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Both God's love and God's wrath raced through redemtive history, unresolved, until they came to a resounding climax- in the Cross. Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 48-49 & Hebrews 7
Bad Theology, 2 of 4 from October 12, 2025 “Both God's justice and love are beyond our capacity to understand.” Job 11 by Ben Russell (@neighborhoodpastor93)SUMMARYThis sermon explores the complex themes of God's justice and love as presented in the book of Job, emphasizing how they often surpass human understanding. Pastor Ben discusses how Job's story includes both accurate and flawed human perspectives about God, which are ultimately addressed and corrected by God Himself. The sermon also delves into the suffering faced by Job and the well-intentioned yet misguided responses from his friends, encouraging listeners to find appropriate ways to support those in distress.REFLECTION & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Both God and man covers sin. One covers with mercy, the over with pride. You can have all kinds of coverings for sin but the only one that will be of any good is: Christ. Listen to Pastor David's exhortation to cover your sin for more.
The Bible is the greatest book for all times and all seasons. It is justifiably called the Book of Books for there is no other book in the world like it. The Bible is the very foundation of Judeo/Christian civilisation. It has shaped the identity of Britain, the USA and many other nations. At this current moment in history where so many seek to destroy those foundations, it is the unchanging truths of the Bible that hold the keys to our future destiny. The Bible declares itself to be the very Word of God which can rescue and restore us as individuals, as families and whole societies. In the coming weeks we will be looking afresh at some parts of scripture that provide great light and hope when we face darkness and uncertainty from the second part of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is one of the greatest prophets in the Bible if not the greatest, well known to both Jews and Christians. His name means ‘God is salvation' and he lived in the 8th Century BC. The traditional view is that all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah were written by one man, Isaiah, possibly in two periods around 700 BC and around 681 BC. The book of Isaiah has been described as the Bible in miniature. There are 66 books of the Bible and 66 chapters in Isaiah. As the Bible is divided into two Testaments, so Isaiah may be divided in two parts. The first 39 chapters correspond to the Old Testament's 39 books and cover similar themes. The last 27 chapters correspond to the New Testament's 27 books and also contain material crucial to our understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus. The first part of Isaiah, in 39 mainly depressing chapters, deals with God's judgement of persistent sin and rebellion against God and prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews into captivity in Babylon. In Babylon the people of God would be depressed, dispirited and despairing of anything ever going right again. They would seem to have lost everything: their culture, their temple, their spiritual focus, their national identity, their hope. Hostile foreign forces had conquered. But all was not lost…just as all is not lost for you, for your family, for the Christian church and for this nation and the nations of the world. For in Isaiah chapters 40-66 there is a dramatic change. Against all expectations, the prophet begins to speak words of hope that promised a great reversal of fortunes. The exile would end. The Persians would overthrow the Babylonians. Cyrus, the Persian leader of a world power, would look favourably on them. He would help the Jews return to their homeland and assist in the re-building of the Temple…a temple that would, in fact see greater glory than the previous one. So, despite their bleak past and uncertain present, their future was bright. They would know recovery and restoration. God had not abandoned them. He was for them, and though it seemed hard to believe, He would work an amazing turnaround for them. These chapters then in this second part of Isaiah point forward not only to a new hope for the Jews, but to the future hope for the whole world through the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, and ultimately an eternal new Messianic age of righteousness and peace. For us living in the times that we do the powerful prophecies of Messiah could not be more relevant or applicable. We see from Isaiah 40:1-5 that: 1. God is a God of consolation (Isaiah 40:1-2; Lamentations 1:2,16; John 14:16-18,26-27; John 15:26) 2. God calls us to preparation (Isaiah 40:3-4; Luke 3:2-3) 3. God will give great revelation (Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 60:1-3) Apply 1. God is a God of consolation (Isaiah 40:1-2). Both God and His prophet knew that the people were shaken by their tough experiences. They were carrying great pain and hurt. They were anxious and uncertain (Lamentations 1:2,16). They couldn't have taken any more hits. It would have finished them off. They needed comfort and help. That is like so many people today. Millions of people are hurting. Life has been hard and harsh. Today, behind many a composed outward appearance, are people who feel inwardly ripped apart, whose smiles and varied attempts to find some happiness disguise an aching heart. Maybe you identify with this. Life has not been easy. Your family has all kinds of problems and complications. Your marriage has not worked out. You have been bereaved of loved ones. You have been badly treated by others. You have been let down and you have let yourself down. Maybe you have made some big mistakes, and you have taken wrong turns that have been very painful. Maybe you acutely feel a sense of guilt for sins you have committed. God's attitude here is that He wants to comfort you. He wants to speak tenderly not harshly to you. He wants to declare forgiveness to you. The comfort we can receive stems from the message that “her sin has been paid for.” This is the heart of the gospel. God loves you so much He didn't just feel something for you, He did something for you. Jesus Christ died on the Cross to pay the price of your sin, to bring you out of exile and free you from whatever has held you captive. The comfort we can receive stems from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew his followers would face a hostile world, but He promised them He would not leave them as orphans (John 14:16-18,26-27; John 15:26). Today if you need to be comforted, you can be comforted by the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can feel the love of Jesus that drives out fear. You can know an inner peace because you know that God is with you. 2. God calls us to preparation (Isaiah 40:3-4). In the harshest of circumstances when even whole nations can think that they are in a barren wilderness, God prepares a way for people to receive Him, just as John the Baptist ministered in the wilderness to prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus (Luke 3:2-3). So often God prepares individuals and even nations to know Him through wilderness times of great difficulty and even tragedy. He wants to prepare us for what He plans to do to restore us. In some cases, preparation means being lifted up. You may be down in life, but you are not out. God wants you to stop seeing yourself as a victim, a nobody, a failure. He wants to show you how much you are loved and valued and how much you can accomplish in life with His help. He wants to raise you up to be blessed and a blessing in your generation. In some cases, preparation means being brought low. The Bible says God resists the proud. To be truly blessed and used by God you need to stop being so independent and self-sufficient and learn to submit to and rely on the Lord. Since every mountain and hill needs to be made low without exception, everyone needs to take care to humble yourself rather than having to be brought low by God. In some cases preparation means being healed and made whole. When you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life, you will be amazed how much He can heal your heart and smooth out your circumstances. Whatever you and your family, or even whole nations, are going through, be sure that God is at work preparing the way of the Lord. 3. God will give great revelation (Isaiah 40:5). God's glory and manifest presence have been experienced in many revivals. But the greatest displays of His glory are ahead for the church and the world. It will happen and it will affect everyone. His supernatural glory will totally surpass any human glory. And it can happen in a moment as the shepherds in Bethlehem's fields discovered when the ‘glory of the Lord' so suddenly shone around them. God's glory will be seen in our very dark world and we must arise and shine that light for all to see (Isaiah 60:1-3). You may have been in captivity, but you don't have to stay there. God has a destiny for you, to rescue you and restore you. You may feel very bruised and tender, but His love is toward you. You may need to be built up in your self-esteem or brought down in your pride or healed in your heart, but God wants to prepare you to know His glory, goodness and grace. Today, open your life fully to the Lord. Ask for and receive His forgiveness. Seek and receive comfort through the presence of The Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is the greatest book for all times and all seasons. It is justifiably called the Book of Books for there is no other book in the world like it. The Bible is the very foundation of Judeo/Christian civilisation. It has shaped the identity of Britain, the USA and many other nations. At this current moment in history where so many seek to destroy those foundations, it is the unchanging truths of the Bible that hold the keys to our future destiny. The Bible declares itself to be the very Word of God which can rescue and restore us as individuals, as families and whole societies. In the coming weeks we will be looking afresh at some parts of scripture that provide great light and hope when we face darkness and uncertainty from the second part of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is one of the greatest prophets in the Bible if not the greatest, well known to both Jews and Christians. His name means ‘God is salvation' and he lived in the 8th Century BC. The traditional view is that all 66 chapters of the book of Isaiah were written by one man, Isaiah, possibly in two periods around 700 BC and around 681 BC. The book of Isaiah has been described as the Bible in miniature. There are 66 books of the Bible and 66 chapters in Isaiah. As the Bible is divided into two Testaments, so Isaiah may be divided in two parts. The first 39 chapters correspond to the Old Testament's 39 books and cover similar themes. The last 27 chapters correspond to the New Testament's 27 books and also contain material crucial to our understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus. The first part of Isaiah, in 39 mainly depressing chapters, deals with God's judgement of persistent sin and rebellion against God and prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews into captivity in Babylon. In Babylon the people of God would be depressed, dispirited and despairing of anything ever going right again. They would seem to have lost everything: their culture, their temple, their spiritual focus, their national identity, their hope. Hostile foreign forces had conquered. But all was not lost…just as all is not lost for you, for your family, for the Christian church and for this nation and the nations of the world. For in Isaiah chapters 40-66 there is a dramatic change. Against all expectations, the prophet begins to speak words of hope that promised a great reversal of fortunes. The exile would end. The Persians would overthrow the Babylonians. Cyrus, the Persian leader of a world power, would look favourably on them. He would help the Jews return to their homeland and assist in the re-building of the Temple…a temple that would, in fact see greater glory than the previous one. So, despite their bleak past and uncertain present, their future was bright. They would know recovery and restoration. God had not abandoned them. He was for them, and though it seemed hard to believe, He would work an amazing turnaround for them. These chapters then in this second part of Isaiah point forward not only to a new hope for the Jews, but to the future hope for the whole world through the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, and ultimately an eternal new Messianic age of righteousness and peace. For us living in the times that we do the powerful prophecies of Messiah could not be more relevant or applicable. We see from Isaiah 40:1-5 that: 1. God is a God of consolation (Isaiah 40:1-2; Lamentations 1:2,16; John 14:16-18,26-27; John 15:26) 2. God calls us to preparation (Isaiah 40:3-4; Luke 3:2-3) 3. God will give great revelation (Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 60:1-3) Apply 1. God is a God of consolation (Isaiah 40:1-2). Both God and His prophet knew that the people were shaken by their tough experiences. They were carrying great pain and hurt. They were anxious and uncertain (Lamentations 1:2,16). They couldn't have taken any more hits. It would have finished them off. They needed comfort and help. That is like so many people today. Millions of people are hurting. Life has been hard and harsh. Today, behind many a composed outward appearance, are people who feel inwardly ripped apart, whose smiles and varied attempts to find some happiness disguise an aching heart. Maybe you identify with this. Life has not been easy. Your family has all kinds of problems and complications. Your marriage has not worked out. You have been bereaved of loved ones. You have been badly treated by others. You have been let down and you have let yourself down. Maybe you have made some big mistakes, and you have taken wrong turns that have been very painful. Maybe you acutely feel a sense of guilt for sins you have committed. God's attitude here is that He wants to comfort you. He wants to speak tenderly not harshly to you. He wants to declare forgiveness to you. The comfort we can receive stems from the message that “her sin has been paid for.” This is the heart of the gospel. God loves you so much He didn't just feel something for you, He did something for you. Jesus Christ died on the Cross to pay the price of your sin, to bring you out of exile and free you from whatever has held you captive. The comfort we can receive stems from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew his followers would face a hostile world, but He promised them He would not leave them as orphans (John 14:16-18,26-27; John 15:26). Today if you need to be comforted, you can be comforted by the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can feel the love of Jesus that drives out fear. You can know an inner peace because you know that God is with you. 2. God calls us to preparation (Isaiah 40:3-4). In the harshest of circumstances when even whole nations can think that they are in a barren wilderness, God prepares a way for people to receive Him, just as John the Baptist ministered in the wilderness to prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus (Luke 3:2-3). So often God prepares individuals and even nations to know Him through wilderness times of great difficulty and even tragedy. He wants to prepare us for what He plans to do to restore us. In some cases, preparation means being lifted up. You may be down in life, but you are not out. God wants you to stop seeing yourself as a victim, a nobody, a failure. He wants to show you how much you are loved and valued and how much you can accomplish in life with His help. He wants to raise you up to be blessed and a blessing in your generation. In some cases, preparation means being brought low. The Bible says God resists the proud. To be truly blessed and used by God you need to stop being so independent and self-sufficient and learn to submit to and rely on the Lord. Since every mountain and hill needs to be made low without exception, everyone needs to take care to humble yourself rather than having to be brought low by God. In some cases preparation means being healed and made whole. When you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life, you will be amazed how much He can heal your heart and smooth out your circumstances. Whatever you and your family, or even whole nations, are going through, be sure that God is at work preparing the way of the Lord. 3. God will give great revelation (Isaiah 40:5). God's glory and manifest presence have been experienced in many revivals. But the greatest displays of His glory are ahead for the church and the world. It will happen and it will affect everyone. His supernatural glory will totally surpass any human glory. And it can happen in a moment as the shepherds in Bethlehem's fields discovered when the ‘glory of the Lord' so suddenly shone around them. God's glory will be seen in our very dark world and we must arise and shine that light for all to see (Isaiah 60:1-3). You may have been in captivity, but you don't have to stay there. God has a destiny for you, to rescue you and restore you. You may feel very bruised and tender, but His love is toward you. You may need to be built up in your self-esteem or brought down in your pride or healed in your heart, but God wants to prepare you to know His glory, goodness and grace. Today, open your life fully to the Lord. Ask for and receive His forgiveness. Seek and receive comfort through the presence of The Comforter, the Holy Spirit.
In today's episode, Pastor Frances discusses the benefits of gratitude while primarily focusing on the pain that ingratitude can cause. Both God and those around us value our expressions of gratitude. While many parents are skilled at managing their children's rebellion and disobedience, they often struggle with the hurt caused by ingratitude. We hope this episode will inspire you to reflect on your own level of gratitude and provide you with strategies to enhance it.For more information visit: globalgraceministries.com/
Both God's name and our language are important.
We have a promise that if we keep God's commandments and have our ways to be pleasing in His sight, God will deliver when us pray. What a deal! These requirements are not difficult for a child of God because Christ is walking with you and the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you. Both God and the Holy Spirit are instructing you in the way that you should go. It is simple to see that if you are keeping His commandments, then your requests are going to be within His will. Join us in this program, Talk on the Basis of Your Walk, as Kim Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries, takes us through I John 3:22, which says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Mentioned in this Episode 1 John 3:22 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+3%3A22&version=KJV 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+2%3A16-17&version=KJV 2 Thessalonians 3:3 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+3%3A3&version=KJV 2 Thessalonians 3:13 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+3%3A13&version=KJV Matthew 7:7 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A7&version=KJV James 4:8 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+4%3A8&version=KJV Philippians 4:6-7 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+4%3A6-7&version=KJV Did you enjoy this podcast? Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can listen to us on all major podcasting platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Podbean. Check out Kim's latest Bible Bit book on Amazon! Do you want to bring Kim Miller to your church, upcoming retreat, or conference? Contact us! This podcast is brought to you by Woman at the Well Ministries and is supported by our faithful listeners. To support this podcast, please visit our support page.
