Podcasts about Buckling

A day in the life of rural Hungary.By FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.'Here be Dragons' wasn't always a tourist gimmick."I didn't say you could have a drink," the Vizsla commented."Oh, my apologies," I shrugged. I put the stein on a nearby table and waited."Have a seat," she directed. I came up to her table and examined the three empty chairs. I held back until she pointed to the chair opposite her. I sat down, but didn't make eye contact. Instead, I examined the various paintings and photographs on the walls. It was an old place."You killed Matthias, even though you knew he worked for me," she uttered."I can confirm that information to be correct," I looked her way. That, wasn't what she expected."Why?""Why what?" I countered. There was a method to my madness; this was going to be a lesson in competence, and what happens when you don't respect it."Why did you kill Matthias?""I needed a reason?" I tried to look pensive. "Maybe I didn't like the cut of his facial hair?""Do you think this is a joke?" she replied dryly. "The Black Hand always avenge our own.""Damn," I looked perplexed. "No one told me that when I arrived. Can we call Matthias's extermination a 50/50 bad call, both ways?""Matthias was my cousin," the Vizsla continued."My condolences," I sighed. "The next Black Hand douche-bag the Amazons waste, I'll have them ask if he's related to you first. How's that?""You are so not likely to have that opportunity," she pointed out."Oh," I laughed, "you are so wrong about that.""You are far stupider than I had been informed," the Vizsla's eyes narrowed."Nope. You and your cast of 'Dumb and Dumber' have been treating us like idiots since we touched down at Ferenc Liszt International, so I'm pretending to be that simpleton sock-puppet just for you, Vizsla. You've added to that by heaping disrespect and derision on my people," I grinned."You tried to have me and my entourage murdered and Matthias paid the price for that. Everyone knows I'm here. And after your bungled attempt to have me killed, no one is going to believe you did anything but murder me, if I don't show up eventually. Now do you prefer the stupid me, or the brighter than normal me?""If you think acting like a smart-ass is somehow endearing, you are mistaken," she let me know."Whatever," I shrugged. "You called this meeting. What do you want?""Beyond killing one of my lieutenants, I wanted to know what you are doing here?" she studied me."I would like to leave now. I'm wasting my time here," I responded."I want answers," she pressed."You have been given the answers to both your talking points, Matthias died because of your orders and I am here looking for three lost Amazon bloodlines," I replied."That seems bizarre," the Vizsla expressed her doubts."Bizarre? You are talking to the sole male Amazon House Head in three thousand years," I reminded her. "Besides, you only just now finished telling me how the Black Hand look after their own. The Amazons are the same way; we have lost kin who need to be made aware of their background.""What do we do about Matthias?" the Vizsla asked."In all honesty, had he not personally threatened to stab a member of my team, I would have settled for kicking the crap out of him. He put a knife to Ms. Martin's throat. That assured his death sentence. I think the Host will be willing to accept my hypothesis that Matthias was acting on his own initiative, which should settle the matter."And just like that, the expediency of the Black Hand shown forth. The truth of the matter was that he had acted on the Vizsla's orders. Unfortunately, that would have meant my side would have come after the Vizsla and she would have had to avenge his death, lots of needless bloodshed. So Matthias posthumously became a rabid dog gone rogue and one who ended up crossing the wrong people. No vengeance required by anyone. We could get back to business."That is settled. So, what do you want from your new allies?" the Vizsla inquired. A certain level of cold-blooded ruthlessness had been required to achieve her spot in the Black Hand. Likewise, honesty was the best policy when dealing with casually lethal people. They didn't like self-important asses wasting their time."I need to find an individual named 'Branko'. He has kidnapped a young lady who is one of our lost Amazons. We don't require any aid, but if you could leave Selena with us, it would be appreciated," I requested."What are you going to do when you catch up with this 'Branko'?" she questioned."I'd like to say I am going to buy her back, but I think we both know that is a pipe-dream. He's not going to like me interfering in his business, so I'm going to kill him, and any other bastards who are in close proximity," I confessed. She studied me for over a minute."Do you wish a piece of advice?" the Vizsla said."Of course," I nodded. It cost me nothing to acknowledge her vastly superior experience."Take a step back," she advised. Seeing that I didn't understand, "If you recall every single death by your hand, you will go mad. You don't possess the detachment of a true killer, Cáel. Not every member of the Black Hand is an assassin.Your driver, Josef, is from a long line of Black Hand members. He doesn't have what it takes to get close and personal in order to kill a human being, so he drives and provides security. He still matters and serves a necessary function." That was almost nice of her. The advice was based on her decision to keep me around as a useful tool. Going nuts would derail that."There is the life we wish to lead, and the life we must lead, Vizsla," I recalled. There was so much there, whirling around in my skull, it took me all this time to find the link I was looking for. Recall every single death by my hand, "On January 26th, 1847, the Black Hand Chapter House of the Wolf in Verona was wiped out, there were no survivors.""If you say so," she regarded me oddly."Yeah, look into it. Then come back to me when you have the right questions," I stood up. "And 'Branko'?""I will relay information on this individual to Selena. We should have something by the time you get back to Buda," she got out before one of the bodyguards came running our way.He had his H and K MP5 out and was in deep conversation with his ear piece."Our two spotters failed to respond correctly," he told the Vizsla in Hungarian. She gave me another quick once over."My people?" I rose slowly.The Vizsla gave the man a subtle hand gesture. Seconds later, pushing Alkonyka ahead of them, Pamela, Selena and Josef came running through the door. Pamela and Selena had our duffels. Two more Black Hand materialized from a back room.The Black Hand was actually a small outfit. Each Chapter had two or three houses, each with four or five true assassins and maybe six times that in support personnel/recruits in each location. That meant the entire Black Hand organization numbered less than 1000. They had several thousand peripheral contacts across their sphere of Europe and they could purchase some sort of private security given time. But their best protection was their hidden nature and small size. That also meant what we had was what we had. There was no Black Hand SWAT team on the way.Working with hand gestures alone, the Vizsla was directing us to a trap door behind the bar. Josef's phone rang. He hesitantly answered."It is for you," he offered it to our host. She took it. Halfway through the caller's diatribe, she shot me a suspicious look."Why don't you ask him?" she stated, then handed me the phone."Hello Nyilas. Do you know who this is?" the man on the other end stated, in Mycenean Greek."Yes, I do. What do you want? I'm kind of busy here?" I grinned. It was laughing at death all over again."I can relieve you of your pressing schedule. You and the other Amazon step outside and I'll make it quick.""No can-do Studly," I smirked. "If I go out there, it is going to take a while.""I sincerely doubt that.""Don't sell yourself short," I jibed. "I figure clipping off those bull-sized testicles of yours is going to take some work. But I do promise that after I make you a eunuch, I'll use a condom when I bend you over and make you my bitch too. Was there anything else you wanted to know?""No. I think we have a mutual understanding," he laughed. "I'll be seeing you soon." He hung up."Who was that?" Vizsla inquired. She wasn't alone in her curiosity."Ajax," I beamed confidence. I was confident my tenure on this Earth was ending real soon."I think we should be leaving," Vizsla suggested."Selena, help Alkonyka get her sister back," I requested. "I'll catch up when I can. Pamela, you do what you feel you need to do. Vizsla, they are after me, so I'm going to keep them busy while you get away," I explained.No useless 'you don't have to do this' nonsense. She knew the score, I wasn't a member of her outfit and she wanted to live. She did do me one favor. She gave another hand movement. Selena slit Josef's throat in a surprise motion.He didn't die right away. Selena's slash made bleeding out inevitable, but he'd be a while in dying. Odds were, that only Vizsla and Josef knew in advance where we were meeting. Whatever payoff the Condottieri had put in his bank account wasn't going to do him any good. Selena bent over his still-thrashing body and removed his pistol."I will bring you Angyalka Lovasz," Selena pledged. Pamela and I were gearing up. Ajax and his buddies were going to be coming for me any second now. Alkonyka gave me one more worried look before she vanished into the secret basement. "Don't be late," was the last thing Selena said before going down into the darkness. Pamela made sure the trap door was covered up.Lust and Bullets"We've used Butch and Sundance," Pamela checked her L42 Enfield Sniper Rifle. It was the weapon Pamela had trained with and used for longer than I'd been alive, old yet very effective even today."Heat?" I offered up. "You can be De Niro and I can be Kilmer.""Nice. Michael Mann really had a way of killing people," Pamela grinned, then pumped her eyebrows. "Too bad I end up dead in this one.""We'll avoid airports, you should be safe," I joked. Three explosions rocked the building, shooting glass throughout the place. Fortunately, Pamela and I were hiding behind the bar."Let's go," she whispered over the din. Charging out the front door seemed pretty suicidal to me, but Pamela's copious battle lore was something I had the utmost faith in. I respected her judgment and followed along. There was a method to her madness. Two 40 mm grenades had taken out the two cars parked in front. A third launched grenade had blown open the door.The petrol in the cars equated to flaming wreckage and a huge smoke screen. It was broad daylight, no night vision goggles. The flames made IR useless and the smoke temporarily obscured regular vision. The machineguns going off around us scared the crap out of me. It was my old buddy, suppression fire: they weren't shooting directly at us.Metaphysically, Ishara was dueling with Ares. There was a low stone wall, a little over a meter high, that separated an adjacent field from the inn's gravel parking lot. Right as we got to our side of it, three of Ajax's boys came up on the other. Pamela and I remained perfectly still, crouching tightly against our shelter.Two knelt and fired several bursts from their H and K HK416 (Wow! Germany's newest killing machine, they looked slick) into the closest open windows while the third one fired a grenade in. Again, we remained perfectly still. We were about two meters from those three. The drab color of our hastily donned dusters, the congested air and our stillness combined to save us from their notice.The second after that grenade went off, the three vaulted the wall and rushed the building. From the cacophony of the battle, they were storming the building from several directions at once."Quick, go find that guy with the machinegun," Pamela whispered over a feral grin. How was I going to do that?The old fashioned way, I leapt over the wall and ran away from all the flames, explosions and the continuous widespread fusillade of assault weapons fire. I was partially bent over as I ran. I'm still a big guy though. The machine gunner was in a shallow dip in the meadow 30 meters away, on the edge of the woods.He saw me, shifted his MG4 (fuck Ajax and his crew for having the best Bang-Bangs) minutely and unleashed hell my way. In hindsight, the 1st round flattened against my duster as it impacted my upper left thigh. Round #2 hit the duster again, coming below my vest, but hitting my belt (every bit of leather helps).The #3 556 mm slug hit my vest due south of my belly button (Fuck!), # 4 landed a few centimeters up and to the right, taking in both the duster and my ballistic vest. The #5 round clipped my lower side of my right ribcage. The resulting force sent me spinning back and to my right.Honestly, as I landed hard on my back (no rolling with the blow this time), I thought a midget mule team had kicked me in the guts. Apparently, I made a convincing mortally wounded human being. He stopped shooting and Pamela got pissed.I learned a few things at that moment: you do not get used to being shot; you can never appreciate the value of good body amour enough; you can never understand the true value of a sniper until your life is totally in their hands; and damn, Pamela was exceptional. Pamela put a bullet through his nasal cavity in that split second between him exposing himself with his muzzle flashes and deciding to put a few more bullets into my prone form.Pain dictated that I lie where I was. Survival instincts overrode that. I went to my side, pushed up and resumed my crouched stance. Then I was running once more until I could throw myself beside his corpse. I was stunningly calm. Machineguns, snipers, I had to cover Pamela's run across the meadow. I didn't stay by the dead gunner.I grabbed his weapon, some spare ammo and quick-stepped it to the wood line. I rapidly assessed the best spot that could provide cover from each flank. That was where I went down, cradled the device and started shooting at any muzzle flash I could see. The moment I opened fire, Pamela began her own sprint.Unlike my mad dash, Pamela took evasive maneuvers, serpentine, which worked out well when one sniper figured out she wasn't one of them. He/she had two shots at her before she dove past me. Her mien was one of intense, emptiness? She gave me a quick pat-down to make sure I wasn't gushing blood, took a deep breath and then smirked."Come on, Dummy!" she laughed. "We still have a shot at a sequel.""Shot, sequel, you are a laugh riot," I wheezed as I stood, abandoned the MG4 and joined her as we both ran deeper into the woods. A few shots zinged past us before Ajax's crew realized we were in full-on flight mode. They weren't going to waste the bullets.This was the point where archaic and modern warfare diverged. In the olden (pre-Pamela, ow! How did she know what I was thinking?) days, when your enemy broke and ran, it was relatively easy to run them down and slaughter them in their panic. If a few men tried to stem the tide, they would be quickly overwhelmed.After the invention of rapid-fire rifles, that changed. Suddenly, headlong pursuit could be incredibly costly. All it took was a small, resolute band to find some sort of hard cover and they could buy minutes, or even hours, for their retreating brethren. Sure, if you were willing to pay the butcher's bill, you could storm their position.But you had to understand, each defender could fire and work the bolt action in under three seconds. You reloaded your magazine with a prepared clip ~ maybe five more seconds. Ten men could put 150 bullets down range per minute as long as their ammo held out. Sending men into that kind of firepower was murder; very few troops could sustain their attack under those conditions.Ajax's resurrected Mycenaean's were tough enough to do it. Ajax's problem was their finite number. Despite catching Ajax off-guard with Pamela's mad plan, her ungodly skills and a great deal of my pain, we had only managed to kill one so far. The great unknowns were terrain (we didn't know where we were,) and my luck.As Pamela and I ran through the forest at a good clip, we began to make out a specific background noise. It was a river. Not a creek, stream, waterfall, or dam, a river."Did you pack your jet ski?" Pamela snorted."I left it in the car. You said it was so '1990's'," I panted back. A few more footsteps and,

