Podcasts about churches

Brandon Steele | 07.26.26 | ethoschurch.org

Top headlines for Tuesday, July 21, 2026A Detroit church crediting prayer after five people survived a shooting during a funeral, new charges against influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate involving seven alleged victims, archaeologists unearthing charred beams believed to be from Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, and a report revealing churches growing amid global persecution.0:11 Church says prayer prevented 'worse' outcome after 5 people shot0:58 JD Vance: Satan wants Christians to separate faith from politics1:47 Tate brothers arrested in Miami after new evidence: What to know2:38 Charred wooden beams from Solomon's Temple unearthed in Jerusalem3:32 Christian faith illuminates the World Cup final4:19 Churches growing amid persecution globally: report5:17 Canadian church destroyed by arson to hold groundbreakingSubscribe to this PodcastApple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsOvercastFollow Us on Social Media@ChristianPost on TwitterChristian Post on Facebook@ChristianPostIntl on InstagramSubscribe on YouTubeGet the Edifi AppDownload for iPhoneDownload for AndroidSubscribe to Our NewsletterSubscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and ThursdayClick here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning!Links to the NewsChurch says prayer prevented ‘worse' outcome after 5 people shot | U.S.Tate brothers arrested in Miami after new evidence: What to know | WorldCharred wooden beams from Solomon's Temple unearthed in Jerusalem | WorldJD Vance: Satan wants Christians to separate faith from politics | PodcastChristian faith illuminates the World Cup final | SportsChurches growing amid persecution globally: report | WorldCanadian church destroyed by arson to hold groundbreaking | World

Do you feel like you have hit a plateau in your life with Christ? Maybe your faith feels static, immature, or impersonal. What if Jesus wanted something more for you? Churches often teach that worship, prayer, Bible study, and service are how we grow, but how do we actually incorporate these disciplines into our lives? What makes these tools so powerful, and how can you actually use them, by God's grace, to reach maturity? Join us for a 6-week interactive series that will walk through what these tools are, why they are transformative, and how you can equip them to level up in your faith!

How should Christians order their loves in a world that tells us every relationship and every responsibility deserves the same priority? In this episode of Take Heart, Cory Wing explores the historic Christian doctrine of ordo amoris—the right ordering of our loves. Beginning with wholehearted love for God, Scripture teaches that our responsibilities flow outward to our families, our churches, our neighbors, and ultimately to the nations. Rather than shrinking our compassion, rightly ordered love enables us to love others more faithfully, wisely, and biblically.Watch all of our videos and subscribe to our channel for the latest content >HereHere

Most churches try to flip a switch and expect a sending culture overnight. It doesn't work that way. In this episode, we break down the real pipeline that turns first-time volunteers into missionaries and church planters — the small, inconvenient "yeses" that build up over years until someone's ready for the big one. Plus: the actual numbers behind how our church sent out 266 people, and why your Easter and Christmas services might be doing more discipleship work than you think.Website: ⁠https://breakinggrowthbarriers.com⁠Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/breakinggrowthbarriersFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakinggrowthbarriersInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/breakinggrowthbarriers

Each day offers new examples of America's pell-mell rush to join Western European nations in surrendering to Islam's stealthy conquest: Democratic primaries across the country are nominating sharia-supremacists or Marxist-jihadists like Zohran Mamdani, largely thanks to Muslim bloc-voting. Churches that are not mysteriously catching fire are being bought and transformed into mosques. Farms and other properties are turning into Muslim-only communities – and, predictably, future no-go zones – like the notorious EPIC City in Texas.  Now, Democratic legislators in Massachusetts want to establish a permanent “Government Islam Commission” to promote Muslims for state jobs and otherwise advance their sharia-adherent agenda.  Unsurprisingly, such serial accommodations are emboldening the jihadists here, causing them to espouse ever more openly America's submission to sharia. It's high time we say “No.” BanSharia.com. This is Frank Gaffney.

Top headlines for Monday, July 20, 2026Record numbers of UK children arrested for sexual offenses amid concerns over violent online content, devastating flash floods that swept away multiple churches in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and a Navy veteran who miraculously awoke after his family planned his funeral and organ donation.0:11 Arrests of children for sexual offences spikes to record levels1:15 Churches washed away as flash floods cripple border town in India2:04 Is reclaiming America's Mainline churches a lost cause?3:12 Planned Parenthood sues HHS over TPP abstinence-only requirements4:11 Navy vet awakens after family planned funeral, organ donation4:57 JD Vance rejects arguments against Texas' Ten Commandments law5:46 Pastor breaks records by preaching entire Bible for 96 hoursSubscribe to this PodcastApple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsOvercastFollow Us on Social Media@ChristianPost on TwitterChristian Post on Facebook@ChristianPostIntl on InstagramSubscribe on YouTubeGet the Edifi AppDownload for iPhoneDownload for AndroidSubscribe to Our NewsletterSubscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and ThursdayClick here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning!Links to the NewsArrests of children for sexual offences spikes to record levels | WorldChurches washed away as flash floods cripple border town in India | WorldIs reclaiming America's Mainline churches a lost cause? Planned Parenthood sues HHS over TPP abstinence-only requirements | U.S.Navy vet awakens after family planned funeral, organ donation | Living JD Vance rejects arguments against Texas' Ten Commandments law | PodcastPastor breaks records by preaching entire Bible for 96 hours

Aaron Etheridge | 07.19.26 | ethoschurch.org

Every generation looks to education, government, politics, technology, or business to change the world. While Christians should be involved in each of these, none of them is what Jesus promised to build. In Matthew, Jesus declared, “I will build my church.” From His ascension until His return, Jesus is building His Church, and He invites each of us to take part. Website:www.experienceredemption.comFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/experienceredemptionInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/experienceredemption

Jesus directs the word's advance, overcoming conflicts and weaker brother barriers to plant and strengthen churches in more places. If CMC follows his lead, we will consider gospel advance and church-strengthening more important than our differences with one another.

Today we continue ourstudy in Philippians chapter 4. Yesterday in verse 11, Paul told us one of thegreatest secrets of the Christian life: "I have learned, in whatsoeverstate I am, therewith to be content." Today in verse 12 he explainswhere that lesson was learned. "I know how to be abased, and I know howto abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and tobe hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” Paulis describing a life that has experienced every extreme. He says, "Iknow..." That word is important. He doesn't say, "I've heardabout these things." He doesn't say, "I've read about them." Hesays, "I know." These are lessons learned through personalexperience. Paul had lived on both sides of life's circumstances.  Heknew how to be abased. The word means to be brought low, humbled, or to livewith very little. Paul knew what it was like to be hungry. He knew what it waslike to be cold. He knew what it was like to be beaten, imprisoned,misunderstood, and rejected. He had slept in prison cells and spent sleeplessnights at sea. He had experienced loneliness, pain, and persecution. ButPaul also knew how to abound. There were times when God supplied every needabundantly. There were seasons of fruitful ministry. Churches were planted.People were saved. Friends encouraged him. Believers generously supplied hisneeds, just as the Philippians were doing now. Paul understood something thatmany Christians never learn. It takes as much grace to handle prosperity as itdoes adversity. Some people fall apart when trouble comes. Others becomespiritually careless when blessings come. Adversity can make us bitter.Prosperity can make us proud. Both are dangerous if Christ is not the center ofour lives. NoticePaul says, "Everywhere and in all things..." Literally, inevery place and in every circumstance. Whether traveling across Asia Minor...Standing before governors... Preaching in synagogues... Working as atentmaker... Sitting in a Roman prison... God was teaching him the same lesson.Then he says something fascinating: "I am instructed..." Theexpression literally carries the thought of being initiated into a mystery.Paul is saying, "God has taught me a secret." What is that secret? Itis not that circumstances no longer matter. It is that circumstances no longercontrol him. There is a tremendous difference. Paulwas not living under his circumstances. He was living above them. Someone onceasked an elderly Christian, "How are you doing under yourcircumstances?" He smiled and replied, "What am I doing under them?God never intended me to live there!" That simple answer contains aprofound truth. As believers, we do not deny our circumstances. We do notpretend pain doesn't hurt. We do not ignore disappointments. But neither do weallow those circumstances to dictate our joy, our peace, or our confidence inGod. We live above them because Christ lives within us. Thecircumstances around us may change daily. But the Christ within us neverchanges. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, andtoday, and forever."  Perhapsthat is why the Apostle Paul could write in 2 Corinthians 4:17, "Forour light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far moreexceeding and eternal weight of glory." He wasn't minimizingsuffering. He was comparing it with eternity. When we focus only on today'scircumstances, life can become discouraging. When we remember that God isworking an eternal purpose, our perspective changes. Corrie ten Boom once said,"If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within,you'll be depressed. If you look at Christ, you'll be at rest." How true! TheChristian life is not about escaping difficult circumstances. It is aboutexperiencing the presence of Christ in the middle of them. And it is not aboutbecoming independent of circumstances. It is about becoming dependent uponChrist.

