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Hebrews 11:32-40 NIV 1. Faith's Power through Scripture 32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets…..Earlier in this chapter the author commends multiple biblical heroes including Noah, Abraham, Moses and others. Here at verse 32 he says there's not enough time to continue although there are many more. The goal of the writer of Hebrews is to provide examples of those who displayed the power of faith. This provides us readers with education and inspiration from the Scriptures.There is power available to us as we are educated in what God has done through people like us, and we are inspired by what God can do through people like us. Romans 15:4 NIV. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”There is education and inspiration available to us through the Scripture to empower our faith!These are not characters from fables, these are real stories about real people and more so they are our faith ancestors. Our relation is not in blood but by faith.Example: What one man can do another man can do (movie the edge)These people of God, our faith ancestors, had sins and struggles. They experienced difficult times and struggled with tears, sweat and even blood. They made mistakes, major mistakes. But they are commended here because of their faith. It is amazing what the Lord can do in us and through us when we trust him. What does it mean to trust the Lord…….leads us to point 2…2. Faith's power when we trust the Lord's plans and promises39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, Again our faith ancestors are commended for their faith not perfection. Only Jesus is perfect, amen! No one at any of our campuses is perfect. Cut that out. Stop being a poser. Be real and God will mature you and lead you in righteousness but don't act like you are farther than you are and don't look down on others. They are commended for their trust in the Lord's plans and promises, especially the promise of home. As verse 16 says earlier in the passage, they trusted in the promise of God to bring them to their heavenly country.3. Faith's power when we accept we are part of a larger family40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.Our God is larger than we realize but also we are part of a larger family than we often realize. It's not all about YOU! Your struggles, your experiences, your gifts, your blessings. They are not all about you; they fit into a larger family context. The family is to grow up into the maturity of Christ TOGETHER. Us locally, us generationally, and us universally as part of God's big C Church!Have you ever had a terrible thing happen and thought why does God hate me? Have you ever had an amazing thing happen and thought God loves me!Have you ever had either an amazing thing or terrible thing happen and thought God is doing a work for his people? Having an understating that we are part of a larger family actually empowers our faith. It allows us to think big, not small. And it is true this life we live is part of something bigger!What would you say to Abraham? You'd say you gotta go because what God does in your life through the good bad and ugly it launches the beginning of God's people. What would you say to Paul? You'd tell him about his impact on the “future” of the church. So we can say more than anyone before us with great clarity of how God works that what happens in our Christian lives is significant not only for today but the future of our families, local church, and the future of the church.
Did you know Jesus prayed for YOU? In this episode, we’re diving into Jesus’ powerful prayer for all believers—past, present, and future. We’ll break down what it means to be locked in with God, why unity among believers matters, and how we can truly experience His love in our everyday lives. We’ll also chat about:- The deep connection between Jesus, the Father, and us- How the early church stayed "locked in" (Acts 2:42 style)- Why unity in the capital-C Church is more important than ever- Practical ways to grow in faith and community Whether you’re feeling distant from God or just want to deepen your faith, this episode is for you. Let’s dig in! Got a question about faith, the Bible, or life? Send it my way for an upcoming listener questions episode! DM me on instagram or email nicole@nicoleunice.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
“The richest man in the world turned off billions of dollars in funding for the literal poorest people in the world. It's just, from my perspective, incomprehensible.” So says Nathaniel Moller, former USAID worker. Nathaniel and Steve discuss the presidential administration's recent mass cuts to USAID programs and what the effects may be. They consider the cultural moments in America's history when “the big C Church and the little church” have had a choice—operate out of fear or from love—and why Nathaniel believes such a moment is upon us now. They talk about the tenacity required to combat global issues such as malaria, the beauty of using our gifts and skills to further the kingdom, and why Nathaniel still has hope for the common good. Resources mentioned in this episode include: “US President's Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) Project” The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World by Richard Stearns “The United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
“The richest man in the world turned off billions of dollars in funding for the literal poorest people in the world. It's just, from my perspective, incomprehensible.” So says Nathaniel Moller, former USAID worker. Nathaniel and Steve discuss the presidential administration's recent mass cuts to USAID programs and what the effects may be. They consider the cultural moments in America's history when “the big C Church and the little church” have had a choice—operate out of fear or from love—and why Nathaniel believes such a moment is upon us now. They talk about the tenacity required to combat global issues such as malaria, the beauty of using our gifts and skills to further the kingdom, and why Nathaniel still has hope for the common good. Resources mentioned in this episode include: “US President's Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) Project” The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World by Richard Stearns “The United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On today's episode, we discuss the ways our faith has changed as we've grown in discipleship and justice work. Our spiritual practices, as well as our relationships with church, God, and the non-Christian world have all transformed over time, sometimes in surprising ways that would have made us uncomfortable in our earlier years as followers of Jesus. It's a personal and instructive conversation on how to grow up with Jesus that we know will be helpful for a lot of people. Plus, after that conversation we get into the war in Sudan and why it's an important topic for us to learn about and engage with.Mentioned in the episode:- The episode of the Movement Memos podcast about the war in Sudan- The link to donate to the Sudan Solidarity Collective via PayPalCredits- Follow KTF Press on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Subscribe to get our bonus episodes and other benefits at KTFPress.com.- Follow host Jonathan Walton on Facebook Instagram, and Threads.- Follow host Sy Hoekstra on Mastodon.- Our theme song is “Citizens” by Jon Guerra – listen to the whole song on Spotify.- Our podcast art is by Robyn Burgess – follow her and see her other work on Instagram.- Editing by Multitude Productions- Transcripts by Joyce Ambale and Sy Hoekstra.- Production by Sy Hoekstra and our incredible subscribersTranscript[An acoustic guitar softly plays six notes in a major scale, the first three ascending and the last three descending, with a keyboard pad playing the tonic in the background. Both fade out as Jonathan Walton says “This is a KTF Press podcast.”]Jonathan Walton: I'm trying to live in the reality that God actually loves me and he actually loves other people, and that's just true. And to live in that quote- unquote, belovedness is really, really, really difficult in a extractivist, culturally colonized, post-plantation, capitalistic society.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: It's really, really hard when every single thing that I was raised to do goes against, just receiving anything.[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]Sy Hoekstra: Welcome to Shake the Dust, seeking Jesus, confronting injustice. I'm Sy Hoekstra.Jonathan Walton: And I'm Jonathan Walton.Sy Hoekstra: This week we have a great conversation. There's no guest this week, it's just Jonathan and I. And we are actually going to be talking about something that we originally were gonna talk to Lisa about in the last episode, but we ran out of time [laughter]. And we thought it would be, actually it was worth taking the time to talk about this in a full episode format. And the topic is basically this, as people grow not just normally in their faith, but also in the kind of work that we're doing, resisting the idols of America and confronting injustice and that sort of thing in their faith, your personal spiritual life tends to change [laughter], to put it mildly. And we wanted to talk about that.It's something that we don't necessarily hear a lot of people talking about as much and I think it's something that people are kind of concerned about. Like it's in the back of people's heads when they start to dive into these justice issues. It's something that I think conservative Christianity has put in the back of your heads [laughs], like your personal walk with Jesus, or your something like that is going to falter if you stray down this road. And so we wanna talk about how things have changed with us, and be as open and honest about that as possible, with our spiritual practices, with our relationship with God, with our relationship with church and kind of the world outside.And then we're gonna get into our segment Which Tab Is Still Open, where we dive a little bit deeper into one of the recommendations from our newsletter. This week, we will be talking about a really fascinating and informative podcast on the war that is currently happening in Sudan that has been going on for about a year and a half. If you don't know a lot about that war, or if you just want some more insight into what's going on there, please stay tuned for that. It'll be an interesting conversation, for sure. So we're going to get into all of that in a minute. I think this is gonna be a really fruitful and helpful conversation for a lot of people. Before we jump in though, Jonathan,Jonathan Walton: Hey friends, remember to go to KTFPress.com and become a paid subscriber to support this show and everything we do at KTF Press. We're creating media that centers personal and informed discussions on faith, politics and culture and help you seek Jesus and confront injustice, that's so desperately needed today. We're resisting the idols of the American church by elevating marginalized voices and taking the entirety of Jesus' gospel more seriously than those who might narrow it to sin and salvation or some other small, little box. Jesus' gospel is bigger than that. The two of us have a lot of experience [laughs] doing this in community and individually.We've been friends for a good long time, and so I hope that you can come to us and trust us for good conversation, dialogue and prayerful, deliberate action. So become a paid subscriber, and get all the bonus episodes to this show, access to our monthly subscriber Zoom chats. You can comment on posts and a lot more. So again, go to KTFPress.com, join us and become a paid subscriber. And if you really wanna double down, become a founding member. Thanks, y'all.Sy Hoekstra: You get a free book if you're a founding member. So that's…Jonathan Walton: You do get a free book.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. Because we publish books too. I guess we didn't… we have to tell people that.Jonathan Walton: That's true.Sy Hoekstra: If you're listening, if this is your first episode, you didn't know that. We've published a couple of books.Jonathan Walton: [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Alright Jonathan, let's dive in. Let's talk about, as you have grown over the past however many years since you've been doing this kind of work, which for you is what now, 15? No, almost 15.Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: More than 15. It's more than 15 years.Jonathan Walton: It's more than 15. It'd probably be like… I was trying to reflect on this. I think I seriously stepped into this stuff in 2005 when I wrote that first poem about child soldiers and sex trafficking victims and was like, “I wanna do this, because Jesus loves me, and Jesus loves all people.” And so yeah, almost 20 years.Sy Hoekstra: Was that “Decisions?” Is that the poem?Jonathan Walton: I think it was actually “Invisible Children.” That poem.Sy Hoekstra: Okay. Literally because of the documentary Invisible Children.Jonathan Walton: Yes. That was the first advocacy poem that I wrote.Sy Hoekstra: So since then, how have your individual spiritual practices changed your scripture reading, that sort of thing? The kind of thing that at one point we might have called our quiet time, or our daily whatever. Where are you at?Jonathan Walton: [laughs] Absolutely. So I do not have daily quiet times. How do I explain this? When the Psalms say, “write the words of God on your hearts that you might not sin against him,” I think with all of us, it's kind of like building a habit. So I read a lot of scripture when I was a kid. I read a lot of scripture when I was a college student. And I think it was because I literally needed flesh and bones on just the air of my faith. And I think literally sitting there and listening to sermons for hours as I go about my day in my room and not study in college, or me and my brother would do [laughs] these weird things because we lived in the South and had nothing to do on this 30-acre farm, is we memorized the entire Charlton Heston film, The Ten Commandments.So me and my brother literally memorized the entire six hour epic that is The Ten Commandments. And so I just had this desire, and I think habit of just like memorizing and learning about God because the context that you're in. And so I think that there was a season in my life where sitting in the word of God was just a regular practice. And now I would say, just to overtake scripture, scripture is for me a process of recall and reflection. Like I have to give a talk next week on racism and racial reconciliation and justice. And if you had said to me, “Jonathan, what passage are you gonna speak from?” Like, because I've studied Genesis 1, because I've studied Isaiah 61, because I've studied Isaiah 58, because I've leaned into John 4, because I'm leaning in to Luke 4, I can grab from any of these places because it's almost like riding a bike in that way. I don't have to ride a bike every day to know how to ride a bike.And so I think if you're sitting there thinking to yourself, “I don't do a daily quiet time,” I don't know that you are negatively impacted. I know that you may be shaped differently, but we don't lose God, just like we don't lose the knowledge of something in that way. So I think Scripture for me has become more of a remembering and reflective process, rather than an active like, “Oh man, I need to know more.” And I think if we do scripture prayer, so let's talk about prayer, liturgy has taken on a more significant part of my life.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: Partially because I've stepped out of the, “let's prioritize this as better” box. So when I grew up in the South, I was like, oh, I go to a Black southern Baptist church, not a Southern Baptist Church. Let's be clear about that.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Spontaneous worship was quote- unquote, the best in my mind. Then I come to InterVarsity and more quote- unquote, evangelical spaces, and then it's like, well, popcorn prayer. Every single person goes individually and we all listen and try not to fall asleep.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: And then I go to another place and it's like the quote- unquote, warrior prayer. Like this lion's war prayer. Everybody's praying at once. And that was amazing.Sy Hoekstra: Charismatic.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. And it was amazing, but overwhelming. And I would go to these places and say, oh, one is better than the other, when in reality, these are just expressions of God's faithfulness to different parts of his body. And so I think the season I'm in now, I've leaned into the prayer without ceasing, where it's like I am in conversation with God. I can be in prayer just going about my every day, similar to scripture with the riding the bike thing. These are things that I've marinated in, and so I'm riding the bike all day. I might get on the bike in the morning, I might not, but God is an active part of my day. And so I think the last thing just about church and preaching. This is hard [laughter].And some people might get upset with this, but church has taken, the institution; going to, sitting in. That's probably the last thing that I'm still processing. My children don't want to go to church some days, and I have a high value for that. And I have to ask myself, why do I have that high of a value? And Maia asked me, because she was crying, she didn't wanna go to church. She said, “Why do you wanna go?” And I told her, I said, “Maia, sometimes I have a really hard week, and I go to hang out with other believers because they encourage me that God is faithful and I can make it through.” And I said, “Some weeks are good for me, and then I go to church, and someone may be having a poor week, and then I'm able to encourage them to make it through and center ourselves on Jesus.”And I said, “In that way…” I didn't say this this way, but we bear one another's burdens with love. We are able to come alongside each other. And she didn't get it, and that's fine, she's eight.Sy Hoekstra: [laughter].Jonathan Walton: But I recognize that that's actually what I'm looking for when I go to church. And so if that's what I'm looking for, how can I have that in other spaces that my family also feels closer to God as well, so that we can grow together in that way? So I've stopped expecting the pastor to serve me a platter of spiritual goodies every week. [laughter] I've stop expecting this community in some way to be the buffet from which I gather my spiritual authority and intimacy with God. And that didn't used to be the case. It was like, “I got to go to church or I'm wrong. I got to be in the building, or something's messed up with my faith. I might be falling away.” And that's just not true, because I don't forget how to ride a bike. Like it's just not a thing.So, yeah, I would say those big three things of prayer, scripture and going to church have changed. And later we could talk about justice stuff, but those things around just our relationship with God have changed for me.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. It's funny you said the thing that was a big deal to you, the second one was about like the spontaneous worship is the best, or this kind of prayer is the best or whatever. And that it's just so cultural and stuff because I never had any of those.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: I was like it's whatever. Nobody taught me that one… maybe somebody tried to, but it never got really inculcated in me that one kind of prayer or something was better than the other. But the daily scripture reading thing was so… Like you saying, “I don't read scripture every day,” there's still some little part of me that feels like, “Ooh, should he say that?” [laughter]Jonathan Walton: Right. Right, right, right.Sy Hoekstra: And it really just depends on where you grow up. Because a funny thing, like part of the scripture thing for me is, at some point I realized, I was like, “Hey, wait a minute [laughs], for the overwhelming majority of Christians who have ever lived, they A, could not read…”Jonathan Walton: [laughter] Right.Sy Hoekstra: “…and B, did not have access to the printed word.” The only time they were getting scripture was at mass on Sunday. And it's just one of those things where it's an enormous privilege, and we should, I'm not saying take it for granted, but it's something that has not only been not necessary for discipleship, but literally impossible for [laughter] most Christians who have ever lived. It's just an enormous privilege that we treat like a necessity or we treat like an imperative. And the distinction between those two things can be subtle, but it's real. They're not the same thing [laughter].Jonathan Walton: True.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, so for me, I've talked about this in one of the bonus episodes we did, but I'll make a slightly different point about it, which is, I used to, like you sort of alluded to, I used to come at daily scripture reading and prayer and everything from a place of deep anxiety. Constantly trying to stay up on whatever I had decided was the requirement for the day, and then falling behind and becoming anxious about it, and just getting on this treadmill of trying to catch up and then being anxious again. And a funny thing happened when I got into, as we were talking about on our recent subscriber call, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality [laughs] and learned about that anxiety and where it was coming from, and tried to change my relationship to it, and it decreased a lot, I realized when the anxiety went away I started to feel like my love for or even just my care for God, was going away.Jonathan Walton: Huh.Sy Hoekstra: Like if I wasn't anxious that I was reading scripture every day, it's kind of like what I just said, like there's still some part of me that feels like ugh [laughter]. If I wasn't anxious, then I didn't love God, which is kind of dark.Jonathan Walton: It is. Yes.Sy Hoekstra: You know what I mean? It's like putting yourself in a sort of abusive relationship with God and saying, “If you don't keep up with me, then I'm gonna punish you in some way,” or something negative is gonna happen. It was never entirely clear what negative thing was gonna happen to me.Jonathan Walton: Just a threat. Just a threat.Sy Hoekstra: That something was bad. I was gonna backslide in some way. So, yeah, but the amount of time, like on a daily basis, that I spend praying or reading scripture has also decreased, and then anxiety went away. And then I had to get used to the anxiety not being there and being like, “Hey, that's okay. This is actually a reflection of the fact that I now on a much more embodied level, understand that God loves and accepts me.” [laughter] That's a good thing.Jonathan Walton: That is a great thing. Yes, for sure.Sy Hoekstra: Another big thing for me was, this is my change with regard to scripture, is letting the Bible be what the Bible says that it is, as opposed to what the spiritual authorities in my life told me that it was supposed to be. And so that's things like, I had a really interesting experience where I went through this thing called the Academy of Christian Thought. There was this three-year read-through-the-Bible program. It was run by this scholar named Ron Choong, a Malaysian guy who's really incredible. But one of the things he talked about was the idea that every word of the Bible is literally true. And he would go through it and he would say, “Okay, so there are these stories that Jesus tells, that when he tells them, like the parables.Like say, The Good Samaritan or whatever. We understand that Jesus is telling a story here, and whether or not the story itself is true doesn't matter. He's making a point.” It's a sermon illustration, effectively. And Jesus never claims that the stories are true. We're all fine with that. We're not saying if the guy didn't actually get beat up on the road to Jericho, then the Bible's integrity is in question. And he was like, “Okay, so how about the book of Jonah?” He's like, Take the whole thing with the fish and the spending three days in the belly of a fish, which seems scientifically impossible, and then you get… like without dying, whatever. It could be a miracle. But does the Bible ever actually say, does the book of Jonah ever actually say, “The following is a true story?” The answer is, no, it doesn't [laughter].And can you still learn all the same lessons about faith and everything from the book of Jonah if it's not true, like the parable of The Good Samaritan or any other parables Jesus tells? Yes, you can.Jonathan Walton: Right. Right, right.Sy Hoekstra: So does it really matter [laughs] whether the story in the book of Jonah is true? No, it does not. It affects nothing [laughter]. And by acknowledging that, you're just letting the Bible be what it is, which is, it's here's a story. It just told you a story, and whether or not it was true or not is not a point that the Bible makes, and therefore is not a point that matters.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs] And so there were a lot of just simple things like that. He was like, The book of Revelation, you do not have to have a perfect understanding of what every twist and turn in that bizarre apocalyptic dream meant. You don't. You don't you don't have to have it. Because the Bible never tells you that you had to have it [laughter]. It just says, “Here's a dream from John,” and then it tells you a bunch of stuff that happened [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yeah. It's true.Sy Hoekstra: And so it's like there was a lot of that that I thought was extremely helpful and allowed me to then use my mind. And then people would come back with the verse in 2 Timothy, “All scripture is God breathed,” and et cetera, et cetera. And [laughs] Ron would just be like, “That was literally written at a time when the New Testament was not canonized, and half of it was not even written yet.” [laughs] So it's like, what scripture is God breathed, you know what I mean? [laughter And also, does God breathed or trustworthy for instruction, does that mean the book of Jonah's literally true? No. [laughter] Like letting the Bible be what the Bible is was important to me, and understanding…We talked in that episode with Mako Nagasawa about how sometimes translations of the Bible differ from each other in significant ways, and we picked which one we followed, and that's just a reality [laughs]. And you can still have a very high view of the authority of Scripture, it can still guide your life, it can still be an authority, it can be all those things, and you can acknowledge realities, and your faith doesn't fall apart. That was a big one for me [laughs]. A lot of that also has to do with letting go of the need to have everything under control in a perfect little box.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Which is a very… was just a real White way of thinking about it to be frank [laughs]. We must have our systematic theology, and everything must be clear and tied up neatly. So the last thing for me, I think, is just knowing that the way that God speaks to people changes over time. And so like I know there are ways that I could be going back and trying to find the things about my early faith that were really exciting and new and gave me these big spiritual highs, and a lot of those things just don't happen anymore. And I see that as I get older, there are so many people I know like that. And there are so many, there's such a range of reactions to that from people who are like, some people are totally comfortable with the fact that God changes how he talks to people over time.And that even happens in the Bible. People hear from God in different ways, in new ways. And there are some people who are like, can lose their faith over that. They can panic, and it's like, “I'm not hearing God the way that I heard got at one point,” and I guess the possibility of change is not there [laughs]. And so it's like, if I'm not getting that same experience, then something has gone terribly wrong or whatever, and I need to get back there. I would just really encourage people to drop that way of thinking [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes, absolutely.Sy Hoekstra: It is okay if your relationship with God changes, the way that you communicate with God changes.Jonathan Walton: There's nothing healthy about a plant that stays the same size over year's time.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, exactly.Jonathan Walton: Man.Sy Hoekstra: Alright, Jonathan, you talked about this one a little bit already, but I wanted to talk about our relationships with churches and the institutions of churches. Did you have more to say on that, or was…?Jonathan Walton: Well, yeah. I think something that is intriguing to me, and I dabble in thread and Facebook debates sometimes just to ask questions.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: And just as an example, and friends, I again, in the just modeling the growth and change and willingness to ponder in a way that doesn't shake my salvation, I'm gonna try to model that. And so a question that came up for me yesterday while I was on threads, there's a man named Eugene Kim, who I've just followed for a little while.Sy Hoekstra: He's a pastor, right?Jonathan Walton: He was a pastor, and he is a pastor now, but they just launched this thing called the Wild Fig organization. And so essentially, they're trying to decentralize the church and say, there are lots of people who follow Jesus and wanna organize in ways that are transformative and help for them in their walks with God. And we just need to figure out a different way of credentialing people than getting folks organized around this man who we believe is God named Jesus.” And there's another thing like this out in Seattle called Dinner Church, where a church sold their building, and they have 25 dinner churches where people come to church to have dinner, and they just eat and talk about God, almost like they did in Acts. Whoopitty.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: And so that's what they're doing, and they're actually putting pastors in these house churches just to be present at these dinner churches. And so there are people who would say, “No, we cannot do that.” Like, I remember sitting down with a pastor in New York City who was just like, “Jonathan, I don't think that you should do campus ministry, because it should be done in the church.” And I was like, “Oh, well, I think this meeting is over.”Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: “And I hope you pay for this food.” But all that to say it's like, that was one conversation. Another conversation was like, “If you do that, what about the traditions of the church?” All of these things. And I'm like, I hear you on the tradition, but why are we choosing to model some things from Acts and then saying other things we can't do anymore? Seems like the Great Commission commissioned all people to baptize. Seems like the Great Commission commissioned all people to… like 2 Corinthians and the model about how to take communion. I don't see where that says I can't do that at home, because they were done in homes. So all of this. Some people say that's great, some people say you can't do that.But when I was specifically looking at the Wild Fig network yesterday in this threads conversation, someone said, “You're doing a heretical thing, you're breaking off. And if you wanna join anything, just go back to the Catholic Church, because that is where it all began.” And I thought to myself, and this is a genuine question, and I haven't seen his response yet, but I said, “Did Jesus come to build the Catholic Church?” There may be, very well be an argument for that that I'm not aware of because I'm not Catholic. Right?Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, there definitely is [laughs].Jonathan Walton: There definitely is [laughter]. And so I am wondering what that means, as someone downstream of colonization, abuse, violence and oppression, coupled with the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, and every other Western faith, political faction that decided to join themselves on the colonialist project, I wonder if Jesus came to build the Catholic Church. And there's 1500 years of arguing about that and making that case to be true. At the same time, I'm like, 1 Corinthians one, when Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, he says, “Some might be for Paul, some might be for Cephas, which is Peter. Some might be for Apollos, but the reality is, we all need to be for Jesus.”So if this person is making an argument against pastor Eugene Kim, I'm like, “Why are you saying he can't go do that? What's the goal?” Because if Eugene goes and baptizes a thousand people, and all these people come to faith and it's an amazing thing, what is the loss for the kingdom? You know what I mean?Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. Well, so here's the loss. I still don't think this is correct, but the loss from the Catholic perspective is you only can experience the fullness of the revelation of the Spirit of God within the Catholic Church. That is where it happens, and it happens nowhere else, and it cannot happen anywhere else.Jonathan Walton: Now see, okay, this is where I would push back ridiculously hard.Sy Hoekstra: I mean, me too, but yeah [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yeah, and using Peter, Peter in Acts chapter 10 has a very specific way that he thinks the Spirit of God is being revealed. And God blows that wide open first with a vision for him. The sheet comes down, look at this three times, three times, three times. Then the same thing for Cornelius. And so if we try to limit the spirit or movement of God, we will fail. So why do that [laughs]? There's so many points in scripture where God is breaking through in ways that we cannot fathom or recognize.Sy Hoekstra: Amen to that.Jonathan Walton: And so, I think the thing about the church, I'm like, it's evolving for me, not in the Darwin way, but just like a development. Because to be like, “Oh, evolution,” because we have these wrong conflations in our brain. But my faith is evolving, but I'm not moving farther away from Jesus, and that includes the church. Because similar to you, I would say I am closer to Jesus than I was when I was 17 years old… 16 when I got thrown across the parking lot on a motorcycle, or 19 years old when Ashley told me to follow… Ashley Byrd, me and Sy's staff worker for InterVarsity, invited me to follow Jesus. I'm still close, I'm closer to Jesus than I was then, and I've been a part of very different churches and all those things.So my relationship with God is predicated on my adoption into the capital “C” Church, not the specific church on my block in my neighborhood, or where I gather with folks. And so I'm grateful that the rapture catches all of us and not just insert your denomination here.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. So for me, I am less engaged than I used to be, but that's because what I used to do was let Christian community and Christian programming activity take up the vast majority of my free time, because I thought we had something to prove as a community. You know what I mean? Like, I thought you had to be, it's a little bit vague what I thought I think, or a little bit blurry to me now. But it was something along the lines of, some interpretation of the idea that we're the hands and feet of Jesus, or we are here to testify to him and his goodness as a community. That meant that you had to be super involved in your community. You had to be something to prove the worthiness of God, basically.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Which is completely the opposite of what I now think, which is that no matter what your community is, the fact that God loves you is the proof of the worthiness of God [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Amen.Sy Hoekstra: You don't have to prove nothing. Similar to my quiet times and everything, it took a lot of the pressure off of my need to be involved in religious activity, and therefore it decreased, but not in like a I'm leaving the church way, just in what I think is a healthy way [laughs]. I am now very suspicious if I go to a church and the consistent thing that they are telling people to do in terms of discipleship is just get more involved in that church's programming. As opposed to being something in their neighborhood, or trying to turn outwards in some significant way. That, to me, is a big ol' red flag. I'm constantly now thinking about what is reasonable to expect of a church, versus what I would have want a church to ideally be.I think this happens to everyone as they grow up a little bit, is you start to see the inner workings of a church and how just very ordinary and sometimes petty and gross, it can be.Jonathan Walton: [laughter] Ordinary, petty and gross.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. It's just another fallen institution [laughs]. And people have all their own little individual problems, and some of those problems are big and some of them are small. And it's just not that different than any other organization. And that is disappointing if you think it's supposed to be this shining beacon on a hill, which is actually a metaphor for the kingdom of God, and not your individual neighborhood's church [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Yes, yes, yes.Sy Hoekstra: Scripturally speaking. I think about that balance more, like what can I reasonably expect versus what would I ideally want this institution to be? And from what I've talked to, like Christians who are much older than me, that never changes. That's the mature way to go about [laughter] looking at a church. You just, you have to do it that way, and not just think of the church as this thing that needs to be something that is like this shining example to the entire world of how to do or be something. And this is especially true in a context where we have the idols of empire built in. I have to go to my church in New York City in 2024 and I have to recognize this is a culture that is filled with greed and self-interest.And so odds are, this church is also going to be filled with greed and self-interest. So what can I reasonably expect from this church [laughter]? That's part of it. And again, it's just reality. It's sad. It's a thing that I had to work through emotionally. But it is also a reality that you have to come to terms with.Jonathan Walton: Amen.Sy Hoekstra: I'm much more ready to walk out of a church when I hear nonsense than I used to be [laughter].Jonathan Walton: I'm just willing to go. Thanks.Sy Hoekstra: Which I don't necessarily… that doesn't even mean like leave the community and turn my back on everyone. I just mean if I hear some nonsense from the pastor, I can go home, and that's okay [laughter]. And I've done that a few times. I had this one pastor a while back who just got on a streak. I don't know what happened, man, but it was this one month where at maybe two or three of the sermons he just said some stuff that was super ableist. I don't know what happened. He never even talked about people with disabilities before, and all of a sudden it's like, got to bring disabled people up all the time. You got to say really nonsense, insensitive, ridiculous stuff.And there was one time I just left. I was like, “I'm gonna go to the bathroom.” And then I came out of the bathroom and I was like, “Actually, I'm not going back in there.”Jonathan Walton: [laughter] Right. Yes.Sy Hoekstra: I just remember looking at the door back into the service and the door to leave the building, and the choice could not have been clearer [laughter]. It was like a hundred percent of me wants to go this way, zero percent of me wants to go that way.Jonathan Walton: Brunch with Jesus. I'm gonna leave now. Yeah, that makes sense.Sy Hoekstra: Alright, Jonathan. Last question. How have things changed between you and the rest of the world [laughs]? The people outside of the church? How are you thinking differently? I'm sure there's a lot to say here, but…Jonathan Walton: Lord have mercy. Okay, so I can be friends with non-Christians…Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Not every woman in the world, their primary relationship to me is I shouldn't sleep with them.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, I see.Jonathan Walton: So either this woman is my wife or a temptation. Like that…Sy Hoekstra: Oh, I got you.Jonathan Walton: This is a human being made in the image of God that I am incomplete without on this side of heaven [laughs]. Like God desires shalom between me and her or them. It's a group. Also, it's very possible to be generous to people, and if it doesn't go against my taxes, it's still a great thing to give to. Friends, there's so much crap in that, and I wanted to say the other word.Sy Hoekstra: Churches make a big deal out of that your gift here will be tax deductible or whatever [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: And institutional giving or whatever, and you're just like, “No, actually, I can tithe to the guy on the corner who needs a sandwich.”Jonathan Walton: Yes, absolutely. I also think that, along with the every, I can be friends with non-Christians, and this is still actually hard for me, is I can learn from people that don't believe in Jesus the same way I do.Sy Hoekstra: Is it hard for you? Because I think sometimes, like we were talking about Valarie Kaur the other day, the seek prophet who says amazing things and you were…Jonathan Walton: Yes, yes, yes. So here's what I mean by that. And I think my wife is the one who challenges me on this.Sy Hoekstra: Okay.Jonathan Walton: It's very different to learn from someone online and through their books, but she said, “Jonathan, when you have relationships with people, intimate relationships with them,” she said, “It doesn't register for me as you're talking with them, Jonathan, that you want to learn from them.” And I'll also be really honest, my pastor told me this. When I first met him, he invited one of his friends over, and we wanted to have this conversation. And I asked him, I said, “What was that like for you?” And he said, “Well, it seemed like you were not interested in getting to know us. You just wanted to know what we thought about these things.” And that to me, is something that I'm like, oh.I believed, past tense, and I'm still working through that, I think my relationship with God is based upon my utility to people around me, and if I'm not useful, then I'm not valuable. And if I believe it about myself, I'm gonna reflect that outwards.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: And so, something that bothers me that I'm still working through is, how can I be in relationships with people and learn from them, and not require them to change or grow in some way or become or believe like me, those things would probably be the biggest, but that last one is probably… I mean, all of those I'm still working through, but that last one is the most potent right now as I try to make friends and be in community with people. What about you? Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, the friends with non-Christians thing is funny to me. The specific thing for me is that I'm not trying to, it's similar, I'm not trying to convert and change everybody. There was a while when I was young kind of late teens or early 20s, where I literally thought just every interaction I had with a non-Christian had to be toward the end of making them a Christian at some point.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: And I now realize that ensuring the salvation of anyone, including myself, not my job [laughs]. No one ever said that was my job in the Bible, at least. And my job is to talk about the truth, like talk about what has happened in my life, but that's all I got to do. Just talk about it [laughs]. I got to testify to the truth, and that does not mean that I need any individual person ever changes as a result [laughter]. That is not part of my job. I want people to know Jesus, but that's different than thinking that everything I do must be toward some end of like, honestly kind of manipulating people into [laughs] that, which is the constant evangelical tendency, hell being the biggest manipulator. “Do this or you will be tortured forever,” and framing it that way.We're constantly framing things in terms of manipulating people to just be one of us. I don't do that anymore. Thank goodness [laughs]. And stuff like that that makes me, I look back and I'm always like, I don't think that anything I was involved in actually meets the definition of a cult. But there was some cult-y aspects of it, for sure [laughs]. There was some stuff in there that was [laughs]9 weird in terms of how you related to other people. I'm much less suspicious to the rest of the world. I don't think the rest of the world, kind of like you said about women, just anybody in general, isn't trying to tempt me out of something or send me down a wrong road, which then allows me to enjoy, not just learning from people like you said, but also just beauty and joy in places that I couldn't, I wasn't allowed to find it before.A result of all that is people are no longer projects to me. This is all very similar to what you said, actually. So I think those are my main ones. And I said the last thing was the last question, but I actually did have one more question written down here. Do you wanna [laughter] go through that one too, or no?Jonathan Walton: I mean, I think we've talked about this a lot where it's like, your last question being, how has my relationship and view of God changed?Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: And what I would say is… and you said this way back in the podcast already. I'm trying to live in the reality that God actually loves me and he actually loves other people, and that's just true. And that can be my posture bent orientation to the world at all times. And to live in that quote- unquote, belovedness is really, really, really difficult in a extractivist, culturally colonized, post-plantation, capitalistic society.Sy Hoekstra: [laughs].Jonathan Walton: It's really, really hard when every single thing that I was raised to do goes against just receiving anything.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: [laughs] I mean, that's why the grace of God is confounding. But all that to say, I think I'm trying to live in that. And I think teaching my children that has taught me that more than anything.Sy Hoekstra: Early on in my faith, one of the seeds that I think God planted really early on was, and I've talked about this before. I had a lot of trouble with the idea of hell when I was considering following Jesus. And the way that that got resolved for me was to stop, I stopped asking questions about the unfairness of the idea of hell, because I came to trust Jesus as a person and say, “Whatever thing is going on there with these problems, with the unfairness of hell that I have, Jesus did something to himself. God did something to himself in the form of the cross that was also extremely unfair [laughs], actively harmed himself in order to get us to trust him.” You know what I mean?Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Actively harmed himself, is maybe a weird way to put it. Like, lived in such solidarity with us as humans, and especially as oppressed and vulnerable humans, that he died and had some terrible spiritual fate that people characterize in different ways, depending on what denomination you're from or whatever, happened to him [laughs]. And that then makes me trust him and ask questions about, why would God do this to God's self?Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Why would God do this to himself, as opposed to, why would God do this to us? And I decided to follow and trust Jesus before I really had answers, or had passed through all the different theologies of hell or any of that stuff. And so the seed there is talking about truth and talking about faith as trust in a person, and not as belief in specific doctrines or trust in specific doctrines. And I've leaned way into that. That's the thing that has grown over time and has replaced a lot of the anxiety and trust that I was putting in other things that were either of my own effort, or what other people told me I had to believe or whatever, is trust in God the being, like the spiritual entity with which I have actually interacted and I know and I love.And that part of my faith has just grown, I think, exponentially, and has allowed me to be okay with things I don't understand. And I have long term things that I don't understand, that I do not have answers to that make me uncomfortable. And still be okay with that [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes, because it's about a relationship, not perfect understanding at all times.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: And if you trust God, you don't have to understand all things, just like we trust people, even though we don't understand every single thing about them.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, which is different than trusting God as a replacement for understanding [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yeah. So let's get into our segment Which Tab Is Still Open, where we dive a little deeper into one of the recommendations from our newsletters. And remember, you can get our newsletter for free just by going to KTFPress.com, and signing up for our mailing list. You'll get recommendations on articles, podcasts and other media from both of us on things that will help you in your political education and discipleship. Plus you'll get reflections to keep you grounded and hopeful as we engage in this challenging work together, news about what's going on with KTF and a lot more. So go get that free subscription, and if you want to, you should become a paid subscriber at KTFPress.com.So this week, Sy, we're gonna be talking about the war in Sudan. Can you summarize the main points for us?Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, sure. And I know there are some people who know nothing about this war, so I will give kind of all the basics here. Basically, Sudan has been at war for about a year and a half, since April of 2023. And it's between two state-armed factions, one is the regular military, and the other is kind of a paramilitary force that was set up at one point that were supposed to kind of integrate into each other, and instead they were fighting over power. But what they had done previously together was to suppress the popular uprising that began in 2018 and it was to oust the longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, and it had started as these organizations called neighborhood resistance committees all over the country.It's a little bit tough to document how many of them there are, but they're these highly localized, very fluid groups that don't have a single leader who are doing all kinds of political organizing at a local level all around the country, coordinating with each other incredibly well, and also providing mutual aid and humanitarian aid as this war goes on. They basically organized these sit ins where they had, I mean, I don't remember the numbers, a ton of people in Khartoum trying to get rid of, Khartoum is the capital, trying to get rid of al-Bashir, and they successfully did it. And then they had a whole plan to transition to an actually civilian-led democratic government, but they were sort of beaten back by military and this other paramilitary group in a coup in 2021.So there was an attempt for a couple of years to really transition Sudan to a democracy government accountable to the people, and it did not work because of this counter revolutionary coup. And so the resource that I had was this podcast from Truthout that's called Movement Memos, and they were talking to two members of the Sudanese diaspora in Canada who, one of the main points they were trying to make was that this is a counter revolutionary war. A lot of the media will portray it as a civil war, and really it is forces fighting over who gets power after basically pushing people down. Racism is a big part of the context of this too, because a lot of the elites, the military and the paramilitary elites, and everybody who's in charge of the country are Arabic. Like ethnically or racially Arabic. And a lot of the people from the South and from the resistance committees who are part of the revolutionary groups are Black.So I think a lot of the reason that we haven't talked about this is the US is not directly involved. There are things that the US does that create some problems, like the sanctions that we still have on Sudan. But the reason everyone needs to care about this is, first of all, about fifteen or sixteen thousand people have died, which is not on the same scale of death as Palestine exactly or whatever, not to minimize those deaths or anything, but they have created the largest displacement crisis anywhere in the world. There are more than eight million people who have been displaced by this war. There's famine and starvation happening. Surrounding countries are refusing refugees. In some cases, Egypt has been doing this for some time.The guests of the podcast are really saying that these neighborhood committees are the people who need outside support the most, because there's, a lot of the NGOs and everybody have fled. So amidst this humanitarian crisis, these people on the ground doing this mutual aid are the only people keeping people alive. And they actually gave a link, which I will provide, to an organization called the Sudan Solidarity Committee I believe. I can't remember the last word. Sudan Solidarity something, where you can just donate money directly to these resistance committees. They're getting it to them via PayPal, and people are just dispersing it as needed. And it's direct giving. It's nothing paternalistic.You're just giving them money, and they're doing with it what they need. And apparently a lot of the Sudanese diaspora is trying to support this group, but they can't do it on their own, and a lot of them are struggling with their own, all the financial issues that come around immigrating to other parts of the world. So yeah, we'll have the link for that in the show notes. Jonathan, that's a lot of information I just gave. I just kind of wanna know what it is that you think about this whole situation, your reaction to it, anything about the podcast that you thought was interesting.Jonathan Walton: So one thing that's really important to me is history. And fortunately, whether we're talking about Gaza, whether we're talking about Haiti, whether we're talking about Hawaii, whether we're talking about any of these places, really anywhere that colonization has touched, there's a history.Sy Hoekstra: Yes. They get into that in the podcast too.Jonathan Walton: They do. They get into it in the podcast, because history, we need to understand how we got here to be able to make something different. And what I thought was normal and revolutionary is what the scholars who are participating and being interviewed and things like that, have done with their education. So the folks they're interviewing got their education here in the West with a mind for liberation of their own people, but not their own people, understanding how this racially assigned group downstream of colonialism called Black is basically undergirding the entire economy in the world for the last 350 years. We have to engage with that as a reality, that Africa as a continent can hold the United States, China, Russia and Europe in it with room to spare. The second largest rainforest in the world is in the Congo.We've got these huge, massive amounts of resources in Africa, not just but also including its people who have been enslaved in various ways by various groups for the last 400 years. So it's helpful just that background that was provided, and then how that trickles down into then conflict in Sudan.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. Can I just note one interesting fact that they've mentioned?Jonathan Walton: Absolutely.Sy Hoekstra: That I don't think we think about a lot, is when the colonial government left Sudan, they just vacated 800 government administrative positions or something. I can't remember what the exact number was. It was hundreds. They just vacated them. They did nothing to transition them. They didn't find people to fill them. They just left them empty [laughs]. And what do you think is gonna happen when you just create a massive power vacuum like that, with no transitional plan? You get a dictator, shocking. You know what I mean [laughs]? You get a dictator doing the exact same thing that the colonialist government that came before it did, which was effectively be a dictator.Jonathan Walton: Absolutely. Because whoever had access to power post the colony is the people that colonizers empowered the majority of the time. Those educated folks, those are the people with power and resources. And so what do they do? We do what's been taught to us because we're hundreds of years removed from our own ways of leadership, our own matrilineal, patrilineal, or communal ways of governing and dividing ourselves and working together. And so all we have is the master's tools, as Audre Lorde would say. And so I think that connection to history, the connection to globalized blackness, and then just the ridiculous amount of coordination that I think, in the United States and in more resource places gets minimized, but in order, and this is where I might, “Oh, Jonathan, you're a Marxist,” and da da da.But let's lean on the reality that something Ta-Nehisi Coates said, and something will come up in the newsletter is, the way that we organize ourselves and the way that we exist together in the world is not inherent. We need to have nations that do X, Y and Z. That's a young system. Sharing is as old as we are, and so could we as followers of Jesus, as people who want to see beauty, love, justice and all these things flow in the world, just connect with our neighbors in ways that are transformative and helpful to say, “You are going through something, let me leverage my creative capacity and imagination to create ways that you can get what you need?” And I shared a video on Instagram today of a young woman named Taylor was sharing from North Carolina.She said, “If we can precision bomb people in a building a world away, we can precision guide food to people who need it.” We can do that. And so what I am empowered by, Munther Isaac said this similarly with what's happening in Gaza, when you are forced to be creative, that is where Jesus is, and that's where we can learn. And I think followers of Jesus like me in Bayside, I'm like, “Oh it's so hard for me to buy nothing and figure out this free thing and do this and do that.” And it's because I could just go to Target. I could just order on Amazon, but we don't have to do that. And I was emboldened and encouraged and empowered by the creativity, because I wonder what would happen if we learned from these people.Instead of creating a new way to do things when there's a crisis, we could actually create new ways to do things before the world is just destitute. And so I'm praying for the folks of Sudan. I wanna share [laughs] the ways to give. I'll probably sign up to give myself and then just would God move in us the way he has moved in them to mutually help and care for one another amid such destitution.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. One of the things that the guests said about the neighborhood resistance committees, that I thought was really interesting was, they were like, these committees are running services. Like they're providing food. In a couple cases, they actually took over abandoned hospitals and reopened them, found doctors and staffed them and get supplies there, whatever. They are running the country in a way that these paramilitary organizations are not. And they are out there actively proving we don't need these people [laughs]. We don't need these people, we can run the garment ourselves[laughs]. We can run the country ourselves. We have the energy to do it. We need the resources to do it. We could do so much more if there wasn't so much violence and displacement and poverty and famine.But yeah, that kind of imagination, that kind of, you're right. That kind of necessity has created in them just an incredible capacity to share and to love each other, frankly. And I also hope that we learn from that. But at the same time, that's why they've seen so much violence and repression, is because they are threatening the power structure. And not only that, but when they were doing the sit ins a few years ago, and they ousted Al-Bashir, there were other countries starting to look to them for similar resistance. There are people in, like they mentioned specifically in the podcast, there're people in Lebanon looking at Hezbollah and going, “Could we do something about this?” [laughs]People in other countries are actually looking to these Sudanese organizations. And so the ruling power structures have to shut that down. And it means that there are other countries involved in helping them shut it down. So it's like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and Egypt and other countries that are not interested in seeing revolutions like this [laughs] are involved, are providing weapons, are doing all kinds of things and just interfering in a regional way, in the way that we as the US are used to doing globally all the time.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: This particular conflict, the US doesn't see as being as closely aligned with its interests as say, defending Israel, or now empowering Israel to go invade other countries.Jonathan Walton: Yes [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Which is what has just started as we are recording this. I'm sure we'll have more to say about that.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: So go listen to this podcast. Go read more about this conflict in the media. The reason we wanted to bring it up is, I didn't wanna become the thing I'm critiquing and not talk about Sudan just because it doesn't affect the US. But man, the media is not talking about Sudan when we should be. So please go listen to this podcast. The link will be in the show notes, please just go learn more. Give if you can. They're asking for 10 Canadian dollars a month, which is like 7.50 US [laughs]. So please, if you have some money to spare, there are people in desperate need of it who are doing very good things with it. Alright, I'm gonna wrap us up there. Thank you so much for listening today. Jonathan, thank you for a great conversation, as always.Jonathan Walton: Absolutely.Sy Hoekstra: Our theme song is “Citizens” by Jon Guerra. Our podcast art is by Robyn Burgess. Transcripts by Joyce Ambale. Editing by Multitude Productions. And the producers of this show are the lovely paid subscribers. Again, please consider becoming a paid subscriber at KTFPress.com, get all the bonus episodes of this show, join our monthly Zoom calls, comment on our blog, on our Substack, and more. Thank you so much for listening, and we will see you in a couple of weeks for what I think will be the… yeah, will be the last show that we do before the election. So we'll be talking more about some current affairs then, and doing a great interview. So we will see you in two weeks.Jonathan Walton: Stay blessed y'all.[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.] Jonathan Walton: That was the first advo—like [sound of something repeatedly hitting the mic hard]whoa, hit the mic [laughter]. My first quote- unquote, advocacy poem that I wrote, for sure.Sy Hoekstra: But can you say that again, just without laughing or hitting the mic [laughs]?Jonathan Walton: Yeah, and slapping the mic? Yeah. This is a public episode. 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This Senior Takeover with Nova takes a unique dive into past memories, scripture, and debating controversies amongst the capital-C Church. -------- Text the We Are One Hotline for prayer needs and all things We Are One: 844-641-8147 For bibles, prayer requests, giving, and more, click the link below to get connected https://weareoneyouth.com/fam If you just accepted Jesus, if you have a prayer request, or you want to know more about us, CLICK THIS LINK! https://weareoneyouth.com/fam ------- Join the We Are One Fam: WEB: https://weareoneyouth.com FACEBOOK: / waoyouth INSTAGRAM: / waoyouth TIKTOK: https://vm.tiktok.com/tGmCPB/ #weareoneyouth #gendreroles #debates
Gary and Ray discuss the way the big C Church of Kansas City rallied to support the victims of the Union Station tragedy. The Church Loves Kansas City response came together in remarkable time. Learn how and what is next.