Title: “Providence and People” Part 1 Text: Acts 18:1-6 FCF: We often struggle balancing God's providence with our action. Prop: Because God's providence does not preclude human responsibility, we must engage in earthly and spiritual work. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 18. In a moment we'll begin reading in verse 1 from the Legacy Standard Bible. You can follow along in the pew bible or in whatever version you prefer. Last time in the book of Acts we saw Paul complete his ministry in the city of Athens. During the Macedonian portion of the mission, the theme that seemed to be on display was the logical and biblical nature of the gospel message. That against the tightest scrutiny, the gospel holds up in every way. The greatest test for this was standing before the Areopagite and defending the Christian worldview. Which Paul did successfully. As Paul travels now to a new city, Luke pivots back to the central theme of Acts. What theme is that you might ask? Well, it is one we've heard many times before and will hear many more times before we are done. God is at work to providentially grow His church to the uttermost parts of the earth. How does He do this? Through the church itself. Please stand with me to give honor to and focus on the reading of the Word of God. Invocation: Heavenly Father, we know that You are the source for our life and all that we have. We know that without You we are nothing. We confess that You are in absolute control over all things that You guide all things to happen according to Your will to accomplish Your purposes. We also confess that we are favored participants in Your will and do often receive the gift it is to join You in Your work. So Father I pray that as You communicate these truths to us today that we would listen and we would enter into Your service, appreciating the gift it is to join You in Your work. Give us eyes of faith today we pray in Jesus' name… Amen. Transition: [Slide 2] A great philosophical question that has made its rounds several times has been, what came first the chicken or the egg. Such a question is rife with not just philosophical debates but also religious debates. At the center of it all is the question of origin. From the scriptures we can prove quite readily that the chicken absolutely came first. God created His creation with age and maturity. But at the core the question is a seeming paradox. For if you say the chicken, you must ask but from where did the chicken hatch? If you say the egg, you must ask but from what was the egg laid? In the scriptures today we see another paradox that like the question about the chicken and egg can be answered by understanding what the scriptures teach. The paradox is… God has determined all that will be and man is commanded to obey Him. How do these fit? For if God has determined all that will be, man's obedience is already determined, isn't it? And if God has commanded men to obey, doesn't this mean that God has not determined whether they will or will not? And round and round we go. But as we will see today, God's providence does not preclude human responsibility. Let's look. I.) God's providence does not preclude human responsibility, so we must continue to work for earthly provision. (1-4) a. [Slide 3] 1 - After these things he departed Athens and went to Corinth. i. After successfully defending the worldview of Christianity against the wisest men humanity had to offer, they could not condemn him for teaching about new demons. But their “wisdom” could not allow them to accept the foolishness that is Jesus Christ crucified and risen again. ii. Nevertheless, the Lord led a few to Himself through the ministry of Paul in Athens. iii. After this, Paul continues to Corinth, the capital of the province of Achaia. iv. Let's take a few minutes to learn about the city of Corinth. 1. [Slide 4] The city of Corinth was positioned on an Isthmus which was less than 5 miles across at its narrowest point. a. The Aegean and Mediterranean seas posed significant risk to cargo ships being lost. Salling around the lowest portion of the Balkan Peninsula, called the Peloponnese Peninsula, only heightened that risk as cargo ships attempted to transport goods around Greece. b. The Isthmus provided a unique opportunity to short cut days off of that journey. c. A paved road called The Diolkos, was made to connect both ports over land. Grooves were set in the road so cargo and even some small ships could be loaded on a large wooden platform and wheeled by men or animals. They drug the goods 6 kilometers to the other port and then unloaded it so they could continue the journey. d. This process would take several hours to complete. e. What does that mean? f. That means that the sailors and personnel on these ships had time to kill. g. And that is where Corinth came in. h. Corith was an extremely wealthy city. Not only did this sea route offer many customers to their several marketplaces, but even a land route running North and South brought customers as well. 2. [Slide 5] This made Corinth a hotbed of trade, worship, and literally any vice that you could think of. a. The population is estimated to be around 200,000 people plus around double that in slaves. b. By the time Paul arrived Corinth had a reputation for being the premier city for banking. c. When Julius Caesar reestablished the city, he designed it to present the majesty of Roman culture, religion, and values. Thus, Roman pagan worship and emperor worship was on full display at the time Paul arrived. d. Corinth also hosted the biennial Isthmian Games. Resembling our Olympic games, this was a series of athletic and even musical competitions to honor the Greek God Poseidon. i. Since the games were played on the Isthmus, the sea would literally surround the games. ii. Victors would be rewarded with a wreath crown made of wild celery and later Pine which was a sacred tree to Poseidon. e. [Slide 6] Although there is evidence that indicates that much of Corinth's reputation for sexual license is primarily related to Athenian propaganda to compete against the juggernaut city – we certainly know that pagan worship and sexual immorality go hand in hand. f. Indeed, when Paul writes to the Corinthian church in a few years – he will address their continued need to kill off these sins in their midst. v. So, Paul arrives in Corinth. What does he set out to do there? The answer – may be somewhat surprising. b. [Slide 7] 2 - And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, and his wife Priscilla, who recently came from Italy because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, i. Early on in the book of Acts, we noticed that at the Pentecost after Christ's ascension, Jews from all over the Roman world were represented in Jerusalem for the festival. ii. One of those areas represented with a large Jewish Diaspora population would have been Pontus. iii. Pontus is on the Southern Coast of the Black Sea in Modern Turkey. iv. Aquila or as some pronounce it Akilla, was from this region. v. His wife, Priscilla or as is mentioned elsewhere in scripture, Prisca, is with him now in Corinth due to a rather interesting development. vi. Around the time that Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke were in Philippi, the Emperor Claudius issued a decree to expel all Jews from the city of Rome. vii. Why? 1. According to the Roman historian Suetonius, there was significant unrest and disturbances among the Jewish community due to disputes being raised between Jews and Jewish Christians. It is in Suetonius' works we find that the Christians were led by someone he calls Chrestus, which his most likely his misunderstanding of the word Christos or Christ. 2. And so just because Paul hasn't gone to Rome with the gospel – we ought not think that Christianity had not yet made it to Rome. 3. In fact, as we will see, the book of Romans is written to Christians in Rome, long before Paul arrived in Rome. viii. Apparently, Aquila and Priscilla were in Rome during this time (on the side of the Christians of course) but were still expelled since they were Jews. ix. So, Paul comes to them and joins with them… why? x. Certainly, because they were believers already living in the city of Corinth. But why else? c. [Slide 8] 3 - and because he was of the same trade, he was staying with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. i. Paul's primary mission for coming to Corinth most certainly is the evangelistic opportunity that such a large city would offer. ii. It was a strategic city to be in to share the gospel, of that we can be certain. iii. But on a more practical side, we see here and realize that Paul… is probably out of money. 1. Remember back to when he and Silas left Antioch of Syria. What was their intention with this mission? 2. It was to revisit the places they had preached the gospel previously and check in on those churches. 3. They had long since accomplished this mission. Having done so, Paul continued to search for new places which he could start an evangelistic work. Remember that the Spirit of God actually prevented them from going west toward Ephesus and then again prevented them from going east toward Bithynia. 4. Then the Lord led them via a dream to Macedonia. They have been in Macedonia while in Philippi, Berea, and Thessalonica. 5. Now he is in Achaia having spent time in Athens and now to Corinth. 6. In other words, the part of the trip they did not plan on has probably been as long if not longer than the part they did plan on. 7. While it is true that in Macedonia Paul was probably provided for by several people, in Athens his reception was limited and in Corinth he arrives with need to support himself. 8. Another potential reason that Paul needs to work, is because oftentimes, sheisters and hucksters would peddle their teachings for a price. Paul did not wish to be financially dependent on the contributions of those to whom he preached. This would ensure that his message and his livelihood were separate. iv. And so here we see Paul, not taking a break from evangelistic endeavors, but putting a priority on earning an income to fund the next leg of the missionary journey. v. Paul is a tent-maker by trade. 1. There is some discussion here as the word for tentmaking could be linked to leather work. 2. Since Paul was a Jew and this skill was no doubt one that he learned as a child, it is unlikely that he would have worked with animal skins to tan them and make leather, since that would be handling the carcass of an animal rendering him ritually unclean. 3. However, what might be intended by leather worker is some kind of artisan leather worker making specialty leather works. In which case he would work with leather already tanned and craft it into something unique. 4. But the arguments for leather worker are not significantly stronger than tent-maker. 5. So it could also refer to him making the outer rain proof layer of tents known as cilicium, a fabric which was produced primarily in Cilicia, which is where Paul grew up. vi. In any case, Paul had to work with his hands to support himself and build back ministry funds before he could launch into a full-time mission in Corinth. vii. But we know Paul don't we. viii. Do we think that he is going to take a vacation from preaching the gospel while he earns funds? ix. No… d. [Slide 9] 4 - And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks. i. On his day off, the Sabbath, he would go to the synagogue and reason together with the local Jews concerning the revelation of the Messiah. ii. Reasoning here has the idea of discussing a topic and debating or proving it. iii. Paul is not taking a break from ministry. He is simply taking a break from full-time ministry in order to replenish his earthly resources. iv. But he is still trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior, and the Lord. e. [Slide 10] Summary of the Point: In this first point we recognize some familiar themes Luke is emphasizing in the book of Acts. On display is the sovereign hand of God to bring about by providence all of His divine will. God obviously wills that His church and His gospel would go forward to the whole world. Paul is part of that work. But that doesn't mean he is all of it. Here we meet two individuals from the city of Rome who are believers already. Paul hasn't arrived there yet, and still the church has already been established in the capital of the empire. We also notice God's providential hand to bring them all together in the city of Corinth where the gospel will go forward again. Nevertheless, even though God's sovereign hand is putting in big pieces of the puzzle, and even though Paul is one of those pieces, God did not provide to Paul a limitless supply of earthly provision to enable him to continue to do his spiritual work. So what did Paul do? Did he spend time in prayer? Did he assume that he didn't have enough faith and that is why God wasn't providing? Did he start to question whether he was doing something wrong or not? While it is true that if we are doing what God wants us to that He will provide what is needed for us to finish our work – that doesn't' mean He will always provide in the way or in the timing we think He will. Here God provided to Paul by providing him Christian friends to join in work so he could raise funds. The application for us then, is that even if we are engaged in spiritual work for the Lord, even work that God is leading us to accomplish, it still may require us to use our talents, skills, energy, and time to provide for earthly resources for that spiritual work. We still have a responsibility, even though God is in control of all things. Transition: [Slide 11] So in this first point we see God's work in the flourishing of the church throughout the Roman Empire, even outside of Paul's missionary work. In this, Paul continues to provide for himself with earthly resources for the spiritual work there in Corinth. Both God's providence and man's responsibility are at work here. We'll see that continue throughout the entire Corinthian episode. II.) God's providence does not preclude human responsibility, so we must continue our spiritual labors. (5-6) a. [Slide 12] 5 - But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly bearing witness to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. i. As we commented in an earlier sermon, the timeline here gets a little uncertain. 1. Silas and Timothy were supposed to join Paul in Athens and based on his letters to Thessalonica, letters he wrote during his stay in Corinth, Silas and Timothy did eventually join him in Athens when he was there. But Luke omits any of that. 2. Here we see Silas and Timothy coming from Macedonia. While this could mean Thessalonica, it could just as easily be any or all of the cities they had visited before. 3. No doubt Paul had met them in Athens and then sent them back to check on some of the churches throughout Macedonia while he went to Corinth to replenish the missions trip coffers. ii. Now Silas and Timothy rejoin Paul, having checked on the status of the Macedonian churches. iii. And with them there, Paul devotes himself once again to the full-time ministry of the word. iv. Why would their arrival enable him to do this? v. In a later letter he would write to Philippi from prison in Rome, Paul mentions and thanks the Philippian church for sending financial aid to him while he was in Corinth. vi. This reveals to us that the Philippian church helped to bankroll the ministry there in Corinth so he would not have to continue to be bi-vocational. vii. And what his the full-time ministry look like? viii. To the Jew first – as was Paul's motto. ix. He wanted to bear witness to them with all seriousness that Jesus is their Messiah. The next step in true Judaism. x. But as we have seen so many times before… the Jews did not have ears to hear. b. [Slide 13] 6 - But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” i. Again, we find the Jews being slow to hear the gospel. ii. They resist and even blaspheme their own Lord because they cannot accept the terms He offers. iii. That they were lost and needed one to rescue them first from the tyranny of sin and death and not first from the national oppression they faced – that was a mountain they could not climb. iv. To accept that Yahweh would don human flesh and die to save His people was something they couldn't quite wrap their heads around – in spite of all the prophesy which makes the teaching so plain. v. Paul says in Corinthians that he endeavored to make known to them nothing but Christ crucified. This was the stumbling block of the gospel for them. The one aspect of the truth that they needed to hear and receive. vi. But they couldn't do it. vii. So, Paul shakes out his garments. A sign of judgment and woe. It is a sign of leaving them to the fate they had earned. viii. He tells them in no uncertain words that he is blameless for their eventual judgment. And that he will now focus on the Gentiles. ix. We should be careful here not to think that Paul is forever abandoning the Jews. x. We should only apply this to his ministry here in Corinth. For as we go forward in the book of Acts we will continue to see Paul go to the Jew first. xi. We will also see that just because he goes to the Gentiles, doesn't mean he is done with all the Jews in Corinth either. xii. More on that next week. c. [Slide 14] Summary of the Point: In this second point we see the providence of God in a new way. God has provided to Paul the necessary funds for him to continue his full-time missionary efforts. By the sacrificial giving of the Philippian church, the Lord has relieved the financial burden on Paul so that he can devote himself to the preaching of the gospel. Which is exactly what he does next. For us then, we must recognize the providential hand of the Lord and respond in faith and obedience. Paul's primary mission was not to stay in Corinth and make money. He was probably making good money there. His primary calling was to preach the gospel throughout the Roman world. We too must keep our calling and mission at the forefront of our minds. We too can be easily distracted and must seek to recognize when God has equipped us to move forward in our spiritual labor. Conclusion: Even though this is only part 1 of this message, what have we learned so far CBC? How then shall we live? Doctrinal takeaway: [Slide 15] As we've seen several times in the book of Acts, the title of this book could easily be the Acts of God through His faithful church. This is the summary of the book and it is the summary of this text. Since this sermon is part 1, you can probably guess what next week's message will be about as well. God's providence is something we cannot deny. We must believe that the sovereign hand of God orchestrates and controls every detail in the world to accomplish His purposes. We must believe this because the book of Acts teaches it. We must believe it because the whole of the bible teaches it. We must believe it because without such a teaching, much of the things the scriptures command us to do, think, believe, or trust in, make absolutely no sense if God is not in sovereign control of everything. If every detail of His creation is not under His direct authority and control, then all of Christianity crumbles. But, just because God is in absolute and complete control over every single molecule, does not mean that God has nothing for us to do within that. God's providence does not preclude human responsibility. God's providence and plan did not stop Paul from working for a living in Corinth. It did not stop Claudius from kicking the Jews out of Rome. It did not stop the church at Philippi from delivering sacrificial gifts to Paul in Corinth. It did not stop Paul from preaching the gospel to the Jews and the Gentiles in Corinth. It did not stop the need for humans to do things. In fact, for God's people, it only fueled their faith to be used to accomplish His will. God's providence and man's responsibility work hand in hand and not against each other. Therefore, we must be found faithful to engage in earthly and spiritual work, with