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3 episodes with deaththis
2 episodes with deaththis
2 episodes with deaththis
2 episodes with deaththis
2 episodes with deaththis
2 episodes with deaththis
Oh Death, You Are Dead To Me!Isaiah 25:7-8 "On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.”This morning, I was thinking about using a song that I have heard a lot lately, which I thought would be really good and go with the theme of mentoring for this month. Then, while I was driving my son to school, this other song came on the radio, and I felt like it was a song we all needed to hear. The song is called “Oh Death” and is sung by MercyMe. I will go into the song in a bit, but first, let's talk about this verse.It begins by saying, “On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers the nations.” It was believed that there was a veil of sorts over the whole land that prevented people from seeing and following the Lord and living the way He wants us to live. I would say this is still true today. The enemy tries to put a veil in front of us so that we don't want to live the way God wants us to live. He tries to separate us from the Lord.Before Jesus died on the cross, there was a veil separating us from the Lord that was put there by God. After Adam and Eve ate from the tree, they could no longer have free access to God. From then on, only certain people could see God and talk with the Lord. However, once Jesus died on that cross, that veil was torn in two, literally. (Matthew 27:51). Now we have free access to the Lord. There is nothing separating us from talking with him. He did not want that separation anymore.However, the enemy likes to put up walls and make us believe that the Lord is too busy for us or that God is too great and we are not worthy to talk with Him. There is definitely some sort of veil over the world that tries to dim God's light and separate us from Him. The enemy wants us to feel separate from God because when we feel apart from Him, fear can creep in and try to turn us away from God. This verse is reminding us that God will destroy that veil just as he did the other one.The next line is the one that reminds me of the song. It says that the Lord will swallow up death forever. I know so many people who are afraid to die. And that makes sense because we don't want to leave our loved ones and our friends. We aren't ready to say goodbye yet, or maybe we aren't sure our loved ones are ready. Will they be ok without us? Will they be ok on their own? These are all questions that go through our minds when we think about death.We also might be worried about death because no one knows for sure what it is all about. No one knows quite what to expect. We hope that we will be in heaven with God, but then we have the enemy whispering in our ear, telling us we won't be. He reminds us of all that we have done wrong and tells us there is no way that we will get to be with God, not with what we have done. The enemy is a liar! Don't believe him. Yes, you may have done some pretty bad things, we all have. Yet, Jesus took all of that to the cross with Him, so don't let the enemy pile it onto your shoulders again.The verse above also says, “The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth.” God is so gentle and caring that He wipes away the tears from our faces. He not only takes away our pain, but he wipes our tears too! He also removes all disgrace that we have. The devil wants us to keep our disgrace and our shame. He reminds us of it so often that it seems like we will never forget. However, verses like this remind us that God does not hold onto the things we have done after we repent for them. So, if God isn't holding on to it, why are we?I wanted to share this song with you today because I know a lot of people who are pretty sick. Several people listening to this podcast are chronically in pain. There are several who are listening who worry about loved ones who are sick. What I love most about this song is the upbeat music and the lyrics. When you feel down, or when you feel like you might be scared of death, or scared that the enemy might be winning the fight, listen to the lyric video of this song and sing along with it. I bet your fear will disappear. The song begins:You said my fate was sealed, you said my days were numberedCase closed with no appeal, my future six feet underMessin' with my head in ghost fashionMy heart was holdin' its breath (holdin' its breath)Terrified of takin' my last oneOh death, you scared me to deathThis is what the enemy does. He whispers all these lies in our ears and he does it so often that we start to believe them. This is why it is so important to spend more time reading the scriptures, and surrounding ourselves with people who speak light and truth into our lives. If we hear the lies more often then we hear the truth, of course we are going to believe it. We have to make sure we are hearing the truth more often!Whoa, you ain't my king thoughWhoa, where did your sting go?Oh death, I will not be afraidIn the end, you will loseI will dance on your grave with the one who buried youYou ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled awaySet you straight and set me freeOh death, you are dead to me(Oh dear, you are dead to me)This chorus is great because it shows the enemy that we are not afraid. God is our King; He is the one who decides everything. The enemy has no say. If we can stop thinking of the enemy as this giant thing that can take us down and start thinking of him like it talks about him in this song, I am sure we would feel stronger. This song says, “I will dance on your grave with the one who buried you. You ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled away. Set you straight and set me free.”God already defeated death and sin when He sent His only Son to be sacrificed for us. We don't have to be scared of death. Death was already defeated when Jesus rose again. We don't have to be scared of it! God already won the war of good vs. evil and death vs. life. I love how the song says that we will dance on the devil's grave with the one who buried him!My faith don't flinch, it's alrightDevil, come get off of my shoulderYou thought you had the last laughYou thought this song was overWhoa, you ain't my king thoughWhoa, where did your sting go?Oh death, I will not be afraidIn the end, you will loseI will dance on your grave with the one who buried youYou ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled awaySet you straight and set me freeOh death, you are dead to meOh death, you are dead to meThe enemy always thinks he has the last laugh or the last word. He refuses to accept that he has lost the war. We need to be on guard to protect ourselves from the enemy but we don't need to be afraid of him. If we are constantly turning back to the Lord. If we are rooted in the Lord and His love for us, then the enemy doesn't stand a chance!The song goes on to say:Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of youI know I'm just passin' through, oh yeahThough I walk through the valley of the shadow of youI know I'm just passin' through, oh yeahOh death, I will not be afraidIn the end, you will loseI will dance on your grave with the one who buried youYou ain't nothin' but a stone that my savior rolled awaySet you straight and set me freeOh death, you are dead to meI like this last verse too because it reminds us of something very important. It says, “Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of you. I know I'm just passin' through.” This is important for us to know. Yes, we will be in the valley sometimes. Yes, the enemy will attack us sometimes, and yet the Lord is always there with us. He will always be there to save us. We are stuck in that valley, and no matter how much it feels like it, you aren't going to stay there forever. You are just passing through to pick up whatever you need for your next adventure in life. Maybe you need more perseverance, resilience, strength, peace, healing, whatever it is that this valley is teaching you. You are just passing through to level up so you can make it through the next season of your life.I pray this song makes you smile. It makes me smile when I hear it on the radio. It makes me smile when I imagine myself dancing to this song on top of the devil's grave with Jesus. It makes me smile when I think about how God rolled away the stone and rose so we could be forgiven. It makes me smile to remember I am just passing through this valley, and even though it seems like I have been here forever, I will get out of it. I invite you to look up this song on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you listen to music and hear this song today. It really is a great song with a great beat.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today! Lord, we love you. Please help us to remember we are just passing through this valley. Please help us to see that you have already defeated death, and we have nothing to be afraid of. Please help us to walk in your light and not in the darkness. Please help us to stand firm in the truth that you are our Lord and you have defeated evil. We thank you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in October 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Be bold. Be not afraid to speak my words to those you meet. Be courageous in times of trouble. I am your God, and I am there to help you.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace
John Lieberman has spent the last 30 years helping teens and families navigate the most complex emotional terrain imaginable—addiction, anxiety, depression, and everything in between. As CEO of Visions Treatment Centers, John is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading experts in adolescent behavioral health. Visions is a unique program that not only offers extended care but also includes a sober high school for teens struggling with substance use disorder and mental health issues.He joins Zac and Jay to talk about what's really going on with young people today—and what parents, clinicians, and communities can actually do to help.From cell phone addiction and the mental health fallout of hyper-connected childhoods to the rise in adolescent gambling and cannabis use, John unpacks the root causes behind what he calls “a silent epidemic of loneliness and overwhelm.” He also shares what makes Visions different—from its pioneering academic model to its deep commitment to family involvement and individualized care.Highlights include:Why delaying substance use is one of the most powerful forms of preventionHow technology is rewiring kids' brains—and parents' tooThe importance of unstructured time, real-world friendships, and learning to fall and get back upWhy many ADHD diagnoses may actually be unrecognized trauma or anxietyHow parents can show up differently (and why showing up matters more than being perfect)When intervention is necessary—and when it becomes traumaticHow shame and stigma still block families from getting help, even when the stakes are life and deathThis is more than a conversation about adolescent treatment—it's about parenting, connection, and what it really means to see and support a young person in crisis. Whether you're a parent, provider, or someone who cares about the next generation, this one will stay with you.To learn more about Visions Treatment Center: https://visionsteen.com/Connect with Zachttps://www.instagram.com/zwclark/https://www.linkedin.com/in/zac-c-746b96254/https://www.tiktok.com/@zacwclarkhttps://www.strava.com/athletes/55697553https://twitter.com/zacwclarkIf you or anyone you know is struggling, please do not hesitate to contact Release:(914) 588-6564releaserecovery.com@releaserecovery
Episode Summary: The Alpha, the Omega, and Eternal Life (Pages 279-309)This chapter explores the sacred cycles of beginnings and endings, offering comfort and wisdom to anyone navigating loss or seeking a deeper purpose behind the human experience. While we often think of life and death as opposites—one to be celebrated and the other to be feared—this teaching invites us to see them as partners in the soul's journey. By embracing both, we can find greater peace, presence, and freedom.Key Themes:* Life and death are not opposing forces but interconnected cycles in the soul's evolution.* Every birth contains an ending, just as every ending creates a new beginning.* Love does not disappear after loss—it transforms and takes on a new form.* Our feelings cannot be solved through logic; they must be felt and processed to move through them.* The Divine is not a force of suffering or punishment but of peace—we can access this when we surrender to the greater flow of life.The Nature of Beginnings and EndingsWe all come into this world knowing that we will one day leave it. This is not a tragedy—it is part of the Divine design. Without endings, there could be no beginnings.* A mother must release her former identity when she gives birth to a child.* When a loved one passes, those left behind must release the life they knew with them.* The grief we feel in loss is proof of the love we have shared.* Beginnings and endings hold both light and void—fear, love, grief, and transformation are all part of the same sacred cycle.The Conflict Between the Mind and the HeartOne of the greatest challenges we face is the tension between our thoughts and feelings:* The mind seeks logic and control, but the heart speaks the language of energy and emotion.* We often try to reason through emotions, but feelings cannot be solved like a problem; they must be moved through.* True peace comes when we learn to balance the mind and heart, embracing presence instead of overanalyzing.Yeshua's presence is not about fear, suffering, or burden—those are constructs of the human mind. Divine energy is peace, and we can tap into this by surrendering control and trusting in something greater than ourselves.Understanding the Layers of AwarenessTo better navigate our human experience, we are shown three levels of awareness:* Thoughts (Lowest Vibration) – The mind's attempt to process the external world.* Feelings and Emotions (Higher Vibration) – More aligned with the Light, connected to energy and intuition.* Intuition and Presence (Highest Vibration) – A deep knowing, the soul's wisdom, and direct connection to the Divine.Yet, we often give the lowest vibration—our thoughts—the most power. This chapter invites us to reset, allowing intuition and presence to lead, bringing harmony even through grief, birth, and sudden change.Finding Peace in Life and DeathLoss is often seen as something to fear, yet it is part of the balance of creation. Nothing reminds us of the power of love more than loss itself.* When we lose someone, it feels like a part of us is gone—but in reality, they shift from being beside us to being within us.* The grief we experience is not about something being taken from us; rather, it is an expansion of love.* The Divine does not wish for us to carry burdens; instead, we are invited to lay them down and find peace in faith and forgiveness.The Sacred Cycle of Life and DeathThis chapter shares the cycle of our physical existence:* Upon birth, our spirit descends from the infinite, while our physical form rises from the earth.* Upon death, our spirit ascends back to the infinite, and our body returns to the earth.* We do not cease to exist; we simply transition into a new way of being.* This is why we can still feel the presence of loved ones who have passed—they are still with us, just in a different form.Hope, Balance, and the Gift of PeaceThe Divine carries hope for us, just as we carry hope for our loved ones. But true hope is not about avoiding suffering—it is about seeking peace.* Yeshua does not exist to save us from death or struggle but to help us find balance.* When we restore balance between the mind and heart, everything shifts.* If we wish to find Yeshua, we do not need more knowledge or service—we need balance.Lessons on Grief and Eternal ConnectionGrief is an awakening—an invitation to form a new relationship with the ones we have lost. Love is eternal, and our connections remain unbroken.* Each ending contains a new beginning; grief and love are intertwined.* We are whole, even when we feel empty.* Loss is not final—it is a transformation of presence.* We are encouraged to move through grief with simplicity, not resistance. True wisdom emerges from allowing what is, rather than trying to control it.What Happens When We Die?This chapter offers a perspective on the moment of death:* The soul reunites with its whole self, freed from the limits of the body.* All memories and experiences transform into light and understanding.* We experience a return to love and balance, a reunion with those who came before us.At the moment of passing, our relationships do not end; they transcend time and space, becoming woven into our spirit.Key TakeawayEvery loss plants seeds of light within us. Our journey is not about avoiding grief—it is about walking through it with an open heart. Love does not disappear; it simply changes form.Reflection:When loss creates a void, that space is not empty—it is an opening where light can enter.Next Steps: Read & Listen
Send us a textWelcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 335- Meddling With Life and DeathThis episode is a continuation of a discussion between Mr. Bartley and the Ghost of Edgar Allan Poe regarding Mary Shelley and Frankenstein. Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.