Antioch Norman is a community church located in Norman, OK. We are a spiritual family with a global mission to make disciples, plant churches, and work for the peace and prosperity of our cities. As part of the Antioch Movement of Churches, we all share a passion for Jesus and His purposes in the earth.Website | https://www.antiochnorman.comInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/antiochnorman/1330 E Lindsey St Norman, OK 73071‎

Telling the Story: Part 2 Acts 7:1-16 by William Klock When I was an American school kid in the 70s and 80s I learned that the defining events in the history of the United States were was the founding of Jamestown in 1607; the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620; and, of course, the Revolutionary War that began in 1775 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence—well—almost exactly 250 years ago.  There were plenty of other events that shaped the story, but those were the events that set the United States on its trajectory: a heritage from Britain with a good dose of religious freedom and Protestant work ethic coming together in a grand expression of the rights of man shaped by the Enlightenment.  Were there flaws?  Yep.  Slavery was a big one.  But the way I learned the story, the British mainland colonies of North America were on the fringe of the slave trade.  We received a tiny fraction of it.  The real slavery problem was in the Caribbean and Latin America.  Plus, we dealt with it.  The whole Civil War thing—a tragedy.  But it was a story to be proud of. But in 2019, the New York Times began a new publishing project.  They called it The 1619 Project.  It was subtitled, “A New Origin Story”.  Why 1619?  That was the year the first African slaves were brought to Virginia.  Before the Pilgrims.  Before the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  It was a deliberate attempt to reframe the story of the United States.  Instead of a story rooted in a proud English heritage and religious liberty and Enlightenment ideals of freedom and liberty, the 1619 Project told the story of the United States as one rooted in racism and slavery and oppression.  Instead of a story that makes you stand proud, it's a story meant to instil shame and guilt. The 1619 Project didn't come out of nowhere.  It made public a story that many people had already been telling, especially to younger generations. And, as you would expect, this resulted in a great cultural clash.  Both sides shouting at the other, basically saying, “How dare you tell our story wrong!”  It wasn't so much a matter of the events themselves.  Both versions of the story involved the same events, the same people, and all of that.  But it highlights how much how you frame a story, how much you stress certain events and people and ideas over others, that you can end up with stories that are essentially the same, while dramatically different.  One instils national pride; the other instils national shame.  That doesn't mean there's no right or wrong.  Framing the American story as if slavery and racism are its fundamental core is dishonest.  But at the same time, telling a story that glosses over those evils for the sake of instilling pride, well, that's a problem too. And as much as this Postmodern metanarrative dilemma was nowhere on the radar of First Century Jews, I think it's a good way to understand what was going with Jews in those days and it's a good illustration of what Stephen is doing in his speech before the Sanhedrin in Ats 7.  [It's page 1087 in the Pew Bibles.]  There were different “parties” competing for influence and control in First Century Judaea and as much as they all told the same story of Israel, reaching back to Abraham and Moses and David, to the law and the Prophets, all rooted in the same exodus and exile and the same promises, how they told the story produced very different results, different feelings about Israel's present situation, different ideas about the future and how to get there—just as how I learned American history makes you smile when you see the Stars and Stripes, but others, having learned The 1619 Project story, feel shame. For Pharisees, unfaithfulness to the law resulted in exile—one that was still effectively ongoing—and only national faithfulness to the law would get them out of it.  For the Sadducees, that was all in the past.  God had restored them from their exile, and the temple and its priests were the proof.  All was well.  For the Zealots, the story said that armed revolution was the only way out of their oppression.  For the Essenes, the group responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls, the story said that the everyone and everything had been defiled by unfaithfulness, even the temple itself.  God would wage holy war on the unfaithful, so they—the only truly righteous ones—retreated to the desert to wait and to keep pure.  And there was the historian Josephus.  A generation later, he told the story—after the disaster had happened—to say that the Jewish revolutionaries had brought God's wrath on themselves and that God had raised up the Romans to act as his instrument of judgement.  Same story, but the different ways they told it, the different parts they emphasised, the way they interpreted certain events like the Babylonian Exile, landed them in very different places.  Like I said last week, the story got them to the airport, but they were all waiting at different gates—and none of them the right gate for the God's real homecoming.  That said, all of them held the same markers of Jewish identity dear: the torah, the temple, the promised land, their circumcision.  They disagreed on a lot, but attack any of those things and they'd all join in stoning you after charging you with blasphemy. So what Stephen is doing before the Sanhedrin, backing up all the way to Abraham and telling the story yet again, was in good keeping with what was going on in First Century Judaea.  So—in case you missed last week or have forgotten—in the first sixteen verses, Stephen began telling the story of Jesus and the Spirit by going back to Abraham.  This was the moment when the God of glory—Stephen wants to stress that he's here to glorify the God of Israel, not blaspheme him or his holy things—Abraham was the moment when God stepped into the darkness and misery of his broken, fallen, corrupted creation and called to Abraham.  In Abraham, God was launching his project to restore rebellious humanity to himself and to set to rights the creation that we broke.  Now, there was more to it than this—it's online if you missed or forgot it—but Stephen's main point is that the gospel is not a departure from the story of Israel.  It's not something new that has no roots in what happened before.  He's saying to the Jewish elders: When the God of glory, the God of Israel called Abraham out of Ur and settled him in the promised land and established his covenant with him to make him a nation, that was the beginning of the story that brings us to Jesus, to the cross and the empty tomb, to the ascension and to Pentecost.  The story of Abraham is the story of the gospel and vice versa. Remember, they accused him of blaspheming torah and temple and Stephen's saying, “No way!  Torah and temple are good.  They're glorious.  They're how God prepared us and brought us to Jesus.”  Like I said last week, when you leave your car and board the ferry, you are in no way saying your car was bad.  It got you to the ferry.  But you can't drive on water.  Now it's time do something new—to do the very thing your car brought you to do. And then from Abraham to Joseph.  Stephen tells Isreal's story in such a way to highlight that when the God of Israel acts to bless and to save his people, it's often in unexpected ways.  Abraham was promised the land of Canaan, but never had any more of it than a little burial plot.  And Jacob and his sons were forced to flee the land of Canaan in order to survive a famine.  And Jacob's sons were wicked men who sold their brother, Joseph into slavery after nearly choosing to murder him.  And Joseph went from slavery to prison.  How was God going to work anything good from any of that?  But he did.  The sovereign God was at work all along.  Slavery and prison led Joseph to the premiership of Egypt just in time deliver his family when they arrived.  None of them had ever expected any of that.  But God delivered them.  And Stephen's telling of the Joseph story also highlights that gracious forgiveness has always been at the heart of the story of God and his people.  There was Joseph, hated, abused, sold into slavery by his brothers, but instead of taking revenge, he welcomes them and throw a party. This is what Jesus had been doing as the lost sheep of Israel, the tax collectors and sinners, came to him in repentance and faith. And this is the sort of rejoicing that would take place in heaven were the Sanhedrin to see how the story leads to Jesus and repent.  God was waiting for them with open arms and a promise of blessing, and they should know that, because that's how God's great story has always worked.  It's the key in which this great symphony is written. So now, Moses.  As important as Abraham and Joseph were, Moses stands like a colossus over the story of Israel.  Moses was the deliverer who led Israel out of Egypt and parted the sea.  It was Moses who went up Mt. Sinai and saw God for himself.  It was Moses who came down and delivered the torah to Israel.  It was under Moses that God made a nation out of Abraham's family.  And this is where they've accused Stephen of blasphemy.  They've accused him of speaking against the torah and temple and Moses.  So look at Acts 7, beginning at verse 17.  Stephen highlights three things about Moses.  The first thing he stresses is how Moses was raised up by God to be the right man at the right place at the right time—even though no one would have guessed at the beginning that Moses was God's man for the hour. Stephen says: “God had sworn an oath to Abraham.  [Remember the promise to make him a great nation and to give his descendants the land of Canaan?] When the time drew near for this promise to be fulfilled, the people had increased and multiplied in Egypt, until another king arose over Egypt, one who had not known Joseph.  He got the better of our people, and ill-treated our fathers, forcing them to abandon their newborn children so that they would die.  It was at that time that Moses was born, and he was pleasing to God. He was nursed for three months in his father's house.  But, when they abandoned him, Pharaoh's daughter claimed him and brought him up as her own son.  So Moses was educated in the full teaching of Egyptian wisdom, and he was powerful in what he said and did.” Already, in the life of Joseph, Stephen has stressed that God works human evil for good.  Nothing escapes his sovereign hand.  And just so with Moses.  First, this new Pharoah decides to make slaves of the Hebrews.  Not good.  And then, when their numbers increase so prolifically that Pharaoh fears being able to control them, he hatches a plan to murder all the baby boys.  And so Moses ends up in a basket in the river, where Pharaoh's daughter finds him and decides to raise him as her own.  God turns Pharaoh's hate, prejudice, and injustice against him, sovereignly placing one of those Hebrew boys right in Pharaoh's own home, raised at Pharaoh's expense, and tutored by Pharaoh's own tutors in the famed wisdom of the Egyptians.  God ensure the story is full of irony.  Pharaoh unwittingly nurtures and educates the very man who will be his downfall.  And Moses, himself, receives the training needed one day to oversee, to govern the people of Israel.  Again, at the time, none of this made any sense.  No one could see any significance to the story as it was unfolding.  But God has a plan and one of the things the Jewish people learned from Moses' story—and so many others—is to trust God.  In the famous words of William Cowper, God moves in a mysterious way.  It's another motif in the divine symphony—one that comes back over and over and that God's people out to recognise when they hear the music. Second, Stephen stresses the rejection of Moses by his own people.  Look at verse 23: “When he had grown to forty years old, it came into his heart to see how his brothers, the sons of Israel, were doing.  He saw someone being wronged, and came to the man's defence; he took revenge on behalf of the man who was being oppressed, by striking down the Egyptian.  He thought his kinsfolk would grasp the fact that God was sending him to their rescue, but they didn't. “The next day he showed up as two Hebrews were fighting, and he tried to bring them back together again. ‘Now then, you two,' he said, ‘you are brothers! Why are you wronging each other?'  But the man who was wronging the other wasn't having it.  ‘Who made you a ruler or judge over us?' he retorted, pushing him away.  ‘Do you want to kill me in the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'  At that word, Moses ran away, and lived as a guest in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.” Yet another motif in the symphony, another recurring theme in the story.  Jesus wasn't the first of God's deliverers to be rejected by his own people.  The story highlights that this is sometimes how God works.  Now, there's no one-to-one equivalence between Moses and Jesus.  Moses was rejected because he wasn't ready yet.  He had a desire to see his people freed, but he hadn't yet been called by God to that mission, nor had he received instruction on how to do it God's way.  This way of telling the story, this way of looking back to the Old Testament is something we see all through the New Testament.  I think of the way Matthew regularly explains how something in the Jesus story “fulfils” this or that thing from the Old Testament.  And often we're left wondering how the connection works.  Thanks largely to the Church Fathers, we've been taught to see these connections as literal prophecies or as “types”, as spiritual shadows that prefigure Jesus and various events in his life.  That's kind of close, but it's not quite what Stephen (or Matthew) do.  When Matthew, for example says that in the birth of Jesus Isaiah's words about the virgin conceiving and bearing a child are fulfilled, we wonder how that works.  Isaiah was talking about a young woman in his own day bearing a child…and she wasn't a virgin.  What Matthew was doing was pointing back to an event in Israel's past, in Israel's story, where the birth of a child to a young woman—maybe a princess, maybe the Prophet's wife…it's not clear—but where the birth of this child signalled that God was about to act to deliver his people.  Matthew latched onto that.  This is how God works, but this time—in the birth of Jesus—it's not just a young woman, it's an actual virgin, and this time God's not just delivering his people from a foreign king; this time it's deliverance from sin and death.  Matthew recognised the motif in the music.  It was there in Isaiah's day, a lone violin telling a story that most people missed, but in the birth of Jesus that motif returned, and this time the whole symphony was playing it. Stephen's drawing on the story of Moses the same way.  Moses was rejected by his own people.  A repeating theme in the story that the Sanhedrin—people who know this story, know this symphony so well already—a theme they ought now to see plain as day in what happened to Jesus.  It should be obvious.  They were the ones playing the instruments this time, after all. And then, third, Stephen stresses how through Moses, the God of glory, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God Israel had known for two thousand years, had revealed himself in a new way that no one had expected.  Look at verse 30: “After another forty years, an angel appeared to him in the desert at Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the vision.  But, as he came closer to see, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.'  Moses was very frightened, and didn't dare to look.  But the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.  I have looked long and hard at the trouble my people are having in Egypt. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them.  So, come on now: I'm going to send you to Egypt.'” Stephen wants to be clear—and we see this all through early Christian preaching—the God revealed in Jesus the Messiah is not new.  He is the same God who has been directing this story, this symphony from the beginning.  This is the God of their fathers, the God who has been rescuing his people according to his promises for two thousand years.  The God they know.  The God whose character and ways they ought to have recognised in Jesus. Yes, Stephen's saying, Jesus was not what we expected.  In Jesus—and now in the Spirit—God is doing something amazing, something astounding, something new.  And that's why you rejected him.  But knowing the story, knowing the music, we should have expected God would do precisely this: something new, something wild, something we didn't expect.  Because the story is already full of episodes where God does just that.  No one, least of all Moses, exiled to the wilderness, tending his father-in-law's sheep—expected the burning bush.  And yet in that moment, heaven and earth came back together, God spoke, a man was called, and the world was never the same again. And Stephen's point is this: You can't predict the unexpected thing that God will do; but you can be sure—because the story is full of such moments—that God does act unexpectedly to do the things he's promised and that we expect, the very things in which we hope. Holy ground, for example, was something Stephen and his fellow Jews understood.  The temple was holy ground.  It was where heaven and earth met.  But it wasn't the end-all-be-all of holy grounds.  It began at Mt. Sinai—not in Isreal, but in the wilderness—where God met Moses in the burning bush, where the plan to rescue Isreal from her bondage began.  When the Israelites built the tabernacle and the cloud of God's glory descended to fill it, God upstaged what he'd done at the burning bush.  And then again, with the temple.  As if it were the strings playing the motif at the burning bush, and in Exodus 40 as God's glory fills the holy of holies, the woodwinds join them.  And the music was good and it was beautiful, but the Sanhedrin should now be hearing that same motif as, in Jesus and the Spirit the whole symphony comes together to play.  Stephen isn't disparaging Moses.  He's not blaspheming the law or the temple.  He's saying, “Can't you hear it?  Their beautiful theme is now being woven into something far grander and played by the whole symphony.  The motifs have been there all along, the story has always been told this way.  Don't plug your ears to this new thing.  Listen.  And hear how it's taken up all the old themes into something that is nothing short of glorifying to the conductor, to the God of glory. That's as far as we have time to go this morning.  Like I said, Acts 7 is long and there's a lot to unpack.  But I think the great take-away for us from this part—in addition to learning to hear the great story of God and his people—I think the most important thing here is to know that God really does do new and unexpected things.  As we get to know the story, we ought to expect for God to do the unexpected, for God to do new things that upstage what he's done in the past.  And yet, the story also emphatically tells us that as much as God does new things and upstages the things he's done before, those new things are always in keeping with what he's done before.  The past always points to the future and the future never undermines the past.  As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.”  We live in an age where too many people are ready to do something new themselves—something that breaks from what or how God has already revealed himself, something that breaks from or that disparages or that blasphemes God's past actions or his past instructions—they take this new human thing and declared that God is doing a new thing.  Andy Stanley saying we need to unhitch from the Old Testament so that God can do something new.  No!  Churches embracing sexual immorality and post-modern notions of identity and sexuality and family and marriage and then saying, “See, God is doing a new thing!”  A thousand times, no!  Brothers and Sisters, the theme of the story, the key of the symphony doesn't change.  God does new things, but those new things follow from what God's already done.  On the other hand—and I think it's mostly in response to all the proclamation of “new things” that aren't godly at all—on the other hand, we can become too fearful, too conservative and we can end up where the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Essenes were: locked down, afraid of the new, and turning away from burning bushes, and unwilling to go where God is actually leading. This why we need to steep ourselves in the story.  This why we need to immerse ourselves in the great symphony and to let the music wash over and through us.  Brothers and Sisters, we need to know the themes and the motifs, to learn the key in which God is playing, to be intimately familiar with how they interact, weaving around and through each other, so that as the story continues to unfold, as the symphony bursts into new movements, we can hear God bringing those old familiar themes to new heights, while also being able to recognise when a different story is being told, or a different symphony is being played.  I've said over and over, Brothers and Sisters: God's word is life.  Know, meditate on it, let it mould you, and then let it pour forth from you to give life to others. Let's pray: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things:  Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Churches are meant to be different and stand apart. Much like our own hearts are meant to be different and set apart for God.

