Podcasts about discern

The Mental Load of a Catholic Mom (And What You Can Let Go Of) The "mental load" of motherhood has been all over the internet lately — and often the conversation turns into women vs. men. But before we talk about who should share the load… We need to ask a harder question: Should you be carrying all of it in the first place? In this episode, we take a deeper look at the invisible weight Catholic moms carry — especially the mental load of imaginary futures and unnecessary worries. We talk about: The difference between real problems and imagined ones Why sibling bickering does NOT predict their adult relationship How future "doom stories" drain your energy The schooling anxiety spiral (and how to step out of it) The pressure to give your kids the "perfect childhood" Why prudence includes choosing what not to think about How to bring your mental load to the Lord before bringing it to your husband Before you make a list of everything you're thinking about and ask your husband to share it, pause. Some of the things on that list may not belong there at all. God does not give grace for imaginary burdens. He gives grace for what is real — today. Interior peace grows when we: Discern what is actually ours to carry Release the rest Refuse to live in constant future fear You don't have to carry everything. And you were never meant to.

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Have you ever felt prompted to do something and immediately wondered… Is this God speaking? Or is this just my anxiety? As a working Christian mom balancing career, family, responsibility, and faith, it can feel incredibly difficult to tell the difference between the voice of the Holy Spirit and your own overthinking. You want to obey God. You don't want to miss Him. But anxiety can sound urgent, spiritual, and convincing. In this episode, we talk about how to discern whether what you're hearing is truly God's voice — or anxious thoughts fueled by pressure, exhaustion, or fear. If you struggle with: Overthinking decisions Feeling pressure to “get it right” Anxiety that sounds spiritual Decision fatigue as a Christian mom Fear of missing God's will This conversation will bring clarity and peace. In This Episode, You'll Learn: The key differences between God's voice and anxiety Why anxiety feels urgent — and God rarely does The difference between conviction and condemnation How to filter your thoughts through Scripture A simple 3-question discernment grid you can use in real time Why exhaustion makes spiritual clarity harder How to grow confident in hearing God without fear For the Working Christian Mom Who Feels Overwhelmed Discernment isn't about being perfect. It's about becoming familiar with God's character. When you learn to distinguish peace from panic, you move from reactive living to faith-led decisions. And that changes everything. If this episode encouraged you, share it with another Christian mom who wrestles with anxiety and wants to grow in hearing God's voice with clarity and confidence. You don't need more noise. You need alignment.  

In this message from Jesus' letter to the church in Book of Revelation, we unpack the sobering warning to the believers in Thyatira. Though they were loving, serving, and growing, they tolerated a deceptive voice inside the church that led people away from truth. The real danger wasn't culture, it was compromise disguised as depth. In a world full of charisma, confidence, and “new revelations,” how do we discern between hype and holy? Jesus shows us that if it takes you past Him, it's not deeper, it's deceptive. Learn how to guard your heart, anchor yourself in Scripture, and build habits that protect you from “almost right” teaching.

Heart Work - Learn to Discern | Pastor John Tufaro | Celebration Italia

Yooo people ! Hope you've had a good week ? In this weeks episode we have the sis and the Head of Black Music and Culture at Youtube EMEA @shenicecharway! It's a good one this week ! We talk about what it looks being a light in secular spaces, what and why discernment is key and much much more ! As always, any questions or dilemmas please send a DM or email. Love

Send a textToday, we discuss how to discern if we are hearing God or Satan.Check us out:https://www.graceintheshadowsor.com/drjonathan@graceintheshadowsor.org(251) 244-4645*If you are searching for a clinical counselor and you live in Alabama, Idaho,  Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, or North Carolina, Dr. Jonathan Behler would be happy to see you as a client! He does all counseling virtually through a secure portal. He will also work with you on payments - don't let finances keep you from getting counseling!Donate to support a church/school multipurpose building and a motorcycle for the missionary to the Maasai tribe. https://www.purecharity.com/fundraisers/sc-africa-talley  (We only need to raise about $600 more for this mission.)Support the show

Do you ever feel like your whole life is about giving… and you're the one left empty? Giving to your kids. Giving to your marriage. Giving to your work. Giving to everyone who needs something from you. Maybe you tell yourself this is what love looks like. Maybe you believe good moms don't need much. Maybe you feel guilty for wanting more than survival. But somewhere along the way, sacrifice stopped feeling holy… and started feeling heavy. In today's episode, we talk about sacrifice — not the kind God invites us into, but the kind that quietly turns into resentment, burnout, and loss of self. Not laying down your life in love. But disappearing in the name of being needed. We talk about how unhealthy sacrifice shows up when: • You ignore your limits • You believe your needs don't matter • You feel selfish for resting • You equate love with suffering • You stay depleted instead of restored This episode will help you: • Discern the difference between godly sacrifice and self-erasure • Understand why constant depletion isn't spiritual • See how resentment is a signal, not a failure • Learn how to honor your needs without guilt • Begin practicing sacrifice that leads to life instead of loss If you've been feeling tired, invisible, or quietly angry — this episode will help you name what's really happening underneath it. God does call us to lay down our lives. But He never calls us to disappear. And when sacrifice flows from love instead of fear, it leads to freedom — not bitterness. love, Brittany    Ready to become a peaceful wife and Mama? Sign Up for the Pain to Peace Academy HERE. Come say hi and join the Morning Mama Facebook Group! I would love to hear your story and know your name.    ALL THE LINKS FOR ALL THE THINGS! Morning Mama Website Pain to Peace Academy Morning Mama Facebook Group Follow Us on Instagram Find a Restoration Therapist Come say hi by emailing hello@morningmamapodcast.com

Urmăriți un foarte frumos material documentar despre viața și virtutea discernământului dobândită de unul dintre marii părinți athoniți din perioada recentă, Sfântul Daniil Katunakiotul.Vizionare plăcută!Pentru Pomelnice și Donații accesați: https://www.chilieathonita.ro/pomelnice-si-donatii/Pentru mai multe articole (texte, traduceri, podcasturi) vedeți https://www.chilieathonita.ro/

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day. Read more about Project23 and partner with us as we teach every verse of the Bible on video. Our text today is 1 Corinthians 5:9-10. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. — 1 Corinthians 5:9–10 Paul clears up a massive misunderstanding. The Corinthians assumed he meant, "Cut off contact with sinful people entirely." But that was never God's strategy. We don't reach the world by abandoning it, avoiding it, or hiding from it. Paul's point is far sharper: Christians are not commanded to avoid the world. Christians are commanded to discern the church. Jesus Himself ate with sinners, welcomed sinners, and loved sinners. But Paul warns believers to be cautious around professing Christians who live openly in sin without repentance—those who claim Christ while rejecting His authority. That's where the real threat lies. Unbelievers acting like unbelievers doesn't corrupt the church. Believers acting like unbelievers without shame does. When the church begins to affirm what God condemns, the confusion spreads. The witness weakens. The church slowly becomes the very culture it's called to rescue. That's why Paul says you'd "have to leave the world" to avoid sinners outside the faith. The danger isn't out there. The danger is when what's out there walks into the church, refuses to repent, and finds applause instead of correction. Your mission is in the world—your discernment is in the church. So be wise about who shapes your spiritual life. Move toward unbelievers with compassion and conviction. But be cautious with believers who live in open rebellion while claiming the name of Christ. Discernment isn't harsh—it's holy. It protects your heart. It protects your relationships. And it protects the church you love. DO THIS: Evaluate your closest Christian relationships. Deepen connections with believers who strengthen your walk with Christ, and set boundaries with those who pull you away. ASK THIS: Who influences my spiritual life the most right now? Are they pushing me toward Christ or pulling me toward compromise? Where do I need to practice healthier discernment? PRAY THIS: Father, give me wisdom to love the world like Jesus did while discerning the church like Paul taught. Guard my heart, shape my relationships, and keep me faithful to You. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Build My Life"

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Discierne los Tiempos | Discern the Times | Brian Molina

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We're tackling the last Stage in the 4Ds of leading change (Discover, Discern, Decide, Deploy). And this stage is where most churches struggle. It's not just about what you decide to do but how you implement it that makes or breaks a ministry. It's about your plan of action.