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Drs. Ajay Kuriyan and Dr. Will Parke rejoin Jay for a fourth round of Masterpiece Retina discussion of classic retinal surgery articles. Articles discussed are listed below:Cryotherapy Release of RPE (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3797834/)Gas and Intraocular Pressure (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2326014/)Vortex Vein Remodeling with Buckling (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10682972/)Demisting of Intraocular Lens During Surgery (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10768342/)B-Scan Ultrasonography and Gas (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17592241/)Infusion Stabilizer (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20361231/)Relevant Financial Disclosures: NoneYou can claim CME credits for prior episodes via the AAO website. Visit https://www.aao.org/browse-multimedia?filter=Audi

Children of Abraham Galatians 3:1-14 by William Klock Have you ever heard of Charles Blondin?  He was a French acrobat, daredevil, and tight-rope walker in the middle of the Nineteenth Century.  He is most famous for crossing the Niagara Gorge, just above the falls, walking a tight-rope in 1859.  He was the first person to do so.  And it drew a crowd, so he did it again and again and again.  But to keep the crowds coming back he had to keep finding new and more impressive ways to walk the tight-rope across the gorge.  He crossed walking backwards.  He crossed while blindfolded.  He crossed pushing a loaded wheelbarrow.  He crossed while walking the tight-rope on stilts.  He once carried a chair with him, balanced the chair on a single leg on the rope, then stood on the chair.  Another time he stopped mid-rope, cooked himself an omelet (Yes, I'm also struggling to figure out how he did that), ate the omelet, and then continued to the other side.  But, I think, his most impressive feat was crossing Niagara Gorge on a tight-rope while carrying his manager.  I mean, in terms of physical challenges, that was probably one of the easier things Blondin did.  The impressive bit is that his manager trusted him enough to be part of the stunt. So picture Charles Blondin on a tight-rope, crossing Niagara Gorge with his manager—his name was Harry Colcord—on his back.  But then imagine, Harry, halfway across, telling Blondin to stop and put him down.  “This has been nice, and I know you told me not to look down, but I did.  And the water is churning away way down there as it gets ready to go over the falls and, well, I think I'd feel better if I got off your back and got myself across the tight-rope alone.”  Imagine what Blondin would have said to him.  “You witless fool!” Well, that's what Paul writes to the churches in Galatia, having heard that they're talking about getting circumcised.  Look at Galatians 3:1-5. You witless Galatians!  Who as bewitched you?  Messiah Jesus was portrayed on the cross before your very eyes!  There's just one thing I want to know from you.  Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of torah, or by hearing and believing?  You are so witless!  You began with the Spirit, and now you're ending with the flesh?  Did you really suffer so much for nothing—if indeed it is going to be for nothing?  The one who gives you the Spirit and performs powerful deeds among you—does he do this through your performance of torah, or through hearing and believing?   So chapter 2 ended with Paul writing about the faithful son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  He's reminded them of the cross and now Paul launches into his main argument with that violent image of the cross at the forefront.  “Messiah Jesus was portrayed on the cross before your very eyes!”  It's hard to say exactly what Paul means by that.  When he was there, did he give them a graphic description of Jesus' crucifixion?  Maybe.  But everyone in the Roman world knew about crucifixion.  I think it's safe to say that pretty much everyone had seen a crucifixion at some point.  They knew how awful it was.  Whatever it means that the cross was displayed to them, Paul's point is that the Galatians knew all about Jesus and the cross and they should have understood how it had changed everything.  They should have understood how it turned everything Jews thought about their identity and everything about the rule of torah upside-down.  Jesus' death changed everything.  Paul had taught them that.  When he'd left them, they understood all of this—or so he thought.  But now—they're talking about getting circumcised.  He's utterly flabbergasted.  How could this be, so he practically shouts at them, “You witless Galatians!”  I thought I knew you, but now this?  Has someone cast a stupid spell on you?  Jesus and the Spirit got them halfway across the tightrope, but now they're looking down at the long drop and the churning waters and thinking that maybe they should play it safe and go the rest of the way with torah instead.  And Paul's point: Torah never would have got you this far.  Don't be stupid.  Let Jesus and the Spirit take you all the way. He's got one question for them, but it spills out as six.  Who has bewitched you?  Did you receive the Spirit through the torah or through hearing and believing the gospel?  Again, are you really this dumb?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you going to end in the flesh?  Have you suffered so much for nothing?  And, did God give you his Spirit and has he done powerful things amongst you because you obeyed torah or because you heard and believed?  It all boils down to one question.  Paul asks them to consider everything that's happened to them since he first visited them and proclaimed the good news about Jesus the Messiah.  He asks them: “Did all that happen because you were keeping the Jewish law?”  Of course, the answer is a resounding “No!”  Everything that had happened to them had happened through the power of the gospel and the giving of the Spirit as they listened and believed. And when Paul says that, he makes sure to put all the stress on the gospel and on the Spirit and none on them.  The gospel was proclaimed, they believed—and then they discovered that it was actually all along the Spirit already at work amongst them.  That's the point here.  Their lives had been transformed by the Spirit and the Spirit was doing amazing things in their churches, not because of anything they had done—and certainly not because they'd decided to start living according to the Jewish law.  Up til now, they hadn't even considered doing that.  So, no, none of this had happened because of their works.  Just the opposite, their works were actually the work of God's Spirit in them—a gift they'd received, a new life into which they'd been plunged when they believed the good news and were baptised in the Messiah.  Their new life had begun with the Spirit.  So why, O why, Paul wants to know, are they now turning back to the flesh? Now, we should pause here and ask what Paul means when he writes about Spirit and flesh.  The Spirit is God's Spirit, but for Paul it sort of becomes a shorthand for new life and new creation.  The Spirit is the down payment on the resurrection life of the new world that God has promised.  The life of the Spirit is a preview of what life will one day be like when God finally sets his creation (and us!) fully to rights.  The Spirit is a preview in the sense that we now have a taste of that life, but the Spirit, through his work in us, also gives the world a preview of what God's new world will be like.  Think about that.  The Church is—or it should be—a preview of the age to come, of God's new creation.  On the other hand, the “flesh” for Paul is shorthand for the corruption, decay, and death of the old age—it's shorthand for life without the redeeming work of Jesus and the renewing work of the Spirit.  But, too, Paul also writes about the Jewish people “according to the flesh”—Abraham's biological descendants marked out with the sign of circumcision in their flesh.  To be clear, though, when Paul talks about flesh and Spirit, he is absolutely not using these works in the sense of the Greek philosophers—whose ideas persist today—who thought the physical word or the physical body (the flesh) was some bad thing and that the spirit was some good, non-material essence—the real us—that needs to be set free.  For Paul, we can think of “flesh” as representing the old age dominated by sin and death and “Spirit” as representing the life of god's new creation. So obviously the Spirit is important.  The Spirit shows that the promises made to Abraham have finally come true through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The Spirit is the evidence of the gospel doing its work.  This is why, for example, the Pentecostal and Charismatic idea that separated the gift of the Spirit from belief in the gospel is such a problem.  (If Paul had been alive in the early Twentieth Century he would, I expect, have written an equally sternly worded epistle to them.)  The Spirit is not an add-on to life in Jesus—as if you can believe in Jesus now and receive the Spirit at some later time—or even not at all.  To believe the gospel is to trust in Jesus the Messiah, not just for the forgiveness of sins—as if that's all there is to gospel.  To believe in the gospel is to become part of God's promised new creation, to be plunged into the Spirit so that the very life of God himself makes us new.  To be in the Messiah is to have the Spirit in you.  You cannot separate the two.  Anything less than that is, as Paul would put it, “flesh” and, Brothers and Sisters, the gospel which begins with the Spirit ends in the Spirit.  It will never leave us stuck in the flesh.  The Lord does not deliver you from bondage in Egypt only to leave you stuck in Egypt.  He leads you through the Red Sea and into the promised land. So, to sum up so far: We live the life of the Spirit not because of anything we've done, but because we have heard and believed the good news about Jesus, crucified and risen.  Even then, the fact that we have “heard” it, is because the Spirit was already at work in us.  Now, lets move on to verse 6.  Paul writes: It's like Abraham.  “He believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”  So you know that it's people of faith who are children of Abraham.   Remember what I talked about last week.  Why was Abraham so important to Paul?  Because the story of redemption begins with him.  He's the model for all of God's people thereafter.  The Lord spoke into a world completely lost in the darkness of paganism and he called Abraham: “Go to the land I will show you and I will give you a family and an inheritance.”  It was a crazy promise made by a strange God, but Abraham believed—he trusted—and the Lord established a covenant with him and with his children.  Through them, the Lord would, one day, drive away the darkness and set the world to rights.  I said last week, that's what “righteousness” is about for Paul.  It's about membership in this covenant family of God.  For the Jews in Paul's day the human race was divided into two groups: the Jews were the “righteous”, the “sinners” were everyone else.  It began with Abraham—long before there was ever a torah or, for that matter, even before circumcision.  The Lord established a covenant with Abraham because of faith and—here's the key point for Paul here that stands like a mountain over this whole passage—it is this faith, this trust in the Lord that marks out Abraham's family.  It's the faith people, not the circumcision people who will inherit God's promises.  Imagine Paul pointing his finger at the Galatians—most of whom were gentiles—as he says this.  He's saying, “This means you.”  They—gentile believers renewd by God's Spirit— they were the sign that God's promises to Abraham were finally coming true.  He goes on in verse 8: The scriptures foresaw that God would justify the nations by faith, so it announced the gospel to Abraham in advance, when it declared that ‘the nations will be blessed in you.'  So you see, the people of faith are blessed along with faithful Abraham.   God's promises were a lot bigger than Abraham.  