Emmy and Natalia begin to tackle a few listener questions about the big C Church and Lutherans and “nones” and why calling churches non-denominational and post-denominational both miss the mark. Links: www.patreon.com/cafeteriachristian Live Show Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cafeteria-christian-podcast-live-show-tickets-779779440297?aff=oddtdtcreator An Altar In The World - CC Book Club Signup: https://forms.gle/2uAvnb5Jcyuo6dp57 Renew (April 21 event): https://churchanew.org/renew2024
We've been looking at the Kingdom of God. The first week we started, I had mentioned that on this week we would revisit the relationship between the Church and the Kingdom. This week – Cindy follows people on – substacks and other places – and everyone is commenting on The Church – the Universal Church – knowing and understanding and appreciating The Church. I say I am talking about the Church – the capital C Church – universal – catholic – not the ...
In our third session of the Church Conference, Pastor John King teaches about how the big “C” Church moves forward from where it is today.Pastor John King is the founding pastor of Riverside Community Church in Peoria, IL. Learn more about their ministry here.The Church Conference is hosted by Five Fold International. To learn more about this ministry you can visit the website here.
Tony Alany talked about HouseRight, a team of ministry leaders from across the country focused on helping the local church use smart and innovative technology to communicate the most important message the world has ever known.Tony Alany is a pastor and a musician who has experience as a worship leader, singer/songwriter, audio engineer, and record producer. After 24 years of volunteering, time as a part time staff member, culminating with 10 years of full time ministry at McLean Bible Church, Tony embarked on a new journey, seeking to invest his experience into the capital C Church.
Where our treasures are, there our hearts will be, also. The "capital C" Church isn't made up of brick and mortar; it's made up of people, and God's called us to work together to learn how to meet the needs of others. Learning to hear His voice is one key to the mission of generosity -- the other key is to say "yes" when He asks!
Being apart of a church community can be one of the most beautiful parts of the faith for a lot of us. Unfortunately, there are some of us who have only experienced the ugly side of the church. A side so ugly that some are compelled to leave and never look back. In this episode, we share our thoughts and experiences with the church community and how they have affected us as well as those around us.
Pastor Galen continues this series exploring the roots not only of Cheyenne Hills church, but of the "big C" Church as well.
Have you ever been hurt by someone gossiping about you? Are you guilty of talking about someone behind their back? Gossip is running rampant in today's world, both online and in person and we're going to tackle it in this episode. In this episode, I will: • Define gossip and different types of gossipers • Explain why we shouldn't gossip, from a biblical perspective • Why people may feel the need to gossip • How we can actively fight against gossip culture Gossip has become a part of everyday life, whether defined as a water cooler moment with colleagues in the office or chatting about someone else's business with friends. It can also be found online when scrolling through tabloids and social media. While it might seem innocent, it can be hurtful, lead to wild assumptions and cause division in relationships. I'll explain what gossip is and the damage it can cause. I'll also cover what the Bible says about gossip as well as how gossip is showing up in the [capital C] Church. My heart and my hope is that as you listen, you'll reflect on this topic and have the courage to call out gossip when you see it in real time. Let's instead be generous with encouragement, it goes much further and will have a positive impact on someone's life. You can tag me @biancaolthoff, I'd love to know how this episode spoke to you! Love you, BRESOURCES/LINKSKeeping It G // Gossip + Guile // Issues We Don't Talk About // Bianca OlthoffWGT Email: podcast@inthenameoflove.orgMusic by: Brad Tsushima, Instagram: @bradtsushima, email: bradtsushima94@aol.com, Spotify: “R.A.D.”This podcast is sponsored in part by Operation Christmas Child. Pack a shoebox! Learn more by clicking here.
In this second installment of Houses, Pastor Gary Craft is explaining what the House of God (both us individually, and corporately as the big C Church) is supposed to be characterized by. Holy Spirit is a huge part of our lives. And, our access to all God has for us is attached to how much[...]
In this two-part interview, we sat down with Phil Ling from The Giving Leader podcast. Phil has worked with churches and ministries of all sizes in order to help them grow in and for the Kingdom of God. Phil doesn't hold back and gives a lot of advice for how the "big C" Church can stay in the fight in a post-COVID era, but also how churches, men, and women can ensure they are doing the things they are able to do in order to bring God the glory He deserves. You can find out more about Phil by visiting his website at www.thelinggroup.com or by tuning into his podcast called "The Giving Leader." Enjoy!
is your Church telling you the whole gospel when it comes to giving? I'm tired of not hearing the whole gospel of Jesus. Jesus isn't for sale you can't buy what he has for you....
The church in America is embarrassing as a whole and here are some of the main reasons why. It is so important to fellowship together and yet ends up being worse for believers and attempting believers to enter these buildings because they will soon become the unbelievers. Believers in the wrong Jesus are the same as unbelievers and most churches teach the wrong Jesus because they do Not know Him!! Money and insecurity are their masters and Not God!!
What makes you hopeful for the "big C" Church in such a time as this? In our summer season finale, Mark Dowdy - known double preacher's kid (PK) - interviews his parents, Dale and Christy Dowdy, on their paths to and lives in ministry and what their perspectives are on what it means to [...]
Now, here's a hot button word. Church. We love the capital C Church deeply. But we realize, not everyone does. And maybe at times, for good reason. Join us as we discuss our love for THE Church... and maybe why you should (re)consider your love for it as well.
Bill Handel hosts Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer to talk about the shooter being charged with 10 counts, including murder.
What's happening today: Prosecutors in Orange County file criminal charges against 68 year old David Joe of Las Vegas in connection with Sunday's shooting at a Laguna Woods Church; L.A. City Attorney Mike Ferrer drops out of mayoral race, supporting Congresswoman Karen Bass; FDA's announces yesterday that Abbott Labs can once again produce baby formula at its Michigan plant; The US Department of Energy looks to set up green hydrogen hubs around the U.S. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people. Support the show: https://laist.com
What's happening today: Man killed during O.C. church attack was shot while charging gunman; Expert says shooters often don't keep their racist and violent views secret; L.A. County, FAA asked to put a 30-day Hold on all flights out of Whiteman airport, in Pacoima pending safety review; Half of Latinos surveyed said they haven't received info about casting ballots in primary. This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people. Support the show: https://laist.com
This past Sunday at Vaughn Forest Church a journey began through the book of Colossians with the start of our “Implications” teaching series. We know we live in a broken world, but the good news is that we have a risen Savior. In Paul's writings that we studied this past week, we learned what it means to have a healthy local church. So what does that mean for us both individually and as a body of believers known as the big “C” Church? Join Pastors Chad, Matt, and Adam for a talk about our identity in Christ and what it looks like for the Church to be the hope of the world.
It's important but sometimes it's painful. Let's chat about the Church, the Body of Christ. What is it and why care about it? Especially when it's just so hard sometimes.
We said no new episode this week, but Don decided this had to be said pointing out the pastor controversies the last few weeks, the crisis we are in in the Strauss-Howe Theory that he is working out for churches. This is an episode that you will want to hear to help you think through what is going on in the capital "C" Church
The End of the BeginningAs we come to this last reading in the book of Acts, the apostle Paul had just arrived in Rome after his long journey.Reading of Acts 28:17-37IntroductionI counted and this is our 53rd sermon in the book of Acts. Our final one. We started in September of 2020, and it's been a journey!Many of you have commented about your appreciation of this series. It's been helpful. It's been one where we've learned about the church and we've been challenged by the Gospel. The Gospel, as a reminder, is the good news of Jesus – It's the salvation that God achieved for us through Jesus's death on the cross, and the hope that we have because of his resurrection. It's been a main emphasis in Acts.As we come to the end, I want to take you back to the very beginning of Luke's words. Luke, through the inspiration of the God's Spirit, authored both the Gospel according to Luke as well as this book. And he wrote both books to a Theophilus. At the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, he said: “it seemed good to me… having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,” and then he wrote, “that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” Luke wrote something similar in Acts chapter 1 verse 1. “In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up…” And then Luke immediately began talking about Jesus's words to his discipline. Both about his kingdom and that they would be his witness. Luke was setting the stage for his book.In other words, both books focus on Jesus. The first on his life, ministry, and death while on earth, and the second, Acts, on Jesus's post resurrection ministry. That includes Jesus' commands to his appointed apostles, and the kingdom of God. So Jesus's ministry on earth, as the suffering servant, and Jesus's ongoing ministry in heaven as the king of his kingdom. And even though we don't know much about Theophilus, we do know that Luke's goal is to explain and verify to Theophilus what has happened… Here's how Christianity started, here's what it's all about, the Gospel, and here's how Christianity exploded in growth over this 60 years period.And at the center of the entire narrative is God. God the heavenly Father, sending God the son – Jesus, and giving us God the Spirit. That's what it's all about, Theophilus. God orchestrated it all. He fulfilled his promise of salvation through Jesus, and now it's going out to every tribe, tongue, and people. Jesus is reigning in heaven, and he's given us his Holy Spirit to accomplish his “ends of the earth” ministry.That's the big picture. And if you don't have that in mind, then you are going to be disappointed in this ending. Maybe you've already thought that. “Wait, what? What happened next? What happened to Paul? Luke, you've left me hanging?” Have you thought those things?On the other hand, if you get the big picture. That's it's God's work, His salvation, establishing and expanding his church and kingdom, through his Spirit, as the resurrected Lord Jesus reigns in heaven… if you understand those things, then this ending is actually amazing.My goal is for you to see that today. To be amazed. Amazed at what God has done. And amazed at what he is continuing to do. If you're thinking, “well, where's the next chapter of Acts, Acts 29?” Well, the thing is, we ARE the next chapter of Acts. As God's church and people, as part of his expanding kingdom, we are in Acts 29 now. Many have said over the years that the book of Acts is the “End of the Beginning.” Not the “beginning of the end.” No, Acts has given us the beginnings of the church. And chapter 28 is merely the end of the beginning.In the very first sermon of Acts, I used the acronym A.C.T.S. And I think I came back to that acronym maybe 5-6 times as a reminder of the main themes of the whole book. Well, I want to end with the same acronym. Let's analyze these last verses with that same paradigm. And in doing so, I hope that you'll see how it all connects together and brings to conclusion, or rather, purposeful inconclusion, the book of Acts.A.C.T.S.• A for the ascended Christ.• C for the church• T which stands for… do you remember, Tucker. We are part of Jesus's call that the Gospel go “to the ends of the earth” • And S for Spirit. God's Holy Spirit at work. The Spirit of Truth and righteousness.All those things were emphasized in the opening verses of Acts. And they were emphasized throughout the book. And they are here in chapter 28.Now, before jumping into those themes, let me highlight some of the story here… Paul's time in Rome.• First, the Roman Centurion considered Paul trustworthy and faithful. Even though he still had chains, Paul was able to rent a house. We're told that up in verse 16. That's incredible. It was the base location of Paul's ministry. People came to him, there. • Second, Paul wasted no time once he got to Rome. His first tactic was to call the Jewish leadership to meet him. That was only 3 days after his arrival. And they came to him. And the somewhat surprising thing is they didn't know anything about Paul. The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem had yet to inform Rome. Now maybe their communication was still on the way. Don't forget, the storm at sea pushed Paul 1000 miles closer to Rome. So Paul arrived pretty early in the spring... before the Jews from Jerusalem could either arrive or send a letter warning them about Paul.• So these Jewish leaders in Rome wanted to hear from Paul. And he had two meetings with them. • In the first meeting, verses 17-22, he let them know three things. (1) why he was a prisoner. (2) that the Roman authority found him innocent. (3) He, himself, didn't bring a counter charge against the Jews in Jerusalem. He simply appealed because the Jews objected to the Romans. And notice in this first meeting, Paul's heart was very much aligned with them. Paul spoke of “our people” and “our fathers.”• And then, the second meeting happened because the Jewish leaders wanted to hear more. And Paul spent an entire day with them. Look at verse 23. Three words there describe Paul's words: “Expounded” meaning he explained the Old Testament scriptures. “Testifying” meaning he was revealing what God had done and was doing to fulfill his promises. And the last word, “convince,” meaning Paul was trying to persuade them about Jesus. We'll get into the details about how the Jews responded in a little bit.• The last thing I want to highlight is the last two verses. After these two meetings with the Jewish leaders, Paul opened his home, and for two years, he welcomed anyone and everyone – Jews and Gentiles to talk. And think about this, no one could hurt him! The whole time he was chained to a Roman guard. By the way, I was reading Jim Boyce's commentary on this. Boice was the pastor at 10th Presbyterian in Philadelphia. He made an interesting comment. He asked, what if you were one of the many Roman soldiers chained to Paul. You know, taking turns. I mean, you would have been a captive audience for a couple of years. Not just hearing about the Gospel, but experiencing the Lord's work through Paul. Maybe in eternity, we'll meet a couple of them.Ok, hopefully that helps frame out these verses. Let's now jump into the ACTS acronym and connect this all together.A – Ascended ChristThe letter “A” – again for the ascended Christ. And we should include resurrected and ascended Christ. As I mentioned earlier, Acts has been about the resurrected and ascended Jesus. It began with the resurrected Jesus. He had risen from the grave. Conquered death and sin. And by doing so, he proved who he was – the promised Savior. He was the one to whom the Old Testament Scriptures pointed. And at the beginning of Acts chapter 1, Jesus then ascended into heaven. By doing so, he ushered in his Kingdom. Not an earthly kingdom, No, a spiritual kingdom with Jesus as king. We'll come back to the kingdom in a minute. And all throughout Acts, the apostles emphasized the resurrected and ascended Christ. That's why it's seemed like we've had 3-4 Easter type messages this last year.And this emphasis on Jesus is, of course, here at the end! In Paul's first meeting with the Jewish leaders, he spoke of the “hope of Israel.” You'll see that in verse 20. Well, they would have known exactly who Paul was referring to. The promised Messiah. The Christ. Those are 2 words that point to God's promised savior.That the comment that actually led to that second meeting. It's there that Paul sought to prove Jesus as the promised one. Do you see that in verse 23? It says Paul was “trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.”By the way, there's a parallel here between the end of Acts and the end of the Gospel of Luke. Here, Paul revealed Jesus as the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises… and at the end of Luke Jesus revealed how he fulfilled all of the Old Testament promises. That was on the road to Emmeus. We've seen a lot of parallels, haven't we, between the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. This parallel help us see Luke's emphasis in his conclusion – Jesus.In fact, the final verse of Acts is also about Jesus, did you notice. The proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ continued. The whole book ends with Jesus. That's because it's all about him. Even though the last half of Acts focused on Paul's ministry, really, it's not about Paul. It's never been about him. Paul over and over pointed to Jesus. That's why Luke doesn't tell us what happened to Paul. Acts is not about him. And think about it, besides Paul, Acts doesn't tell us what happened to Peter, or Barnabas, or Timothy, or John either. Acts is not a biography about them. No, it's about Jesus – the ascended Christ.C – ChurchAnd that brings us to the letter “C” for church. Ecclesia is the word in the Greek. That word is used throughout Acts. All over the place as church after church is planted and worships and grows and sends out people. To be sure, the word for church is not used here. In fact, that word is not used in the first chapter of Acts, either. Yet it has such a prominent place all throughout the book.However, Acts both begins and ends with an emphasis on “God's kingdom.” In the beginning of Acts, Jesus was teaching about his kingdom. And here in the last chapter, verses 23 and 31, the very last verse, Luke goes back to that phrase “kingdom of God.” And a big part of God's kingdom is the church. They are intrinsically connected. • The kingdom of God is a much broader. It includes the heavens above. • It includes God's work through his people and his work throughout his creation. • It includes God's common grace as well, what we talked about last week. • And it includes the church. The church, if you remember refers to God's people. There's both a broader use of that word meaning all of God's people throughout the world, and there's also a focused use of the word referring to the gathering of people for worship and discipleship. A local church – a congregation of believers like us here. In other words, the church is a subset of God's kingdom. It makes sense that Acts begins and ends with the kingdom because it's broader in scope. And the pages in Acts are about the specifics of what God is doing in his kingdom, with a big emphasis on the church. And this idea of God's kingdom was hugely misunderstood by the Jewish people. You see, they were expecting an earthly kingdom. They wanted a messiah that would come and demonstrate his earthly power. They wanted Israel to return to greatness like in the days of King David and Solomon. After all, they were God's chosen nation. The gentiles, they thought, were not to be God's people.This explains what happened in Paul's second meeting with the Jewish leaders. Verses 23-28. Remember, Paul was “testifying to the kingdom of God” and “trying to convince then about Jesus.” In other words, he was trying to show them that they had gotten it all wrong. And what happened? Well, some believed! Yes! Some did believe. This has happened over and over. Paul went to the Jews. He proclaimed the Gospel and the Kingdom. Both of those things, and some believed. But most of them, just like before, did not believe. And that's when Paul quoted Isaiah 6. “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear.” His quote of Isaiah 6 was absolutely true. All the promises point to Christ Jesus. It's all right there in their Scriptures, but they failed to see and hear it.In fact, Jesus quoted this same exact prophecy. And the context of that was his kingdom parables. What the kingdom of God would be like. And just like here at the ends of Acts, many of the people did not believe. To them, Jesus was not the right kind of savior, and his kingdom was not the right kind of kingdom.T - TuckerThis is a good transition to the next letter in the acronym. “T” for Tucker which connects to “the ends of the earth” because we, here in Tucker, are part of God's ends of the earth ministry. You see, God's plan of salvation always included the nations. Israel was the means through which salvation came. The covenant promises and the prophecies came through Israel. That's why Paul was so passionate that the Jews would believe. Because they had a special role in God bringing salvation to us.One of the points here is that despite the unbelief of many of them, the Gospel will continue to expand to all people. This is why Paul responded the way he did in verse 28. “Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” This is right after he quoted Isaiah 6. You are not hearing God's Word, but the Gentiles will listen. And so the Gospel went forth to all people. All backgrounds. All nationalities.Let me also add, besides “who” the offer of the Gospel was for (everyone), this ending of Acts also reminds us of “where” the Gospel was to go. Back in chapter 1 verse 8, Jesus commissioned his disciples to be his witness, yes in Jerusalem, but also beyond. In “Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And all throughout Acts, we experienced the Gospel expanding. The fact that Paul had arrived in Rome, and that there were already Christians in Rome, showed that Jesus's “ends of the earth” commission was being fulfilled. The Jewish leaders here even confirmed this for us. Back up in verse 22. We don't know anything about you, Paul, but “with regard to this sect,” meaning Christianity, “we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” Everywhere that they know. To be sure, Rome wasn't the ends of the earth, but it represented the Gospel going forth. And it's still happening today.S – SpiritOk, the final letter, “S”, for the Spirit. The Holy Spirit.To be as clear as I can, the Holy Spirit is who we call the third person of the God. third person of the Trinity. God is one, who eternally exists in the unity of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We'll be jointly reading the Nicene Creed in a few minutes as we approach the Lord's table. It's helps clarify those things.And much of the book of Acts has been about the Holy Spirit. Who he is. Why he was given. And we know from the Gospel of John and the other book of the Bible that he is the comforter, who brings conviction of sin, who trains us in righteousness, who transforms hearts. Some have called the book of Acts, the Acts of the Holy Spirit. That's because he has a central role in the book, expanding God's kingdom through the conversion of souls, the miracles, and the words given to the believers as the Holy Spirit was given to them. There are 56 direct references to the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. That's like three times more references than any other book in the Bile. And here in the last chapter, again, a direct reference to the Holy Spirit and his work. An interesting reference at that.Verse 25. “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet.” Paul was attesting to them that it's the Holy Spirit who gives us his Word. Yes, Isaiah penned the words, but it was the Holy Spirit working through him. It's a great reminder of God's Spirit working through his Word.Sometimes we just think of the human author. Isaiah prophesied, or John spoke, or Mark wrote, and we forget that it's the Holy Spirit who was at work through these faithful men. That's why it all ties together. As the Holy Spirit says of God's word… All Scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. The Holy Spirit at work in Acts and beyond.Conclusion“A” for the ascended Christ. “C” for the church, a subset of God's kingdom, “T” for Tucker as part of Jesus's ends of the earth ministry. And S for the Holy Spirit.I want to bring our whole study to a close by looking at the last word of Acts, “without hindrance.” That's one word in the Greek. Unhindered. The Gospel continued to be preached with boldness and unhindered. I mean, what an appropriate word to end the book on! It's in some ways the summary of Acts. The unhindered proclamation of Christ. That he is the only way for salvation. The call to believe in Jesus, God's son, for who he is, for what he accomplished on the cross, and for his ongoing ministry as the resurrected king. One commentator, Darrell Bock, wrote this to close his commentary: “The word will get out. In fact, despite all the obstacles in Acts, the book ends with the Gospel unhindered… God is the hero of Acts, and the plot line is he reveals his word through Jesus and a faithful church. God will make sure it happens...”Isn't that what we experienced in Acts over and over?• That threats and persecution will not stop the Gospel• Martyrdom will not stop it from going forth. Quite the opposite happened.• Disagreements over doctrine is not going to stop it.• A secular kingdom is not going to stop the Gospel, nor corruption within it.• Empty religion and blind, deaf leaders will not stop it from going forth.• The devil can not stop• False Gods and idols will not stop the Gospel.• A storm at sea and a shipwreck will not stop it.• Neither will chains!Nothing will. It will be unhindered. And when it seems that all hope is lost, that's when God is at work in ways that we can't even imagine. Isn't that the hope of the Gospel, anyway?! When the Jews plotted against Jesus. When his disciples deserted him, scared. When the Romans gave in and dragged him to the cross. When he hung until he breathed no more. When it seemed hopeless and that it was the end. That's when God did his most powerful work. And it was only the beginning. It was the very thing that defeated sin, death, and the devil. And it was from that point when the Gospel and Christianity exploded in growth, unhindered. We saw that all through the book of Acts. And Acts was only the beginning. We're still, to this day, witnessing and participating in the Gospel ministry of Christ through the Holy Spirit, as Jesus builds his church to the ends of the earth.
God invites the Church to participate in his Mission of Reconciliation, both deed ("ministry") and word ("message"). The missional movement reminds us: "It's not that God has a mission for his Church. It's that God has a Church for his mission." God's mission of reconciliation comes first. God calls the Church to participate in that mission. We can describe it many ways (see Matt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Luke 4:18-19, 1 Peter 2:9-10, and others). What we do as Faith Church should help us as members of God's Big-C Church to participate in God's mission. Our "Service Sundays" 2x per year help in this. Why? Not because they take the place of the restoration / reconciliation / witnessing that the Church is called to each day. No, rather because they model and inspire this sort of work. So, as we go out and serve, let's consider how our activities might be broadened into daily acts of service. Or how our activities today remind us of other ways we can participate in God's mission of reconciliation and restoration and healing.