John Owen was a puritan who lived in the United Kingdom, the most published author of the 17th century, and considered by many as one of the most important theologians produced by the West. One of his most famous lines ever penned comes from his book, The Mortification of Sin, which was first published in 1656. Mortification simply means to put to death. Owens entire book is really a treatise on Romans 8:13, for 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. Owens condensed this verse into 9 words: Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. Now you may be thinking, Pastor Keith, you said that God loves us too much to leave us as we were. Pastor Keith, you said: Jesus loves His Church too much to leave her the way He found her. Pastor Keith, I thought Ephesians 1:19 was for me and that the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe is the power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave and now that same power dwells in me so that I can live the Christian life well? So, what is this business of needing to kill sin because it may kill me? John Owen was right when he wrote of our sin problem, that it is always acting, always conceiving, and always seducing and tempting.[1] Where is that in the Bible? It is all over the Bible, but it is in Galatians 5:17, For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing what you want. It is in Romans 7:23, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my bodys parts. Even though you can rejoice in your salvation, you still find yourself in places you do not want anyone else to hear, and maybe inwardly you are crying and begging as you grope for words: Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death (Rom. 7:24)? Owens wrote, Every lust is a depraved habit or inclination pushing the heart toward evil.[2] And, if you are honest, you know the terror of the truth of those words as you sit here today and the last thing you want is to feel more guilt over your failures, but instead want help and encouragement as you desire to press forward! There are two words in Ephesians 4:25-32 that I believe will offer you some help and encouragement this morning. The first word is ridding (apotithēmi) and is linked to the sins we were once slaves to. The other word is grief (lypeō) as it relates to the Holy Spirit. But first, let begin by first turning our attention to the word grief because if you can appreciate verse 30, what it means to rid ourselves of sin and how we do it, this will make more sense. Grief is Evidence that We Belong to God There are two types of grief that proves that God made you alive together with Christ. There is the grief the Holy Spirit experiences over your sin and the grief you experience because of your sin. Now that you are a Christian, the grief you experience over your sin is different than the kind of grief you experienced before you became a follower of Jesus. It is a grief that comes by way of being alive with Christ and no longer dead in your offenses and sins (2:1). When you were dead in your sins, you were also a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3)! Now that you are alive with Christ, you are a child of God! Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma (Eph. 5:1). You are not just a child of God, but a beloved child of God! Your grief over sin is different because you are now able to love Jesus in the way the apostle Peter described in his epistle: 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, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Pet. 1:8-9). Your grief over your sin is the kind of thing James wrote about: Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you (Jas 4:810). If you are born again, you grieve over your sin because of the ways it affects your relationship with God, which is the type of grieving that was impossible when you were dead in your sins. There is another grief that is addressed in Ephesians 4:30, and it is the grief the Holy Spirit experiences over your sins. The reason why your sins grieve the Holy Spirit is because you who were once an enemy of God are now a child of God. Your sins grieve the Holy Spirit in the same way the sins of a child grieves the heart of his mother and father who loves their child and are committed to that child. God as a Trinity is eternally invested in your redemption: the Father chose you for redemption, the Son redeemed you for salvation, the Holy Spirit seals you to powerfully keep you and all of it was motivated by love! We see the same work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in Romans 5:1-5, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom. 5:15) The Holy Spirit is grieved over our sins because His sealing and indwelling is evidence of, the love of God poured out within our hearts. Kent Hughes said of the Holy Spirit: He comes to us in the clay of our sinful humanity, and though the walls are covered over with spiritual leprosy, he indwells us.[3] He does not just indwell us, He has come to stay! This is one of many reasons why Paul could write Romans 8:1, Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 4:30 doesnt end with the command, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God but concludes with a promise: by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. If you are still confused over how this is good news, consider Philippians 1:6, For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus. It is because the Holy Spirit seals us and dwells within us with power that we are able to sing: No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand The One who dwells within you and seals you for the day of redemption is the Holy Spirit of God. He is not a power, a force, or a character trait of God; the Holy Spirit is a Person, and He is God Almighty! Christian, because God loves you, the Holy Spirit can be grieved by you. The Holy Spirit is the Promise that We Can Live for God The reason why the Holy Spirit can be grieved is not only because He loves you, but because He has provided you with all that you need to say no to sin. Some of you are passively waiting to gain victory over sin in your life as though there is some magic recipe needed for you to successfully conquer certain sins in your life. Listen, when it comes to victory over sin, there is no easy button you can push! This might shock some of you, but to gain victory over your sin, you must be willing to fight against your sin. There is a list of sins Paul provides in verses 25-32, but do not think that this is an exhaustive list or that the sins listed are worse than others that are not listed. What is provided in these verses are examples, and dare I say it, examples we tend to feel better about than other sins. The point for why the apostle lists these sins is that we are to rid ourselves of them. We are to rid ourselves of falsehood (v. 25), sinful anger (v. 26), theft (v. 28), unwholesome talk (v. 29), ungodly virtues (vv. 31-32). We are to rid ourselves of deceit because God is truth and the devil is the father of lies (Deut. 32:4; John 8:44). We are to rid ourselves of ungodly anger because it does not leave room for the kind of mercy, love, and grace we received from God (see Col. 3:12-13; Matt. 18:21-35). We are to rid ourselves of theft because it feeds our idolatrous hearts into thinking what belongs to God, and how He has blessed others, really belongs to us. We are to rid ourselves of unwholesome talk because what comes out of our mouths really comes out of the heart (Matt. 15:17-19). We are to rid ourselves of bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice by replacing those sins with kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. What does it mean to rid ourselves of these sins and how do we do it? Well, for starters, do not for a second think that Paul is telling us to do these things to keep our salvation. Bryan Chapell rightly said of these verses: We are not to live to secure grace but to live out the grace that God secured for us.[4] In light of the grace that God secured for us and the power that resides within us from His Holy Spirit, we are able, and we must, rid ourselves of these sins that threaten us. When we were dead in our sins, we were unable to rid ourselves of the sins of our flesh, but after God made us alive with Christ, He gave us a new nature and empowered us to fight our sins and to win against them. This is one of the reasons Jesus called Him the Helper: I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever (John 14:16). The word for rid in Greek is apotithēmi. The ESV translates this word put away. The NIV translates this word, put off. The previous version of the NASB before the 2020 update even translated this word, lay aside. All three ways are legitimate ways to translate apotithēmi, but I think the NASB2020 is better! Ridding yourselves of falsehood, sinful anger, theft, unwholesome talk, and ungodly virtues. Be truthful, exercise righteous anger when necessary, work hard and live generously for the good of others, and use your words for the glory of God and the edification of those around you! The same Greek word is used in Hebrews 12:1-2, Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, lets rid [apotithēmi] ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and lets run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Do more than just lay aside your sin, do more than just put it off, do more than put it away; get rid of it! Throw it aside! Put it to death! Why? Because it is dangerous! Just because you are a Christian and have the Holy Spirit, do not be passive about it. Treat it as something venomous and deadly! Your desire to lie, to give into anger and rage, to take that which does not belong to you get rid of it and put it to death! Your unwholesome talk dressed up in gossip, the words you use to tear down others, the poison that comes out of your mouth with cunning words used to get your way, or any other unwholesome speech get rid of it! Put it to death! Why? Because it is deadly, thats why! Be killing sin or it will be killing you. Later in his book, The Mortification of Sin, Owens wrote: If sin is subtle, watchful, strong, and always at work in the business of killing our souls, and we are slothful, negligent, and foolish in this battle, can we expect a favorable outcome? There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed upon. It will always be so while we live in this world. Sin will not spare for one day. There is no safety but in a constant warfare for those who desire deliverance from sins perplexing rebellion.[5] How do you get rid of the sin that threatens you? Well, for starters, confess it and get radical about not visiting that sin again. If you keep running back to your sin, find someone who you can talk to and will hold you accountable. God saved you from your sins and idols for a freedom only available in Him. You may be in bondage to a sin or sins, but they have no claim over your life. If you are a man, seek the help of your brothers; if you are a woman, seek the help of your sisters. You have all of the Holy Spirit you will ever need for a power over any bondage that you feel trapped in, but know that you belong to the Body of Christ and your sanctification is a community project. Some of you have grown so calloused to your sin because you have surrendered to it; it is time to stop grieving the Holy Spirit and live in the reality of your new identity in Jesus: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Eph. 2:10). Amen. [1] Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way Its Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing; 1995), 88. [2] John Owen (Abridged by Richard Rushing), The Mortification of Sin (Eas Peoria, IL: The Banner of Truth Trust; 2020), p.33. [3] R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), 148. [4] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009), 219. [5] John Owen (Abridged by Richard Rushing), The Mortification of Sin (Eas Peoria, IL: The Banner of Truth Trust; 2020), p.11.
Closing out our exploration of the “three marks” of dukkha, in this episode we will take a look, close-up-and-personal, at death. In summary, our confrontation with and embrace of the three marks varies according to their universal natures, as well as to our personal nurturing in their recognition and acceptance. Aging is predictable, but typically sneaks up on us, moving far too gradually to register in our youth, even nowadays with our ubiquitous mirrors, selfies, and TikTok videos – none of which our ancestors had in abundance. Today's living generations may be the most self-conscious in the history of humankind. The famous “polishing a tile to make a mirror” koan anecdote reflected the fact that mirrors were originally of polished metal. Narcissus, remember, fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. By contrast, Tung-shan, a 9th century monk, was enlightened upon seeing his face for the first time, reflected in the water. A contemporary stand-up comic, who shall remain nameless, asked, “Did'ja ever look in the mirror in the morning and think, “That can't be accurate!”? Sickness, whether life-threatening or not, can land like a ton of bricks, flattening you for the moment – and often for the foreseeable future – with the rate of recovery dependent upon many factors, including aging. Sickness can often be the death-knell, as a diagnosis of cancer once was. As one ages, the body becomes less immune to the predations of bacteria and viruses, it seems. Today the threat of mental illness, leading to suicide, also looms large. Usually, the threat of death from natural causes may be safely ignored, postponed, or even denied, until it can't. But sudden death is even more unpredictable than sickness, and can come in such a variety of modes today, including natural and man-made disasters, which are popping up with greater and greater frequency, notably side-effects of climate change, such as the ever-increasing statistical rate of death from extreme heat. America seems to be the poster-boy for death by guns, accidental or intentional, now one of the major causes of death for children in the USA. Death from complications in childbirth is still far too common, particularly for non-white women. And then there is always stress, aggravated by habits such as smoking. If one thing doesn't get you, something else will, in the end. Death and taxes, as we say. I must note in passing that much of the hysteria we witness on ideological and political fronts of the public discourse seems motivated by an underlying fear, which appears to stem from the triple threat of aging, sickness and death. Witness the “worship of youth” culture, “self-improvement” programs, and anti-aging products aimed at prolonging vim and vigor and extending life itself as long as possible. This primal, largely subliminal fear is often projected onto the identified “other,” a form of transference that – like the old “I'm rubber, you're glue” trope – deflects self-criticism, in favor of defining each and every conflict in terms of self-preservation, and resorting to blaming others. As the Tao te Ching reminds us, “When the blaming begins, there is no end to the blame.” Buddha's original analysis of the constructed self's fundamentally dissatisfactory nature of reality, and our place, individually and collectively, writ large. The most dissatisfactory of all affronts and indignities to our ego are the three marks. If, on the other hand, we could all embrace, in all humility, the realities of aging, sickness and death as being perfectly natural and okay, the resulting equanimity of outlook might go a long way to ameliorating the insane intensity of conflict in the world. Aging gracefully includes embracing illness and death as built-in, intrinsic to the natural order of things. How much of our time, energy, attention and resources are dedicated to resistance to this fact – a fundamental denialism that leads naturally to the abdication of truth – in favor of our favorite fantasies as to the nature and central meaning of life? A young Rinzai Zen priest named Hasegawa published a book titled “The Cave of Poison Grass.” He mentioned the fact that most people seem to postpone confronting reality until, finally, they are on their death bed. He declared that this is too late – “like eating soup with a fork” – a memorable phrase. He insisted that we have to confront this “Great Matter” of life-and-death while we are young, and have sufficient strength and energy to overcome it. In the lore of Zen there is a Till-Eulenspiegel-like narrative that captures its sometimes irreverent attitude toward life and death, supposedly a true story. A monk realized that he was to die soon, and began asking other monks what they knew about, or had heard about, others dying. He was curious to know if anyone had ever died standing on their head, but nobody had. So sure enough, when the time came, he stood on his head in the corner and died. His sister happened to be a nun, and when she came to visit for the funeral, the corpse was still standing there in the corner. In disgust, she kicked it over, declaring that he had never had any respect for anything in life, and he still had no respect in death. The story goes that they buried him upside-down. An old saying in Zen says to “stamp life and death on your forehead and never let it out of your mind.” This is not a mark of morbid obsession with death, but simply recognizes that there is no life without death – birth is the leading cause of death.Instead of bemoaning the fact that life inevitably passes back into the great remix that is the universe – the wave returning to the ocean – we embrace the inevitability of “shuffling off this mortal coil” as a kind of relief. As Mark Twain was said to have asked, when in his old age reporters inquired as to whether he wasn't afraid to die, why would he be afraid of returning to where he came from? It is the stuff of science fiction to imagine a future in which medical science has treated the phenomenon of dying as an unnecessary aberration, a kind of illness, and come up with techniques such as cryogenic freezing of human remains, genetic mutation, and cultivating transplant organs and limbs to achieve what is, for all practical purposes, human immortality. The question becomes, would you really want to live forever? Life takes a great deal of its meaning from the inevitability of death, which is often considered in opposition to life. But Master Dogen treats both birth death as another nondual, complementary dyad, from Genjokoan–Actualizing the Fundamental Point: Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash you do not return to birth after deathThis being so it is an established way in buddha-dharma to deny that birth turns into deathAccordingly birth is understood as non-birthIt is an unshakable