Again, God began a project with Abraham, through which he intended to bring the whole world—the nations—out of the darkness of sin and death.  And Paul could point to these gentile believers in Galatia and say, “See!  You are living proof of the faithfulness of the God of Israel.  In you, the blessing promised to Abraham has begun to reach the nations.  Brothers and Sisters, the same goes for us.  Some of my ancestors were Jews, but most of them were pagans who worshipped oak trees.  They heard the good news about Jesus, the Spirit got hold of them, they believed, and the Spirit led them out of the darkness and made them sons and daughters of Abraham and inheritors of his promise.  You and I are proof that God is faithful to do what he promised. And that's Paul's next point.  It's God who is faithful.  The promises weren't fulfilled because Abraham's family was faithful.  Some of them were, but on the whole, Israel failed miserably.  Look at verses 10-12: Because, you see, those who belong to the “works-of-the-law” camp are under a curse.  For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not stick fast by everything written in the book of the law, to perform it.”  But because nobody is justified before God in the law, it's clear that “the righteous shall live by faith.”  The law, however, is not by faith; rather “the one who does them shall live by them.”   We know that the “faith people” are justified—that means they're the ones counted as “righteous”, as God's people—because those who put their stock in doing the Jewish law, well, they're under a curse.  Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26, “Cursed is everyone who does not stick fast by everything written in the book of the law, to perform it.”  Now, Paul's point isn't that it's impossible to keep the law, so don't bother trying.  What he's saying is that if—like the agitators in Galatia or the people from James in Antioch—if you decide to go down the road of circumcision, well, that's just the first step.  There are 612 other commandments you'll have to follow and not even the agitators, not even these “circumcision people” were doing all of that.  Torah is all or nothing. Here's where Paul is going with this.  He's telling the story again.  I think we miss that because we've been trained to think in terms of abstract doctrinal propositions, but for Paul it was all about the story of God and his people.  It began with Abraham and the family that the Lord miraculously gave him to carry forward his promises to the nations, but along the way the story shows that Abraham's family was infected with the same sin problem as the rest of the human race—the very same problem God's promises were meant to heal. This is the lens through which the Jews of Paul's day saw themselves.  The Essenes at Qumran—the people responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls—they're a great example of this.  They saw that Israel was broken and fallen, disloyal and incapable of carrying forward the Lord's promises.  They believed that the Lord was, secretly through them, launching his new covenant to set everything right.  Their scroll on torah (4QMMT) sums it all up.  First there was a time of blessing under David and Solomon, but King Jeroboam sinned and his successors down the line through Zedekiah kept sinning and that brought the curse of Deuteronomy 27 on the nation.  Deuteronomy—Moses reiteration of the law before the Israelites crossed into the promised land, it promised blessing if the people trusted the Lord and a curse if they were unfaithful.  So the Lord did what he promised.  He caused them to be carried way into exile and, even though the people had returned from exile to the promised land, the curse continued—for another five hundred years.  Being ruled over by godless gentiles like the Romans was the proof.  What Israel needed was a new covenant.  Now, the Qumran community was unique in thinking that they were the people of that new covenant, but most other Jews would have agreed with the basic outline of the story.  The angry Pharisees who wrote the Palms of Solomon and the Maccabean martyrs would have agreed.  Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel said the same thing: God's people, even after some of them had returned to Jerusalem, they were still sinful, still in “exile”, still “slaves in our own land”.  The promises of Deuteronomy 30, the promises that would come true if Israel were faithful, they had never happened.  Isaiah's promises of everything set to rights was only a dream.  Deuteronomy warned of that if Israel was unfaithful she would fall under a curse and Paul and his fellow Jews saw that curse happening in their own day.  Oppression by the pagan Romans was the current iteration in a long line back to Babylon. So Paul sums up the problem in verse 11 when he says that nobody is justified before God in the law, so “the righteous shall live by faith”.  He's quoting Habakkuk there.  But that was the big question for Paul and his fellow Jews.  There were these big promises.  Habakkuk said the righteous shall live by faith, but how were they supposed to get there?  No matter what Israel did, no matter how many reform movements came along, Israel was stuck in unfaithfulness and living under the curse.  Buckling down, like the Pharisees, and doing the law even harder wasn't working.  That's why Paul quotes Leviticus 18:5: “You shall therefore keep my statues and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord”.  There's a promise there, but pretty much everyone by Paul's day had lost hope.  Yes, if we keep the Lord's statues we will live, but no matter what we do and no matter how hard we try, we fail.  So Paul throws up his hands in despair and, I think, most other thoughtful Jews of his day would have thought the same way.  What more can we do? But as discouraging as this story might seem, if you really believed that all of Israel's woes were the curse promised in Deuteronomy 27, there was hope that one day, somehow the blessing of Deuteronomy 30 would happen—including God's renewal of his people by his Spirit.  And so, while his fellow Jews felt the weight of Leviticus 18:5, Paul saw the beginnings of hope there.  This was the Lord's promise and the Lord is faithful.  Paul saw it pointing to a new covenant and a new way of keeping the law—one that would finally work.  This—this new thing—is what Paul saw had happened—was happening—through Jesus the Messiah.  He goes on in verses 13 and 14: The Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse on our behalf, as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”  This was so that the blessing of Abraham could flow through to the nations in Messiah Jesus—and so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit, through faith. Paul saying, “It seemed hopeless, but look what God has done!  The curse that Deuteronomy promised has been borne by the Messiah.  Jesus can do that, because—remember—the king represents his people.  That's why I stressed last week that it's not just the promise to Abraham that's important, but that we also remember how David, the King, was incorporated into the promise as well.  So Jesus the Messiah, the King came to the place where the pagans, agents of the curse, were oppressing his people and he took the curse on himself.  And he didn't do it in some abstract way.  It was obvious.  It was unmistakable.  The cross was the great symbol of Roman oppression and brutality.  Jesus literally took Israel's curse on himself when he died on the cross. Israel, through her unfaithfulness, had become like a logjam in the river of God's blessing, so Jesus the King became, himself, a literal son of Abraham and bore Israel's curse himself, thereby becoming the conduit for God to pour out his Spirit.  He cleared the logjam.  This is what Paul means in verse 14 when he writes that the blessing of Abraham could flow through to the nations in Messiah Jesus”.  That's the first result of Jesus' death on the cross.  The second thing he did was to renew God's covenant.  This is what the prophets had promised.  The Lord wasn't just going to let Israel rot away as a logjam in the river or even bypass Israel.  Through Jesus, God poured out his Spirit on Israel, giving them a new way to keep his law, so that they could, again and as he intended, be the river carrying his blessings to the nations.  That's why Paul says we, meaning he and his fellow Jews who believed the good news about Jesus, we “might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”.  God has dealt with the logjam created by the law and the unfaithfulness of Israel and he's done so through Jesus' death and through the pouring out of his Spirit.  And now Paul and his fellow Jewish missionaries are like the river, freed of the logjam, rushing out to carry the light and life of God to the nations.  For Paul, the mission to the gentiles and the fact that in Jesus, the gentile and Jewish believers were worshiping and eating and gathering around the Lord's Table together as one family, this was proof that God is faithful to do what he has promised. That's as far as we'll go today with Chapter 3.  These verses have a reputation for being notoriously difficult, but a lot of that is because for a very long time we've tried to read what Paul says here as abstract doctrinal propositions, when what Paul is really doing is telling the story of God and his people.  Paul does it that way in part because it puts the faithfulness of God to his promises front and centre and gives us reason to believe him and to trust him, but Paul also puts this all in terms of this great story of redemption, because it shows us our place in the story.  When we look at this in terms of the story, what stands out in the middle of it is that we are, by faith in the Messiah, members of Abraham's promised family.  By faith in Jesus the Messiah, not by circumcision or torah or anything else.  By faith in Jesus the Messiah.  Getting that right was the solution to the problems in Galatia.  Think about that.  When we think about Christian identity, how often do we think of in terms of being sons and daughters of Abraham?  This was a really, really big deal for Paul.  And as much as we sang the song about Father Abrahamwhen we were kids in Sunday School—I am one of them, and so are you—this theme is almost entirely ignored down through the history of the church.  We even have a whole school of recent evangelical theology committed to the idea that only ethnic Jews are children of Abraham.  But this truth, that we are children of Abraham and heirs of God's promises to him, it's absolutely essential to Paul.  So much so, that for him the gospel stands or falls on this truth.  It means that we're part of the story and it means that as God pours his Spirit into us and makes us his temple, we see his faithfulness to his promises. Think on that as you come to the Lord's Table this morning.  We eat the bread and drink the wine as one family in fulfilment of the promises that the Lord made so long ago to Abraham.  We are brothers and sisters, because Jesus has, by his grace, grafted us into this family.  The simple fact that we are here together and that God has poured his Spirit into us, is proof of his faithfulness.  So eat the bread and drink the wine, look around at your brothers and sisters, remember our place in this story, and have faith, believe, trust.  We live in difficult days and like, Charles Blondin's manager, sitting on his shoulders and looking down at the long drop and the churning waters, we might be tempted to get down and walk the tightrope ourselves.  Brothers and Sisters, keep the faith, keep trusting in the God who has proved himself faithful.  Jesus and the Spirit have brought us this far and Jesus and the Spirit will see us through to the end. Let's pray: Gracious Father, who keep us steadfast in faith, we pray.  We are fickle, but you have proved yourself faithful.  Remind us always of the great story into which you have grafted us so that we live in your faithfulness, redeemed by your Son and renewed by your Spirit.  Give us grace to trust and obey you and to be your river of gospel life flowing to the nations.  Through Jesus we pray.  Amen.