“because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

In this episode of Mining Stock Education, host Brian Leni interviews Jacques Bonneau, a seasoned junior mining investor and author of 'The Art of Investing in Junior Mining.' Jacques shares his insights on how to discern a gold stock market top, the significance of market cycles, and his strategies for investing in junior mining stocks. The discussion covers the recent market movements, the importance of attending mining conferences, and key indicators to monitor for bullish and bearish phases in the gold market. Jacques also highlights several promising junior mining companies worth watching, based on their market cap, management quality, and exploration potential. Jacques Bonneau has over 40 years of experience in the mining industry and is the author of “The Art of Investing in Junior Mining.” He has been involved in all the main stages in the evolution of a mining company, from exploration through development to production. During his career, he rose from field geologist to president of junior mining companies. More recently, he has acted as a consultant, a financial advisor for flow-through funds, a lecturer and a mentor. 00:00 Introduction 00:48 Market Insights from Jacques Bonno 01:11 Conference Week Reflections 03:18 Investment Strategies and Market Cycles 08:04 Gold Price Predictions and Influences 19:16 Rare Earth and Lithium Investments 26:24 Conference Experiences and Networking 30:16 The Value of Attending Investment Conferences 31:25 Choosing the Right Conference for You 33:23 Portfolio Positioning and Investment Strategies 37:42 The Importance of People in Investments 43:00 Promising Companies to Watch 52:34 Where to Find More Information To purchase “The Art of Investing in Junior Mining,” go to: https://www.investinginjuniors.com/ Sign up for our free newsletter and receive interview transcripts, stock profiles and investment ideas: http://eepurl.com/cHxJ39 Mining Stock Education (MSE) offers informational content based on available data but it does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. It may not be appropriate for all situations or objectives. Readers and listeners should seek professional advice, make independent investigations and assessments before investing. MSE does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of its content and should not be solely relied upon for investment decisions. MSE and its owner may hold financial interests in the companies discussed and can trade such securities without notice. MSE is biased towards its advertising sponsors which make this platform possible. MSE is not liable for representations, warranties, or omissions in its content. By accessing MSE content, users agree that MSE and its affiliates bear no liability related to the information provided or the investment decisions you make. Full disclaimer: https://www.miningstockeducation.com/disclaimer/

Consider everything that is happening from God's perspective to know how to partner with Him to receive His victory from the spiritual reality to our earthly existence.Partial Show Notes - Complete Show Notes Here.Iran: https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-us-and-iran-set-for-talks-trump-warns-bad-things-will-happen-if-no-deal-reached Cuba: https://americanfaith.com/russian-sanctioned-jet-hits-cuba-as-tensions-riseMexico: https://x.com/i/status/2018458357276008601Muslim Takeover: https://x.com/i/status/2016845338510754005 The European Union: https://x.com/visegrad24/status/2018226029983080910Canada: https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/trump-says-canada-will-face-100-percent-tariffs-if-it-makes-a-deal-with-china-5975843CCP/China: https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/how-xi-jinping-broke-all-the-ccps-rules-heng-he-5979088 Tim Walz and Fraud: https://x.com/i/status/2003241589704212935Government leaders opposing ICE - https://x.com/i/status/2018455214412677562Arch Bishop Vigano: https://amg-news.com/boom-archbishop-vigano-drops-nuclear-truth-bomb-names-global-elite-in-crimes-against-humanity-video/Seth Holehouse on Epstein Files: https://rumble.com/v755y58-3-million-epstein-pages-released-i-cant-unsee-what-i-found.htmlIlluminati: https://www.facebook.com/cbnnews/posts/a-satanic-plaque-posted-in-the-minnesota-statehouse-that-thanks-gov-tim-walz-for/1396771962480149/Julie Green: https://rumble.com/v750ey6-live-with-julie.htmlDr. Patricia Green: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10BN6QKHf50&t=20s

Life can sometimes be overwhelming, and balancing all the competing demands we face can be a challenge. But God desires to give you a supernatural strength that only He can give. In this series, The Power of God, Pastor Chappell offers biblical insight and simple steps that can take you from where you are to where you want to be. As you apply the truth of God's Word, your life will change in ways you never thought possible.

This message teaches how offense can quietly steer your life if you don't discern it. Using Jesus' response in Matthew 21–22, it calls believers to stop taking the bait, release bitterness, and respond with spiritual maturity. It's a reminder that growth requires discernment, not reaction.

Is IUI the right next step—or a decision made from pressure and fear? In this episode, we unpack what IUI actually is, the emotional cost no one talks about, and a faith-centered framework to help you discern your next step from peace, not panic.  

Life can sometimes be overwhelming, and balancing all the competing demands we face can be a challenge. But God desires to give you a supernatural strength that only He can give. In this series, The Power of God, Pastor Chappell offers biblical insight and simple steps that can take you from where you are to where you want to be. As you apply the truth of God's Word, your life will change in ways you never thought possible.

