Podcasts about come thou fount

Sermon: Faith in God's Faithfulness - Genesis 12:10-20 Abram's journey to Egypt in the midst of famine, teaches us valuable lessons about God's faithfulness in keeping HIs promises. Worship & Praise: This is Amazing Grace, King of Love, Goodness of God, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Sermon: Faith in God's Faithfulness - Genesis 12:10-20 Abram's journey to Egypt in the midst of famine, teaches us valuable lessons about God's faithfulness in keeping HIs promises. Worship & Praise: This is Amazing Grace, King of Love, Goodness of God, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Sermon: Faith in God's Faithfulness - Genesis 12:10-20 Abram's journey to Egypt in the midst of famine, teaches us valuable lessons about God's faithfulness in keeping HIs promises. Worship & Praise: This is Amazing Grace, King of Love, Goodness of God, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Sermon: Faith in God's Faithfulness - Genesis 12:10-20 Abram's journey to Egypt in the midst of famine, teaches us valuable lessons about God's faithfulness in keeping HIs promises. Worship & Praise: This is Amazing Grace, King of Love, Goodness of God, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Hymn Tune is "Nettleton"

Hymn Arrangements, Meditation, Prayer, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Hymn Tune is "Nettleton"

Hymn Arrangements, Meditation, Prayer, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Hymn Tune is "Nettleton"

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Hymn Tune is "Nettleton"

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing GUMC Chancel Choir May 11, 2025 Worship Service Groveport UMC, Groveport Ohio To support the ministry of the church, please click here: https://groveportumc.org/give/