John and Craig are on opposite sides of the world this week, so they're revisiting an episode from 2016 to look at the many psychological barriers facing writers tackling big projects, and offer practical strategies for actually getting the work done. They also discuss the then-upcoming election (same as it ever was), and answer a listener question about how autism spectrum disorder might impact a screenwriting career. In our bonus segment for premium members, John and Drew reflect on what's changed in the eight years since this episode last aired, and then like all conversations in 2024, they just start talking about Moo Deng. Links: Episode 271: Buckling Down – Transcript Inevitable Foundation Forest, Snowstorm and Howling Wind ambiance tracks Julia Roberts To Star In Feature Film About PTA Mom Framed For Drug Possession by Nellie Andreeva for Deadline Here's How to Finish That F*ing Book, You Monster by Chuck Wendig Wikitravel The Writers Guild Foundation Get a Scriptnotes T-shirt! Check out the Inneresting Newsletter Gift a Scriptnotes Subscription or treat yourself to a premium subscription! Craig Mazin on Threads and Instagram John August on Threads, Instagram, Twitter and Mastodon Outro by Pedro Aguilera (send us yours!) This episode was originally produced by Godwin Jabangwe. Scriptnotes is produced by Drew Marquardt and edited by Matthew Chilelli. Email us at ask@johnaugust.com You can download the episode here.

From the outside, Wu Xie Yu seemed like an exemplary student; well-mannered, intelligent, and a top student at one of China's top universities. But deep down however, he was shouldering the heavy burden of expectations, not to mention the grief following his father's passing a few years later. And one day in 2015, he buckled under the pressure. Part 1 - We explore Wu Xie Yu's background, as well as that of his family; leading up to the horrific events that played out in 2015.Part 2 - We learn about how Wu Xie Yu managed to hide from authorities for so long, and the circumstances that led to his eventual arrest.  FYI we have just started a YouTube channel where you can watch these Heinous stories:https://www.youtube.com/@GrimAsia_1UpMedia Join your fellow Heinous fans and interact with the team at our website or through our socials (IG, TikTok) @heinous_1upmedia. - Love Heinous? But feel its getting too dark for you? Check out:

Caleb Serong joined Triple M to talk Fremantle and encourage fans to get down to the Club's final home and away game of the season against Port Adelaide.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the outside, Wu Xie Yu seemed like an exemplary student; well-mannered, intelligent, and a top student at one of China's top universities. But deep down however, he was shouldering the heavy burden of expectations, not to mention the grief following his father's passing a few years later. And one day in 2015, he buckled under the pressure. Part 1 - We explore Wu Xie Yu's background, as well as that of his family; leading up to the horrific events that played out in 2015.Part 2 - We learn about how Wu Xie Yu managed to hide from authorities for so long, and the circumstances that led to his eventual arrest.  FYI we have just started a YouTube channel where you can watch these Heinous stories:https://www.youtube.com/@GrimAsia_1UpMedia Join your fellow Heinous fans and interact with the team at our website or through our socials (IG, TikTok) @heinous_1upmedia. - Love Heinous? But feel its getting too dark for you? Check out:

During my recent long hours on trails training for the Leadville Trail 100, as well as in the Chase the Moon ultramarathon I just ran, I have been listening to several podcasts, and one I recently discovered and really enjoy is Buckle Up with Brian Passenti and Simon Guérard. Fellow New York area guy and Yankees fan Brian grew up running but had some significant detours along the way due to drinking and addiction. He basically missed high school after his mom recognized his issues and sent him to various institutions in what is actually known as the Troubled Teen Industry. His path led him to enlist in the Marines where he served almost his full hitch but got discharged for getting caught smoking weed. Following his return to civilian life, Brian continued to run pretty decently, although probably diminished because many of his runs were done in the morning to work off his hangover so he could show up at his job appearing to be sober. He finished Leadville in 2010 in less than 24 hours and was fourth-place in the challenging Silver Rush 50 while juggling running and drinking. A drunken bike wreck in December, 2016 that resulted in significant bodily injury led him to get sober. His running and his life have taken off since then. He has finished Leadville eight times, Leadman, the Moab 240 in 82 hours, and this year the Cocodona 250 in less than 105 hours. Brian, who has a wife and kids, now has the Buckle Up podcast and a thriving full-time coaching business called Altitude Endurance Coaching, and his clients include many training for Leadville and other ultramarathons. I hope you enjoy this lively chat between two ultrarunning, storytelling East Coast guys.Brian Passentialtitudeendurancecoaching.comFacebook Brian Passenti and Altitude Endurance CoachingInstagram @passentiontherunLinkedIn Brian PassentiBill Stahlsilly_billy@msn.comFacebook Bill StahlInstagram and Threads @stahlor and @coachstahlYouTube We Are Superman Podcast

It's Trump vs. Biden—again. But CNN promises, this time will be different. Guest: Margaret Sullivan, columnist covering media, politics and culture for The Guardian Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Trump vs. Biden—again. But CNN promises, this time will be different. Guest: Margaret Sullivan, columnist covering media, politics and culture for The Guardian Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Trump vs. Biden—again. But CNN promises, this time will be different. Guest: Margaret Sullivan, columnist covering media, politics and culture for The Guardian Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Trump vs. Biden—again. But CNN promises, this time will be different. Guest: Margaret Sullivan, columnist covering media, politics and culture for The Guardian Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Steve Moriarty, Tom Hill & Jacob Senior as they discuss all things investing. Nothing in this podcast should be considered financial advice and is for educational purposes only!