A discussion hosted by Will Smith about my latest book, Everywhere.Get your copy: https://amzn.to/4gAwXRN

I have typically read Paul's letter to Rome like it was an essay written for the church at large for all times and for all places.  In fact, Paul, Jesus' apostle to the nations, in about 57 A.D., wrote a pastoral letter to several house churches in Rome. He mentions 26 members of the Roman church by name in chapter 16.  He knew a lot about the churches and he was very concerned with simmering divisions within those churches.  The churches were composed of a great diversity of folks, Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, as well as male and female.  A dispute was heating up in the church between a group that Paul called the "Weak," primarily Jewish believers, and a group that Paul called the "Strong," primarily Gentile believers.  Neither group had much use for the other and that was the problem!  He had strong words for both groups. The issues have to do with the place of circumcision, sabbath keeping, and the Jewish food laws in the life of the Churches.  Paul used eleven chapters to give the churches a solid Christ centered foundation on which to live together as "One People of God."  His overriding message was that one church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, living to the Glory of God, is the will of the LORD God.  He declared in chapter 12, "All of us are members one of another."  He followed up this declarative in chapter 15 with the imperative:  "Welcome each other as Christ has welcomed you, for the Glory of God." Tom Wright was recently asked, "What about today's church would most disturb the apostle Paul?" To which he replied. "Our many, many divisions and our LACK OF CONCERN about it." Come on this journey with us through Paul's wonderful letter which invites us to rediscover the "Power of Oneness."