Preached 3/23/25

  Welcome to Hope for the Caregiver here on American Family Radio. This is Peter Rosenberger and I will be your host today through all things caregiver related. I've been a caregiver so long that the hospital Wi-Fi connects automatically. You know you've been a caregiver a long time when you call 911 and they say, Hey Peter, that's my life. I've been a caregiver so long my idea of vacation is waiting in the car during surgery. And even Siri whispers to me, bless your heart. We are still in Denver, in the hospital. And Gracie now has to go back into surgery on Monday or Tuesday. This left leg just does not want to heal up. This will be her 93rd and her 6th during this particular 10-week stretch we pulled. So yeah, I know a little bit about the journey. And I've learned a few things. I'm going to give you some practical things right now. Okay? Just some practical. We're going to get into some heavy stuff later on in the program. But I've got some practical things. One of them is when you're in an elevator. A couple of points in an elevator. For elevator etiquette. And it's not what you think. But it's... I always let ladies exit and enter the elevator before me. I hold the door and make sure they go in properly. I told one guy, there was a bunch of them, and this guy tried to go in. I said, no, you wait for me. I was raised in the South. I'll help the ladies, but I'm not going to help you. You're a grown man. I actually told him that on the elevator. I mean, I've spent a lot of time in the hospital. So these are things I observed. But a lot of people will line up in front of the elevator on the bottom floor. Now, why is that problematic? Why? Well, I'll tell you why. Because there are people going to be getting off that elevator, and they can't get off if there's some yahoo standing right in front of them. And I'm like, has it not occurred to you maybe to wait over to the side? Another thing is, don't be on speakerphone and having a conversation while on the elevator. I understand being on the phone. I'm often on Bluetooth, giving updates and so forth. But when I get on the elevator, I will tell whoever I'm talking to, I'm getting ready to get on the elevator. You keep talking, I'll listen. I got a buddy of mine I was talking to back in Montana. And I said, all right, I'm getting on the elevator. You talk, I'll listen. So he started asking me questions. And I'm like, you didn't understand the point. The point is, I'm getting on the elevator. I'm not going to talk. You talk, I'll listen. Well, what do you want me to talk about? Oh, for heaven's sakes. And so I just kind of, you know, but that's another thing. People get on the elevator and they got speakerphone going. And I'm like, I jump into the conversation sometimes, you know, figured it's there. It's a public conversation now. And then here's something else. And I'm not faulting you for this, but be aware that Be aware of a few things when you're walking into a hospital, into a corridor. Number one is if you're going around corners, drive in the right lane. Okay? Drive in the right lane. We're not in Great Britain. We're in America. Drive in the right lane. So hug the wall on your right side. So when you go around a corner, you're not doing like in NASCAR when you're getting way down low there. You got to go up a little high and come around because there's somebody else coming around that corner and they're driving in their right lane. I have been involved in many near collisions because people were hugging the left corner. Now, that may sound stupid to you, but you spend 10 weeks in a hospital, and then you come back and tell me what you think, okay? And this ain't my first 10 weeks in the hospital with Gracie. So these are things I observed that people are, this is a very big hospital, a lot of people, and everybody's busy, and I understand that. Here's another little tidbit. Situational awareness is everything. Be aware of how you are in space and in time as you're moving in and out of this labyrinth of of a place there where a lot of people are. People are very busy. This is, again, a teaching hospital. So it's very busy. It's always going 24-7. And you have to be aware of where you are in space and in time. Not just, you know... ambling along. I was on the elevator with two women, and they were older women, but not that old. Well, now that I think about it, they're probably younger than me, which, now that's just kind of sad, isn't it? They looked older, but I realized they're probably younger than me. Okay, well, all right, let me just go and cry over that one in the pantry. But Regardless, they were on the elevator and one of them had a walker and they were very nicely dressed. They were very pleasant ladies. And I held the door and they started walking. Well, I was in a bit of a hurry. And these two women, one of them was rather large. I mean, she wasn't gargantuan, but she's a big woman. And the other one was a bit hefty as well. And she had a walker, but a little, not a walker, but one of those things with wheels on it. You know what I'm talking about. And she would sit down and into the elevator and then get up and start moving. That's fine. I live with somebody with mobility impairments. I understand it. But I am always aware of Gracie and me in time and space. Always. When I'm walking anywhere with her, I'm aware of who's behind me, who's in front of me, who's to my left. I'm always aware of things like that. That's just the way I kind of Some of it's my martial arts training, check your six, always look around, head on a swivel. I get that. Some of it's just common courtesy and some of it is just, I just don't want somebody to run into me or me run into someone else. And these two women were ambling along for a little afternoon stroll. But they took up the entire corridor. You couldn't get around them. It was just not a space where I could. And they walked wide, and they were wide. And it wasn't just because of the one with the mobility device. It was just because they were big and clueless. And they went along at their stroll, and I had to go with their pace behind them. And I was in a bit of a hurry. I was like... You know, do you have to take up the entire hallway? You know, because there's always little carts or something on the side of the thing, and you can't easily pass in certain places. And, you know, crash carts and things such as that scattered around the corridor there. So it was like... And you say, you know, Peter, you're being petty. Well, yes, I am. But I've been here for 10 weeks, and I've just, you know... Move it, people. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you for that. That's what it feels like. I'm telling you, that's what it feels like. Move it, people. There's nothing like being in a hospital for a lengthy period of time to... force you into a different kind of, I don't know. But I never cease to be amazed on how people amble and stroll and mosey in a place where there's a high traffic area. And it's a bit jarring because I'm moving quickly. And I'm not just sitting there with Gracie all day long doing nothing. I mean, oh, I think I'll stretch my legs and go down to the cafeteria. I'm working. I have to work all the time. I mean, I don't have to work all the time, but I have to work I can't put my life on hold for 10 weeks. And I've written, by the way, I've written quite a bit here, 40,000 plus words since I've been here. Five published articles and I finished a new book that's going to be out next year. Got one coming out this summer and we'll talk about that. And then I've got a new book that'll be out next year that I think you're going to really like. But I've been working and then I've gotten shipments over to Africa and so forth. I mean, I work. And then I'm looking after her. I'm back and forth to the hospital frequently. I come to do this radio program. I do a live show on Wednesdays. And that's one of the reasons I went in a hurry that day because I had to get back over to the hotel across the street where I do a live show on Wednesday afternoons. And so I was, you know, wanting these women to move a little faster or at least move over, you know, just same thing as being on a highway. You don't go on the interstate at 30 miles an hour. And they just, you know, were clueless. I mean, truly clueless. And I see this a lot in the hospital. If you have to go into the hospital for an extended period of time, be aware that you're going to see high traffic areas and stay to the right. And don't stand right in front of an elevator blocking it so people on the elevator can't get off. You're not getting on unless they get off. And so give them space to maneuver. My father used to always say that. He said, keep moving forward, but give space to maneuver. That was one of his trademark lines. And he was such a student of observing people and their behaviors that he would probably chuckle at this. I don't know if you are, but I'm sorry. I just had to take this moment to vent out because I'm tired of running into people by the elevators and through the hallways of this hospital. Listen, we got more to go. This is Peter Rosenberger, Hope for the Caregiver, hopeforthecaregiver.com. We'll be right back. Thank you. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. I am Peter Rosenberger, PeterRosenberger.com. PeterRosenberger.com. If you want to explore more of what I put out there for you as a family caregiver, I hope you'll take advantage of it. Right up at the top of the page, you say, check out Peter's Substack page. Well, what does that mean? Well, Substack is an online newsletter. And there are lots of different things that I put out there. You can put video and audio and print and so forth, and that's what I do. And On this page, my latest post is, what do you think? It's called What Do You Think? And it's from my book, A Minute for Caregivers, When Every Day Feels Like Monday. And I post these out every Monday. So if you go out today and subscribe to this, you'll get a missive on Monday to tell you about a new one. But right now, you can go out and read this today, look at it, and there's some other things out there. Some of it's behind a paywall, and you have to subscribe for that if that's your choice you want to do. But this I put out every Monday for free. And this is one I think that would connect deeply with you as a caregiver. I'll give you a bit of a preview of this, okay? And the concept behind it. That's the special bonus that you're going to get today on this program. Like I said, I've been here for a long time. I've devolved into elevator etiquette for a conversation topic. I mean, you get a little bit loopy here when you have these kinds of lengthy hospital stays. But I have often and embarrassingly inserted my opinion during Gracie's long medical journey. I know you're saying to yourself, no, Peter, that couldn't happen. You wouldn't give your opinion. You would be quiet and demure and genteel, and you would be a wallflower. I know you might think that. That may be your first inclination to go there, but... Let me dispel you of that and tell you that I have done this and I don't recall being frequently asked for my opinion, particularly by surgeons. Yet, as the team was observing Gracie's response during the recovery process of one of her surgeries, the lead surgeon looked at me and said, what do you think? All right, now think through that for just a moment. This guy is a serious surgeon, not a lightweight. You don't serve in this particular hospital, this teaching hospital. You don't serve in this capacity as a teacher, as the attending, unless you've got some real game to you. Let me just add, I don't let you work on my wife unless you have some real game to you. Okay? We're pretty hard on docs and surgeons. I had a resident tell me that, you know, I've never seen this before. They were looking at some stuff with Gracie and said, we've never seen this before. I looked at this surgeon and I said, you know, the first time I heard that from a surgeon, Ronald Reagan was president. And they couldn't believe it. I mean, they were stung it. They really don't know how to wrap their mind around that. So anyway, this surgeon looked at me, and he's not a lightweight surgeon. What do you think? Well, you know, four decades of living with Gracie, I understand nuances about her that no medical professional could ever hope to know. They don't have the kind of time to be brought up to speed on Gracie. I have a PhD in Gracie. And it came from the School of Hard Knocks. Most of them, she's knocked on my head. And I hear an amen from Gleason, Tennessee, where Betsy has just said amen. She listens to this program and she's saying amen. I've known Betsy and her husband Tommy for a very, very long time. They've known me since I was 14 or 15 years old. But anyway, the School of Hard Knocks, that's it. A lengthy list of unpleasant events, and I'm saying that with a great deal of diplomacy, has taught me and continues to teach me the value of keeping my opinion to myself and only sharing what I've witnessed and experienced to the best of my abilities. Now, sometimes it gets the best of me, I admit. But I try to stay with my experience. and what I've observed. So when the surgeon graciously sought my thoughts, I stayed on message. I shared what I've observed of my wife and her challenges and avoided speculating. Here's what I've observed. One of the things I've observed that post-operatively, when something can go wrong with a patient, it usually will go wrong with Gracie. That's what I've observed. And I went on to share with him some other things i've observed about her lengthy history nodding with understanding he ordered a few additional tests evidently in part based upon my response and he continued looking for solutions now as a caregiver i'm learning to stay in my lane i really am i don't Don't jump to conclusions that I'm not, even though I went on the whole elevator diatribe at the last block. I'm learning to stay in my lane while speaking with calm authority about what I know. recognizing that my experience is far worthier than my opinion. And I put a quote on there from Kurt Cobain. You may not know who he is. He's a particularly sad, tragic figure who was the lead singer, guitarist, songwriter for Nirvana, a very troubled young man who took his life when he was 27. He had been just a very sad, troubled man, but he was a very deep thinker. And he wrote something once that said, we have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers. And again, he was an extremely troubled young man. who sadly took his life. Many attempts tried to take his life before, dealt with drugs and so forth. But in the middle of his distress, he had such profound things that he said, the way he approached things. And I love that quote, we have no right to express an opinion until we know all the answers. And I think of my own life and how many times I have shot my mouth off with an opinion and I didn't even know what I was talking about. And I go back to what I said with this doctor. In my experience, this is what I've seen. This is what I've witnessed. This is what I've observed. And I thought that may be helpful to some of you as caregivers when dealing with your physicians and the medical providers treating your loved one or in general with anyone. Here's what I've witnessed. Here's what I've seen. Because your experience is unimpeachable. It's yours. You've experienced this. Your eyewitness is unimpeachable. This is what you saw. This is what you have encountered. And if you stay in that place, you're not going to get off into the weirdness of opinion. And I also think about that with our Christian faith. How many of us give our opinion versus, here's my experience. That's why I love going back to some of these hymns who have said it so beautifully, O God, our help in ages past. our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast and our eternal home. Well, that's saying, look, here's our experience. This is what we've seen, what he's done. You know, look at 1 Samuel 7, 12. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mitzvah and Shem and called its name Ebenezer. For he said, thus far the Lord has helped us. And the word Ebenezer means stone of help. Do you know the only hymn that uses the word Ebenezer? It's from Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It's such a great hymn. Sadly, the writer of that hymn, struggled with his faith. Even though he had that great line, bind my wandering heart to thee, prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. And he struggled, I think, all of his life, or certainly later on in his life, and struggled with his faith. But at that time, he wrote that. Again, sometimes some of the best things can come from people who are struggling mightily with stuff. like Kurt Cobain or like the author of this hymn. His name was Robert Robertson. He wrote that hymn back in 1758. He was just a kid. He was just 22. Kurt Cobain was 27 when he killed himself. And I don't know if Robert Robertson ever... was able to resolve some of those issues in his life that he struggled with as he grew older, and he supposedly left the faith. I don't know. I have no idea. Somebody who knows more about him can maybe let me know. But he wrote this hymn, and it was a powerful hymn, and it's been sung all over the world. Here I raise my Ebenezer. Hither by thy help I've come. So far, thus far, the Lord has. This is my experience. You know, look at Revelation. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their opinion. No, that's not what it says. It says they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, their experience. When I listen to preachers, one of the things I listen for is their experience. I'm not interested in really your opinion. Show me what the text says. Show me how you've seen this in your life or in others, what you've observed. And anchor me in this text. I'm not interested in your opinion that much. What I am interested in is understanding Scripture on an experiential level, to see these things fleshed out. And so when I talked to that surgeon, I said, look, in my experience, this is what I've watched with Gracie. I've seen this. I am testifying to this. And that was enough for this surgeon to use that in a protocol because it's firsthand experiential. That's the thing about our faith. We're not asked to take a leap of faith into the dark. We're invited by Scripture, asked, commanded by, to anchor our faith in the light. And this is the experience. I look at John, the Apostle John, when he's talking about Jesus being crucified. He said, I've witnessed this. Look at John 1935. He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true. And he knows that he is telling the truth that you may also believe. It's almost like John, and I don't know, if you're a theologian or scholar, you could tell me, but it's almost like he is saying this as an affidavit in court. Like, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? And he's saying, if you go back and look at the message, sometimes it helps me to understand it if you go back and look at different translations and paraphrases. In the message, it says, "...the eyewitness to these things has presented an accurate report. He saw it himself and is telling the truth so that you also will believe." I gave a firsthand account of credible witness to my wife's medical journey. The surgeon acted on that and made some changes in this. The Apostle John, the prophet Samuel, gave credible witness to what God has done. John gave witness to that. This is what happened to Jesus on the cross so that we will also believe. That's not stepping into the dark. That's acting on the light. And that is hope for the caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger, PeterRosenberger.com. We'll be right back. Peter Rosenberger. He's not a preacher, but he's got great hair. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. I am Peter Rosenberg. Glad to be with you today. And you know what? You may have just turned this show on midstream. You might be right here in the middle of the show. And you've been up all night having a conversation with the ceiling fan. And you wake up and you hear a program that's for family caregivers of all things. And you think, where has such a program been? Well, it's been right here. But I'm glad you're here with us now. And I've been doing this for 14 years. I've been on American Family Radio now for seven years. And I understand how difficult this journey is. I really do. And I understand what brings me comfort. And I ask you, think about that for just a moment. Most of you know my story. And if you're brand new to the audience and you're just coming in halfway through the show, that's okay. Four decades later. And on Monday or Tuesday, my wife will have her 93rd surgery. Car wreck back in 1983. Now think through the lengthy amount of time this is. How many hospitalizations? We've been here for this particular stretch for 10 weeks. Doesn't show, I don't know when we're going home. But we can't go home until this is done. And I understand how difficult this journey is. So what brings me comfort? What brings Gracie comfort in this? Is it anesthesia? Is it painkillers? Well, it helps ease her pain. But is that what brings her comfort? Is that what brings me comfort? What brings me comfort? I mean, think about it. I mean, I'm working out of a hotel room across the street in not the best part of town in Aurora, Colorado. I'd like to be at home. I could have been out on the snowmobile. and enjoying a beautiful Montana winter. Instead, I'm over here in a hotel, and sometimes I know the other night I had ramen noodle soup. I was tired. I didn't feel like going anywhere, so I just had ramen soup. I remember I was staying at a hotel down the road here. There's several hotels across the street, but now I've camped out at this one. I've been here now multiple times. We've been out here, and this is where I'm going to be permanently, but I don't think we're going to have to come back for another stretch. But I was staying at one down the road, and they got it messed up. This was some years ago. And they got it messed up in our room. But I was in the middle of Gracie's surgery, and I didn't do anything about it until about a week or two after she'd kind of stabilized. And I was checking out one. I mean, I was at the counter, and they had a little, you know how hotels do, they have a little place where you can buy overpriced items. And they had some soup. And I just, you know, it goes back to my college days, some ramen soup. And I had there on the counter my dinner that night because I was tired and I didn't feel like going anywhere. And I paid overpriced ramen soup, you know, and you know how much that stuff costs. But I mentioned the night manager. I said, look, I'm just now getting back with you. But when we got here, they were supposed to have this kind of room for my wife. They didn't have it. They really kind of messed it up and it was very difficult. And I just want to bring that to your attention. And she saw my soup on the counter there and she said, oh, I'm so sorry. Here, take that on us. It's the least we could do. And I used a great deal of restraint. You have no idea the torque involved in this. And I almost said, but I didn't say, it's ramen soup. There ain't no leaster. Of course, it's the least you could do. But she was very sincere, and I let it slide. Eventually, I talked to the daytime manager, and they worked out the problem and got it all squared away. So, you know, this is the way I'm living here. And Gracie's not certainly enjoying where she is. I mean, she's had now, this will be her sixth surgery in this 10-week stretch here. This leg just doesn't want to heal. And they have to go in there and redo something even different now. And so here we are. But we can't leave. This is for all the marbles. If we get this right, she has a better quality of life. If we get it wrong, she's in pretty dire circumstances for the rest of her life on earth. And so I get the journey. What brings me comfort? What has settled my heart down? What has given me the ability to focus and be clear-headed during this? And that is thinking on the things of God. Not abstractly. I'm talking about up close and personal, really contemplating these things. I've been studying. I've been going through the book of John while I'm here. And I am resolved to these things because I know that there's a greater work going on. And that I go back to what I've been saying over the last couple of weeks here with the Heidelberg Catechism. What is my only comfort in life and in death? And that is I belong to Christ. And in this world, he will see fit to allow us to go through very painful things, sometimes horrific things. I don't know why. I'm not really all that excited about it. I don't like it. But I am so committed to this because I see that he has saved me from something far worse. And I belong in his service. And that this is where he's asked us to go. And this is what Gracie said when I was praying for her. I mentioned this two weeks ago before her 91st surgery. And I was like, Lord, this is too many. Gracie said, no, it's not. This is how many he thinks is necessary. And we're going to do what he has led us to do. And I know that, I think it was Karl Marx or Stalin or somebody, one of those guys, who said that religion is the opioid for the masses, right? I can't say that I disagree with that. But I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about theology. Understanding and knowing, discovering, learning about God. Religion is man's attempt to do these things. Theology is studying what God has already shown us in His Word. That we can know Him. And I've said this before on this program, but I had a caller call in to the Wednesday live show that I do and asked, is suffering required in order to grow in our Christianity? And my answer was, suffering is required to be a human being. In this world, we're going to have it. I mean, it's part of the condition. And you can live your whole life without being afflicted by trauma or disease of any magnitude, not even approaching anywhere near where Gracie is. But you're still going to die. Your body's going to get old and die. Unless Christ returns, none of us are getting out of this thing alive. That's just part of the human condition. It's how we trust God in those things. That's where the difference is. And I go back to this surgical event that we're dealing with here in our life right now. Now, these surgeons that I've been working with here, and they're wonderful men. I've worked with them now for some time, and I've gotten to know them a little bit, but I don't know them all that well. I don't know, for example, her attending surgeons, wife and kids and all those kinds of things. I really don't know a lot of his background. I know where he's from, but that's pretty much about it. But this man, who I barely know, will take my wife into a room with a bunch of strangers who I do not know, and they will do ghastly things to her body with ghastly tools that I wouldn't want to even touch. And then when he comes out, I'll thank him. And Gracie does too. She took his hand one time. Thank you. How often do we do that to people who wear white lab coats or surgical scrubs? Thank you, doctor. Thank you, doctor. And we treat them with reverence and respect, and we barely know them. We don't know where their doctrinal stances are. We don't know what they believe, why they believe it. We don't know those things. We just know that they've been certified to do such and such by the governing authorities of the state and the medical licensing board, and this hospital has vetted them, and the teaching university they went to has properly instructed them. And we take that on faith, even though we've never looked at their transcripts. we've never looked at their grades we don't know anything about them but we will let them go in there and do things to our loved ones and we will thank them for it how much more can we approach the king of kings and lord of lords when he does these things how much more skilled is he and we can know him he has made it possible that's what theology is he's laid it all out this is who i am Now, we will never know Him absolutely because we're not infinite beings like He is. But we can know Him truly. He's immutable. His loving kindness never fails. His grace, His mercy, His wisdom, His justice, His wrath, all of those things laid out. Corrie Ten Boone once said, don't be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. What brings us comfort is that I am not trusting Gracie to a bunch of people in medical gear that I don't know. I'm trusting her to the one I do know. You're going to hear me do this probably for the rest of the time I have a program. But I love to quote my father. And mom told me this story about him one time. And I've seen this in his life. And I have so many great, wonderful memories of things that he has said and imparted to us. But she was struggling with something young into their marriage. And I don't know how young it was, mom. Mom listens every week. I don't know how young you were, but it was some time ago. And she kind of popped off. How do you know that? because dad was sharing something from scripture with her she said well how do you know this and dad responded very calmly because i know god because i know god what gives me comfort i know god he's told me who he is and i take him at his word And that's what strengthens me. That's what equips me. That's what settles me down. I can produce a lengthy line of people, some of them in this audience, who have known me for a very long time and would say, yeah, that ain't Peter. That's evidence of the redemptive work of Christ in Peter's life because that ain't him. We know Peter. We've seen his work. And that's not me. And thanks be to God, it isn't me. It doesn't have to be you either. We don't have to be reactive all the time. We are invited by Scripture to cast all our cares on Him. We're invited to walk in His statutes, to trust Him, to take Him in His Word. And He gives us all the evidence that we need of said step of faith. And like I said in the last block, we're not stepping by faith into the dark. We're stepping by faith into the light. The credible testimony of others who have observed this, who have walked this, like John himself said in the Gospel of John, I saw it. I was there. Like I said to that surgeon, here's what I've seen. And so when I look at people like my father and like so many who said, here's what I have observed. Here's what I know. Here's what I've experienced. That is what comforts and strengthens me and equips me and fortifies me. And then I could take that into Gracie's hospital room and offer her the same comfort that I myself have received from the God of all comfort. And you know what that is? That is hope for this caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. Do you know what that hymn is? That hymn is called Abide With Me. And it's from my CD, Songs for the Caregiver. I've always loved this hymn. This is my mother's favorite hymn. And I've played this countless times. You can see this, like I said, on my CD, Psalms for the Caregiver. You can download the whole thing wherever digital music is streamed, or you can call Logos Bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee and get a copy of it. They're the only ones that care. It's all out at my website, PeterRosenberger.com, but that's not the purpose of me telling you all this. I used to play this hymn and many others in the sanctuary church where we attended in Nashville for many years and My pastor at the time asked me to play on Sunday mornings as people were coming in to help create a more reverent atmosphere for the church. So people would just talk, you know, yabber. They would come in and be more reflective. So I would work out a lot of these hymn arrangements that I did there. And during the week, I would practice this. And I noticed that I wasn't alone in the sanctuary. And at the back, there was a custodian there at the church And he would be putting hymnals back in the racks and sweeping and straightening it up, very much like my father used to do when he was a young man. And I've got a picture of my father when he was working at a church as a custodian. So I had a very special place in my heart for custodians of churches, and this man was no exception. And I would stop and ask him, I'd say, hey, do you want me to play something for you? And he said, no, just keep playing, just keep playing. So I'd play and sometimes I'd practice there for an hour, maybe more. And a beautiful Steinway up at the front of the church. And that's the cover of my CD is me playing in that sanctuary by myself. Except I have one picture of me playing there. It was taken from the choir loft area where I was. And you can make out Mike in the very back there. And that picture hangs on a wall in my parents' home. I gave that to my father and That picture is juxtaposed against the picture of my dad when he was in the sanctuary serving. Now, why am I telling you all this? Well, this week in the news, they released more of the writings from the shooter at the Covenant School there in Nashville. The first victim that she shot and killed was Mike, the custodian who used to listen to me play the piano. Two years ago this week, I went back to Nashville to play at his funeral And I played for him one last time. I look at the horrific things about that event, and it's still surreal. It's hard to believe. Hard to believe it happened. And the unspeakable tragedy with so many. I refuse, and if this gets me in trouble, you can write letters to peter at the internet dot Google. But I refuse to call this individual a transgender or a guy. was a girl it was a woman 28 years old i believe who was very very very disturbed according to the news reports she had been writing horrifically violent plans for some time and i don't know why it wasn't caught i don't know why nobody seemed to intercept this or say something, but I just know that from the facts, she showed up that day, and Mike was the first person in her path, and she shot and killed him. And I think about all the times that Mike said to me, just keep playing, just keep playing. So I do, and I played at his funeral two years ago this week, and I played, the opening hymn was Great Is Our Faithfulness, And I got to tell you all, I laid into it. I didn't hold back. I didn't play it like a mourner. Mike wouldn't have wanted me to. Play it with conviction. Play it like a believer. And he would want me to do so. I said, this time I was in the front of the church in the choir loft area, different sanctuary. But Mike's casket was just, instead of him being at the back of the church sitting there listening, His casket was right there up front, just 10, 15 feet away from me. And these are hard things. We don't have the words for it. We groan. But we're not alone in our groaning. And I just want to leave you with today. I know this is a bit of a somber note for the show, but I wanted to leave this with because I never forget that the reason why people listen to this program is because they're hurting. And the reason why people give me an hour of their time to listen to this is because they feel like they're drowning. And I understand that sometimes the person who understands you the most is the one who's bled like you have. And I have. Still do. Many times in that sanctuary when I was playing, I was pouring out my heart because I didn't have the words for some of the things that Gracie and I were going through. Mike kept saying, just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing. The Spirit groans on our behalf. Scripture tells us to pray without ceasing. Just keep praying. Just keep praying. when we don't have the words. And that's why I'm grateful for music. I wish I had the caregiver keyboard here at this hotel while we're in this hospital visit, but I don't. So I have to make do. I look forward to being able to getting home and playing the piano some more. Just keep playing. It's a hard thing to read about that in the news. And this is the world we're in. And it's not going to get any better anytime soon. It doesn't look like. But we are not absolved from walking into that craziness and heartache with the confidence of the gospel. And that is what I am committed to doing. I've been writing a song when the shooting occurred. I've been writing a song that had it for about a month or two, but it wasn't finished. I finished it right after the shooting. In fact, I finished it within that evening because I was just so overwhelmed by watching this. And I had Gracie sing it. I titled the piece Covenant Lament. I really didn't know what else to call it. What else can you say? He's just lamenting. And I went to the words of Scripture that helped shape this. This is all Scripture. And I wanted to leave this with you all today. At the end of this program, some of you are groaning. Some of you are weeping. And I want you to know that there's one who weeps for us and groans for us. And we can trust him. Listen to Gracie sing as we take the show out today. And thank you for your time. I'm Peter Rosenberger. And I remember what my friend Mike told me. Keep playing. Just keep playing.