How do outcomes differ for RRD patients at risk of PVR following PPV alone or combined PPV/scleral buckling? Moderator David Xu, MD, hears from panelists Barton Blackorby, MD, and Prethy Rao, MD, MPH, about a recent peer-reviewed paper published in Ophthalmology Retina covering surgical outcomes of patients with RRD who were considered high risk for PVR and underwent either PPV alone or PPV/scleral buckling. After the break, the doctors discuss the specific mechanics of a PPV/scleral buckle that may lead to successful surgery and ask whether this paper helps us better understand risk factors for PVR.

https://garykaltbaum.com/

TOPICS: Coming in hot for 2024.  Reflecting and planning. Buckling down for a tough year. Grimsmo Buyer's Choice, new knife model Grimsmo's Eumach machines Selling CNC machines How do we buy cleaning supplies Dual color 3d printing for text  

Join AA as we discuss the future of the human race. As well as our 2023 in review. Thank you for subscribing. What are the 7 rings of hell?

Buckling up with Patton Oswalt.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Drs. Pradeep Prasad and Yoshihiro Yonekawa join to share their experienced tips and tricks for beginning scleral bucklers, from surgical techniques to implant choice to post-operative follow-up.Relevant Financial Disclosures: NoneYou can claim CME credits for prior episodes via the AAO website. Visit https://www.aao.org/browse-multimedia?filter=Audi

Are you tired of feeling anxious?Want to know a simple way to boost your confidence?Do you need better boundaries with your family?Buckling under the pressure of college applications, a job search, or other big life decisions?Listeners from around the world have been writing in about these issues,  asking specifically for both Mel's advice and her 18-year-old son Oakley's young adult perspective.This is a fantastic conversation to listen to as a family. It will give you amazing insight into issues you may be facing as well as eye-opening honesty about how the young adults in your life are thinking about these topics. In this conversation, Mel and Oakley discuss topics like: How to properly support someone you love with anxietyWhen to know if it's time to break up with someoneIf it's possible to stay friends with an exHow to create boundaries with your familyWhen you should be worried someone is spending too much time aloneA really interesting take on gamingHandling the pressure of college applications, divorce, job search, or finding your purposeHow to talk to your kid about alcohol: surprising boundaries you can use to protect the ones you loveWhat to do to get someone talking when they are not talking to youSpecific advice on building confidence as a young adultMistakes divorcing parents makeHow to have a tough conversation with your parentsCalming words for someone going through a hard timeA short visualization exercise to calm anxietyA fun and free way to get closer to your familyA young adult perspective on hazing and bullying and why you should always get your parents involvedWatch the episodes on YouTube: https://bit.ly/45OWCNrMy book! The High 5 Habit here: https://a.co/d/g1DQ8Pt Follow me:Instagram: https://bit.ly/3QfG8bbThe Mel Robbins Podcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/49bg4GPLinkedin: https://bit.ly/46Mh0QBTikTok: https://bit.ly/46Kpw2vSign up for my newsletter: https://bit.ly/46PVnPs Want more resources? Go to my podcast page at melrobbins.com/podcast.Disclaimer

“Massive Spending with Jeff Duncan” “The Debt Limit with Jeff Duncan” “National Constitution Day with Candace Carroll” “RINO's and Buckling Republicans”

Homework [Fonso] Session 9 (2001) Extra Credit [MCP] Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) Extras: [MCP] Talk to Me (2023) [MCP] Overnight (2003) [Harley] The Nice Guys (2016) Next Episode: Homework [Harley] Miracle Mile (1988) Extra Credit [Fonso] Dazed and Confused (1993)

Pat and Mike are talking about the Philadelphia Phillies facing the Milwaukee Brewers. Is the bullpen getting cold at the wrong time? Does Ben Simmons want to come back to Philly? Should the Philadelphia 76ers welcome him back?  Pat vs. Mike in an all-time fantasy football matchup, using the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots.  www.EoPsports.com

Record heat is expected this weekend and we have already seen buckling roads due to high temps every day this week. John Gleason with UDOT joins the show to share what is happening.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a decision that shocked most observers, the Supreme Court this week ruled that an Alabama Republican gerrymander was in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. John Roberts and Bret Kavanaugh joined the Court's three Democratic appointees in upholding the principle that “packing and cracking” congressional districts along racial lines was illegal. What happened? Crazy Alert! Big oil tells Fox-so-called-News there is "no health risk" from inhaling toxic smoke - he has a bridge to sell you too.... Geeky Science! How visceral fat has a negative effect on your thinking. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Julio and guest co-host Fernanda Santos discuss Mike Pence launching his 2024 bid and the latest with Cop City in Atlanta. In our roundtable, Astead Herndon, national political reporter for The New York Times and host of The Run-Up podcast, and Sabrina Rodríguez, national political reporter for The Washington Post, join Julio to delve deeper into the growing number of Republican presidential candidates. They also unpack the likelihood of a Biden/Trump rematch in 2024 and the already growing apathy among voters. ITT Staff Picks:  “This is a global struggle against fascism, it's a global struggle against the militarization of the police and state violence against folks whose dissent is being oppressed,” says Atlanta organizer Jasmine in an interview about Cop City on the Movement Memos podcast from Truthout.  David A. Graham unpacks Mike Pence's presidential campaign, in this piece for The Atlantic.  Michael Barajas talks about two Republican-backed bills that are threatening election administration in Texas' largest county, in this article for Bolts magazine. Photo credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, Meg Kinnard

Listen to this special poolside Whinypaluza Wednesday Live vlog episode with The Greene Family! An extension of the weekly blog, join Rebecca and her family on the live vlog, brought to you here in case you missed it last week!   Here is what to expect on this week's show: The Greene family has a pool! Buckling up for the “June Jungle” as school wraps up and Rebecca's birthday is around the corner. How Rebecca has shifted from saying “yes” to all the summer activities to evaluating what the kids really want and creating a reasonable schedule with some down time. From multiple camps and schedules and mayhem in the summer to 1 camp for one kid, the kids are growing up and things are changing. Driving lessons for Max! Design the summer you want. What does that look like? What are your kids' goals for the summer? How can you help them attain them without being overscheduled? Be sure to schedule downtime! How do you relax? Follow Rebecca Greene Blog  https://www.whinypaluza.com/ Book 1  https://bit.ly/WhinypaluzaBook Book 2 https://bit.ly/whinybook2 Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/whinypaluzaparenting Instagram https://www.instagram.com/becgreene5/ @becgreene5 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@whinypaluzamom?lang=en @whinypaluzamom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 A Goldman Sachs analyst discusses bank mayhem and stocks. Plus, a Princeton historian shares lessons from past financial crises.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February 12, 2023 Preparation for Worship Time for Gathering Opening Hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father There is no shadow of turning with Thee Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be Refrain: Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside [Refrain] Summer and winter and springtime and harvest Sun moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness mercy and love [Refrain] Prayer of Praise Song of Worship Prayers of the Church and Prayer of our Lord Offering and Doxology Scripture Lesson Luke 13:1-17 Sermon Buckling Under the Burden Closing Hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” When peace like a river attendeth my way When sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say It is well It is well with my soul Refrain: It is well with my soul It is well It is well with my soul Tho' Satan should buffet Tho' trials should come Let this blest assurance control that Christ hath regarded My helpless estate and hath shed His own blood for my soul [Refrain] My sin O the bliss of this glorious tho't My sin not in part but the whole is nailed to the cross And I bear it no more praise the Lord praise the Lord O my soul [Refrain] And Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight The clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trump shall resound And the Lord shall descend even so it is well with my soul [Refrain] Benediction: • Sunday Prayer: Sundays @ 9:30 AM in the Sunshine Room and via Zoom • Bible Study: Mondays @ 12 & 6 PM in the Sunshine Room and via Zoom, off this week • Issues Hour: Wednesdays @ 11 AM in the Sunshine Room and via Zoom • Men's Lunch: 1st & 3rd Wednesdays @ 12:30PM at Blueberry's Cafe • F3 Ladies Luncheon: Thursday, February 16th @ 12PM at Deep Lagoon, please sign up. • Member Spotlight: Sunday February 26th after Sunday service, join us as we learn about Joe and Sandrea Davis. • Thank you to Rachael Hutchinson for providing the English biscuits today. • The chancel flowers are given today by Nanette Finkle in memory of her husband and their wedding anniversary. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/naplescommunitychurch/message

https://www.X22Report.com

There are serious concerns for the wellbeing of people with dementia being unable to access adequate care right now - let alone be safely catered for in the next few years. Dementia NZ says the services and resources are stretched, inadequate and lacking the scope to assist people who have dementia. Also, some rest homes are closing and care staff are in short supply. Canterbury DHB Psychiatrist and academic, Matthew Croucher has co-authored a review of the sector and he says based on demographic trends the issue will only intensify. Currently, 70,000 New Zealanders have dementia. That's set to rise to 170,000 by 2050. [audio_play]

