believer who bears witness to Christ. If you belong to Jesus, you are involved in ministry. So let us listen carefully to His practical instruction found in four truths in your bulletin insert on the side that says Practical Talk to Those in Ministry. Main Point 1: The Harvest Belongs to God, but the Labor Belongs to Us Jesus says the harvest is great, but the workers are few. So, He tells His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest, asking Him to send out workers into His harvest. That is where ministry begins: not with panic, but with prayer. Jesus looks at the world as a harvest field. That image would have been vivid to His listeners. In an agricultural world, the harvest was urgent. When the crop was ready, delay could mean loss. Workers had to go into the field while the time was right. But notice what Jesus calls it. It is not our harvest. It is not the church's harvest. It is not the pastor's harvest. It is the Lord's harvest. That matters. When we forget this, we carry burdens God never intended us to carry. We begin to think the future of the Kingdom depends on us. We stay awake at night worrying about results we cannot control. We measure faithfulness by numbers, approval, visible response, or immediate fruit. But Jesus calls Himself the Lord of the harvest. He owns the field. He knows the soil. He sees the hearts. He sends the workers. He brings the growth. Our responsibility is not to control the harvest. Our responsibility is to labor faithfully. Object Lesson: A Seed Packet and a Basket Hold up a packet of seeds and an empty basket. The seed packet represents the work entrusted to us. / We can plant. / We can water. / We can tend. / We can prepare. But we cannot force life into the seed. The basket represents the harvest. / We long to see it full, and that longing is good. / But only God can bring the harvest. Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 3:7  It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. That is freeing. We are not excused from labor. Jesus calls us workers. But we are freed from pretending to be God. Ancient Context When Jesus sent these seventy-two, He sent them ahead of Him. They were not going out to build personal followings. They were preparing towns for the arrival of the King. In the ancient world, messengers often went ahead of a ruler to announce his coming. They did not invent the message. They did not negotiate the king's authority. They...

Join us for Week 2 of This Is the New Testament! Raechel and Amanda are joined by Ian Simkins to discuss Romans through Ephesians together. Listen in as they discuss the gift of weakness and our freedom in Christ.Open your Bibles with us this week! This episode corresponds to Week 2 of She Reads Truth's This Is the New Testament reading plan. You can read with the She Reads Truth community on our site, in our app, or with our This Is the New Testament printed or digital Daily Reading Guide.In this episode:Use code FAITH15 for 15% off the Faith in Practice collection at ShopSheReadsTruth.com."Poetry" by Taylor LeonhardtShe Reads Truth on Instagram & FacebookRaechel Myers on InstagramAmanda Bible Williams on InstagramIan Simkins on Instagram*If you purchase something through our links, She Reads Truth may earn an affiliate commission.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Magellan AI - https://docsend.com/view/5vdvbdx7cr4tikmyPodscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

Questions about how to respond to the claim that the Bible is full of contradictions, and how to answer a Jewish person who knows and speaks Hebrew and says our Bibles weren't translated properly and the New Testament is made up.   How would you respond to the claim that the Bible is full of contradictions? How would you answer a Jewish person who knows and speaks Hebrew and says our Bibles weren't translated properly and the New Testament is made up?

Welcome to the Podcast of Southwest Bible Fellowship in Tempe, Arizona. WHO ARE WE? • We are a group of people who are committed to living the grace life as set forth by the apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. • We come together to study our Bibles, and yes, we believe we have God's perfect Word in the King James Bible. It and it alone is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice! • We do not come together and study our Bibles for the intent of being smarter than others. We understand that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is purely vain and serves no Godly purpose. • We do come together and study our Bibles for the intent of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. (Philippians 3:10) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that we have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ liveth in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. (Galatians 2:20) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that because Jesus Christ shed His blood for us and we should not live for ourselves but for Him, who died for us and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:15) • We do not claim to have attained to these lofty goals, but we press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) You can donate to this ministry through www.butnow.org and the PayPal button on the homepage.

Welcome to the Podcast of Southwest Bible Fellowship in Tempe, Arizona. WHO ARE WE? • We are a group of people who are committed to living the grace life as set forth by the apostle of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. • We come together to study our Bibles, and yes, we believe we have God's perfect Word in the King James Bible. It and it alone is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice! • We do not come together and study our Bibles for the intent of being smarter than others. We understand that knowledge for the sake of knowledge is purely vain and serves no Godly purpose. • We do come together and study our Bibles for the intent of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection. (Philippians 3:10) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that we have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ liveth in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. (Galatians 2:20) • We do come together and study our Bibles to understand that because Jesus Christ shed His blood for us and we should not live for ourselves but for Him, who died for us and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:15) • We do not claim to have attained to these lofty goals, but we press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14) You can donate to this ministry through www.butnow.org and the PayPal button on the homepage.