The following is an AI-generated rough transcript of the Equipping Hour. It may contain inaccuracies.  Opening and Introduction Smedly Yates: Well, good morning. Happy Sunday. Welcome to Grace Bible Church this morning and to Equipping Hour. This morning, we’re going to be doing a follow-up from an equipping hour that Jake taught on January 11th on dementia. And that was, Jake, that was riveting and encouraging. And I thought you taught us everything we needed to know, but apparently you didn’t. Because the numbers of follow-up questions from that equipping hour broke all records. So we’ve sort of accumulated those questions. And let me just encourage you, if you didn’t get a chance to listen to that equipping hour from January 11th, pull it up on the website, go back and listen to that. And this morning, what we’re going to do is just put the questions that many of you asked in person and submitted. Or just get to ask those of Jake in front of all of us. And so Jake really is going to give most of the answers here. I don’t know if I have a whole lot to say. Other than these are the questions we got, Jake, help us. So with that, let me open us in a word of prayer and we’ll get started. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your kindness to us. We don’t deserve to have physical ability endure in this life. We don’t deserve to have mental capacity sustained in this life. We truly only deserve condemnation under your wrath for our sins. And so anything that you give to us, we pray to use as a gift, as a stewardship, to use well and for your glory, and to be content and to trust you as things diminish. And we thank you for the preparation, for mental decline. You’ve already given us from principles from your word. We pray even now as we discuss caring for one another and seeking to glorify you in personal worship in our physical existence that you would be honored as we listen and apply and are strengthened and sharpened to help others. We ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen. I’m going to start with kind of a personal question that came in, Jake, and it goes like this. If I try not to get dementia, you gave us a lot of helps, dietary exercise, sleep, some of those things that were really helpful, practical things. So if I’m doing those things, if I’m trying not to get dementia, am I expressing distrust and dissatisfaction in God and his sovereignty? Stewardship, Planning, and God’s Sovereignty Jacob Hantla: Maybe. So, yeah, we spend a lot of time talking about the practical ways that you might want to steward this life and this body that God’s given you. The big hitters were exercise, right? We said if there’s one that you can do, it’s that. But there’s a lot more. There’s a, but if you’re doing those things, is that sinful? It might be. There’s a way to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. Planning, though, is not unbelief. Planning like God doesn’t exist is unbelief. or planning like God’s way isn’t best in your selfishly, arrogantly grabbing after your own desires. That’s unbelief. That’s sin. So the issue isn’t whether you should steward, but it’s whether an action that you’re saying is stewardship is actually a mask for control, pride, and fear. Proverbs 27:12 says the prudent sees danger and hides himself. There’s a way to see that. Where you see danger, you hide yourself from it. You take planned steps in order to avoid it that actually roots itself from fear of the Lord. And that would be right. And in contrast, it says the simple go on as if that danger isn’t there and they suffer for it. So there’s nothing inherently righteous or right and just saying, I’m going to trust the Lord and use that as a mask for just lazy thoughtlessness. Similarly, there’s nothing righteous at all in saying, I don’t want what I fear is coming and I’m going to grasp after what I want. But James 4, you guys might want to open there. This is, a really, really helpful section of scripture for planning. And it reveals why we actually have to, at the heart of all of this, guard our hearts, not merely do the right thing. James Chapter 4. And this is in the context of the warning, or the command to humble yourself from verse 10, humble yourselves before the Lord because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. And now, he says, come now, verse 13, you who say today or tomorrow, we’re going to go into such and such a town, spend a year there trade, and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You’re a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or that. So the take home from that is not don’t plan, don’t run a business, but rather as you run it, run it as one who actually embraces and recognizes your temporalness, your weakness, your dependence, and God’s sovereignty. Smedly Yates: If we zoom out from the topic of dementia, and we just think about the principle underlying that, we’re dealing with the realities of God using human means in his sovereign plans. If we rephrase the question, we might say, is it sin and distrust of the Lord to study for your chemistry exam? No, of course not. Can you sin by studying for your chemistry exam without thought toward God and exalt your own pride and intellect and your hard work? Yeah, that’d be wrong. A godless, practical, atheistic approach to effort would be sin. But a laziness that says, well, I’m just trusting in the Lord, but I’m not going to go apply for a job, study from my exam, practice for the athletic endeavor, or whatever is sin the other way. And I love the example of evangelism. We know that God will save people, but we know that God uses means to do it. So is it a failure to trust God when I go out and share the gospel with people? No, it’s actually the obedience that God uses as a means to accomplish his ends. Now, I can’t control the results. So you can be faithful, worshiping the Lord, telling others how great Jesus is all day long and nobody gets saved and God is honored and we trust him. Jacob Hantla: Yeah. There’s two biblical, I love the illustration. It’s throughout the Bible of horses and chariots. You can write down Proverbs 21:31 and Psalm 20:7. In Proverbs 21:31, it says, the horse is made ready for the day of battle. Who does that? We do that. The people do that, and they go, battle, but it says, but victory belongs to Yahweh. And similarly, in Psalm 20:7, this, this was actually one of my favorite passages in fighting cancer. I stole it from Piper in his book, Don’t Waste Your Cancer. He says, some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God, which doesn’t mean go to battle with slow horses and broken down chariots, it’s wise to get the best you can. If you know that you might be facing a future with dementia or anything else you might face, chemistry test or other health problem, be diligent to plan, but do it in a way that when you don’t get dementia, it wasn’t your effort that gets the glory. It was Yahweh’s. And if you get dementia anyway, you say, it was the Lord’s will. It’s best, I trust. Reverse Sanctification and Dementia Smedly Yates: A question came through, and really there were several facets that sort of get at the same kind of question. But people wondered, and this comes obviously from people who have worked hard to care for people with various forms of dementia. But it seems like Christians at times can experience what looks like reverse sanctification. Is that what’s going on there? Have people been abandoned by the Holy Spirit when behaviors change in mental decline. Jacob Hantla: Yeah, I think probably about five, six of you asked that question with very particular circumstances in mind. And the question doesn’t overstate the reality of what occurs. So reverse sanctification. Sanctification is the process of progressively being conformed to the image of Christ from the point of salvation, usually, and normally for a Christian, until the point when they finish well, die, and are taken home, and then glory. But that doesn’t always happen for Christians. The reality is sometimes in dementia, some Christians become more childlike in their faith. It’s not inevitable that your sanctification will reverse. And I don’t think that’s the right term. It’s the observed reality that we see. But sometimes their faith becomes more simple, but not less godly. They might tell the same stories over and over again. Or if you imagine sometimes what happens in dementia, your existence in the moment is separated from what’s gone before it. So you’re always disoriented. That’s terrifying. And so you see the Christian in those moments having a childlike trust questions that you feel bad for them, but they are trusting the Lord in a real way. But sometimes, and this is the words of Dr. John Dunlop, wrote a book on the Christian and dementia. He goes, dementia can indeed change personalities. It has transformed wonderful, loving, godly people into tyrants. And that happens. I’ve seen, you see somebody who was self-controlled loving. and as they progress into dementia, they curse. They use language that’s not befitting a Christian at all. There’s inappropriateness in all kinds of ways. And so what’s going on there? I think it’s helpful. I’m going to do another physiology lesson. Bear with me, I promise it’s worth it. It helps me. So there’s some types of dementia, especially that there’s one we talked about called frontotemporal. What does that mean? It’s the area of the brain in which it happens. And it changes the way that your brain physically works. So there’s an, I’m going to oversimplify a little bit. So, but this is, this is helpful. If you think of your prefrontal cortex, you might have heard that word because we joke. Teenagers, their prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed. And that’s true. It’s why you don’t trust your kids to make life-altering decisions. But the prefrontal cortex is, you could think of it as the executive control center of your brain. It houses the part of your brain for abstract thought, concentration, working memory, and most critically, inhibition of inappropriate thoughts and actions. You and I do it all the time you think it’s like the breaks. There’s a filter on, thank God there’s a filter, right? Something comes to your mind and it doesn’t come out your mouth. Because of the prefrontal cortex, it overrides automatic impulsive thoughts. It helps you consider the consequences in the future before acting. It connects your current behaviors to the past experiences and your goals. And when that area is damaged, somebody has a really hard time choosing the appropriate behavior for the situation. The damage, it sort of removes the filter. There’s another thing, orbital frontal cortex. It’s just another area of your brain. You don’t need to know the big word. But what that is is that’s particularly critical for regulating social behavior. When that area of the brain gets damaged, like if you get a cancer to that area or a surgery that affects, that area instantly, that person can explain what appropriate social behavior is, but they don’t recognize when their behavior violates that. So it’s manifested by like just a list from a textbook that I looked up on this. It’s greeting strangers in an overly familiar manner, standing too close to others, inappropriate touching, being aware of social norms, like I said, but unaware that your behavior violates that, and that can go to extremes, sexual inappropriateness, language inappropriateness, and they’re just unaware. You and I, if we were to be saying that, it would be sin. In this case, it actually may represent a physical inability. So what’s going on there? I want to think about the brain and the believer. When the Holy Spirit expresses self-control in a believer. So, right, the fruit of the spirit is self-control. And I just said, well, self-control comes from the prefrontal cortex. So are we just our brains? No. When the Holy Spirit makes a believer new. And when the Holy Spirit controls that believer, he does it in a way through the working of our physiologic brain that enables us to submit to him, which means that he’s actually using our prefrontal cortex in a renewed way. I think it’s helpful. Open your Bible’s to Ephesians 5:18. I think this is really helpful. And there is an inner working between the way our brains and our most inner us, your soul, your mind, you’re who you are. There’s a working there that we, don’t truly understand, but that we can get glimpses into here. And I think that that, if we think of the way our brains in the working of the Holy Spirit to accomplish things like self-control, I think this is a helpful verse. Ephesians 5:18, do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. And what’s that contrasted with? But be filled with the Holy Spirit, with the Spirit. So what does alcohol physically do? Alcohol in a person, it actually, you’re going to now see why I did this physiology lesson, it actually dramatically reduces prefrontal cortex activity. It takes the break off. It takes the filter off. You may still have the Holy Spirit, but the physiologic means that he uses to exercise control of, you would use to minimize your expressions of sin while in this body that’s falling apart, you’ve now chemically altered that. And so you have a lack of self-control, an impaired moral reasoning, increased risk-taking. Similarly, your orbital frontal cortex goes dysfunctional. That’s why I mentioned those two things. That happens with alcohol and anything that stimulates GABA receptors. That would be like benzodiazepines, some sleeping pills, some anti-enactylase, some anti-enactylase. anxiety meds, it can lead to social inappropriateness for those same reasons. Opioids. Research shows that chronic amphetamine and opioid use alters decision-making by ways that are very similar to focal damage to that orbital frontal cortex. You can see now chemicals interacting with your brain in a way that we’re used to seeing those people don’t act right. THC from marijuana, same thing, decreased brain volumes in chronic use, especially in the orbital frontal cortex. Sleep deprivation. Tons of breakdown, temporary, and the connection between amygdala, which is like your fighter flight, your stress area, and your prefrontal cortex connectivity. So sleep deprivation triggers this. You basically don’t have a brain. on your emotional regulation. So why am I going through all that? If we have the ability, it’s right for us to keep ourselves from breaking our brain intentionally. Don’t be drunk. Avoid chemicals that would alter those areas and make the expression of self-control more difficult or less likely. and you can actually, you see it in your kids when they’re unslept, more prone to sin. You see it in yourself. So imagine yourself with 48 hours without sleep, then drink a little bit of alcohol. You will become disinhibited, irritable, and be much more prone to sin. Don’t do that to yourself. But now what happens if that’s actually happening physically because areas of your brain are dying, they’re tangled up with proteins, or they’re otherwise that they can’t access the energy stores to function? That’s effectively what they’re, but they can’t sleep it off or sober up. It helps you be probably a little more understanding and maybe see that it’s not actually a reversing of sanctification, but rather, I think it’s a, well, let’s just turn to 2 Corinthians 4, and I think we’ll see what it is. You see that dementia can change behavior by damaging the brain’s physiologic instruments of restraint and judgment, but it’s not the same thing as the Holy Spirit moving out. sanctification isn’t stored in a lobe of the brain. You are more than your brain. It’s actually our brain is that part of us that’s wasting away. It’s not our inner man. So 2nd Corinthians 4:16, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. day. This is helpful to remember in somebody whose outer self is falling apart, not just physically their body doesn’t work anymore, but their brain’s not working. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen, the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. It’s really helpful. when we look at somebody with dementia and it looks like they’re becoming less and less Christian. I love the way John Piper says it. He has a helpful ask Pastor John on dementia. And he says, Paul’s telling us that weak, in glorious, demented shadow of a once strong Christian in front of us is on the brink of glory and power. You need to go into nursing homes and think that way. These people are on the brink of glory and power. We must keep this continuity in mind between diminished powers of human beings here and the spectacular powers that they’re going to have in the resurrection. It’s so important if we lose a sense of that continuity for the Christian, will assume that we are becoming less human rather than being on the brink of gloriously superhuman. So it’s helpful to see that your brain is the outer person that’s wasting away. And that isn’t necessarily connected to the what God has done in the most inner you. Confrontation, Rebuke, and Care for the Weak Smedly Yates: Given that reality, Jake, we think about somebody whose inhibitions are broken down. The manifest ability for self-control allows things in the heart to make their way out. Is there ever a place for confrontation, rebuke, encouragement, help for somebody who’s still living the Christian life, still susceptible to sin? At what level is it appropriate? How should we think about, you know, helping behavior and rotten speech and things like that? Jacob Hantla: Yeah, absolutely. There is. You have to recognize that the purpose of rebuke would be repentance, right? And just like with children and with all Christians, it’s really wise and necessary to discern when possible between sin and inability. The reality is that we can’t always do that. But before I go there, I want to get back to this question. Let’s think about ourselves and what we’re going to be prone to do with what I just said. I’m going to be prone, you might be prone, to say, well, I didn’t sin. It’s just my physiology that made me do it. You don’t get off the hook ever in the Bible because your physiology had a weakness. God uses our weakness and our physiology as the platform in which he demonstrates his power, and particularly his power over sin. Our brains, actually a significant part of why they’re weak and why they break like this, is because it’s a part of God’s judgment for us. Romans 1, right? We became futile in our thinking, and our minds were darkened as a result of our unwillingness to acknowledge God as God. We are not merely our brains, and yet the dysfunction of our brains is actually a significant part of the fall. God renews that. He changes that in the believer. And if you as a Christian say, I know where I am particularly vulnerable, maybe I’m heading down a path towards dementia, or maybe I have some particular weaknesses where I haven’t slept much this week. I just had back surgery. I know I’m going to be on an opioid for pain, and I know that I’m going to have a particular—even if you can’t say the area of your brain that’s going to not function right—you're going to say, all right, Jake taught me that I’m going to tend to act inappropriately towards people. I’m not going to view myself rightly. I’m going to have a lack of self-control. I better ask for help. I’m not going to justify sin, but I’m actually going to be more vigilant for it. Fight it more diligently and get people around me to help me fight it. So now let’s go to the question of, is it ever appropriate to rebuke a dementia patient? Let’s assume that person is a Christian. Go to 1 Thessalonians 5:14. If that person is a Christian and they are sinning, even if they’re not even aware of it, they’re going to say, will you please come to me and help me? I’m going to need help. We need to, as best we can, use the right tool for the situation. Discern weakness, faint-heartedness, and still don’t hesitate to admonish unruliness or idleness. So 1 Thessalonians 5:14: “We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle or the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak.” Do you see those three different instructions? Somebody might be expressing sin. All three of these might be evidences of—in all of these three cases—there might be somebody evidencing unbelief or something that needs turning, changing. And in one case, the tool is admonishment. In another, it’s actually help. And in the other, it’s encouragement. Now consider the person with dementia. Their brain is not functioning the way that yours is. They can’t connect their actions to what’s socially appropriate. They can’t connect their actions with the goals they’re aiming at. They might be unclear as to even the situation that they find themselves in, the context of their life. That’s a pitiable—in all the right ways—pitiable circumstance. That would tend to make that person fainthearted, very weak. What they probably need more than admonishment is help and encouragement. I love Poithress. This is from Piper and Grudem’s book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. He says, “Our privilege as Christ’s children altogether should stimulate rather than destroy our concern to treat each person in the church with the sensitivity and respect due to that person by reason of his age, gift, sex, leadership status, personality,” and I would add mental status. So how should you do this? With mild impairment, let’s just go down a category. If you had somebody with mild impairment—not all dementias, it’s not this catch-all where everybody’s all the same—you can have a mild impairment. Probably normal accountability. They’re going to tend to need more admonishment and help and encouragement, but be slower, be gentle, be more concrete. You’re probably not going to be able to string together three or four if-then statements to logically get them there. Make it simple. Sort of like when you’re admonishing your three-year-old, maybe your five-year-old, your seven-year-old. You still do it, but not in the same way that you would a 25-year-old or a 35-year-old. But then with moderate impairment, your correction probably becomes more redirection. Just simple statements of, “That’s not okay. Let’s go over here.” Change the environment. And then