teaching in Buddha's discourse that death does not turn into birthAccordingly death is understood as non-death Birth is an expression complete this momentDeath is an expression complete this momentThey are like winter and springYou do not call winter the beginning of spring nor summer the end of spring In this wonderful analogy, Master Dogen places birth and death on a continuum, each as an “expression complete this moment,” and yet undeniably entangled. We might ask: An expression of what? and the answer would seem to be “life itself.” So birth, which we celebrate, and death, which we mourn, are seen to be inflection points, rather equal in import, in the continuum of life. When my older brother was dying in hospice, I spent about a week attending on him as he drifted in and out of consciousness. I picked up a pamphlet at the clinic where he was cared for, called “The Eleventh Hour.” It was written by a Christian woman, a clergy member or teacher of some sort, but she never once mentioned Jesus or God. One line I recall said something like, “Birth is the death of whatever precedes birth. Death is the birth of whatever follows death.” Very Zen. I hope this brief foray into the most dispositive and determinative factors defining our life experience helps to allay any unreasoning fear you may have of these time-honored Three Marks. Along with Buddhism's Three Poisons of greed, anger or hatred, and delusion or folly, they form the nexus of all that is wrong with the human universe in the personal sphere. When we move into the next outer layer, the social sphere, we confront them on a more global scale as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Death, Famine, War, and Conquest. Today we might be coerced to add even more unintended consequences to the deluge, including increasing population pressure and worldwide immigration, as well as advances in technology that tend to frustrate, rather than facilitate, our presumably inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Speaking of which, in the first UnMind episode of the upcoming month, we will look over our shoulder once again to the dread prospect of Election Year Zen, which is gaining on us, assessing whether or not we can see any light of compassion or wisdom at the end of that maddeningly long tunnel. Please add a seatbelt to your zafu and strap in. The haiku poem on the “grim reaper” is from a 2020 series called “Dharma Dreams from Great Cloud.” The text, titled “Swords into Plowshares,” will form the basis of July's UnMind. If you have any remaining questions as to why I feel it important to examine the current political pageantry from the perspective of ancient Buddhist teachings, which may strike you as outdated and irrelevant, please email me about it. * * *Elliston Roshi is guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order. He is also a gallery-represented fine artist expressing his Zen through visual poetry, or “music to the eyes.”UnMind is a production of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center in Atlanta, Georgia and the Silent Thunder Order. You can support these teachings by PayPal to donate@STorder.org. Gassho.Producer: Shinjin Larry Little
In today's episode, Jeff is joined by Aaron Alexander, the creator of the Align Method and host of the Align Podcast. Aaron shares his recent experience shepherding New York Jets quarterback, Aaron Rogers, back to mobility after a devastating injury and dives into ideas like the power of accepting your own mortality, the problem with seeking happiness and self-worth from external sources, and how to balance self-discipline with self-love. NEW! Jeff has a Commune course – Good Stress – where he shares the 10 “good stress” protocols that helped him lose 60 pounds, reverse pre-diabetes, improve sleep, increase his ability to focus and feel more energized. You can sign up and get the first 5 days for free at onecommune.com/goodstress. In this episode we cover:00:02:00: Aaron Alexander's experience working with NY Jets quarterback, Aaron Rogers00:09:00: How to optimize the entirety of your system to heal00:14:00: How to achieve and maintain homeostasis when the body is compromised00:19:00: The healing power of humor00:24:00: Surrendering and accepting the inevitability of death00:38:00: Loving what you already have00:41:00: Passive approaches to take for health and wellbeing00:46:00: How Western culture has warped our self worth00:51:00: Balancing suppleness with strength01:06:00: Floor sitting for mobility and stability01:17:00: Longevity and fear of deathThis podcast is supported by:Gainful30% off your first month with code “Commune” visit Gainful.com/commune LivOn LabsGet free samples with any purchase at livonlabs.com/commune LMNTGet a free sample pack with any purchase at DrinkLMNT.com/COMMUNE VivobarefootUse code VIVOCOMMUNE15 and get 15% off www.vivobarefoot.com WakunagaVisit Wakunaga and use promo code COMMUNE 103 to request a sample.Cards:Onecommune.com/trial
There is a sticker I have seen on vehicles and on the back of laptops that I have seen just about every day since we moved into Cheyenne. The sticker did not capture my interest enough to google its meaning but every time I was forced to notice it at a stop light because it was affixed to the car in front of me, I would wonder about its meaning for as long as the light would last and then I would forget about it. Would you believe that I encountered this sticker for four years not realizing its significance because I never thought long enough about it to realize what it really meant? It wasnt until a year ago that while at a red light and another car with the same sticker I had seen dozens of times since moving to Wyoming that I realized that the number 307 stood for something; we even have a day each year in the great state of Wyoming to celebrate the significance of 307 every year on March 7th known as 307 Day to celebrate all things Wyoming. I am not the most observant person on planet earth when it comes to the most obvious things around me, but I do realize that the 307 stickers were low hanging fruit. Of the fifty-two states that make up our nation, Wyoming is one of eleven states that can boast of a single area code. In case you did not know this, area codes are given based on the population and number of phones in a geographic area and not based on the states land mass. As I thought about the significance of 307 and how that number was always before me for the first four years since making our home in Cheyenne before I ever realized what it truly meant, I cannot help but reflect upon how it is that so many can claim to be a Christian without fully appreciating what it means to be in Christ. Saved Through Christ from Death to Life I shared with you last Sunday that if you are a Christian, there are three reasons why you are, alive together with Christ. We, who were dead in our offenses and sins, walked in step with the prince of the power of the air, were disobedient, lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulged in the desires of our flesh and mind, and at the core of our nature were children of the wrath of Godare now, alive together with Christ (v. 5). The catalyst that moved God to, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (1:4) was His mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that made available the redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of our wrongdoings (1:7) was Gods mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that resulted in God sealing all who belong to Him by His Holy Spirit was the mercy, love, and grace of almighty God! However, it was not just any old mercy, love, and grace that we received from God, no it was His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace. In what way is Gods mercy rich? Last week we went back to Genesis 2-3 to discover what Paul meant by stating we were all, dead in our offenses and sins. Today, to understand what Paul means by mercy, we must go to the place he drew the word from, and that place is found in Exodus 34:6-7, Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. (Exod. 34:6-7) What you need to know is just before we come to Exodus 34, Moses requested to see God, but was warned, You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live (33:20). God did promise that Moses could experience His presence, but Moses would have to remain hidden in a cleft of a rock as a way to protect him from certain death. The reason why Moses could not see the face of God and live was because Moses was sinful while God is holy. God promised Moses that while he was safe in the cleft of the rock, I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion (see Exod. 33:12-23). There was another man who found himself in the presence of God, but for him it was in the form of a vision. The man I am referring to is the prophet, Isaiah. It happened after Israels king, who had served for over 40 years, died. We are told about the prophets encounter in Isaiah 6, but what we learn in those verses is that even Seraphim had to cover their faces and their feet in the presence of God: In the year of King Uzziahs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory (vv. 1-3). It was only a vison that Isaiah had, and yet his response was appropriate: 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). So, of course Moses could not see the face of God and live, but he could experience His presence, and as he did, he heard Yahweh proclaim: The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin... (Exod. 34:6-7a). Let me give you four reasons why I am certain that the mercy, love, and grace of God that Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:4-5 was shaped by his understanding of Exodus 34. My four reasons are really four words God declared about Himself to Moses: Compassion (rǎḥm), merciful (ḥǎnnn), faithfulness (ḥěʹsěḏ), and truth (ʾěměṯ). The Hebrew word for compassion means mercy; the Hebrew word for mercy can be translated kindness or goodness; the Hebrew word for truth can be translated trustworthy. There is one more word God used to describe Himself, and that word is faithfulness which is the word used to describe Gods faithful and loyal love; listen, ḥěʹsěḏ is Gods covenantal and great love! What was revealed to Moses while he was in the cleft of the rock is the same God that Paul described whose mercy is rich, whose love is great, and whose grace is sufficient! But wait! God did not end His description of Himself there, of His rich mercy, kindness, goodness, or his covenantal and great love; for His also told Moses: yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 34:7b). God cannot and will not compromise His holiness and justice so that He is able to extend mercy, love, and grace towards guilty sinners. His holiness and His justice will not permit Him to leave the guilty unpunished. This is why, after seeing and experiencing the holiness of God, Isaiah cried out: 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). If God is God, then He must be just as merciful as He is just, He must be equally holy as He is a God of love. If God is God, then He is all that He is in equal measure with no character trait of His in conflict with the other. There is nothing about Him that is lacking and there is no room in Him for improvement. So, if God is God, then can He be rich in mercy and absolutely just in dealing with those who are dead in their offenses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3)? The Answer is found in Ephesians 1:7-8, which states: In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. This is why Paul could write: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ. (Eph. 2:4-5). At the cross the rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace of God was reconciled through Jesus who bore Gods perfect justice through the full measure of a wrath we all deserve. First and foremost Jesus died to satisfy legal demands our sin required, and this is why Jesus was, Pierced for our offenses, and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5); this is also why just five verses later, we read these words: The Lord delighted to crush Him, causing Him grief (v. 10). If you are a Christian, you are the recipient of a mercy that is rich, a love that is great, and a grace that is sufficient to address all your sins because of the Christ who, redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). This is why we can sing: Who could imagine so great a mercy?What heart could fathom such boundless grace?The God of ages stepped down from gloryTo wear my sin and bear my shameThe cross has spoken, I am forgivenThe King of kings calls me His ownBeautiful savior, I'm yours foreverJesus Christ, my living hope[1] Raised With Christ to Show Gods Grace As a result of being made alive with Christ, you, Christian, are raised up with Him, seated with Him, and united with Him. You were dead in our offenses and sins, but now you have been made alive with Christ! You were the spiritually walking dead and bound to a nature united with you, depravity, but now you have been set free by Christ and your life is now rooted in Him! You were once a child of wrath, but now you are a recipient of Gods great lovedeclared by Him to be His child! We who were dead in our offenses and sins, God made alive by the same power that He was able to give life to Adam from the lifeless dirt of the earth. However, our lifelessness was worse in the sense that Adams lifelessness came from the dirt of the earth while ours came from the soil of our own sin and rebellion, and from that polluted soil, God brought forth life out of death. God did what only God could do, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings through the same boundless power that raised Jesus from the grave, God did three things: 1) He made us alive with Christ, 2) He raised us up with Christ, and 3) He seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Bryan Chapell, in his commentary on Ephesians said of these verses: These are the words of resurrection. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also, we are filled with the life that is from God. Our spiritual death has been swallowed up in Christs resurrection victory. The guilt and power of sin have been conquered by the Savior who now resides in us.[2] Oh, can you see it? Can you see that to be a Christian is not about being a more moral person, or a more religious person, or a nicer person, but about becoming a whole new person just as we are promised in the Bible: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, the new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). Not only are we alive in Christ, but we have been raised up and seated with Him. The Greek word that Paul used for raised is synegeirō, the prefix of this word is syn-, from which we get the word sync and is short for synchronize. God made us alive in Christ, and quite literally has synced us with Him. What this means is that if you are a Christian, your identity is not in an area code, your last name, the person you are married to, your employment, or what you are able to do or unable to do. No! Your identity dear Christian is synced with the living Christ; you are not only alive in Him, but now you are raised up with Him. This is why, in his epistle to the Colossians, Paul wrote, Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). Your identity as a Christian is and always will be where Christ is! But hold on, it gets even better Christian! Not only have you been raised with Christ, but you are also seated with Christ. What does it mean to be seated with Christ exactly? Remember the way Ephesians 1 concludes, for it is in the final four verses that Paul informs us where it is that Christ is: He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (vv. 20-23).Jesus is above all things and all powers, and one day, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). It is with that Christ that you are raised with and are seated with! What this means is that Christs identity is now our identity and now we are seated with Him positionally. What this means is that Jesus victories are now our victories, and because His victories are our victories, death, sin, disease, persecution, hardship, the demonic, and any other front that threatens to undo us does not have the final word or say over all who are raise with Christ and seated with Christ! What this means is that you are the Bride of Christ and regardless of your past, you dear Christian are now the apple of His eye! Christian, you were once dead in your offenses and sins, and now you are alive with Christ. Christian, you were once among the spiritually walking dead, but now you are raised up with Christ. Christian, you were once synced up with the prince of the power of the air and the spirit of the age, but now you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.Christian, when you were dead, you lived in the lusts of your flesh and indulged the desires of the flesh, and now you are the recipient of the boundless riches of His grace in kindness in Christ Jesus (v. 7). Christian, do you know who you are? Because if you do, you will begin to live as though you are alive in Jesus, raised up with Jesus, and seated with Jesus. You will live with the confidence that it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks of you or has said about you because what matters most is what God thinks of you, and to Him, you are His inheritance and His trophy, demonstrating His all sufficient and infinite grace. Christian, you are a testament to the grace of God that is as boundless as is His power that raised Jesus from the grave and brought you from death to life. According to verse 7, for all of eternity you who were once dead will only know the unending benefits of His rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace! For the ages to come we will stand together as Gods trophy of Grace that will forever serve as a reminder that there is no sin so great and no life so messed up that Gods mercy, love, and grace cannot overcome, redeem, resurrect, and put back together through the great serpent crushing, grave robbing, all-sufficient redeemer Himselfnamely Jesus Christ! We sing as the Church not because of how we feel or what style of music we like, we sing because the words we sing are true like the words in the modern hymn, In Christ Alone: In Christ alone, who took on fleshFullness of God in helpless babeThis gift of love and righteousnessScorned by the ones He came to save'Til on that cross as Jesus diedThe wrath of God was satisfiedFor every sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I live, I live No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand [1] Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson; Living Hope [2] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009), p. 83.