"The Bible invites us to wrestle with life's realities."In this final episode of our Summer Forecast series of 2026, Rev. Dr. Isabelle Hamley discusses the challenges and importance of preaching from difficult parts of scripture, including texts on judgment, trauma, violence, and justice. While we often want to avoid these sections of Scripture, she helps us think about how to read these texts faithfully and responsibly. Isabelle's commitment to preaching from the whole counsel of God reminds us to recognize the limits of our capacity to understand God. She also shares thoughtful insights on contemporary humility in relation to the interpretation and misuse of scripture, challenging us to consider the ways in which we, too, miss the mark. TW: references to sexual violence, war, and traumaIsabelle's BioRev. Dr. Isabelle Hamley is a minister, speaker, and writer. She currently serves as Principal of Ridley Hall, an Anglican seminary that trains women and men for lay and ordained ministry. She has previously held posts as church leader, university chaplain, chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Theological Adviser to the House of Bishops. Her interests include the Bible in the life of the church, how Scripture helps shape a Christian response to justice, conflict, and violence, and the relationship between faith, ministry, and mental health. She is an ambassador for Sanctuary Mental Health and co-chairs a World Council of Churches working group on violence, conflict, peace, and reconciliation. She will be back at Regent this summer, teaching Preaching the Unpreachable: Opening Up the “Difficult” Texts of Scripture from July 27-31.Previous Podcast AppearancesBeing Human in God's World (June 2024)Old Testament Suffering and Life with God (February 2022) Regent College PodcastThanks for listening. Please like, rate and review us on your podcast platform of choice and share this episode with a friend. Follow Us on Social MediaFacebookInstagramYoutubeKeep in TouchRegent CollegeThe Regent VineSummer ProgramsRegent College NewsletterSupport UsGive Back

Check out this episode of Leadership Now with Dr. Aaron Rock as he continues the "10 Things" series. In this episode, Aaron discusses what church members wish that their pastors knew. More Resources: More resources at beachheadmedia.ca Beachhead Media YouTube

Rick and James serve movements of disciples and churches in the Middle East.Previously:366-Multiplying Disciples and Churches in a WarThe 5 Levels of Leadership

In this episode, Bradley interviews Tim and Michelle George about their mission work in Mozambique, focusing on church leadership training, language challenges, and the impact of their Bible school. Discover how their ministry is transforming communities one leader at a time.

2026-07-15 Wed PM Col 2:1, Warning to Lukewarm Churches Chip Beaulieu Download

Check out this episode of Leadership Now with Dr. Aaron Rock as he continues the "10 Things" series. In this episode, Aaron discusses what church members wish that their pastors knew. More Resources: More resources at beachheadmedia.ca Beachhead Media YouTube

Today, we are pleased to share an audio essay written and read by Megan Hill entitled "10 Things You Should Know about Corporate Prayer." Megan Hill serves as the managing editor for The Gospel Coalition. She is also the author of several books, including 'Praying Together: The Priority and Privilege of Prayer in Our Homes, Communities, and Churches' from Crossway. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Read the essay here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Complete this survey for a free audiobook by Kevin DeYoung!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave us a review, which helps us spread the word about the show!

My own boyhood church was rather sectarian, parochial, separatist. My family was pretty much always ready to go to blows, internally and regarding those outside the family. As an ENTJ personality profile, my "J" is super strong; I don't like gaslighting, lying, or those who try to get-over on society. So why, against my own nature and upbringing, am I generous to believers who are not like me? I explain the three reasons for my understanding of and disposition toward Christians who are different from my own tradition. In the show's opening cultural segment I also remark on the recent DSA candidates and the heated energy behind them. Additionally, I crow about my recent prediction on Iran. Come wonder, laugh, and think with me.

Text: Revelation 2:18-29  A sermon from our Wednesday night series through the Revelation 