severe impairment, probably treat it more as symptom management, prioritizing safety, comfort. Simple statements still: “That’s not okay.” Like you would use for your one-year-old: “Use your hands for gentleness. We don’t speak like that. That doesn’t honor the Lord.” Normal Aging, Forgetfulness, and Dementia Smedly Yates: Statements like that. This is so helpful, Jake. I think partly because we don’t want to be in a position where we’re shocked and our black-and-white categories of sanctification, justification, get in the way of compassionate care and love for someone who is in a weakened state that needs help. It’s not dismissing sin, but just really helpful, compassionate care. I have a more personal question for you. Last evening, we had a number of friends in our home, and I got confused and thought that a dear sweet friend was somebody else altogether. And it occurred to me later, I asked a really strange question that didn’t make any sense to her at all. Do I have dementia? Jacob Hantla: I don’t think so. But you are getting older. There’s a forgetfulness that’s just a part of being human. And there is a forgetfulness that’s increasingly normal with age. Smedly Yates: You’re right behind me. You’re catching up. No, you’re not catching up, but you’re behind me. Jacob Hantla: Percentage-wise, I’m catching up, and I will never in an absolute, absolute way. So there’s normal aging, and some normal cognitive decline with aging is very different than actual dementia. So if you do have questions about that, it’s helpful. Regardless, if you just say, hey, I’m getting old. I’m not sleeping as well. Just as a result of not sleeping as well, as a result of just being weaker, maybe having more history behind you, some more stuff to forget, or whatever, you realize, hey, I don’t have dementia, but I’m not who I once was. That’s not a bad place to be. There’s a weakness there that’s helpful to get people around you to augment your weaknesses. How much more, if you were heading toward dementia. I promise I’ll tell you if I see it. You do the same for me. But regardless, you might or you might not. I don’t think you do. But let’s say that you’re saying, I forget stuff, do I have dementia? The second that you start thinking that, you’re probably not the right person to be making that call. It’s wise to get family members, elders, even medical professionals, doctors to assess: is this dementia? Is it a reversible cause? What’s the probability it’s going to accelerate? And then as you start seeing more and more likelihood that, yeah, this is progressing, start getting people around you to start relinquishing intentionally controls that you might have on your life. Can you double-check me on any purchases greater than X amount of money? Let’s go update the will. Let’s get you on a power of attorney. Invite them to take away the keys at the appropriate time. Even if you say that’s a long way from now, that’s a really humble way to invite, in a godly way, people who love you to be enabled to help you. Forgetting the Gospel and Childlike Faith Smedly Yates: Jake, can a believer forget the gospel in a mentally diminished state or not have the ability to articulate the gospel? Jacob Hantla: Yeah. They can. Memories are stored in our brain. And you might not have access to those memories even while you are saved. Right? That unbreakable chain of salvation will end in glorification from Romans chapter 8: all those whom he foreknew, and it gets all the way to glorification. And in the midst of that may be a trial like your memories are disconnected from you in a way that you can’t explain concepts like substitutionary atonement, you might not even remember that Jesus is your Savior, though he is. And so if somebody has forgotten those things, don’t tire of reminding them of those things. Because even if that memory can only stay with them for that one moment, it’s real. And it might help them endure that moment. It’s a really complex, I can’t say that we understand it at all. But God does. There’s a complex relationship between our thoughts, our memories, how those connect to our actions, and what our ultimate status before God that’s normally expressed through faith. And you can’t have faith without trusting in Jesus. So how can somebody who doesn’t even know who Jesus is trust in him? I’m just going to say I’m not God. God knows. And when you are in your right mind, if you do, that’s evidence of God’s work in you. Because nobody can say Jesus is Lord apart from, in me, and being it, apart from God changing them, saving them, making them new. And so if their brain breaks, and they no longer are able to say that in the same way, I don’t think that’s going to be devastating because they weren’t saved on the merit of faith, but they were saved by grace through the exercise of faith. That faith may look different now. But it’s helpful to think of what kind of people go into the kingdom. Like the disciples, when the children were coming, and they said, no, don’t let them near. And Jesus says, no, it’s, it’s that kind of person who gets into the kingdom. Don’t think that those, faith doesn’t have to be complex. Faith doesn’t have to be well reasoned out. That doesn’t mean that you have an excuse not to think. Peter says, add to your faith knowledge, right? We are expected to grow in faith. I’d love to hear you expound on this, Smed. But there’s a childlikeness of faith that actually in your dementia, you might be able to express that. In your arrogance, maybe in your self-trusting when your faculties are working, it may actually be God’s means of separating you from your strength, because when we’re weak, we’re strong in him, that we don’t get to see all the interplay of that, but we may be a means moment by moment of reminding the Christian who forgot who Jesus was of who he is. Smedly Yates: I think that’s so helpful. The weakest place you will ever be in life are at your last moments on the earth. No matter how it is you go out of this life. Just last night I was working through the details of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. And listen to this, Paul is comparing the resurrection to a seed sown into the ground and then what comes out afterwards. And there are different levels of glory from sun, moon to stars, different kinds of bodies, fish, and other things. But not everybody’s the same. But every human being who faces physical mortality ends life here and then experiences resurrection, every one of us will experience the most profound weaknesses in the last moments. And here’s how Paul describes it. The body is sown, placed into the ground like a seed, corruptible. Subject to absolute humiliating corruption, raised incorruptible. No longer ever subject to corruption. And when we think about brain deterioration, that word corruption is weighty. Sown in dishonor. The last moments of anyone’s physicality are the most dishonorable. Stripped of power, stripped of strength, stripped of dignity, but raised in glory. And Jake, what you shared earlier about somebody being on the brink of the kind of glory that C.S. Lewis described—if we were to see a resurrected saint now we’d be tempted to fall down and worship them or run away in abject terror. We just have no idea what this glory is like on this side of it. But we go from the lowest, most undignified, most powerless spot in our earthly existence in those last moments. And he goes on and says, put in the ground in weakness, raised in power, put in the ground natural, raised supernatural. And so the earthy is first and then the spiritual. And so it’s just helpful to think about not being surprised when someone is at their most profoundly weak, not just physically but mentally, end-of-life scenarios. Jacob Hantla: Yeah, it’s profoundly humbling. And it makes us want to say, I don’t want to be there. Can I avoid that? Okay. I mean, do your best. And ultimately God may bring us there in a way that all of us, sometimes our last moments are momentary, sometimes our last moments of that corruptible humiliation last a really long time. In this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, this physical body that’s falling apart, we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed. It’s not merely saying, hey, let’s take this thing off, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. It’s not even worth comparing. And so if that’s the way that God has to be glorified in us—to go back to that first question—okay, I’ll do that. It’s light and momentary, even if it lasts a long time. And even if I’m not even able in the moment to contemplate what time is, it’s humiliating. And you know what? I’m going to ask the Lord to take that from me. I’m going to say, God, please don’t. That’s an okay prayer. That’s similar to what Paul prayed and said in 2 Corinthians 12. And Jesus says, no, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And if Jesus says that to you, Christian, you can say, okay, I’m going to be content with weaknesses. And man, if you get to care for somebody in their weak moments there, it’s helpful to have these things in mind to know they’re on the brink of glory. Marriage, Roles, and Dementia Smedly Yates: I want to move to a practical and theological question related to roles, thinking particularly about husbands and wives honoring biblical roles in marriage, particularly when a husband is experiencing mental decline and dementia. How does a wife caring for a husband honor those roles with a diminished ability? Jacob Hantla: Yeah, that’s a really helpful question. I loved thinking through this. Smedly Yates: I came up with it myself. No. Several people asked. I just wrote it down. Jacob Hantla: You did. I think we want to avoid two opposite errors. One is a view of submission and leadership as a rigid subservience. If a husband can’t lead, the wife can’t act. Or on the other side, a role evaporation. That illness or inability cancels biblical patterns. Both of those would be absolutely wrong. Did you get that? One would be if the husband can’t lead, then the wife shouldn’t be able to act. And if the husband can’t lead because of inability, role distinction, that God set out that is grounded in creation order, not in ability, right? Men aren’t pastors because we’re better at it or smarter at all or better teachers. That’s not where God grounds it. But in his purposes. And so it’s helpful. If we think about what femininity is, so we’re helping a wife whose husband is just incapable of leading in the ways that she wishes he could, a heart that longs to follow. You think of 1 Peter 3:4. The adorning for the woman is in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. Normally, that’s going to be expressed through submitting to husbands, to their leadership, even in ways, as long as their leadership—for unbelievers, as long as their leadership doesn’t lead them to go against the Lord—even submitting to that with a gentle and quiet spirit. That’s going to play itself out differently for a husband who can’t lead through inability or poor decision-making due to brain decline. You go to Proverbs 31. This breaks the category of a submissive wife as one who’s subservient and just says, “Tell me exactly what to do, so I only do that thing.” No, an excellent wife who can find, she’s far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her. He will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not harm all the days of her life. You see right there a husband who can trust his wife, whose wife is working for his good and not harm, that’s a wife who’s embraced godly roles. It’s not a wife, it’s not neediness that she expresses, but productivity and care. Jump forward to verse 15 of Proverbs 31. She rises while it is yet night, provides food for her household, portions for her maidens, she considers a field and buys it, the fruit of her hand, she plants a vineyard, she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She perceives that her merchandise is profitable, her lamp does not go out at night. This is a woman who can work, who can work hard, but very different from that which feminists would say, hey, a woman who doesn’t need a man, a woman who functions for her own good, depart from him, but this is a woman who’s functioning strong for the good of her husband. And her husband trusts, she, verse 27, looks to the ways of her household. She doesn’t eat the bread of idleness. Children and her husband call her blessed and praise her. Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. This biblical femininity is rooted in fear of the Lord, love of her husband, not a desire to dominate over the husband, but to come alongside as a God-given helper to build him up, that can be demonstrated in very unique, very God-glorifying ways with a husband whose mind is increasingly not working. It’s fundamentally a disposition to honor and support the husband voluntarily and gladly. Leadership often involves delegation. So, husbands: if you’re heading that way, plan in advance for the kinds of ways so that your wife, even when you can no longer give your preferences, she knows, and it seems like in the moment, she’s actually working against it when you no longer understand what’s going on. She’s actually able to follow. So it’s good and right for the wife to be productive, capable, in a way that might look independent, but with a hard attitude that supports. So anticipate that. I want to give a personal example. This is actually hard and a little bit embarrassing. So dementia is different than delirium. Delirium is something that’s short-term, usually from a cause. You see it in elderly when they get like UTIs. You can see it from medications. Post-surgery, I see it all the time with anesthesia. As many of you guys know, I spent a long time in the hospital with Burkitt lymphoma. I was getting a lot of chemo. They stick a needle in my spine, give me chemo directly into my cerebral spinal fluid around my brain. I was on tons of pain medication and all kinds of other medications that did weird things to my brain. I don’t remember this time, but there was apparently a few days—I remember bits and pieces of it—where I was out of my mind. I at one point apparently tried to hit Kiki. I took all my clothes off and tried to go in the hall at the hospital. Kiki was a loving, submissive, supportive wife by helping me not do that. I am very grateful for her tearfully persevering, guarding me from myself as my brain was failing me. At that point, thankfully, in a reversible way. But she was not stepping out of her God-ordained role by saying, “No, Jake, you cannot go in the hall naked. No, Jake, you cannot hit me. Jake, get in bed,” and even physically and chemically restraining me for a time. That was a gracious expression of role differentiation that I think honored the Lord and honored me. I remember also, just husbands to wives, me at the—I was reading my vows this morning from almost 25 years ago. I wrote in those vows. And I’d encourage you guys to think through that now. And singles, as you’re thinking through marriage, think through what it might mean in all the different stages. I said, “I pray that as we grow old together, our love will grow stronger because we are together growing as one closer to Christ. I commit myself to loving you, even when your beautiful body is gone, even when your mind is not sharp, even when you do not recognize who I am. No matter what the cost to me, I will be married to you until God takes you.” And that’s what it means. That love isn’t in it for what the other one can give. It’s not self-seeking. It actually seeks the good of the other. So have this mind in you, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped after, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being found in human form. He did that all the way to the point of death, death on the cross. That’s what husbands are called to. That’s what all of us are called to. So thinking, I am above changing this diaper or correcting my spouse for the thousand and seventy-second time this week. Stooping that low is nothing compared to our Savior’s humble condescension to us. And so you actually are embracing God-given roles as a Christian when we help and endure and love our spouse to the very end. Honoring Parents and End-of-Life Care Smedly Yates: And that’s a great segue, Jake. When I think about what you just described, our parents did those very things for us when we were helpless. There may come a time where those roles are reversed and we’re helping our parents in their end-of-life situations. I’m going to ask you a series of questions that came in and you can answer whichever ones you want. I’ll try to go faster so we get through them. Maybe. Maybe we do a part 17 of this series, whatever. But I’m thinking about the command, the prohibition, do not sharply rebuke an older man. And the positive commands honor your father and mother. Those commands don’t expire. And when I think about don’t sharply rebuke an older man, there ought to be an elevated view of those who have walked this life longer than we have. We’ve lost that in an American culture, right? Tribal cultures have kept that in some ways. Other places, other cultures have kept that. We just sort of disregard the elderly as a new cultural phenomenon. And, you know, the word euthanasia, the beginning of the word is, is eu or good and thanasia, thanos, death. Good death. It’s not good. And we don’t discard people when they’re no longer of utilitarian purpose. But that is where our culture is going. And Christians must look very different. So when we think about how do we gently, compassionately, lovingly honor God, honor our parents, loving them through end-of-life scenarios. Here’s a series of questions. How do I honor those relationships when compassionate care, sometimes correction, help the 1,077th time. Dad, use your words. Don’t use your hand. You know, whatever it is. Give me the keys. How do we do that and honor them in our disposition? Number two, is it sin to employ the resources of home health care or a live-in situation, a retirement community, etc.? And then what do we need to think about with end-of-life scenarios? Yeah. That’s a lot of questions. Let’s go. Jacob Hantla: Let’s go. So I think honoring your parents means, first off, it’s a disposition of the heart, but it’s a disposition of the heart that is connected to meeting their physical needs. You went to 1 Timothy 5. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. And then dot that dot, second, verse 2, older women as mothers. And then it rolls into, let’s think of widows who are truly widows. Open to 1 Timothy 5. This is maybe a section that you’re like, you might not read this honor widows who are truly widows section, thinking it applies to you. It does. And I think in it is the answer to this question, or at least a significant part of it. Verse four, the thought here is the church needs to take care of widows, but don’t do so in a way that robs a family of the responsibility and need to take care of their own parents. So look at verse four. If a widow has children or even grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household. And now look at this three part: make some return to their parents. So rooted in just a mom, dad, thank you for however many years of my life. You changed my diapers and fed me and looked after every need. It’s okay if my career is messed up because I have to have you in my home and I have to go take care of you. That is, do you see what it says? That is actual showing of godliness. I love what you just said. It’s so different than the culture. The culture might do this in a way that Christians have to be sharply different than. It is godliness to make return for the way that your parents cared for you. Number two, this is pleasing in the sight of God. You don’t do it out of social obligation—well, who else is going to do it? They don’t have enough insurance. Or even if they do have insurance and you do get the privilege of having live-in help. No, you are seeking to please the Lord as you make return to them. This is pleasing. Yeah, and then the third was, yeah, so godliness, make return to their parents. It’s please the Lord. Take care of your parents. Meet the needs. And if you don’t, verse 8, do you see what it says? If anyone does not provide for relatives, especially members of his household, do you see what you’re saying? You have denied the faith and you are worse than an unbeliever. This is what James is referring to in chapter 2. That’s a faith that’s dead being by itself. The religion, end of James 1, the true religion, takes care of orphans and widows in their distress. How much more are your parents? So, yes, take care of your parents. You have to. It’s a great privilege. It’s actually God’s ordained means of living out godliness. So can you send your parents to a care home? Does that mean you have to maximally sacrifice? Not necessarily. It doesn’t mean that you have to perform every task. Neglect is sin, but using help may be wisdom. The reality is dementia needs are often 24-7. They involve skilled needs at times. They may wander, fall, be incontinent, unsafe swallowing. Care at home at all costs—that may be rooted in love. It may also be rooted in pride or even foolishness. Honor can actually look like choosing a good facility, visiting often, advocating, overseeing care. Encourage the church to be involved, but don’t demand the church do the work at you avoiding it. I don’t remember what the other questions were. Smedly Yates: That’s all right. We got one minute left, Jake. Would you close our time in prayer? Closing Prayer Jacob Hantla: God, thank you for your word and just how replete it is with wisdom and principles and instruction and most of all revelation of who you are and what pleases you. God, I pray from this and just from this lesson and all the trials that you bring us through related to dementia and so many others that you would increasingly form us each individually and then corporately as your body. Form us into your image. Increase our godliness and then, God, bring us safely home. We love you. Be glorified in our lives and in our church. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. The post Equipping Hour: Dementia and the Christian Q&A appeared first on Grace Bible Church.