Evil and Demons and the Occult... OH MY! Dear Christians, we're not in Kansas anymore. In this episode I get really real about the presence of demons and evil in my own life, my own past screwing around with the occult, and how real this enemy is. We cover everything from the fall of 1/3 of the angels who ended up being cast out of heaven, how this spiritual attack is ignored within our big C Church and little c churches, and a little bit of what you can do about it! If you have any questions or stories you want to share about your experiences with the diabolical, how you persevere throughout spiritual warfare, or something you want me to deep dive and help you understand... CALL THE HOLY HOT MESS HOTLINE (469)629-6323 or email me at holyhotmessmom@gmail.com. LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE An Exorcist Explains the Demonic - The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels by Fr Gabriel Amorth Deliverance Prayers for use by the Laity (online, and an app) Deliverance Prayers for use by the Laity (book format, this is what I own) Essential Spiritual Warfare Prayers for Protection & Deliverance Manual for Spiritual Warfare Spiritual Warfare & The Discernment of Spirits + Demons, Deliverance and Discernment Family Guide to Spiritual Warfare US Grace Force Podcast + Materials The Art of Spiritual Warfare & The Rosary Combat Rosaries Blessed Salt (you can't buy blessed items, that is called simony and it's a sin - God's graces are not for sale BUT you can buy some salt and give to your priest to bless, any salt will do) More sacramentals: Brown Scapular, St Benedict Medal, Miraculous Medal, Holy Water, Blessed Oil NEW Holy Hot Mess Youtube Channel Top 10 Episodes of All Time Most Recent Podcast Episode THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY… YOU… because you can NOW support the podcast via PayPal and Venmo. Any donation amount helps to cover the cost of editing software, podcast and website hosting, and many of the other nuances that go into this one woman ministry & podcast! and RACHEL ROSEMARY who's Etsy shop you can find HERE! You can also find here on Instagram and Youtube where she posts her Rant with Ray, shares some of her sweet life, and shows her small business of Catholic stickers and bags and sweatshirts (so far, she's always coming up with new things). ALSO, WANNA BE A SPONSOR? This Holy Hot Mess project is now accepting very affordable sponsorships. If you'd like more information and to apply to see if we'd be a good fit working together, head to this link: www.holyhotmess.net/sponsor FOLLOW Your host, Heather! You can hang out with me, Heather, on Facebook, Pinterest or my favorite spots, Instagram & the Youtubes! As always I'm available for a voice message at (469)629-6323 or holyhotmessmom@gmail.com PSST…ANOTHER GREAT WAY TO SUPPORT IS BY LEAVING A RATING & REVIEW Leaving a rating & review helps our podcast to show up in suggested and ranked listings in podcasts apps. This helps us spread the love, laughs, and encouragement to other women who might need it! You can head to this page to see a step by step guide on how exactly to leave a glowing rating & review! CALL THE HOLY HOT MESS HOTLINE (469)629-6323 and let us know your holy or messy stories. The joys you want to share, the prayers you need a community to life you up in, or the hilariousness you don't want to keep to yourself.
In this episode we're exploring the big “C” Church and our emphasis on marriage and families. It seems that we've defined the ultimate fulfillment of the Christian life as getting married and having a family rather than advancing God's kingdom and...
- "North Carolina Church Votes to SELL THEIR 1.9 ACRE PROPERTY and Use the Proceeds to Help the Homeless!" - "9th Circuit Court of Appeals RULES IN FAVOR of a Church in Washington State! Their Lawsuit Against the Governor Seeking to NOT have to Provide Abortion in their Healthcare Plan CAN CONTINUE!" - ELAINE KENNELLY: "Finding Peace after a Suicide Loss" - CADE THOMPSON: "Helping Young People Find Their 'New Normal' After the Pandemic"
Regardless of your stage in life, there's one thing we can all agree on about this past year: Life has been disrupted. That also includes the Church-- SFCC and beyond. In this message, we will track a biblical story that aligns with how many of us are feeling; desiring things to return to "normal" but realizing we must also face the changes head-on. Perhaps for each of us, and for the big-C Church, it's time for a Holy Shift.
Regardless of your stage in life, there's one thing we can all agree on about this past year: Life has been disrupted. That also includes the Church-- SFCC and beyond. In this message, we will track a biblical story that aligns with how many of us are feeling; desiring things to return to "normal" but realizing we must also face the changes head-on. Perhaps for each of us, and for the big-C Church, it's time for a Holy Shift.
You belong to a people, and you were designed for purpose. Well, hello and good morning. The greatest sports organization in American history, the Green Bay Packers. Hey, hey, I'm preaching up here. How rude. How rude of you. The greatest franchise in American sports. The Green Bay Packers have had success at the highest levels. They have won more NFL championship titles, 13, than any other team. That is nine NFL championships and four Super Bowls. That's right. It's very good. They're the only NFL team to also in the AFL NFL championship. If you didn't know their second all time in pro bowlers. And they've even had some recent success with two trips to the NFC championship game. For a photo comparison, here's a slide of all the Vikings championships. Hey, I might get fired for that. It's fun. Thankfully, the board president's a Bears fan. OK, so this past year, though, they had a motto and the motto was one 11th. And when I heard that for the first time, it really struck me as very poetic. There's an economy of language in this little phrase, this idea of one 11th, you know, you're only one of 11. So stay humble. You're one of 11. So stay connected. You're responsible for this part of the play. If you do your job, it's probably going to be successful. You have a role that's specific to you. You need to do that role. People are counting on you. We need each other. All of that is wrapped up in this this very tight little phrase, this idea of 1 11th. There's responsibility, there's connection, there's team, there's oneness. Have you ever been a part of a great team? You know, maybe it was a team at work that just really crushed it on a project or, you know, maybe it was a sports team that you were a part of, that you feel this real strong connection or maybe it was a choir or a band or a group of sorority sisters or whatever it was. If you've been a part of a team, you know the thrill of that, you know, the feeling of accomplishing something that you couldn't do on your own, that you needed others to help you accomplish that was beyond you. And so today, what I want to examine is this idea that, you know, you are already if you are a follower of Jesus, you are a part of a people, you're a part of a team, a family, a nation. And there's something supernatural that happens among the people of God. And maybe it doesn't always feel like that. Maybe we need to increase our sensitivity and understanding to what this really means in reality. But I think, I think we should feel the weight of that one 11th mentality that we are a part of a whole as the people of God. And if we do, we'll begin to understand as well our purpose. And so you are if you are a follower of Jesus, you are a people and you were built for a purpose. And that is exactly our bottom line today. You belong to people and you were designed for a purpose. And that is a beautiful and a wonderful thing. So let's explore that together. We heard this passage read, but I'm going to review it in a little bit shorter format. 1 Peter 2, first Peter Chapter two, and I'll be reading from the ESV here. You can follow along on the screen. So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good and then skipping to verse eight - others stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. But you are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. What a passage there's so much to dig into here. It's so exciting to see God speak to us in this way. So let's focus in on verse one. We need to put away malice, deceit, hypocrisy envy and slander. What are these things? You know, these are sicknesses of the heart. That's what they are at their core. I mean, if you really think about what these things are and further, when Jesus was asked, what's the most important thing, he said, love, loving action. And if we look at this list, we can see very clearly this is the opposite of loving action. So what exactly are these things? Well, malice is this idea kind of tied up with bitterness, resentment, hate. And so the question that we should ask ourselves is, do you feel yourself feeling anger, resentment toward individuals or groups of people? Bitterness maybe? Do you do you feel that in your heart or have you become numb to it? Do you watch the news and it triggers you and makes you angry with a certain group of people or certain individuals? If that's the case, there's a chance that that malice is festering in your heart or maybe deceit. I really like the word deceit because I think sometimes we think that honesty is simply not telling lies. I think it's more than that. I think deceit speaks to not only speaking truth, but making sure that if we don't want to be deceitful, then we want to be the truest version of who we are. We want to be honest in what we present to the world. And a world of social media makes it pretty easy to create deceit, doesn't it? But it's not like that's a new thing either, is it? That's not just a social media problem. That's a people problem. We try to put forward a version of ourselves that isn't the true, authentic version of ourselves at times. And so I think we try to deceive each other in lots of ways. Maybe that's just one of them. Hypocrisy. You think the church has a problem with hypocrisy ever? I think we might. In fact, landmark study done by the Barna Group in 2007 said that 85 percent of non church people see the church as hypocritical. And it's one of the top three reasons why they're not interested in engaging with the church. I've always wondered if we could do the opposite study, though, like what would Church people think about non church people? I wonder what that percentage would be, because I think there's hypocrisy across the board. I don't think that's a Christian thing. I think that's just a thing thing. I think that's a humanity thing. But I would also agree the church has a hypocrisy problem, too. We see it in ourselves, don't we? I'm a hypocrite. Sometimes you probably are, too. I think hypocrisy is a real heart issue and we need to think deeply about whether or not that's taken root in our heart and in our soul. What about envy? You ever find yourself jealous of what other people have? How about slander? You ever find yourself exaggerating other people's failures just to try to feel better about yourself? If you're a follower of Jesus, these things have no place in your heart. They have no place in your life. And if indeed we belong to a people and we're built for a purpose, then I think what Peter's trying to declare to us here is he's saying this isn't the way it's supposed to be. This is not the way the family of God is to behave. This is not the way the people of God are supposed to behave. And I agree. It reminds me of my basketball coach growing up. Sometimes he would get so mad, he would know what to do and then he would just yell, that's not Pirate basketball. We were the Bayport Pirates. That's not Pirate basketball, you would say. And it was this idea that there's a standard that we're supposed to be living. There's a way we're supposed to be doing this. Why aren't we doing it that way? And so this is what I think Peter is writing about here. He's saying, look, if you're a follower of Jesus, none of this has a place in your life. That's not the way that it's supposed to be. This isn't the loving action that Jesus was talking about. And so you belong to people and you were designed for a purpose. And these things aren't the way you're supposed to do them. And that's what Peter's reminding us. So I'd actually like to do something a little bit different right now, which is this. I'd like us to take a moment and I'm going to pray and I'm going to let there be a moment of silence here. And I would like you to personally reflect on these words and ask God to speak to you whether any of these things have taken root in your heart and whether you need to identify that sin and begin to repent for it. So I'm going to pray right now for that. Father God, we pause here in this moment as we are studying your word to ask that you would use your word to work on us, work on our hearts, every single one of us in this room. And Lord, there's a list of things here that in your word, you are declaring to us this is not the way that it's supposed to be. And so, God, in the silence of the next few moments, would you speak to any of us about the sickness of our own heart and whether there's a sin we need to identify and turn away from now? Amen. OK. So, maybe God spoke to you in that moment, maybe he's going to speak to you later. I don't know, maybe there's something you need to turn from. But here's the beautiful thing about God and his plans. Whenever he identifies a problem, he also helps with a solution. And I think this passage speaks directly to that. If we've revealed a problem, then then we have to know how we're going to fix it. What are we going to do about this? And it's not a it's not a formula. It's not a simple solution. But I do think there's something here for us. And I think it's right here in verse two. Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation if indeed you've tasted that the Lord is good. Look, if you've tasted what it means to have a relationship with God, then you know, that's the good stuff, isn't it? If you felt that closeness in the spirit with Jesus, then you know what this is talking about. In the metaphor, this is an interesting metaphor, right? Because Paul writes about, you know, don't be immature like a child in your faith or you'll be tossed around by the wind. Right. So it's like, oh, wait, I thought we weren't supposed to be like babies. I didn't think we were supposed to be like children. No, no, no. This is a different metaphor altogether. Don't confuse the two. If you've ever cared for an infant, you know that, you know, babies can't talk, but they can make their opinions known, you know. Right. They can express themselves. And when a baby's hungry and just wants to eat, whether they're using a bottle of their nursing or whatever it is like, they they get the ravenously hungry and they're like, I need food right now. Get me some food. And then and then what you get is this just like ravenous is drinking. Right? Where they're just like slurping it down with all of their might. And then as parents or as caregivers, we do this thing where we're like, oh, she was so hungry. And we like get excited because she gets it. She gets that she has a problem and it needs a solution in the milk is the answer. And that's how we're supposed to be with God. We're supposed to desire deeply a relationship with him. We're supposed to drink deeply from our time with him in worship and study in prayer, whatever it might look like. We need to crave that relationship with God. Now, babies, I don't think, have to acquire a taste for milk, but maybe we have to acquire a taste for the word. Maybe we have to acquire a taste for worshipping on our own, things like that. You know, there's a lot of things that people can acquire a taste to and maybe that's what's going on here. Maybe that's what Peter's calling us to. He's saying, look, you have this problem. I think what you need is you need to crave a relationship with God more. And I think he's right because you belong to a people and you were designed for a purpose. And part of that purpose is to want a deeper intimacy with Jesus. So maybe, maybe practically for you, that looks like you need to read a verse a day, maybe it means you need to read a chapter a day. And even sometimes when you don't feel like it, you work on that practice so that you are like an infant who just wants to guzzle that milk down. OK, so skipping down to verse eight, not that the ones in between aren't great. They are. Time is a factor. Others stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do so. Part of being a people is that a people is distinct and different from other people. That's part of what it means to be a people. There's a cultural distinction between, you know, us and them or between that group and that group, and that's what it's supposed to be like. The best metaphor I can come up with is this. We have a lot in common with our Canadian neighbors. Like we both have a regional love of hockey. We're both known for over-the-top niceness. You know, we both live in places too cold for humans to actually live, but we do it anyway, you know, I mean, there's a lot of similarities between us and our Canadian neighbors so much that there's a campaign to make Minnesota the 11th province of Canada. I don't know that I would vote for that. But I'm just saying, you know, we have a lot of similarities, but we're not the same, are we? I mean, there are distinct cultural differences between Canadians and Minnesotans. There are differences, to be sure, you know, Tim Hortons versus Dunkin Donuts alone. I mean, there are different things going on here. Part of what it means to be a people is that we are different. We're different from the others. My pastor growing up used to say something a lot that I thought was very profound. He would say something along the lines of don't carry tension that isn't yours to carry. And I think this verse speaks to that in an interesting way to followers of Jesus. It says that, you know, people are going to stumble and disobey the word because they were destined to do that. And sometimes sometimes I think as followers of Christ, we begin to carry tension that isn't ours to carry because we look at the world and we say, why are they following Jesus? Why aren't they behaving the way that we know Jesus has called us to live? Why are they doing that? Because they were destined not to and because their culture is different than our culture as followers of Jesus. Those are different things they have to be. And so should you, you know, stand up and say that something is false when it's false or say that something is wrong when it's wrong? You should. But should you carry the tension that other people aren't behaving the way that the people of God are supposed to behave if they're not people of God? No, that's not our intention to carry. The people of God are meant to be different, and that's part of what it means to be a part of his people. And be clear, though, behavior isn't at the core of the cultural difference. It's not just about behavior. It's something deeper. It's about a deeper identity. And that's what verse nine speaks to and it speaks so eloquently to. It says, But you are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. One of the things I love about this passage is that it doesn't say this is a kind of suggestion I am making for you. No, no, no. It says this is who you are. You already are these things, you are a chosen people. You're a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are God's special possession. OK, so what does that mean? So let's start with chosen people. Followers of Jesus were made for a purpose and they were chosen to fulfill it. So, yeah, again, it means that we're not the same as others. But I think this this form of choosing indicates value. I grew up on the playground playing kickball. You know, the whole class would play - the boys, the girls. It was awesome. I love kickball. One time, Nate Thompson kicked it all the way to the to the swing set. It was amazing. OK, that's a whole other story for another time. But we would line up and pick teams. And part of what you're doing when you pick somebody is you're saying, I think you bring value to the team. I think you can help me win. If you have been chosen as part of the people of God. God thinks you have value until he calls you home. You still have a purpose. And there are specific things that maybe to you that are specific and there's general things to the people of God. And if you don't know what your purpose is, I've said this to teenagers for years. If you don't know what your specific God ordained purpose is then care for orphans and widows, because we know that that is pure religion. So if you're like, I don't know what God wants me to do, find an orphan, find a widow and take care of them, because we know for sure that that is a good thing to do. So while you're trying to figure out the rest, do that. OK, you got me on my soapbox on that one. Sorry. All right. Next, royal priesthood now. And there's a lot of ways we could think about this. But, you know, the first thing we maybe have to do is deconstruct for a moment. I grew up in a very Catholic community. And so when I hear priest, I automatically think of the guy with the white collar who's a Catholic minister. That is not what this is. So let's remove that from our brains. This is about the temple priests. And they had a very different kind of role. And in the passage even says that their job was to offer sacrifices. You remember reading about this, that was part of their job, that the people would bring their sin offerings and their their wave offerings and all the different things that they would bring and that the priests would create this important function. They were the bridge, the go between between God and his people. And so if you are a part of the royal priesthood, your job is sort of twofold. It means, number one, you are to serve God ministered to God, serve God. And secondly, you are to minister to to serve people. I mean, that lines up with a lot of things. Jesus said, doesn't it? You serve God and serve people. But you also get the beautiful job of being that go-between, of being that ambassador of Christ to a world that may not know him. What a privilege it is to serve God by telling other people the truth about who he is. It is a beautiful and a wonderful thing, but it's also a big responsibility to be the representative of the kingdom. So we can find joy in that. But we also have to find responsibility in that. You're also a holy nation, that a nation is not just a bunch of individuals, it's a nation. It's connected with a shared identity. And God's people are distinct partially because they're part of a whole that is connected in unity in Christ. See, nations are typically connected by other factors, by geopolitical factors, by racial factors, by rivers, by linguistic factors, by socioeconomic reasons. These are typically the things that determine a nation. But God's nation of people is a different determination. It has a different kind of border and it transcends all of those categories. The thing that makes the people of God, the people of God, is that they follow the same leader and that leader is Jesus. That's the thing that makes the people of God, the people of God, and friends I hope that allegiance to this nation, the nation of God's people, I hope your allegiance to that nation is greater than the one you live in. I hope you feel more of an affinity with Christ followers who live on a different continent and look different than you and speak a different language with you than you. I hope you feel a greater connection with them than just somebody who happens to live down the road from you because your primary identity is in Christ Jesus and it needs to be more important than your citizenship of any country. Secondly, a holy nation does not mean a perfect one. And praise God for that because I don't know about y'all. I would not qualify for a perfect nation. Right? We all make mistakes sometimes. It can't possibly mean that. Most of the Old Testament is telling us stories about how the nation of Israel failed. I mean, that's pretty much what the Old Testament is. And most of the New Testament is warnings against how bad the early church was failing. So, you know, it can't it just can't mean that it can't mean perfect people. But I do think that the nation has a holy purpose to serve God and to serve others. And because it's led by a holy leader, Jesus himself. It's not a president or a prime minister or anything else. It's led by God himself. And that's why it's holy. Fifth. Fourth? One two three. Fourth, God's special possession. You're also God's special possession. What does that mean? Well, for one, I think animals are great. I think you should love your dogs and cats and parrots and hamsters and things. They're wonderful. But it's very clear in Genesis, when God created the animals, he was like, those are good. And then he created people. He's like, those are very good. People are more important than animals. I know. I'm sorry. That was a scandalous thing to say, perhaps in some circles circles. But to God you were special among creation, and that's part of what it means to be God's special possession. But further, it means his people, his nation is special to him as well, and if they're special to him, they should be special to you too, shouldn't they? The things that God gets excited about are things that we should get excited about. It has become pretty popular to say things like, oh, I love Jesus, just not the church. That could be said a lot. And look, if you want to compare church scars at any time, like I'd be happy to, I find that conversation fascinating. I've been hurt very deeply by churches, you know, over time. I mean, the capital C Church, by the people of God, by the organizations that are local churches have been cut pretty deep. And you probably have too at times. It's OK to be hurt. It's OK to have issues, it's OK to critique. It's not OK to not find special, important - as special and important what God finds special and important. We can't reject his people if he says that they're important, so this is who you are: you're a chosen people, you're a royal priesthood, you're a holy nation, you are God's special possession. If you are a follower of Christ, this is who you are. So what I mean, so what? Oh, that's nice. It makes me feel good. I get to leave church feeling better now because somebody said nice things. No, there's a responsibility. It goes deeper, doesn't it? And it's right there in the passage. This is who you are, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Yeah, that's so what? We get to proclaim the Excellencies, all right. So that's kind of a strange phrase we don't use in normal vernacular. What does that mean? It basically says we should praise him for his goodness. And there's some practical ways that I think we can do that. First, worship, worship. I mean, spend time with God. You can do it individually. You can do it as a family or a small group. You can do it corporately like we've been doing here this morning. Those are all valid and beautiful expressions of worship. In fact, I would recommend having all three in your life at any given time. We should worship. We should make that beautiful holy waste of time where all we're doing - we're not trying to accomplish anything else - all we're doing is basking in our relationship with God and exalting his name and thanking him for what he has done. That's worship. And what we pay attention to is what we worship, isn't it? So we should pay attention to God. The second thing I would say is serve and teach by serving not out of a sense of duty or guilt, but out of a love for your creator or proclaiming his excellencies. And so I just want to make this point. I appreciate movements in the church that have helped us understand our spiritual gifts. I think that's a good thing. Don't hear me wrong, but is one of my spiritual mentors used to say a lot. It's not about your ability. It's about your availability. You know, there's a lot of things people don't feel called to that need to be done in the Kingdom of God. And maybe it's more important that you show up than that. You're perfectly aligned with your giftings. I think this is especially true in areas of teaching. If there's a void of teaching, somebody better step into that, even if you don't think that's your gifting, because it's extremely important, especially with children. Okay, look, I know, and when I make a case that we need to teach children, it might sound self-serving because of my role, but I would say two things to you. One, because I'm so passionate about this is why I have that role. But two, I don't care where you do it. I mean, sure, we need help in AWANA, Sunday school and all those things. Yeah, fine. I don't care. Proclaim the excellencies, teach children about Jesus, because the best research we have right now says if they don't get it by 12, there's a very small percentage of chance that they will get it at all. It's exceedingly important that we speak the truth about Jesus to our children in a way that they can understand in a way that they can appreciate. We need to proclaim the excellencies. So if you want to serve and teach to children at the same time, you get like a double gold star. I think in proclaiming the excellencies, it's not a commercial, it's a real conviction. Go serve somewhere else if you need to. I don't care. OK, third share. I don't need to say a lot about this one. If the good news is actually good, wouldn't we want to share it? I contend that yes indeed we would. We should share the gospel. We should tell people the truth about Jesus and why. Because it's the way the people of God behave. And you belong to a people and you were designed for a purpose. So I want to land the plane here if I can. God cares about your life. Really, you, personally. He actually cares about you. He loves you. He wants a relationship with you. He has called you to himself. And I could say a lot of reasons why I believe that's true. But verse ten says it beautifully and succinctly. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You know, in a spiritual sense, there's no silver spoons in the family of God. Nobody is just born into the family of God. That's not how it works; you're not born into his grace and mercy. He chooses who he chooses. One of the things that has profoundly impacted me and my family is being a part of this church family and its high value of an appreciation of adoption. There's a lot of people in this room whose families have been touched by adoption. And when adoptive parents make the choice to adopt, it's very similar to what's being said here, you know, there was a point where not literally, but sort of metaphorically, I was able to say to my adopted kids, once you are not a Martin and now you're a Martin. And that's a beautiful thing to be able to say. And there's a unique thing even about, as I was thinking about this in our story, you know, older child adoption is a little bit unique because there's this person who they already exist. You know, they have a name and they have a history and they have a life and they have memories. And you just, you just decide to love them and make them yours. And it's this really unique thing. You just decide and you make the decision completely disregarding anything having to do with their behavior. It doesn't matter. You don't even know about it. Yet you just decide to. And I think that's God's heart towards you. You know, God's not surprised by your shortcomings and your sin. He's not unaware of all the ways you've rejected him in the past or spoke against him. He's not blind to your baggage. God knows all these things. And he loves you anyway because your sin and failure is not even factored into it. He just chooses who he chooses. His love is perfect. So, OK, so now what? Now, what do we do with that? Well, there's kind of two ways we can go here. I mean, some of you listening today, maybe you're not in the family of God and you know it. You're not a part of the people of God. You've not crossed over from death to life. And that's OK. We're so glad you're here. Your next step looks like this. You need to receive it. I mean, if nobody's ever said it to you this way before, just know this. God knows exactly who you are, exactly where you're coming from. He knows everything about you and he loves you. And he wants you in his family. And the beautiful thing about the family of God is that there's always room for more. And so he is inviting you into his family right here and now in this space. And you can choose to receive it. You can choose to trust Jesus and join his family. On the other side of it, maybe you are a part of God's family, maybe you are a part of that one 11th already, and if you are, then you have an opportunity and a responsibility. So you need to do maybe one of three things. I would argue you either need to remember, repent or respond. If you're part of the family of God and you're sitting on this truth today about your identity, then you either need to remember, repent or respond. If you need to remember, maybe your operative question is this. Do you believe that you belong to the people of God? I mean, do you just believe that it maybe it starts there? Maybe you need to remember that God declared over you. This is who you are. You are special to me. And you matter. If you've been having a lot of hateful self talk, for example, if that's part of the way that you've been operating in your life, maybe you need to remember. This is what we do at Passover. We remember the goodness of God and we remember how it applies to our life. We remember his faithfulness. So maybe your next step is remembering. Maybe your next step is repenting. Are you living outside God's design for your purpose? Did God speak to you that you have one of those heart sicknesses going on and you need to turn from that and you need to take some next steps. You need to be digging into the word more. You need to pursue spiritual milk. Maybe there's a repentance thing that needs to happen and you need to come before God with that. Or maybe you need to respond. Maybe you need to think about practically how you're proclaiming the excellencies, not just like waiting for that perfect God ordained opportunity to hit you, but to actually go seek out a chance to preach the gospel, to teach the good news, to serve somebody actively. So the worst team is going to come back out and we're going to have a chance to sing in response here. And I would encourage you to think about which of these things it might be received. Remember, repent or respond.