our whole hearts, and all our efforts, not because it depends on us, but because it depends completely on God who has called us to do so. And we will see Him work His will through us, around us, and in us as we do. But let me apply this a little more closely to our daily lives. How does all this affect us here and now? 1.) [Slide 16] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must believe that the Sovereign Lord will always providentially accomplish His will. a. Now why must we believe this? b. Of course because the scriptures teach us this. c. Of course because all of Acts so far is a testament to this very truth. d. But think of what is at stake if this is not true. If God most of the time accomplishes His sovereign will and occasionally He doesn't get what He has decreed… what would that mean? e. Think of all the promises God has made to us in the scriptures. Now which one would you be ok with God not being able to come through on? f. Think of all the future events He has predicted for us in His word. Which of these are you willing to not come to pass? g. Think of all that He has taught us as absolute truth. Which of these will you discard because God couldn't make sure it was true. h. You see my friends, there is much more at stake than merely the free will of men when we start tampering with this doctrine. i. Man's free will has become the battle cry but the outcome is ripping down the certainty of all that God has promised us in His Word. Man's free will, a teaching that cannot be clearly found in scripture, is the altar on which we sacrifice the certainty of God's promises. j. Oh my friends. Man is free in his will, but only to act according to his nature. Man is free in his will, but only to act according to the decrees of God. k. God always… ALWAYS providentially accomplishes His will. l. He may not always do that with a miracle. He may not always do that in ways we would expect or hope for. But God ALWAYS providentially accomplishes His will. m. And it is to our great comfort and joy to confess such a truth. For in doing so, we confess the surety that all that God desires will come to pass. n. But, of course, we cannot pendulum swing too far can we? 2.) [Slide 17] De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must stop using God's providence as an excuse for passivity, laziness, or disobedience. a. God is a delegator. b. He delegated humans to keep and tend the garden and exercise dominion over it. c. He delegated angelic beings to watch and care for the human race and point them to worship Yahweh. d. He will delegate rule to the bride of Christ in the New Kingdom. e. God can and does act unilaterally to accomplish His will. f. But MOST OF THE TIME God uses secondary causes to accomplish His will. g. In this the obedience of His people, the wickedness of men, the disobedience of His people, and the uncommon decency of the wicked are all used to accomplish His will. h. God works in and through our natures and our wills to accomplish His purpose. With enough grace He could prevent us from sinning or guarantee our obedience… why then doesn't He do that? i. Is there only so much grace to go around? Or is it possible that even our failure works to accomplish His divine purpose? j. We are neither robots only fulfilling what we have been programmed to do nor are we passive agents floating along and no matter what we do God will still get what He wants. k. We believe in the sovereignty and the providence of God… but that doesn't mean we are fatalistic. l. Fatalism says, “What will be, will be.” There is nothing I can do to change the outcome. No matter what I do, it does not change what will be. m. We deny this. n. But our belief is that though God has determined or decreed what will be – we contribute to that end with our actions. He has already baked our actions in to those decrees. We get to participate in what He has said. o. So sitting around saying –. i. If God wants me to get that job, I won't need to fill out an application. ii. If God wants us to have kids, we don't even need to try. iii. If God wants me to get married, He'll bring her to me. iv. If God wants me to be in the ministry, He'll make me serious about His Word at some point. v. If God wants me to stop doing this sin, He'll stop me. vi. If God wants me to preach the gospel in Corinth, He'll supply the funds. p. You see my point. q. Idleness, laziness, and passivity are not the appropriate response to confessing that God is sovereign and uses providence to accomplish His purposes. r. Instead, it should be obedience. 3.) [Slide 18] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don't naturally do or aren't currently doing?” We must obey our Lord and follow His guidance. a. No future surety should enter our decision making when we consider what we should or should not do. b. To act in one way or another in order to attempt to secure an outcome that God alone determines, is to exit our lane of influence. c. Human responsibility does not enter the realm of results or outcomes. It stays, always, in what we choose to do within the confines of our nature. d. All men are told to obey the Lord. The Redeemed are able, by nature, to choose to obey the Lord. e. But we must be very careful as we discuss God's providence next to man's responsibility that we do not allow our responsibility to breech into trying to secure God's decreed purposes. f. The study of ethics like whether we should kill to save our family begins with a premise that you can and will determine their fate by your actions. It begins… flawed. Why? Because God ultimately determines their fate. You are only responsible for your own individual decisions. g. Therefore, the question should not be would I kill to save my family… the question should be… Does God permit me to kill to defend my family. For that is truly the beginning of the issue. Whether or not your family will be saved is not up to you. You are only responsible for the spheres of influence you actually have. Which is primarily your own responsibility to obey the Lord. h. I say all of this, hopefully, to simplify what we so often muddy. i. If God is in absolute control of everything and uses human action to accomplish what He has already determined, then we must be very careful, for our own sake, to do what He has commanded us to do. Because our actions will contribute to what God has already determined. j. If that is the case, it is only harmful for us when we disobey. Our disobedience will not stop His will from coming to pass – whatever that may be. Therefore, for our own sake, we must do as God has commanded. k. Paul knew that God had called him to preach the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. But Paul neither went to idleness, nor did he cast his hands up and say “no matter what I do God will have His way” l. Instead, Paul obeyed the Lord and took opportunities that were presented that did not violate God's commands. m. We are responsible not for outcomes but for obedience. n. Obey the Lord. Why? Because He is God and He said to and it will go well for you. 4.) [Slide 19] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” God will not allow His purposes to fail or succeed because of you. a. We have a responsibility to obey the Lord. We must do as He has told us to do. b. Paul preached because the Lord Jesus threw him down on the road to Damascus and told Him to do so. c. He preached because he loved the Lord he once persecuted. d. He labored in tent making because he wanted to be free of financial burden so he could preach the word of God freely to all who would hear. e. But this passage especially shows the work of God and His church to be much bigger than Paul. f. As big of a piece of the puzzle as Paul is… he is insignificant to the providential and sovereign work of the Lord to accomplish His own will. g. Let this be a great comfort to us Christians. h. God doesn't need us and will accomplish His purposes without us. i. But what a blessing it is to be used of Him. j. Let us therefore purpose in our hearts to be willing vessels for His honorable use. Let me close with a prayer by the English Reformer Thomas Becon Maker of heaven and earth, you have created a path for us to walk in, and you have commanded that we wander neither to the right nor to the left —according to your will, without adding our own good intentions or fleshly imaginations. So as you have commanded, good Lord, give me the grace to do. Help me not to follow my own will, nor the fancies of other people. And never let me be duped or beguiled by the mask of traditions, decrees, ancient laws, or any other person or thing that conflicts with your holy ordinances and commands. Help me to faithfully believe and steadfastly confess that true godliness is only learned in your holy Bible. Then help me to order my life accordingly, to the praise of your holy name. We pray this in Jesus' name…Amen. Benediction: And now O Lord, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; So that your people may be mature and complete, never lacking anything. Until we meet again. Go in peace.
It seems in today's world pronouns have come into great controversy, but in simplest level when I'm talking about myself me, I use a word I, me, my. If I'm talking about somebody who's not in my presence I will usually use he or she. So for instance if somebody's not in my presence I go he's a nice young man or she's going to graduate college. I'm talking about somebody who's not present but I'm referencing them. We're going to take a look today at Psalm 23 verse 4 that has a very significant change in what happens. The Psalmist says in the beginning, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." But now the Psalmist is going to change and talk about two things that are very significant related to fear that most people have that's going to come across in all of our lives. So see what the two things that the Psalmist talks about that gives us comfort at afraid of? Sermon Notes Psalm 23:4a Moving through the valley of the shadow of death Psalm 107:10 – 16 God saves from the shadow of death John 3:16 Whoever believes will not perish but have eternal life John 11:25 & 26 Jesus is the resurrection and the life 1 Corinthians 15:50 – 57 Death is defeated and we have the victory through Christ Job 19:23 – 27 My eyes shall see my Redeemer Psalm 23:4b Do not fear harm/evil because YOU God are with me Romans 8:35 – 39 Nothing not even death separates us from God Psalm 23::4c Both God's rod and staff comfort Micah 7:14 May He shepherd His people with His scepter
Send us a Text Message.We all want to be on the best path in life. The Word of God, Jesus Himself, is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Without Him we can do nothing. Without Him we cannot be on the best path. The devil therefore lures us to more familiar activities and distractions. We get to choose what we should watch, listen to, and who to be around. Our soul is being affected in a positive or negative way, moment by moment every day.Our old carnal way is what we are used to. It is what we used to enjoy. Things are different now that we are born again but the old man that died can be resurrected if we do not guard our mind from becoming re-conformed to the world (Romans 12:2 warns us against this.) Therefore there is a constant battle for our attention. Both God and Satan want our focus. God, for our own good because He loves us and knows the dangers of you slipping back into Satan's darkness. Satan wants to keep you from becoming transformed by understanding the Truth of the Word of God. Hence, the choice each hour, each minute is yours. What will you feed your soul? The World or The Truth so that you can be transformed into the person God created you to be?This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): Colossians 3:1-7; Ephesians 4:10-13; Mark 11:23; Proverbs 18:21; John 15; Mark 16; Matthew 28; Hosea 4:6; Matthew 7:21-27; Psalm 119:105; Romans 8:6-7.Support the Show.
We all want to be on the best path in life. The Word of God, Jesus Himself, is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Without Him we can do nothing. Without Him we cannot be on the best path. The devil therefore lures us to more familiar activities and distractions. We get to choose what we should watch, listen to, and who to be around. Our soul is being affected in a positive or negative way, moment by moment every day.Our old carnal way is what we are used to. It is what we used to enjoy. Things are different now that we are born again but the old man that died can be resurrected if we do not guard our mind from becoming re-conformed to the world (Romans 12:2 warns us against this.) Therefore there is a constant battle for our attention. Both God and Satan want our focus. God, for our own good because He loves us and knows the dangers of you slipping back into Satan's darkness. Satan wants to keep you from becoming transformed by understanding the Truth of the Word of God. Hence, the choice each hour, each minute is yours. What will you feed your soul? The World or The Truth so that you can be transformed into the person God created you to be?This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): Colossians 3:1-7; Ephesians 4:10-13; Mark 11:23; Proverbs 18:21; John 15; Mark 16; Matthew 28; Hosea 4:6; Matthew 7:21-27; Psalm 119:105; Romans 8:6-7.Support the Show.
Both God and Satan are working to build their kingdom in the earth. Every person on earth will part of one of these kingdoms. We will discuss God's Kingdom vs Satan's Kingdom --------------- 📚: Check out Jerusalem Prophecy College Online for less than $60 per course: https://jerusalemprophecycollege.com 📱: It's never been easier to understand. Stream Endtime+ and access exclusive content: https://watch.endtime.com/browse 🏥: Try Hope Health Share, an affordable, alternative solution: https://hopehealthshare.com ☎️: Stay connected even when cellular is down. Try Satellite Phone Store today: https://sat123.com ☕️: First Cup Coffee: use code ENDTIME to get 10% off: https://www.firstcup.com ⭐️: Birch Gold: Claim your free info kit on gold: https://www.birchgold.com/endtime 🥩: Back Yard Butchers: Save an extra 20% off your entire order (use code “ENDTIME”): https://www.backyardbutchers.com/endtime 🍴Ready Pantry: https://www.ReadyPantry.com/ENDTIME and save an extra 10% off your entire order + FREE shipping on all orders (use code “ENDTIME”). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Every single person desires to have deep, safe, lasting relationships. We all want to know and be known. And that's because we are created for connection. In order to both survive, and thrive, we need relational connection with others. Both God and others. So how do we do this? Build, keep, nurture relational connection?
In this episode Jeremiah is mourning over his people because of their unbelief. Both God and Jeremiah are weeping for God's people. God bless you today and I encourage you to spend time in God's Word https://www.instagram.com/biblicaltapestry/https://www.facebook.com/HyperNike12
Today's gospel instalment- 03-10-2024--Message title- If God be for us--Text- Romans 8 vs 28-34--1..Lots of God's absolute sovereignty teaching in all matters of salvation..-2..We will revisit His decrees in salvation, their unfolding and what or how that should mean or be understood in the light of all the gospel parts.-3..If you were blessed by the ALL THINGS FOR GOOD message from 2 weeks ago, this one is exactly on the same level of treatment, if not a little deeper..-4..Salvation is grounded in God's eternal decrees. Thus, it is not a matter that man helps in the bringing of it.-5..Both God and man are cooks, but God only accepts His own recipe which He accomplished in and by His Son, the Lord Jesus.-6..Man's cooking is bad by nature, thus man has nothing to give to exchange for salvation. All matters of salvation are the free act of God and cannot be changed or frustrated by anyone.-7.. The elect though they may go through suffering in this life have God on their side. He works all things for their good and that good meaning being conformed to the image of His Son. And that conformation is not by elbow grease of progressive sanctification, but is by the free imputation of Christ's righteousness.-8.. The elect cannot be condemned. They are non-sticky pans. Yes, they are sinners, but none is able to bring a charge against them. Why-- Because Christ already made good on their sin debt and it is God who justified them. It thus is impossible to reverse this decree. -9..Christ is risen and seated to make intercession for them as their advocate. That and more and it is free--Remember to pray for sister Kimberly Ault and Joie.. They are in a different season of their lives.
Today's gospel instalment- 03-10-2024--Message title- If God be for us--Text- Romans 8 vs 28-34--1..Lots of God's absolute sovereignty teaching in all matters of salvation..-2..We will revisit His decrees in salvation, their unfolding and what or how that should mean or be understood in the light of all the gospel parts.-3..If you were blessed by the ALL THINGS FOR GOOD message from 2 weeks ago, this one is exactly on the same level of treatment, if not a little deeper..-4..Salvation is grounded in God's eternal decrees. Thus, it is not a matter that man helps in the bringing of it.-5..Both God and man are cooks, but God only accepts His own recipe which He accomplished in and by His Son, the Lord Jesus.-6..Man's cooking is bad by nature, thus man has nothing to give to exchange for salvation. All matters of salvation are the free act of God and cannot be changed or frustrated by anyone.-7.. The elect though they may go through suffering in this life have God on their side. He works all things for their good and that good meaning being conformed to the image of His Son. And that conformation is not by elbow grease of progressive sanctification, but is by the free imputation of Christ's righteousness.-8.. The elect cannot be condemned. They are non-sticky pans. Yes, they are sinners, but none is able to bring a charge against them. Why-- Because Christ already made good on their sin debt and it is God who justified them. It thus is impossible to reverse this decree. -9..Christ is risen and seated to make intercession for them as their advocate. That and more and it is free--Remember to pray for sister Kimberly Ault and Joie.. They are in a different season of their lives.
Today's gospel instalment: 03/10/2024Message title: If God be for usText: Romans 8 vs 28-341..Lots of God's absolute sovereignty teaching in all matters of salvation..2..We will revisit His decrees in salvation, their unfolding and what or how that should mean or be understood in the light of all the gospel parts.3..If you were blessed by the ALL THINGS FOR GOOD message from 2 weeks ago, this one is exactly on the same level of treatment, if not a little deeper..4..Salvation is grounded in God's eternal decrees. Thus, it is not a matter that man helps in the bringing of it.5..Both God and man are cooks, but God only accepts His own recipe which He accomplished in and by His Son, the Lord Jesus.6..Man's cooking is bad by nature, thus man has nothing to give to exchange for salvation. All matters of salvation are the free act of God and cannot be changed or frustrated by anyone.7.. The elect though they may go through suffering in this life have God on their side. He works all things for their good and that good meaning being conformed to the image of His Son. And that conformation is not by elbow grease of progressive sanctification, but is by the free imputation of Christ's righteousness.8.. The elect cannot be condemned. They are non-sticky pans. Yes, they are sinners, but none is able to bring a charge against them. Why? Because Christ already made good on their sin debt and it is God who justified them. It thus is impossible to reverse this decree. 9..Christ is risen and seated to make intercession for them as their advocate. That and more and it is free!Remember to pray for sister Kimberly Ault and Joie.. They are in a different season of their lives.