Romans 9 opens with one of the most heart-wrenching statements in all of Scripture—Paul declares he would be willing to be cursed and cut off from Christ if it meant his Jewish brothers and sisters would find salvation. This isn't just rhetoric; it's the cry of a heart that mirrors God's own desire for the lost. We're confronted with an uncomfortable question: Do we carry this same burden for those who don't know Jesus? The passage challenges us to examine whether our faith has made us complacent or compassionate. Paul reminds us that Israel had everything—the covenants, the law, the prophets, the promises—yet they stumbled over the stumbling stone of Jesus Christ. This isn't just ancient history; it's a mirror for our own lives. We can have all the religious heritage, church attendance, and biblical knowledge in the world, but if we haven't built our lives on Jesus as the chief cornerstone, we've missed everything. The message is clear: when we stand before God, the only answer that matters begins with 'He'—Jesus paid our price. Everything else, every 'I did this' or 'my family was that,' falls short. This passage invites us to move from offense to foundation, from stumbling over Christ to building our entire existence upon Him.### Sermon Notes:**Introduction:**- The sermon is focused on Romans 9:1-5, discussing Paul's deep sorrow and fervent desire for the Israelites to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.- Paul expresses a willingness to be accursed if it meant the salvation of his fellow Jews.**Key Points:**1. **Recap of Romans 1-8:**  - Chapters 1-8 outline that all have sinned and salvation comes only through Jesus Christ, resulting in no condemnation for believers.  2. **Paul's Anguish for the Israelites:**  - Paul is deeply sorrowful, wishing he could take the place of his Jewish brethren to ensure their salvation.  - This mirrors Moses in Exodus who offered to be blotted out for the sake of his people.3. **Moses and the Israelites:**  - The story of the golden calf in Exodus 32 illustrates Israel's disobedience and idolatry.  - Despite their failures, Moses interceded for them, showing a type and shadow of Christ's ultimate sacrifice.4. **Jesus as the Anathema:**  - Unlike Moses or Paul, Jesus fulfilled the role of being accursed by taking on the sins of humanity.  - He becomes the cornerstone of faith as opposed to a stumbling block for those who reject Him.5. **Israel and the Rejection of Jesus:**  - Israel was given statutes, laws, and prophets but rejected Christ, who was predicted throughout their history.  - However, there remains a future hope for Israel's recognition of Christ as the Messiah.**Practical Applications:**- **Reflect on Sacrifice and Compassion:** - Emulate Paul's and Moses' compassion by earnestly praying for those who do not know Christ. - Contemplate the sacrificial nature of Jesus and how it can inspire personal sacrifice for others.- **Firm Foundation in Christ:** - Ensure that Christ is the cornerstone upon which all aspects of life are built. - Align personal life choices and behaviors with the teachings of the Bible.- **Discern and Preach the Gospel:** - Continue to share the message of the cross despite facing ridicule or opposition. - Use opportunities to discuss the faith and exemplify Christ-likeness in actions and words.**Discussion Questions:**1. How do the desires of Paul and Moses for their people challenge our own priorities and prayers for the unsaved?2. In what ways can we ensure that Jesus is the cornerstone in our lives rather than a stumbling block?3. How can the story of the golden calf teach us about obedience and faithfulness in our current cultural context?4. What are practical ways we can intercede for others, following the examples of Paul, Moses, and ultimately Jesus?These notes, applications, and questions encourage a deep reflection on personal faith, the role of Jesus as a savior, and our mission to live out and share the gospel.