Armored Against Demon Invasion (audio) David Eells – 7/15/26 Bundle of Serpents Attacks  John David Feagin - 10/31/2011 (David's notes in red) In the brief dream I had, there was a bundle, like the old-fashioned bundle of wheat that was being passed down from two others in line to me, only this bundle was a bundle of serpents. I could tell that they were very venomous serpents, like sea snakes, cobras, mambas, or coral snakes. They tried to bite my arm and, naturally, I did not like this. I did remember that we are immune to the bites of serpents if we are covered in the Blood of Jesus, so this is where I put my trust. I was no longer so concerned and set them aside. At the time I awoke, this was puzzling to me, but now, after some thought, I believe I understand it more fully. The snakes involved have neurotoxins, which attack the brain, that is, our thoughts. We are strictly warned to take captive our every thought (that is, against the knowledge of God's Word) and this now means much more to me than it ever has before. I am certainly no expert with such things or spiritual warfare, but I do know that demons associated with pornography, bitterness, criticism, faction, etc., are very powerful and deadly. I also know that demons can be transferred by men, and inadvertently opening doors, even with the best of intentions, can invite personal attack. I personally believe this was a warning to be very careful, but it may also be a general warning to others as well, and may be applied to all sorts of demonic or thought influence. If the enemy can truly read our thoughts and insert them, as has been shown in a previous UBM study, then this is particularly devious. It is difficult to reject such thoughts if you think they are your own.  Then, this morning, as a sort of confirmation, I saw the UBM update about the bug detector and casting such thoughts to hell immediately in the name of Jesus. I also noticed that when I was praying, in the Word, and seeking wisdom in such matters, my thoughts were clear, but when my guard was down, my own thoughts and emotions in the matter, no matter how well-intended, were somewhat intoxicating. So, forewarned is forearmed. God bless always in His service.  Be careful of slander and criticism for the purpose of making disciples. It comes only from demons, and those they can use, and it comes for only one reason -- to impart demons and poison minds against someone the devil hates. Demons impersonating aliens to turn the world to the mark of the beast to destroy Christianity. The Word for “heresies” or “parties” in Galatians 5:20 means “a self-willed opinion leading to division”. The word for factions among these works of the flesh means separating followers through selfish ambition. Demons impersonate righteous indignation but are actually criticism or new revelation. {Jas.3:14} But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. {15} This wisdom is not [a wisdom] that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. {16} For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed.   Bluffing Demons & Spiritual Authority  Sandy Shaw 11/09/2011 (David's notes in red) The way this dream starts is that I'm walking into this room, and I'm watching a group of men (some I know, some I don't know) who are turning around and leaving the room. I ask the ladies there, “Where are the men going?” (These men are the chosen.)  The women who are there tell me not to worry because they need to go -- they have to go. The Lord wants them to go. When this happens, I feel like all the women are in unity that the men needed to go. (The spiritual catching up to the throne anointing of those who will return as the Man-child reformer ministry.) I then grab Tina's hand and ask, “Don't you feel the winds of change?” She answers, “What?” Then I say, “The change. The winds of change. Don't you feel the winds of change?” (From this point on, everything will change both positively for those who love God and are called according to His purpose and negatively for the wicked; a separation of the wheat from the tares. Tina ended up going factious, the opposite of Sandy.)  Then I go from there to an ancient-looking town square or plaza. People are walking all around. There are archways all around the square leading into different hallways, buildings, or rooms. It looks and feels like it's an ancient city. (Archways were made famous by the ancient Romans, who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures. We are seeing a revival of the iron and clay of Daniel's end-time vision of the 10 toes of the world beast kingdom. There is no dispute that the iron is the seed of the Roman Empire.) As I'm walking slowly through this square, I'm praying. I'm praying continuously because I can feel the presence of evil so strongly there. (Great darkness is about to descend as the principality of the old Roman Empire prepares to take charge and make the covenant with many, as spoken of in Daniel 9:26,27.) As I'm looking at some of the people, they look human, but for a brief moment, I can see certain demons that are controlling them. (As we watch this progressive revelation, the people who belong to the body of the beast become less and less human and more and more demon, just as those who belong to the body of Christ become less and less human and more and more sons of God. Those from among the people of God who do not forsake their evil will go with the wicked. {Rev.22:11} He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness still: and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still: and he that is holy, let him be made holy still. In the days before the coming of the Lord, at the end of the tribulation, Jesus will come in and then with His saints. {2Th.1:7} and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, {8} rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: {9} who shall suffer punishment, [even] eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, {10} when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day.) As I'm praying, some man grabs my arm and pulls me into one of the hallways. As he is pulling me into the hallway, I hear someone in the square saying, “We gotta find her. We gotta find her. We have to stop her. Her prayers are reaching the throne of Heaven!” (These voices are the demons speaking through men). (Our prayers do reach the throne when sent by faith, and the demons' plans are thwarted. {Psa.10:17} Jehovah, thou hast heard the desire of the meek: Thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear. {Rom.10:13} for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. {Jer.33:3} Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not.) So the man pulls me into this room, and there are mostly men and a few women there. This room is full of uniforms of all different kinds. The people are trying to figure out which uniform to put on. Some of the uniforms are military. As they are excited about finding the right uniform to wear, they are trying them on. I know in the dream that these people are Christians. (The “Christians” will be worried about how to appear to the world in this dangerous time and what lifestyle to put on besides Christ's. A military uniform indicates a militant lifestyle in dealing with this beast system, which will be disastrous since “they who take the sword will die by the sword”. We must put on the uniform of the new man, who is in the image of Jesus and His actions, according to the knowledge of the Word. {Col.3:9} lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, {10} and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him.)  I tell them that they have it wrong and that the full armor that they need to put on is the full armor of God, not one of these physical uniforms made by man. The people just look at me, not receiving anything I'm saying (as apostate patriotic Christians). A man asks me to sit down and take a look at this uniform. Then this man puts on some kind of uniform with a jacket. The jacket and uniform cover his legs, feet, and everything. There is a hood to the jacket that covers his whole head with a face-covering mask. The material of the jacket is a material I've never felt before. They then pour chemicals over it, resulting in no damage. Then they turn a blowtorch on it, and the torch doesn't burn or damage it. (As a volunteer fireman for Exxon, they gave us shirts that had metal woven into them to reflect heat.  Our government is allying with alien impersonating demons like the galactic federation or alliance in hopes of profiting from their “higher technology.” But these hate Christians and will help to bring about the mark of the beast to be rid of them.) They are really excited about the uniform/jacket and are picking it to be the one they will use. (There is no safety outside of God's will. He sent the curse, and no man can defend from it. {Jer.17:5} Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from Jehovah. ... {7} Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah, and whose trust Jehovah is. {8} For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat cometh, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.) I tell them again, “No, you have it wrong; it's the full armor of God that you need to put on. There is nothing manmade that will help you. You only need the full armor of God”. I then get up and walk out of there into the long hallway. As I walk down the hallway, it is full of men lining up to put on the uniform they think is going to help them in the battle ahead. {Psa.33:16} There is no king saved by the multitude of a host: A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. {17} A horse is a vain thing for safety; Neither doth he deliver any by his great power. {18} Behold, the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear him, Upon them that hope in his lovingkindness; {19} To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. {20} Our soul hath waited for Jehovah: He is our help and our shield. ... {Psa.34:7} The angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, And delivereth them. {8} Oh taste and see that Jehovah is good: Blessed is the man that taketh refuge in him.) After leaving the “Christians” in their false confidence, I kept walking and went back to the square. The ground in the square has changed: it's all dirt now, and I could see through the dirt. I see under the dirt different piles of bones all over the place. No one knows that those bones are there, and no one sees them either. I'm not quite sure why I'm seeing them. (The hidden bones represent those who are martyred behind the scenes because they are not prepared for the battle by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, as in Romans 13:12-14. Notice that putting on Jesus IS putting on God's armor or protection. Notice that it is always called the “armor of God” because it is God Himself. {Eph.6:11} Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. {12} For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places]. {13} Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.  {14} Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, {15} and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; {16} withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil [one]. {17} And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: {18} with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Notice that putting on all of these attributes: truth, righteousness, the Gospel, and salvation are manifestations of the Word, Who is Jesus. Putting on Jesus is putting on God. It is the armor of GOD Himself.) I'm walking through the square again, and I'm praying because I need to get to the other side of the square. (Contrary to popular opinion, we will all have to pass through this time of the revived Roman beast with America at the head.) As I'm walking and praying, the people that I saw with demons controlling them, I now see as full-blown demons, but to the natural eye, they still looked human. (The worldly people will be totally possessed, though they appear to each other as normal, and we are seeing more of this happening now. The D.S. can only be picked out by their leftist demon doctrines.) There was one demon that would walk really fast. So fast that it seemed as if he was flying. This demon went right in front of my face, standing right in front of me but he could not see me. He was really angry and talking with authority, telling the other demons, “We have to find these people who are praying! NOW! NOW, I say! Find them! (Prayer by those who believe in its power will be both destructive to Satan's kingdom and defensive to those who walk in the Lord's Kingdom. {Jas.5:16} Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. {17} Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. {18} And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.)  I was standing right in front of him, praying, and the demon had no clue that I was there. (In other words, I was hidden in Christ.) So, I keep walking and when I get to the right-hand corner of the square, I look. I stop, turn around, and I'm looking! I'm watching these people. And the room is not really a room. The way that it feels is completely off, like when you walk into a room, and you can see the light, yet you can see shadows behind things. This was now completely reversed. There was light where shadows would normally be. There were bits and pieces of light. It was completely off, completely out of order. It just didn't feel or look right. (When the light is dark, and the dark is light, it is when good is called evil and evil is called good. This is where demon-possessed society is and has been going. {Isa.5:20} Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! We see this with demon-possessed people now.) After I walked through there, I saw what looked like some kind of old train depot-type thing. I know it's some kind of old transportation system. I'm in this room where there are two big fences with gates -- a cement-type fence. There is a gate, and people are going in and out of the gate. And then there is like a middle part where a lot of people are walking -- a lot of traffic. (To get where they want to go, Christians can't walk where the masses do in their bondage, spiritually speaking. {Mat.7:13} Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. {14} For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it. We must be conformed by the Word within.) On the other end is the same kind of gate that people are entering this place from somewhere else. When I go there, I'm waiting for Tina, Sam, and my mom. I feel like Tina and Sam went to get my mom wherever she was to bring her here. I knew that it hadn't been very long since I had seen Tina and Sam, but that I hadn't seen my mom in a while. Tina and Sam were getting ready to go through the gate that's on the other side to go to the middle. My mom stopped them and said, “No, we can't go that way. We have to go the other way”. (Sandy said that she felt that if they had gone into the middle, they would have died. This warning was not taken seriously by them and they spiritually died. They did not listen. This is where the people of God need to go from the worldly to the spiritual; there cannot be ‘a halfway', ‘a lukewarm'. This would mean spiritual death to them in this time and a spewing out of the body of Christ. {Rev.3:15} I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. {16} So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.) If you walked all the way around to the end, there was another part that was covered by