Ask A Question: saythatpodcast@gmail.com Intro and Church Gym Emergency! (00:00-14:27) Is the "age of accountability" a thing? (14:31-34:46) How do I accept that some relationships in my life are just about as good as they are gonna get? Like I could try to set more boundaries, explain myself more, etc, but it feels like the other person has come about as far as they are going to. Is it okay to accept that? (34:48-46:19) In Matthew 18:19, Jesus says “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” I feel like that is not how it works, but what does this verse mean? (46:26-01:01:12) Closing Song: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Pete Lawson)    

Chancel Choir, Stephen Main, Piedmont Community Church, Piedmont, California

It's The First Monday in Lent in the Church Calendar, March 10, 2025.Our general order and lectionary come from the Book of Common Prayer Daily Office.Today's song: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Robert Robinson, Martin Madan)Psalms 41, 52John 2:1-12Playlist of songs from Morning Prayer.If you have a prayer request please ⁠submit it here⁠. Sign up ⁠here⁠ for the email list.Morning Prayer and Worship is a production of Steady Stream Ministries, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization. Thank you for your support. ⁠You can go here to find out more⁠.Get an ad-free feed of the podcast with a monthly contribution of any amount!⁠Join our Facebook group here!⁠Photo by Tom Fisk.Collect of the DayFirst Sunday in Lent, Rite TwoAlmighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

This is the last in the series, Don’t Take the Bait. The first four messages were about how to avoid taking the bait of deception, temptation, impatience, materialism. But we all have probably taken the bait time and time again and have been “caught.” So why is it that we are caught, and what do we do when we are caught? Scriptures give us answers. Why are we caught? Our hearts wander from God. Like so many examples in scripture, we follow other things and put them before God. What do we do when we are caught? Return again and again to God, as many times as you need. God provided a way out of being caught by sin by His son’s death on the cross and resurrection. There is no condemnation and we are set free. But Satan would have us think differently. Scripture leads us pretty clearly to how much God loves us. And we tie this together with an old hymn, Come Thou Fount.

This is the last in the series, Don’t Take the Bait. The first four messages were about how to avoid taking the bait of deception, temptation, impatience, materialism. But we all have probably taken the bait time and time again and have been “caught.” So why is it that we are caught, and what do we do when we are caught? Scriptures give us answers. Why are we caught? Our hearts wander from God. Like so many examples in scripture, we follow other things and put them before God. What do we do when we are caught? Return again and again to God, as many times as you need. God provided a way out of being caught by sin by His son’s death on the cross and resurrection. There is no condemnation and we are set free. But Satan would have us think differently. Scripture leads us pretty clearly to how much God loves us. And we tie this together with an old hymn, Come Thou Fount.

Ephesians 2:1-10 especially verses 7-9Psalm 66Hymns: O Praise the Lord for He is Good (Psalm 107)Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (1 Samuel 7:12)Not What My Hands Have Done (Titus 3:5)

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Those are lyrics from the Old Hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Those words describe the human tendency that we all face to wander away from God, even though He has been so gracious to us. In today's message, Pastor Bill warns you about the dangers of drifting away from God. Although God is sovereign over all and has the power to keep you, it's your responsibility to walk with Him and not wander from Him.

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Those are lyrics from the Old Hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Those words describe the human tendency that we all face to wander away from God, even though He has been so gracious to us. In today's message, Pastor Bill warns you about the dangers of drifting away from God. Although God is sovereign over all and has the power to keep you, it's your responsibility to walk with Him and not wander from Him.

2 Timothy 1:1-14Isaiah 25:1-9Psalm 65:1-5Hymns: Praise to the Lord the Almighty, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, God in the Gospel of His SonThe Priceless Gospel: OutlineI. A Gracious GospelII. A Holy GospelIII. A Death-Destroying GospelThe editor apologizes for the hum in the audio background.

Well hey there, hello and a very warm welcome to this episode.  No need to dilly-dally or make small talk…let's just jump right in and talk about God's promises.         Link to the devotional mentioned in this episode     Link to the free No More Worrying digital download mentioned in this episode   You're listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast, which can be found wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as on the Edifi app, a unique podcast app featuring Christian content only. That's EDIFI, available in the app store. This is episode number 202. The Promise of a New Year - God's Promises for You.   New year, new you? Ever heard that phrase? How does that usually work for ya? Dive into a new year, do the prep for whatever needs prepping in order to make the new you a reality. Plan it, map it out, might even pray over it. This time! This time, for sure!  Sound familiar?  Let me ask again, how does that usually work out for you?   It works so well for (can you hear my sarcasm) that I have decided not to do that anymore. New year, same God, not going to fixate on a new and improve me. He can mold me, shape me, make me again another as it says in Jeremiah 18:4, do His sanctifying work in me for His glory and His purposes and I've decided that's enough for me. More than enough, because thus far has the Lord helped me, declaring my Ebenezer (not like A Christmas Carol, but like 1 Samuel 7:12 and the hymn “Come Thou Fount” which holds the line, “Here I raise my Ebenezer”. A far, far better way to start a new calendar year, in my opinion. I gain so much peace, I bend the knee and bend my will to God, I can rest in Him and also be expectant of all He will do in the coming weeks and months. As John the Baptist said, “I must decrease and He must increase.” Yes, please. This usually (or always) works well for me, whereas new year, new me…not so much.   The title of episode number 202 is “The Promise of  New Year - God's Promises for You” because there is so much promise in every new season when we walk out said season with the Lord. A new calendar on the wall counts as a new season, and the promises I'm about to share today fit this new season. As always, these promises are God's promises, taken directly from the Bible, and they are for you, my friend. Y.O.U.   Psalm 125, verses 1 and 2, from the NLT:   Those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forever.   Now of course this psalm, which is a psalm of ascent, has to do with Israel and her people. No doubt about that. And it also is an encouragement for us, not as Jewish people, but as Christ followers. 2 Timothy 3:16 says all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, reproof, instruction, correction. Knowing what Scripture says matters, and that's why Psalm 125 matters for you right here in this season.  In  Zechariah 14:4-11, Revelation 19:11-16 and Revelation 20:1-6, we read about the Messiah, Jesus, standing on Mount Zion when He returns the second time. So when Psalm 125 says that those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion, well that's pretty secure, I'd say. If that is the place where Jesus' feet will land, where He will stand, it's an iron-clad guarantee that Mount Zion is going to be there right til the very end… If we trust in the Lord, we're secure like Mount Zion is secure. This is an amazing promise. It's an immovable promise. They will not be defeated, but will endure forever. God surrounds you like those mountains surround Jerusalem, both now and forever. Huge, huge promise. If the only promise I shared with you today was this one, it would be more than enough for the entire year. Isn't God good? What a promise! You are as secure as that mount on which Jesus will stand at His return, and I do not know what more could be said to ensure that you trust God and know this promised security is yours. Amen?   John 14:1 from the NLT says: “Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me.” This is Jesus speaking.  We all have things that trouble our hearts, and the things that fall into that category, the heart troubling category, well those aren't the small things that get in our craw, that annoy us, the little irksome frustrations. No, anything we describe as heart troubling, well, that's the real hard stuff in life. We can't just brush it off, ignore it, say a quick prayer and have it dissipate, talk ourselves out of it, or anything like that. And Jesus says to you and to me about those things that are the big, hard things, He says, “Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God (as it says in Psalm 125 verse 1) and trust also in Me.” Do you trust in God? Do you trust Jesus? Your answer is probably, “YES”. Do you trust Him with the things that give you a troubled heart? Do you trust Him in the midst of those things, in spite of things, trusting and trusting again and again, until your faith becomes sight, until you have the peace that passes all understanding, perfect peace as it says in Isaiah? This year, trust Him like that. Trust Him more fully, more completely, with more abandonment and more certainty that He's got you, you are so secure in Him, more than you ever have before. Because He keeps all His promises, nobody is more trustworthy than our God, and perhaps no one's trustworthiness has been questioned more than our God. Let's not be among those who question Him, not today, not this time. Let's choose, let's opt in, to not let our hearts be troubled, but to trust God, to trust Jesus.    Let's ponder God's utter faithfulness for a moment, because it's worth the reminder…when we are so dug in, all in, certain of who our God is and of His absolute inability to be anything but perfectly faithful and a perfect promise keeper, well then we believe all of His promises on a better, deeper level. Malachi 3:6 from the CSB says, “Because I, the LORD, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.” The Lord does not change. He doesn't! But sometimes the lack of belief we exhibit reveals that we think it's somehow okay to act like He does change, like He might change this time, He might do us dirty. We're fickle, we're selfish, we're mercurial, and we're not often the least be ashamed by that.  James 1:17 also from the CSB, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  Just to reiterate the truth that God does not change, has never changed, will never change, it just is not going to happen so let's go all in and believe what He has promised in the Bible.  John 8:12, NLT - Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  Want to be challenged and encouraged and bolstered and blown away by Jesus' words and promises? Read John chapter 8. That'll do it! Feel like you need to expand the boundaries of your faith in the Lord? Read John 8 and oh those boundaries will sure enough expand! In a good way, in the best way.    We don't have to walk in darkness. There are no areas of life that don't fall under this promise. So when we walk in darkness, maybe we're forgetting this promise. Maybe we are in a place of unbelief for whatever reason. Maybe we just need to be reminded that Jesus IS, present tense, right now He is the light of the world - He is the light of your world right now. You don't have to walk in darkness, in confusion, with a clouded mind, because you have the mind of Christ 1 Corinthians 2:16 promises. You have the light that leads to life. Don't overanalyze, don't think yourself out of believing it, just opt in and agree that what Jesus said in John 8:12 is true, and is true for you. Right now. No matter what. It's a true promise for you today.   Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT, say - Trust in the LORD with all your heart (with some of your heart? Most of your heart? Or all of your heart? We need regular heart check ups to make sure our trust level is aligned with this verse) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding (Do Not! When mom or dad says do not do that, well, the wise child listens and even the ornery child usually listens because a stern “Do not do that” warning from a parent…that gets your ears perked up. This is God, your Father, saying Do Not…and we think little to nothing about doing exactly what He says not to do. Let's read again and keep that do not directive in mind). Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do (in most of what you do? Nope - in all you do) and He will show you which path to take.   Wondering which direction to go? Then seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take. We don't just want these promises to be fulfilled in our lives, we NEED them to be fulfilled. And when we see something we've been missing, let's make those adjustments and get on board with the Lord. The Good Shepherd leads His sheep well, and we're safe when we listen to Him and not to any other voices. So, let's listen up and heed His words.   Have you seen the animated film Over the Hedge? In one scene, the character R.J. says to another character, Hammie (and Hammie is sort of spacey, not all there, and Hammie is trying to eat a cookie that is broken in two and being held together with a band aid…kind of gross, right? Well, that's us sometimes.) RJ says, “You don't want that cookie, Hammie. That cookie's junk.” What band aid cookie are you trying for and where is God saying, No, that's junk? Trust in Him with all your heart, and do not depend on your own band-aid cookie version of understanding. He has better for you than you might have for yourself. You don't want that cookie, my friend, because that cookie is junk.   Isaiah 55:10-11 NLT - The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with My word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.   Did you hear that?  His word will never return to Him void. It always produces fruit, always accomplishes what He wants it to, and will always prosper everywhere He sends it. Today, via this podcast, He is sending it to you and it will not return to Him void or empty or ineffective. It works. It can't not work. It's His word, and it does as He wishes. That's the truth, right there. Believe it. (And this verse says will…it will accomplish all He wants it to and it will prosper everywhere He sends it. Will means WILL! My devotional The Power of God's WILL - 40 Days of God's Promises is all about this exact thing and you can find that on Amazon).    The last few weeks God has been laying on my heart the need to daily crucify my flesh. Now listen, I do not claim to be a prophet, and so maybe this is just for me personally, but I have a sense that I, and other disciples of Jesus, are going to need to be Spirit led, Spirit dependent, on a whole new level in the coming months. I really think that's true. We might go through hard times, we may be tempted with prosperity (and that's often harder to walk through and stay close to the Lord than poverty, truth be told). Crucifying my flesh keeps me close to the Lord. The flesh, well, it isn't going with me into eternity and so it is in its last days, so to speak, it's getting near its deathbed and it's temperamental, it's demanding, it's a brat. So as I seek to do as the Lord has put on my heart to do in my own life, Romans 8 verses five and six are what I've been pondering. These are the verses I'll leave you with today. From the NLT - Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.  The flesh makes me want to make a snarky comment when I get my feelings hurt. Crucify that, Jan. My flesh gets annoyed when my coffee maker goes kaput during blizzard weather and I want to be able to go get a coffee since I can't make any coffee but I can't cuz there's half an inch of ice on my car and the driveway is a disaster and I can't get out. Crucify that, Jan. So crucifying the flesh doesn't always look like those huge and terrible sins that come to mind. It can be a bad attitude. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, these verses remind us that our life belongs to Jesus now. And we can both believe all His promises to us and crucify our pesky flesh at the same time.    Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I have something free for ya today. If you ever struggle with worry, this is for you. It's a digital download, a pdf, with 40 Bible passages that will combat worry in your life, and the way you utilize it is super simple. For 40 days, you just write Do Not Worry at the top of your daily to-do list (or set it as a reminder in your phone that will ping each morning). You read the verse or verses for that day, while bearing in mind that for the next forty days, just for forty days, you will not worry. You'll hand those worries to God, and they're not your burden to bear for forty days. Doesn't mean you quit your job and run up the credit cards because Jan said so… that's not at all what Jan said. You keep on living your life, but when you catch yourself worrying about something, about anything, you remind yourself that for forty days, you won't give in to worry. You'll lay that worry, that concern, at the feet of Jesus whenever it crops up, and you keep moving on without the stress of worrying. Do it for forty days. Seriously, this is a really great faith grower. Grab yours for free at JanLBurt . com     I hope you do that as this new year begins. Lord bless you, thanks for listening. I'll see you next time. Bye bye   The Power of God's Will: 40 Days of God's Promises Devotional: Burt, Jan L.: 9798573528939: Amazon.com: Books JanLBurt.com Home Page