There is a sticker I have seen on vehicles and on the back of laptops that I have seen just about every day since we moved into Cheyenne. The sticker did not capture my interest enough to google its meaning but every time I was forced to notice it at a stop light because it was affixed to the car in front of me, I would wonder about its meaning for as long as the light would last and then I would forget about it. Would you believe that I encountered this sticker for four years not realizing its significance because I never thought long enough about it to realize what it really meant? It wasnt until a year ago that while at a red light and another car with the same sticker I had seen dozens of times since moving to Wyoming that I realized that the number 307 stood for something; we even have a day each year in the great state of Wyoming to celebrate the significance of 307 every year on March 7th known as 307 Day to celebrate all things Wyoming. I am not the most observant person on planet earth when it comes to the most obvious things around me, but I do realize that the 307 stickers were low hanging fruit. Of the fifty-two states that make up our nation, Wyoming is one of eleven states that can boast of a single area code. In case you did not know this, area codes are given based on the population and number of phones in a geographic area and not based on the states land mass. As I thought about the significance of 307 and how that number was always before me for the first four years since making our home in Cheyenne before I ever realized what it truly meant, I cannot help but reflect upon how it is that so many can claim to be a Christian without fully appreciating what it means to be in Christ. Saved Through Christ from Death to Life I shared with you last Sunday that if you are a Christian, there are three reasons why you are, alive together with Christ. We, who were dead in our offenses and sins, walked in step with the prince of the power of the air, were disobedient, lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulged in the desires of our flesh and mind, and at the core of our nature were children of the wrath of Godare now, alive together with Christ (v. 5). The catalyst that moved God to, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (1:4) was His mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that made available the redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of our wrongdoings (1:7) was Gods mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that resulted in God sealing all who belong to Him by His Holy Spirit was the mercy, love, and grace of almighty God! However, it was not just any old mercy, love, and grace that we received from God, no it was His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace. In what way is Gods mercy rich? Last week we went back to Genesis 2-3 to discover what Paul meant by stating we were all, dead in our offenses and sins. Today, to understand what Paul means by mercy, we must go to the place he drew the word from, and that place is found in Exodus 34:6-7, Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. (Exod. 34:6-7) What you need to know is just before we come to Exodus 34, Moses requested to see God, but was warned, You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live (33:20). God did promise that Moses could experience His presence, but Moses would have to remain hidden in a cleft of a rock as a way to protect him from certain death. The reason why Moses could not see the face of God and live was because Moses was sinful while God is holy. God promised Moses that while he was safe in the cleft of the rock, I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion (see Exod. 33:12-23). There was another man who found himself in the presence of God, but for him it was in the form of a vision. The man I am referring to is the prophet, Isaiah. It happened after Israels king, who had served for over 40 years, died. We are told about the prophets encounter in Isaiah 6, but what we learn in those verses is that even Seraphim had to cover their faces and their feet in the presence of God: In the year of King Uzziahs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory (vv. 1-3). It was only a vison that Isaiah had, and yet his response was appropriate: 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). So, of course Moses could not see the face of God and live, but he could experience His presence, and as he did, he heard Yahweh proclaim: The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin... (Exod. 34:6-7a). Let me give you four reasons why I am certain that the mercy, love, and grace of God that Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:4-5 was shaped by his understanding of Exodus 34. My four reasons are really four words God declared about Himself to Moses: Compassion (rǎḥm), merciful (ḥǎnnn), faithfulness (ḥěʹsěḏ), and truth (ʾěměṯ). The Hebrew word for compassion means mercy; the Hebrew word for mercy can be translated kindness or goodness; the Hebrew word for truth can be translated trustworthy. There is one more word God used to describe Himself, and that word is faithfulness which is the word used to describe Gods faithful and loyal love; listen, ḥěʹsěḏ is Gods covenantal and great love! What was revealed to Moses while he was in the cleft of the rock is the same God that Paul described whose mercy is rich, whose love is great, and whose grace is sufficient! But wait! God did not end His description of Himself there, of His rich mercy, kindness, goodness, or his covenantal and great love; for His also told Moses: yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 34:7b). God cannot and will not compromise His holiness and justice so that He is able to extend mercy, love, and grace towards guilty sinners. His holiness and His justice will not permit Him to leave the guilty unpunished. This is why, after seeing and experiencing the holiness of God, Isaiah cried out: 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). If God is God, then He must be just as merciful as He is just, He must be equally holy as He is a God of love. If God is God, then He is all that He is in equal measure with no character trait of His in conflict with the other. There is nothing about Him that is lacking and there is no room in Him for improvement. So, if God is God, then can He be rich in mercy and absolutely just in dealing with those who are dead in their offenses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3)? The Answer is found in Ephesians 1:7-8, which states: In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. This is why Paul could write: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ. (Eph. 2:4-5). At the cross the rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace of God was reconciled through Jesus who bore Gods perfect justice through the full measure of a wrath we all deserve. First and foremost Jesus died to satisfy legal demands our sin required, and this is why Jesus was, Pierced for our offenses, and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5); this is also why just five verses later, we read these words: The Lord delighted to crush Him, causing Him grief (v. 10). If you are a Christian, you are the recipient of a mercy that is rich, a love that is great, and a grace that is sufficient to address all your sins because of the Christ who, redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). This is why we can sing: Who could imagine so great a mercy?What heart could fathom such boundless grace?The God of ages stepped down from gloryTo wear my sin and bear my shameThe cross has spoken, I am forgivenThe King of kings calls me His ownBeautiful savior, I'm yours foreverJesus Christ, my living hope[1] Raised With Christ to Show Gods Grace As a result of being made alive with Christ, you, Christian, are raised up with Him, seated with Him, and united with Him. You were dead in our offenses and sins, but now you have been made alive with Christ! You were the spiritually walking dead and bound to a nature united with you, depravity, but now you have been set free by Christ and your life is now rooted in Him! You were once a child of wrath, but now you are a recipient of Gods great lovedeclared by Him to be His child! We who were dead in our offenses and sins, God made alive by the same power that He was able to give life to Adam from the lifeless dirt of the earth. However, our lifelessness was worse in the sense that Adams lifelessness came from the dirt of the earth while ours came from the soil of our own sin and rebellion, and from that polluted soil, God brought forth life out of death. God did what only God could do, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings through the same boundless power that raised Jesus from the grave, God did three things: 1) He made us alive with Christ, 2) He raised us up with Christ, and 3) He seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Bryan Chapell, in his commentary on Ephesians said of these verses: These are the words of resurrection. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also, we are filled with the life that is from God. Our spiritual death has been swallowed up in Christs resurrection victory. The guilt and power of sin have been conquered by the Savior who now resides in us.[2] Oh, can you see it? Can you see that to be a Christian is not about being a more moral person, or a more religious person, or a nicer person, but about becoming a whole new person just as we are promised in the Bible: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, the new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). Not only are we alive in Christ, but we have been raised up and seated with Him. The Greek word that Paul used for raised is synegeirō, the prefix of this word is syn-, from which we get the word sync and is short for synchronize. God made us alive in Christ, and quite literally has synced us with Him. What this means is that if you are a Christian, your identity is not in an area code, your last name, the person you are married to, your employment, or what you are able to do or unable to do. No! Your identity dear Christian is synced with the living Christ; you are not only alive in Him, but now you are raised up with Him. This is why, in his epistle to the Colossians, Paul wrote, Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). Your identity as a Christian is and always will be where Christ is! But hold on, it gets even better Christian! Not only have you been raised with Christ, but you are also seated with Christ. What does it mean to be seated with Christ exactly? Remember the way Ephesians 1 concludes, for it is in the final four verses that Paul informs us where it is that Christ is: He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (vv. 20-23).Jesus is above all things and all powers, and one day, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). It is with that Christ that you are raised with and are seated with! What this means is that Christs identity is now our identity and now we are seated with Him positionally. What this means is that Jesus victories are now our victories, and because His victories are our victories, death, sin, disease, persecution, hardship, the demonic, and any other front that threatens to undo us does not have the final word or say over all who are raise with Christ and seated with Christ! What this means is that you are the Bride of Christ and regardless of your past, you dear Christian are now the apple of His eye! Christian, you were once dead in your offenses and sins, and now you are alive with Christ. Christian, you were once among the spiritually walking dead, but now you are raised up with Christ. Christian, you were once synced up with the prince of the power of the air and the spirit of the age, but now you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.Christian, when you were dead, you lived in the lusts of your flesh and indulged the desires of the flesh, and now you are the recipient of the boundless riches of His grace in kindness in Christ Jesus (v. 7). Christian, do you know who you are? Because if you do, you will begin to live as though you are alive in Jesus, raised up with Jesus, and seated with Jesus. You will live with the confidence that it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks of you or has said about you because what matters most is what God thinks of you, and to Him, you are His inheritance and His trophy, demonstrating His all sufficient and infinite grace. Christian, you are a testament to the grace of God that is as boundless as is His power that raised Jesus from the grave and brought you from death to life. According to verse 7, for all of eternity you who were once dead will only know the unending benefits of His rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace! For the ages to come we will stand together as Gods trophy of Grace that will forever serve as a reminder that there is no sin so great and no life so messed up that Gods mercy, love, and grace cannot overcome, redeem, resurrect, and put back together through the great serpent crushing, grave robbing, all-sufficient redeemer Himselfnamely Jesus Christ! We sing as the Church not because of how we feel or what style of music we like, we sing because the words we sing are true like the words in the modern hymn, In Christ Alone: In Christ alone, who took on fleshFullness of God in helpless babeThis gift of love and righteousnessScorned by the ones He came to save'Til on that cross as Jesus diedThe wrath of God was satisfiedFor every sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I live, I live No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand [1] Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson; Living Hope [2] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009), p. 83.