Greetings everyone and welcome to this last extra podcast this year. Merry Christmas and may you have a very blessed new year. If you are one who started around January 1 listening to the DBRP and are about to finish the plan on December 31, congratulations to you! I hope you celebrate that achievement! As always, I invite you to come back some year in the future and listen again, but suggest that after a full year with me, it is time to find another Bible reader to listen to in the new year. Don't forget your own voice. Reading Scripture out loud is tremendously helpful, even if the audience is just you alone. If you have listened to the NLT this year, for some future year remember that I have also recorded the GNT. One of my projects during 2022 was to critically listen to the NLT series and fix poor recording quality and mistakes. I re-recorded a few episodes entirely, and made smaller improvements to others. I am continuing to do the same thing now in the GNT series. For those not on our email list, Gale and I recently shared pictures from my recent trip to Indonesia. If you would like to see that letter and a few extra pictures, please click the link here in the episode notes. Before January 1st, I will revise the dailybiblereading.info website and the Read This First pages, which contain all my advice about Bible reading and listening to the DBRP. (The link to the Read This First pages is found in the banner of dailybiblerading.info.) If you have any question you would like me to answer in those pages, please use the Contact button at dailybiblereading.info. I would like to update the information I shared about podcast players. If you have a favorite podcast app that works well for managing your podcast listening, please tell me about it. I will need the app's name, what platform it runs on, and why you recommend it. In my October extra podcast, I gave the second lesson in the series I call Buckling the Belt of Truth. That lesson gives my advice about how to understand spiritual realities found in the Bible, which are spiritual things about you that cannot be seen with human eyes. In particular, I dealt with the biblical teaching that you have been united with Christ in his death (being crucified with Him), you died and were buried, and now have been raised with Him to new life. Since you and I never actually experienced death, the Holy Spirit has been so kind as to give us multiple metaphors to help us grasp the reality of our spiritual resurrection. I think a key to grasping this concept is understanding our being one with Christ. At first I thought of giving you an allegorical treasure map, to walk you through the different ways Scripture repeats the same powerful idea. But in the end I had to recognize that I don't have the literary gifts of John Bunyan. (But don't miss reading his book, Pilgrim's Progress.) I started that Buckling the Belt series by saying how I struggled to find the promises that Peter mentioned in 2nd Peter 1, the promises needed for ‘living a godly life', the ones “that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.” I am thinking now that not all God's promises need to be expressed in the future with statements like, “He who started a good work in you WILL …” (I'm referring there to a beautiful promise found in Phl. 1:6.) Promises can also be stated in the present, such as when Jesus utters 7-8 ‘I am' statements in John, and when He proclaims ‘you are'. One of those ‘I am' statements is found in John 15, where Jesus said, “I am the true grapevine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” The statement, “I am the vine; you are the branches,” is actually a promise. It is a right-now promise. It is true of you now. But like many promises, there are conditions to fulfill. Some of the conditions are stated with the word ‘will', like we expect for promises: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. As a Bible translator, I don't like the way our being united to Christ is expressed with the word ‘in', as in “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” Greek talked like that. But we English speakers don't normally talk of branches ‘remaining in' a tree. Instead, branches are simply part of the tree. I would translate “Remain in me,” as “Stay joined as one with me.” We are organically one with our Vine, Jesus. There is a constellation of ‘treasures' found in staying joined to Jesus which He explains in John 15: 9 “I have loved you as the Father has loved me.” Then later he commands us to love one another. 13-15 This is the passage where Jesus calls us his ‘friends'. 16 Then Jesus tells us, “I chose you.” Those three are on my list of the things that most Christians find hard to believe. 11 “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my Joy.” What a wonderful promise! 7-8 Let me give you my paraphrase: Jesus is saying,  “If you continue clinging to Me in oneness, and if you internalize my teachings, then I invite you to pray asking for anything you want, and it will be given to you. 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” This is another amazing promise: Answered prayers! Wow, how come we aren't spending more time in prayer!   Let's keep on clinging to Christ. Meditate on being Jesus' branch. Ask God to help you internalize this new identity. Because then you will be able to reach out and touch God's other promises, like the harder one I mentioned: Being crucified with Christ and raised with Him. There is one more crowning jem of oneness with Christ in Ephesians that I didn't mention in the last episode. Since we are joined as one with Christ Jesus, we ‘are seated with Him in the heavenly realms' (Eph. 2:6). That verse doesn't say that we ‘have a future position with Christ', although promises to that effect are found elsewhere in the Bible. Instead Eph. 2:6 says we ‘are seated' with Him right now. Where is Christ seated? At God's right hand. (If you were standing directly in front of God, Jesus would be to your left.) The verse is a bit unclear as to how we could be seated with Christ. We might be seated circling God's throne. I like to say, “There are no folding chairs in heaven.” None of heaven's chairs are made of plastic. Your name is engraved at your place. There is a place reserved for you alone, and it is certain and permanent. But capitalizing on the picture of vine-and-branch oneness with Christ, let's imagine sitting on Jesus' lap, while He is sitting on his throne next to God. You are right there with the King of the Universe. Lean back and whisper in his ear! “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Mat. 7:7 John 15:7 “If you remain joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted.” Think of it: Jesus actually is inviting you to take advantage of your close position! From this place of acceptance and privilege, you are invited to tell the King what You need Him to do for you. But when you sit there, filled with reverence and awe, you will suddenly realize that some things you thought about asking Him are not really what is needed or important. However when the Holy Spirit helps you find your voice to ask, the things you wind up asking will be ‘for His glory' (that is to say, ‘in his name'). Such prayers are powerful! Then our passage promised ‘you will be filled with joy.' Why will we receive such joy? Because we will ask big things of God, and He will grant our requests, and God will be glorified. First of all, He will be glorified because we will sing his praises more thankfully. This is where I am right now. I am working to understand and internalize all that I just shared, because I am asking God to do some amazingly big things.   Messages from my Think Cabinet:Our church remodeled the worship center a few years ago. A heavy black metal audio cabinet, six feet tall containing a big rack of amplifiers was left abandoned. Eventually I asked if I might take all the outdated stuff from that cabinet and use it for something in my office. I didn't have a clear idea of what I would do with it. I have enjoyed it mainly as my Idea Incubation Box. It has light of seven colors seeping out of the cracks from the string of LED lights I installed. For a little more than a year I have been posting Bible verses inside the box that grabbed my attention. I'm going to share those verses with you now. (The verse references are given in the episode notes.)   Quote from Dr. Bob Utley, Introduction to Habakkuk: “It is acceptable to question God. However, often it is God's presence, not rational answers, that satisfy (as in Job's case).”     (This note is posted folded and very low. You have to kneel to open it and read it.) “Whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret.”  Matt. 6:6   The LORD is near to all who cry out to Him to all who cry out to Him sincerely.  Ps. 145:18     Keep on praying with the help of the Holy Spirit. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. (Two translations of Jude 20)   Entrust your efforts to the LORD, and your plans will succeed. Prov. 16:3   A heart that turns from God becomes bored with its own ways. But a good person is satisfied with God's ways. Prov. 14:14     This is how our translation of Eccl. 12:11 sounds when translated into English: The teaching of a wise advisor is like a shepherd's stick that is used to guide and direct his sheep. May every saying given by this advisor and shepherd be nailed into the mind of every learner and guide them in living rightly. Eccl. 12:11 PET     Without [fully believing//faith] it is impossible to please God, for the one who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Heb. 11:6     Through suffering our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the LIFE of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. 2Cor. 4:10   You love Him even though you've never seen Him. And even though you don't see Him, you believe in Him, and celebrate with glorified joy that goes beyond anything words can say, since you are receiving the proper goal of your faith, namely, the rescue of your souls.  1Pet. 1:8-9     The people of an evil and unfaithful era look for a miraculous sign. Mat. 12:39   Which of you wanting to build a tower doesn't sit down first and compute the cost?  Luke 14:28     Remember Uzziah: When he became powerful his pride destroyed him.  2Chr. 26:16     Do not envy sinners in your heart. Instead continue to fear the Lord. There is indeed a future for you, and your hope will not be crushed.  Prov. 23:17-18   One dead fly can make a whole bottle of perfume stink. Even so, a little foolishness can outweigh great wisdom and honor.  Ecc. 10:1     Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Christ Jesus. And don't think about ways to indulge your evil desires.  Romans 13:14     If you, though you are sinful, know how to give good gifts to your children, just think how much more your Father in heaven will give good gifts to those who ask Him.  Mat. 7:11     The LORD of armies has planned it. Who can stop it? He is ready to use his power. Who can turn it back?  Is. 14:27     It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.  2Cor. 1:21-22   This note is my comment based on Weymouth's translation of 2Cor. 5:14. “His death was my death.”     Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. Heb. 6:18b-19   There is a 8 year old boy who visits my office weekly and asks if I have put up a new note. I had to put up a special note inside the box telling how to get out of the box if you shut yourself in.   My sister or brother, have a wonderful time celebrating our Savior's birth. Gale and I send you our love and together say May the Lord bless you ‘real good'. Phil & Gale