When the King James Bible says that showing pity to the poor is “lending unto the LORD,” it reveals an astonishing truth about Heaven's accounting: the helpless may receive the gift, but God personally accepts responsibility for the debt. The orphan cannot repay the medicine that saved his life, the widow cannot return the food that sustained her, and the prisoner may never meet the person who placed a Bible within his reach, but none of that matters. The Lord sees every sack of rice, every gallon of clean water, every King James Bible, every prayer and every sacrificial dollar. What disappears from our hands on earth is entered into an account in Heaven, and the signature guaranteeing its repayment belongs to Almighty God.“He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” Proverbs 19:17 (KJB)One day, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we ma finally discover what those gifts accomplished. We may meet children from Glory Fellowship Orphanage who lived because medicine arrived, families spared from disease because clean water began flowing, prisoners whose chains were broken by the word of God, and forgotten widows who knew that somebody cared. We gave what was temporary; God produced something eternal. We supplied water, food, medicine and Bibles—but the Lord transformed those things into preserved lives, answered prayers and rescued souls. That is the breathtaking promise of Proverbs 19:17 - when we help someone who has no possible way to repay us, the Lord steps forward and says, “Put it on My account—and I will pay it again.”

Introduction: If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Revelation chapter 21. As you turn there, I want to contemplate two questions…, number 1 - Do you look forward to heaven? number 2 - Does your hope for heaven affect your life today? In the introduction of Pastor Matt…

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can read along to an audio chapter of Proverbs. Be sure to visit the entire Proverbs audio library HERE to access all 31 chapters. Here's a verse from Proverbs 14 that serves as a relationship preservative: "He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." (Proverbs 14:29) Learning how to control our tempers is related to the character qualities found in the fruit of the Spirit: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23) The next time you're tempted to blow up all over someone, press pause in your soul and be "slow to wrath." It is wisdom in action. Be sure to visit the Shop at Keep the Heart for books, Bible studies, beautiful Bibles, and more! NEW: Peace Beyond Panic: A Heavenly Perspective on Anxiety and Depression by Dr. John W. Vaprezsan Apply: Living What We Learn-A 31-Day Devotional by Francie Taylor FOR COUPLES: Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions by Francie Taylor Vitamins for the Soul: A Study on Maintaining Spiritual Health by Kathy Ashley NEW: Crossbody Sling Bag for Beverage Bottles Support this podcast HERE Follow Keep the Heart on Instagram Like Keep the Heart on Facebook

We are kicking off Week 1 of This Is the New Testament! Amanda and Raechel are joined by Phylicia Masonheimer to discuss the first five books. To begin this five-week survey of the New Testament, they consider the perspectives of each individual Gospel account and discuss the early spread of the gospel.Open your Bibles with us this week! This episode corresponds to Week 1 of She Reads Truth's This Is the New Testament reading plan. You can read with the She Reads Truth community on our site, in our app, or with our This Is the New Testament printed or digital Daily Reading Guide.In this episode:She Reads Truth on Instagram & FacebookRaechel Myers on InstagramAmanda Bible Williams on InstagramPhylicia Masonheimer on Instagram*If you purchase something through our links, She Reads Truth may earn an affiliate commission.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Magellan AI - https://docsend.com/view/5vdvbdx7cr4tikmyPodscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacy

Growing up in a Buddhist family in Vietnam, Brother Daniel went through a lot of pain. He felt hopeless and wanted to kill himself. But on his way to get a gun, he stopped by a church. Everything changed.  "I don't know why I went to the church." Brother Daniel says, "I met the pastor and he gave me a small New Testament." The pastor told Brother Daniel that the book could change his life. Daniel will share how reading God's Word changed him and, eventually, also his family. Seeing such dramatic changes gave Daniel a desire to see more people have Bibles. Since then, he's helped deliver thousands of Bibles all over his country. He's never lost his love for God's Word and continues to find creative ways to get Bibles to the people of Vietnam. Listen to hear what Christian persecution looks like in villages around the country—and what they can do to appeal for the religious freedom promised by the government. Today, Brother Daniel's number one priority is training more leaders to know and love the Lord, strengthening new leaders in the church to overcome persecution and encouraging them to help one another. Pray for Christian brothers and sisters in Vietnam like Daniel. To learn how you can pray specifically for persecuted Christians and share your prayers for them, visit www.icommittopray.com.