Are you afraid of death? Will you experience pain when you die? Are you ready for a journey that will challenge everything you thought you knew about death? This story of a former cadet at the Air Force Academy whose life ended in a tragic car accident will dramatically alter everything you thought you knew about the end of life. Brace yourself for a tale of profound spiritual awakening that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew."We never know when our last day on earth is going to be. If we actually lived with that awareness, we would be more present and live in a deeper and more meaningful way each and every day." - Nicole KerrIn this episode, you will be able to:Embrace Love and Overcome Fear: Discover how to find peace and courage in the face of mortality.Explore Near-Death Experiences and Soul Separation: Uncover the profound insights and wisdom gained from near-death encounters.Understand Cultural Perceptions of Death: Gain a broader perspective on how different cultures approach and understand mortality.Overcome Societal Norms and Family Expectations: Learn how to navigate societal pressures and familial expectations when it comes to dealing with mortality.Seek Divine Guidance and Embrace Transformation: Delve into the spiritual and transformative aspects of seeking guidance and finding peace amidst the fear of death.Take a deeper dive about this episode at the blog: https://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/blog/deathless/ Get the book:You are Deathless: A Near-Death Experience Taught Me How to Fully Live and Not Fear Deathhttps://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Deathless-Near-Death-Experience/dp/B0B92CH4KNGuest Info:Website: https://nicolekerr.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/nicole.angelique.kerrFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.a.kerr Support the Show: Rate/review Us Here: https://lovethepodcast.com/SkepticMetaphysiciansPurchase Merchandise: https://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/storeBuy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SkepticMetaphysConnect With The Skeptic Metaphysicians:Website: skepticmetaphysician.comFacebook: @TheSkepticMetaphysicianIG: SkepticMetaphysician_PodcastTik Tok: @skepticmetaphysicians Other episodes you'll enjoy:Is There Life After Death with April Hannah of Path 11 TVhttps://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/is-there-life-after-death The Powers In You: A Near-Death Experience that Changed Everythinghttps://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/leora-nde Should We Fear Death? An Honest Conversation with a Hospice Nurse!https://www.skepticmetaphysician.com/fear-of-deathThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5652646/advertisement
What's on my mind: The illogical rules of war:https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/war-crimes.shtml https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/world/europe/israel-gaza-and-the-laws-of-war.htmlNews: Guilty AF: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/us/sidney-powell-guilty-plea-trump-georgia.htmlThe Chaos Caucus Part Deux: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/us/politics/house-speaker-jim-jordan.htmlThere should be a test: https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/pennsylvania-lawmaker-cites-genesisRepublican role models:https://www.thedailybeast.com/longtime-gop-donor-injures-woman-kills-himself-in-murder-suicide-attemptJustice WTF!: https://www.npr.org/2023/10/18/1206760289/leonard-allan-cure-wrongful-conviction-georgia-shooting-deathThis shit is for us: Justifiable homicide:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11572-017-9426-9 Bible Study with Atheist Mike: God and war:Closing: Each one, teach one: https://thegrio.com/2023/10/13/joey-bada-taps-a-powerful-roster-to-provide-free-mentorships-to-men-of-color/
In the last segment of UnMind, we touched on the typically fraught turning points in normal life of changing jobs, going through divorce, and becoming empty-nesters when and if the kids finally move out. And if they don't move back in again. They say you should write what you know, so I am living up to that dictum. In this installment we will touch on the traditional “marks” of dukkha: sickness, aging and death, and then turn to the subject of turning points in zazen itself. It is important that as we experience these pivot points in our practice, that we resist the temptation to interpret them negatively, as evidence of failure, and that we persist through thick and thin, assuming and accepting that we are no more in control of the progress of our meditation than we are in control of the pilgrim's progress of our lives. Zen, and zazen, work on subtle and subliminal levels, beyond our control. We should take the advice of the third patriarch in China, and “trust in Mind.” In closing the last passage, we mentioned that the various time-of-life changes that we all go through, if we live long enough, are generally exploited in the service of selling ever-more narrow-niche categories of products and services, including ever-increasing scams inflicted on the unwary. Sickness & DrugsIf you still watch the news on television, you belong to an ever-shrinking segment of the population, and can see this process in extreme. Commercials hawking every kind of cure for every imaginable disorder of body and mind, some truly unimaginable. The firehose of drugs coming out of Big Pharma's pipeline is overwhelming, ostensibly to treat an ever-expanding cascade of illnesses of the aged and infirm, who are typically shown in highly affluent situations, joyfully engaging in cool, strenuous activities in luxurious settings. Each new wonder drug comes with an endless list of side-effects that make the cure sound worse than the illness. It leaves me wondering what they are going to do, when they finally run out of names for the next generation of cure-alls. Expect to see companion drugs designed to treat the endless litany of side-effects. According to a Zen student who works in the industry, and who just happens to be a PhD neuroscientist, most of the new drugs are actually old drugs, in which a single atom of the molecule may have been tweaked, yielding the minimum legal requirement for calling it new. So much for claims of return on investment for multi-million dollar research. Aging & DeathSpeaking of aging, most of the turning-points that we associate with time-of-life — and other transitions in the normal process of “living la vida loca” — are basically attributable to aging. If we did not age, many of these passages would be impossible. Or at least, more of a choice on our part. Death may be the penultimate turning-point in aging. That's right, not the ultimate, but next to it. There is yet another, final turning point, even after death. It is called rebirth. Or its earlier version, reincarnation. In any case, something comes after death. As with divorce, it is tempting to say that if you are against death, don't get born in the first place. Birth is, after all, the leading cause of death. Birth is, we might say, an indeterminate turning-point. What comes after birth depends upon you. In one of the most startling developments regarding cultural coping strategies for these turning-points, I recently came across a news article entitled “Putting the fun in funerals.” I am not making this up. Because you can't make this stuff up. In his teaching titled Genjokoan, which translates something like, “actualizing the fundamental point,” and which seems to touch on nearly everything in life, Master Dogen weighs in on the nature of birth and death, in the process refuting reincarnation: Just as firewood does not return to firewood after it is ash you do not return to birth after deathThis being so, it is an established way in buddha-dharma to deny that birth turns into deathAccordingly birth is understood as no-birthIt is an unshakeable teaching in Buddha's discourse that death does not turn into birthAccordingly death is understood as no-deathBirth is an expression complete this momentDeath is an expression complete this moment Then, with his usual default to concrete examples from the world of Nature: They are like winter and spring You do not call winter the beginning of springNor summer the end of spring Thank you Dogen, for clearing that up. I don't pretend to understand this fully, but then Master Dogen himself does not claim to understand it. He merely lays it out as it is, take it or leave it. Interesting to contemplate that birth does not turn into death: Hallelujah! But wait a minute; death also does not turn into birth. What does that do to our aforementioned concept of rebirth? As usual for vintage Dogen, after he bludgeons us with an uncomfortable truth, he turns to Nature to soften the blow. Some of us, however, would petulantly argue that winter is, indeed, the beginning of spring, and summer its end. The monkey mind is stubborn in all seasons. I find it a particularly compelling expression of Dogen's understanding that he refers to both birth and death as “an expression complete this moment.” It begs the question, “An expression of what?” An expression of lifewould seem the logical answer, but Master Dogen's worldview does not depend upon simple logic. Turning Points in Zen MeditationSpeaking of Dogen, we owe him — big-time — for the point when each of us turned to Zen. If he had not made zazen his cause célébre, we would probably still be smudging ourselves with smoke, engaging in Shamanistic shenanigans, hoping for some kind of revelation. The turning points in zazen are too many to catalog. The Ox-herding Pictures touch on eight or ten of the main ones. I want to mention just a couple that come up frequently. I recognize that you, like me, are not 100% responsible for your short attention span, or your attenuated threshold of patience. Especially if you are in the midst of a turning-point of your own, at the moment. First is comfort-level. To those of you struggling with a critical turning-point in your life — or just the aches and pains, not to mention anxiety, confusion, and generalized angst that can sometimes accompany zazen, and not only at the beginning — it may be cold comfort, but zazen is supposed to be the “comfortable way.” I think the most reasonable rationale for this assertion is that any and every other way of meditation you may take up is at least as uncomfortable, in the long run, at least. It has been my experience, and is my testimony, that there is a turning-point in zazen that comes about, when the posture does actually become comfortable. I can also assure you that it becomes comfortable not only in the physical sense, but that the nattering nabob of the monkey mind finally wears itself out, like a kitten or a puppy dog, and lies down to take a nap. Mental and emotional comfort ensue. Of course, your results may vary, especially with any significant change in your circumstances. That pesky turning-point, again. Eventually, you may even become socially comfortable with zazen. That is, even though your spouse and other family members may not practice Zen, or even bother to understand it; and even though your in-laws insist on making a wedge issue of your devotion to Zen, this is okay with you. You no longer feel the need to explain, let alone to apologize, for doing zazen. Of course, this turning-point may precipitate a turning-point in your relations to the others mentioned. But you may find that you are comfortable with that, too. Another is the plateau effect. After practicing for some time, even over many years, it may begin to dawn on you that it seems that nothing is happening in your meditation any more. Curiouser and curiouser, interesting things that used to pop up from time to time — in the form of creative ideas; resolution of a nagging problem; or cool sensation, vision, or hearing experiences — just aren't happening. It seems clear that Zen isn't working, or else you are not doing it right. You have flat-lined, plateaued. Interestingly enough, Matsuoka Roshi mentioned this, and introduced me to a new Japanese word: cho-da. He said it means a “fall up.” You go along for some time, practicing your little heart out, but are getting nowhere. Nothing seems to be happening. Then, one day, if only you do not give up, you go through a cho-da. You fall up! It may be a small cho-da; it may be a large cho-da. But, you fall up — to the next plateau. A plateau is, by definition, flat. So, once again, just when you thought it was getting good, nothing happening. The good news is you never go back. The bad news is that the plateaus just keep coming. No one knows how many there are. Traditionally, there are said to be three major barriers in Zen. The first is physical, getting beyond your comfort zone to true comfort. The second is said to be sleep. Once you are cozy and comfortable in zazen, naturally, sleep would raise its ugly head. I have not heard what the third barrier is, but I suspect that it would involve some kind of plateau. Perhaps it is simply self-doubt. Matsuoka Roshi pointed out that by far the greatest cohort of Westerners who engage in Zen meditation are those who give up too soon. So if you see yourself in any of these pictures, welcome to the club. If you are uncomfortable in zazen, welcome to that club. If you are plateauing, welcome to the flatliners club. Zen is the most exclusive club in the world. But it is all-inclusive. The only dues it demands of you is everything you have. But the payback is huge. What else can you do that will give you your whole life back? as Matsuoka-Roshi would often ask.
This week, Ali tells Ash about Jim Morrison, the controversial lead singer of The Doors who died at the young age of... you guessed it, 27. You heard about him last week when he allegedly grabbed fellow 27 Club member Janis Joplin by the hair and she hit him over the head with a bottle of Southern Comfort. He was also known as The King of Orgasmic Rock and The Lizard King. His dad had a hand in starting the Vietnam war and he was a big fan of Nietzsche. Jim Morrison is a wild ride.-Join us for as little as $5 a month on Patreon!-We'd love to see you in our Discord, come hang out!-We have really fun merch, go take a look!-Follow us on Instagram and Twitter!-Research assistance by Kesha Epperson.-Audio editing by Tina Lukic.-Sources:https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-rolling-stone-interview-jim-morrison-73308/https://www.biography.com/musicians/jim-morrisonhttps://youtu.be/cf0WtrvYd9Qhttps://youtu.be/EQfr-BtcDIIhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/07/17/the-jim-morrison-story-behind-closed-doors/2b44aa3d-9442-4140-b7b3-c2e4a873a751/https://allthatsinteresting.com/jim-morrison-deathThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4523794/advertisement
I added a little extra keyboard to the song from last night cuz I felt like I needed a little bit more complexity to it in the chorus in order to interesting-up the song. I also realized I need to post the lyrics cuz the rap is a wee little hard to follow without the lyrics in front of one.The lyrics of the song are:I'm running dry, dry as bonesBones that are drier than deathBones that sit inside my pocket Of death, death, deathDeath death death death death death deathDeath death death death death death deathSomeday we'll meet againWhen we are buried in the groundAnd our bones will commingleIn the soil, in the soilDeath death death death death death deathDeath death death death death death deathI know that most of us fear this thingOh, no! What if we hear Hell's Bells ring?I guess it makes sense cuz we don't knowIf we'll se Hellfire or Heaven's glowBut death is what we all doIt's natural, and when youThink about what it might beThe end of suffering will be freeWhen my time comes, I don't knowIf I'll be ready or notI hope I'll go out singingIn the sun, in the sunDeath death death death death death deathThis might be the end of suffering, this might be the end of sufferingDeath death death death death death deathThis might be the end of suffering, this might be the end of sufferingDeath is what we all doIt's natural, and when youThink about it, it might be...The end of suffering. We'll be free.