the fence. They did not walk in the middle part. They had to walk all the way around to where I was. (The path of least resistance, or the shortcut, is the wrong way. The worldly church offers many of these. Just listen to them, and they will show you the quick and easy way to get saved and fly away, but the end is death.) They were almost down to that part, and there was another little gate to walk to the middle. My mom stopped and turned around and told Tina, “Grab Sam. He cannot walk in the middle. There is no middle; he can't walk in the middle”. (None of those who are lukewarm, middle-of-the-road walkers will spiritually survive.) As Sam goes toward the middle, Tina grabs him and they walk all the way around to where I was. I greet them and hug them. (This awakening was temporary.) Then I tell them, “Things are not what they seem to be”. My mom then says, “It's okay, it's okay, because everything that is happening is according to God's will. We just need to stay in constant prayer. {Pro.14:12} There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; But the end thereof are the ways of death. We just need to stay in constant prayer”. (In the days of strong delusion and deception, there's much advanced technology now using AI, CGI, and programming through drugs, mind control and manipulation, etc., we cannot walk according to our carnal mind or senses, or we will stumble. Prayer without ceasing is our command.) So, I'm walking ahead of them. Tina is walking on one side, my mom on the other side, both holding Sam's hand. Sam was not as old as he is now. He looked to be eight or nine years old. (We will have to help guide those Christians who are not yet mature in discernment. God will hear their prayers, too. Samuel is Hebrew for “God heard” or “God's name”. Shem is a variant of Sam, meaning “name”. Shem was the father of the people of the name, as Christians are now. Shem was the father of the Israelites.) Sam was trying not to act afraid when there was the presence of evil all around us. Even amongst all the evil, we knew we were under the protection of the Lord. There was no safe place other than the arms of God. I bent down to talk to Sam in his ear, saying, “It's okay to be afraid; you just fear the Lord. Don't fear anyone else or anything else. Nothing can harm you because they have to go through the Father first. Don't be afraid”. (Fear permits faith to be robbed and the enemies to take advantage of us. It is faith in reverse. {Psa.23:4} Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod [of correction] and thy staff [of direction], they comfort me. {5} Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup runneth over. (With this anointing of the Holy Spirit, we should give the good confession.) {6} Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for ever.) Then we started walking back to the square. The dirt has changed again. The dirt now seems like it's a mud-like consistency. But to the natural eye, it looks just like dirt. I still see the piles of bones now with the mud going between the fingers, toes, etc. But now I also see something like a circle; it's a tunnel and I can see it at weird angles and kind of far. The things that I'm seeing in these tunnels are body parts with the flesh. I'm seeing arms cut off, legs, face, head, all different kinds of body parts. They look to be freshly cut off from the body because I can still see the blood. The blood is still wet. I can see the nerves on some of these parts still shaking and moving. (The ‘powers that be' have made many underground tunnels connecting cities, where the military and special forces have found remains of countless people who were murdered by satanists. According to other dreams and prophecies I have seen, it is in these tunnels that the saints will be expected to renounce Jesus or die. It behooves us to walk carefully so we fill out both our days and our ministry.)  I'm getting ready to step, and I stop. I put my hand out to stop my mom, Tina, and Sam as I watch the details of the body parts freshly cut off. It was gross. I then asked them if they saw those parts. Tina and my mom saw it; Sam closed his eyes. He didn't want to see it. I then asked, “But it's not there?” My mom said, “Oh, but it is there under the dirt”. We stopped then and there, and we started praying. We were praying in tongues. While we were praying, I told Tina to take my mom and Sam to the outer part of the square, find a place, and begin praying and interceding. And that's what they did. (As with the Nazi persecutions in the death camps of World War 2, many will deny for the sake of soothing their own conscience that these persecutions are happening, but they will be out of sight and out of mind, “under the dirt”.) I was taking very small steps as the Lord was guiding me and telling me to. (Every step in these days will need to be according to the Father's will because of the dangers. {Eph.5:15} Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; {16} redeeming the time, because the days are evil.) And I was just praying and praying and praying. As I was starting to pray, I saw the people in the square now completely as demons. I no longer saw them as humans. (The righteous will be able to see in the spirit realm those who have been displaced by demons.) As I was walking, I felt as if they were trying to find me, and they were bumping into me, but didn't know they were hitting me. I kept praying more and more. I prayed out loud, and they could hear me but couldn't see me. (Invisibility in the spirit realm makes for peace from the flesh realm.)  That big demon I saw earlier that walked really fast was now there, and there were more demons of his stature and size. They were frantic, upset and mad. One of them said, “Now there are more praying. Do you hear them praying? We have to find them NOW! I'm telling you, their prayers are reaching the throne room of Heaven. Things are going to change. Find them NOW!” There was such an urgency to find us. I walked all the way to the end of the square and I turned around and asked, “Okay, Lord. What is it that You want me to do?” (Truly, “things are going to change.” Walking to the end of the square represents that the saints will go through this beast tribulation and bring the Gospel to the whole world. Watch volume one of Hidden Manna for the End Times.) I don't know where the Lord took the men whom I saw at the beginning of the dream or what had happened, but I just knew that they were coming back. The demons were still looking really hard for the people who were praying. Not just us, but they were looking to stop everyone everywhere from praying. The Lord told me to step a foot back in the square, and I did. When I stepped back in the square, I was speaking the Word out loud. Everything that the Lord was saying to me, I was speaking out loud. The demons could now see me and were in my face, trying to intimidate or scare me. I knew that they could not touch me. They were telling me to shut up, be quiet, that my prayers were dead, and I was doing no good. “Don't you know we can kill you? We can take you out! You are nothing!” Many of them kept saying those things to me over and over. (Demons are full of threats to discourage the prayers and works of God, but most Christians don't recognize them as coming from demons, but feel they are their own thoughts and are defeated. The knowledge of God's Word will enable them to defeat the deceivers. {2Co.10:3} For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh {4} (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), {5} casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.) I said to them, “I am nothing, but through Christ Jesus He is everything. He is my all and all. Everything that I need, God is. God is the source. God is the strength. God is the great I AM! One of the demons was so close to my face that I could smell his stench. So close that he was almost touching me. I told him, “You are nothing! You can't do anything other than what my God allows. You are nothing! (God is sovereign over all, but He will allow many things that we allow because He has delegated authority over all the power of the enemies. {Mat.18:18} Verily I say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. {19} Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. ... {Luk.10:19} Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. {20} Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. I heard a noise behind me, and I turned around and saw all the men who had gone out, and there were more with them coming, and with what looked like Christ in the middle. Everyone was dressed in white. When Christ and all those men came on the scene, some of those demons became smaller and smaller. The ones that were already small were trying to run, but they couldn't go anywhere, as you have seen in cartoons, only this was not a cartoon; they were liquefying before me into a puddle on the floor, and then they were gone. I was backing up as the men were going forward. I went with Tina, Sam, and my mom to this place where I saw a lot more people who were praying and interceding. Then I woke up. (Who are these men whom the demons fear? The Lord is in the Man-child ministry to raise up many in the image of the Lord. These are coming to wreak havoc on the spiritual hosts of wickedness. Hallelujah!)  After I woke up from the dream, I heard the Lord say, “Write this down: “You have all power and authority in the name of Jesus Christ. Understand and know the power of His blood. For you are adopted, therefore you are entitled to everything. Hear Me! Understand Me! Know Me! For then the enemy cannot deceive you for what's ahead.”   The Men Whom the Demons Fear Seven spiritual shepherds who are sent by the Man-child to minister to the seven Churches, which is mentioned in Hidden Manna for the End Times. First, Jesus is coming to be manifested in the Man-child ministry. (Mic.5:2) But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Obviously, this is Jesus. (3) Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth (the man-child body): then the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. Jesus left because of rebellion and will return in the Man-child who is born of the travailing woman in Revelation 12. As Jesus fed the former rain woman in a body of flesh, so He will feed the latter rain woman in a corporate body of flesh. (Mic.5:4) And He shall stand, and shall feed [His flock] in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God: and they shall abide; for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth. The Jesus of the former rain was revered by the disciples and feared by His enemies, but because of apostasy, this has not been true for many centuries since because they have had “another Jesus.” The Man-child body and those disciples who follow in His/their steps will restore this, and He shall be “great unto the ends of the earth”. The Man-child's teaching will bring peace to the seven churches that are at war with the beast and harlot. (5) And this [man] shall be [our] peace, When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight principal (Hebrew: “princes among”) men. The corporate body of the Man-child is “this man” who brings peace to the corporate woman with his teachings, which enable her to resist the beast invasion. He brings peace because the “Prince of peace” is in his heart. Spiritually speaking, we are the “land” with the “palaces” that the corporate beast is trying to invade. (1Co.3:9) For we are God's fellow-workers: ye are God's husbandry (Greek: “tilled land”), God's building (“palaces”). As we shall see, the beast is a corporate spirit from the abyss (Rev.17:8) that inhabits the body of the wicked (3) and seeks to inhabit the righteous and mark them. Notice that the “Assyrians” are called “him” which shows that they are seen as the corporate body of the beast. Since the Assyrian beast kingdom passed away over 600 years before Christ, they could not have been connected with Jesus or the Man-child. Therefore, God, as usual, was using the beast of that day to represent a particular aspect of the end time beast. As the Assyrian beast did not conquer Jerusalem, so the end time beast will not conquer those spiritually abiding in the New Jerusalem. (Mic.5:5) ...Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds and eight principal (Hebrew: “princes among”) men. The Man-child Jesus raised up twelve apostolic shepherds primarily to restore those of the “twelve-tribes of Israel” who would listen (Mat.10:5; Act.26:7; Jas.1:1; 1Pet.1:1). In exact parallel, the corporate Man-child will raise up “seven” corporate apostolic “shepherds” primarily to restore the “seven churches”. The Man-child's primary job is to feed the unleavened bread of the Word to disciples in order to manifest Christ in them. These will be the new leadership for the seven churches in the last 3 1/2 years. These “seven shepherds” are not sectarian religious leaders but one man in Christ and are inhabited by one “prince of peace”, Jesus, hence “eight princes among men”. In the next chapter of Micah, we will see that even after the Man-child Jesus' 3 ½-year ministry, He promised to be with the shepherds in spirit “unto the consummation of the age,” (Greek: Mat.28:20) hence “eight princes among men”. These princes are sons of the King and have authority over His realm of the seven churches. The seven churches of Revelation are a type of seven different types of Christians in the Church. (Isa.4:1) And seven women (the Church) shall take hold of one man in that day. The “one man” here is Jesus manifested in the Man-child. Then He will be manifested in the seven shepherds and then in the true Church. One of God's solutions to the apostasy in the Church is new leadership. (Isa.1:26) And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. The same type of counselors in the former rain will be given in the latter rain. Here is another confirmation of the Man-child giving His revelation to seven shepherds, who passed it on to the seven churches. When the Man-child Jesus sent His shepherds out, He called them “apostles”, meaning “one sent forth”. In other words, the shepherds were the Man-child's messengers to the churches. As a type of the Man-child, John on the Isle of Patmos was “a partaker with you in the tribulation” (Rev.1:9) when he was caught up to the throne of God and given a revelation of the coming tribulation to give to the seven churches. (4:1) After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, [a voice] as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter. (2) Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne. Like Jesus, he was given a revelation of the apostasy in the Church and told to send it to the seven churches by the hand of seven angels. (1:11) ...What thou seest, write in a book and send [it] to the seven churches.... (Rev.2:1,8,12,18; 3:1,7,14) To the angel of the church in Ephesus (and so with Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea) write.... “Angel” in these cases is the Greek word angelos meaning “messengers” and is also used of ministers in the New Testament (Example: Luk.4:24,27; 9:52). The equivalent Hebrew word in the Old Testament is translated “messenger” when speaking of priests (Mal.2:7), John the Baptist, and Jesus (Luk.3:1). Since it doesn't make sense that John sent the revelation by angels, he must have sent it by seven minister messengers to the seven churches. This is exactly what Jesus did as Man-child. He shared His revelation with minister messengers, who shared it with the seven churches.