Before you say “I do,” you must discern the altar you're marrying into. In this episode, Dr. Delisa Rodgers delivers a prophetic, trauma-informed warning for those seeking covenant. Not every family altar releases blessing. Some altars are built on silence, control, and generational compromise. What looks like “family dynamics” in the natural may be spiritual agreements in the unseen. Using Scripture, Hebraic insight, and biblical examples such as the house of Eli, this episode exposes why love alone is not enough to heal broken foundations and why marriage does not dismantle family altars, it multiplies them. You'll learn: • How family systems reveal spiritual governance • Why silence in the face of abuse is alignment, not neutrality • How God exposes patterns before covenant to preserve destiny • The difference between emotional attachment and discernment • Why missing someone does not mean you misheard God This episode is for anyone who is dating, engaged, recently separated, or praying for clarity before commitment. It is especially for those who have been taught to overlook red flags in the name of faith. If you are ready to stop negotiating with warning signs and choose wisdom without guilt, this conversation will shift how you view covenant forever.

January 15, 2026

See sermon notes and more at stlukesumc.com/sermons Subscribe to receive our latest messages:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ2n... To support St. Luke's in our mission to be an open, antiracist, justice-seeking church, visit http://stlukesumc.com/give. We are an open community of Christians helping people find and give hope through Jesus Christ - regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, disability or socioeconomic background. —— STAY CONNECTED Website: https://stlukesumc.com St. Luke's UMC Facebook: https://facebook.com/stlukesindy St. Luke's UMC Instagram: https://instagram.com/stlukesindy St. Luke's UMC TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stlukesindy St. Luke's UMC Twitter: https://twitter.com/stlukesindy St. Luke's UMC YouTube: https://youtube.com/stlukesindy St. Luke's UMC Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/stlukesindy