Today, Kelli embarks on a heart-rending journey through her personal experience with grief after the death of their beloved dog, Dutch. Kelli offers an exploration of denial, duality, and the transformative power of grief. She shares the enlightening experience of a facilitated mushroom ceremony, which helped her reconnect with her body and reignite her spiritual practice. As she navigates through the complexity of wanting to be happy amidst the loss, Kelli underscores the importance of trusting oneself, acknowledging personal strength, and recognizing that everything is on purpose. This episode is a testament to the transformative power of grief, the invaluable lessons learned from loss, and the boundless capacity of love.Today on The Naked Mama:Navigating grief and rediscovering trust in the face of lossHow Kelli's mushroom ceremony reconnected her to herselfConfronting the duality of life: happiness amidst lossHow loss can catalyze personal growth and a renewed spiritual practiceEmbracing the full spectrum of emotions, from deep sadness to joyLessons learned from the experience of deathThis show is supported by:Organifi | Go to organifi.com/kellimoore for 20% off your order, or use the code KELLIMOORE at checkout.Cured Nutrition | Visit curednutrition.com and use the code KELLIT for 20% off.Follow Kelli:Soul Strategy: Join the WaitlistRecommended book: Journey of SoulsInstagram: @kellitmoore This show is produced by Soulfire Productions
Episode 5- “Promise Me You'll Be OK”As Tonya tries to learn more about Victoria Parks, she receives some unexpected house guests.To see full episode transcripts, visit https://www.liarsandleeches.com/transcriptsEpisode Trigger Warnings: Agoraphobia, as well as discussions of murder, gore, and gun violence/deathThis episode features:-Ryan Reid as The Narrator-Kendell Byrd as Tonya Wright-Newton “Newt” Schottelkotte as Natalie Hale-Gerald Hill as Frank Wright-Alex Bui as the Handyman-Olivia Steele as the Alarm-Story created by Marisa Ewing -Script written by KJ Scott -Script editing by Meg Williams -Dialogue editing, mixing and mastering by Marisa Ewing-Sound design by Melissa Pons-Music written by Nico Vettese of “We Talk of Dreams”-Additional recording assistance provided by Jordan Alexander and Trey Baker of Music City StudiosTo learn more about the show, cast, and crew, visit https://www.liarsandleeches.com/To support Hemlock Creek Productions and to help us continue making original shows, visit https://ko-fi.com/hemcreekprod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 4- “The Whole Damn Knight”Tonya's home is no longer safe, and she has to protect herself in any way she can. She travels to her local police department, hoping to find help, and possibly answers.To see full episode transcripts, visit https://www.liarsandleeches.com/transcriptsEpisode Trigger Warnings: Panic attacks and stalking, as well as discussions of murder, gore, and gun violence/deathThis episode features:-Ryan Reid as The Narrator-Kendell Byrd as Tonya Wright-Newton “Newt” Schottelkotte as Natalie Hale-Jess Floam as the Office-Colin Fears as the Front Desk Worker.-Story created by Marisa Ewing -Script written by KJ Scott -Script editing by Meg Williams -Dialogue editing, mixing and mastering by Marisa Ewing-Sound design by Melissa Pons-Music written by Nico Vettese of “We Talk of Dreams”-Additional recording assistance provided by Jordan Alexander and Trey Baker of Music City StudiosTo learn more about the show, cast, and crew, visit https://www.liarsandleeches.com/To support Hemlock Creek Productions and to help us continue making original shows, visit https://ko-fi.com/hemcreekprod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Concert FridayBE THOU MY VISIONSong by Audrey AssadBe Thou my vision, O Lord of my heartNaught be all else to me, save that Thou artThou my best thought, by day or by nightWaking or sleeping, Thy presence my light Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true wordI ever with Thee and Thou with me, LordThou my great Father, and I Thy true sonThou in me dwelling and I with Thee one Riches I heed not, nor vain, empty praiseThou mine inheritance, now and alwaysThou and Thou only first in my heartHigh King of heaven, my treasure Thou artHigh King of heaven, my victory wonMay I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sunHeart of my own heart, whatever befallStill be my vision, O ruler of all Heart of my own heart, whatever befallStill be my vision, O ruler of all In Christ AloneSong by Adrienne CampIn Christ alone my hope is foundHe is my light, my strength, my songThis cornerstone, this solid groundFirm through the fiercest drought and stormWhat heights of love, what depths of peaceWhen fears are stilled, when strivings ceaseMy comforter, my all in allHere in the love of Christ I stand In Christ alone who took on fleshFullness of God in helpless babeThis gift of love and righteousnessScorned by the ones He came to saveTill on that cross as Jesus diedThe wrath of God was satisfiedFor every sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I liveThere in the ground His body layLight of the world by darkness slainThen bursting forth in glorious dayUp from the grave He rose againAnd as He stands in victorySin's curse has lost its grip on meFor I am His and He is mineBought with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand
We have a speaker, thank you Mr. Trump, King Gavin, the NFL's virtue, Fauci knows all, more on sudden deathThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5691723/advertisement
The one, true living and holy God has come to be with his people within a fallen world of death.Every sermon in Leviticus so far has repeated some expression of that main point. Last week we saw that, spiritually speaking, we're all moving in either one of two directions. We're either moving closer to God, toward Eden, OR we're moving away from God, further out into exile — into a “fallen world of death” because that's what this world is. Now, we've said that about this world every week — we've said this is a fallen world of death — but if you don't think it is, you just need to get out more. Now, look, there's all kinds of beauty in this world! The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1) — and it's amazing — but if you go where people are, before long you will see brokenness — and usually the more people in one place, the more intense the brokenness.Fallen World of DeathThis makes me think about places like the slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh — one of the most densely populated cities in the world. I don't know what comes to your mind when you think about extreme poverty, but pretty much any image from Dhaka will do. Just Google it. There are 12 million people on top of one another in horrible living conditions where disease and crime and abuse prevail. And there are actually countless places like this across the world in different sizes and degrees — I'm talking about places of obvious despair and misery, even within our own nation. In America, the problem of homelessness and drug addiction has only gotten worse in recent years. Back in 2018 the government said officially that we had an opioid epidemic, and every year since then the number of deaths due to drug overdose have just increased. More people are dying of drug overdose today in our country than at any point in our history. And so looking at this world — whether it's evil that is done or good that is left undone; whether it's violence against one another or disease we can do nothing to stop; whether it's hurt children or broken families; fluke injuries or mental illness; damaged relationships or irreparable bitterness; whether it's homicide, suicide, infanticide, or genocide; whether it's iniquities or transgressions or sins — we live in a fallen world of death. This world is crap.And if you're here this morning, congratulations. Because it means that somehow you have survived another day. We should give God thanks! None of us deserves to be here. We need to know that when we come to the Book of Leviticus. This world is not the way it's supposed to be, and God could have just ended it. God could have justly condemned the entire world because human beings are not entitled to exist. And yet here we are. And here they are, the people of Israel, in Leviticus, called by God to be his own people — a people God has chosen to be with as part of his redemptive plan.Welcome to the Day of AtonementThe holy and living God has made a way to be near his people, through the tabernacle and the priesthood and this newly established levitical system. That's what we've seen so far:How do we live in this world of death but not be acclimated to it?How do we orient our lives that way, facing Eden, moving closer to life with God?That's what Chapters 1–15 have addressed, and now today we come to the culmination of these chapters in Chapter 16, which is all about the Day of Atonement.And so for this sermon, we're gonna just look at three questions all about this day:1) Why did Israel need this day?2) What happened on this day?3) Where is this day pointing?Now let's pray: Father in heaven, by the power of your Holy Spirit, through your ancient words, we ask, do a fresh work of grace in our hearts. Show us your glory, in Jesus's name, amen. 1) Why did Israel need this day?The people of Israel needed the Day of Atonement because they needed atonement. Now the meaning of the word “atonement” is to cover over sin in order to reconcile two parties. In the Bible that means reconciling holy God and sinful man. And what's implied here is the incompatibility between the two. There's a gap — an estrangement — between the holy and living God who is the Creator and sinful, rebellious humans who were created. And atonement is what God does to “take care” of that gap.And Israel needed this atonement because not only were they sinners separated from God, but they were also constantly threatened by this fallen world of death around them. The threat was that this gap between them and God would widen. And in fact it did.See although the people of Israel were instructed to orient their lives away from death, toward Eden — the pull of exile and death never lets up. There was a constant tug on Israel from exile. Or — let me change the metaphor — rather than thinking of exile as a constant pull away from life with God, imagine instead that exile is a flooding ocean encroaching upon life with God.Encroaching Flood WatersA few weeks ago I was down in eastern North Carolina, near the Cape Fear River. The Cape Fear is the largest river system in the state, and it's a tidal river — which means it comes straight from the Atlantic Ocean and it ebbs and flows according to the tide. And that means that when there's a hurricane, this river is notorious for flooding. Basically all the rainfall and wind and waves, together with the high tide, makes the Atlantic Ocean push up and overwhelm the river paths and so for miles and miles it just spills over, and does what floods do. It destroys things. It trashes whatever's around it. And what's crazy is to go places like this and see markers way high up on trees that say things like, “This was the waterline in Hurricane Florence.”And what's especially crazy to me is that when you see a waterline way high up like that you know it didn't get there instantly, but it happened gradually. The rain falls, and the winds blow, and the oceans rage, and little by little the water rises and rises and rises and spills over the banks, and then keeps rising. And that's what this fallen world of death is like. See, God had instituted for the people of Israel a daily system to confess their sins and make atonement and be purified through the priesthood. But then what about the sins that were missed? Of the half million people who were responsible as individuals for keeping up with all of their own sins, and seeking purification for each one, what if somebody forgot one? Not just that, but what about the effects of sin? The sins themselves are one thing, but then there is the pollution that was caused by sin. Sin trashes things. All year long the raging waters of exile and death were pushing up, and the flood waters would rise and encroach upon even the tabernacle itself.The tabernacle is here, and then all around it, outside the camp, is exile and wilderness and death, and it's just raging and rising and threatening. And what does God do about that?Now he could bring judgment, because he's done that before in the flood in Genesis 6. That was God saying, basically, Fine then, I'll start over.He has the authority and power to do that. God could just condemn the whole thing, but instead, God provides a way to clear all that sin and pollution.The Day of Atonement was the day to basically reset everything as purified and made clean. The high priest and his family and the tabernacle itself, and the entire people. It was all cleansed. The pollution inside the camp was put back into order. This was the day when the flood waters were pushed back. Israel needed that. They needed this Day of Atonement.2) What happened on this day?Both a summary of the Day of Atonement, and the process and details for the day are described in Chapter 16. I want us to look at this, but first, let me make one quick note on the terminology: As we've explained the two different parts of the tabernacle, we've used the terms “Holy Place” and “Most Holy Place” — and the Bible talks this way. That's the way Exodus 26 explains it when God gives the instructions for building the tabernacle; that's also the way Hebrews 9 explains it in the New Testament — but, sometimes other terms are used. Sometimes the first part of the tabernacle is called broadly the “tent of meeting” or the “sanctuary.” Sometimes the Most Holy Place or literally “the Holy of Holies” is called the inner sanctuary, or “inside the veil”, or sometimes it's actually just called the Holy Place. And that's the case in Chapter 16. In this chapter, the “tent of meeting” is the broader term used for the first section and the whole tabernacle, and then the Most Holy Place is just called the Holy Place. So heads up as we're reading, when you see “Holy Place” that's referring to the inner holy of holies where the ark of the covenant was.Because, remember, that place is the setting and occasion of Chapter 16. Chapter 16 is continuing the story of Chapter 10. Back in Chapter 10, that's when the two priests — the two sons of Aaron — died in the sanctuary, the first section of the tabernacle. And we infer from Chapter 16 that their main offense was that they had attempted to enter into the Most Holy Place. They were in the first section, and they tried to go into the second, inner section, and Yahweh consumed them with fire. So now in Chapter 16, Yahweh, by his grace, is going to give details on how exactly someone is to enter that most holy place. You can't just go in at any time however you want or you're gonna die, and God doesn't want priests to keep dying, so he gives these details. This is all grace. This is God making a way for atonement to happen. And before he explains the process of atonement, he clarifies the place of atonement. Clarifying the PlaceWhat is actually happening in the inner-most section of the tabernacle, behind the veil, at the ark of the covenant?Well, the ark of the covenant had a lid, a slab of gold, that was called the mercy seat. And this was between the two cherubim on both sides of the ark. And that was the particular place where Yahweh said he would appear here on earth for this people. He says this in Chapter 16 verse 2, “For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.” And this cloud is reminiscent of the pillar of cloud that went before Israel in their exodus from Egypt, and also it reminds us of the smoke at Mount Sinai (Exodus 13:21; 19:9). This is the glory of God appearing in physical, visible space. Another word for this is that this is a “theophany.” That's what it's called when God appears to humans through intense visual contact. That's what God is going to do in the holy of holies, right above the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant. And this is important because, get this: within the Bible's storyline, after the Garden of Eden, in the Old Testament this is the closest human approach to God's presence there is. This is a big deal. And with our imagination we can picture what it was like: God said he would appear in a cloud in verse 3. And then the high priest himself, in verses 12–13, would bring incense to put on the fire, which creates smoke. So this room, the Most Holy Place, was filled with incense smoke to cover the mercy seat and above that was the cloud. So imagine: this little space was full of smoke, and the symbolism was that the high priest was entering the heavenly realm. It's in this world, but it's so not of this world. That's the idea! And that helps us make sense of the process. Understanding the ProcessUnderstandably, you don't treat this place like any other place. Of all the places on the planet, this was where a human would encounter God, and so it required the most stipulated holiness. We see all the details for this beginning in verse 3:It starts with how the high priest must prepare to enter in verses 3–5; then we see an overview of the atonement ceremony in verses 6–10; then in verse 11 we read the details of the ceremony. Then at the end of the chapter, starting in verse 29, we read a summary of the whole day as a statute for Israel going forward.This Day of Atonement took place once a year — on the tenth day of the seventh month — which was a “Sabbath of sabbaths” for Israel. It was the most solemn day of the year. Nobody could work; everyone fasted. And only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place while nobody else could even be in the tabernacle. And there were all kinds of guidelines for the high priest. He had to take off his extravagant priestly vestments, bathe his body, and then put on simple linen garments. He had to find a bull and a ram for himself and his house, and then two goats and a ram for the people of Israel. And he had specific instructions about what to do with each of these, and in what order. And of these things “we cannot now speak in detail” (Hebrews 9:5), because I do want to focus on one part, verses 15–22.The Real Center That's because verses 15–22 are the center of Chapter 16. And remember, Chapter 16 is the center of Leviticus, and Leviticus is the center of the Pentateuch. Which means, what we're about to see is literally the center of the center of the center of the center. And well what do we find here?! We need a drumroll! We find two goats.We first read an overview of these goats in verses 7–10. In verse 8 we read that there were two goats: one is sacrificed to Yahweh as a sin offering, and the other is sent to Azazel (verse 8 and 10). And what is Azazel? Well, there's a lot of debate on what this word means. Most English translations translate that word as “scapegoat,” but the English Standard Version, which many of us read, transliterates the word “Azazel” — “Azazel” is the actual Hebrew word. And whatever it means exactly, whether it's a place or a thing in the wilderness, the main idea is that it's in the wilderness. It's way outside the camp, in exile. That's where this goat is sent. So again two goats: one sacrificed to Yahweh; the other sent away outside the camp into the wilderness. That's the initial overview, and then verse 15 explains how it works. The high priest had already entered behind the veil with the incense for the smoke, and then he took the blood of bull, which he sprinkled on the mercy seat to make atonement for himself and his house (verse 14).Verse 15 is when the high priest performs the sin offering for the people. He kills the one goat and brings its blood inside the Most Holy Place, and he sprinkles it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. And by doing this, the high priest is making atonement for the Most Holy Place, and the whole tabernacle, and for all the people of Israel (verse 17).And then the high priest goes out to the courtyard, to the Bronze Altar, and he sprinkles the goat blood mixed with the bull blood on the horns of the alter seven times to the cleanse that (vv. 18–19). This is the way God prescribed atonement. It's the covering — it's how to close the gap between God and his people, and push back the waters. The idea is that purification is happening from the inside-out. From the inner-most section of the tabernacle, the Most Holy Place, to the whole tabernacle, to the altar. The pollution of sin — the floodwaters of a fallen world of death that have been rising — are being pushed back. This blood ritual of the one goat was about cleansing, but remember that's just one part. The second part has to do with the second goat, the live goat.Verse 21 says that Aaron, the high priest, is to take this live goat and lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it, “all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins.” The high priest transfers all that sin to the goat, and verse 22, the goat shall “bear all their iniquities” and then the goat is led outside the camp, in exile, and is banished out in the wilderness. And the symbolism here is that all of these sins are removed.The blood of the one goat cleanses from the defilement of sin, and the exile of the other goat symbolizes the removal of the sins themselves. In both cases, the goats are a substitute for the people, making atonement, bridging the gap, pushing back the flood waters. When Yahweh Proclaimed His NameAnd this is absolutely central to the Pentateuch because it answers the question of how God can justly forgive sin. Sin is real and the effects of sin are real, and God doesn't overlook that. Forgiveness doesn't mean ignoring sin. It means dealing with it righteously. So this is crucial to the heart and character of God!Look at verse 21 again. This is important. Look at that phrase, “all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins.” See that? There's only one other place in the