Pastor John Perez talks about: “Living The Dream!” 4/23/21 God brings us to a call, an action, and be courageous in the life the Lord has placed on us. God challenges us to live God’s dream for our lives, observing one of the saddest stories in the gospels… We pray this message was a big blessing to your life.Thanks for your support!www.CorderoReno.comTo reach and build people through this ministry we need your financial support. If you have been edified, please contribute to this ministry so that the Word of God continues to transform and build lives.GIVING HAS NEVER BEEN SO EASY!You can now go to OUR WEBSITE https://www.corderoreno.com/donationsIt's easy to give! If you have any questions, please let us know.Please help us to spread the word!Support the show (https://www.corderoreno.com/donations)
Pastor Brian Bougher is joined by a panel of leaders within Thrive Church to touch on some important questions within the big "C" Church. Connect with us at encounterthrive.com Bumper Music Courtesy of www.purple-planet.com
Interview with Chris Duble, Chief Executive Officer at Fred C. Church Insurance TerraLex is presenting multicultural perspectives by leading professionals. These perspectives on contemporary issues will help lawyers and business people work better together. This episode features Chris Duble, Chief Executive Officer at Fred C. Church Insurance. Chris has been with Fred C. Church since 1986. He has spent his entire career in the insurance industry, specializing in educational institutions, risk management and all aspects of insurance. Listen to Chris as he discusses some of the issues concerning insurance and risk management in the education sector like vaccination requirements, mental health issues, logistics, and legal questions to consider. *Please note this episode was recorded earlier this year.
Becca Adams joins the show to talk about Unity among Churches. What does it mean to be the capital C Church?
0 (0s): So glad to be able to worship together this morning. Hello to everyone here on campus. Thanks for coming today. Hello to everyone tuned in from home or wherever you're watching. Just pray that the Lord would meet us with his presence today. Fill our hearts with joy and Thanksgiving and praise. So if you're able, would you stand and prepare your hearts for worship and your body is by some worshiping space and let's pray together. As we begin this morning, Lord, we look to you for all that we have need of today. And God, we just pray that you would fill our hearts with praise this morning that we need to be reminded of your faithfulness towards us. 0 (40s): Your goodness, your mercy is that follow us all the days of our lives. Thank you for my pay for anyone this morning, whose heart is hurting, who has concerns weighing on their mind? Anxiety just bubbling up. God, would you bring peace like a river? Would you restore our souls? Would you encourage us today? But there's nothing happening in our lives and our world. That's out of your sight. So we thank you that we can rest in your unfailing love this morning. And so we choose to worship you tonight in spite of maybe how we feel in spite of things, maybe not working out exactly as we hoped whatever's going on, Lord, you are still in control. 0 (1m 26s): You are God, you are Lord. So we just submit our hearts. Our cares our concerns to you. Jesus we asked you in, meet us now as 1 (1m 39s): strengthen our hearts this morning, the trust is yours Jesus but as we worship in the heavenly places, legs, we thank you. 1 (5m 60s): We can rest power in your name. thank you that we can rest in there. 1 (12m 22s): Give us eyes to see what you're doing and 0 (16m 50s): Yeah, the song reminds was of how you should open those prison doors when they sang Lord God, that song of was our praise. That that breaks chains. It brings freedom. And so as we bring us a scoring, even over our city and over our world will be to speak or just your freedom, your light, your flaw, or that you would break chains, have people bound, lost, and alone and hurting. Would you come just with your love and your repentance? How would you heal hearts that are broken and the need of you this morning? So we just submit every care, every concern weighing upon us. 0 (17m 32s): We just lay it all at the cross. The feet of Jesus. We've come here, Lord, to worship you, to recenter our hearts on you. So we look to you, God, would you point us on the path or would you be that lamp to our feet and a light unto our path? So would you open our hearts to receive all that you have for us today in Jesus name? Amen. Amen. So good. Go ahead. So what a powerful morning to worship together and lift up our Lord. Those of you here on campus. If you want to say hello to someone around you, this would be a good time for that. 0 (18m 15s): Those of you at home, you can take a coffee break, restroom, break, whatever you need. We're going to be back here in just a couple of minutes of seminar since, so we'll see you soon. 2 (18m 27s): My name's Jeremy. I am the youth and family pastor here at Harvest Church. And before I jump into announcements, I just, I came across some news that just kind of blew my mind, made me trust in the word of God, even more. So what it was was back in November, there was kind of hidden kind of underground. There's a lot of other news that kind of covered up, but what scientists found as they sent out the new frontier space probe, it's now over 4 billion miles away and they're taking these pictures of the lights of the stars and the galaxies. And what they found is they found light that doesn't have a source. And there's so much light that there's actually just as much light that doesn't have a source as the known sources in the galaxy and sciences are there. 2 (19m 15s): These researchers are actually having to like figure out how do we, how do we explain this? And it's amazing because we look at our Bibles and God says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and God spoke the light, let there be light. And God spoke the light into existence. That was day one, day four was God's created the sun moon and the stars. So here science is pointing the, the, the first chapter, the first chapters of the Bible are true. We can trust God all the way through the Bibles. So I was just so encouraged by that this week, I had to share it with you. So welcome if you're joining with us this week, we're so glad to have you please feel free to, to jump over to the info center, sign in, check in with us. 2 (19m 60s): We'd love to give you a gift. If you are, have been coming to this church and you have, I want to give you a reason to go to the info center. We have bumper stickers and we would love to get a bumper sticker on your car. And I think what I would love to do is as you see these bumper stickers on, on others, other folks, cars pray for them. And I think that would be just a great way to unify our church. So come, go grab us a bumper sticker over at the info center. We've got plenty of them. Stick it on your car. Hey, if you are still curious about checking in with us and, and, and coming back to in-service, I just want to let you know what, what the options are. So we have the loft and parsonage, and those are indoor, and those are the mass are required in those, in those rooms. 2 (20m 43s): And just so you know, those have been empty the past few weeks. So feel free if you're just, if you're just curious about what's what's available, the Lofton parsonage, our indoor mass only the patio is outdoors, and we have our mask optional. Currently the sanctuary is closed, but we're, we're, we're looking at possibly open up in February. So we'll keep you posted on that one. If you are in fifth and sixth grade, and you're wondering when and where do I go after sir, after second service, after you you'll stay with your folks during worship service, and then you'll go off to your classrooms after announcements fifth and sixth grade, go up to the parsonage. And then currently youth is coming to the sanctuary for our youth group for lastly is given to 2020 giving state statements. 2 (21m 32s): And I want to say, Church, you were incredibly generous this year and you're giving, we were so blessed. We felt the love God is on the move and he's, he did some incredible things in 2020. So thank you so much for those of you gave, we want to make sure we give, send out the correct giving statements to you. So make sure that if you are unsure, if we have your correct email address, just send an email to info at Harvest ag Harvest dot org, and we'll make sure we'll get those skip giving statements out. Those will be going out in the next few weeks. And then lastly, I just want to bring up Terry Bruner. She's going to be coming and letting you know about the baby bottle drive and our local lifeline pregnancy center. 2 (22m 14s): Thank you so much, Terry, for joining us. 3 (22m 17s): Thank you Jeremy. Good morning, everyone. I would just want to take a second and introduce to you our brand new director at lifeline pregnancy center. She just joined us in October. This is Tracy bug Nuta. Yeah, so we have two tables outside. Tracy will be one of them. So please stop by and say hi to her to meet you. Thanks. Good to be here. Good to be with lifeline. Thanks Terry. Okay. As I mentioned, there's two tables outside. One is near the loft and one is near the patio. Lots of information there. 3 (22m 57s): So please stop by to say hi and learn more about the pregnancy center. January is our baby bottle fundraiser. So that's what we're here to do today is we just want to invite you to participate with this fundraiser. You're going to come by the table, grab a bottle, take this bottle home and fill it up with change cash, a check of any amount and bring it back with you to Church next week or soon after. And we'll start collecting them. And yeah, that's a easy, but very profitable fundraiser for us. 3 (23m 38s): We do ask that you definitely return your bottle. Even if you don't get it quite full, we do reuse them. And that helps keep our expenses down for online viewers. You can still participate in this fundraiser. We have our website lifeline pregnancy center.org, and you can go right on there and find the donate button. So please use that as your option. Okay? For those of you who are not quite familiar with lifeline pregnancy center and what services that we provide to our community, I had this all planned yesterday in one manner, but God changed it for me early this morning. 3 (24m 25s): He does that sometimes. So instead of rattling off a bunch of services that we offer, I'm going to share with you a personal story of what lifeline pregnancy center does for our community. 29 years ago, I found myself in a unplanned pregnancy. And so I had a friend who took me to a pregnancy center. I met with a client advocate. I was educated on all of my options. I chose life for my baby, that baby who is now almost 30, just became a father last night. 3 (25m 9s): My new granddaughter lifeline pregnancy center does that for women in our community. And so I just, I can't impress upon you anymore. How important this ministry is in our community. And we need to be supporting them now more than ever the yeah. Now more than ever. So I invite you to come to the table. We do have our specific services listed out. I'd love for you to get on our list for our quarterly newsletters. 3 (25m 49s): We do like sending those out online. So if we, we need your, your email addresses, we can save on postage and printing. If we can get these to you via email. So please stop by the tables and sign up for that and such exciting news. We finally have our permit for our construction on our new location that we've had for a while. The walls are going up and we are excited. We have a picture of the volunteers that are working and putting that together. So come by the table, see the pictures, sign up to help. 3 (26m 32s): If you have those skills, we have specific needs out there that you can learn about and sign up. If you'd like a tour of the new building, we're going start towards soon, even before it's done. So come on by and say, hi, thank you so much. 4 (26m 53s): Thank you very much. Awesome announcement on that. My, I was sharing earlier with Jerry, that my niece also had an, an expected pregnancy and she went to a crisis pregnancy center in her town and they helped to educate her about her options as well. And she decided to keep her baby and her baby is now a year old and the baby's name is grace. And so just a great picture of God's faithfulness in the midst of just brokenness and God can restore and just do amazing and wonderful and supernatural things. 4 (27m 35s): If we will just to let him allow him the space to do so. So God, God is faithful. God is faithful. Amen. Amen. Hey, are you guys ready? Okay. You're ready for Jesus. The Bible says that he's coming like a thief in the night. Speaking of a thief in the nights, 3 (27m 58s): I've got a joke. 4 (28m 1s): So this poor old lady wakes up in the middle of the nights to a burglar in her home. And she's so scared. She's so scared. She yells out the scripture verse acts two 38, hoping that the scripture verse will drive her out. And, and sure enough, sure enough, it was successful. The criminal fell to his knees and surrendered to the old lady and the old lady called the police and the police were sober. Blacks. What in the world, they asked the, the thief. What in the world froze you in your tracks and caused you to surrender? When that woman just simply said, acts two 38. She just, she yelled at him a scripture verse and the thieves said a scripture verse. 4 (28m 44s): I thought she said she had an ax and two 30 eights. You probably heard that before, but it fit the servant today. As we talk about Jesus coming as a thief in the night, we're in second Thessalonians, chapter two, we're going to be I'm in the new living translation and also the English standard version going back and forth between the two. These are events prior to the Lord's second coming. Let's take a moment, pray. Let's in fact, let's go ahead and stand up all over the campus. And if you're home, go ahead and stand up in honor of the word and in honor of the Lord, and we're going to pray for the service. So Lord, thank you for the opportunity to have Church in crazy ways. We're having Church we're online, we're in person on we're on the patio. 4 (29m 27s): We're all over the place, but we're having Church. And so we're thankful that even in this crazy season in our world, you are still giving us opportunity to gather it's different, but we're still gathered. And we're just so thankful that Lord. So I pray that as people are watching from their homes, that they're encouraged, I pray that they are able to gather with a couple of people in their homes and just be encouraged, able to worship, able to be edified and built up in their most Holy faith. And I pray the same thing, whether people are in the loft or in the parsonage or on the patio Lord here in the sanctuary, we've got like six people in the sanctuary Lord. So we're so thankful for 5 (30m 6s): What you're doing as we gather the best we can 4 (30m 8s): Lord. And so as we open up to second Thessalonians chapter two, and talk about the rapture and talk about the second coming of Christ, talking about all these exciting things, Lord, I pray that we would be encouraged and excited about our faith even more. 5 (30m 21s): And Lord, for those who don't know you, 4 (30m 23s): Maybe who are just kind of checking things out, maybe just kind of in a discovery process, I pray that you would reveal yourself and powerful and significant and legitimate ways Lord, so that people might come to know you and I pray that every heart listening would be tender, ready, and responsive to hear your, your message of truth. So thank you Lord, for bringing this truth to us, use me. I pray Lord in Jesus name. Amen. You can be seated. Second 5 (30m 50s): Indians chapter two verse one says now dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. This verse is talking about the rapture and the rapture will be gathered to meet the Lord in the air. Whether the rapture happens before the tribulation, whether the rapture happens midway through the tribulation or whether the rapture happens after the tribulation, we need to be able to answer this question. Are you ready? Answer the question. Are you ready? Am I ready for the return of Christ? I'm going to speak some truth to you today and give you some points to consider. 5 (31m 33s): And hopefully as we get through this message into the end of the message, you will feel ready. And if you're not already, you will be taking some time 4 (31m 40s): Steps to get ready for the return of the Lord. Jesus Christ 5 (31m 45s): Person Christ will be gathered together to meet Jesus in the air. We see that in first Thessalonians chapter four verses 16 through 18, it says for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an Archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise. First, verse 17, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will always be with the Lord. 4 (32m 19s): And then Paul is saying, therefore, encourage verse 18. Therefore encourage one another. With these words, 5 (32m 25s): I was in Santa Maria yesterday, Santa Maria, California, 4 (32m 28s): And I was driving around and it occurred to me that I hadn't been to the cemetery for awhile. We'd have family members who were buried in that cemetery. My wife's grandparents in particular. 5 (32m 38s): And as I drove around, I was trying, I hadn't been there for many 4 (32m 40s): Years and I was trying to find their, their, their gravestone. And so I'm driving around and I'm 5 (32m 46s): Thinking about where, where is their gravestone? And as I'm looking around, I saw some other, yeah, 4 (32m 52s): Gravestones, obviously there's thousands of them around and I'm 5 (32m 55s): On one particular gravestone. 4 (32m 57s): I saw this epitaph 5 (33m 0s): Epitaph. I have finished the work, which now gave me 4 (33m 3s): For me to do John 17 four. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do. Now, this woman who had this epitaph on her headstone was born in 1897. And she passed away in 1960. And then right next to that grave stone was another grave stone with the same epitaph. And it was her daughter who also said, I have finished the work that gave us for me to do 5 (33m 33s): What did it, what a profound statement. I don't know, what else would we be better on, 4 (33m 38s): On a tombstone then that statement I have finished the work, which I gave us me to do. 5 (33m 45s): I thought about that verse. 4 (33m 47s): And I thought about the impact of that verse. So you've got mom who lived her life, apparently for Jesus has that epitaph. And then her daughter generationally, as we 5 (34m 0s): Jesus, we've got the opportunity to impact those who come after us. We will impact those who come after us one way or the other. What a, what a great option 4 (34m 11s): Trinity. We have to impact the next generation and generations that follow with the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 (34m 18s): And then I was thinking about that verse and the dead in Christ will rise first. I thought, man, it's going to be a crazy, crazy moment. When that happens all over the earth, I thought about all of the dead in Christ, you were in that cemetery or in the ocean who are, you know, wherever they may be. 4 (34m 38s): And in a moment they're going to at the, at the appearance appearing of Christ in the air, he never touches down at the rapture, but he's, he appears in the clouds in the air. And I can, I can just imagine. And just a moment, 5 (34m 54s): The dead in Christ and then those who are still alive, well, we'll catch up. So if we're still alive during the rapture, we will be caught up as well. So it's like, I don't know how, how much time there's going to be in between, but it's gonna be like, it's like, you know, we're going to see the dead in Christ rise. And then, and then we get a chance to rise as well. It's going to be just amazing. Are you ready for that? Are You Ready for Jesus we don't talk about the second coming of Christ that often as a Church, but it's like, it's like waiting for Christmas. It's the best thing in the world. I mean, it's like we should be anticipating it. Ready for it. Excited about it. I mean, the rapture is going to wreak havoc in the earth. 5 (35m 36s): Imagine people in planes and automobiles, walking in homes all over the earth, being caught up believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ being caught up 4 (35m 48s): In the rapture. I want us to be Ready 5 (35m 52s): As a church. I want 4 (35m 54s): Us to be ready as a leader, a pastor, a shepherd. I want us to be ready in Jesus' name for what is coming. And it's not that difficult. God, hasn't made it complicated for us to be ready. It's a matter of us trusting in him, believing the gospel message that Jesus died for our sins, that he took the penalty for our sins upon himself. And that when our life is hidden in Christ, when we were adopted into his family, when our sins are forgiven, we are, we come into faith. We come by faith. We come into this relationship, the saving relationship salvation. We experienced salvation in Christ. It's just that simple. 4 (36m 34s): Are you ready? Are you ready for Jesus? Is this something that you did years ago, but then have allowed to go by the wayside. I want to encourage you to be ready today. And then everyday following. I want you to be ready for the return of Christ. Meaning getting your life in order, making Jesus, your first priority, focusing on him and your in your day to day life. Every moment, wanting to please him and honor him and serve him with everything that you have. Are you ready? Are you ready for Jesus? Number one in your notes. If you're not ready, get ready. 4 (37m 15s): If you're not ready, get ready. How do you get Ready? Well, we'll get there in a minute. I'll show you how to get ready. 5 (37m 22s): But verse two says don't be easy. Don't be so easily shaken. The second Thessalonians two, two says don't be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don't believe them. Even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation or a letter supposedly from us. 4 (37m 43s): So the day of the Lord, what is the day of the Lord? 5 (37m 46s): The day of the Lord is when God is coming with judgment to judge the unbeliever, The festival Indian Church was experiencing so much persecution. And then they were receiving these false letters from people who said that they were the apostle Paul, maybe hearing words like thus sayeth the Lord. They heard people with maybe a spiritual vision of revelation or a letter as the verse has a supposedly from us telling the Church 4 (38m 22s): Church that the day of the Lord had already happened. And so maybe in there 5 (38m 27s): Thinking with all of their persecution, maybe Jesus has already come. We missed it. And what we're experiencing is 4 (38m 35s): Is the tribulation period they'd received. Maybe people with vision revelation, a letter that they had miss Jesus verse three, it says don't be fooled by what they say for that day will not come until there's a great rebellion against God. So there are some things that must take place prior to the coming of the Lord. Jesus Christ. That great rebellion. The Greek word, there is a pasta CA. So where we get our word apostasy, it's a great falling away. People who once knew God will fall away from him. They will be a great rebellion, a great apostasy, a great falling away in the last days. 4 (39m 20s): This is what will happen. We see it in second, Timothy chapter three verses one through five. But understand this, 5 (39m 27s): Understand this, that in the last days they will come. Times of difficulty, four people will be lovers of self lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive disobedient to their parents. 4 (39m 41s): Navel unholy, heartless on a peaceable 5 (39m 45s): Slanderous without self-control 4 (39m 48s): Brutal, not loving 5 (39m 50s): Good treacherous, reckless swollen with conceits levers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God. Having the appearance of godliness. These people will look like 4 (40m 2s): They're godly. They will look pious, but denying its power, they will look godly, but lacking the power that belongs to the godly. They will 5 (40m 14s): Have the appearance of godliness, but be liking it's Powell. 4 (40m 17s): And Paul Paul told Timothy avoid such people. These pious people who are arrogant full of themselves, loving pleasure rather than God. And this is what will happen in the end days. And we think maybe we're seeing that now. And we do see that now. And we've probably seen it down throughout the Church age, beginning with the first Church the episodic Church. And throughout the church age, we've probably seen this, but with increasing 5 (40m 46s): W w increasingly, so we will see this title, 4 (40m 49s): But a pasta. See this walking away. Number one, if you're not ready to get ready, how do you get ready? I would just encourage you to become a student of the Bible, become a student of the Bible, often 5 (41m 4s): Reading all kinds of things, Christian books, Christian biographies, Christian stories, but we're not actually reading as 4 (41m 11s): Much the Bible. We can read it 5 (41m 14s): All about the Bible and all about what God does in the earth. But if we're not investing ourselves in the truth of God's word, we're going to be, we could possibly be deceived. And I just want us to 4 (41m 25s): Me aware that we could be, 5 (41m 29s): If we're not grounded in the word of God, understanding the truth of God from the old, all the way through 4 (41m 34s): The new Testament, become a student of the Bible. It's brand new year. Maybe you take this year for the first time and you read through the whole scripture, all the new Testament this year, it's not too late to jump into, do something like that. Maybe this year, you decide I'm going to really study this book of the Bible, because it really is perplexing. Maybe you're going to study the gospels or the epistles, or some, some prophecy books that you're going to study Genesis or revelation or the revelation. Maybe you're going to study a book of the Bible and get it, really get your mind around it and get your heart invested in it. I would just, if you're not ready and you're struggling to be ready for the return of price, maybe, maybe there's doubt or just unbelief, fear, anger, whatever. 4 (42m 17s): It may be, just become a student of the Bible and then be humble and teachable. We don't want to approach the word of God unless we're humble and teachable. But if we approach the word 5 (42m 26s): With humility and teachability, 4 (42m 30s): We're told that the Holy spirit will speak to us and we'll download truth to us. And then there's amazing Bible study tools out there, commentaries, Bible dictionaries, all kinds of online stuff and book stuff that that can help us to become students of the Bible to approach it with humility and teachability. And then 5 (42m 50s): I just encourage you to listen to the truth, listen to, to the truth. We hear all kinds of prophetic words, visions, people's dreams, all kinds of stuff. Listen, those things are fine 4 (43m 7s): That the gifts of God are for today, but they must be submitted to the word of God, to the truth of God. And if what we're hearing and visions and seeing, and dreams and all kinds of, if they're not, if they're not lining up with the word of God that we need to stick with the word of God, we need to stick with the word of God. First Timothy four, a chapter, a chapter four verses one through five, Paul instructed Timothy. He said, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus 5 (43m 36s): Jesus who is to judge the living in the 4 (43m 39s): Dead and by his appearing and his kingdom. 