How do we know if what we're walking through is a trial God is using to refine us—or a consequence of our own sin? In this episode, we take a biblical look at suffering, discernment, and the subtle danger of the comfort trap. We'll talk about why our desire for comfort can sometimes lead us to compromise, how Scripture helps us distinguish trials from consequences, and what God actually promises when it comes to comfort. If you've ever wondered why life feels hard—or questioned what God is doing in the middle of it—let's talk about it!  Join my Worldview in 3 Minutes Newsletter  Find Shanda www.shandafulbright.com Instagram & Facebook: @shandafulbright Email: hello@shandafulbright.com Free Resources: https://shandafulbright.com/links YouTube: http://bit.ly/ShandaYT2021 Store: www.Shandafulbright.com/shop  

Audio, eng_t_norav_2026-01-24_lesson_rb-1985-25-be-kol-davar_n2_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 2

Rabash. In Every Thing We Must Discern between Light and Kli. 25 (1985)

Video, eng_t_norav_2026-01-24_lesson_rb-1985-25-be-kol-davar_n2_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 2

Audio, eng_t_norav_2026-01-24_lesson_rb-1985-25-be-kol-davar_n2_p1. Lesson_part :: Daily_lesson 2

Have you heard the term, Christian Nationalism? What is it, and what do Christian Nationalists believe? It is a movement that has become more prevalent in the past year or two, and it’s a discussion that a lot of people are having right now. Join us as we give a top-level overview to explain and […]

Saturday, 17 January 2026   And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. Matthew 15:39   Note: You can listen to today's commentary courtesy of our friends at the “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)   You can also read this commentary, scrolling with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).   “And having dismissed the crowds, He in-stepped into the boat, and He came to the borders of Magdala” (CG).   In the previous verse, it was noted that there were four thousand men, besides women and children, who comprised the multitudes Jesus fed. With that portion of the narrative complete, and to close out the chapter, Matthew next notes, “And having dismissed the crowds, He in-stepped into the boat.”   They have been on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. With this cycle of attending to a Gentile woman in the allotments of Tyre and Sidon noted, followed by a time in the Gentile-led eastern regions near the Decapolis completed, He got into a boat, “and He came to the borders of Magdala.”   This is a location not named this way anywhere else in Scripture. Some manuscripts note the location as Magadan, meaning Megiddo, but that is incorrect based on Matthew 16:5, which notes they are still in the region of the lake. Rather, the town Magdala in Hebrew is Migdal-el, Tower of God, a city of Naphtali recorded in Joshua 19:38.   This is also known as Al-Majdal (Mejdel) on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, north of Tiberias. Mark 8:10 notes that when they got in the boat, they came to the allotments of Dalmanutha. Saying it this way, there is no contradiction to be found. Just as Jesus went to the “allotments” of Tyre and Sidon, meaning the surrounding areas, in Matthew 15:21, so they went to Magdala in the allotments, meaning the surrounding areas, of Dalmanutha.   Life application: Chapter 15 of Matthew gives a picture of what is going on in the world from the time Jesus fulfilled the law until the rapture. The verses, though literally occurring at the time of Jesus, point to truths after the completion of Jesus' ministry. The New Covenant is now what God is doing in the world. Israel as a whole, however, rejected that.   Though they no longer observe the Law of Moses, they remain bound to it. During this dispensation, they are spiritually led by rabbis, both in their writings in the Talmud as well as in their cultural and religious life.   These are reflected by the scribes and Pharisees who came from Jerusalem (verse 1) to challenge Jesus. Paul explains in Galatians 4:21-31 that the earthly Jerusalem reflects them and their teaching. The main point for now says –   “But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar— 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children— 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Galatians 4:23-26   In verses 2-9, Jesus explains the state of Israel at this time, living by the laws of men rather than by the law of God. After the introduction of the New Covenant, the law of God is not the Law of Moses. Rather, that is fulfilled.   At this time, religious Israel draws near to the Lord with their lips, but their hearts, because of their rejection of Jesus, are far away from Him.   In verse 11, Jesus stated that what goes into the mouth does not defile. Rather, what comes out of it does. Though that was a truth concerning the traditions of these elders, it is a truth that is spiritually seen in Israel to this day. They refuse to proclaim Jesus.   This is their defilement. But what does Paul say concerning this? In Romans 10, he says –   “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:8-13   The only thing that can cleanse a person from sin is Jesus. Anything else, meaning any other proclamation, defiles that person. As such, Jesus says in verse 14 to let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind, and both will fall into a pit.   In verse 15, Jesus reexplained to dull Peter (later, the Apostle to the Jews) the matter of the heart and what it is that causes defilement. While Israel remains in their state of defilement because of their oral proclamations, something else takes place. This is seen in verse 21, where Jesus “went out from there,” meaning from the Jewish people to the allotments of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile area.   Tyre (Hebrew: Tsor) signifies Rock. While Israel abandoned their Rock, the Gentiles received Him. That this is speaking of Christ is seen, for example, in Deuteronomy 32:32, where it says, “For their rock is not like our Rock.” There are those who are confident in their rock (tsur), and yet their rock is not the Lord who is the Rock (tsur).   Sidon (Hebrew: Tsidon) signifies Fishery. It is a place for catching fish. Everyone is like a fish. When Jesus said to Simon and Andrew that they would be fishers of men, He meant that men are like fish to be caught.   While in this area (verse 22), a Canaanite woman came to Jesus and begged for compassion for her demon-possessed daughter. Canaan signifies Humbled, Humiliated, or even Subdued. She pictures those of faith who have humbled themselves before the word of Christ.   The issue is the daughter. In Scripture, a son or a daughter is representative of the state of something. A “son of death,” for example, is a person deserving of death. That is his state. A daughter, in this case, is the state of a group of people, such as “daughter of Jerusalem,” “daughter of Tarshish,” etc. What is the state of the Daughter of the Humbled who are also Gentiles?   Jesus said in verse 24 that He had come “if not to the sheep, the ‘having been lost' – House Israel.” Despite there being a New Covenant, with whom was that covenant made? The answer is found in both Jeremiah and Hebrews –   “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” Jeremiah 31:31   The early church did not understand that the word was to go to the Gentiles. That is a major subject found in Acts. It is representative of the disciples' comments found previously in verse 23 when they told Jesus to dismiss her.   It literally took an act of God to get them to see that the New Covenant included Gentiles, first with the Ethiopian eunuch and then the house of Cornelius. Jesus' calling, though, to redeem the House of Judah and Israel, is inclusive of the Gentiles of faith, as seen in this account. It is something prophesied in Isaiah 49:6, but which is revealed in typology here.   The woman was told that it wasn't “good to take the children's bread and cast to the puppies.” In the Bible, dogs represent Gentiles. That is seen in the Caleb series of sermons. Caleb, kalev, is from kelev, dog. It is also seen in the account of Gideon and his men, who lapped like dogs, a typological picture dealing with the Gentiles.   The woman didn't argue Jesus' point. Instead, she noted that “even the puppies – he eats from the crumbs, the ‘falling from their master's table.” Jesus thus remarked concerning her great faith, something evidenced in the Gentile world. At that time, it noted the child was cured. Salvation, in fact, is also directed to the Gentiles. They are brought into the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:12).   From there, verse 29 said of Jesus that “He went near the Sea of the Galilee, and having ascended to the mountain, He sat there.” The Galilee has previously been explained as “the Liberty.” It is a picture of freedom from sin. As sin stems from a violation of law, it ultimately signifies freedom from law.   A mountain in the Bible represents a lot of something gathered. In typology, it is synonymous with a large but centralized group of people. Though it is only stated in Mark, the last area noted was the Decapolis, a Gentile controlled area.   Thus, this is typologically referring to a large but centralized group (meaning under Jesus) of Gentile people. The Canaanite woman already established that, but this is an extension of the thought, explaining the result of the dispensation of the Gentiles. In other words, “What will happen in the world once it is established that Gentiles are to be included in the New Covenant?”   In verses 30 and 31, multitudes came to Jesus for healing, so many that they were strewn about Him. It is reflective of the broken Gentile world coming to Christ for healing and salvation. As many came, He healed them so that “they glorified the God of Israel.”   As noted at that time, the term is unique in the New Testament. It suggested the presence of Gentiles on the mountain, but it typologically asserts this fact. Paul's ministry literally shouts out the parallel to this thought in Matthew –   “Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.” Acts 19:11, 12   Was the God of Israel glorified through this? The answer is found in Romans –   “Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 9 and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: ‘For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.'” Romans 15:8, 9   And...   “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient— 19 in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” Romans 15:18, 19   In verses 32-38, the feeding of the four thousand is recorded. Jesus said they had been with Him three days. In Scripture, three “stands for that which is solid, real, substantial, complete, and entire. ... Hence the number three points us to what is real, essential, perfect, substantial, complete, and Divine.” Bullinger   The time these people have been with Jesus speaks of a divine fullness, something reflected in Romans 11:25, “that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” It goes right back to the state of Israel, noted in Matthew 15:14, where the blind are leading the blind.   While Israel is blinded, the blind of the Gentiles (Matthew 15:31) are brought to sight. The miracle of the bread (think of Jesus, the Bread of Life) and fish (a word which signifies “increase” in Hebrew) speaks of the immense harvest. There were seven loaves, the number of spiritual perfection, and a few tiddlers. However, they were enough to feed the multitude of four thousand. The number is a product of four and tens.   Four is the number of material creation, the world number. It speaks of the entirety of the world hearing the gospel, just as Jesus said it would. Ten is the number where nothing is wanting, and the whole cycle is complete. The entire world of the Gentiles will be evangelized before the end comes.   To demonstrate the immense harvest that will be realized in the church age, the baskets of fragments were collected, totaling seven large baskets. Notice the difference from the feeding of the five thousand –   “And they ate all, and they gorged, and they lifted the superabounding pieces – twelve handbaskets full. 21And those eating, they were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”   “And they ate all, and they gorged, and the superabounding of the fragments they lifted – seven hampers full. 38And those eating, they were four thousand men, besides women and children.”   Whereas a remnant of the twelve tribes of Israel represented by the twelve small handbaskets (Greek: kophinos) was collected, there will be an immense harvest of the seven churches (as defined in Revelation 2 & 3), represented by the seven large hampers (Greek: spuris).   The chapter ended with a location only mentioned here in Scripture, saying of Jesus, “And having dismissed the crowds, He in-stepped into the boat, and He came to the borders of Magdala.”   The town Magdala in Hebrew is Migdal-el, Tower of God, a city of Naphtali recorded in Joshua 19:38. Migdal El is contrasted to the tower of man, meaning Babel and all that accompanies her. Thus, this is implicitly a picture of the ending of the church age, where believers are delivered from the Babylon of the end times recorded in Revelation.   To understand why these conclusions have been made, one should refer to the descriptions of these locations found in the Old Testament sermons given by the Superior Word. Each location, number, or other reference has been drawn from the information already recorded there. Thus, the typology is not new. It has already been seen and has been reused without change, confirming that this analysis of Matthew 15 is sound.   Lord God, Your word is beyond amazing. It is a lifeline for the soul caught in despair. It is a treasure for the seeker of riches. It is a guide for the path of our lives. And Lord, it is so much more. It is so glorious to enter into its pages and find rest for our souls in the Person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Thank You for this precious word. Amen. Matthew 15   15 Then they came to Jesus from Jerusalem, scribes and Pharisees, saying, 2“Through what – Your disciples, they sidestep the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they may eat bread.”   3And answering, He said, to them, “Through what – also you, you sidestep the ‘God's commandment' through your tradition? 4For God, He enjoined, saying, ‘You honor your father and your mother,' and the ‘disparaging father or mother,' death – he expires!' 5And you, you say, ‘Whoever, he should say to father or mother, “Gift – whatever if from me you should benefit.”' 6And no, not he should honor his father or his mother. And you invalidated God's commandment through your tradition. 7Hypocrites! Well, Isaiah, he prophesied concerning you, saying,   8‘He neared Me, this people – the mouth, And the lips – he honors Me, And their heart, it distances far from Me. 9And vainly they revere Me,  Teaching instructions – men's injunctions.'”   10And having summoned the crowd, He said to them, “You hear and comprehend! 11Not the ‘entering into the mouth' it profanes the man, but the ‘proceeding from the mouth,' this, it profanes the man.”   12Then His disciples, having come near, they said to Him, “You have known that the Pharisees, having heard the saying, they stumbled!” 13And having answered, He said, “Every planting that not He planted, My heavenly Father, it will be uprooted. 14You leave them! They are blind, blind-conductors. And blind, if they should conduct, both – they will fall into a pit.”   15And Peter, having answered, he said to Him, “You expound to us this parable.”   16And Jesus, He said, “And yet, you, you are unintelligent! 17Not yet you grasp that all, the ‘entering into the mouth,' into the stomach it contains, and into the john it ejects? 18And those proceeding from the mouth, it comes from the heart, and those, it commonizes the man. 19For from the heart, they come: evil meanderings, murders, adulteries, harlotries, thefts, false-witnessings, blasphemies. 20These, they are, the ‘defiling the man,' but to eat with unwashed hands, not it defiles the man.”   21And having departed thence, Jesus, He withdrew to the allotments – Tyre and Sidon. 22And you behold! A Canaanite woman from those same borders, having come, she cried to Him, saying, “You compassionate me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter, she is demon possessed-badly.”   23And He answered not a word.   And having approached, His disciples, they entreated Him, saying, “You dismiss her! For she cries after us.”   24And answering, He said, “Not, I was sent, if not to the sheep, the ‘having been lost' – House Israel.”   25And having come, she worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, You rush-relieve me!”   26And answering, He said, “It is not good to take the children's bread and cast to the puppies.”   27And she said, “Yes, Lord. And even the puppies – he eats from the crumbs, the ‘falling from their master's table.'”   28Then, Jesus answering, He said to her, “O! Woman, your faith is great! It become to you as you determine.” And she's cured, her daughter, from that hour.   29And having departed thence, Jesus, He went near the Sea of the Galilee, and having ascended to the mountain, He sat there. 30And they came to Him, great crowds, having with them lame, cripples, blind, mutes, and others – many, and they strewed them near Jesus' feet, and He healed them. 31So too, the crowds marveled, seeing mutes speaking, cripples healthy, lame walking, and blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel.   32And Jesus, having summoned His disciples, He said, “I gut-wrench upon the crowd because already three days they bivouac with Me, and naught they have that they may eat. And I wish not to dismiss them unfed, not lest they should collapse in the way.”   33And the disciples, they say to Him, “Whence to us in solitude – loaves so many as to gorge a crowd so vast?”   34And He says to them, Jesus, “How many loaves do you have?”   And they said, “Seven, and a few tiddlers.”   35And He ordered the crowds to sit upon the ground. 36And having taken the seven loaves and the fish, and having thanked, He broke, and He gave to His disciples, and the disciples to the crowd. 37And they ate, all, and they gorged, and the superabounding of the fragments they lifted – seven hampers full. 38And those eating, they were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39And having dismissed the crowds, He in-stepped into the boat, and He came to the borders of Magdala.