Pentateuch where the three words show up together. It's back in Exodus 34, when Yahweh proclaimed his name to Moses. Do y'all remember that? It was another theophany. Yahweh shows Moses his glory. He declared his name. Listen to this, Exodus 34:6, Yahweh passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty" So God says that's who he is! That's his glory! He forgives sin righteously. He forgives iniquity and transgression and sin while also not ignoring the guilty. How?! Leviticus 16 shows us. He transfers the iniquity, transgression, and sin to a substitute. These goats are stand-ins, both as a blood sacrifice for the guilt and as a removal of the sin.That's what happened on the Day of Atonement.3) Where is this day pointing?The entire levitical system required the people of Israel to have faith in Yahweh. The point of the high priest only wearing linen garments, and the point of the Sabbath and the fast, was that the people were surrendering themselves to God. They were humbling themselves, showing their trust in God. Any kind of heartless, faithless repetition of these blood rituals doesn't work, which is why it didn't.We'll skip ahead in the Old Testament storyline a little, but the the tabernacle became the temple, and Israel grew as a nation. The Day of Atonement continued to be observed, but the flood waters also continued to rise, until eventually, because of the people's faithlessness — because of their sin and rebellion and idolatry — the whole thing was under water, and Yahweh removed his glory from the temple (Ezekiel 10:18–19). God's presence left. The people's faithlessness proved the utter failure of the old covenant. And the world as we know it, basically, flooded with the pollution of sin. It seemed as though this fallen world of death had prevailed, but for the promises of God.Because like God had promised to Adam and Eve, and to Abraham, and to Moses, and to David, and the prophets, God, in the fullness of time, sent a Savior into this world. God sent the Messiah, Jesus, his Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.And do we know what this means?The New Testament makes this clear. Jesus means that the glory of God, the very presence of God that descended in a cloud above the mercy seat, now in Jesus that dwelled within a person. God himself, in all of his glory, became a human like us. See, Jesus is the embodiment of the Most Holy Place and rather than push back the flood waters, he actually stepped into the flood waters. He stepped into this fallen world of death. And the purpose was to make atonement. He came here to be the covering, to be the bridge of the gap, to end the flood waters — not for ethnic, physical Israel, but for everyone who believes in him.Jesus is the Day of Atonement, and we can see his comprehensive fulfillment of that day, as the New Testament Book of Hebrews shows us. Jesus is both our High Priest and he is our substitute. He is the goats.That's what Jesus did when he died on the cross. He was the blameless substitute who died for us. He shed his blood in our place to cleanse us and as our scapegoat, he removed all of our sins. The New Testament writers say over and over again that Jesus bore our sins — which is language from Leviticus 16. All of our iniquities and transgressions and sins were put on him, carried by him, removed by him. He died for us, and he was banished into exile, into the grave, into death itself. But then what happened?On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead. And he ascended into heaven, and when he entered the presence of God, that heavenly Most Holy Place, Jesus entered as our high priest, and he brought not the blood of bulls and goats, but he brought his own blood. He is our High Priest who makes atonement and he is our atoning sacrifice. He is the one who sprinkles the blood, and the blood he sprinkles is his own. And the Book of Hebrews tells us that because of this Jesus secured our eternal redemption.Christian, do you have any idea how forgiven you are?God, who could justly condemn you, has forgiven you — not a little bit, not for a temporary time, but he has forgiven you completely and forever in Jesus Christ.What a Savior! Hallelujah, church, what a Savior! Lord Jesus, we praise you! We honor you! To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! And all God's people said Amen!The TableAnd now we come to this Table, which is the New Covenant ritual to remember what Jesus has done. This bread represents his body. This cup represents his blood, which was poured out for you.So this morning if you trust in Jesus, if you have put your faith in Jesus and received God's forgiveness, take, eat and drink.
SummaryThere is an art form to asking your company for money or resources, and while business lingo changes and evolves all the time, right now that art form is called making a business case. It might not be a surprise to you that this skill generally doesn't get taught in photography school nor is it wisdom passed among stylists while setting up the next look. It's a skill that really gets developed on the job, and the opportunity to practice doesn't always come up before your thrust into the hot seat. Lauren Stefaniak joins Daniel on the podcast to help you learn how to make that compelling business case, and hopefully prepare you for a new phase of your career. Key TakeawaysWhat does it mean to make a business case?At its simplest: preparing, developing and presenting an informed point of view in an effort to persuade decision-making in your favorThey can seem daunting but on a micro level we do these every day (“what do you want for dinner”)Most people focus on the presentation, but that's the smallest part of the wholeIceberg metaphorPreparing - 70%, 10 hoursResearch the hell out of what you're talking aboutLook internalWho is your company today, tomorrow, yesterdayCan you tie your request to the companies mission or values?Look external (same & different industriesDeveloping - 20%, 3 hoursDistill it down into the most relevant & compelling info – 1-pagerFormat that works best for me:Current StateRequest or the ChangeBenefitsRequirements/Key Enablers[Short-term Recommendation][Long-term Recommendation]Known Open QuestionsUse language that a friend or family member outside your industry would understandTry to predict what questions you might be asked based on your information; assume someone will ask something you're not prepared forIt can be hard to temper the desire to “show your work” but the details will drag you down & make your presentation less effectivePut the most relevant details into an appendix, 2 pages maxMake the document simple, use visuals as needed (must be pretty)Present & gut-check your work with mid-level partners for their feedback & buy-in ahead of the formal presentationSEND A PRE-READ 48-24 HOURS IN ADVANCERemember: you've spent many hours in this detail & even more hours living this; for some of your key stakeholders, this will be entirely new info for them. Your presentation could fall apart if leaders are caught off guard when they'd prefer to be preparedPresenting - 7%, 1 hourEnter the room with this mindset:This is not life or deathThis is not personalThese people are someone else's family & friendsAsk to hold questions until the end – some questions will be answered in your presentation & Qs won't derail the whole thingSpeak slowly & leave time for your audience to digest the info & what you're saying (silence is okay)Allow time for questions & be open, honest in your answersIt's ok to not know the answer – you can say “that's a great question, i'll find out that information and get back to you”If you're doing it right, the best metaphor to describe you is a duck gliding across a pond (graceful on the surface, paddling like hell under the water)Commit to following through – this is when the real work beginsSend recap notes & next steps following the meetingCreditsProduced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.ioEdited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.netHosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com
Father in heaven, you are so kind. You are merciful, and gracious, and slow to anger. You are rich in love. I praise you. Now I ask, God, that you would use the truths from your Word, from this Psalm, this morning, to transform your people; please mold us to be more like Jesus, I ask. And may the truth that we learn from this Psalm, may it cause us to love you more. Amen.There are two overarching themes in this Psalm, if you could sum them up, here they are:#1: Everyone is going to die, no matter how much money or power you have, you're going to die.#2: You cannot rescue yourself from the eternal death that you deserve, but God will rescue you.As we examine this Psalm, we sort of get the sense that the Psalmist wants us live like we know we're going to die. There's something about the possibility of death that gets us to think more deeply.In fact, researchers from the University of Virginia, have studied people who have had near-death experiences, they estimate apx. 5% of population has had a profound experience where they came very close to death. One of the most common results of someone having had a near-death experience is that is dramatically changes the way they live.These people are almost always more spiritual, they are almost always less likely to seek power, or prestige, or fame than they would have compared to their previous selves; they tend to be less competitive; they seem to be more peaceful, their priorities change significantly; when your death is more real to you, it changes the way you live. Maybe that's why Tim McGraw famously sang: “Someday I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying.”Well, it's no surprise that the author of Psalm 49 wants to emphasize the fact that death is coming for all of us. Look at verse one with me: Hear this, all peoples!Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,both low and high,rich and poor together! The Psalmist here is saying, “Listen up, pay attention, If you are living in this world, no matter what category you're in, I've got something you'll want.”Low or high, rich or poor, male or female, Republican or Democrat, Black, White, Latino, Asian, Vikings fan, Packers fan. It doesn't matter, “listen up, this applies to you!” That's the sentiment in these opening verses.The Problem We All FaceThen in verse 3, he says, “I'm going speak some wisdom.” Then in verse 4, in essence, he says, “I'm going to solve a riddle.” And, apparently, it's a riddle that everyone needs to have answered. Then he begins to unpack this riddle, or this problem, that the author intends to address. Look at verses 5 and 6: Why should I fear in times of trouble,when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,those who trust in their wealthand boast of the abundance of their riches? So, apparently, the author is observing unethical people all around him, and they happen to be wealthy people who cheat, He's saying, “There's this group of unethical or immoral people all around, they've got lots of wealth and lots of resources.But, here's the thing, while these people are wealthy, they don't have enough money to solve the problem that this Psalmist is about to address. And here's the problem, we cannot rescue ourselves from death. Here's what he says, look at verse 7: Truly no man can ransom another,or give to God the price of his life,for the ransom of their life is costly. This is problem that we all face, death is coming for us all, and none of us can rescue ourselves, no one has enough money to ransom themselves from the punishment that awaits. Not even the wealthiest people on the planet have enough money to buy their way out of this problem.Now, in verse 10 he goes back to emphasizing that this applies to all peoples, this applies to the “wise” and the “foolish” people, we all face the same predicament. Then in the next verse he unpacks the problem, look at verse 11: Their graves are their homes forever,their dwelling places to all generations, We're starting to get a very dark and grim picture of death! The problem is, the grave is going to be my home forever. Now, look at the last line of verse 11: though they called lands by their own names. The Psalmist here is alluding to people who spend lots of energy trying to have their names remembered long after their dead, people who name stuff after themselves, seeking to build a legacy. They behave, as if, being famous will somehow soften the blow that will be dealt when death comes knocking, but these efforts are futile. Look at verse 12: Man in his pomp will not remain;he is like the beasts that perish. Human beings, even with all of our “pomp” and circumstance, we cannot save ourselves, we can name estates after ourselves, and we could even be famous on this planet, but we're still going die, just like the animals die. At the end of this Psalm in verse 20, the author repeats this sentiment, look down at verse 20: Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish. No matter how brilliant you are or how creative you are, no matter what you're able to accomplish in this life, if you do not have the right “understanding” you're not any better off, than animals, just like animals cannot avoid death, neither can we. Death is coming for us!I remember the first time I really thought about death, I remember it quite vividly, actually. I was 6 years old, I was at my uncle's funeral, my uncle Rey had died, my dad's younger brother, my uncle Rey was only 27 years old. His funeral was the first funeral I can remember attending in my life. And I remember being at the viewing and my dad took me up to the casket to say goodbye to my uncle. And my instinct was to reach out and touch him, I touched his forehead, and it was cold. It startled me, I literally recoiled and took a few steps back. And that was the moment it hit me, he's not there. He's gone. And then, another though hit me, “that's going to be me one day!”The Reality of DeathThe reality of death smacked me in the face. And instantly, I was filled with fear. This unbearable feeling of fear just gripped me. And for several years after that, every time I thought of death, fear gripped me. And I remember that throughout my childhood I asked people about death, and no one could give me a good answer. The one that most sticks out to me was in 7th grade, I was 12 years old. I asked Mrs. Carr, she was my junior high homeroom teacher. I asked her what happen to you when you die? She said to me, “Kenneth, in polite company, you should never talk about religion or politics. And that question falls under the topic of religion.” I just remember thinking, “that's a lame answer.”Well, about a year later, at age 13, I came to faith in Christ. And I remember, when I became a Christian, for the first time, that fear of death was alleviated. For the first time I could think about death without freaking out inside. And then, I remember thinking back to moments in my life where the topic of death would come up and people would brush it off, like it wasn't going to happen. And I've had so many moments like that over the years. I'm sure some of you have experienced this.Whenever the topic of death comes up, people often just shrug it off or they try to change the subject, I've heard people say things like…“Oh come on, let's not talk about sad things like that.”According to a recent CBS News poll: 54% do not want to talk about death, 31% somewhat willing to talk about death, 14% say they are willing to talk about death. This pretending that it's not going to happen does not make it go away. Death is one of the most important aspects of life. It's something we should indeed think about.How to Approach DeathSo, if we're all going to face death, and if we want to have a proper understanding of death, that provokes a question, What happens when we die?Hebrews 9:27 It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. So, you should expect to stand before God to be judged. And friends, hear this, if your sins have not been forgiven, that judgment, it will not go well for you.Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 5:12 Sin came into the world through one man, [Adam], and death [came] through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death. Matt 25:46 tells us that some people will be condemned to suffer “eternal punishment.”Revelation 21:8 tells us that sinners will be thrown into “the lake that burns with fire and sulfur” and in Revelation 14:11 we read that the smoke of those condemned will go up forever, “the smoke of their torment [shall] ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day [or] night.”Psalm 49:14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;death shall be their shepherd,and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell. Heb. 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The idea of dying and facing God should terrorize you because when you die, you will face God, and he will judge you, and he will demand payment for your sin, he's going to demand a certain ransom, and as we saw in Psalm 49:7, none of us have enough money to pay the debt that is owed.But God!The idea of dying ought to be a frightening reality! Unless, of course, if someone has already paid your debt! And that's exactly what God promised to do in this Psalm. Look at Psalm 49:15: But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,for he will receive me. For the bulk of this Psalm the author has been telling us that we're going to die, and the grave will consume us, and that we don't have enough resources to buy our way out of this predicament.He's painted a grim picture, but then, here in verse 15, he says: “BUT GOD.” These two words: “BUT GOD.” These are two very powerful words. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said this: “'But God!' These two words, in and of themselves, are kind of an epitome, or summary, of the content of the gospel.” Yes, we are sinful, but God will intervene to atone for our sins.Yes, it's true, we cannot save ourselves, but God, will save us.Yes, death is coming for us, but God, will protect us.Yes, it's true, we cannot ransom ourselves, but God will ransom us!God will be the one who pays the price to rescue me!And that changes EVERYTHING! Mark 10:45 The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Romans 4:25 “[Jesus] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Titus 2:14 “[Christ] gave himself for us to redeem us.” Galatians 3:3 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” 1 Thess. 5:10 “[Jesus] died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” We Shall Live ForeverAnd now that we have been ransomed, we can face death very, very differently. We will still physically die, all of us, but for the Christian, physical death is very different. We will live forever!John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.” John 6:37 “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:40 “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 10:27-28 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” In John 11:25-26 “[Jesus said]: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” We cannot ransom ourselves, we don't have what it takes, “But God!” We may physically die, but we will live forever with Jesus, in glory. And because of this, we face death much differently!!!The 17th century Bible commentator, Matthew Henry: “He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.”Thomas Brooks, he was 17th century Puritan preacher: “A Christian knows that death shall be the funeral of all his sins, his sorrows, his afflictions, his temptations, his vexations, his oppressions, his persecutions. He knows that death shall be the resurrection of all his hopes, his joys, his delights, his comforts, his contentments.”The apostle Paul says… “to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)1 Thess. 4:12-13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. Romans 14:8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. We will all physically die, death is coming for us. But Christian, believer, you have no reason to be afraid, because God has ransomed your soul. This is why we can sing those lyrics from the song we sang a few minutes ago: Death was once my great opponentFear once had a hold on meBut the Son who died to save usRose that we would be free indeed! This is why we can sing those great lyrics from “In Christ Alone”: No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destiny. Death Has Lost Its StingThe last verse I want to read this morning is probably the most famous verse from the apostle Paul talking to death. He's sort of trash talking, sort of like a man trash talking on the basketball court, but he's not boasting in his own abilities, he boasting in Christ.1 Corinthians 15 “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory?O death, where is your sting?” It's like he's saying: “Hey death, where you at?” I don't know if anyone has ever experienced this, have you ever been talking to someone before a game or an event, and they're talking a big game, “I'm going do this” and “I'm going to do that.” But then you get out on the court, and they get beat real bad, and it's like, “Uh? Really? That's all you got.” That's sort the sentiment here. Death talks a big game, but gets beat, and Paul is exposing that, and highlighting that.It's as if Paul is saying, “Hey death, What was that? You were going to be my shepherd? Oh really? And, what was that, you were going to ‘consume' me? Oh really? And what was that, you were going to overwhelm us and we were going to perish like the beasts? What was all that junk you were talking? Huh?”1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” To paraphrase Paul, “Hey death, where's all that pain you were going to bring?... Death, you ain't got nothing on me, because God has ransomed my soul!”Death has lost its sting. It no longer reigns over us, because Christ ransomed our solus. And that's why we come to this table each and every week, to celebrate what Christ has done. To celebrate the reality that Christ has ransomed our souls.