The Praise O'Clock Show (also known as The Praiseworld Podcast) is the breakfast show of Praiseworld Radio.Host: Goodness EzehQuote of The Day "When the devil is shouting 'no way', get ready...the way is about to show up." ~ Jerry Savelle

In Russia, you can now rent a barbecue companion for $15 to $65 a day — jokes and anecdotes included, no lasting friendship expected. Brian From opens with that story as a window into something both funny and genuinely heartbreaking about the loneliness epidemic. Then a personal story: getting pulled over late at night with his son in the car, expired plates, and the surprisingly rich spiritual parallel — what happens when those lights come on behind you, and do you repent or make excuses? Former congressman Ben Sass is walking his terminal cancer diagnosis publicly and with remarkable faith, and Brian reflects on what it means to display your theology when the stakes are as high as they get. A pointed look at the lukewarm church of Laodicea in Revelation 3 — hot or cold, not somewhere in between — and what it means for a congregation to be spiritually comfortable, wealthy, and quietly dying. A meditation on what faith looks like when God feels silent, drawing on the stories of the bleeding woman and Jairus's daughter in Mark 5, and the startling private letters of Mother Teresa, who spent decades feeling God's complete absence while continuing to serve the poorest of the poor. The paradox of faith, Brian concludes, is that it often shines brightest not in clarity but in darkness — and what feels like absence will in time reveal itself as a deeper presence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Key Takeaways Generosity is ultimately a discipleship issue, not merely a giving issue.Healthy churches intentionally help people take their next spiritual step, including stewardship.Financial generosity is often an indicator of broader spiritual engagement.Churches should celebrate and intentionally disciple first-time givers into consistent generosity.Thanking and encouraging givers at each stage of their journey significantly increases long-term engagement.Churches that outperform others have a year-round stewardship strategy, not just an annual giving emphasis.Weekly giving moments are often more influential than occasional stewardship sermon series.Communication should be tailored to different generations and stages of the giving journey.Churches should cast a vision larger than the budget, inviting people to participate in God's mission.Stewardship ministry should focus on what God wants for people, not what the church wants from people.Effective stewardship combines biblical teaching with practical financial equipping.The senior pastor must actively champion stewardship for it to become part of the church's culture.ResourcesMortarstone Website - mortarstone.comGet the Annual Giving Report - Access HereLearn about the Christian Stewardship Network - https://www.christianstewardshipnetwork.com/Become a CSN member - https://membership.christianstewardshipnetwork.com/

Do you feel like you have hit a plateau in your life with Christ? Maybe your faith feels static, immature, or impersonal. What if Jesus wanted something more for you? Churches often teach that worship, prayer, Bible study, and service are how we grow, but how do we actually incorporate these disciplines into our lives? What makes these tools so powerful, and how can you actually use them, by God's grace, to reach maturity? Join us for a 6-week interactive series that will walk through what these tools are, why they are transformative, and how you can equip them to level up in your faith!

In the second half of our post-Synod conversation, Zack Flipse and Jason move from how Synod 2026 felt to what it means for the work ahead. There's encouragement, but there are also some concerns. The biggest thread here is a worry both share: the CRC has an exciting church planting vision, but plant churches poorly and you can do damage to the denomination. Reformation isn't just about doing more; it's about doing it in a way that fits our ecclesiology. That's why Zack keeps half-joking that we need a study committee on ecclesiology, and why he's unembarrassed to say it: "I want to be part of a denomination that's doing theology." From there the conversation ranges widely. They name the three streams of the CRC—confessionalist, pietist, transformationalist—and make the case that the church is stronger for holding all three. They look ahead to the Christian nationalism study report, arguing the Dutch Reformed tradition is uniquely equipped to speak here, with Kuyper and Bavinck in our own lineage—so long as we actually do the theology rather than just point back to it. And they return to Jason's hobby horse since day one: a denomination is healthy when local churches are engaged, not when they outsource their convictions to Grand Rapids. Zack shares the kids' Heidelberg Catechism project he makes with his daughters—question one, "What gives you comfort? That I belong to Jesus"—because instead of complaining that the resource didn't exist, he decided to build it. Then Jason gives him the final word, and Zack delivers the line that names the whole vision: "Figure out what you can do to plant a church so that more people worship Jesus tomorrow than worship Him today. Let's plant some churches." Timestamps: 0:00 — Recap: naming gifts and raising up leaders 2:15 — Satellite options and the uneasiness around multi-site churches 4:01 — The ecclesiology study committee that didn't pass 5:07 — "I want to be part of a denomination that's doing theology" 6:39 — Planting churches well: the danger of doing it poorly 7:55 — Discouragements: pressure to skip process 9:22 — "We found out in 2022": differences in how we read Scripture 10:35 — The three minds: confessionalist, pietist, transformationalist 12:04 — The Christian nationalism study report and our tradition 12:39 — Why the Dutch Reformed are uniquely equipped: Kuyper and Bavinck 21:30 — A healthy denomination means local churches engaged 23:03 — An overture on categories for church membership 23:38 — Unified worship vs. faithful contextualization 26:51 — Zack's kids' Heidelberg Catechism on YouTube 30:48 — The Little Heidelberg Catechism and resourcing parents 31:44 — Final word: let's plant some churches Join and support us on Substack: https://themessyreformation.com/ Intro music by Matt Krotzer

Host Steve Cus welcomes Lee C. Camp—professor, podcaster, and author—for a rich conversation about anxiety, systems theory, and human flourishing. Lee shares his personal journey with anxiety and depression, and how discovering differentiation through therapy transformed his relationships and emotional health. They explore legalism within the Churches of Christ tradition and its lasting emotional impact. The discussion also touches on societal reactivity, the purpose behind Lee's podcast No Small Endeavor, and the importance of creating hospitable spaces for honest dialogue. Lee closes with reflections on gliding, music, and simple morning rituals as grounding practices. Episode Resources: Malcolm Gladwell's The Alabama Murders: Part 1: The True Church Steve Cuss' Managing Leadership Anxiety David Schnarch's Passionate Marriage David McCullough's The Wright Brothers Books by Parker J. Palmer Books by Thomas Merton Murray Bowen's family systems theory More about Differentiation of self Scripture Referenced: Mark 12:30–31 (ESV) More From Lee C. Camp: Lee C. Camp's Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians Books by Lee C. Camp Listen to No Small Endeavor and The Subtext Sign up for Lee C. Camp's newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Howard presents a recorded talk from the 2026 pre-conference summarizing research on disciple-making churches and the seven core practices they share. Those seven practices are convictional leadership; obedience-based, reproducible models; prayer and Scripture as the foundation; relational community; clear pathways and expectations; mission beyond the walls; and leadership alignment. The episode explains how these principles work across different models, offers practical examples, and invites churches to apply the practices to grow a disciple-making culture. Stay informed - Get our newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/hPViAr Get Discipleship.org's premium Podcast Feed: https://disciplemakerspodcast.supercast.com/  Check out the following eBooks from Discipleship.org: -- What Is Church? And How Important Is It?  https://discipleship.org/shop/what-is-church-and-how-important-is-it/ -- Family Discipleship Blueprint: A Year-by-Year Guide to Family Discipleship https://discipleship.org/shop/family-discipleship-blueprint-a-year-by-year-guide-to-family-discipleship/ -- Becoming a Disciple Maker https://discipleship.org/shop/becoming-a-disciple-maker/ -- National Study: The State of Disciple Making Churches: A 10 Minute Visual Guide https://discipleship.org/shop/national-study-the-state-of-disciple-making-churches-a-10-minute-visual-guide/ -- Reaching & Discipling Women: A Guide to Women's Ministry in Your Church https://discipleship.org/shop/reaching-discipling-women-a-guide-to-womens-ministry-in-your-church/ Check out the following Books from Discipleship.org: -- Recreated to Be like God: Making Disciples in the Image of Jesus https://a.co/d/6DDvUrC -- King Jesus and the Beauty of Obedience-Based Discipleship https://a.co/d/7d85z6T -- The Disciple Maker's Handbook: Seven Elements of a Discipleship Lifestyle https://a.co/d/4ZHIbQz Take the FREE Disciple Maker Assessment: https://church-multiplication.com/disciplemaker/ Come to the The National Disciple Making Forum: https://discipleship.org/national-disciple-making-forum/ Listen - Disciple Maker's Podcast:  https://discipleship.org/resources/podcast/