Josh, an theist, sent out a 'prayer' to any supernatural being that might be listening. "If you exist," said Josh, "Give me an Experience." Both God and the devil were listening. ---------------------------------------------------- Share Your Story If you have a Touched by Heaven moment that you would like to share with Trapper, please leave us a note at https://touchedbyheaven.net/contact Our listeners look forward to hearing about life-changing encounters and miraculous stories every week. Stay Informed Trapper sends out a weekly email. If you're not receiving it, and would like to stay in touch to get the bonus stories and other interesting content that will further fortify your faith. Stay informed with our weekly newsletter by subscribing on https://trapperjackspeaks.com Become a Patron We pray that our listeners and followers benefit from our podcasts and programs and develop a deeper personal relationship with God. We thank you for supporting our efforts and helping to cover the costs by being a Patron and getting lots of fun extras. Please go to https://patreon.com/bfl to check out the details. More About Trapper Jack Trapper has CD's and Downloads of his talks available for you to listen to and share. Download or order your CD now at our online store https://trapperjackspeaksstore.com Check out and subscribe to his Men's Morning Light weekly broadcast, or view the recording at your convenience on either YouTube or Facebook.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this episode is focused on gratitude. Both God's Word and psychology point to the significant benefits of cultivating a practice of gratitude in our lives. When we are struggling with grief or pain, it can feel hard to focus on gratitude. But gratitude can be an important part of our healing journey. On this last episode of 2023, we would like to thank you for listening to our podcasts and for your support. We leave this year with an account from ministry volunteer, Cathy DiBella who shared the hope she clings to, even when Christmas doesn't quite look the way you want it to.ResourcesPodcast Episode highlights a blog from Cathi DiBella: https://www.motherlessdaughtersministry.com/2018/12/09/christmas-hope/Support the showThanks for listening! Find our podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music, and Audible. Also, find and follow the Motherless Daughters Ministry on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this episode is focused on gratitude. Both God's word and psychology point to the significant benefits of cultivating a practice of gratitude in our life. When we are struggling with grief or pain in our life, it can feel hard to focus on gratitude. But gratitude can be an important part of our healing journey. Chris Fishel is a Motherless Daughters Ministry volunteer who shares her many skills and abilities for the growth of the ministry. In this episode, we share her story of discovery as she created an environment of gratitude in her household.The podcast Episode highlights a blog from Chris Fishel: https://www.motherlessdaughtersministry.com/2016/04/17/cultivating-thankfulness-cant-erased/More blogs by Chris Fishel:https://www.motherlessdaughtersministry.com/?s=Chris+FishelSupport the showThanks for listening! Find our podcast on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart, Pandora, Amazon Music, and Audible. Also, find and follow the Motherless Daughters Ministry on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.
Jesus Final Prayers 1 Welcome back to our series, AGOG – A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 26 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we start looking briefly at Jesus final prayers in John 17:1-19. Jesus prays for Himself: Jesus starts off by praying for Himself. Central to this part of His prayer is glorification. That is the glorification of Himself in order that God the Father who sent Him will be glorified. In effect, Jesus is saying “Father, may people see me for who I truly am, your Son. And may they also through Me, see Your true nature Father!” Praying as He does, just before He knowingly goes to His death on the cross, shows the importance of the cross. For it is through the cross alone. Both God the Father and Jesus will be glorified. Jesus' death on the cross reveals a God of love, faithfulness and forgiveness. John 17:4 reveals that it was this purpose that He came, in order to complete the work given. Jesus' entire earthly life has been one to show divine love – to all people of every age and class. All Jesus' works and words were completed without even a hint of hypocrisy. His entire life was driven by the desire to see sinful people turn to God for reconciliation and forgiveness. Jesus confidently prays that having laid aside His glory by taking on human form, He will return to God's right hand, having achieved the work of redemption through the cross. Jesus prays for His Disciples: Now Jesus turns to pray for His disciples. Note how He describes them: they were chosen by God Himself, seen God in Jesus and have received God's words and obeyed them. Jesus prays that the disciples would be in the safe possession of both the Father and the Son. Despite misunderstanding frequently what Jesus was talking about, the disciples still managed to grasp that Jesus had come from God. Having taught that the disciples will endure persecution and suffering because they are His followers, Jesus prays for their safety.~ They will be safe, not because of their own cunning, character or conduct. They will be safe because of God's care and protection. As the disciples were God's possession, He will ensure that they are watched over and protected. This security is also borne from glorifying God and being witnesses for Him. By remaining loyal and obedient to Jesus, obedient to His teachings and telling others about Him, God's name & nature will therefore protect the disciples. Jesus also prays that they may be filled with joy and be dedicated wholly and solely to Him. The disciples now have a mission and purpose to fulfil – to tell others about this Jesus. Remember they will not be left alone but have the Holy Spirit to counsel and clarify with them. Right Mouse click or tap here to save this as an audio mp3 file
Both God and his people love their human enemies, but not in the same way, since God is all-wise and all-governing, and we are finite.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3279340/advertisement
Both God and his people love their human enemies, but not in the same way, since God is all-wise and all-governing, and we are finite.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3279343/advertisement
Both God and his people love their human enemies, but not in the same way, since God is all-wise and all-governing, and we are finite.
Both God and his people love their human enemies, but not in the same way, since God is all-wise and all-governing, and we are finite.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4231678/advertisement
Both God and his people love their human enemies, but not in the same way, since God is all-wise and all-governing, and we are finite.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3485657/advertisement
We all want to be on the best path in life. The Word of God, Jesus Himself, is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Without Him we can do nothing. Without Him we cannot be on the best path. The devil therefore lures us to more familiar activities and distractions. We get to choose what we should watch, listen to, and who to be around. Our soul is being affected in a positive or negative way, moment by moment every day.Our old carnal way is what we are used to. It is what we used to enjoy. Things are different now that we are born again but the old man that died can be resurrected if we do not guard our mind from becoming re-conformed to the world (Romans 12:2 warns us against this.) Therefore there is a constant battle for our attention. Both God and Satan want our focus. God, for our own good because He loves us and knows the dangers of you slipping back into Satan's darkness. Satan wants to keep you from becoming transformed by understanding the Truth of the Word of God. Hence, the choice each hour, each minute is yours. What will you feed your soul? The World or The Truth so that you can be transformed into the person God created you to be?This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): Colossians 3:1-7; Ephesians 4:10-13; Mark 11:23; Proverbs 18:21; John 15; Mark 16; Matthew 28; Hosea 4:6; Matthew 7:21-27; Psalm 119:105; Romans 8:6-7.Support the show
Part 2 of 3 | The TV series, The Chosen, is an international phenomenon. And wildly controversial for some. In this episode, I will respond to the claim: Dallas Jenkins is smuggling LDS theology into the series. Is this true? Additional videos about the Incarnation: • How Can Jesus be Both God and Human? https://youtu.be/jFpq53B46xY • Does Matt. 24:36 Teach that Jesus Didn't Know the Future? https://youtu.be/-OeY7UugjVc
Thank you for joining the Manna Podcast as we study the historical book of II Kings. Please share with your friends and family. Also, the Manna Podcast Team would appreciate you joining us in prayer that God would expand this ministry. https://www.mannapodcast.com/lessons Brad's Board Notes 2 Kings 9 & 10 Vs 1-10 Ultimately, every leader is promoted by God in order to fulfill God's plan for that specific point in history. Vs 14-26 God never overlooks sin, every sin will be paid for; either by the sinner themself, or by Jesus Christ who died in the believing sinners place. Vs 30-10: 11 Both God's justice and the timing of His justice are perfect; whatever He has promised will come to pass, precisely on His schedule. Vs 10:18-31 It is not enough to eliminate evil; you must also be careful to obey God completely. Other Verses: Acts 13:36 Romans 5:8; 12:19 Ecclesiastes 12:14 Ezekiel 33:11 Habakkuk 2:3
SERIES: The Family: of God TITLE: God's Doing TEXT: Matthew 19:6 I. Marriage is God's Doing? A. Is Jesus in Love with the Church? Chapter and verse. Matthew19:4-5 B. Fundamental: Marriage is God's doing. Matthew 19:6 C. God does marriage for His own glory. Philippians 2:9-11 II. Marriage: Sin, Shame, and Redemption. A. We have lost shame, not covered it. Genesis 2:25 B. What sin did and what it means for marriage Genesis 3:8 C. Hinting at the coming ultimate marriage Genesis 3:15 III. Marriage is Both God's Doing and Redoing. A. There is marriage and Christian marriage. B. Christian marriage is redemptive. Colossians 2:13,14
Audio recordingSermon manuscript:There are two main teachings that we have from God. He has given us his Law and his Gospel. God's Law spells out everything that we must do in order to be judged as good, righteous, and just. The Ten Commandments are God's Law. The great summation of God's Law is that we should love him with our whole heart, soul, strength and mind, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. So the Law is always saying, “Do this, and don't do that.” God's Gospel is his message of good news. The word “Gospel” means “good news.” The good news is that God has acted on our behalf. He has not abandoned us to our slavery to sin and our slavery to the devil, but he has redeemed us in the death of Jesus Christ. The good news, the Gospel, is God's gift of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus. Our Gospel reading today is especially illustrative of God's good news. A sheep that has gotten lost is as good as dead. It's just a matter of time. But the shepherd goes and looks for the sheep. When the sheep is found it is placed on the shepherd's shoulders, and he goes back to the flock rejoicing. The sheep didn't do anything to bring about its own salvation. The sheep didn't follow commands like “Do this, and don't do that.” In fact, if anything, the sheep didn't do what it was supposed to do. It wandered off. The shepherd saves the sheep despite the sheep's behavior. The parable of the lost coin is similar. The coin's contribution to what happened is that it got lost. It fell. It couldn't jump back up into the woman's purse. The woman goes to work, takes the trouble. So it is with our salvation. Having fallen into sin we cannot work our way back into God's favor. God goes out searching for us to find us. He does this by the preaching of his Word. He does this through Christians speaking the Gospel. The only way that anyone can know about the Gospel, can know of God's will to save sinners in Jesus is by being told it. There are no experiments or math problems that will ever bring about this knowledge. So we have two teachings that we are stewards of as Christians. We have the Law, which tells us how to live well and be good, and the Gospel, which tells us what God has done for us. These are the two things that we have to share with the world. God's Law diagnoses our abominable condition. It tells us who we are. Who are we? We are sinners. The Gospel tells us about God. Who is he? His most outstanding feature is that he is the justifier of sinners. He makes sinners right and good by the holy life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Keeping this in mind, let's turn to a surprising detail that has been recorded at the beginning of our Gospel reading. It says: “All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him.” Tax collectors were mean and greedy. They would threaten and extort to obtain whatever they could get away with. The Roman officials didn't care so long as they got their cut. It mentions that sinners were coming to Jesus. There's a pretty admirable list of sinners in our Epistle reading: Sinners are “lawless and rebellious people, godless people, unholy and worldly people, those who kill their fathers and those who kill their mothers, murderers, sexually immoral people, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and so on.” More concretely you might think of people who are unacceptable according to our moral, social code. You can think of people who have done things that you consider shameful. But you also might remember things that you've done in secret. So far as other people know you are respectable, but you probably know something different. Tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus. They were not just coming to watch him perform miracles, but, as it says, “to hear him.” What would Jesus be telling them? We are not told exactly, but, generally speaking, he would be telling them God's Law and God's Gospel. God's Law would have identified them as sinners. God's Gospel would have announced that they are forgiven sinners. These are not teachings that came out of somebody's cracked brain. These are teachings that come from God. They are as true as true can be. These tax collectors and sinners were getting hooked on the truth. They wanted to hear it. This is a wonderful thing whenever it happens. Jesus says that the angels rejoice when just one sinner repents. It doesn't always happen. In fact, we are quite accustomed to and feel more comfortable with lies and deception to the truth. We prefer lies to the truth when it comes to the Law because we do not want to be humbled. We want to believe that every bad thing we do is understandable, comprehensible, not a bit reprehensible, but perfectly defensible. This, of course, is ridiculously untrue, but it's what we want to believe. When the truth of God's Law comes along, it exposes our justifications of ourselves as the fig leaves that they really are. Or we might lie to ourselves like this: We've done our fair share of wandering, of course, just like everybody else, but we can always come back to the flock if we want to. We're not lost. We're not damned. We can stop whenever we want to. We can get better—just like we can always theoretically get in shape. Let's not start today, of course. We've already blown it for today. Tomorrow we'll be motivated. Always tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll whip ourselves into shape. The truth, however, that we should gain from this is that we are liars. Oh, how we lie! We lie to others and we lie to ourselves. The Bible says that all men are liars. The truth is that you have no hope of ever wandering back into the fold. Your wandering will only take you further and further away, even if you look like you're getting into shape. The further and further you wander away the closer you are to death. The purpose and end of the Law is to reveal this approaching inevitable death. The Law has not been given for self-improvement. The Law is ferocious and untamable. It ruthlessly points out the inevitability of our death and damnation for those who do not keep it. The only way that God's Law can be made somewhat palatable for people is when it is not used correctly, when lies are told about it, when people pick and choose which laws they feel they would like to keep and which laws they can safely ignore as if they had this right. Of course, we can lie and pretend about God's Law until we die and until Judgement Day, but that will be the end of the lying and pretending. So the thing that we need the most is being saved from God's Law. God's Law speaks the truth. It tosses us altogether into the one bucket called “sinners.” This isn't God's fault and it isn't the Law's fault. It's our fault. Sinners and tax collectors can rage against that verdict all they want, but the truth is still the truth. There is another truth, however, that swallows up, you might say, this truth of the Law. God's truth according to the Law is that you are a sinner and unrighteous. But, as Paul says in Romans 3, “a righteousness apart from the Law has been revealed. It is God's own righteousness. So it's not a fake or pretend righteousness. It is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” This is the righteousness of the Gospel. If it weren't for this righteousness of God in Jesus Christ that is freely given apart from the Law, if it weren't from this Gospel righteousness that swallows up the lack of righteousness that the Law reveals, then people would be better off if they never heard the Law at all. They'd be better off pretending that they are not lost, they're fine, they can stop whenever they want, they can get better if only the try better, they've lived a decent enough life when compared to other people—these truly give people comfort. The only problem is that they are lies. They aren't perfectly comfortable—people can sense that they are lies in their heart of hearts. They sense the horror of the truth that the Law reveals—how evil we are, our death and damnation—this is what overcame Judas Iscariot so that he went and hung himself. This horrible truth of the Law must be followed by the truth of the Gospel, which is superior in a sense. Both God's Law and God's Gospel are as true and true can be. But God sent his Son in order to save us from his Law. God sent his Son to find the lost sheep and the lost coin. Once the sheep has been found and the coin has been put back in the purse the wandering and the getting lost lose all the power it ever had. The sinner who is forgiven isn't reckoned as a sinner anymore. Christians do not hold on to and love the Law with their whole heart. Christians love Jesus who suffered and died to set them free from the Law. The ferocious and divine beast of the Law is precisely what brought about Jesus's deepest suffering on our behalf when he became sin for us. So the reason why the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus in order to hear him was because they had tasted the truth. The truth is scary, but it is also wonderful. They got hooked on the truth. This ironically put them much further along than the Pharisees who otherwise lived very respectable lives. In fact, the Pharisees' lies about themselves were perhaps more persuasive than the sinners' and tax collectors' lies to themselves. The Pharisees could more easily convince themselves that they were not lost. They certainly weren't as lost as those losers whom Jesus was eating with. This also meant that they felt very little need for a shepherd to take them upon his shoulders and bring them back to the flock. Often the Christian Church gets depicted as being pharisaical. A lot of times that depiction is accurate, because not everybody understands the two great teachings of Christianity very well and how they relate. This depiction of the Christian Church is that Christians love to judge other people—homosexuals, for example, to take a hot button issue today. No, that is not our endpoint, just as it was not Jesus' endpoint either. God's Law, indeed, condemns homosexual lust and activities just as it condemns other evil things. It does no good to tell lies about God's Law. But the endpoint is to live in the righteousness of God that is apart from the Law—the righteousness of God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. No matter what sins anybody might be afflicted with, the endpoint is confidence, comfort, joy, and thankfulness to Jesus for suffering and atoning for all those sins. The goal is not that everyone should be sad and sullen, being tortured by the ferocious Law and by their own guilt. That's a surefire way to end up like Judas either physically or spiritually. The goal is a good conscience coming from God's own powerful divine truth in the Gospel. Live in Jesus and his righteousness. He takes away all shame and guilt. He destroys death. He closes hell. He opens heaven. He does all of these things for sinners like you. He wants to be with you and to eat with you.