TW: OCD (contamination, religious, pet), pet death/anxiety, intrusive thoughts, shame, religious trauma, death/fear of deathThis week we chat with Dr. Amy Mariaskin, PhD, founding director of the Nashville OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center (@ocdnashville). Dr. Mariaskin is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in OCD & we chat about contamination OCD, religious OCD, pet OCD, and the myths surrounding OCD. Dr. Mariaskin is so knowledgeable when it comes to OCD, and her clinic's account, @ocdnashville, has some amazing and educational resources, including comics that Dr. Mariaskin draws! If you are located in the Nashville/Tennessee area, you can also visit ocdnashville.com if you are seeking treatment! Dr. Mariaskin will also be publishing a book in December titled, “Thriving in Relationships When You Have OCD: How To Keep Obsessions and Compulsions from Sabotaging Love, Friendship, and Family Connections.” Lastly, Dr. Mariaskin will be leading a support group for people who have OCD related to their pets at the online convention for the International OCD Foundation in November 2022. The International OCD Foundation will also be hosting other workshops online in November and will have an in-person conference in July! You can find more at iocdf.org . Mindful Minds is a podcast centered on mindfulness and intentionality. From sex to religion to mental health, we are focusing on how to be mindful & intentional about important topics! Join as we learn and grow together!Please rate us 5 stars and leave us a review! You can find more about Mindful Minds & Serafina Blog on serafinablog.com & on Instagram (@serafinablog).
Have you heard these things or said them yourself?He strangled me gently but didn't let go when I told him to. Is he dangerous? My boyfriend strangled me but I still love him. Is that normal? He has never been violent to me before this, so it really caught me off guard since I could not imagine being hurt by him ever. We live in the same house and he follows me everywhere. Strangulation has only recently been identified as one of the most lethal forms of domesticviolence: unconsciousness may occur within seconds and death within minutes.7 to 10 seconds = is the average time to unconsciousness15 seconds of strangulation can lead to brain infarct (stroke)1-30 seconds of strangulation can lead to cardiac arrest4 to 5 minutes of strangulation can lead to brain deathThis is my topic today, please tune in to listen.
Content warning: this episode contains mentions of deathThis week on Growing up with gal-dem, Nie and Natty chat to musician Rachel Chinouriri about the vast influences (spanning alternative music to horror films) that have affected her music now and helped her pursue music as the youngest of 5 children. Rachel brings us a different kind of extract in the form of a whatsapp screenshot to her grandma in 2016. She shares how losing her grandma and losing that supportive hand encouraged her to keep going and encouraged her to be happy in music and life. You can listen to Rachel's stunning second EP, Four° In Winter here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
TW Sexual assault and deathThis week the trio discuss Astroworld and the recent All Time Low allegations. Find out why we may now be blocked by Travis Barker and every Kardashian.Give us a follow: IG/Twitter: @wewearblackpod Email: wewearblackpod@gmail.com SophieIG/Twitter: @iamsophiek Tiktok: @iamsophiekx AlyxIG/Twitter: @alyxholcombe TikTok: @alyxplayspunk YasmineIG: @yasminesumman Twitter/TikTok: @yasminesummanx Special thanks to:Nova Twins for the intro/outro musicWargasm for the screams See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Join The Community!TW// abandonment, racism, physical and mental child abuse, deathThis episode talks about topics that might make our audience uncomfortable. Before reading further, please consider your own journey and safety.A Vietnam Podcast hosts a wide variety of guests from all over the world of all different backgrounds. Hosted by Niall Mackay, audiences never know if the episode will be funny or emotional, but they are always enlightening. In this episode, Niall knew the story being shared was an emotional one, but was still caught off guard by his reaction. “This is the first time in over 60 interviews I've cried during an interview - and I've been close a couple of times before.” shares Niall.During the Vietnam War Suzanne Thi Hien Hook was a baby found on the street and placed in an orphanage. She's Amerasian; with a Vietnamese mother and an African-American soldier father. She was adopted into a white English family and moved to the UK when she was just three years old. Unfortunately this wasn't the happy childhood expected. Despite an abusive upbringing she became a trained chef, gained a business degree and started a successful beauty business. She returned to Vietnam for the first time in 2006 to connect with her roots, including meeting children in orphanages with no hope in life, that had a profound effect on her. When she returned to the UK, she realised money didn't buy happiness, and sold all of her possessions, including a £500,000 home and sports car to fund the Allambie orphanage. Season 7 is sponsored by Blue Dragon's Children's Foundation and Saigon Children's Foundation. Please donate if you are in a position to.Follow us on Facebook.Buy us a coffee.-------------------Theme music composed by Lewis Wright.Main Cover Art designed by Niall Mackay and Le Nguyen.Episode art designed by Niall Mackay, with pictures supplied by guests and used with permission.Join the Seven Million Bikes Community for exclusive member benefits AND a FREE 6-pack of Fuzzy Logic Craft Lager or the award-winning Thunderslap IPA. (Only available in Saigon, sorry!)Click the linkChoose your planDrink free beerStop at any timeLaugh. Connect. Discover. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/SevenMillionBikes)
Things come to an end...Written and narrated by Mylea HildebrandProduced by Madison PosthumusFeaturing Spencer Stevens, Guoria Sun, Rowan Hildebrand, Cameron Posthumus, and Madison PosthumusContent warnings: swearing, culty stuff, deathThis is the finale. Thank you for listening!InstagramTumblr EmailSound attribution doc
Ever been told to 'smile' while you're working? THEN THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU! Rachel & Ashley rage for a full hour about all the awful and frustrating things that have happened to them as women while working in the hospitality industry. If these things have happened to you, we are so incredibly sorry. If they haven't, odds are you have actually seen these behaviors happen before while out to eat or in your own work environment. Remember the damn Golden Rule!TRIGGER WARNINGS: sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, body shaming, drugs, deathThis episode shares personal stories along with names & identities that have been changed or modified to insure privacy.Currently Anxious Podcast is not responsible for a goddamn thing, but maybe also come follow us on Instagram @currentlyanxiouspodcast or to give us feedback, email currentlyanxiouspod@gmail.com
Cw's: choking, discussion of deathThis issue is GMed by by Elliot Peterson. She can be found at @elliotylen on Twitter.The Coincidence is played by Amr Ammourazz. Amr Ammourazz is what happens if puns gained sentience and developed a love of math, writing, and superheroes. They lend their voice to a variety of projects both as a writer and a performer, as well as design games of their own. You can follow their exploits on their twitter account @ammourazzHeathen is played by T. Huth. T. is the host of Inkubator On Air, a new play podcast available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and Google Play. She can be found at thuthplaywright on Twitter or tphuth94 on Instagram.Supay is played by Anthony Sheets. They can be found on twitter @icynewyear or at icynewyear.comHeathen was played using the Enduring playbook. The Enduring was written by Jon I'd Listen to These Nerds. They can be found at @LTTNcast on Twitter.Music from https://filmmusic.io"Halls of the Undead" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
On September 12, 1943, David Bacon was seen driving a car erratically in Santa Monica, California, before running off the road and into the curb. Several witnesses saw him climb out of the car and stagger briefly before collapsing. As they approached he asked them to help him, but he died before he could say anything more. A small puncture wound was found in his back; the weapon had punctured his lung and caused his death. A weapon was never found, though the wound was suggested to be from a stiletto. Keller, who was then five months pregnant, collapsed when she heard of her husband's deathThis episode is sponsored by PodDecks: Go to http://www.poddecks.com and use Promo Code Larry21 for 10% off your first purchase. Follow Us on Social MediaTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/truecrimensIG: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimeneversleepspodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/truecrimeneversleepspodcastSupport The Show by Buying Us a Coffee:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tcnsJoin Our Patreon: https://patreon.com/truecrimeneversleeps
What's on my mind: – Aug 14, 2021 – You can change the world (yes you!)News:Breaking News:Fuck 12: https://www.austinweeklynews.com/2021/08/11/lawsuit-police-pointed-guns-at-children-in-warrantless-raid/COVID-19 Update: https://www.newsweek.com/mans-entire-family-dies-covid-same-week-after-refusing-get-vaccinated-1617994Lynching's never stopped: https://www.theroot.com/8-suspected-lynchings-have-taken-place-in-mississippi-s-1847451904Q Anon follower killed his children because they were going to grow up to be monsters: https://www.thedailybeast.com/matthew-taylor-coleman-surf-school-owner-arrested-after-his-kids-1-and-3-found-stabbed-to-deathThis shit is for us: How to be an effective Black SJW (Social Justice Warrior Scholar):Bible Study with Atheist Mike: Brief overview of Comparative Religion: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2020/10/29/14/36/02/1a5e5a43-c85c-4b6e-a077-de8c8811180b/EMU - A Summary of World Religions.pdfClosing: Last man standing: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/sports/olympics/marathon-results-kipchoge-galen-rupp.html
Harold Shipman was a trusted doctor by his patients until they started showing up dead. What motivated this doctor to commit such horrific crimes? Why did he receive the nickname Dr. DeathThis video is sponsored by PodDecks: Use Code TCNS for 10% off. https://www.poddecks.com/?peachs_apc=lawrence-leaseOTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimeneversleepspodcastTwitter: https://twitter.com/truecrimens
Patreon.com/thevioletwanderersCW for discussion of: Sex, BDSM, racism, sexism, violence, deathThis episode is the first one in the new format! Mallory returns as our semi-regular co host and we welcome back Bob Logan. We played games like: Fuckboy Profiles, Alexis and Ian's pervert bingo, Serial Killer or Horror Movie, and Porn Recommendation. Also, we have our first sponsor! To see the pictures and video clip mentioned in the show, check our Twitter feed or the blog Follow Alexis at twitter.com/filthalexisFollow Mallory at twitter.com/mallorymableFollow the show at twitter.com/violetwanderersFind us on facebook The Violet WanderersOur website is thevioletwanderers.blogspot.com Support the show (http://patreon.com/TheVioletWanderers)
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