5 (43m 42s): He said, preach the word. So Paul told Timothy, he told his protege the most important thing you can do is to preach the word, teach the Bible, be ready in season and out of season. Part of preaching the word 4 (44m 5s): And teaching the word is what comes next, right? 5 (44m 8s): Groove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming. When people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. So people won't be satisfied with 4 (44m 29s): The truth of God's word. They want to hear what they want to hear, whatever that 5 (44m 34s): That is. They want to hear what they want to hear. And so they find teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Listen, the Bible is full of stuff that we don't want to hear. There are, it's hard sayings, hard truths of God. And they're hard for us to listen to because it requires that we bring our lives into alignment with God. And with his word, it requires that we move, not that God moves, but that we move and that we align our lives with the message and the person and the truth of the word of God. 4 (45m 11s): So people will find it 5 (45m 12s): Teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, Timothy always be sober-minded endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist and fulfill your ministry. 4 (45m 31s): Part of 5 (45m 32s): With these ministry was that he would preach the word it's tempting, I guess, as a pastor, too, 4 (45m 38s): When you say less difficult things to say 5 (45m 44s): Things that are easier on people's ears, that's always going to be a temptation, 4 (45m 50s): But when we are face-to-face 5 (45m 54s): With God's word and with the reality that there's a judgment on what we say and how we communicate the truth we have to by God's grace, 4 (46m 5s): Speak the truth in love. 5 (46m 9s): In revelation, God spoke to the church in Laodicea and he had this complaint against the church. 4 (46m 17s): They were neither hot or cold. They were losing 5 (46m 21s): Warm. And Jesus said, because you are not hot or cold, you are lukewarm. I will literally spit you out of my mouth. He's called the church to be on fire 4 (46m 32s): For him, not lukewarm 5 (46m 34s): In revelation three 17. It continues for you say, I'm rich. I have prospered. I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and 4 (46m 45s): Naked. 5 (46m 48s): There are those who believe that those seven churches in the beginning of revelation, those seven churches represent the Church age, Church history. And so the first Church in there know the Church and emphasis represents the Church, the apostolic church. And then down throughout the history with those seven churches, those seven churches represent the Church age Church history. So the seventh church is the church of Laodicea that we just talked about. And so if indeed we are in the last days of the end time 4 (47m 26s): Times, I wonder if this to see in Church 5 (47m 30s): Represents the Church in the world today, 4 (47m 34s): Today, are we hot or cold? Or we Luke warm. I'm not sure 5 (47m 42s): You're not Harvest Church in particular, but I am talking about Harvest Church but I'm talking about the Church the Equis SIA, the capital C Church of the world that Church, that belongs to Jesus Christ. It is in the world. Do we look like the layer to see in Church or are we on fire for Jesus? 4 (48m 1s): We faced the same judgment that the lady to see in Church the same rebuke that the land lady to see in Church received. Are we ready for Jesus? Are we ready for Jesus? The temptation is to kind of keep Jesus in our back pockets for fire insurance, whatever that may look like in your life, but that's not discipleship. That's not what Jesus called his disciples to. That's not what he's called you. He's not called you to send me more. Christianity is called You to 24 seven Christianity discipleship. He's called you to be a follower of his, to abandon everything so that you might call him so that you might know him. If you're not 5 (48m 41s): Ready number one, get Ready number two, make sure you're only following. Jesus make sure you're only following Jesus what's the temptation or the temptation as we've already talked about or attempted to follow man, and believe what men say. We hear a prophecy. It's exciting to hear a prophecy. We're tempted to believe the prophecy without actually checking out the prophecy. When I say we need to make sure we're following Jesus, where we need to make sure we're following his word, where in his word we understand the person and the work and the character of Jesus. We understand who he is so that we can make sure we're only following him. 5 (49m 21s): We hear prophecy. We get excited about it. We need to check it out. Somebody shares a vision or a revelation. Someone writes a compelling letter. That's what was going on here with his Church. Someone had written a letter letting, letting the Church there and festival the festival. And I could, Church letting them know, telling them that the return of Christ had already happened. And they began to believe it. It was signed by Paul, a fictitious Paul, somebody who wasn't the apostle Paul. So the temptation is to believe something that isn't from God and we follow men. We're tempted to follow men. Second Thessalonians two, two, again, don't be so easily shaken or 4 (49m 59s): Lauren by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don't believe them. Even if they claim to have, 5 (50m 4s): I had a spiritual vision, a revelation or a letter, supposedly from us, 4 (50m 10s): Paul had told the Church and first Thessalonians one 10, that they would be delivered from the wrath to come. 5 (50m 19s): You heard true throughout the course of our lives, hopefully in Church as we studied the word of God. And as we've understood who God is, we've heard truth. But then we forget circumstantially our lives go through hard things and we forget, we go through difficulties and we want to hold onto something of comfort, even if it's not truth. And then sometimes we're holding onto the wrong thing that doesn't bring comfort to us at all lies from the enemy. So this Church was experiencing persecution because of their faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. And that is something that we know we can expect as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 (51m 1s): We should expect persecution. But the persecution that they were experiencing was from men. It was from human beings who were persecuting them for their faith. We see that type of persecution throughout the old Testament and the new Testament. We will see it. We'll see it all the way till the very end. The wrath of the tribulation period is God's judgment on unbelieving people, the wrath and the tribulation period that seven year period comes from God. And it's on those who were unbelieving. 5 (51m 43s): God's wrath is for the unbeliever. It's not for the believer. Remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 18 and 19, God was about to destroy the cities and Abraham spoke up and he asked the Lord, he pleaded with the Lord Genesis 1823. The second part of the verse says, will you indeed sweep away? The righteous with the wicked Abraham continued in Genesis 1825. He said far, be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked so that the righteous fare as the wicked far be that from you shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just so Abraham challenged. 5 (52m 36s): What was going on? Challenge. God Abraham said, what if I find 50 righteous people? Will you destroy the land? If I find 50 righteous people, God said, if I find at Sodom 50 righteous in the city, I will spare the whole, whole place for their sake. What happened? Abraham couldn't find 50. So he said, Lord, we're about 45 for, for the sake of 45, a wallet. I will not destroy the city. What about 40, 30, 2010? I said, if you can find 10 righteous, I won't destroy the city. Abraham couldn't find 10 righteous people within the cities. 5 (53m 18s): And so God saved lot in his family and he destroyed the city. 6 (53m 27s): He destroyed it with sulfur and fire. 4 (53m 31s): The people of festival Annika can confuse, thought that God God's wrath was upon them. Listen, we can't handle God's 6 (53m 39s): Wrath. 4 (53m 42s): Most of the time, his wrath ends in death. Ultimately it always ends in death for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus died on the cross to take our penalty so that we wouldn't have to endure the wrath of God. Are you ready? Are you ready for Jesus? If you're not ready, 6 (54m 9s): Ready? Get ready. Get ready. Okay. 4 (54m 15s): Make sure that you're only following Jesus verse three. Again, don't be fooled. Don't be fooled by what they say for that day will not come until there's a great rebellion against God. The apostasy 6 (54m 29s): And the man of lawlessness, 4 (54m 31s): The man of sin. The antichrist is what that means. The man of lawlessness is revealed. So there's a great apostasy and the antichrist is revealed. So some things need to happen before the return of Christ. 6 (54m 49s): No ma'am 4 (54m 49s): Lawlessness is revealed. The one who brings destruction, he will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God and every object of worship, he will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is 6 (55m 5s): Okay. 4 (55m 5s): So a couple of things need to happen. First. The great apostasy, right? Falling away 6 (55m 9s): Way. 4 (55m 13s): There are those who believe that the antichrist will be one who is a part of the apostate. Church one who at one point maybe knew God and abandoned God abandoned God's principles and God's plan. There are those who believe that the antichrist will be from the apostate Church. 6 (55m 36s): So 4 (55m 37s): I believe this'll be in scripture, bears this out. He will be an influential leader. It'll be easy to follow. He will make big promises. He will speak of peace. In fact, he will bring a temporary peace to the middle East. Something that the world will be odd by middle East has been at war for years. 6 (56m 2s): He 4 (56m 3s): Will even rebuild the temple in Jerusalem for the Jews, 6 (56m 8s): But 4 (56m 10s): Three and a half years into the tribulation. We will see verse four, take place, verse four. Again, he will exalt himself and defy everything that people call God and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God that he himself is God. People will worship him as God. People will worship him as Messiah, 5 (56m 32s): Verse five. Don't you remember that? I told you about all this when I was with you. And this is a, this is a brand new Church. This is a brand new Church Paul Paul 4 (56m 42s): Writes the first letter 5 (56m 47s): And there's some confusion about what he was about what he wrote. But prior to that, he was with them for a few weeks. And he, he taught them all of these things about the end times and about Jesus, about the gospel. He taught them all of these things. And so he's asking him, does she remember that? I told you about all this. When I was with you, he was with him for such a short amount of time. And then he laughed and he wrote a letter. And then within a month, or within one to 12 months, somewhere in there, a very short list for a short time later from Corinth, he writes the second letter, correcting their, their misunderstanding of what he had communicated to them. 5 (57m 29s): It's it's we need to understand this truth. Some of you are here and you're like, man, I'm a brand new Christian. I can understand this stuff. You can, you met your meant to understand this Paul's expectation of the early church. A young, early church was that 4 (57m 42s): We would understand it for six and you know, what is holding him back, the antichrist, where he can be revealed only when his time comes and that interesting. So God's not flustered by the times, things that are unfolding that will unfold. The Holy spirit is holding back the anti-Christ until his time comes. Why? Because God's in charge of all things. He's not flustered by the, in times he's not scared, but at the antichrist, he's not scared of Satan. He's not, he's not scared of anything. And you shouldn't be either. You should be wise. Why is the serpents? Harmless is, does. We should be wise. We should be humble, but we should be confident in the word and confident in our God that he is in charge. 4 (58m 29s): So, you know, what is holding it back? The Holy spirit is holding it back for you can be revealed only when his time comes for this. Lawlessness is already at work secretly and it will remain secret until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way. Then the man of lawlessness will, will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth. It's just that simple God's power. Isn't just a little bit more than the enemy. He's not just a touch, bigger, a touch, more powerful. 5 (59m 6s): It's not a, it's not a competition at all. It's not a competition 4 (59m 11s): At all. You'll be slick 5 (59m 14s): With the breadth of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming. Let's read. It's not on your screen. I just to read this this morning, revelation chapter 19, verses 11 through 21, I'm just going to read it. Not going to comment a lot on it, but it just gives us a picture of what's going to happen to this enemy who likes to wreak havoc in our life. And I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness, he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire. And on his head are many diadems many crowns. 5 (59m 56s): And he has the name written that no one knows, but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and the name by which he is called the word of God, who are we talking about there? My Jesus right. He's the word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine, linen, white and pure were following him on white horses from his mouth comes a sharp sword. Or we just read about the breadth of his mouth ringing destruction, right from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury, of the wrath of God, the almighty on his robe and on his thigh, he has the name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 5 (1h 0m 45s): Then I saw an angel standing in the sun with a loud voice. He called to all the birds that fly directly overhead. He said, come gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of Kings. The flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their writers, the flesh of all men, both free and slave both small and great. And I saw the beasts and the Kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. Then God is trembling. You think Jesus is scared. He's got nothing to fear. And the beast was captured. And with it, the false prophet who is in its presence, let me see it. 5 (1h 1m 30s): And the beast was captured. And with it, the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs of which he deceived those who had received the Mark of the beast. And those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the Lake of fire that burns with sulfur and the rest were slain by what, by the word that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse and all the birds were, were gorged with their flesh, big battle Kings of the earth gathered to battle the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And God goes Jesus And that's it. 5 (1h 2m 16s): The battle is over 4 (1h 2m 24s): As it is done. It's not a battle at all. It's a breath of his mouth that destroys and brings the splendor of his coming that communicates the splendor of his crumbing coming this man, verse nine seconds 5 (1h 2m 42s): Bessel. And in chapter two, verse nine, this man, the antichrist will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and 4 (1h 2m 49s): Eric goals. Some describe this antichrist is kind of like You, 5 (1h 2m 57s): You know, Jesus is the incarnation of God. This would be like, like Satan has given this person 4 (1h 3m 3s): And all of his power, all of his authority to deceive the nations, counterfeit power and signs and miracles reminds me of Exodus. Again, when Pharaoh's magicians imitated, Moses and imitated Moses miracles, it was, it was counterfeit signs and miracles. This antichrist will be able to do powerful things. 5 (1h 3m 42s): But I think about it, I think about going to a good magician show, you don't understand how the tricks are being 4 (1h 3m 47s): Performed, but when 5 (1h 3m 49s): You see behind the curtain and you begin to see how the tricks are being performed, they're not narrowly 4 (1h 3m 55s): Is impressive. You're like, Oh, well, that's not impressive. It's impressive when you don't know the tricks or what's happening behind the curtain. But we know that God knows what's going on behind the curtain. And he describes the worst of the antichrist is counterfeit power signs and miracles, counterfeits fake. 5 (1h 4m 17s): I use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction because they refuse to love and accept 4 (1h 4m 25s): The truth that would save them. 5 (1h 4m 29s): I refuse. These are unbelievers who refuse people who refuse to love and accept 4 (1h 4m 34s): The truth that would save them. I wonder if that's you today. I wonder if you've heard the gospel, you've heard the truth, but you're refusing to love it and accept it. And you're refusing to allow the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to save you. This is not something to be played with. It's not a game. Is that something that you wait to do? It's something that you do now. 5 (1h 4m 60s): Now in Jesus' name. You when you believe you receive, you don't wait. You don't say, well, I'm going to wait until I get through high school 4 (1h 5m 8s): And 5 (1h 5m 9s): Then give my life to Jesus, because I want to have some fun in high school. I'm going to wait until I get through college because I want to have some fun in college. And then after college, well, I want to wait until I'm more established in my career until I have a family. And then I will give my life to Jesus. Well, I want to wait until I'm retired. When I can really invest myself in Jesus and that's when I'll give myself to Jesus, I'm going, I'm going to wait until I'm close to death on my death bed. And then I will give my life to Jesus. 4 (1h 5m 46s): And then it's too late. You harden your hearts, your whole life, your heart. Won't all of a sudden be tender towards Jesus. When you're an old man, a woman, your heart will be harder than, than ever. Don't wait, don't wait. Are you ready? Are you ready for Jesus? If you're not ready to get ready, make 5 (1h 6m 16s): Sure you're only following Jesus. 4 (1h 6m 19s): And then number three, as we wrap this thing up, stand firm, you will need to 5 (1h 6m 25s): Learn how to stand firm 4 (1h 6m 28s): In Jesus. Yeah. 5 (1h 6m 31s): If you cannot stand firm in the days and times in which we live now, 4 (1h 6m 35s): Now your faith is weak. You will never endure when things really get difficult. If you can't 5 (1h 6m 45s): Not endure. Now, I'm going to tell you the truth. Your faith is 4 (1h 6m 49s): Weak. That's not a 5 (1h 6m 52s): Judgment statement. That's a statement of fact, 4 (1h 6m 56s): Dada, 5 (1h 6m 57s): Racist, sufficient, and that he will strengthen you for the day 4 (1h 6m 60s): CA beginning now. 5 (1h 7m 4s): And if you don't figure out how to stand firm, now you will never figure out how to stand firm 4 (1h 7m 9s): Later. 5 (1h 7m 12s): You need to figure out now how to stand firm. And Jesus 4 (1h 7m 15s): Jesus first third, 5 (1h 7m 18s): Jean believers is stand firm. As for us, we can't help, but thank God for you. Your brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We're always thankful that God shows you to be among the first to experience salvation salvation that comes through the spirit who makes you Holy and through your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation. When he told you the good news. Now you can share in the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ, with all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters stand firm and keep a strong grip. 4 (1h 7m 53s): That means 5 (1h 7m 53s): It requires efforts on your part by God's grace. We stand firm and take a strong grip. Then decide once again that Jesus is Lord, and then I'm going to trust him no matter what, no matter what comes my way, I'm standing firm in him and I'm trusting him. I'm taking a renewed grip, a strong grip on the teachings we passed on to you in person. And by letter, 4 (1h 8m 16s): Paul wrote, you're holding onto the teachings of the Bible. You're understanding the, the, what was passed on by the apostle Paul. And for that matter throughout the whole scripture, the old and the new Testament, all 66 books of the Bible. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, our father who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope comfort to you and strengthen you and every good thing you do and say, and that's how Paul wraps up this chapter. Are you ready for Jesus? I've said some hard things today, but the things that we need to hear, things that we need to understand, things that we need to believe. 4 (1h 9m 6s): If you're not ready to get ready and make sure you're only following Jesus in his word and the truth of God and stand firm in Jesus name, stand firm in Jesus with that, I want to pray and we're gonna invite the worship team forward, and we're gonna sing some more. And then we're gonna just spend some time as we sing, just contemplating what has been said. So if you're here today and you need to stand firm as a follower of Lord, Jesus Christ. Choose to do that. If you're here today and you don't know, Jesus choose to give your life to him. I've given you the gospel today. Jesus died for your sins. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of standard of God. 4 (1h 9m 49s): The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Our Lord we're saved by grace through faith. So receive Jesus into your heart today. You receive him by simply saying, Lord Jesus, I receive you. I need you. I give you my life. I want you to be the Lord and the leader, the King of my life. You get to say what I do from now on you are Lord let's pray, Lord. Thank you for this time. Thank you for what you're doing. God continued to penetrate hearts and minds with your truth and be glorified with the response. We pray Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's worship 1 (1h 10m 43s): . 1 (1h 19m 18s): Thank you. 0 (1h 19m 36s): Giving us boldness and courage to all the earth around us and examples of your love to everyone 1 (1h 19m 44s): We're in contact with. So you 0 (1h 19m 46s): Keep us all safe. Keep us healthy until we're together. Again. 1 (1h 19m 50s): Love you, 0 (1h 19m 52s): Honor. And praise in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Church love. It's so awesome to worship our Lord for you, that you have a wonderful rest of your day. If you're here on campus, make sure you use this. Take some kind of fellowship and encourage one. Another. Those of you at home, just love on each other today. Be good to each other. If you're at home today, call a friend, call a family member, reach out to somebody. If you're feeling alone, there's chances are someone else's too. So let's be the church. Let's be family to one another and spread God's love this morning. So have a great day. We'll see you next Sunday.
Hello and welcome to season 3 episode 13 of The Berean Manifesto: 10 minutes or so a week of faith, hope, and love for the modern Christian. I'm Pastor Newms of The Ekklesian House we are going to be continue building on the foundation of what we are and what we should be in the start of this year 2021 today we will be discussing The Berean Lifestyle. Now for those of you that might have joined us later than other or this is one of your first broadcasts you are hearing from the Ekklesian house you might be wondering why the Berean Lifestyle. For those of you that have been with us for a while, here is my side and take on what Pastor Bill has taught on before. When this is what is written about the Berean's in “Acts 17:10-12 As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men.” Now I want to point out a few things from this scripture, first is that Berea is a place and the Bereans are the people there. I know that one was hard to get. Second, is that we will see that Paul and Silas went to the temple first as they normally did. Third, the people of Berean always ensured that they would search the scripture to prove teachings. This is something that is very important that we will speak on more in a few. Lastly, we will notice that many believed in Jesus including many Greeks which shows us that Paul and/or Silas also preached out the temple. Now I really want to focus on the third thing that we talked about before. For all of you who thought just now… oh no which was the third, I got you. The people of Berea always ensured that they would search the scripture to prove teachings. Now one might say that they were sceptics, and the teaching of scripture should always be listened to, but I want look at two places where the Scriptures say to prove or test. The first place I want to look at is 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Now we see here that John tells us to always test spirits because you don't know where they come from. We have a lot of false teachers and/or people who just never studied trying to teach things that aren't true. One I love to hear I still find myself using because of the idea, is “well you know the Bible says to Love the sinner and hate the Sin” well it doesn't, per say. There is nowhere that I know of or can find that says that. We have places that say love everyone like Matt 5:43-44 and we have places that say to hate evil like Ps 97:10 but nowhere that compiles them. Now that is harmless one, but what about the people that teach that “God hates Gays” or “well you know sinners burn in hell”. We know that God loves all “John 3:16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” and that he forgives sin “Colossians 1:13-14 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Now I want to look at “2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.” This verse sums up our day to a tee. We see this all around us in politics, friend groups, activists, and sadly the Church. We have a ton of churches that are not working together as the capitol C Church because of small doctrinal differences. As humans if we have no friends that disagree with us in any way how are we to grow in any ideologies. We won't. The bible says in Proverbs 27:17 that “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” If we do not help our fellow Christians to sharpen each other and help to root out false teachings and bad doctrine we cannot hope to survive as a Church united during these to use a phrase I have begun to hate “these unprecedented times” This is Pastor Newms, until next time…. Oh, and always remember we love y'all.
In the book of Haggai, the temple has remained desolate for sixteen years as the Jews received opposition to rebuilding it from the government. Haggai relays a message from God to the people that the time is now to begin rebuilding the temple. In 2020, we faced all types of opposition and obstacles. Many days it paralyzed us to the point that maybe we forgot the mission God has set before us. However, we must remember that we are the church, the people, and our job as a follower of Christ is that we are never to stop building the Church no matter what the world throws at us. As the big C Church, we need to push reset and refocus on what God has called us to do. Just as God told the Jews through Haggai, "consider your ways." We need to consider our ways and examine the direction we are headed in. Has our response to obstacle and opposition we have faced made us glorify Jesus or ignore Jesus? It's time to consider our ways and reset! Listen to this sermon about considering our ways in the first part of our Reset series.