Greetings everyone and welcome to this last extra podcast this year. Merry Christmas and may you have a very blessed new year. If you are one who started around January 1 listening to the DBRP and are about to finish the plan on December 31, congratulations to you! I hope you celebrate that achievement! As always, I invite you to come back some year in the future and listen again, but suggest that after a full year with me, it is time to find another Bible reader to listen to in the new year. Don't forget your own voice. Reading Scripture out loud is tremendously helpful, even if the audience is just you alone. If you have listened to the NLT this year, for some future year remember that I have also recorded the GNT. One of my projects during 2022 was to critically listen to the NLT series and fix poor recording quality and mistakes. I re-recorded a few episodes entirely, and made smaller improvements to others. I am continuing to do the same thing now in the GNT series. For those not on our email list, Gale and I recently shared pictures from my recent trip to Indonesia. If you would like to see that letter and a few extra pictures, please click the link here in the episode notes. Before January 1st, I will revise the dailybiblereading.info website and the Read This First pages, which contain all my advice about Bible reading and listening to the DBRP. (The link to the Read This First pages is found in the banner of dailybiblerading.info.) If you have any question you would like me to answer in those pages, please use the Contact button at dailybiblereading.info. I would like to update the information I shared about podcast players. If you have a favorite podcast app that works well for managing your podcast listening, please tell me about it. I will need the app's name, what platform it runs on, and why you recommend it. In my October extra podcast, I gave the second lesson in the series I call Buckling the Belt of Truth. That lesson gives my advice about how to understand spiritual realities found in the Bible, which are spiritual things about you that cannot be seen with human eyes. In particular, I dealt with the biblical teaching that you have been united with Christ in his death (being crucified with Him), you died and were buried, and now have been raised with Him to new life. Since you and I never actually experienced death, the Holy Spirit has been so kind as to give us multiple metaphors to help us grasp the reality of our spiritual resurrection. I think a key to grasping this concept is understanding our being one with Christ. At first I thought of giving you an allegorical treasure map, to walk you through the different ways Scripture repeats the same powerful idea. But in the end I had to recognize that I don't have the literary gifts of John Bunyan. (But don't miss reading his book, Pilgrim's Progress.) I started that Buckling the Belt series by saying how I struggled to find the promises that Peter mentioned in 2nd Peter 1, the promises needed for ‘living a godly life', the ones “that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.” I am thinking now that not all God's promises need to be expressed in the future with statements like, “He who started a good work in you WILL …” (I'm referring there to a beautiful promise found in Phl. 1:6.) Promises can also be stated in the present, such as when Jesus utters 7-8 ‘I am' statements in John, and when He proclaims ‘you are'. One of those ‘I am' statements is found in John 15, where Jesus said, “I am the true grapevine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” The statement, “I am the vine; you are the branches,” is actually a promise. It is a right-now promise. It is true of you now. But like many promises, there are conditions to fulfill. Some of the conditions are stated with the word ‘will', like we expect for promises: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. As a Bible translator, I don't like the way our being united to Christ is expressed with the word ‘in', as in “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” Greek talked like that. But we English speakers don't normally talk of branches ‘remaining in' a tree. Instead, branches are simply part of the tree. I would translate “Remain in me,” as “Stay joined as one with me.” We are organically one with our Vine, Jesus. There is a constellation of ‘treasures' found in staying joined to Jesus which He explains in John 15: 9 “I have loved you as the Father has loved me.” Then later he commands us to love one another. 13-15 This is the passage where Jesus calls us his ‘friends'. 16 Then Jesus tells us, “I chose you.” Those three are on my list of the things that most Christians find hard to believe. 11 “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my Joy.” What a wonderful promise! 7-8 Let me give you my paraphrase: Jesus is saying,  “If you continue clinging to Me in oneness, and if you internalize my teachings, then I invite you to pray asking for anything you want, and it will be given to you. 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” This is another amazing promise: Answered prayers! Wow, how come we aren't spending more time in prayer!   Let's keep on clinging to Christ. Meditate on being Jesus' branch. Ask God to help you internalize this new identity. Because then you will be able to reach out and touch God's other promises, like the harder one I mentioned: Being crucified with Christ and raised with Him. There is one more crowning jem of oneness with Christ in Ephesians that I didn't mention in the last episode. Since we are joined as one with Christ Jesus, we ‘are seated with Him in the heavenly realms' (Eph. 2:6). That verse doesn't say that we ‘have a future position with Christ', although promises to that effect are found elsewhere in the Bible. Instead Eph. 2:6 says we ‘are seated' with Him right now. Where is Christ seated? At God's right hand. (If you were standing directly in front of God, Jesus would be to your left.) The verse is a bit unclear as to how we could be seated with Christ. We might be seated circling God's throne. I like to say, “There are no folding chairs in heaven.” None of heaven's chairs are made of plastic. Your name is engraved at your place. There is a place reserved for you alone, and it is certain and permanent. But capitalizing on the picture of vine-and-branch oneness with Christ, let's imagine sitting on Jesus' lap, while He is sitting on his throne next to God. You are right there with the King of the Universe. Lean back and whisper in his ear! “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Mat. 7:7 John 15:7 “If you remain joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted.” Think of it: Jesus actually is inviting you to take advantage of your close position! From this place of acceptance and privilege, you are invited to tell the King what You need Him to do for you. But when you sit there, filled with reverence and awe, you will suddenly realize that some things you thought about asking Him are not really what is needed or important. However when the Holy Spirit helps you find your voice to ask, the things you wind up asking will be ‘for His glory' (that is to say, ‘in his name'). Such prayers are powerful! Then our passage promised ‘you will be filled with joy.' Why will we receive such joy? Because we will ask big things of God, and He will grant our requests, and God will be glorified. First of all, He will be glorified because we will sing his praises more thankfully. This is where I am right now. I am working to understand and internalize all that I just shared, because I am asking God to do some amazingly big things.   Messages from my Think Cabinet:Our church remodeled the worship center a few years ago. A heavy black metal audio cabinet, six feet tall containing a big rack of amplifiers was left abandoned. Eventually I asked if I might take all the outdated stuff from that cabinet and use it for something in my office. I didn't have a clear idea of what I would do with it. I have enjoyed it mainly as my Idea Incubation Box. It has light of seven colors seeping out of the cracks from the string of LED lights I installed. For a little more than a year I have been posting Bible verses inside the box that grabbed my attention. I'm going to share those verses with you now. (The verse references are given in the episode notes.)   Quote from Dr. Bob Utley, Introduction to Habakkuk: “It is acceptable to question God. However, often it is God's presence, not rational answers, that satisfy (as in Job's case).”     (This note is posted folded and very low. You have to kneel to open it and read it.) “Whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret.”  Matt. 6:6   The LORD is near to all who cry out to Him to all who cry out to Him sincerely.  Ps. 145:18     Keep on praying with the help of the Holy Spirit. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. (Two translations of Jude 20)   Entrust your efforts to the LORD, and your plans will succeed. Prov. 16:3   A heart that turns from God becomes bored with its own ways. But a good person is satisfied with God's ways. Prov. 14:14     This is how our translation of Eccl. 12:11 sounds when translated into English: The teaching of a wise advisor is like a shepherd's stick that is used to guide and direct his sheep. May every saying given by this advisor and shepherd be nailed into the mind of every learner and guide them in living rightly. Eccl. 12:11 PET     Without [fully believing//faith] it is impossible to please God, for the one who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Heb. 11:6     Through suffering our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the LIFE of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. 2Cor. 4:10   You love Him even though you've never seen Him. And even though you don't see Him, you believe in Him, and celebrate with glorified joy that goes beyond anything words can say, since you are receiving the proper goal of your faith, namely, the rescue of your souls.  1Pet. 1:8-9     The people of an evil and unfaithful era look for a miraculous sign. Mat. 12:39   Which of you wanting to build a tower doesn't sit down first and compute the cost?  Luke 14:28     Remember Uzziah: When he became powerful his pride destroyed him.  2Chr. 26:16     Do not envy sinners in your heart. Instead continue to fear the Lord. There is indeed a future for you, and your hope will not be crushed.  Prov. 23:17-18   One dead fly can make a whole bottle of perfume stink. Even so, a little foolishness can outweigh great wisdom and honor.  Ecc. 10:1     Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Christ Jesus. And don't think about ways to indulge your evil desires.  Romans 13:14     If you, though you are sinful, know how to give good gifts to your children, just think how much more your Father in heaven will give good gifts to those who ask Him.  Mat. 7:11     The LORD of armies has planned it. Who can stop it? He is ready to use his power. Who can turn it back?  Is. 14:27     It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.  2Cor. 1:21-22   This note is my comment based on Weymouth's translation of 2Cor. 5:14. “His death was my death.”     Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. Heb. 6:18b-19   There is a 8 year old boy who visits my office weekly and asks if I have put up a new note. I had to put up a special note inside the box telling how to get out of the box if you shut yourself in.   My sister or brother, have a wonderful time celebrating our Savior's birth. Gale and I send you our love and together say May the Lord bless you ‘real good'. Phil & Gale

In episode 269 Buckling Knees and What it Means! I talk about...✅ How a knee "buckles". ✅ Why it buckles.✅ What a certain type of buckling means.✅ If braces are effective for a buckling knee and so much more!

If you have something coming against you, you have to work harder.  You have to put your head down.  In your realtionships with your spouse.  Your children. Your job, or business.  Buckling down on the relationships that feed your life are the first priority.  Maintain them.  Pour into them.  People are going to start hating on you as you ascend in the world spiritually, mentally, financially, and physically.  Fuck 'em.  Do the things you're doing any way.  The things you love.  The things that drive you.  Listen closely to the voice in your mind.  But you have to be willing to outwork all of them.  That's how you win.  That's how you get ahead.  Every single time!  #RiseAbove  HOW TO GET INVOLVED:  This planet is based on an algorithm and with every positive action, there is an adverse reaction.  Ryan Stewman rose and overcame a life of addiction, imprisonment, divorce, and circumstances that would break the spirit of the average human being.  He went on to create a powerful network of winners and champions in life and business creating a movement quickly changing lives one day at a time.  Learn more at: www.JoinTheApex.com   Check out this show and previous killer episodes of the ReWire Podcast in Apple Podcasts.  