Hello Beloved! Today we are tackling an interesting contrast between Overflowing and Pouring Out. Both God honors, but I will be diving deep on what it means to me through my personal walk in it. In our Christian walk, this tends to get confused so if you'd like clarity on the two, tune in!
THE POWER OF GOD'S WHISPER TITLE: FRUSTRATED EPISODE: 22-236 VERSE: I posted watchmen over you who said, “Listen for the sound of the alarm.” But you replied, “No! We won't pay attention!” JEREMIAH 6:17 ✔️ - Both God and Jeremiah were frustrated. ✔️ - They missed God's voice because they tuned it out. ✔️ - The number one obstacle to hearing God is a calloused heart. ✔️ - They chose spiritual deafness. TAKEAWAY: But when we open ourselves to anything God wants to say, He can say anything. When He has our attention, He is much more generous with His. PRAYER: Lord, there are things I don't want You to say to me —things that don't fit with my dreams and desires —yet if they are Your will, I need to hear them. My ears are open even to Your correction. I am paying full attention to You. ▌ABOUT US ▌
The only name that saves is Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Light of God to reveal God to the nations and who went to the cross and paid the price for humanity's sins. Jesus Christ warned His followers that one cannot serve BOTH God and mammon/money. Yet, money is being promoted by the leaders of most groups which claim to be Bible-believing churches. The result: many of their followers who previously believed now serve money and God. Today's broadcast calls on those believers who still subscribe to worldly prosperity doctrines to repent and give their hearts to the only true Messiah and to believe only His gospel. They should also encourage others to leave those church organizations that preach the deadly worldly prosperity messages. ——— Are you aware that you can watch more than 100 videos (videos you can share, use in Sunday schools, teach others, and evangelize) in high definition on our YouTube channel? Please click on the link below to subscribe. The subscription is free. https://www.youtube.com/channel/WorldEvangel?sub_confirmation=1 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/worldevangel/message
One of the hallmarks of United Methodism is the nuanced way that John Wesley both embraced human free will and God's grace. Both God's power and human will are necessary for salvation. Yes, we get to choose. But only because God's power makes our choice possible. Before we even knew there was a choice to make, eve as soon as we were born, God was hard at work drawing, luring us, convincing us to choose faith in Jesus.
We all want to be on the best path in life. The Word of God, Jesus Himself, is The Way, The Truth and The Life. Without Him we can do nothing. Without Him we cannot be on the best path. The devil therefore lures us to more familiar activities and distractions. We get to choose what we should watch, listen to, and who to be around. Our soul is being affected in a positive or negative way, moment by moment every day.Our old carnal way is what we are used to. It is what we used to enjoy. Things are different now that we are born again but the old man that died can be resurrected if we do not guard our mind from becoming re-conformed to the world (Romans 12:2 warns us against this.) Therefore there is a constant battle for our attention. Both God and Satan want our focus. God, for our own good because He loves us and knows the dangers of you slipping back into Satan's darkness. Satan wants to keep you from becoming transformed by understanding the Truth of the Word of God. Hence, the choice each hour, each minute is yours. What will you feed your soul? The World or The Truth so that you can be transformed into the person God created you to be?This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): Colossians 3:1-7; Ephesians 4:10-13; Mark 11:23; Proverbs 18:21; John 15; Mark 16; Matthew 28; Hosea 4:6; Matthew 7:21-27; Psalm 119:105; Romans 8:6-7.Support the show
It is common to hear both from the pulpit and in popular culture the merits of unconditional love. From the one, we hear that God loves us unconditionally, that heaven is a free gift, that a last-minute prayer can save us from the flames of hell. From the other, we hear that we are only truly loved when those who love us do so without any direction, without any judgment, without any purpose or aim other than our fulfilling our own desires. In both cases, the greatest love is considered to be that which maximizes our own egos, our own complete control over our destinies. Both God and mortal lovers must stand second to my ambition, my freedom, my desires, and my sense of self-fulfillment.
John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. How is the Son of Man to be glorified? Jesus stated it plainly so we would all know. And John recorded it faithfully. Jesus is glorified as He gives Himself over to be crucified. In doing so, He will bear much fruit. John is going to quote Jesus again later on in his gospel as He speaks to His disciples. John 15:5, 8. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” Let's connect some dots. Death, resurrection, life, the glory of God, and fruitfulness. Jesus laid down His life. God raised Him to life. Both God and Christ are glorified. The result is much fruit for His glory. As we live to love with Jesus, we die to ourselves. He raises us to life with Him. He loves through us and bears much fruit for the glory of the Father and the Son. Today, let us die to ourselves and live to Christ.
We all get angry. In today's social media world, we can easily find a platform to express that anger. Our anger develops when we hear or see something that we interpret as causing fear, frustration or offense. We react to our perception, and the seeds of anger are sown and grown in an instant. Once angry, we often find it justifiable to lash out with our own brand of challenge, retaliation or defiance. Our anger has now grown from a personal internal emotion into a larger and more threatening external action which is usually destructive and not constructive. As Christians, what are we supposed to do with this human instinct? Should we allow ourselves to get angry? Both God and Jesus got angry, so does that give us permission? Anger doesn't just happen on its own. On the contrary, it is generally seen as a secondary emotion. It engages because we have felt something else that provokes us to anger. According to the article in Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, “Deconstructing Anger in the Human Brain,” by Gadi Gilam and Talma Hendler, there are three primary emotions that can drive us towards anger: Real or imagined threat such as physical or psychological pain Frustration due to goal obstruction Perceived personal offense due to unfair treatment, violation of social norms, insults, rejections, criticism, and the like. Why is it important to know this? As Christians, we are just as susceptible to feeling threatened, frustration, and perceived personal offenses as anyone else. However, we are specifically given a much higher standard than others to manage our anger. While the Scriptures tell us being angry is not necessarily wrong, that is only the beginning of the story. The Bible also reveals different levels of anger, and we are specifically instructed to never engage in some of them. We can learn from God's example of anger If we observe the many biblical accounts where God was angry, we see a pattern. God's anger was in a broad sense always focused on humanity's rejection of His righteousness - and therefore of Him. Because we know God does have a plan for all, we can understand His expressions of anger as for the ultimate good of humanity. God's anger was and is a tool of His righteousness. We can learn from Jesus' example of anger There were a few times in Jesus' ministry when he got angry. Very angry. When we look at what he said and what he did, it can help us understand what appropriate anger should look like. Here's a hint, it is not easy to achieve! Check out our May 16, 2022 podcast, “I'm a Christian and I'm Angry. What Now?” for more. We observe how anger works on a physiological level and how our physiology automatically engages our emotions. Anger is instinctive. We can choose whether its drive will be a force of constructive contribution or a force of destruction and disaster. The anger we see in our world now is primarily destructive. Join us and learn how to stand against that tide!
Josh, an atheist, sent out a 'prayer' to any supernatural being that might be listening. "If you really exist," said Josh, "Give me an experience." Both God and the devil were listening. Share Your Story If you have a Touched by Heaven moment that you would like to share with Trapper, please leave us a note at https://touchedbyheaven.net/contact Our listeners look forward to hearing about life-changing encounters and miraculous stories every week. Stay Informed Trapper sends out a weekly email. If you're not receiving it, and would like to stay in touch to get the bonus stories and other interesting content that will further fortify your faith. Stay informed with our weekly newsletter by sharing your email with us at https://blindguymedia.com/stay-informed/ Become a Patron We pray that our listeners and followers benefit from our podcasts and programs and develop a deeper personal relationship with God. We thank you for supporting our efforts and helping to cover the costs by being a Patron and getting lots of fun extras. Please go to https://patreon.com/bfl to check out the details. More About Trapper Jack Trapper has CD's and Downloads of his talks available for you to listen to and share. Download or order your CD now at our online store https://trapperjackspeaksstore.com Check out and subscribe to his new Men's Morning Light live-stream every Wednesday morning, or view the recording at your convenience on either YouTube or Facebook. Men's Morning Light is now available in your favorite Podcast app as well. To book Trapper for speaking engagements and more information, visit us at https://TrapperJackSpeaks.com We're praying for you and ask that you pray for us!
As we celebrated Palm Sunday, we looked at the nature of Jesus. Both God and man, coming from on high, becoming a servant and then descending to death on the cross. Paul challenged us with how we can follow Jesus' example and live lives of sacrificial service. Our reading was from Philippians 2:5-11. Find more information about our service and other activities on: https://www.allnationschurch.com/
Both God's justice & mercy prove his love, madness of Love which is the blessed Eucharist, live by love to conquer, let your heart overflow, fear of God is holy, weep my son with love-sorrow, do not remain indifferent to God's death, crazy love for God, don't forget Sorrow touchstone of Love. --- from The Way (1934), by Josemaría Escrivá
Kofi's definition of discipleship: Discipleship is the intentional and life pursuit of likeness to Jesus through diligent use of the means of grace and spiritual disciplines with the result of knowledge of, love for and service to Christ Resources Mentioned: The Fountain of Life by John Flavel: https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/the-fountain-of-life-2-volumes-flavel.html?_ga=2.177755426.603297000.1625087410-315205360.1623657637 Jesus is Both God and Man by Stuart Olyott: https://amzn.to/3hn2rub Knowing Christ by Mark Jones: https://amzn.to/3h6prPe The Silent Shepherd by John MacArthur: https://amzn.to/3jw25UI Bonus Resource - my recent sermon series "Spirit and Truth" on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit: https://redeemermedford.org/sermon-library/spirit-and-truth-a-biblical-no-nonsense-look-at-the-person-and-work-of-the-holy-spirit/
Pastor Andy Davis preaches a sermon on Job 8-10. Job moves from anger to despair about God as his legal adversary who will be his prosecutor in court. He yearns for a mediator. Job did not know something that we now know, our mediator is Christ. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - One of the sweetest and most encouraging texts in the Bible for me is Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” But what about the opposite? What if God were against you? What then? How could we survive? And especially if the context were very much what Ben was sharing in his prayer, the context were judgment day. The final court of God's justice. If God were against us, then what? This morning, we're going to find Job as he's on his own pilgrimage of sorrow and suffering, moving from anger to a sense of despair specifically about God as his legal enemy, his legal adversary. The image is of Almighty God, the creator and sustainer of the universe, being his prosecutor in court. What if that is the case? What then? How could any of us survive that? This morning, we're going to hear Job crying out, yearning for a mediator, as he says. “Someone who could lay a hand on us both.” Both God and man, someone who, Job thinks, would be able to advocate on his behalf and testify on the basis of Job's essential righteousness. That he is blameless. A mediator who would speak on his behalf to God saying, "This man is innocent." However, in the goodness of God, Job and all of the redeemed gets something infinitely better than that, infinitely better. A mediator who will actually tell Job the truth: your righteousness is not enough. And will give him a perfect righteousness of his own, imputed to him as a gift, and then will advocate on the basis of that imputed righteousness that Job would spend eternity in heaven. We're going to discover how a mortal man like Job with all of his normal sinfulness can actually stand perfect in the sight of a holy God. And for all of us, that's going to be our hope for judgment day. Let's walk through this. I. Bildad’s Cold Doctrine We begin in Job chapter eight with the second of Job's friends, Bildad the Shuhite, and he begins in verse two, Job 8:2, by saying, "How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind." Bildad is becoming angry at Job, and he's going to get angrier as the book unfolds. Now, Bildad the second friend, his basic doctrine is God never perverts justice. Look at Job 8:3. “Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?” Bildad sees it right in the two senses. First, Job really is questioning God's justice, as we shall see. Secondly, God could never pervert justice ever. In this, Bildad is right. And Bildad's support comes from the wisdom of the ancients. Look at verses eight and nine. “Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.” What can we find out from the ancestors? And that is that God is perfectly righteous. He never perverts justice. The wicked get what they deserve. The wicked get what they deserve. And he makes a very cold hearted application to Job's children. You remember that Job lost all 10 of his children in one day. Bildad says in verse four, "When your children sinned against God, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin." That's what happened. Now, that is staggering really. Here's where Bildad errs as he does with Job himself. Just because someone dies doesn't mean they're guilty of some noteworthy sin, or perhaps we would say the opposite is more accurate. If Job's children died because of their sin, it's likely that I deserve the exact same fate as them. There's no difference, because we are all of us sinners worthy of death. Wages of sin is death. Do you remember the story in Luke 13 of some individuals coming to Jesus with some current event? There were some Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate soldiers even while they're offering sacrifices to God. You remember that? They were coming with the same theology that Job's friends have. They're getting what they deserve for their sin. Do you remember what Jesus said? Luke 13:2-3, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered that way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” So that's the fact. All of us deserve to die for our sins. And unless we repent, we will all likewise perish, Jesus is saying. Now, there's a bitter insensitivity to Bildad here, and there's also an arrogance, a spiritual arrogance. First, the bitter insensitivity. He's coldly insensitive to a grieving father saying those kinds of things. Your children sinned. God killed them. But there's also spiritual arrogance because he assumes that Job's children, like Job himself, are far worse sinners than he, Bildad, is. The reason he's still in good health, the reason he's still enjoying prosperity is he's not a sinner like them. Now, Bildad's counsel to Job is this, trust God and plead with him. Look at verse five, “Look to God and plead with the Almighty.” And he makes him a conditional promise, Bildad does, “God will restore you if you are truly pure.” Verses six and seven. “If you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.” But Bildad also makes a conditional warning: “if you actually are wicked, you will perish quickly.” He speaks of the wicked like a papyrus reed that grows quickly eight to 10 feet up out of the marsh. But look how easily it is toppled. He mentions the hope of the wicked being so flimsy like a spider's web. That if one leans against it, it easily gives away. Then in verse 13, “Such as the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.” This is the justice of God. He crushes the wicked and blesses the righteous. Sound familiar? That's what these friends have been saying. That's their consistent pattern. Now Job has to answer this in chapter nine and on into 10. He begins by conceding that Bildad's basic theology of God's justice, the law of retribution, blessings for the righteous, curses for the wicked, is true. Look at verse two of chapter nine. "Indeed," he says, "I know that this is true." But there is a basic problem, Bildad, with your theology. Who is righteous before God? What's the point? If it's a null set, if it's an empty set, there are no righteous people, then what good is that theology? Look at verse two again, “How can a person be justified before God?” Job could ask effectively, if God finds fault with heart sins and small sins, which I don't deny, Job doesn't deny that he commits these, but if God finds fault with the smallest sin, then how can anyone survive? Including you, Bildad. What's the point of your theology? II. Tracing Out the Dimensions of Job’s Complaint Now, for the rest of chapters nine and 10, we're going to trace out the dimensions of Job's complaint against God. His real problem is not with Bildad. He fades at this point. The real issue has to do with his view of God, Job's view of God. Job's desire here in this chapter is to take God to court. He wants to take God to court and he wants to win his case. Look at verse two and three. He says, "How can a man be declared innocent by God?" One translation puts it this way, "If one plan to enter into litigation with him, he could not answer him, not even one time out of a thousand!" If you wanted to have a legal dispute with God, you want to take God to court, and the two of you faced each other in a court of law, that's Job's desire, he wants to take God to court and win, he would not be able to answer God even one time out of a thousand. Now, Job's goal here is to stand vindicated before God and man. When in verse three he asked, "How can a man be just with God?" The Hebrew means to be declared righteous. It's justification. It's to be seen legally exonerated or legally vindicated from whatever you're accused of. The court trial has come. The verdict's come down and you walk out a free man or free woman. He wants to win. He wants to win his court trial with God and walk out of the courtroom with his arms raised triumphant, completely exonerated. But he has a problem with that. Who is his legal adversary? It's Almighty God. He says, if I were to stand before him in a courtroom, he is my judge, as well as my prosecuting attorney. "He wants to win his court trial with God and walk out of the courtroom with his arms raised triumphant, completely exonerated. But he has a problem with that. Who is his legal adversary? It's Almighty God." If there were a thousand accusations God meant, I couldn't speak up even one time out of a thousand. What could I say? I would be rendered silent. There'd be nothing I could say. Well, ironically, that's exactly what does happen at the end of the book. In Job 40:4-5 he says, "I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more." That's where we're heading. That's where all of us are heading. If you're healthy, that's where you're heading. You're just going to put your hand over your mouth before God and not charge him with anything. But he's not there yet. It is vital for us as sinners to realize this. If God began recounting all the deeds and all the intentions of our hearts, recorded from the beginning of our days on earth, as he is fully capable of doing, the court seated, the books are open, Revelation 20, and we're judged according to what we have done as recorded in the book. What answer could we give? But Job goes far beyond that. He speaks of God's astonishing majesty as being his greatest terror. Look at who is my adversary, my prosecutor in court. It is Almighty God. It is the creator and ruler of the entire universe. What chance do I have? Look at verse four, “His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.” You're facing omniscience and omnipotence in a court of law. But Job here portrays God and his destructive power. Not as God the creator, but as God the destroyer. Look at verses four through seven, “Who has resisted him and come out unscathed? He moves mountains without there knowing it he overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble. He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars.” I can't help but read these words and not think about the end of the world as depicted in the Book of Revelation. If you go to Revelation six, don't turn there, but just listen. Revelation 6:12-17. You remember how Jesus has the scroll with the seven seals, and he opens these seals one after the other and terrifying things happen on the earth. And he gets to the sixth seal, this is Revelation 6:12-17, “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake, and the sun turned black like sack cloth made of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to the earth, as late figs dropped from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come. And who shall be able to stand?"” How could a mortal man stand before that kind of power and survive? Job says, this is the same God who created the constellations. He created them and sustains them, the distant stars. Job 9:8-10, he says, "He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." We're looking at God's omnipotence on display and creation. A single one of God's wonders could occupy our minds for the rest of the year, but he does more than a single one. He does more of these than we can imagine every day. And he's invisible. A hidden enemy is 10 times more terrifying than one you can see. We never know when he's going to strike, Job says. Look at verse 11, “When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.” This invisible, omnipotent, powerful, as he sees it, enemy is accountable to no one. He doesn't have to give an answer for anything he does. Look at verse 12, “If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"” God is infinitely above accountability to us. Doesn't have to answer any of us about what he's doing. Verse 13, he talks about conquering Rahab, the primordial enemy. It's an image that Hebrew poets use a lot, kind of like a dragon that God slew to bring order to the chaotic universe. If God can handle that kind of a mighty enemy with ease, what chance do I have, Job says. Verse 14. How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him? Back to the original problem. I want to take God to court and argue with him, but I will lose. Now, in all of this, behind all of this, you must know Job's basic conviction is, I am innocent. I'm blameless. He says it again and again. 