For the 15th anniversary of Manchester Orchestra's second album, Mean Everything to Nothing, we take a detailed look at how it was made. The band started in 2004 as an outlet for Andy Hull's songwriting that he was doing as a teenager growing up in Atlanta, Georgia. Hull connected with bassist Jonathan Corley and drummer Jeremiah Edmond and self-released their first EP in 2005. Keyboardist Chris Freeman joined the band and their debut album, I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child was released in 2006 on their own label. They got the attention of Canvasback Recordings, who signed them to a deal and re-released the album one year later. Guitarist Robert McDowell ended up joining the band and they began working on their second album, with Joe Chiccarelli producing. Mean Everything to Nothing was eventually released in 2009. In this episode, Andy Hull reflects on the pressure he felt suddenly being on a major label and working with a big name producer. Expectations for the band were high and he describes his ambition to rise above the sophomore slump and deliver a great record. Inspired by Weezer's Pinkerton, he talks about wanting to make an emotionally raw sounding record that reflected his turbulent personal life at this time as he was getting married and wrestling with his faith and his Christian upbringing. The resulting album made for a cathartic experience that provided a deep and long lasting connection with their audience. From shredded vocal chords to writing autobiographically and not overthinking lyrics to panic attacks on tour to reinterpreting the hymn “Come Thou Fount” to a meltdown after losing a hundred dollar bill, we'll hear the stories around how the record came together.

Many thanks to the members of Looney's Fortune—Patty Amelotte, Georgiana Hennessy, and Matt Tonge! PreludeWelcomeCall to WorshipCarol of Advent - (#168) "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus"Lighting of the Candle of HopeCarol of Advent - (#177) "Good Christian Men, Rejoice"Special Music - "Johsefin's Waltz"Carol of Advent - (#169) "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"Special Music - "What Child is This"Sermon—"There's a God-Child on the Horizon" (Isaiah 7:1–17)Offertory - "Come Before Winter"DoxologyCarol of Advent (#318) "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"Serving the Sacrament of CommunionBenedictionSinging of the Lord's PrayerPostlude - "Lark in the Morning"Come Thou Long Expected JesusCome, Thou long-expected Jesus,Born to set Thy people free;From our fears and sins release us;Let us find our rest in Thee.Israel's Strength and Consolation,Hope of all the earth Thou art;Dear Desire of every nation,Joy of every longing heart.Born Thy people to deliver,Born a child and yet a King,Born to reign in us forever,Now Thy gracious Kingdom bring.By Thine own eternal SpiritRule in all our hearts alone;By Thine all-sufficient meritRaise us to Thy glorious throne.Good Christian Men, RejoiceGood Christian men, rejoiceWith heart and soul and voice;Give ye heed to what we say:News! news!Jesus Christ is born today!Ox and ass before Him bow,And He is in the manger now.Christ is born today!Christ is born today!Good Christian men, rejoiceWith heart and soul and voice;Now ye hear of endless bliss:Joy! joy!Jesus Christ was born for this!He has opened heaven's door,And man is blessed evermore.Christ was born for this!Christ was born for this!Good Christian men, rejoiceWith hear and soul and voice;Now ye need not fear the grave:Peace! peace!Jesus Christ was born to save!Calls you one and calls you allTo gain His everlasting hall.Christ was born to save!Christ was born to save!O Come, O Come EmmanuelO come, O come, Emmanuel,And ransom captive Israel,That mourns in lonely exile here,Until the Son of God appear.CHORUS:Rejoice! Rejoice! EmmanuelShall come to thee, O Israel!O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheerOur spirits by Thine advent here;Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,And death's dark shadows put to flight.[CHORUS]O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,And order all things, far and nigh;To us the path of knowledge show,And cause us in her ways to go.[CHORUS]O come, Desire of nations, bindIn one the hearts of all mankind;Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,And be thyself our King of peace.[CHORUS]

Happy Thanksgiving!Piano: 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing' arranged by Mark Hayes

Sermon by Bryce Kittinger on Sunday, November 17th at Chenal Valley Church.

PreludeWelcome & News of the ChurchCall to WorshipOpening Hymn - (#318) "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"Confession, Assurance, and Gloria PatriMinute for Mission - Operation Christmas ChildPraise SongsSermon - "Gratitude: God's In Charge" (I Samuel 2:1–10) - by Rev. Jason GrifficeHymn of Response - (#454) "Trust and Obey"Receiving of Our Tithes and OfferingsOffertory - "Once Again" by Matt RedmanDoxologyPastoral PrayerClosing Hymn - (#495) "It Is Well With My Soul"BenedictionPostludeCome Thou Fount of Every BlessingCome, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above; Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love. This my glad commemoration That 'til now I've safely come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood. O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be! Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee: Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love: Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above. Amen. Trust and ObeyWhen we walk with the Lord In the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey. CHORUS:Trust and obey, for there's no other wayTo be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obeyThen in fellowship sweet We will sit at His feet, Or we'll walk by His side in the way; What He says we will do, Where He sends we will go, Never fear, only trust and obey. [CHORUS]It Is Well With My SoulWhen peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll— Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is will with my soul. CHORUS: It is well (it is well)With my soul (with my soul)It is well, it is well with my soul.My sin—O the joy of this glorious thought—My sin, not in par, but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. [CHORUS]And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll: The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, "Even so"—it is well with my soul. [CHORUS]

Today, we embark on a new series titled 'Melodies of Faith,' where we explore the stories behind some of the most cherished hymns. This series marks a departure from our usual episodes, but we trust you'll find it just as enriching. Hymns have long served as a profound means of expressing biblical truths, each carrying a unique narrative woven into its lyrics. In this series, we'll journey beyond the melodies to uncover the inspiration and stories that led the writers to pen these timeless words. Today, we learn the story behind the hymn written by Robert Robinson. We love  to sing our children songs each night before they go to sleep helping them focus on Jesus before they drift off to sleep and we wanted to  share that experience with you SO, WE HAVE PARTNERED WITH TWO TALENTED MUSICIANS WHO RECORDED THESE HYMNS FOR YOU! Easily listen to the hymn on any of these: Play the previous episode titled "SONG ONLY-Come Thou Fount" Spotify apple music youtube ----------------------------------------------------- To enjoy the library of bonus content (coloring pages, sheets, memory verse, etc) for the episodes go here and click bonus content. By enjoying them, you allow us to keep the episodes free for families all over the world to access and enjoy. From our family to yours, THANK YOU!  To connect with us, go here. For our free Read-A-Loud pdf book go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is the very special HYMN! Play the next episode, #344 in  our series titled 'Melodies of Faith,' where we explore the story behind this hymn. This series marks a departure from our usual episodes, but we trust you'll find it just as enriching. Hymns have long served as a profound means of expressing biblical truths, each carrying a unique narrative woven into its lyrics. In this series, we'll journey beyond the melodies to uncover the inspiration and stories that led the writers to pen these timeless words.  We love  to sing our children songs each night before they go to sleep helping them focus on Jesus before they drift off  and we wanted to  share that experience with you SOOOOOOOOO WE HAVE PARTNERED WITH TWO TALENTED MUSICIANS WHO RECORDED THESE HYMNS FOR YOU! You can listen to the hymn on this current episode or also EASILY ACCESS IT FOR FREE HERE:  Spotify apple music youtube ----------------------------------------------------- To enjoy the library of bonus content (coloring pages, sheets, memory verse, etc) for the episodes go here and click bonus content. By enjoying them, you allow us to keep the episodes free for families all over the world to access and enjoy. From our family to yours, THANK YOU!  To connect with us, go here. For our free Read-A-Loud pdf book go here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Sunday, September 1, 2024, our worship director, Cliff Ritchey lead Commonway Church through a morning of worship and reflection. Due to copyright and streaming rules, we cannot post the full service. This video contains those reflection times, a poem by Julie Ritchey, and a rendition of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Below is a run-down of the songs we did and their original artists. 1. Glorious Things by John Mark McMillan and Sarah McMillan 2. Graves into Gardens by Brandon Lake 3. Hymn of Heaven by Phil Wickham REFLECTION TIME 4. Song for Jules by Cliff Ritchey 5. How Deep the Father's Love for Us by Stuart Townsend 6. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Robert Robinson (Public Domain) 7. 40 by U2 REFLECTION TIME 8. Open Hands by The Porter's Gate 9. Until These Tears Are Gone by Young Oceans 10. Do it Again by Adam Paulson 11. King of My Heart by John Mark McMillan and Sarah McMillan CLOSING