Pastor Drew Zylstra preaches from Revelation 2:8-17, “Faithful Under Fire.” —————————— More from Oostburg CRC Sermons: https://www.firstcrcoostburg.org/sermons Bible Study Resources: https://www.firstcrcoostburg.org/resources Original Music: https://open.spotify.com/album/4P7JbJlHzabPNW8GpdxKcB YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJSouYxM1rwWZ4cYAvTIqVA

Brandon Steele | 07.12.26 | ethoschurch.org

What does Headship and Authority actually look like? Many modern marriages struggle because men and women have rejected God's blueprint for Marriage where the Husband is the Head of His wife as Christ is the Head of the Church. But what does that mean? Headship today is culturally taboo and automatically assumed to be tyranny or abuse. But Biblical Headship is a husband's sacrificial, dying to self, Christ-like leadership for the good blessing, and flourishing of his wife. This sermon aims to clarify the distinct roles of marriage and explain how Headship is part of the creation order for marriage and not a result of the Fall. Learn the difference between biblical patriarchy, complementarianism, egalitarianism, and functional feminism that plagues Churches and marriages today as well as how to avoid the ditches of abuse and abdication, and embrace servant leadership modeled after Jesus leading with humble strength “till death do us part.”Whether you're a husband seeking a clear vision for godly leadership, a wife wanting to understand joyful biblical submission, or anyone wrestling with gender roles in a confused culture, God's Word can help you build your own Happily Ever After.

A plant can survive on a little sun and a little water. It just won't grow. Churches work the same way, and most of us have made peace with survival: keep the traditions, keep the programs, keep the lights on. But the church in Acts 3 and 4 grew while its leaders sat in jail. Something was holding it up that wasn't buildings or budgets. In this message Will asks what your life is actually built on, and whether anyone watching would say you've been with Jesus.

Speaker: Jeremy Kreuze

Welcome to Episode 396 of the Worship Probs Podcast - We're glad you're here! In this episode, Brian shares his awesome conversation with Robbie Seay from The Worship Initiative. This conversation is sure to be so helpful for your teams. Plus, he shares some hilarious Prayer Concerns and valuable resources for your ministry. Plus, check out Sing for Churches from The Worship Initiative - https://worship.ltd/Kizh22 Check it out - and like, comment, subscribe, and share with a friend!

Learn more and stay connected with - Worship Probs (instagram.com/worshipprobs) // Brian Tabor (instagram.com/briantabor) // Robbie Seay (instagram.com/robbieseay) // The Worship Initiative (instagram.com/theworshipinitiative) Special thank you to Ally at Ally B Creative for editing the podcast [Follow @allybachanos and visit linktr.ee/allybachanos], and our great friend Scott Hoke for the voiceover intro [Visit www.scotthokevoice.com].

Local municipalities complain about the gas tax breaks during the Iran War. Today’s Popcorn Moment: Mears defends his lack of action against Joe Hogsett. Today on the Marketplace: Bill Cosby Coming at You. Churches firebombed in New YorkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MSM regarding Platner "We all got duped". Trump wasn't kidding. Iran is trying to kill him. Mamdani officials tried to meet with Iran at the U.N. Jeb Bush raises alarm over Iranian drones in Cuba. Mayor Mamdani's map of NYC immigrant neighborhoods. Americans are losing confidence in two main pillars of society: capitalism and democracy Local municipalities complain about the gas tax breaks during the Iran War. Today’s Popcorn Moment: Mears defends his lack of action against Joe Hogsett. Today on the Marketplace: Bill Cosby Coming at You. Churches firebombed in New Yor Iran has not closed the Strait of Hormuz... there's a question of whether or not they can actually close the Strait.Microsoft laying off thousands of American employees, and hiring H1B workers. Sue Finkam joins to talk about the recent mayor's summit and how to contain crime coming from Indianapolis. Tony comes out against Flock cameras despite Mayor Sue Finkam's support. TV Theme Song: Film Friday - Beavis & Butthead Do AmericaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should a wife leave her church to follow an unbelieving husband? Can a pastor make his ministry conditional on hitting a growth target? And was Jesus actually an illegal immigrant? Pastor Mike Fabarez takes on another round of live listener questions in this week’s edition of Ask Pastor Mike Live!

Suspect arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails at two churches has been linked to 7 other arsons..... A 15-year-old boy raped - possibly by a woman....Some special deals for National Fry Day full 397 Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:43:53 +0000 uyIbI9IHUdQDS4Wu0L5rzUl4cSqwDWMl news 1010 WINS ALL LOCAL news Suspect arrested for throwing Molotov cocktails at two churches has been linked to 7 other arsons..... A 15-year-old boy raped - possibly by a woman....Some special deals for National Fry Day The podcast is hyper-focused on local news, issues and events in the New York City area. This podcast's purpose is to give New Yorkers New York news about their neighborhoods and shine a light on the issues happening in their backyard. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Religious Persecution and the Rise of Underground Christianity in China. Gordon Chang and Piero Tozzi. Pastor Ezra Jin's release highlights the CCP's continued persecution of underground churches that refuse to answer to the state. Despite intense Sinicization and arrests of figures like Jimmy Lai, Christianity is flourishing in China as a witness for human dignity. Totalitarian control efforts have created an enemy in an underground congregation potentially numbering over 100 million. (3)1903 PERSIA

Show Notes:: What would Jesus say about your church... or your heart? Could today's churches be repeating the same mistakes? More importantly, what would Jesus say if He wrote a letter to us? The seven churches in Revelation weren't written to just for believers living in the first century. They were written to reveal the spiritual condition of Christ's Church—and they still speak powerfully to us today. In this week's episode of Real Talk Christian Podcast, Chris Fuller walks verse-by-verse through Revelation 2–3, exploring the historical background of each church and the timeless message Jesus gave to them. From the church that lost its first love, to the church that remained faithful through suffering, to the lukewarm church that had become spiritually complacent, each letter serves as both a warning and an invitation. Grab your Bible and join us as we discover how these ancient letters continue to challenge, encourage, and call believers to repentance, faithfulness, and wholehearted devotion to Christ.   //Resources Used In This Episode// Revelation 2-3 https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/to-the-church-in-ephesus https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/to-the-church-at-smyrna https://www.diggingfortruth.org/digging-deeper/church-at-pergamos https://www.gotquestions.org/doctrine-of-Balaam.html https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/to-the-church-in-thyatira-i https://www.diggingfortruth.org/digging-deeper/church-of-sardis https://www.inspiringfaith.us/philadelphia-turkey-the-faithful-church https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/carson-center/historical-context-lessons-laodicea-principles-biblical-interpretation/   //Other Episode You Might Enjoy// https://realtalkchristianpodcast.com/episodes/295-revelation-think-again/ https://realtalkchristianpodcast.com/episodes/146-are-you-prepared/ https://realtalkchristianpodcast.com/episodes/076-the-rapture-of-the-church/ https://realtalkchristianpodcast.com/episodes/226-how-do-you-find-joy-in-difficult-times/ https://realtalkchristianpodcast.com/episodes/168-am-i-spiritually-ready-a-look-at-matthew-251-13/   // Helpful Links // https://www.youtube.com/@realtalkchristianpodcast The Christian Standard Bible: https://csbible.com Lifeway Christian Resources: www.lifeway.com Got Questions?: www.gotquestions.org Dwell Bible App: https://dwellapp.io Cross Formed Kids from Ryan Coatney: https://www.crossformedkids.com RTC Quick Links: https://linktr.ee/realtalkchristianpodcast RTC Online: www.realtalkchristianpodcast.com Twin Valley Coffee:  https://www.coffeehelpingmissions.com Revive festival : Music Festival | En Gedi Music Fest | Leonidas, MI (myrevivefest.com) Let Them Live: https://letthemlive.org Shut Side Baptist Church - https://www.southsidesbc.org/

Thom examines the common attendance ceiling of around 70 and the leadership, structure, and mindset issues that keep churches from breaking through. The post Why Some Churches Plateau at 70 (and Stay There) appeared first on Church Answers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Thom and Sam tackle a growing challenge for churches across the country: finding qualified staff. What once seemed routine—posting a position and waiting for candidates—has become far more difficult. This conversation explores why the staffing pipeline has narrowed, how outdated assumptions are exacerbating the problem, and why churches that rethink staffing models and develop leaders internally will be better positioned for the future. The post Why Churches Are Struggling More and More to Find Staff appeared first on Church Answers.