9:15, “Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.” Verse 20, “Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.” And then just straight out in verse 21, “I am blameless.” “I am blameless.” And that's exactly why he wants to dispute with God. He feels all of this wave upon wave of destruction that's come into his life is unfair. It's unjust. He feels these judgements from God have overwhelmed him, portray him as overwhelmingly wicked and evil and he knows it's just not so. So, Job feels checkmated by God. And his unspoken accusation, although he's getting closer and closer to saying it and he will say it later in the book, God is unjust. Behind all these words is a growing sense that Job really feels that God is unjust and irrational in the way he runs the universe. To some degree then, to some degree, Bildad is right. Job is subtly claiming that God is unjust in what he's done to Job. Job will openly assert it later in the book. He's only hinting at it here. Basically he's saying, it's an old expression, might makes right when it comes to God. It's just because he's omnipotent and he can just run everything. No one can challenge him. Might makes right. Look at verses 14-19, “How then could I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him? Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy. Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing. He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason. He would not let me regain my breath but would overwhelm me with misery. If it's a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it's a matter of justice, who will summon him?” In other words, if I served God a subpoena and he didn't want to come, what could I do? And if I did that, it seems like all that would happen is more of the same that's already happened to me. I'd just get crushed more. He would multiply my wounds even more for no reason, for no reason. That's the charge of God's injustice. And then he says that God actually is unjust in how he treats innocent people on earth. 9:22-24, “It's all the same. That's why I say he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.” Do you hear that? He just makes fun of the innocent people who are grieving and crushed. He mocks them. “When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it's not he, then who is it?” Wow! You'll see as we keep moving through the book how right it is that Job repents at the end of the book. I think this is part of the reason why the Holy Spirit gave us 42 chapters of Job. Do you not sense that some of these same attitudes are in your own heart and in mine too? It actually would take far less in our lives than it ever took in Job's life to have them bubble up out of our mouths, charging God with this kind of injustice. In Job 10, he expands his accusation as if God is actually cruel. He actually enjoys the torment he's brought on him. Look at 10:3, “Does it please you to oppress me?” Do you enjoy this? “Are you pleased to spurn the work of your hands while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?” God knows I'm not guilty. He also knows that no one can deliver me from his hand. Look at 10:6-7, “You must search out my faults, probe after my sin—though you know I'm not guilty, and that no one can rescue me from your hand.” God continues to send wave upon wave of sorrow upon me. He's relentless against me. Look at verses 15-17, “If I'm guilty—woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I'm full of shame, drowned in my affliction. If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave.” That's the problem. Now, Job has in his mind a possible solution at the end of chapter nine. Look at verses 33-35, “If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay a hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me so that his terror would frighten me no more. Then I would speak up without fear of him.” Now, most of the translations just have him saying there is not such a one. But in the context, I think it's reasonable that you sense that he's yearning for such a one. That's what he wants. If only there were someone like this, someone to arbitrate, someone to lay a hand on us both. God doesn't have to listen to me. God doesn't have to answer me. I have no standing. I have no place to compel his attention. But if there were someone who could stand between us like a mediator, an arbitrator who could compel God to listen on my behalf. The effect in Job's mind would be to remove God's rod of terror from him. He would solve his problems. He would vindicate Job. He would set him free forever, and then he would have peace with God at last. But this deep desire is unfulfilled. Verse 35, “Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.” Well, but wait, the answer's coming. It hadn't come yet in redemptive history, but we know the answer, dear friend. Christian brothers and sisters, amen! We know the answer, don't we? We know that there is a mediator. Job couldn't see him at that point. Job has deep despair. I hate my life. Job spends many words in these two chapters lamenting his very existence. Chapter 9:21 he says, "Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life." He notes that though the individual days seem long because of his misery, he has said this before, his life is as fleeting as a runner, like one of those little skiffs that goes so fast driven by the wind. And then he says, I can't put a happy face on all this. Look at 9:27-28. He said, "If I say ‘I'll forget my complaint, I will change my expression and smile.’" That's what you need to do. Just smile. Put on a happy face, “I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent.” So what's the use of even trying? What's the use of trying to clean myself up? What's the use of me trying to wash my hands and rehabilitate my image with onlooking people? Chapter 9:29-31, “Even if I am found guilty, why should I struggle in vain? Even if I wash myself with soap in my hands with washing soda, you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my clothes would detest me.” Now, amazingly, Job celebrates that it was this same God who gave him life to begin with. Look at 10:8-12, beautiful verses. This is Job speaking to God about his creation, his original formation, “Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence, you watched over my spirit.” These are some of the most beautiful verses in the entire Bible on God's direct, skillful, knitting together of every human being in his or her mother's womb. This is exactly why I am pro-life in this age of abortion. Verses like this tell me God is directly involved in the creation of every single human being that has ever lived or ever will live. There are no accidental human beings when it comes to the activity of God in the womb. But Job's point here is you did all that and now you're destroying me. The same God who formed me in the womb, that knit me together in my mother's womb, and then protected me, lavished blessings on me, in your kind providence watched over my spirit, now you're watching over me to detect my sin and crush me. So why did you ever make me to begin with? Basically at this point, Job just wants God to leave him alone. Let him die. Look at 10:18-22, “Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and deep shadow, to the land of deepest night of deep shadow and disorder where even the light is like darkness.” By the way, that is Job's view of the grave. In a later sermon, God willing, I'm going to talk about his defective view of the grave and how much better we can do now that Christ has been raised from the dead. That's a later sermon. III. Four Great Lessons All right, from this, I want to take four great lessons. Lesson number one, it is sinful to dispute with God. Job wants to dispute with God, to take him to court, to challenge him, to argue against him, to fight him on behalf of his own blamelessness. This is such an extremely common thing in our world, especially during times of great suffering that people don't seem to really know how wrong it is. In fact, I would argue, as I have done, that this is one of the central purposes of this whole book of Job, is to get us to never do that again. To teach us to put a hand over our mouths and to trust God. I think it's beneficial for us to get ready for our own battles ahead of time. Maybe even right now, some of you may be going through great sorrow and suffering right now, this could be your time of testing. But for the rest of you, it's coming. It is coming. We live in a world of sorrow and sickness and loss and death. This book is here, and, in the providence of God, these sermons are here to get you ready for what you do not want. But God wills to bring his people through sorrow and suffering and it is wrong to dispute with God. God's ways will not always make sense to us during the time. Sometimes it will seem that God is unjust or that his providential ruling of daily life is irrational and random, but it's not. We need to fix in our minds for all time how God has proven his commitment to justice. He did it at the cross. He did it at the cross of his own beloved son, Jesus Christ. It says in Romans 3:25-16, “God presented him as a propitiation,” or a sacrifice of atonement, “through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” So friends, a far bigger problem of God's justice in God's mind, far bigger than how he would appear unjust if he brings adverse circumstances to his people on earth, far bigger problem than that, is how can he take sinners, like you and me, and bring us into a heaven of light where he is perfectly pure? How can he do that and still be just? That's a bigger problem. How can he be both just and the justifier? And he solved that at the cross. At the cross, he poured out, and we sang it earlier. He crushed his own son, showing he would rather do that, he'd rather crush his Son, his only Son whom he loved, than let a sinner like you or me into heaven without our sins atoned for, addressed. That's his commitment to justice. So, when we suffer some earthly loss, some loss of material wealth, or precious loved one, or physical health, we should banish forever from our minds any anger or determination to dispute with God over his justice. He's proven his justice at the cross. "When we suffer some earthly loss, some loss of material wealth, or precious loved one, or physical health, we should banish forever from our minds any anger or determination to dispute with God over his justice. He's proven his justice at the cross." And actually we really are not blameless and pure. Jesus stopped the rich young ruler who said, good teacher, da, da, da. Wait, wait, wait, wait, why do you call me good? No one is good, but God alone. I don't really think we believe that. But all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We tend to compare ourselves to others. I'm better than this guy. I'm better than that guy. We tend to do that. Well, that's not how it's going to work. God is going to compare us to his perfect standard and we're all going to come short. When we consider our sinfulness here on earth, we should not compare ourselves to other sinners, but God's perfect standard in the law. So, if this is true, on what basis would we dispute with God, or murmur against God, or complain, or accuse him? Yet it seems we are already at one time or another to accuse God of injustice. The best people do this. Jeremiah did it. You can look it up, Jeremiah 20:7. He said, "God, you deceived me and I was deceived." God says to Jeremiah, Jeremiah, if you speak worthy and not worthless words, you can be my servant. It's worthless to say that God deceived him, but that was Jeremiah saying that to him. We know why. He was going through suffering. We should set it in our minds ahead of time, it's actually monstrous to dispute with God and question his justice. When people get angry at God, they treat him like he's their valet, their foot servant. They yell at him. They demand an answer from him, forgetting our own sinfulness. Fact of the matter is, even if we closely examine ourselves honestly, we miss 99% of our sins. David said it in Psalm 19:12, "Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults." Forgive my hidden faults. I can't even discern my own errors. In the end, Job quieted himself and humbled himself and repented of his disputing with God and questioning God. Let's do that now ahead of time. Second lesson, Christ is our perfect mediator. Christ is our perfect mediator. Job yearned for a mediator, “If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.” Job ended that yearning with despair, “as it is, I cannot.” But now there is a mediator. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 it says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for us all." In the incarnation, Jesus, the perfect God man, fully God, fully man, is able to stand between God and man. He's able to represent God on behalf of us like saying, no one is good, but God alone, saying those kinds of things and speaking God's perfect law and perfect words to us. He represented God to us perfectly, but then he represents us to God. He is the perfect bridge builder. He is, in the incarnation, able to stand God and man and build the bridge between us. He understands our weakness and our temptation. He experienced all of it perfectly. Hebrews 4:15, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are—yet was without sin.” But as I said Jesus is an infinitely superior mediator than the one Job wanted. Remember what I said? What did Job want? Someone to look at my case, get to know me, get to know what's going on, and then be my advocate and say, God, he's blameless. What's going on? Oh yes, I see it now. Okay. And then the rod comes off. Job doesn't get that. What does he get instead? He gets Jesus looking at him with eyes of blazing fire and feet of burnished bronze saying, “Unless your righteousness surpasses what you have on your own, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." And then when a righteousness through his, Jesus', own perfect obedience to God's law every day of his life until his death and take that perfect righteousness and give it as a gift to Job and to all who repent and believe in him as a gift, and then turn and advocate the redeemed on behalf of that imputed righteousness that we have as a gift by faith. That's better, friends. You know why that's better? Because when we get to heaven, we will boast in the Lord and in the Lord alone, not in ourselves. That's what we get, someone to remove God's rod from me so his terror would frighten me no more. Here's the thing, Jesus is the best defense attorney there has ever been or ever will be. Now, I looked it up. I went online. How high do hourly rates get for the top level defense attorneys? You would not believe. Billable hours, a thousand dollars an hour. Wow! You couldn't afford that. Jesus doesn't charge anything except one thing. He looks you in the eye and says, you have to give up your plea of not guilty. You give that up, I'll be your defense attorney. But if you claim you don't need me, if you claim you're basically blameless, if you claim you're basically righteous, I will not defend you and you'll stand on your own on judgment day. He'll be your defense attorney and he has never lost a case and he never will. It helps that he's the judge as well. I mean, it helps. But he has never lost a case. And through perfect justice, he will remove God's rod of wrath from you. Romans 5:1 it says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Amen? The rod of wrath is removed. That's what propitiation is. It's gone. The bloodshed removes the wrath of God. And then Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Thirdly, therefore, God is not against us. God is for us. He is for us. Job's lament in chapters nine and 10, spins out from a consistent perspective: God is against me. God is my enemy. God is hunting me down to destroy me. But in Christ, in Christ, God is for us. Romans 8:31-32, “What shall we say in response to all this? If God is for us, who could be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will you not also along with him graciously give us all things?” What does that mean to have God for you? What will it mean on judgment day? It'll mean everything. It'll mean everything. You'll hear from him, welcome you who are blessed into the eternal kingdom prepared by my Father. Welcome you who are righteous through faith. Fourthly, God's majesty is our delight, not our terror. There's a lot of natural theology in Job. we're not done with it, God himself will do it a lot. Just look at the wonders of creation. Look at the majesty and the power of displayed in the creation and sustaining of the universe. Job discussed in awe and wonder the power of God over creation, the God who can shake the pillars of the earth and stop the sun from rising and cause the stars to fall from the sky. Job stood in awe at the majesty of God and being so far beyond all accountability, the God who cannot be stopped from anything he wants to do, the God who is not accountable to us. He isn't, friends. It's true. He doesn't need to give us an explanation. Job discussed the meticulous care of God and knitting his body together in his mother's womb, the wisdom and intelligence of God in making his body in that secret place. He noted all the providential ways that God lavished blessing on him by his kind providence. But he felt that God's majesty was a terror to him because God was against him. But if God is for us, then his majesty is a delight. I believe, as many of you know, in a dynamic heaven where we're going to go and study the infinite dimensions and details of God's majesty for all eternity, for all eternity. "But he felt that God's majesty was a terror to him because God was against him. But if God is for us, then his majesty is a delight." I asked a friend this week. I said, "Suppose I told you I got you a gift this week. It was a storehouse with a million square feet for you, just for all your stuff." I'm sorry, what? A million square foot storage facility? We don't have that much stuff. I mean, we have stuff, but we don't have that much stuff. What would you do with a storage facility a million square feet? Or how about a billion? All right, so let's move that on into eternal. What are you going to do with eternal time? What are you going to do with a storehouse so big that it's infinite in its dimensions? You got to fill it with an infinite thing. And that is the glory of God. God will fill it every day in glory. He will fill it with a study of God's own attributes. What he did in the past, what he is doing in that heavenly present, and what he will unfold in that heavenly future, that's what we're going to spend eternity celebrating. God's majesty will be our delight, not our terror. The question I have to ask as I finish is what about you? You've heard all this. Are you claiming your own basic innocence and thinking you're going to stand before such a holy God on judgment day? You cannot survive. You cannot survive. Or are you willing by faith have Jesus be your mediator, the one who could lay a hand both on God and on you and bring you together for all eternity? Who are you trusting in? Let’s close in prayer. Lord, thank you for Job. We thank you for these chapters, Job 8-10. Thank you for the things we're learning. Father. I pray that you would just be working saving faith in the hearts of those that are hearing me today. Just work in us. Lord, those of us who have been saved for many, many years, who have been justified for many years, just continue to expand our sense of what Jesus did for us, what he drank for us on the cross. With infinite courage, he drank the cup of God's wrath that we might be freed from terror. Thank you, Lord Jesus. I pray that you would help us to walk on in gratitude. To realize that no matter what the disappointments we may be going through, or things that have happened in our lives that didn't go the way we wanted, nothing compares to the fact that Jesus drank our cup, the cup of God's wrath for us, that we might spend eternity free from blame and glorious. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen.