Join us this week on Lewis and Broad to hear the top five things we expect to happen regarding the Church (yes, big C Church) in 2021. In case you missed them, here they are:The Church will become further decentralized. Churches are going to be conducting more building inventories. The Church will be forced to discern its place in a divided world. The ceiling for ministry will be higher than ever in 2021. Younger generations will be most responsible for changing the face of ministry. What are your thoughts on our predictions? We welcome any feedback! If any of these discussions interested you, we encourage you to check out Carey Nieuwhof and Barna. Both are at the forefront of researching Church trends and patterns.
On this episode of Brad & James, Brad and James discuss the wild weekend of sports including Notre Dame upsetting Clemson and throws a party on the field, while Brad's Dawgs fall hard to the Gators.Also, we discuss what our Country is going through right now during the Presidential Election. James opens up and shares from his heart how the capital C Church should be setting examples during this crucial time for our Nation. Furthermore, what is the difference in our convictions, and what is a mandate. Powerful words of encouragement for everyone this week!Look for more episodes to drop every week as we live stream our podcast on Facebook live every Monday night at 6 PM.Check us out on YouTube and be sure to subscribe, like, and leave a comment. Likewise, click that bell icon so you can stay up to date and get notified as to when new content drops!
Pastor Chris Seay offers us a vital reminder of the great diversity exemplified by the early church. Especially during this cultural moment of such toxic division, followers of Jesus are to live into a different narrative, shaped by curiosity and open-mindedness, loving grace for those with whom we disagree, and the elusive hope of unity.
The "capital C" Church is alive and well in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and you'll see why when you hear from USMB leader Nzuzi Mukawa. Nzuzi has a passion for evangelism, whether he finds himself in a church, in the marketplace, or taking advantage of the "diaspora" as the world becomes a smaller and more global community.Be encouraged and be challenged as you listen to this episode. The U.S. has a lot to learn from global leaders like Nzuzi!
CrossPoint Pastor Andy Addis and First Congregational Church Pastor Matt Stafford talk about the unity of Christian Churches during times of distress. God blesses His church in the most uncertain of times.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JonathanLeeman The 9Marks website - https://www.9marks.org/ Buy the book here - https://amzn.to/3cCtfCx RETHINKING THE MULTISITE AND MULTISERVICE CHURCH MODELS 9Marks Author Jonathan Leeman Calls Pastors to a “One Assembly” Church Model —A family pulls into the parking of a local church on Sunday morning. The parking lot is full and cars are everywhere. After driving around for twenty minutes, they finally find a spot a few blocks away. Walking into the building, the foyer is busy with children and parents and people catching up. Everyone begins filing into the sanctuary, but there are few places left to sit. In fact, there aren’t even enough bulletins for everyone. The seemingly obvious solution to these problems would be for this church to add a second service or even another location. But is the multiservice or multisite church model the best option? Are they even biblical? These are questions Jonathan Leeman wants readers to consider in his new book, One Assembly: Rethinking the Multisite and Multiservice Church Models (Crossway, April 2020). Leeman argues that nowhere in the Bible is there an example of a church that is multisite or multiservice. This is an issue because these models divide the assembly and “repudiate the Bible’s definition of a church, redefine what a church is, and so reshape the church morally,” Leeman writes. “The single assembly of a church demonstrates, proves, embodies, illustrates, incarnates, makes concrete, makes palpable and touchable and hearable and seeable the unity we possess in the gospel. Gathering as a local assembly is the very first imperative to the indicative of the unity we possess as members of the universal church. It literally makes that unity visible and active. The body of Christ is not just an idea . . . the gathering of a church physically pictures in time and space each of these biblical metaphors beautifully. The gathering manifests the capital-C Church. The gathering makes the church present to itself.” Leeman presents his argument for one assembly by: • Considering the Kingdom theme in Scripture and why the Bible uses the word ekklesia • Showing how the Bible consistently and uniformly presents local churches as assemblies • Pointing to an alternative plan to multisite and multiservice church models, which focuses on planting, revitalizing, peaceably dividing, or encouraging attendees to attend a church closer to where they live Sometimes, according to Leeman, when churches get too big or run out of space, the best thing to do is to work with other local churches and think ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jonathan Leeman (PhD, University of Wales) is the editorial director for 9Marks. He has written for a number of publications and is the author or editor of several books. He is also an occasional lecturer at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and adjunct professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jonathan lives with his wife and four daughters in a suburb of Washington, DC. @JonathanLeeman
Is the Church a building, a group of people, or some other institution designed by humans? Study the scriptures to gain a biblical understanding of the Church and the communion of saints. Learn why the Apostles’ Creed declares we believe in “one, holy catholic Church” even though the Church is full of imperfect people and splintered denominations. Discover why Christians talk about the small c “church” and the big C “Church.” Dig into God’s Word with Groundwork and learn why it’s impossible to be a believer without being connected to the body of Christ.
Is the Church a building, a group of people, or some other institution designed by humans? Study the scriptures to gain a biblical understanding of the Church and the communion of saints. Learn why the Apostles’ Creed declares we believe in “one, holy catholic Church” even though the Church is full of imperfect people and splintered denominations. Discover why Christians talk about the small c “church” and the big C “Church.” Dig into God’s Word with Groundwork and learn why it’s impossible to be a believer without being connected to the body of Christ.
Introducing, Ask a Pastor Anything, a podcast centered around questions, relationships, and curiosity. Join Bailey Brawner, a United Methodist pastor, as she sits down with pastors, clergypeople, and anyone who loves the big-C Church! Each episode will focus around a new question you all want to know about. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss anything, and submit your questions using the links below! Episodes are coming soon! Instagram: @askapastoranything Connect with Bailey: Instagram: @baileynbrawner Twitter: @baileynbrawner --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/askapastoranything/message
Start podcasting today: DoPodcasts Welcome back to another episode of Jesus + Coffee! In this episode, we talk about all of the recent church responses to the "safer at home" recommendations and what the bible says about our "freedoms" in this life. Scriptures: Jeremiah 29:11 Matthew 10:21,22 Matthew 24:7-9 and James 1:2-4 Drink up and be blessed! Todd --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jesusandcoffee/message
We want to take a moment to address something real happening in our world right now—COVID-19. Whether you are feeling the effects of this or not, we believe it is important that we discuss how we, the “capitol C” Church, should be responding. In this quick two episode series, we will discuss the temptation we face to be anxious and fearful along with ways we can combat that. Also, we will look at what the Bible says about suffering in times of famine, disease, and other types of tragedy.
Luke 18: 18-23 (NLT)
What is it? Understanding that you don’t work for A church, you work for THE Church. Why is it important?If you lose this perspective:You will be mad when people leave your teamYou won’t trust new people for a whileYou’ll view other churches in your area as competition.You won’t be willing to invest in others How do you do it?Ultimately you have to accept that ministry success is completely up to God, not you. Spend time learning more about who God is. Spend time reading about God’s sovereigntySpend time reading about Discipleship
In this episode, Clint and Josh discuss a biblical basis for church planting. Sometimes pastors and potential church planters can be caught flat-footed when pressed for a biblical basis to plant churches. Clint attempts to give his strongest scriptural argument for planting new churches. The Church Planting PrimerThe Compassion Center Transcription ALBERT: This is the Church Planting Podcast. Thank you for tuning inALBERT: Every week we sit down with leaders who are shaping church planting efforts.ALBERT: Here’s your host Josh Turansky and Clint CliftonCLINT CLIFTON: Well this is the church planting podcast and we‘re coming to you live from The Fells Point Compassion Center in downtown BaltimoreJOSH TURANSKY: Our ever-rotating studioCLINT CLIFTON: This place is crazy Josh!JOSH TURANSKY: Thank you so much. I think I’ll take that as a compliment.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. We got an email before we even launch our Sunday mornings. My family had moved into town, we were meeting in our house building the core team, and the Lutheran Mission Society said we have an outreach center that’s 50 years old. We’re going to shut it down if somebody else doesn’t come and run it. So, I took the offer and it was a trade. We would run it for them and they would let us use the building for whatever we want. Yep.CLINT CLIFTON: I’m not sure who got a better deal.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. I wanted that too. It was huge, it was a huge question because ‘Is this a waste of time?’ ‘Is this a distraction from what we should be doing? We’re trying to plant a church.’ And it remained a question mark in the air for through about 3 weeks, 3 months into the launch of our Sunday morning services. And then people started to show up.CLINT CLIFTON: Talk about a curve ball in church planting. You know, you came here to plant a church and then someone offered you a fully functioning Compassion Center. And you had to decide yes or no.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Yeah.CLINT CLIFTON: That’s the craziness of church planting right there.JOSH TURANSKY: It was. And I would say it’s an overall win. I think the biggest thing about the Compassion Center...so, obviously people can’t what we are talking about.CLINT CLIFTON: No. Let’s describe it.JOSH TURANSKY: It’s a store front. It’s three stories high. We’re on the 2nd floor that’s not opened to the public. It’s just filled with trash bags and donated stuff. Right to my left here these are all stuff that’s going to be given to single moms, like teen moms who want to keep their babies. It’s a bunch of baby supplies. Homeless blankets, left over school supplies to give to the schools.CLINT CLIFTON: I see some underwears. There’s a lot of diapers. There’s a lot of crates.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Yeah. This place is a mess! But it goes out to people that are in need. So, the biggest thing that the Compassion Center has done for us, is it clearly communicated to the neighborhood. Wealthy and poor, vulnerable and established, it says to the neighborhood that we’re a church that cares about the neighborhood. We’re just not looking for people to come to us on a Sunday but we’re present, active, doing ministry work throughout the week. So, it‘s been great. The city loves us, school loves us, they’re asking us to do more.CLINT CLIFTON: You sound like Trump. Everyone loves him.JOSH TURANSKY: My hair follicles are beautiful. My beard is the best!C: Well today we’re going to do a sort of one-off episode about the biblical rationale for church planting. And I wanted to take about this. We’re not gonna talk to anybody. Yeah, I want to talk about this because, it’s my experience that a whole bunch of pastors right now think Church planting‘s swell. Yeah. You know, they’re pro-church planting. Very positive about church planting. But still my observation is not a lot of guys are actually leading their churches to plant churches. You got any guesses as to why?JOSH TURANSKY: It’s overwhelming. And the existing congregation feels like you‘re just going to cannibalize our own congregation.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. I think that’s a big part of it. A lot of churches feel like they’re on the edge of failure. They’re fragile. And so, the idea is like we’re going to you know, send people away, send resources away, to establish a church somewhere else like “How can we do that? We can barely hang on here.” So that’s one major reason. I mean another reason and maybe this is the one that isn’t so obvious but feels pretty obvious to me is I don’t think pastors really know how to contend for church planting using the scripture. So, what I just want to talk a little bit really quick about the biblical you know, the biblical basis for church planting. Yeah.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. I think that’s a great thing for us to give to the podcast audience. Because it is almost a universal issue. Even if you want to plant a church, you’ve got to make your case to the guy your on staff with sometimes.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. So if you didn’t begin the church and you happen to be the pastor of a church that’s established or maybe you did begin the church and you established it without talking a lot about the biblical basis for church planting, and the church didn’t intend to multiply early and regularly, then you have an uphill battle probably against you. You already established a culture that the congregation is focused on how to make itself thrive. Not how to make the Gospel thrive in your city, or in your community, or around the world. So yeah, I just want to give you some tools for church planting, for biblical rationale for church planting.CLINT CLIFTON: So, let’s start with a big one. And a lot of these are kind of like this. There’s the part of the problem with biblical rationale for church planting is you can’t go, “The verse that says you should plant churches is blank.” I’ll continue in just a minute. There is a verse like that but I want to start of by saying I think God from Old Testament History all the way throughout the scripture has been about a people for Himself. So that means, the modern age, the church. You know Israel, His about a people for Himself, a group of people, distinct, set apart for Him. And so, we go into any community were there’s not a people that is set aside for Him, God’s desire is for there to be a holy people, a group of people that are set aside for Himself. Grow in his likeness all the time. I think you see that. You can see that throughout the Old and New Testament. So, as a fundamental you know, sort of starting place. But when we get to the New Testament I think, I referenced just a minute ago, the great commission is a call to start new churches. And maybe it’s so obvious that were not thinking about it as a call to start new churches. But I think the great commission is very explicitly a call to start new churches.CLINT CLIFTON: So, when we think about the great commission in church planting there’s like two very specific reasons why the great commission is exactly a call to start new churches. And those two reasons are number one: the things we’re told to do in the great commission. So, you and me are Christians. Everybody else in our church you know, they’re following Jesus or walking with Jesus are churched corporately is commanded to baptize, teach, and make disciples. Know that baptism, teaching, and making disciples we think about that as a very individualistic thing. But those are all community and ongoing things. So, the baptism, we think of baptism as a person going under water but it’s way more than just that, right? It’s more than that because it’s the entrance into the family of God. It’s like the public way in which we say were we’re so it’s kind of like a marriage. Sounds like a public declaration of something that’s inside and so, being baptized into a congregation is you know, it’s the front door to the congregation because it’s ongoing familial relationship. So that’s one. Teaching, obviously teaching is not something that’s an event. It’s not something that we do just once. The teaching ministry of Haven City Church is not just a one-time thing. And then making disciples obviously something that’s ongoing, making ongoing work. So, all the things that were called to do in the New Testament are ongoing things in regard to the great commission. Yet we picture the great commission as something we go and do and then we kind of come back home. JOSH TURANSKY: Right. And what you’re saying is like “Hey! Let’s interpret this passage with Hermeneutics 101 which how did the intended original audience hear this.” Like they would’ve understood what Jesus was commanding in their Jewish contexts. It all would have happened in a community. Right? A spiritual community that was gathered. CLINT CLIFTON: Not just that, I think about this in terms of by the way it was churched in. When you’re communicating about the great commission. You got to remember that Jesus was communicating about the church and the great commission. But the church didn’t exist. It wasn’t established. And Jesus was talking to a group of guys that couldn’t conceive of it exactly in the way that Jesus had in mind. And so, He was describing it rather than just saying “Go do it.” So why didn’t Jesus say go start churches, or go plant churches, well because they wouldn’t have understood what he was talking about. Jesus had to describe it. So, He described in in terms of making disciples, baptizing and teaching. That is the substance of the church. What organization out there does that? The church does that. You know? No other organization…the Compassion center, the Quanos,, the Elk’s Lodge, they don’t baptize, and teach, and make disciples on our own way. It’s only Jesus’ church that does that. And so, when Jesus said go baptize, teach, and make disciples He was saying go make churches. The second thing about the great commission that we know is you know, solidifies for us the great commission is very squarely about starting new churches. It’s just what you just mentioned, the original hearers of the great commission, the Apostles, they heard what Jesus said and their response was to plant new churches. So, Jesus’ Apostle heard Him say go baptize, teach, and make disciples just before His ascension. And they turned around that conversation and they went and did what we read about in the book of Acts. We hear what Jesus say go baptize, teach, and make disciples and we turn around and go on a two-week mission trip. Or we turn around and fill in the blank or whatever we would call the great commission. So there’s a huge difference between turning away from Jesus’ words go baptize, teach, and make disciples and going and establishing churches, as opposed to doing ministering and coming back home.JOSH TURANSKY: Kind of like a fly wheel. Because you’ve got Jesus describing what the church looks like. But then you’re going and doing it and it starting new churches that would be what the healthy church would look like. So, it is a circular argument in a good way. Yeah. No. That’s great. And we look at the early history of the church and I do think there’s authority in the description of what these Apostle’s did. What they set out.CLINT CLIFTON: For sure. They set out and establish the church and they did and the work that they did and those years following Jesus’ great commission, resonates to this day as we stand on the 2nd floor of the Compassion Center. We’re still doing the thing that Jesus had sought out to do. And we’d like to think that the Gospel spreading around the world like on the backs of missionaries. But it really, the missionaries were just the lines between the two churches. You know, the church sent them and established churches. And so, it’s like this interconnected web rather than it’s these straight lines. So, every time the Gospel goes somewhere, it roots itself in a community through local churches. And so, church planting is the normal and natural movement of the Gospel around the world. So, to not just go to a place but to go and grow roots in a place. So, it stays in that place for a long time. So, you see the great commission is like the central passage we can point to about church planting. When Jesus said go baptize, teach, and spread disciples He was saying go start churches. Another thing though is that Jesus Himself, Jesus as a figure, as a character in the scripture, He was a church planter. I mean, on two levels, Jesus was a church planter. Like He’s a church planter because in a cosmic way, like in a very big way, He came and brought Jesus’ church to the world. Right? I mean Jesus, He brought His own church to the world. So, He came and brought the Gospel to the world established the Church in the world. Jesus did that. So, He’s a big seed church planter. Unlike any of us that would ever start churches, He did it in a big way. But also, he was a local church planter. I mean if you think about the things that went on, you’d be hard pressed to make a theological argument that what Jesus was doing there wasn’t a church. Gathering those guys together, taking the communion with them, baptizing, teaching them, all the things that a local church does were happening there with Jesus and His Apostles and they went out and spread the Gospel around the world. So in essence, Jesus was a pastor of a small church that multiplied a lot. JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Can I add to that? CLINT CLIFTON: Sure. JOSH TURANSKY: Because the didactic teaching is where He is commanding like this is what it looks like to be a member of the kingdom is so community-based. Like you’re going to practice, or you’re going to exemplify being a follower of me a true disciple, like the warp and woof of being a follower of Jesus is doing community. Being a spiritual community. Yeah.CLINT CLIFTON: So, Jesus is a church planter. The Apostle Paul for sure. I mean we obviously think of him as a church planer. If we think of the New Testament in church planting and we do have something biblical to hold on to it’s Paul, right? So, his commissioning and Acts 13 marks the beginning like this incredible church planting streak. He just is out going from town to town, community to community, over the course of 13 years. He embarked on three missionary journeys. Traveled over 7,000 miles. Planted during that time, just once we know about from the scripture, 14 churches during that incredible streak. So, Paul was literally just going place to place, starting new churches and after it was on. His version of rooted, sometimes it didn’t seem rooted. But he gets and he goes somewhere else you know, what seems like to me way too early. And so Paul’s a church planter. The apostles were church planters. I mean you’d look at all of those guys and essentially what they were spending their life doing after hearing the great commission was planting churches. So, you have all these major characters in the New Testament and best named character I don’t like to make it seem as if it’s story book and not real. It’s very but all these personalities and usually I mean all these different personalities JOSH TURANSKY: Revelation. Maybe you’re going to say this already, but when we get to the book of revelation, Jesus looks back. And it starts, he commends 7 local churches. So, it’s like Jesus is giving a stamp of approval. You know, if Acts was wrong, if Paul was wrong to establish these churches, then Jesus wouldn’t have come along and say “This is, you know, this is who I’m writing to.”CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. You’ve got the great commission telling them to go do it. Them stepping out in response to the great commission and establishing churches, and then the validation of that from Jesus somewhere along that stands and the relations. So, Jesus was a church planter, the apostles were church planters, the apostle Paul was a church planter. And so all the New Testament is just this you know, depiction of the church, the local church being established. And not just that but the communication is a testament to themselves. Like you think about the letters. Those letters, were letters to church planters. So, you just got all stuff. So, it’s almost like I think of it like the Trinity. You know like, church planting is such a part of the fabric of the New Testament that it’s a little hard to point out and say “Oh there is because it’s just everywhere.” It’s the whole thing. The same way the Trinity, you’re going to have a hard time finding you know, a verse that says you know that God exist in three persons. But we read the New Testament, that’s the understanding we walk away with about God.JOSH TURANSKY: That’s really strong. That’s a great point. Keep going.CLINT CLIFTON: And last I think you know; this is part of what we know of already about the scripture but it’s sometimes about connecting the dots and really just saying, “Oh yeah. That’s church planting.” The book of Acts alone there in the books of acts alone there are dozens of stories and references to church planting. The people going in and establishing churches. In fact, the book itself is the story of the founding of the Church (big C Church). But we see that story play out in the founding of many small c churches. You know, lots of churches begun in the New Testament yet Jesus, sending His apostles to plant the first church in Jerusalem. In Acts I you’ve got Philip preaching the Gospel and Sumeria and members of the church of Jerusalem going to share the Gospel elsewhere in like Acts 8. Then you’ve got Paul, the greatest missionary the world has ever known. Being converted from a church persecutor to a church planter in Acts chapter 9. And Barnabas sent by the church of Jerusalem to plant and lead church Antioch in Acts chapter 11. Paul and Barnabas together in Acts 13 going out setting out on this missionary journey, we just mentioned a little bit ago. And then all the way through into Acts 14 jus the Church continuing to be established. And I love this, there’s this passage in Titus 2, Not Titus number 2 but Titus also in chapter 1 like verse 5 were ‘Paul put in an order in what remained.” He said leaving Titus in Crete and he says to him “Put an order to what remains, we’ve Evangelized here, we’ve won some people over to Jesus, now I want you to take those people we’ve won to Jesus and put them in order in every town by appointing elders.” His like, the method behind by which they should put things in order or put the kingdom of God in order by organized people. By town and by church and giving them church leaders. So like there’s the New Testament is just full of conversations about the establishment of local churches and we should have no problems basically based on those things alone. Communicating people in our congregation, the biblical nature of what it is we’re leaving them to do and we’re trying for them to step out and lead new churches. JOSH TURANSKY: So, a pastor listens to this and it’s like I know all those verses, and I agree with your assumptions that the great commission is the greatest endorsement of church planting, but they’re looking at the congregation and saying “Well, I’m already doing the great commission here in my church, and now you’re asking me to think about somebody else’s church that I’m not going to lead. But you’re saying “No, no, no. If we’re reading this, and we’re thinking a bigger picture and our church fulfilling the great commission beyond who gathers with us on Sundays, who’s in our small groups, if we’re going to do the great commission in our city and around the world, it’s got to be including this concept of multiplication or starting the next church. CLINT CLIFTON: Well I think the way we think about that is Ephesians 4. He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as Evangelist, some as shepherds and teachers. And when you think about that spectrum as your church grows and matures and becomes established, people with all of those gifts emerge in the Church. And those apostles, those are the people in local church who have the impulse to carry the Gospel to other places. They’re the sent ones that are going to go. And so, beginning to pray from the very beginning of your time as a pastor for the church that God will illuminate some apostolic type guys or gals in your congregation that would have a burden for or an interest in the spreading of the Gospel in another place. Because it’s pitting those two things with each other is not helpful. Like we should build the church locally, we should help the people grow in Jesus locally, but we have to do that also recognizing that our church shares the responsibility just like we share the responsibility in each of our people locally, we also have the responsibility of carrying the Gospel to places where it’s not yet made it. And so, both of those things are really important and as the Church matures people begin to emerge. But most pastors don’t think they’re playing an active role in that. I think they’re playing a very passive role in that. If somebody where to emerge out of their congregation and say, “God’s calling me to go.” They’d say, “Okay. Go to seminary.” You know, they wouldn’t kind of have a category of how their church would participate in that. Rather than actually drawing people out of the congregations. Then who is it, God is calling someone from here to go. We know God has given us the responsibility as a Church to spread the Gospel no matter how wealthy we are, or how resources we are, or how big we are, we all receive the great commission in our bibles you know? So, if that’s true, how is it that we take that responsibility, even as a church of 30 or 50 people or 100 people. How do we take that responsibility and act upon it in order to worship or honor God? Well, someone has to emerge to be the sent one. And when that person emerges what do I do? Do I embrace them? Do I prepare them? Do I equip them? Do I mobilize the congregation to support them? Or do I say, “Yeah. Our church isn’t strong enough for that.” And the pastor that says that our church isn’t strong enough for that, is the pastor that believes that he is responsible to get the resources together for that. And we know, God equips those He sends. Those He call He provides for. And for us to be the pastors full of faith that say, “Yeah. If God is calling you, then God is calling us to support you to send you. And I don’t know where we’re going to get it, but we’re going to support you.” I’ll never forget I was a teenager, these kinds of ideas really impacted me in my Church because I remember my Church was starting a Church when I was just a teenage like 15 or 16 years old. And I remember this church planter that we were working with. He said, he came to our pastor and said. “Hey! I feel like God’s calling me to do this work with somebody else. He’s calling somebody else to join me in this work.” And my pastor’s response was, “Well I didn’t know how we’re going to pay for one, so I don’t know how we’re going to pay for to either but praise the Lord. Let’s do it.” And his response was like we can’t do any of this, you know? None of this is going to be accomplished because of our ingenuity, our resourcing, it’s all going to be accomplished because of God’s work. So, yeah. I think it’s important for pastors to have that posture that is very pro-church planter.JOSH TURANSKY: I just want to make sure that I’m understanding you correctly and that this is really clear. So being having with the church for a while there’s often times this mentality where we want to put people into categories and be like “You know that pastor over there, he’s really got a heart for mission.” “You know, that’s the missions’ guy.” “Oh, that guy over there that’s Clint you know? He’s the church planting guy” But what the case you’re making is that a Biblically healthy church should look at the great commission and be a church planting church.