Voices In My Head (the Rick Lee James Podcast) Episode 553: Kenny & Claire   Pointing listeners to the Hope of Christ amidst life's troubles, critically acclaimed husband/wife folk duo Kenny & Claire are set to bow their full-length debut, Upon the Storm, July 19. Produced by GRAMMY Award-winner Mitch Dane (Brandon Heath, JJ Heller), the 12-track set showcases four freshly penned originals and eight modern renditions of enduring hymns.    The album's title-cut, a stirring take on William Cowper's 18th century hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” features updated verses and a new arrangement by Kenny & Claireand Mitch Dane. "God Moves (Upon the Storm)" carries deep meaning for the couple following Kenny's struggle with a brain tumor as well as a life-altering chronic illness diagnosis. Hallmarked by thoughtful, organic arrangements firmly anchored in a folk/Americana soundscape, Upon the Storm also offers Kenny & Claire's signature take on such classic hymns as “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” and “Come Thou Fount,” among others, along with a uniquely emotive rendition of the popular Keith Getty and Stuart Townend-penned hymn, “In Christ Alone.” New selections including “Surely His Goodness,” “Have Mercy on Us” and “We Believe”—all written by Kenny & Claire and Mitch Dane—bridge the past and present with thematic consistency.    ABOUT KENNY & CLAIRE Beginning their musical journey together in 2005—writing songs, performing and leading worship throughout the Carolinas—Kenny & Claire Hilliard were married in 2008 but paused their creative pursuits while Kenny attended seminary and the couple started a family. In 2015, during Kenny's tenure as a senior pastor and worship leader in Asheville, North Carolina, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Shortly after successful surgery to remove the tumor, Kenny received a second diagnosis, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome—a degenerative genetic disease that left him temporarily impaired. The couple embraced a return to music during Kenny's recovery, founding a music teaching studio and further honing their songwriting craft by penning modern hymns for their home congregation.      Known for their emotive acoustic/folk originals and organic revivals of theologically rich hymns of yesteryear, Kenny & Claire's critically acclaimed debut EP, Are You Weary, released in 2021. In addition to participating in Getty Music's prestigious International Hymn Writing Collective, the couple's music has been highlighted by Under The Radar (UTR) and in The Rabbit Room's New Music Roundup, and Claire was also named among “Ones to Watch” by the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) in 2021. Kenny & Clairenow reside in the Nashville area with their three children, and they maintain an active touring ministry, leading worship and performing in numerous churches around the country each year.            For further information or to request an interview with Kenny & Claire:  Brian Smith  •  brian@turningpointpr.com Emily Kohl  •  emily@turningpointpr.com   ----more---- Contact Rick Lee James Email: Rick@RickLeeJames.com Get the new song - Whatever You Do Up on the Mountain Also, Don't forget to swing by Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, or your favorite streaming platform and hit those follow buttons! By hitting the follow button, you'll stay updated on my latest releases and show your support for my music! I can't wait to meet you Up on the Mountain on July 12th. Blessings, Rick Lee James         ----more----   10% Off Everything Rick Lee James on Band camp Instructions Visit https://rickleejames.bandcamp.com At checkout use code: 10off Advent Hymn (Watching, Waiting, Longing) This song appeared on over 80 Spotify playlists this Advent Season. I want to thank everyone for listening and sharing it this year.   Official Music Video:   Web Site: https://rickleejames.com   PURCHASE ALBUM: www.RickLeeJames.Bandcamp.com SongSelect: https://songselect.ccli.com/Songs/6152291/advent-hymn-watching-waiting-longing Downloadable Charts and More available from LIFEWAYWORSHIP.COM: https://worship.lifeway.com/findAndBuy/songPage/AdventHymn(Watching%2CWaiting%2CLonging)?versionId=93901&rowNum=0&searchString=Advent%20Hymn%20(watching,%20Waiting,%20Longing)#song-Parts Loop Community: https://loopcommunity.com/en-us/songs/advent-hymn-(watching%2C-waiting%2C-longing)-by-rick-lee-james-3892  Endorsements: “A perfect and needed addition to any Christmas playlist this year. Rick Lee James bringing home the Advent Message.” -CCM Magazine https://www.ccmmagazine.com/music-video/rick-lee-james-advent-hymn-watching-waiting-longing/ “I love Advent Hymn (Watching, Waiting, Longing), which gives newness to the phrases of Isaiah. Watching, waiting, and longing is what we do now, and these songs help us do that in confidence. I anticipate that this album will be received as a great gift by many who will find their faith nourished and awakened by it.” –Walter Brueggemann (Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary) "I've watched Rick grow as an artist and songwriter for many years. Congratulations brother on an excellent independent release." -Paul Baloche (Dove Award Winning Songwriter) "Rick Lee James is a poet and singer. You will not only enjoy listening, you'll be drawn into the source –Jesus." -Mike Harland RICK LEE JAMES INFO Web Sites: https://www.rickleejames.com Get The Single: https://rickleejames.hearnow.com/halls         More from Rick Lee James Shine A Light In The Darkness Get The Single: https://rickleejames.hearnow.com/shine-a-light-in-the-darkness Music Video:   Rick Lee James Playlist on Spotify:   https://t.co/S7nCRl0xqa            

Voices In My Head (the Rick Lee James Podcast)Episode 553: Kenny & ClairePointing listeners to the Hope of Christ amidst life's troubles, critically acclaimed husband/wife folk duo Kenny & Claire are set to bow their full-length debut, Upon the Storm, July 19. Produced by GRAMMY Award-winner Mitch Dane (Brandon Heath, JJ Heller), the 12-track set showcases four freshly penned originals and eight modern renditions of enduring hymns.  The album's title-cut, a stirring take on William Cowper's 18th century hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” features updated verses and a new arrangement by Kenny & Claireand Mitch Dane. "God Moves (Upon the Storm)" carries deep meaning for the couple following Kenny's struggle with a brain tumor as well as a life-altering chronic illness diagnosis.Hallmarked by thoughtful, organic arrangements firmly anchored in a folk/Americana soundscape, Upon the Storm also offers Kenny & Claire's signature take on such classic hymns as “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” and “Come Thou Fount,” among others, along with a uniquely emotive rendition of the popular Keith Getty and Stuart Townend-penned hymn, “In Christ Alone.” New selections including “Surely His Goodness,” “Have Mercy on Us” and “We Believe”—all written by Kenny & Claire and Mitch Dane—bridge the past and present with thematic consistency.  ABOUT KENNY & CLAIREBeginning their musical journey together in 2005—writing songs, performing and leading worship throughout the Carolinas—Kenny & Claire Hilliard were married in 2008 but paused their creative pursuits while Kenny attended seminary and the couple started a family. In 2015, during Kenny's tenure as a senior pastor and worship leader in Asheville, North Carolina, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Shortly after successful surgery to remove the tumor, Kenny received a second diagnosis, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome—a degenerative genetic disease that left him temporarily impaired. The couple embraced a return to music during Kenny's recovery, founding a music teaching studio and further honing their songwriting craft by penning modern hymns for their home congregation.    Known for their emotive acoustic/folk originals and organic revivals of theologically rich hymns of yesteryear, Kenny & Claire's critically acclaimed debut EP, Are You Weary, released in 2021. In addition to participating in Getty Music's prestigious International Hymn Writing Collective, the couple's music has been highlighted by Under The Radar (UTR) and in The Rabbit Room's New Music Roundup, and Claire was also named among “Ones to Watch” by the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) in 2021. Kenny & Clairenow reside in the Nashville area with their three children, and they maintain an active touring ministry, leading worship and performing in numerous churches around the country each year. For further information or to request an interview with Kenny & Claire: Brian Smith  •  brian@turningpointpr.comEmily Kohl  •  emily@turningpointpr.comContact Rick Lee JamesEmail: Rick@RickLeeJames.comVINYL SALETHUNDER by Rick Lee JamesONLY $9.99. (Plus you get a free digital download of the album)VINYL SALE -Thank you for listening!10% Off Everything Rick Lee James on Band campInstructions* Visit https://rickleejames.bandcamp.com* At checkout use code: 10off* Web Site:https://rickleejames.com* PURCHASE ALBUM: www.RickLeeJames.Bandcamp.com* SongSelect: https://songselect.ccli.com/Songs/6152291/advent-hymn-watching-waiting-longing* Downloadable Charts and More available from LIFEWAYWORSHIP.COM: https://worship.lifeway.com/findAndBuy/songPage/AdventHymn(Watching%2CWaiting%2CLonging)?versionId=93901&rowNum=0&searchString=Advent%20Hymn%20(watching,%20Waiting,%20Longing)#song-Parts* Loop Community: https://loopcommunity.com/en-us/songs/advent-hymn-(watching%2C-waiting%2C-longing)-by-rick-lee-james-3892 Endorsements:“A perfect and needed addition to any Christmas playlist this year. Rick Lee James bringing home the Advent Message.”-CCM Magazine https://www.ccmmagazine.com/music-video/rick-lee-james-advent-hymn-watching-waiting-longing/“I love Advent Hymn (Watching, Waiting, Longing), which gives newness to the phrases of Isaiah. Watching, waiting, and longing is what we do now, and these songs help us do that in confidence. I anticipate that this album will be received as a great gift by many who will find their faith nourished and awakened by it.”–Walter Brueggemann (Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary)"I've watched Rick grow as an artist and songwriter for many years. Congratulations brother on an excellent independent release."-Paul Baloche (Dove Award Winning Songwriter)"Rick Lee James is a poet and singer. You will not only enjoy listening, you'll be drawn into the source –Jesus."-Mike HarlandRICK LEE JAMES INFOWeb Sites:https://www.rickleejames.comGet The Single:https://rickleejames.hearnow.com/halls More from Rick Lee JamesShine A Light In The DarknessGet The Single: https://rickleejames.hearnow.com/shine-a-light-in-the-darknessMusic Video:Rick Lee James Playlist on Spotify:https://t.co/S7nCRl0xqa This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rickleejames.substack.com/subscribe

Glen Hall, baritone, Kate Benson, clarinet, and Stephen Main, piano, Piedmont Community Church, Piedmont, California

The Psalmist says over and over…”The Lord is king over all the earth…let the people be glad!” When the Lord reigns, when He is recognized and king and surrendered to with full hearts, it's good news. It's the best news of all. Wrongs are made right, justice is brought, compassion and mercy and kindness rule all of our lives. Let us begin by declaring Him king of our hearts and lives. And may we see His kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven. Oh, we are glad! Get an ad-free feed of the podcast with a monthly contribution of any amount! It's Tuesday of Ordinary Time, Proper 14 in the Church Calendar. August 13, 2024. Our general order and lectionary come from the Book of Common Prayer Daily Office. Today on Morning Prayer (00:00) Introduction (00:48) Come Thou Fount (Robert Robinson) (02:00) Prayer of Confession (03:27) Come Thou Fount (continued) (03:59) Psalm 97 (04:50) Psalm 99 (06:23) Glory to the Father (08:30) John 3:22-36 (09:03) Apostles' Creed (11:39) Lord's Prayer (12:29) Collect of the Day (13:00) Free prayer (14:02) For His good and perfect gifts (15:57) Benediction (16:50) Playlist of songs from Morning Prayer. If you have a prayer request please ⁠submit it here⁠. Sign up ⁠here⁠ for the email list. Morning Prayer and Worship is a production of Steady Stream Ministries, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization. Thank you for your support. ⁠You can go here to find out more⁠. ⁠Join our Facebook group here!⁠ Photo by Y BOX. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/prayerandworship/support

My sermon today is meant to be both helpful and hopeful. What we read in verses 7-10 is encouraging to you if your faith and trust is in Jesus Christ as the only One qualified to atone for all of your sins as the Lion and the Lamb. These verses are encouraging if you believe that Jesus while fully divine was also fully human for the purpose of living the life you could not live to die upon the cross for your sins while He was perfectly sinless, and that all the wrath of a Holy God fell upon Him in your place. If you are a Christian, you are no longer in darkness, but because of nothing you have done and everything He has done... you are light in the Lord and now able to walk as children of light. Because you are a Christian, you know Him and long for His appearing in the same manner the apostle Peter described: ...and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Pet. 3:8). It is because you are a Christian that there is coming a day when you also will be able to face death with the same confidence the apostle Paul did while facing death: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:7-8). This is why we can sing songs like He Who is to Come with hope and confidence: There is a day coming When the old will pass away Every wrong will be made right No darkness no night The Son will light the way There is a king coming The one who conquered death and grave No more pain and no more sorrow This hope for tomorrow Is our hope for today He who is to come Christ the Son of man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head Every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands[1] If you are a Christian, you belong to God as His beloved child (5:1) because He chose you before the foundation of the earth (1:4), He forgave and redeemed you through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus (1:7), and have been adopted as a child of God according to the good pleasure of His will (1:5). If you are a Christian, you are now alive with Jesus (2:4-5), and because you are alive with Christ, you are Gods, workmanship [poiēma], created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Eph. 2:10). You Were Saved from the Wrath of God If you are a Christian, you have been saved from the wrath of an infinitely holy God! You who were once dead in your offenses and sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts and desires of your flesh and mind, and were by nature a child of the wrath of God, stand before God as one who has been fully pardoned, forgiven, and loved because the wrath you deserved, Jesus willingly endured. This is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:6-7, See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. When I preached on verses 1-6, I spent a considerable amount of time explaining that these things in verse 6 include sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. Sexual immorality is any perversion of sex that has not been sanctioned to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife within the bounds of the covenant of marriage. Impurity includes any sexual sin but is not limited to sexual sins. Greed is any form of covetousness which also includes the taking of a person for sexual pleasure who does not belong to you because you are not married to that person, and this can be done physically as well as mentally. It is because of sexual immorality, impurity, and greed that the wrath of God comes. However, it is not only because of sexual immorality, impurity, and greed that the wrath of God is coming; the wrath of God comes also because of filthiness, foolish talk, and vulgar joking. Jesus said of that what comes out of your mouth is a symptom of what is in your heart: The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart (Luke 6:45). In short, the wrath of God comes because of sin. In Revelation 1:18 we are told: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. What is wrath? Well, according to the dictionary, it is strong, stern, or fierce anger. Gods strong, stern, and fierce anger is provoked over sin, and we are warned about His fierce anger over sin both in the Old Testament and New Testament. For you to understand and appreciate the mercy, love, and grace of God, you must understand that sin is serious and Gods anger over sin is white hot against those guilty of it! We do not have the time for me to get exhaustive regarding the wrath of God over sin but permit me to offer you some glimpse into the explanation Gods word gives us for why He takes sin so seriously. For starters, there is only one attribute that is repeated not twice, but three times, and that attribute is the holiness of God. In Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8 we encounter the holiness of God expressed in a way that no other attribute of God is expressed: And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory. (Isa. 6:3) And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. (Rev. 4:8) Regarding the holiness of God, the sinless Seraphim a specific type of angel commissioned and designed for the throne room of God attribute the Almighty with a literary device by repeating three words to emphasize the holiness of God, in Scripture it is called the three-times-holy. Even the Seraphim, before the presence of God, must cover their eyes and their feet (Isa. 6:2), and Isaiahs response before the presence of the Holy One was one of cursing upon himself: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa. 6:5). It is of this God that the prophet Habakkuk said: Are You not from time everlasting, Lord, my God, my Holy One? Your eyes are too pure to look at evil... (Hab. 1:12a, 13a). In Nahum we are told that God is a jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies (Nah. 1:2). And when it comes to the sinfulness of the nations, we are told that all of the wicked must drink the cup of His wrath: For a cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams; it is well mixed, and He pours out of this; certainly all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink its dregs (Ps. 75:8). The cup of Gods wrath reserved for the wicked is the cup Jesus drank. The Son of God, the perfect sinless lamb, the Groom of the Church drank the cup of Gods wrath! The only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.... Who, for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man[2] was born to die for sinful man! In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed about the cup reserved for the wicked: And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will. He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done. (Matt. 26:39, 42). Jesus drank the cup of Gods wrath for our redemption, and He drank every last drop on the cross by becoming curse in our place: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree (Gal. 3:13). This is why Jesus said of Himself: The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:35-36). Hell is how the wrath of God will be carried out, and Jesus described it as a place, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not extinguished (Mark 9:48). You Are Redeemed to Live as Children of Light However, if you are a Christian, you who were once a child of wrath are now a child of mercy, and thereby an adopted child of the Living God through the price Jesus paid by His blood. R.C. Sproul wrote of the salvation of sinners, The glory of the gospel is this: The one from whom we need to be saved is the one who has saved us. In his magnum opus, The Cross of Christ, John Stott described Christs sacrifice for our salvation this way: Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.[3] If you are confused as to how seriously God takes sin or how offended by your sin He was, you need not look beyond the cross on which Jesus died! The cross is the place where our redeemer bore a holy and justified wrath on our behalf where He received the ax of Gods justice in our place! Upon the cross, where Jesus was cursed in our place, He was pierced for our offenses and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5). We who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are no longer children of wrath, and because we are no longer children of wrath, we are not to become partners with those who continue to practice the very thing that the wrath of God is reserved for. Christian, you who were once darkness are a child of light. As children of light, we are to live out our new life in Christ in the following four ways: We are to walk as children of light by not partnering with the sons of disobedience (v. 7). The Greek word for partner is symmetochos which can also be translated sharer or partaker. Paul uses the same word in Ephesians 3:6 to describe how we, Gentiles, share, partake, and participate in the promise of Christ as the body of Christ. We who once were satisfied by the broken cisterns of this world, now find our satisfaction in Jesus as the Living Water (John 7:37-39). We are to walk as children of light by displaying the light of Christ (v. 8). If you are a Christian, you are no longer darkness, but sons and daughters, Light of Life (John 12:36). Jesus said of all who belong to Him: You are the light of the world.... Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:14, 16). We are to walk as children of light by displaying the fruit of our identity and union in Christ (v. 9). By walking with Christ, we will display the goodness, righteousness, and truth of Jesus for the glory of God and the good of those around us. Our life is in Jesus, and the evidence that we belong to Him is that His life will shine through our lives. Tony Merida, in his commentary on Ephesians, said it this way: Those who walk in light do good works (2:10), they live righteously (4:24), and they speak truthfully (4:15).[4] We are to walk as children of light by living lives that are pleasing to the Lord (v. 10). Our lives are not set apart to please people, but to please the One who purchased us with His blood. This is why the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body. So, whats the point? The point is simply this: You, Christian, are a child of a Holy God who poured out His wrath upon His Son so that you would not be consumed by His justice but be overwhelmed by His kindness, grace, love, and mercy through Jesus! Because you are no longer dead in your offenses and sins (2:1), you walk as one who is alive in Christ. Walk as one who has been called, out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). Walk as the forgiven because, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Walk in light of your new identity because God has declared by the authority of His word: if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). You who was once dead in your sins and once walked in darkness, are awake and alive not because of anything you have done but because of everything Christ has accomplished! This is why we sing, O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee Prone to wander Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart Lord take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above.[5] [1] [Passion] by Cody Carnes, Kristian Stanfill, and Sean Curran [2] From the Nicene Creed [3] John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 15. [4] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 126. [5] Come Thou Fount, [Shane and Shane] by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth

My sermon today is meant to be both helpful and hopeful. What we read in verses 7-10 is encouraging to you if your faith and trust is in Jesus Christ as the only One qualified to atone for all of your sins as the Lion and the Lamb. These verses are encouraging if you believe that Jesus while fully divine was also fully human for the purpose of living the life you could not live to die upon the cross for your sins while He was perfectly sinless, and that all the wrath of a Holy God fell upon Him in your place. If you are a Christian, you are no longer in darkness, but because of nothing you have done and everything He has done... you are light in the Lord and now able to walk as children of light. Because you are a Christian, you know Him and long for His appearing in the same manner the apostle Peter described: ...and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Pet. 3:8). It is because you are a Christian that there is coming a day when you also will be able to face death with the same confidence the apostle Paul did while facing death: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:7-8). This is why we can sing songs like He Who is to Come with hope and confidence: There is a day coming When the old will pass away Every wrong will be made right No darkness no night The Son will light the way There is a king coming The one who conquered death and grave No more pain and no more sorrow This hope for tomorrow Is our hope for today He who is to come Christ the Son of man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head Every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands[1] If you are a Christian, you belong to God as His beloved child (5:1) because He chose you before the foundation of the earth (1:4), He forgave and redeemed you through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus (1:7), and have been adopted as a child of God according to the good pleasure of His will (1:5). If you are a Christian, you are now alive with Jesus (2:4-5), and because you are alive with Christ, you are Gods, workmanship [poiēma], created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Eph. 2:10). You Were Saved from the Wrath of God If you are a Christian, you have been saved from the wrath of an infinitely holy God! You who were once dead in your offenses and sins, walked according to the course of this world, lived in the lusts and desires of your flesh and mind, and were by nature a child of the wrath of God, stand before God as one who has been fully pardoned, forgiven, and loved because the wrath you deserved, Jesus willingly endured. This is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:6-7, See that no one deceives you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. When I preached on verses 1-6, I spent a considerable amount of time explaining that these things in verse 6 include sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. Sexual immorality is any perversion of sex that has not been sanctioned to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife within the bounds of the covenant of marriage. Impurity includes any sexual sin but is not limited to sexual sins. Greed is any form of covetousness which also includes the taking of a person for sexual pleasure who does not belong to you because you are not married to that person, and this can be done physically as well as mentally. It is because of sexual immorality, impurity, and greed that the wrath of God comes. However, it is not only because of sexual immorality, impurity, and greed that the wrath of God is coming; the wrath of God comes also because of filthiness, foolish talk, and vulgar joking. Jesus said of that what comes out of your mouth is a symptom of what is in your heart: The good person out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil person out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart (Luke 6:45). In short, the wrath of God comes because of sin. In Revelation 1:18 we are told: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. What is wrath? Well, according to the dictionary, it is strong, stern, or fierce anger. Gods strong, stern, and fierce anger is provoked over sin, and we are warned about His fierce anger over sin both in the Old Testament and New Testament. For you to understand and appreciate the mercy, love, and grace of God, you must understand that sin is serious and Gods anger over sin is white hot against those guilty of it! We do not have the time for me to get exhaustive regarding the wrath of God over sin but permit me to offer you some glimpse into the explanation Gods word gives us for why He takes sin so seriously. For starters, there is only one attribute that is repeated not twice, but three times, and that attribute is the holiness of God. In Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8 we encounter the holiness of God expressed in a way that no other attribute of God is expressed: And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory. (Isa. 6:3) And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. (Rev. 4:8) Regarding the holiness of God, the sinless Seraphim a specific type of angel commissioned and designed for the throne room of God attribute the Almighty with a literary device by repeating three words to emphasize the holiness of God, in Scripture it is called the three-times-holy. Even the Seraphim, before the presence of God, must cover their eyes and their feet (Isa. 6:2), and Isaiahs response before the presence of the Holy One was one of cursing upon himself: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa. 6:5). It is of this God that the prophet Habakkuk said: Are You not from time everlasting, Lord, my God, my Holy One? Your eyes are too pure to look at evil... (Hab. 1:12a, 13a). In Nahum we are told that God is a jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies (Nah. 1:2). And when it comes to the sinfulness of the nations, we are told that all of the wicked must drink the cup of His wrath: For a cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams; it is well mixed, and He pours out of this; certainly all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink its dregs (Ps. 75:8). The cup of Gods wrath reserved for the wicked is the cup Jesus drank. The Son of God, the perfect sinless lamb, the Groom of the Church drank the cup of Gods wrath! The only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God.... Who, for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man[2] was born to die for sinful man! In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed about the cup reserved for the wicked: And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will. He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done. (Matt. 26:39, 42). Jesus drank the cup of Gods wrath for our redemption, and He drank every last drop on the cross by becoming curse in our place: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree (Gal. 3:13). This is why Jesus said of Himself: The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:35-36). Hell is how the wrath of God will be carried out, and Jesus described it as a place, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not extinguished (Mark 9:48). You Are Redeemed to Live as Children of Light However, if you are a Christian, you who were once a child of wrath are now a child of mercy, and thereby an adopted child of the Living God through the price Jesus paid by His blood. R.C. Sproul wrote of the salvation of sinners, The glory of the gospel is this: The one from whom we need to be saved is the one who has saved us. In his magnum opus, The Cross of Christ, John Stott described Christs sacrifice for our salvation this way: Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.[3] If you are confused as to how seriously God takes sin or how offended by your sin He was, you need not look beyond the cross on which Jesus died! The cross is the place where our redeemer bore a holy and justified wrath on our behalf where He received the ax of Gods justice in our place! Upon the cross, where Jesus was cursed in our place, He was pierced for our offenses and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5). We who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ are no longer children of wrath, and because we are no longer children of wrath, we are not to become partners with those who continue to practice the very thing that the wrath of God is reserved for. Christian, you who were once darkness are a child of light. As children of light, we are to live out our new life in Christ in the following four ways: We are to walk as children of light by not partnering with the sons of disobedience (v. 7). The Greek word for partner is symmetochos which can also be translated sharer or partaker. Paul uses the same word in Ephesians 3:6 to describe how we, Gentiles, share, partake, and participate in the promise of Christ as the body of Christ. We who once were satisfied by the broken cisterns of this world, now find our satisfaction in Jesus as the Living Water (John 7:37-39). We are to walk as children of light by displaying the light of Christ (v. 8). If you are a Christian, you are no longer darkness, but sons and daughters, Light of Life (John 12:36). Jesus said of all who belong to Him: You are the light of the world.... Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:14, 16). We are to walk as children of light by displaying the fruit of our identity and union in Christ (v. 9). By walking with Christ, we will display the goodness, righteousness, and truth of Jesus for the glory of God and the good of those around us. Our life is in Jesus, and the evidence that we belong to Him is that His life will shine through our lives. Tony Merida, in his commentary on Ephesians, said it this way: Those who walk in light do good works (2:10), they live righteously (4:24), and they speak truthfully (4:15).[4] We are to walk as children of light by living lives that are pleasing to the Lord (v. 10). Our lives are not set apart to please people, but to please the One who purchased us with His blood. This is why the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in your body. So, whats the point? The point is simply this: You, Christian, are a child of a Holy God who poured out His wrath upon His Son so that you would not be consumed by His justice but be overwhelmed by His kindness, grace, love, and mercy through Jesus! Because you are no longer dead in your offenses and sins (2:1), you walk as one who is alive in Christ. Walk as one who has been called, out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9). Walk as the forgiven because, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Walk in light of your new identity because God has declared by the authority of His word: if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). You who was once dead in your sins and once walked in darkness, are awake and alive not because of anything you have done but because of everything Christ has accomplished! This is why we sing, O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee Prone to wander Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here's my heart Lord take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above.[5] [1] [Passion] by Cody Carnes, Kristian Stanfill, and Sean Curran [2] From the Nicene Creed [3] John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 15. [4] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 126. [5] Come Thou Fount, [Shane and Shane] by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth

Daily Dose of Hope July 18, 2024 Day 5 of Week 16   Scripture:  I Samuel 6-8; Acts 7   Welcome back everyone!  We are finishing up week 16 of the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements New Hope's Bible reading plan.  Let's get to our Scripture for today.   We will begin with our Old Testament reading in I Samuel.  Let's start with chapter 6.  The Ark of the Covenant had become a liability to the Philistines and they knew it had to be returned.  They return it to Israel, sending a guilt offering of golden tumors and golden rats along with it, to "appease" the God of Israel.  The Ark is met with much joy by the people of Beth Shemesh, the town to which the Philistines sent the Ark.  They make offerings to the Lord and the Levites set the Ark on a large rock for all to see.    But there were problems here too.  Some of the inhabitants were bold enough to look into the Ark and God struck them down.  To us, this seems kind of harsh but God had given his people strict rules about handling the Ark of the Covenant.  This is where the presence of God dwelt among his people.  It wasn't to be taken lightly.  It wasn't simply a curiosity; it was the presence of the living God and thus, there should be reverence and even fear.  The people seem a bit shocked.  They ask, "Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?"    I am quite relieved that we live on the other side of the cross.  Because of Jesus' death on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn.  We no longer have to be fearful about being in the presence of a holy God as the Israelites once did.  As Hebrews 4:16 states, we can go boldly to the throne of grace and receive his mercy.  Jesus has made a way for us to be reconciled to God; no more barriers and no more fear.  At the same time, I think there is still a place for reverence.  We don't need to be hesitant or fearful of God but we should still have a deep respect that God is God and we are not.   In chapter 7, we see the Ark of the Covenant being taken to its proper place and the whole of Israel repenting before the Lord.  Under Samuel's leadership, the Hebrew people put away their false gods and turned back to the one true God.  As a sign of repentance, Samuel called the people to gather at a place called Mizpah, where he sacrificed a lamb as an offering to the Lord.  The Philistines heard about this, all of Israel gathering together, and they decide this would be a good time to attack.  In response, Samuel pleads to God on behalf of the Israelites.  God takes care of things and the Philistines are easily defeated.   Samuel places a stone, called an Ebenezer, to mark the significant event when God interceded on behalf of the Israelites.  In Hebrew, the word Ebenezer actually means stone of help.  The purpose of an Ebenezer, as we see in I Samuel, is to remember what God has done for his people.   When I read this passage, I was reminded of one of my favorite hymns, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, which was written by Robert Robinson in 1758.  In one of the verses, we sing, "Here I raise my Ebenezer, Here by Thy great help I've come,  And I hope by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home."  Robinson grew up in a difficult home.  After his father's death, his mother sent him to London to learn a trade but he fell in with a bad crowd.  But God's hand was at work.  Robinson is led one night to a gathering in which George Whitefield preached and Robert Robinson gave his life to Jesus Christ.  At age 23, Robinson begins to pastor a Methodist Chapel and writes the hymn.  To him, raising an Ebenezer meant very intentionally remembering the good work God had done in him, pulling him out of a terrible situation and demonstrating his power and grace.    Think of the good works that God has done in your life.  How has God demonstrated his power and grace?  I'm wondering if we all might go get a large stone and raise an Ebenezer as a way to remember what God has done.   In chapter 8, Samuel is coming to the end of his life.  We read that he wants to appoint his sons to lead Israel but the people are opposed.  His sons, like Eli's sons before him, are more interested in getting rich than caring for the people.  It is a strange thing that we see throughout Scripture, some of the most faithful, strong leaders raise children who have no integrity.  Are they too busy leading the people to lead their own families?  That may need to be a discussion for another day.   In this situation, the people recognize the weaknesses of Samuel's sons and don't want to be led by them.  They request a king.  Samuel is distressed by this and goes to God.  God tells Samuel to warn the people what having a king will mean.  The king will force their sons to fight in wars and their daughters to work as domestic servants.  The king will tax them and take a portion of their crops and livestock.  But the people insisted.  From the earliest of days, God had been the one to direct Israel and choose its leaders. But now the people are demanding something else.  They think a human king will bring stability and safety, as well as a certain status among the nations around them.  And while God knew this was not what was best for Israel (the ideal way was for God to remain the one providing direct guidance and instruction to the people), he granted their request anyway.  God would now achieve his purposes in a new way, through a human king and all his frailties.  God will achieve his purposes.   Acts 7 covers the stoning of Stephen.  When he is dragged in front of the Sanhedrin, Stephen gives a long, eloquent history of how God worked through his people, leading up to Jesus.  The Jewish leaders are offended by his directness and they get really worked up when he looks up at heaven and declares that he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.  Keep in mind, this would have been blasphemy to the strict Jews who sat on the council.  There was no real trial, no real discussion.  They simply drag Stephen out and start throwing stones.   Stephen was the first Christian martyr.  This was, of course, a sign of what was to come.  But Stephen also offers all Christians a beautiful model of how to live and die, trusting fully and completely in Jesus Christ.    Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

I know many of you know my story and how God saved me. Every year at this time I am more mindful of the miracle of Gods mercy, love, and grace upon my life! When God found me, I was so lost! I was not looking for Him, yet He found me! God got my attention on July 12, 1991, after I stepped in front of a big old car in the middle of Business Rt. 1 (aka West Lincoln Hwy.). My graduating class in 1993 was just under 600, the population where I grew up is currently over 70,000, and the hospital I was taken to after I was hit by that big white car currently has 371 beds. So, the fact that a woman from my fathers church who did not know me decided to pull over to pray for me could be viewed as a coincidence, but then to have the wife of the youth director of that same church assigned to my care is too much to ignore! Not to mention that eight months before my accident, my father had his accident that God used to get his attention by having his hand just about cut off, and shortly after receiving major surgery on his hand and recovering at home, two guys from a little church located not far from where I was hit by that big white car visited our little house to tell him about Jesus! At the same time my friends mom at whose home I ate almost all of my meals and spent almost all of my weekends sleeping in their home because my stepmother was so horrible to me while I was growing up, picked up a Bible and started reading it. So regardless of if I was at home or at my friends house, I was unable to escape from hearing about the God of the Bible and how He sent His Son to die for sinners like me! God orchestrated all of that so that on July 14th while confined to my bed with a major concussion in St. Marys Hospital, I was forced to listen to Darrell Adair, the youth director of my fathers little church, tell me about Jesus while my father sat on one side of my bed and Jackie on the other as they prayed for my soul 33 years ago to the day! Four days after Darrells visit, I finally caved and surrendered my life to Jesus as my Lord and Savior! So, to say that I am a bit overwhelmed by Gods grace is a bit of an understatement. God knows how my brain works, and it seems to me that ever year there is something new that I have not thought about since God saved my soul. I did not sit down to write my sermon manuscript until this past Friday which was the anniversary of the day I was hit by that big white car! That on the anniversary of one of the most important days of my life, I would be writing my sermon manuscript on Ephesians 5:1-2 is staggering to me! What is even more staggering is that the God I was running from not only chose me before the foundation of the world (1:3-4), but did so out of a great love for this lost sinner: In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace (vv. 5-6). This same God made me alive with Jesus on July 18th in the middle of my living room 33 years ago as a result of His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace (2:4-5), it is staggering to me! From everything that you have read, studied, and heard from Ephesians so far, can you blame me for being overwhelmed by Gods undeserved goodness upon my life? Think about it, 33 years ago while Darrell shared the gospel with my younger 16-year-old rebellious self, that He already determined that He would so mold and shape that teenage kid laying in that hospital bed that 33 years later he would stand before his church family finally ready to preach on Ephesians 5:1-2 after 20 years of pastoral ministry! Here is what I want to say very briefly before we get into these two verses so you can fully appreciate them. Ephesians 5:1-2 is inserted to make the point of how you can keep from grieving the Holy Spirit (4:30) and why you ought to reject, the useless deeds of the darkness. You, Christian, are beloved by God and you must never forget that! Imitate God Because He Loves You (v. 1) Tim Keller described this verse in this way: Its like putting a radioactive isotope in the middle of your being, and the rays it sends out will shrink your tumors.[1] Another way to state this verse is this way: Because God cherishes you as His dear child, imitate Him instead of the sinful world. The word for imitate is the Greek word mimētēs from which we get the word mimic. Remember what Paul stated in 4:25-32? Get rid of falsehood, get rid of ungodly anger, get rid of coveting and taking what does not belong to you, and get rid of unwholesome talk. Kill it! Make war with it! Get rid of all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander! Kill it! Make war with it! Be killing sin or it will be killing you! How you get radical about your sin and how you guard yourself against grieving the Holy Spirit is by remembering who you are, a child of a holy God. When you were dead in your sins, you imitated the life of the prince of the power of the air as the spiritually dead (2:1-3), but now you are alive with Christ and have been adopted as a son and as a daughter of the God you stood against. Now you are a beloved child of God. What does it mean to be a child of God? It means that you who were once dead are now alive with Christ (2:4-5), but that is not all that it means! It means that you who were once an enemy of God are now a friend of God, but it means so, so much more according to Romans 5, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (vv. 8-10). But wait, we are not just reconciled to God and saved by the Life of Christ, we are heirs with Christ: So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the fleshfor if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, Abba! Father! (Rom. 8:12-15) To go from death to life is a miracle! To go from an enemy of God to friendship with God is amazing! But to be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus and now stand before Him as a full-fledged and a legitimate child of a holy God is staggering! I am not the only one who thinks this way; the apostle John felt this way and wrote in his epistle: See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him (1 John 3:1). Or as it is written in Ephesians 1:11-12, In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory. Listen, we were the lost sheep that Jesus left the 99 to find (Luke 15:1-7)! We were the lost coin, that Jesus turns the house upside down to save and all of heaven rejoices over when you were found (Luke 15:8-10)! Christian, you were the prodigal son Jesus described in his parable who wallowed in the sloop and sludge who the Father compassionately runs to embrace and throws a party for and commands all of heaven: Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and lets eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found (Luke 15:22-24). So, as beloved children we are commanded to mimic our heavenly Father. What does that mean? Well, let me tell you what it does not mean: It does not mean to become what God is, for that is impossible. He alone is God and there is none like Him. God is eternal and has always existed; we are creatures made in His image. God is infinitely sovereign and self-sufficient; we are His image-bearing humans who are designed to find our satisfaction in Him. God is all-powerful (Omnipotent), while we are fragile. God is everywhere at once (Omnipresent), while we are finite and limited. God is all-knowing (Omniscient), while we are always learning. God is perfectly holy and is set apart from creation and alone is to be worshiped as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; He is the center of all things while we exist to worship Him. These characteristics that we cannot share with God are known as His incommunicable attributes. God also has characteristics that we can demonstrate in a limited way; these are known as His communicable attributes. Gods communicable attributes include His justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love. There is not one aspect of His character that He needs to improve upon. While we are called to exercise justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love we are forever needing to get better at being just, exercising wisdom, practicing faithfulness, demonstrating mercy, being good, compassionate, forgiving, and loving. Gods justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love are all character traits we are commanded to imitate in a way that sets apart from the rest of the world. for this is what it means to, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (4:1). It also includes the, good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (2:10). This is what Peter meant when he wrote, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: You shall be holy, for I am holy. (1 Pet. 1:14-16). More specifically though, it is the love of God that resulted in our forgiveness that we are to mimic as Gods beloved children. Walk in Love Because Jesus Redeemed You (v. 2) Why mimic God in the way that He loves? Well it is the reason why you, Christian, are beloved by God. Your sins cost God the life of His Son on a cross as an, offering and a sacrifice. The bruised and bleeding Christ, His torn flesh, His pierced hands and feet, His brow piercing crown of thorns, and his agonizing screams upon the cross as our curse is a testament to the horror and seriousness of our sin. As James Boice once said, Gods forgiveness is not a mere overlooking of sin, as though he said, Well, boys will be boys (or girls will be girls). Well overlook it for now; just dont let it happen again. God takes sin with such seriousness that he deals with it fully at the cross, and it is on that basisthe death of Jesusthat we can know we are forgiven.[2] I saw a quote from another pastor the other day that said, On the cross, God looked at Christ and saw you. Now, He looks at you and sees Christ.[3] This is why we are able to sing: Come Thou fount of ev'ry blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of Thy redeeming love[4] What does the love of God look like that we experienced? It is kindness, it is compassion, it is the type of forgiveness that keeps no record of wrongs! Think about what the love of God has done for you! You who were once cursed and condemned, Jesus was condemned by being cursed: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree. (Gal. 3:13). The apostle John defined it for us this way: In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). Christs death upon the cross for our sins was motivated by His love for us, and when He gave Himself up for us, He did so as an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma that pleased Him. As one commentator said, Jesus sacrifice upon the cross, gave the perfume of grace and glory, the most pleasing aroma of sacrifice ever.[5] To Walk in love, just as Christ also loved is one way to live a life that is pleasing to the One who called us to Himself through His Son. Love is the fuel and fire of worship; it is a love for God and a love for others. It is a love that makes Romans 12:1 possible: Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary who spent a lifetime in India and was influential in the outlawing of temple prostitution of children, said of love: One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.[6] A young woman who was considering the life of a missionary wrote a letter asking Carmaichael what missionary life was like, Carmaichael answered: Missionary life is simply a chance to die. To love, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us is not to atone for the sins of others but to walk in love in a way that you die to yourself for glory of God and the good of others. It is the kind of love that flows out of the crucified life Paul talked about in Galatians 2:19-20, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. To love as Christ loved us is to give ourselves to others so that Christ may be formed in them (see Gal. 4:19). To love as Christ loved is to walk in a way that serves to give to the One who gave Himself for you. To walk in love is to be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10), to build up one another (Rom. 14:19; 1 Thes. 5:11), to serve one another (Gal. 5:13), to bear one anothers burdens (Gal. 6:2), to seek the good for one another (1 Thess. 5:15), to live in peace with one another (1 Thes. 5:13), to encourage one another to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24), to confess our sins to one another (Jas. 5:16), to act in humility towards one another (1 Pet. 5:13), to walk in truth together (1 John 3:18), and so many other one anothers! This is why we read in our Bible: We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We love because we are beloved children. We love because, Christ also loved you Now, my dear brothers and sisters, we not only can love God and others, but love is also the evidence we are our indeed the children of God. Amen. [1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). [2] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 174. [3] John MacArthur [4] Come Thou Fount [5] Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition: Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman; 2014), p. 121. [6] Ibid.