Both God and Miles Davis make cameo appearances in this discussion with author Eric Gudas about one of Don Van Vliet and the Magic Band's finest compositions. screenshotzchezpandy on Instagram Find out more at https://prince-track-by-track.pinecast.co
Hey guys. Are you going through adversity or anxiety or fear or depression right now? If so, stay tuned because this session is for you. How do I bring my faith to work? How do I tap into the power of God in my work life call? Why am I going through this adversity? Is God mad at me? I'm Os Hillman and I've been helping leaders like you answer these questions and more for over 30 years. That's what this podcast is all about. Let's learn and grow together. Welcome to TGIF Today God is First. And welcome to our podcast this week. You know today we're going to be talking about adversity and overcoming hindrances to our life. And it's a topic that I teach a lot about because I went through some major adversities back in 1994 that really changed my life. And so if you find yourself in that place, this session is for you. You know, I've been teaching this session overcoming hindrances to fulfill your destiny for many years. Because I feel like I'm an authority on this topic. And so today's session is a teaching that I did a few weeks ago for a nightly meeting that I did on overcoming hindrances. And you know, it's really tied to what I went through in 1994, where I had major losses in my life. I lost over a half a million dollars. I had my wife leave me after going through extensive counseling. I had 80% of my business disappear within a few weeks when a client stuck me for $140,000. And then my vice president left me and took my second largest account in my ad agency. And this ushered me into a seven year season of adversity. And man I thought life was over. But you know, two years into that adversity I met Gunnar Olson, the founder of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce. And in our first meeting, he listened to my story and he said, "Os, you have a Joseph calling on your life." And I said, "What is a Joseph calling?" And so he explained it to me. And that would ultimately lead to a relationship that's been over 25 years now. I just talked with him last week and he's been a spiritual mentor to me and father in the marketplace for me. And so this session will help you understand some of the dynamics that we can go through that can hinder us from fulfilling our destiny. And over that time, here now over almost 30 years, I've discovered many of the things that cause my adversity and now I'm able to help many others. So I hope that you'll find this session helpful to you. So let's go ahead and begin the teaching. I was teaching in Scotland a number of years ago, and someone came up to me after going through this session that I'm about to share with you and said, "I just realized something. You must become a free agent before you can become a change agent." And I said, "Well, that's very true. Both God and Satan want you dead but each for different reasons." In second Corinthians four, Paul says, "For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus's sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh so then death is working in us but life in you." And then we see in first Peter five, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." And so Satan wants to kill your destiny. I once heard a mentor of mine say, "Dead men can't have stress." And I said, "Well, that's kind of obvious isn't it. If he can't get out of the coffin he's certainly not going to have stress." In Romans six, it says, "Likewise you also recon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." I once had a mentor say to me, "The only thing wrong with you Os is that you're not dead yet. As soon as you let your flesh die, you will be free. So I suggest you die quietly." What happens at spiritual birth? Well, we all know that our human existence is made up of spirit, soul, and body. And when we become born again, our spirits instantly become 100% holy by the power of the holy spirit and God's work in our life. But our mind and will and emotions, which reside in our soul, they don't get redeemed completely in the sense that we don't change immediately. It's a process of sanctification. And that sanctification will go on until we die. And then of course we have the physical body. But we relate to God through our spirit. First Thessalonians 5:23 says, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of the lord Jesus Christ." So that's where we get spirit, soul, and body. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. We live in a war zone, and the prize that Satan wants is our heart." You know, years ago I read the fictional story of Screwtape by C.S. Lewis. One of his great works. It's about a demon coaching an underling demon. And he says to that demon, "I wonder if you should ask me whether it is a essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question at least for the present phase of the struggle has been answered for us by the high command. Our policy for the moment is to conceal ourselves." C.S. Lewis once said, "There are two mistakes the church makes when dealing with the devil. To blame everything on him or to blame nothing on him." Here's an amazing statistic. 24% of the general population believe that Satan is real and 52% of Christians believe Satan is real, which means 48% of them don't believe he's real. When you're deceived you don't know you are deceived. Satan's strategy is to kill. Jesus and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. So Satan tried to kill Jesus at birth. Now what are Satan's three greatest lies to human beings? These are common to every person. Every one of us have been tempted by these statements. You are powerless over your circumstances. You are a victim of an unjust God who left you here to suffer. Just think about it. Have you ever thought those thoughts, that you're powerless over your circumstances or that you're a victim of an unjust God who doesn't love you, who left you hear to suffer and deal with this stuff all by yourself? If you're honest, you've probably felt that way at one time or another. We blame God for evil. In Mark 14:27 it says, "Jesus told him, 'You're all going to feel that your world is falling apart and it's my fault.'" He was saying that to the disciples. The story of your life is a story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could become and he fears it. That is the one thing Satan fears is that you're going to really know the truth because the truth shall make you free. "For I am poor and needy and my heart is wounded within me," said the psalmist in psalm 109. You see, Satan, that word Satan means opposer. And some of the characteristics of Satan are found throughout the scripture. He's an angel of light, he seeks to kill and destroy, he's an accuser. He deceives and lies. He wars against those who obey. He's a lion, a devourer to kill. He blinds unbelievers. So we need to know our enemy and how he works against us. Finally, be strong in the lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand. For this purpose the sun of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. You see, that was another reason Jesus came to earth, was to destroy the works of the devil. You know I'm often asked by people about why do we go through adversity? And I believe there are four core reasons we will go through adversity. The first one is a consequence of the call. Joseph went through his adversity because of a consequence of the call. It wasn't because of any sin that he did. He was a typical teenage boy that might have been a little bit narcissistic. But it wasn't because of a major sin. And God used that to save an entire people. The second reason we can go through adversity is sin. Gehazi sinned against his employer Elisha, and as a result he was struck with leprosy because he wanted to get money from the general that was healed by Elisha. And so God judged his sin and if we have any open doors in our life then God will judge those sins. A third reason we can go through is sonship. And sonship means that God's going to treat us as sons and daughters, which means there are times that he needs to reprove us and to really correct us in order that we fulfill the purpose and destiny has over our life. A fourth reason we can go through adversity is spiritual warfare. As I've said earlier, John 10:10 says, "Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy from your life. But Jesus wants to give you life." And so there's a war on earth vying for our heart. And so our job is to understand what reason we might be going through adversity and it could be a combination of these. But ask the lord and show him, what is the root. Now Jesus had no sin in his life and when he said this verse out of John 14, it references the fact that he had no sin so he would never go through adversity because of sin. He says to the disciples, "Hereafter, I'll not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh and that nothing in me." Basically that says, there's nothing in him that he has a right to. There was no sin. There was no open door in his life. He had no entry to Jesus's life due to his sinless life. Now, therefore my primary hindrance is to becoming a Christian who transforms your workplace. And I've talked about this in the past and that is an un-biblical view of work in ministry. We need to understand the holy calling that is upon us. Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, do unto the lord. It's the lord Christ you are serving." And then there's a Greek versus Hebraic view of God. If we fall to the Greek influence in our relationship with God, that can hinder us and then the religious sprit and generational strongholds. And we're going to talk about the ladder three of these hindrances tonight. I've talked over the years about this sacred secular and this dichotomy of calling. If there's one statement I hate hearing it's, I'm in full-time ministry. Well, we're all in full-time ministry. We just get our checks different places. And that's not a higher calling. We need to define our ministry as anything that we're doing that's not against the will of God as a holy calling. So whatever you do, do unto the lord. It tells us in Colossians 3:23. Hindrance number two deals more with the influence of the Greek philosophers versus the Hebraic roots. There's a prophetic verse in Zechariah 9:13, "For I have bent Judah my bow, fitted the bow with Ephraim and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons. O Greece made you like the sword of a mighty man." And so this is a prophetic verse about the conflict between the Hebraic heart set versus the Greek mindset. Hebraic deals with the heart and it's active and appeals to the heart. Whereas the Greek mindset is more cognitive and appeals to the intellect. The Greek philosophers understood the difference between Greek and Hebraic roots. So you see Greeks acquired wisdom by reason and analysis and Hebrews acquired wisdom by obedience. Psalm 111:10 says, "The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom in the early church." Understood that knowledge was not what changed the world. It was the power of God working through people. Paul said, "My message in my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." Paul wrote that explaining that the reason he was so effective was it had nothing to do with his knowledge and his persuasive oratory skills, but it was because of the power of God working though him. Now there's two systems that you and I could be relating to God through and one of them would be the Hebraic system. And the Hebraic system is a process focus. Obedience is a priority and relationships are a priority and this yields transparency and love. And it produces mature believers. Whereas the Greek mindset is more cognitive and has more of a program focus. Information is a priority with controlled groups and this ends up being more service and activity based in our relationship toward God. And this ultimately produces shallow believers. Another hindrance is the religious spirit. See, Peter Wagner wrote, Freedom From the Religious Spirit. And in that book he defines the religious spirit as an agent of Satan assigned to prevent change and maintain the status quo by using religious devices. And of course that's what Jesus ran into in his ministry was the Pharisees. And that's what made him the angriest. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, and cumin, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law. Justice, mercy, and faithfulness." So the spirit of religion says I must do something to be acceptable by God. It puts people under the yoke of bondage and legalism. Religion divides us into sacred secular mentality. And religion says only overt spiritual activity is acceptable to God. If you remember the chariots of fire, the runner from Scotland, Eric Little. He told his sister, "When I run, I feel his pleasure." Well his sister thought running was a secular idea and he needed to be on the mission field. But in reality Eric was a more spiritual person. Another spirit of religion comment would be bible study at work is not necessary. I go to church on Sunday. That would be a statement that comes from a religious spirit. Why do I need to participate in a kingdom initiative like that? Religion versus relationship looks like this. I had this vision of this diagram years ago that I had an illustrator make up. And so many of us have grown up thinking that well if I do all these things on the right, prayer and devotions and church attendance and bible study and giving money and witnessing and perform and be a church volunteer, then I'll earn God's love and acceptance and favor. But the truth is it's the exact opposite. When we love God, and when we know and understand the acceptance of God, and know his favor, the byproduct of that is that we want to engage in prayer, we want to do devotions, we want to study our bible, we want to be witnesses as salt and light to our community. These become byproducts of a healthy relationship with God. The religious spirit motivates believers to live out their faith in legalistic and rigid ways. And this is especially evident in the south. Now let's spend the balance of our time talking about spiritual warfare strongholds and childhood wounds. I want you to meet John tonight. He had a need for recognition from performance. Things like civic projects and sports and business success. He had an emphasis on building financial security and so he became a workaholic. He lacked emotional intimacy in his marriage and with other people, and he had an activity based relationship towards God very Greek based. And he exhibited symptoms of over controlling people and circumstances. Well, that person was me. I came out of a family of three generations of business owners and our generation stronghold was insecurity and fear that resulted in motivations to control people and circumstances around us. And the bible says in second Corinthians 10:5, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." So a stronghold can come into our lives because we have a need and we don't understand how to meet that need without allowing ourselves to be opened up to a stronghold. The opposite of stronghold is exhibited in Ephesians 3:17. "And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." So you and I were created with seven basic needs. We have a need for dignity and authority, for blessing, and for vision and security, for purpose and meaning and freedom and boundaries, and intimate love and companionship. These are seen in Genesis one and two. They're not listed like this, but they're evidenced in how God related to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were born with all of these needs and God met those needs for them. But whenever we seek to meet one or more of these basic needs outside God, we have set the stage for the development of a generational stronghold. Satan convinced Eve to believe God was holding out on her and he would not meet her needs so she chose to meet her own need. Let's look at some examples of generational strongholds. We see deceit and lying in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We see control with Laban, Rebecca, Jacob, and King Saul. We see a sexual stronghold in David, Rahab, Bathsheba, Absalom, Abner, and Solomon. In fact, it would be a pretty good bet that David was probably an illegitimate son. You see, he says in Psalm 51 that I was conceived in iniquity. And then when you look at the fact that his father didn't even consider him when the prophet Samuel came to look at his sons as potential candidates to be the next king. We can surmise from that that perhaps David, not only was he the littlest and smallest, maybe that he was conceived in iniquity. Well, I learned more about this stronghold concept when a mentor of mine who created this workbook that we later published for him. He said, "There's no problem with you Os. You just have a stronghold of insecurity and fear." And I said, "You can't prove that." And he says, "Oh, I think I can." And so, he had me take this little self-assessment tool and rank each one of these symptoms from one to 10 and then added the total and took the average. So that, as you can see in the example on the top right, deceit ... The attributes were six, two, one, nine, and seven for different characteristics. You add those numbers up and divide by six, or five I guess it is, you get the average number of five. So you would do that with each one of these strongholds. So when I did it, I did control, and I would rank those and that became the highest one. And then fear and insecurity, that also was a high one at the time. So he took me through a process of prayer and confession in order to deal with those strongholds. We eventually published a book about this, a workbook called Demolishing Strongholds. We only had the PDF version of that online. But you can find it on our website at tgifbookstore.com. It's a wonderful resource and I've used it to counsel many people over the years. So spiritual strongholds work at the subconscious level. Their influence is often unseen until there is a problem. Strongholds are designed to keep us from experiencing God's love and they're often