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah let me be explicit as I can be about it. I think the church that is not actively seeking to multiply the Gospel through church establishing churches is sinning. That’s explicit yeah. I mean I just don’t and I think I could support that biblically. Essentially what I’m saying is if I were to say to you or to any Evangelical Pastor “Is the church that ignores the great commission sinning?” Most pastors would say “Yes.” And if I were to say, “Is the church that ignores church planting sinning?” They would say. “Well no. There are other ways to fulfill the great commission.” No there are not! The great commission is a call to start new churches. There are not other things we can do. It’s we made the great commission mean so much that means nothing now. You know, or almost nothing in the years of an American Christian. But the great commission is a call to start new churches. Jesus said go baptize, teach, make disciples. Churches baptize, teach, and make disciples. No other organization does it. That’s the church. When Jesus said go baptize, teach, and make disciples. He just assumed could have said “Go make churches.” JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah no, that’s really strong. And you’re also like accommodating the guy who feels overwhelmed. Like, that pastor doesn’t have to be an expert in church planting. There are great resources that exist. And participating in the church planting work can be… Like we have a partner for our church. Who, he wants to see church planting being taking place. He’s not there yet. They’re a big church. They want to have the systems in place down the road. But he’s like “Today, we’re going to participate by partnering with a local church plant that is going to multiply itself probably then faster than we are you know, from our big church.” CLINT CLIFTON: Here’s the thing. I just imagine pastors standing in front of Jesus. And you know, he’s asking Him in essence “What did you do with the great commission?” “What did you do with what I called you to do?” And a lot of them are going to answer by saying, “Well we give to our mission board.” Or “We supported this or that” And I think GK Chesterton I know I mention this all the time. But GK Chesterton anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first just this idea that we have to be responsible for the things that God has given us responsibility for. And He has given every church, every church regardless of size, or budget, or know how, the responsibility of multiplying churches, of fulfilling the great commission of going baptizing, teaching, and making new disciples. Every church has that responsibility. So, it may be overwhelming to you. It may feel scary to you. It may make you feel nervous about the resources of your church and how good you’ll be pulling that off. But it is still your responsibility. God will look at you and say, “What did you do with what I called you to do with? With what I told you to do?” And this it’s not like, one of the many commands of the scripture. This is about the last words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven to his disciples. So, if He wanted to put an exclamation point on anything it was this. And so, for many of our churches I just think we sort of outright ignore it or we count our support generally for our denominations, and our network, as checking that box off. And I just don’t know that God’s going to accept that as a substitute.JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. What comes to mind. Just winding down here. Just is that at beginning of Acts 8. God was willing to let His church go through something so violent. To move the Jerusalem church out into the mission field, you know? He allowed the martyrdom of Steven and the persecution of the Christians just to get this happening. CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. we don’t want persecution to be the thing that finally gets us going.JOSH TURANSKY: No. Please no. Man that’s encouraging to me personally. I want to go back; you know one of our 6 values in our church is church planting or I think multiplication is the term we’d use. But man, this is good. CLINT CLIFTON: So, let me give you some practical stuff before just brow beat you nad leave you know like feeling like a terrible pastor. So, one thing you could do, is start to educate your congregation on this. So, practical, really practical. Plan a sermon series where you highlight the church planting movement of the New Testament or the biblical rationale for church planting. Begin to talk to your people about it. Another thing you can do soften your people to this, is start viewing churches, other churches in your community especially new churches in your community as allies and not competitors. Meaning that from the platform when you talk about them, you talk about them with benevolence and joy and anticipation for their growth. So, if a new church is starting in your community then you’re saying “Man we pray that this church is successful and fruitful.” That’s a subtle thing that says to your congregation that “Oh! they’re on our team.” “We’re on the same team. Our pastor doesn’t see them as you know, McDonald and a Burger King; or Walmart and Target across the street from each other. We’re not competitors. We’re actually working towards the exact same goal in our community.” So, I think that’s huge. And another very important practical way you can do this is we have developed a class called Church Planting Primer. That has, we know we advertise it on the podcast, but it has some very practical information that you could share with your congregation that is proven to and has in many churches. Helped churches get their mindset change, help their mindset of churches change about this. So, it’s called the Church Planting Primer – Why new churches are needed? And how they’re started. It’s absolutely free. You can get them for free from newcityplanting.org/primer. You can download everything, if you don’t feel comfortable teaching it yourself. There are videos with me teaching it. If you do feel comfortable teaching it, there’s a teaching manuscript you can do it yourself. There’s a workbook and PowerPoint slides, and sort of everything you would need. It’s totally free. And you should take that and teach your congregation, it only takes 4 Sundays. There’re videos that come with it. And I think if you were to do that, you would see a change in the perception of your congregation about this issue. JOSH TURANSKY: Really good. Awesome. Well, we appreciate everybody who tuned in. And we would just like to give a shout out to the podcast. There’s a Facebook page where we share the episodes that are coming out, updates, resources. There’s the website churchplantingpodcast.org. CLINT CLIFTON: It sounds like you’re not confident.JOSH TURANSKY: Almost, almost. And there’s the News City Network website which has a lot of resources which you’ve created on it. So awesome. Good stuff.CLINT CLIFTON: Yeah. Thanks Josh!JOSH TURANSKY: Yeah. Thanks Clint!Have you ever had that experience of hearing a great idea? I mean a truly great idea and thinking “Oh! Why couldn’t that have been my idea?” Well I had that experience recently when I ran across a company called SpaceTogether. Now SpaceTogether was founded by a church planter and SpaceTogether is to the church world what AirBNB is to your family. It lets you rent out your church spaces easily as AirBNB lets you rent out your home. You can rent out a part of the building for like a specific day and time or you can rent out the building in an ongoing way in a time where your facilities is under-utilized. And SpaceTogether has this great technology that helps you take under-utilized church space and create new opportunities for your congregation. Now exclusively for church planting podcast listeners SpaceTogether is offering a $1.00 posting fee. You can post your space on SpaceTogether for just $1.00 when you use the coupon code planter. And if you’re a church planter that needs space go on SpaceTogether and look at the places they’re offering and maybe you’ll find the perfect spot for your new church. You can learn more about SpaceTogether at the website spacetogether.comALBERT: Thank you for listening to the church planting podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review of your favorite podcast today.
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In this special edition of RockCast, we sit down with Frank Grand, Web Director at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. Frank and NewSpring have been an integral part of the Rock community from the beginning. We appreciate their heart for "the big C" Church, and all the ways they've advanced Rock innovation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Throwback podcast! Nathan and Nika Spaulding talk to Watermark Community Director Rob Barry about the big "C" Church. What is it? How should we think about it? Why should we care?
This weeks episode features guest Kayla Murphy, who is the Children’s Pastor at North View Community Church. We get to hear Kayla’s story, which includes her going to her first Run To Win camp, becoming a coach, and now being camp partner! Kayla also shares her ideas on church in todays world and how we are called to be the church.
Our common faith transcends time itself, uniting us with fellow believers who now enjoy the blessings of Heaven. While we grieve their death, we find great comfort in knowing that we will see them again!
Pastor Jon shares what it looks like when we focus on what the actual purpose of the big C Church is and what we are going after at Thrive.
United by our common faith in Jesus and our work together in the world, we strengthen that faith and work by our bold confession of faith. By going public with what we believe, we encourage others and strengthen our own convictions.
When asked if they belong to a church, most people will immediately think of the local congregation they call home. What may not come to mind is the network of congregations and fellow Christians that also exists all across the Chicagoland region and beyond — the Northern Illinois District. Even so, our work together is powerful, important, and exciting!
When Jesus sent His Disciples out to all the world, He created a movement that would unite people across all cultural, racial, and geographical boundaries. When we get to glimpse the unity we have with fellow Christians across the globe, it lifts our spirits and opens our hearts to all of God’s children.
In this message, Pastor Aaron talks about "big C" Church and "small c" church.
Brad Sullivan 3 Advent, Year B December 17, 2017 Emmanuel, Houston Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28 That Someone Greater Is Jesus, and that Something Greater is Love So, John the Baptist really upset the uber religiousy folks of his time, didn’t he? He was there, baptizing folks to testify to the Light of God, to lead people into repentance from the ways they were living that harmed themselves or others, and to prepare their hearts for the coming of God’s kingdom. That sounds like a good thing, something folks could pretty well get behind, but the priests, the Levites, and the Pharisees, they were having none of it. The priests and Levites were the ones with primary responsibility for the Temple worship, and the Pharisees were a group within Israel, focused on upholding the religious laws and rules of Israel. You might thing that such religious type folks would be glad to see someone taking their faith seriously, calling people to repentance, but not so. The priests, Levites, and Pharisees were questioning John, basically wondering, “Who gave you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing?” “Are you the Messiah, Elijah, the Prophet? No? Well then explain yourself. What gives you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing folks?” You can hear in their questions the fear that their power and authority might be questioned. John wasn’t authorized by them, so there was this fear that their way of living and leading their religion was being questioned or even undermined. So, John responded, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” In other words, John was saying, “This baptism that I’m doing, guys, it ain’t nothing to get your knickers in a twist over. You wonder about my authority and the things I’m doing…oh, just you wait. I know you guys love the way you live out our religion and that you love having authority over our religion, but this whole salvation thing, God’s grace and favor, isn’t going to be only for you few uber religious types. Truth be told, God’s grace and favor never was reserved only for you uber religious types. God’s grace and favor is offered to all, and if you have your knickers in a twist because I offered a baptism of repentance to those you deem unworthy, just wait till God decides to sit down and eat with them.” Ok, so I suppose if we’re being honest and fair, the way of the priests, Levites, and Pharisees to live and lead their religion was being questioned… …and if we’re being honest and fair, we see this played out again and again in the church as well. There was the reformation. That was a pretty big questioning of how the Roman Catholic hierarchy was doing things. Even now, today, we have a change going on in our religion. Folks who want to love God and people but aren’t really religious. Some have been pushed out of the church (big C Church, worldwide) because of various ways of life which others within the church deem unworthy of Jesus. Some have left the church because they have a passion for loving and serving people and they see the majority of the time, energy, and money of the church going almost exclusively to worship and building which serve the church primarily and others as an afterthought. We see folks today within the church following news practices, old practices, new ways of living out our faith with a greater emphasis on serving others than on expensive, well-rehearsed and polished corporate worship. These changes, this turning around, this repentance, has left some of the traditional religious types none too happy. There has been division and splintering. Repentance, by its very nature, causes division. The fact that repentance causes division is not a bad thing. John’s baptism caused, or revealed division. That’s not a bad thing. Such cause for or revealing of division is necessary. It hurts, and it is ok, so long as it is followed by something or someone greater. Someone greater than I is coming, John said. Something greater than repentance is coming. That someone is Jesus, and that something is love. In Revelation chapter 2, [and now I’ve got your attention, right? Oh my God, preacher man’s gone to Revelation! Now things are getting real.], in Revelation chapter 2, Jesus gave this message to the church in Ephesus: ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first (Revelation 2:2-4) The church in Ephesus, they were working on repentance. They were trying to stop evildoers within their church from causing harm. They had done well, Jesus was saying. They had stopped some of the harm by those causing harm, but their repentance had led to division, and they had lost the love they had for each other. Repentance will almost inevitably bring division, hurt, strife. If we leave things there, we end up with fracture, splitting, us versus them, winners and losers, permanent division. Repentance is good. John’s baptism was good. After John’s baptism, however, came someone greater, Jesus. After repentance comes something greater, love. Even in the midst of repentance, we need to make sure that the presence of love is what drives us. With repentance, are we making ourselves clean of others, removing others so that we look or feel better? Are we concerned with our own righteousness before God, or are we concerned with how well we love and serve others? Remember, our righteousness before God has been taken care of by Jesus on the cross. We’re not going to make ourselves any more righteous before God than Jesus already has. His love for us is greater than our repentance. In our repentance, we’re not seeking to be righteous before God. In our repentance, we are seeking amendment of our ways and healing of our hearts so that we may more fully love others. Repentance is of course, not the only thing that can cause division within a church. Sometimes division is also caused by flood waters drowning a church building, and groups of people end up divided over how they want rebuilding to happen. With rebuilding, just like with repentance, such divisions are inevitable. We all care deeply for our church home, for what our church home is going to be and for how we are going to get there, and surprise, surprise, we’re all different. I think Jesus is glad we’re all so different. The body of Christ is as varied as humanity. I think Jesus is glad that we care so deeply. We are a caring and loving people, and we want our building back so that we can serve others in our community. We’re still able to worship. It’s not exactly our home, but we’re still able to worship. What we don’t have is our building as a resource to serve the needs of the community around us, and so I think Jesus is inspiring all of us to want to rebuild, to want to do so well, and to want to do so in a way that will serve not just our worship and fellowship needs, but will serve the needs of the community around us. We all have different ideas, passions, and dreams for how we are to get there, and I think Jesus is glad for that too. Only this Jesus would have against us, if we were to let those differing desires truly divide us and if we were to abandon the love which we had at first. Our vestry has worked hard with the diocese to get us back into our building, and they have not done so in the exact way previous vestries might have. Might, because we’ve never had this situation before. Our current vestry has worked not in the way previous vestries might have, but in the way this vestry has. What I have observed of the vestry and planning workstream tasked with getting us back into our building, is that they have worked faithfully, they have worked with integrity, and they have worked well. This post-Harvey life is a season of forced repentance for us, a prolonged season of turning around, of changing our ways, because our church building was drowned. We will not be what we were. We will be something new, a new people by water and the spirit. We will have division along with way, as is inevitable with repentance, but remember, we’re not seeking righteousness before God, but the healing of our hearts so that we may love more fully. We must not abandon the love which we had at first, for something and someone greater than repentance is here binding us together. That someone is Jesus, and that something is love.
Brad Sullivan 3 Advent, Year B December 17, 2017 Emmanuel, Houston Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8, 19-28 That Someone Greater Is Jesus, and that Something Greater is Love So, John the Baptist really upset the uber religiousy folks of his time, didn’t he? He was there, baptizing folks to testify to the Light of God, to lead people into repentance from the ways they were living that harmed themselves or others, and to prepare their hearts for the coming of God’s kingdom. That sounds like a good thing, something folks could pretty well get behind, but the priests, the Levites, and the Pharisees, they were having none of it. The priests and Levites were the ones with primary responsibility for the Temple worship, and the Pharisees were a group within Israel, focused on upholding the religious laws and rules of Israel. You might thing that such religious type folks would be glad to see someone taking their faith seriously, calling people to repentance, but not so. The priests, Levites, and Pharisees were questioning John, basically wondering, “Who gave you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing?” “Are you the Messiah, Elijah, the Prophet? No? Well then explain yourself. What gives you the right or the authority to be out here baptizing folks?” You can hear in their questions the fear that their power and authority might be questioned. John wasn’t authorized by them, so there was this fear that their way of living and leading their religion was being questioned or even undermined. So, John responded, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” In other words, John was saying, “This baptism that I’m doing, guys, it ain’t nothing to get your knickers in a twist over. You wonder about my authority and the things I’m doing…oh, just you wait. I know you guys love the way you live out our religion and that you love having authority over our religion, but this whole salvation thing, God’s grace and favor, isn’t going to be only for you few uber religious types. Truth be told, God’s grace and favor never was reserved only for you uber religious types. God’s grace and favor is offered to all, and if you have your knickers in a twist because I offered a baptism of repentance to those you deem unworthy, just wait till God decides to sit down and eat with them.” Ok, so I suppose if we’re being honest and fair, the way of the priests, Levites, and Pharisees to live and lead their religion was being questioned… …and if we’re being honest and fair, we see this played out again and again in the church as well. There was the reformation. That was a pretty big questioning of how the Roman Catholic hierarchy was doing things. Even now, today, we have a change going on in our religion. Folks who want to love God and people but aren’t really religious. Some have been pushed out of the church (big C Church, worldwide) because of various ways of life which others within the church deem unworthy of Jesus. Some have left the church because they have a passion for loving and serving people and they see the majority of the time, energy, and money of the church going almost exclusively to worship and building which serve the church primarily and others as an afterthought. We see folks today within the church following news practices, old practices, new ways of living out our faith with a greater emphasis on serving others than on expensive, well-rehearsed and polished corporate worship. These changes, this turning around, this repentance, has left some of the traditional religious types none too happy. There has been division and splintering. Repentance, by its very nature, causes division. The fact that repentance causes division is not a bad thing. John’s baptism caused, or revealed division. That’s not a bad thing. Such cause for or revealing of division is necessary. It hurts, and it is ok, so long as it is followed by something or someone greater. Someone greater than I is coming, John said. Something greater than repentance is coming. That someone is Jesus, and that something is love. In Revelation chapter 2, [and now I’ve got your attention, right? Oh my God, preacher man’s gone to Revelation! Now things are getting real.], in Revelation chapter 2, Jesus gave this message to the church in Ephesus: ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first (Revelation 2:2-4) The church in Ephesus, they were working on repentance. They were trying to stop evildoers within their church from causing harm. They had done well, Jesus was saying. They had stopped some of the harm by those causing harm, but their repentance had led to division, and they had lost the love they had for each other. Repentance will almost inevitably bring division, hurt, strife. If we leave things there, we end up with fracture, splitting, us versus them, winners and losers, permanent division. Repentance is good. John’s baptism was good. After John’s baptism, however, came someone greater, Jesus. After repentance comes something greater, love. Even in the midst of repentance, we need to make sure that the presence of love is what drives us. With repentance, are we making ourselves clean of others, removing others so that we look or feel better? Are we concerned with our own righteousness before God, or are we concerned with how well we love and serve others? Remember, our righteousness before God has been taken care of by Jesus on the cross. We’re not going to make ourselves any more righteous before God than Jesus already has. His love for us is greater than our repentance. In our repentance, we’re not seeking to be righteous before God. In our repentance, we are seeking amendment of our ways and healing of our hearts so that we may more fully love others. Repentance is of course, not the only thing that can cause division within a church. Sometimes division is also caused by flood waters drowning a church building, and groups of people end up divided over how they want rebuilding to happen. With rebuilding, just like with repentance, such divisions are inevitable. We all care deeply for our church home, for what our church home is going to be and for how we are going to get there, and surprise, surprise, we’re all different. I think Jesus is glad we’re all so different. The body of Christ is as varied as humanity. I think Jesus is glad that we care so deeply. We are a caring and loving people, and we want our building back so that we can serve others in our community. We’re still able to worship. It’s not exactly our home, but we’re still able to worship. What we don’t have is our building as a resource to serve the needs of the community around us, and so I think Jesus is inspiring all of us to want to rebuild, to want to do so well, and to want to do so in a way that will serve not just our worship and fellowship needs, but will serve the needs of the community around us. We all have different ideas, passions, and dreams for how we are to get there, and I think Jesus is glad for that too. Only this Jesus would have against us, if we were to let those differing desires truly divide us and if we were to abandon the love which we had at first. Our vestry has worked hard with the diocese to get us back into our building, and they have not done so in the exact way previous vestries might have. Might, because we’ve never had this situation before. Our current vestry has worked not in the way previous vestries might have, but in the way this vestry has. What I have observed of the vestry and planning workstream tasked with getting us back into our building, is that they have worked faithfully, they have worked with integrity, and they have worked well. This post-Harvey life is a season of forced repentance for us, a prolonged season of turning around, of changing our ways, because our church building was drowned. We will not be what we were. We will be something new, a new people by water and the spirit. We will have division along with way, as is inevitable with repentance, but remember, we’re not seeking righteousness before God, but the healing of our hearts so that we may love more fully. We must not abandon the love which we had at first, for something and someone greater than repentance is here binding us together. That someone is Jesus, and that something is love.
But there were foundational practices found at the beginning of the big C Church that are carried out in small c church to make it vibrant and alive. Worship was at the heart of the church from its inception.
Let’s talk about the capital “C” Church and where we fit in the mix.
Let’s talk about the capital “C” Church and where we fit in the mix.
Let’s talk about the capital “C” Church and where we fit in the mix.
Let’s talk about the capital “C” Church and where we fit in the mix.
In this episode of Setting the Record Straight, we will discuss intentional and strategic big “C” Church planting. Join in as we discuss this subject from a totally different angle than you have thought of in the past.
In this episode, I discuss Rachel Dolezal and her lies, the horrific terrorist attack at Emanuel A.M.C Church in Charleston, South Carolina, the lawsuit filed by Tracy Carver over her role in the McKinney, TX pool party debacle, and young black ladies called racial slurs for trying to protect animals. Enjoy. Thanks to Leslie Mac from the Interracial Jawn podcast and the Ferguson Response Network podcast for her voicemail. Black men, we must do better. Twitter: @SingleSimulcast, @Rashanii, @TheDr3amTeam, @SinandSolace Voicemail: 916-572-9016 Email: SingleSimulcast@Gmail.com Music: Uninvited - Alanis Morissette Proud to be Black - Young Black Teenagers Blak iz Blak - Mau Maus Wake Up - Rage Against the Machine One Nation Under a Groove - Funkadelic
We love our families, college football, delicious food, homes, fishing and other great things in life. But what about our church? The local church is the hope of the world and God shares His love through His followers. Discover why God chooses to use the "capital-C" Church to change the world.Support the show (http://www.momentumchurch.org/give)
We love our families, college football, delicious food, homes, fishing and other great things in life. But what about our church? The local church is the hope of the world and God shares His love through His followers. Discover why God chooses to use the "capital-C" Church to change the world.Support the show (http://www.momentumchurch.org/give)
We love our families, college football, delicious food, homes, fishing and other great things in life. But what about our church? The local church is the hope of the world and God shares His love through His followers. Discover why God chooses to use the "capital-C" Church to change the world.Support the show (http://www.momentumchurch.org/give)
We love our families, college football, delicious food, homes, fishing and other great things in life. But what about our church? The local church is the hope of the world and God shares His love through His followers. Discover why God chooses to use the "capital-C" Church to change the world.Support the show (http://www.momentumchurch.org/give)
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