The second hour of today's show begins with Annie and Jim Carafano discussing the history of the democratic party. Then, Jaimie Lissow joins the show to share how he first hand have seen crime arise. The hour wraps up with the crew sharing how politics could be a successful target for comedians to hit on.

Review: This podcast is Day number 2 in my series about Buckling the belt of truth. In the first day in this series (which can be found by searching for 195 or the word ‘buckling', I explained what I consider to be the first step in putting on the belt of truth. The belt of truth is one of seven parts to the Christian's armor found in Ephesians 6. But I suggest that we make this clarification: Buckle the belt of truth by believing what God says about you in the Bible. The belt of truth is put on by believing what God says. (Remember: Believing = faith.) The belt of truth includes all of the truth found in Scripture. But if you just believe a lot of general truths found in the pages of the Bible, but don't believe what the Bible says about YOURSELF (your own identity), it would be like leaving your house with your belt in your belt loops, but not buckled. Everyday we live in a spiritual war zone. You'll be at a great disadvantage if your belt isn't buckled! The main thing I am after in this belt-buckling is living in spiritual victory and standing firm in our worldly battle with the flesh and the devil. What God says about you in the Bible often seems too good to believe, because the devil has been feeding us lies about ourselves all of our lives. So, taking one example from the Day 1 lesson, when we read in the Bible, “God loves you,” the truth of this seems to bounce off of our minds. “How nice,” we think, “but God can't really love me because I am so bad.” We must seek to notice the things we find in the Bible that are repelled by our minds. Write them down. Underline them. Preach to yourself that you should believe what God clearly says about you. Pray, asking for God to make the concepts clear and believable to you. Meditate on those things, and you will start seeing your life being transformed by God's Word. Here are some major mind-challenging truths from our Day 1 study: God loves us. We often unfairly think of God as an angry judge. God's Word tells us that we are one with Christ, joined to Him. We are united to Christ, so much so that He considers us actually part of his body. We have a powerful guarantee, the Holy Spirit, which is not an external thing, but an inward witness that we are joined to Christ. We are God's holy people, not because we have the power to be holy. But God has made us holy by our unity with Christ. This is our identity! Take hold of this identity. Paul wants us to understand all these things so that we understand that God will use his power to help us. Residue from Day 1: Here's something I ask you to bear in mind: We each have different versions of what the Bible calls ‘flesh'. The flesh is basically the evil and selfish desires that spring from our bodies. Men and women are normally very different in their sinful desires. And even among Christians of the same sex, one sin may be highly adictive to you, but not to your fellow brother or sister. This means that Bible verses that I will share which mean so much to me may not ring any bells for you. If so, I hope you will still find basic principles in my presentation that will apply powerfully to you. I think that it is important to remove a faulty excuse for persistent sin that many people use. In Romans 7:24 Paul says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Please do not take the end of Romans 7 to negate what Paul was saying in chapter 6 and 8! The theme of chapter 6 is given by the NLT translators in the section heading, “Sin's Power is Broken.” And Romans 6:6 is a key verse for buckling the belt of truth: “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.” Here's why readers have been confused by Romans 7:24: In Rom. 7:5-6, Paul brings up a difficult concept: “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the lawThen starting in verse 7, Paul explains how the law gets involved in our ‘living in the flesh'. Note that for 17 verses more, Paul carries on for an uncharacteristically long time without mentioning Christ. That's because he is either talking about how living in the flesh works out for someone who doesn't know Christ, or someone who forgets about Christ and reverts to living in the flesh., were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” But Paul doesn't leave us wallowing in our fleshly weaknesses (in 7:24-25) with ‘Wretched man that I am', but quickly returns to his victorious theme. In chapter 8:2 he says: “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” And then he begins to talk about living in the Spirit. Clearly, we are supposed to start having victory because of the Spirit. Understanding our spiritual position plus the help of the Spirit allows us to ‘put to death' various sins that beset us. Yes, I must admit that as long as we are in our bodies, we will stumble. We are ‘saints' (holy people) who occasionally still fall into sin. However, overwhelming victory over fleshly sin is available to us. Don't be satisfied with falling back to being a ‘wretched man' or woman like Romans 7:24 when you have the riches of chapter 8 available!   THEME: Buckle up the belt of truth regarding your PRESENT RESURRECTION LIFE. ROM.6.1-14, 8:10-13; 12:1-2 2CO.5.14-15 GAL.2.19-20 COL.2.11-15 COL.3.1-11 EPH2.6   There are basically four steps to buckling the belt of truth: Realize: Be alert when reading the Bible for truths that are presented as true for believers in Christ, but which seem too good to be true. Note them down, and check out translations like the NLT, GNT, and NET to make sure you are understanding what the Scripture says. Ask God to help you overcome your difficulty in believing the truth you have discovered. It may be appropriate to ask God to help you discover if strong opposing ideas are coming from demonic influence or previous sins that you should confess. Meditate on the scriptural truth you are working to internalize. Imagine how your life would be different if you started to live according to that truth. Take any steps the Holy Spirit gives you to put your new identity into practice. Today's topic for belt-buckling is our resurrection life in unity with Christ. This goes along with Romans 6:6 that we just read: “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.” Being ‘crucified with Christ' of course means that in some sense we have died. There's a truth that will definitely bounce off your mind! It will go in one ear and right out the other. This is because we are dealing with a spiritual reality, not something that we can see with physical eyes or understand with earthly minds. It will often help to consult a meaning based translation when we deal with spiritual realities. Let me illustrate from my experience in Indonesia. I was speaking to a small congregation and I read Colossians 3:1-3 in the default Indonesian literal translation. You'll understand better if I read the ESV: 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. There was a man on the second row who must have been an elder in the church, and I put him on the spot. I said to him, “This verse says, ‘For you have died'. Have you died?” And he replied, “No.” So I asked someone else to read the verses again and I again asked the man, “Sir, this verse in your Bible says ‘You have died.' Have you died?” And he again said, “No.” I would have been smiling by now, because I knew this would help me make my point. I said, “This verse says ‘You have died'. Is there a spiritual way that you have died?” “Oh,” he said, “well yes, if you put it that way!” The next thing I would have done is to read our translation, which makes the verse much clearer. So let's read the NLT for those verses: Col. 3:1 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. Our first step that I mentioned above is to realize that this truth is something every Christian is supposed to believe. I hope you will take steps 2 and 3, namely Asking God how to do this and Meditating on this truth. But we are helped significantly in step 4, as Paul gives us steps to follow in the next part of Colossians 3. For now, I am leaving those as homework. Let's go back to Colossians 2 to pick up more important ideas about how God releases us from our fleshly weaknesses. Col. 2:11 NLT When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. In verse 11, we see a different spiritual reality: That of our receiving a spiritual circumcision. This invisible circumcision was performed by Christ, and putting two and two together, I conclude that his own crucifixion is what made this possible. Verse 12 is linked with the word ‘For', describing how this circumcision takes place. 2:12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. So in chapter 3, Paul says we died, and here in chapter 2, we have been buried with Christ when we were baptized. This is exactly what Romans 6 says also. Note that the spiritual reality of our spiritual death and resurrection is so important that God gave a command for all believers to be baptized, so that all believers would have the physical experience of baptism to remind them. We can see the picture in the Lord's supper, where we take the symbols of Jesus' death right into our bodies. We in effect become unified with the Lord in that sacrement (John 6:56). We see our spiritual death in Jesus' words in Mark 8:34: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” Look deeper and you will find this concept in so many places. It turns out that if we are to be ‘born again' (as in John 3), then it implies that something fatal has happened to our old life. Consider the details: We are born again ‘of water and the Spirit'. (John 3:5) I love the powerful implications of our being ‘crucified with Christ' in Romans 12:1-2. Rom. 12:1-2 NLT And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. In our Plain Indonesian Translation we found it more powerful to translate ‘give your bodies to God' as a promise spoken directly to God: “O God, I offer up my body as a sacrifice to You.” I suggest that you, my listener, say that out loud: “O God, I offer up my body as a sacrifice to You.” Now notice that your having made that commitment is the prerequisite for verse 2! This is the way that we ‘let God transform' us into new people! We become transformed in our minds. We will think differently. There is an added bonus promise: We will discover God's will for us, “which is good and pleasing and perfect.” I think by now you will agree with me. This is what we want! And I hope that I have proved that this spiritual reality of our being crucified with Christ and resurrected by the Spirit is the key to our transformation. Unlock this transformation by following the steps of Realizing, Asking God for his help, Meditating on this spiritual reality, and Taking the steps given to you by the Spirit and guided by passages like  Colossians 3. Do those things while reading these passages: ROM.6.1-14, 8:10-13; 12:1-2 2CO.5.14-15 GAL.2.19-20 COL.2.11-15 COL.3.1-11 EPH2.6   Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Join Jim and Greg as they eagerly welcome a poll showing Republicans with a 21-point advantage in competitive House districts. They also shudder as more signs emerge of a worsening economy from - from energy to housing to hiring. And they discuss the left and the media branding incoming Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as a fascist. But since the left now tars anyone who disagrees with them as "fascist," the word has lost much of it's meaning.

Join Jim and Greg as they eagerly welcome a poll showing Republicans with a 21-point advantage in competitive House districts. They also shudder as more signs emerge of a worsening economy from – from energy to housing to hiring. And they discuss the left and the media branding incoming Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as […]

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