generational as I have said. All strongholds that are built in our lives are a result of seeking to meet one or more of these needs apart from God's will for us. So here's how a stronghold develops. Satan inspires a thought into my mind subconsciously. We're not even conscious of it. Which appeals to my natural tendencies to meet needs. We entertain these thoughts and it brings on emotions. And then we give in to emotions and this eventually leads to some sort of action. And continual participation in this behavior causes me to develop a habit. And once a habit's developed a stronghold is built by that spirit. Now, strongholds oppress versus possess. They control, dictate, and influence our attitudes and behavior. Remember when Jesus was speaking to Peter. He said, "Peter, Satan has wanted to sift you." And he was telling him that Satan was impacting his thought life. So strongholds oppress and discourage us and affect how we view or react to situations, circumstances, or people. I was once in Singapore and a woman came up to me after I'd spoken on this topic and she said, "Oh, would you go to lunch with me and my friend?" And I had lunch available so I went with them and she was very, very aggressive and I could see some things that were coming through her that I picked up on. So when we were at lunch I said, "Tell me about your father. What kind of relationship do you have with your father?" And she said, "Well, why in the world would you want to ask me that? I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about something else." And I said, "Well just humor me. Just tell me how your relationship is with your dad." And she said, "Oh, it's not good. He says I'll never amount to anything and he says I'm fat and he just doesn't have good things to say about me." And I said, "Well, you have a spirit of rejection over your life and part of the reason that you're very, very aggressive is because you're seeking to get approval and you have to be successful at all costs because one of the vows that you've made is that you're going to prove your value to your father by being successful. And so you're a slave to what your father has said about you. So you need to pray. We need to break that over you." And we did. She began to cry as I began to share that with her. And we broke that over her that day at lunch and her whole countenance changed. I also believe that strongholds are a lot like wearing sunglasses. Let's say that you're born with sunglasses on and you go through life wearing those sunglasses and one day it's cloudy and a man says, "Did you know that if you took those sunglasses off you'd be able to see much clearer?" And so you take those sunglasses off and you say, "Oh my gosh, look how bright it is out here." Well that's the way strongholds are. You don't really know that you're operating in that until symptoms begin to show up. So what we need to do is understand where the entry points of those strongholds came in. And one of the resources that we found helpful in addition to our book on demolishing strongholds is a book called Operating In the Courts of Heaven, by Robert Henderson. This book is a great book to help you understand how the devil operates from a legal basis and how we need to do business in heaven at the legal court in heaven as he is our defender. Now, we need to look at the role shame plays in our life. Shame says I am a failure or a mistake, whereas guilt says I made a mistake, but I am not a mistake. We need to understand the difference and walk in Godly guilt versus shame. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every good man's conscience in the sight of God. So I want to pause for a moment and say that if you have any questions or comments, please enter them in the chat area or the Q&A area. Just tell me what you think. Tell me what God's speaking to you about this area in your life. And if you have any questions I'd love to take those. I want to spend the last few minutes talking about arrested development. And this is out of a book called Broken Children, Grown Up Pain, by Dr. Paul Hegstrom. Dr. Hegstrom passed away last year. He was a good friend of mine. And I actually went through counseling with him years ago. He says, "When a wounded childhood frees his emotional maturity to within two years of a wound, the adult lives as a child emotionally." That's what it means to be arrested in your development. In other words, somebody might say, "Well he's acting like a child." Well, that might be really true. Because your emotional state in life, even as an adult, you might be living as a 12 year old emotionally because you had a trauma happen in your life that froze you emotionally. So we need to understand that arrested development is caused by the wounds of childhood and amplifies or magnifies our sin nature. The deeper the wounds, the more we act selfishly and childishly. And when we have too much childhood trauma, we're hindered in our ability to develop genuine healthy relationships with our creator and others close to us. We can't readily reach out or accept others because our wounds have made us unteachable. Unable to trust and afraid of truth. Now I believe that Michael Jackson was arrested in his development. Many people felt that there was a sexual issue with him because he liked to hang out with kids. I think that he was arrested in his development and was probably emotionally around a 12 or 13 year old because his father beat him growing up when he didn't sing songs the way he thought he should sing them. And so he had some deep wounds. We also need to realize that when we are impacted from arrested development we can become a false self and we can be a poser in our way we handle ourselves and try to be somebody that we're not. So we seek to hide from our true self because our shame says we will not be acceptable to others as we are. We are driven to hide behind our fig leaf, our false self or false covering that protects us from our true self. This all happens on a subconscious basis as a built in protection mechanism from wounds we received as a child. You know, the movie Groundhog Day is a good example of this where he learns something about him every time he goes through a 24 hour period. And as he goes through each one of those 24 hour periods he changed one aspect of his behavior to get a different outcome. And that's kind of like what we're talking about with our false self and poser. Hegstrom says 90% of our marital difficulties are rooted in a trauma experienced by one or more spouses between the age of five and nine. Arrested development sabotages the heart's good intentions and turns us into a spiritual hypocrite. We all require others to live by the rules we were required to live by in childhood. What does that mean? Well, let's say that you're in a situation that, let's say you're a business owner. And you see people that are just totally inept around you and you really lose your patience because you've been trained to do things with excellence and you've been trained to have high performance. So when you don't see that in others, you get angry. Your expectations are not being met. So you're living by a rule that you were required to live by in your life. And this can show up in a lot of different ways. In perfectionism, impatience, and shame. Competence becomes our method of dealing with a wounded heart. So we can hide behind our competence and compensate for our own pain through our competence. John Eldridge said his plan from the beginning was to assault the heart, just as the wicked witch did to the tin woodman. Make them so busy they ignore the heart and wound them so deeply they don't want a heart. Twist their theology so they despise the heart. Take away their courage, destroy their creativity. Make intimacy with God impossible for them. Of course your heart would be the object of a great and fierce battle. It's your most precious possession. Without your heart you cannot have God. Without your heart you cannot have love. Without your heart you cannot have faith. Without your heart you cannot find the work you were meant to do. In other words, without your heart you cannot have life. "He delivers the afflicted in their affliction and opens their ears to his voice in adversity," says Job. God forces us back into or wound to learn the truth about our wound in order to become healed and free. It says that Satan is an accuser. "Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down." So what voice are you listening to when you hear something in your head that accuses you? Are you listening to that accuser? Whenever we grant anyone other than Jesus Christ authority to tell us who we are, we've made that person a god in our life and entered into idolatry. Let's say that you grew up with a parent that said you're never going to amount to anything, or you're not good at this or that, and you were criticized. You were even shamed. Well, you've got to correct that identity and not believe that identity because that's not what God says about you. You need to believe what God says about you. Let's talk for a moment about addictions. Addictions are anything you cannot willingly stop. Addictions are rooted in the need to be loved. And anything you cannot lay down by an act of your will is an addiction. It's a counterfeit desire for love and intimacy. It becomes an isolation chamber designed to mask our pain. In the brain we have something called a neurotransmitter. It emits two feel good hormones. Serotonin and dopamine. Negative or painful emotion causes the under secretion of serotonin. And that's where Satan comes into our hypothalamus and the brain stem connection. And this is where we drop in serotonin. But if we start looking at pornography or we do something that makes us feel good, it helps to bring our serotonin back. It gives us a high. And that is what leads to addictive behavior. The neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin act as chemical messengers that relay nerve signals through the brain. Dopamine regulates muscle movement, motivation, and the sensation of pleasure. Whereas serotonin primarily affects mood, impulsiveness, and social behaviors. My good friend Craig Hill wrote a small book that talks about the lies of an addiction. Anyone caught in addiction believes that God is not faithful and that the addictive habit will satisfy their addiction. They believe the habit is stronger than the power of God and that addiction is just the way you are. So they're all lies. They're false beliefs, if you will, that Satan plants into our life. Now, men who struggle with sex. Sometimes if a man was not nurtured growing up, he can be a sexualized adult. In other words, he may not necessarily be a sex addict, but he's an affection addict. So sex becomes that affection for him and he'll often look to the wife to get what they did not get in childhood. Maybe they didn't get touched much in childhood. Or hugs. They lack touch. And they came to know sex as love. And the unfortunate thing is the wife can never satisfy that hunger for live if that root issue is not dealt with. And you might even hear the wife say, "You're a sex addict," when he might not necessarily be a sex addict. It might be a basic need that was never met as a child. When we live in compromise we lose confidence in the faith dimension of our lives. We struggle to hear the voice of God, which forces us to live our Christian life through performance and the flesh. In Psalm 106 he says, "And he gave them their requests but sent leanness in their soul." Hey guys. I want to pause for a minute to tell you about something that just give you a heads up on. For the last many years we've been helping men and women like yourself understand what it means to live the larger story of your life. So my gift is really in teaching and I love encouraging believers to fulfill their purpose and destiny. So we've been thinking about a new initiative that could really help people and so we're getting close to announcing it, but we're not there yet. But if you want to know about that and be one of the first ones to know about it when we do release it, you can get on our waiting list. And we've set up a webpage just for that called becomegodschangeagent.com. Becomegodschangeagent.com. In addition, we provide a free download for you if you go on there and put your name on the waiting list. It's called Os Hillman's Top 10 Biblical Truths For Success In Life and Work. These are 10 areas that I believe contributed to my own journey with God and business. And I hope that this resource will be helpful to you. There's no cost. Just go to that. But you don't need to go there now. We'll make an announcement at the end of this as well so that you have that website address at your fingertips. Let's go back to the teaching and we'll talk about this later. God bless. So we overcome the influence of these strongholds by renouncing and repenting of their influence through the prayer of faith and Jesus's blood to cleanse us from these influences. Now whenever the reaction to a situation seems to be extreme compared to the offense, you can know there is unresolved pain or the enemy is at work in the situation. So if somebody gives you a response that is a 10, that should be a two on the Richter scale, you know that something is going on under the hood. That their behavior is not logical. So it merely indicates there is a root problem. It's like a dashboard and the lights on the dash coming on. What's the root of this behavior? So you need to revisit the wound. Identify the events, and then renounce it and ask God to bring healing to that area. Discover the lie. What agreement have you been making with the enemy? And apply the truth. The truth shall make you free. So the steps of freedom from a stronghold is one, identify the strongholds and their symptoms. Rank them from one to 10 by the level of influence they have. And work with someone close to you to confirm the strongholds and confess to renounce the influence of strongholds in Jesus's name. Each believer has the power of the holy spirit to renounce the influence of strongholds over their life as shown in second Corinthians 10:4. We have the divine power to demolish strongholds. And then you want to meditate and walk according to the word and renew your mind. One of the things I had to deal with, I was a workaholic. But it was rooted in fear. So I had to change the number of hours I was working because I was working out of fear. Any self-image contrary to the truth of who God says you are in the spirit is a false self-image. You must agree with God, not with your flesh or the devil. Who said that? That's what you need to ask every time something comes into your head that might be contrary to your identity. "Let this mind be in you. It is also in Jesus Christ." Philippians 2:5. So whatever God sets you free from this and automatically gives you an anointing to set other people free from the same thing you were a victim of. That is your payback on the enemy. For I the lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. Take a look at this. This is a fascinating comparison of two families over a 200 year generation. Max Jutes was married to an atheist woman. They had 560 descendants, 310 died as paupers, 150 criminals, seven murderers, 100 drunkards, one half of the women were prostitutes. It cost the US government 1.2 million in 19th century dollars. But Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, married a godly woman. They had 1,394 descendants, 295 graduated from college, three state governors, 13 college presidents, 65 professors, three US senators, 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 56 doctors, 75 military officers, 100 missionaries, preachers, and authors, and 80 held public office, three mayors, and one comptroller of the US. Don't tell me the gospel doesn't make a huge difference in family systems. So you need to transform your past into a new beginning. You need to realize your identity and learn to contend for it. All right, well that concludes our session for today. I hope that it was helpful and encouraging to you. If you want to go deeper in this topic, I have developed a book called Overcoming Hindrances to Fulfill Your Destiny. It has a lot more information in it and more teaching in this resource. It's only about 100 pages and you can get it off of our website at tgifbookstore.com. Earlier I mentioned about this new program that we're going to be launching soon, but we're not ready to announce it yet. But if you do want to know about it, just get on our waiting list and you'll be the first to be notified. You can go to our website, becomegodschangeagent.com. Becomegodschangeagent.com. And that will have your name on our waiting list and you'll be the first one to be notified. And you'll also receive a free resource called My Top 10 Biblical Truths for Succeeding in Life and Work. And this was a resource that I put together recently that were the top 10 things that I felt were the most important in my journey to be able to be successful in business and in ministry. So I hope that that will be of help to you. Just click on the website listed on the screen there. So we look forward to seeing you in the next session. We're doing weekly podcasts now. We've set up this on our YouTube page and also iTunes. If you just want to listen to the sessions you can listen to them on iTunes as well as YouTube at the TGIF At Work podcast. God bless. See you next time.
Both God and his people love their human enemies, but not in the same way, since God is all-wise and all-governing, and we are finite.
Charles Spurgeon once quipped, “If you find the perfect church, don't go there….you'll ruin it!” At the end of Acts 4 we see a church experiencing unprecedented unity and radical generosity, but it isn't long before sin creeps in. Both God's grace and God's holiness are dramatically put on display. It is only when we see the heights of God's holiness and the depths of our sinfulness, that we will ever begin to understand the magnitude of God's love.
Both God and Satan want you dead, each for different reasons. Os Hillman shares from a new book on how to defeat the work of the enemy in your life. Learn the strategies that Satan employs against believers and how to overcome him
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