I know many of you know my story and how God saved me. Every year at this time I am more mindful of the miracle of Gods mercy, love, and grace upon my life! When God found me, I was so lost! I was not looking for Him, yet He found me! God got my attention on July 12, 1991, after I stepped in front of a big old car in the middle of Business Rt. 1 (aka West Lincoln Hwy.). My graduating class in 1993 was just under 600, the population where I grew up is currently over 70,000, and the hospital I was taken to after I was hit by that big white car currently has 371 beds. So, the fact that a woman from my fathers church who did not know me decided to pull over to pray for me could be viewed as a coincidence, but then to have the wife of the youth director of that same church assigned to my care is too much to ignore! Not to mention that eight months before my accident, my father had his accident that God used to get his attention by having his hand just about cut off, and shortly after receiving major surgery on his hand and recovering at home, two guys from a little church located not far from where I was hit by that big white car visited our little house to tell him about Jesus! At the same time my friends mom at whose home I ate almost all of my meals and spent almost all of my weekends sleeping in their home because my stepmother was so horrible to me while I was growing up, picked up a Bible and started reading it. So regardless of if I was at home or at my friends house, I was unable to escape from hearing about the God of the Bible and how He sent His Son to die for sinners like me! God orchestrated all of that so that on July 14th while confined to my bed with a major concussion in St. Marys Hospital, I was forced to listen to Darrell Adair, the youth director of my fathers little church, tell me about Jesus while my father sat on one side of my bed and Jackie on the other as they prayed for my soul 33 years ago to the day! Four days after Darrells visit, I finally caved and surrendered my life to Jesus as my Lord and Savior! So, to say that I am a bit overwhelmed by Gods grace is a bit of an understatement. God knows how my brain works, and it seems to me that ever year there is something new that I have not thought about since God saved my soul. I did not sit down to write my sermon manuscript until this past Friday which was the anniversary of the day I was hit by that big white car! That on the anniversary of one of the most important days of my life, I would be writing my sermon manuscript on Ephesians 5:1-2 is staggering to me! What is even more staggering is that the God I was running from not only chose me before the foundation of the world (1:3-4), but did so out of a great love for this lost sinner: In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace (vv. 5-6). This same God made me alive with Jesus on July 18th in the middle of my living room 33 years ago as a result of His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace (2:4-5), it is staggering to me! From everything that you have read, studied, and heard from Ephesians so far, can you blame me for being overwhelmed by Gods undeserved goodness upon my life? Think about it, 33 years ago while Darrell shared the gospel with my younger 16-year-old rebellious self, that He already determined that He would so mold and shape that teenage kid laying in that hospital bed that 33 years later he would stand before his church family finally ready to preach on Ephesians 5:1-2 after 20 years of pastoral ministry! Here is what I want to say very briefly before we get into these two verses so you can fully appreciate them. Ephesians 5:1-2 is inserted to make the point of how you can keep from grieving the Holy Spirit (4:30) and why you ought to reject, the useless deeds of the darkness. You, Christian, are beloved by God and you must never forget that! Imitate God Because He Loves You (v. 1) Tim Keller described this verse in this way: Its like putting a radioactive isotope in the middle of your being, and the rays it sends out will shrink your tumors.[1] Another way to state this verse is this way: Because God cherishes you as His dear child, imitate Him instead of the sinful world. The word for imitate is the Greek word mimētēs from which we get the word mimic. Remember what Paul stated in 4:25-32? Get rid of falsehood, get rid of ungodly anger, get rid of coveting and taking what does not belong to you, and get rid of unwholesome talk. Kill it! Make war with it! Get rid of all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander! Kill it! Make war with it! Be killing sin or it will be killing you! How you get radical about your sin and how you guard yourself against grieving the Holy Spirit is by remembering who you are, a child of a holy God. When you were dead in your sins, you imitated the life of the prince of the power of the air as the spiritually dead (2:1-3), but now you are alive with Christ and have been adopted as a son and as a daughter of the God you stood against. Now you are a beloved child of God. What does it mean to be a child of God? It means that you who were once dead are now alive with Christ (2:4-5), but that is not all that it means! It means that you who were once an enemy of God are now a friend of God, but it means so, so much more according to Romans 5, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (vv. 8-10). But wait, we are not just reconciled to God and saved by the Life of Christ, we are heirs with Christ: So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the fleshfor if you are living in accord with the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, Abba! Father! (Rom. 8:12-15) To go from death to life is a miracle! To go from an enemy of God to friendship with God is amazing! But to be reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus and now stand before Him as a full-fledged and a legitimate child of a holy God is staggering! I am not the only one who thinks this way; the apostle John felt this way and wrote in his epistle: See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact we are. For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know Him (1 John 3:1). Or as it is written in Ephesians 1:11-12, In Him we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things in accordance with the plan of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in the Christ would be to the praise of His glory. Listen, we were the lost sheep that Jesus left the 99 to find (Luke 15:1-7)! We were the lost coin, that Jesus turns the house upside down to save and all of heaven rejoices over when you were found (Luke 15:8-10)! Christian, you were the prodigal son Jesus described in his parable who wallowed in the sloop and sludge who the Father compassionately runs to embrace and throws a party for and commands all of heaven: Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and lets eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found (Luke 15:22-24). So, as beloved children we are commanded to mimic our heavenly Father. What does that mean? Well, let me tell you what it does not mean: It does not mean to become what God is, for that is impossible. He alone is God and there is none like Him. God is eternal and has always existed; we are creatures made in His image. God is infinitely sovereign and self-sufficient; we are His image-bearing humans who are designed to find our satisfaction in Him. God is all-powerful (Omnipotent), while we are fragile. God is everywhere at once (Omnipresent), while we are finite and limited. God is all-knowing (Omniscient), while we are always learning. God is perfectly holy and is set apart from creation and alone is to be worshiped as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; He is the center of all things while we exist to worship Him. These characteristics that we cannot share with God are known as His incommunicable attributes. God also has characteristics that we can demonstrate in a limited way; these are known as His communicable attributes. Gods communicable attributes include His justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love. There is not one aspect of His character that He needs to improve upon. While we are called to exercise justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love we are forever needing to get better at being just, exercising wisdom, practicing faithfulness, demonstrating mercy, being good, compassionate, forgiving, and loving. Gods justice, wisdom, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, and love are all character traits we are commanded to imitate in a way that sets apart from the rest of the world. for this is what it means to, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called (4:1). It also includes the, good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (2:10). This is what Peter meant when he wrote, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: You shall be holy, for I am holy. (1 Pet. 1:14-16). More specifically though, it is the love of God that resulted in our forgiveness that we are to mimic as Gods beloved children. Walk in Love Because Jesus Redeemed You (v. 2) Why mimic God in the way that He loves? Well it is the reason why you, Christian, are beloved by God. Your sins cost God the life of His Son on a cross as an, offering and a sacrifice. The bruised and bleeding Christ, His torn flesh, His pierced hands and feet, His brow piercing crown of thorns, and his agonizing screams upon the cross as our curse is a testament to the horror and seriousness of our sin. As James Boice once said, Gods forgiveness is not a mere overlooking of sin, as though he said, Well, boys will be boys (or girls will be girls). Well overlook it for now; just dont let it happen again. God takes sin with such seriousness that he deals with it fully at the cross, and it is on that basisthe death of Jesusthat we can know we are forgiven.[2] I saw a quote from another pastor the other day that said, On the cross, God looked at Christ and saw you. Now, He looks at you and sees Christ.[3] This is why we are able to sing: Come Thou fount of ev'ry blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of Thy redeeming love[4] What does the love of God look like that we experienced? It is kindness, it is compassion, it is the type of forgiveness that keeps no record of wrongs! Think about what the love of God has done for you! You who were once cursed and condemned, Jesus was condemned by being cursed: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for usfor it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a Tree. (Gal. 3:13). The apostle John defined it for us this way: In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). Christs death upon the cross for our sins was motivated by His love for us, and when He gave Himself up for us, He did so as an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma that pleased Him. As one commentator said, Jesus sacrifice upon the cross, gave the perfume of grace and glory, the most pleasing aroma of sacrifice ever.[5] To Walk in love, just as Christ also loved is one way to live a life that is pleasing to the One who called us to Himself through His Son. Love is the fuel and fire of worship; it is a love for God and a love for others. It is a love that makes Romans 12:1 possible: Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary who spent a lifetime in India and was influential in the outlawing of temple prostitution of children, said of love: One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.[6] A young woman who was considering the life of a missionary wrote a letter asking Carmaichael what missionary life was like, Carmaichael answered: Missionary life is simply a chance to die. To love, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us is not to atone for the sins of others but to walk in love in a way that you die to yourself for glory of God and the good of others. It is the kind of love that flows out of the crucified life Paul talked about in Galatians 2:19-20, I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. To love as Christ loved us is to give ourselves to others so that Christ may be formed in them (see Gal. 4:19). To love as Christ loved is to walk in a way that serves to give to the One who gave Himself for you. To walk in love is to be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10), to build up one another (Rom. 14:19; 1 Thes. 5:11), to serve one another (Gal. 5:13), to bear one anothers burdens (Gal. 6:2), to seek the good for one another (1 Thess. 5:15), to live in peace with one another (1 Thes. 5:13), to encourage one another to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24), to confess our sins to one another (Jas. 5:16), to act in humility towards one another (1 Pet. 5:13), to walk in truth together (1 John 3:18), and so many other one anothers! This is why we read in our Bible: We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). We love because we are beloved children. We love because, Christ also loved you Now, my dear brothers and sisters, we not only can love God and others, but love is also the evidence we are our indeed the children of God. Amen. [1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013). [2] James Montgomery Boice, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library, 1988), 174. [3] John MacArthur [4] Come Thou Fount [5] Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition: Ephesians (Nashville, TN: Holman; 2014), p. 121. [6] Ibid.

The Lancaster Family sings "Come Thou Fount (Revised)" during a worship service at Immanuel Baptist Church, Florence, Ky. Please visit us at 7183 Pleasant Valley Road Florence KY 41042, or call us at (859) 586-6829. Church links: Website: https://www.ibcflorence.com Daily Devotions: https://ibcflorenceky.wordpress.com/follow/ Free App: http://www.ibcflorence.com/ibc-app Our entire list of recent sermons: https://www.ibcflorence.com/recent-sermons Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ibcflorence Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ibcflorenceky Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ibcflorence/ Podcasts: https://soundcloud.com/user-658781358 Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/ibcflorence/live Instant Message: https://m.me/ibcflorenceky We would love to know how to pray for you! Romans 10:9

Tiffany and Lauren kick off the episode with a discussion about the Music of a Spoken Word podcast, with Tiffany sharing her love for the Olympics. They delve into stories about BYU Engineering's Lego building competition, missionaries in American Samoa, and the USA track and field Olympic trials. The episode also features heartwarming tales of athletes striving for Olympic qualification and a new prison ministry app by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tune in for a mix of inspiring stories, Olympic updates, and community outreach initiatives. 00:00:00 - Introduction to Podcast Episode 00:05:30 - Lauren Lemons' Introduction and Background 00:14:44 - Interesting Facts about "Come Thou Fount" 00:20:49 - Introduction to the New Music and the Spoken Word Host 00:26:00 - BYU Engineering Lego Building Competition 00:30:34 - Heartwarming Story of Missionary Siblings 00:33:52 - Olympic Trials: Men's Steeplechase 00:37:40 - Olympic Trials: Women's Steeplechase 00:45:06 - Introduction to Prison Ministry App by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Are you ready to make a declaration? Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller. This week, we are reading 1 Samuel 7. I've titled this chapter "Stand Up And Make A Declaration." For me, this chapter underscores the importance of personal commitments that are publicly declared to God. In the early 1800s, a preacher named Charles Finney revolutionized the way we publicly declare our faith with what he dubbed the "Altar Call." This call, absent from many churches today, was an invitation to step forward in a service and. proclaim Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Influential figures like Billy Graham and ministries like Promise Keepers adopted it as a. The narrative in 1 Samuel 7 will read and feel like this. It's an "Altar Call" given by Samuel to the entire nation of Israel. It's a monumental day in their history, with interesting details and occurrences that I will let unfold naturally. But at the conclusion of the day, Samuel sets up a monument. They stand up a stone to commemorate and remember the commitments that they have publicly made to God. This leads us to the key verse of this chapter. 1 Samuel 7:12 reads: Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” — 1 Samuel 7:12 Of course, some of you know this verse because it was popularized by a well-known Hymn, "Come Thou Fount." One of the verses sings: Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by thy help I've come; This moment of this song recalls this moment in Israel's history. It's a song that calls us to reflect on a great day of repentance in Israel's history. All believers need moments like this. We need standing-stone moments to remind us. There is nothing special about the markers or the monuments—all they are meant to do is remind us of the commitments and covenants we have made personally and publicly with God. Today, look back on some of those moments when you stood up a stone in your relationship with God. Reflect on two questions. Where were you when you stood up a stone, and what change did you commit to make with God? Share them in the comments below, and let's celebrate the Ebenezers we have stood up in our lives. And if you are ready to make a declaration to God, you can take this moment to stand up a new stone. #DailyDevo, #DeclareYourFaith, #StandUpForGod Ask This: When was the last time you publicly declared your faith in God, either through words or actions? How did that moment impact your relationship with Him?   Reflecting on your spiritual journey, what "stones" or markers can you identify where God has shown His faithfulness and helped you overcome challenges? How can these reminders encourage you to continue growing in your faith today? Do This: Share a standing stone moment below. Pray This: Father, thank you for moments of declaration and commitment in my journey with You. Help me to continually raise my Ebenezer, acknowledging Your faithfulness and seeking deeper intimacy with You each day. Amen. Play This: Come Thou Fount.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Overview Title: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing Key Lines: “Come, Thou Fount of every blessing; Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.” Historical Context: This hymn was not in the original LDS hymnbook... The post 805 Hear Hymn – Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing appeared first on The Cultural Hall Podcast.

Good Friday | March 29, 2024 | Pastor Michelle preaches on Mark 15:21-39.

Sunday, February 25, 2024 | Wandering Heart: Figuring Out Faith with Peter | Pastor Michelle preaches a sermon entitled "Rescue Me From Danger" on Matthew 14:22-33.

Sunday, March 3, 2024 | Wandering Heart: Figuring Out Faith with Peter | Pastor Michelle preaches a sermon entitled "Praise the Mount" on Matthew 16:13-20.

Holy (Maundy) Thursday | March 28, 2024 | Pastor Michelle offers a reflectiona and leads a time of confession around John 18-19.

Sunday, March 24, 2024 | Palm-Passion Sunday | Wandering Heart: Figuring Out Faith with Peter | Pastor Michelle preaches a sermon entitled "Songs of Loudest Praise" on John 12:12-16.

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024 | Nalls Produce and Garden Center | Pastor Michelle preaches on Luke 24:1-12.

Sunday, March 10, 2024 | Wandering Heart: Figuring Out Faith with Peter | Pastor Michelle preaches a sermon entitled "I'm Fixed Upon It" on Matthew 16:21-23.