How do you know if you're actually resting… or just checking out?In today's Dad Tired Daily, Jerrad talks about the difference between restorative, soul-level rest and numbing behaviors that help us escape but don't actually restore us.Most men aren't lazy — they're tired. And when we don't know how to rest, we reach for things that temporarily quiet the noise but leave us more exhausted the next day.This episode will help you:Discern rest vs. numbing in everyday lifeUnderstand why numbing works short-term but drains you long-termLearn what real, boring, restorative rest actually looks likePractice a simple way to help your soul slow downInspired by Psalm 23 and Jesus' invitation to rest.Rested men lead their families well.

Welcome to the BEAUTIFUL MESSY SHOW 2026! Ten Steps to Gaining Victory in 2026 Through God-Given VisionRegiste fr the Winter Event at https://www.heatherbaxter.com/after-eden-bible-studyORDER you 2026 Dream Journal here:https://www.heatherbaxter.com/1. Start With Surrender, Not StrategyVision doesn't begin with planning—it begins with yielding.Prayer prompt: “Lord, I release my plans so I can receive Yours.”

In this episode of **Fearless with Mark & Amber**, we unpack the crucial difference between **fear and awareness**—and why Scripture calls believers to discernment, not paralysis. With deception accelerating through **AI-generated content, false headlines, and cultural manipulation**, how can Christians remain sober-minded and watchful without living in fear? Drawing from Scripture, personal testimony, and real-world experience in church security and media, Mark and Amber explain why **awareness equips us**, while fear seeks to immobilize us. We explore: • Why God did *not* give us a spirit of fear • How discernment protects families and churches • The danger of silence in the faith community • What it means to fight **from victory**, not for it • Teaching our children truth in the last days This conversation is both a warning and an encouragement—grounded in God's Word and anchored in the unshakable victory of Christ. Key Scriptures Referenced: 2 Timothy 1:7 • Proverbs 9:10 • 2 Corinthians 2:11 • 1 Peter 5:8 • Ephesians 6:12 • Hosea 4:6 • John 16:33 • Philippians 4:6–7 • Isaiah 26:3 • Colossians 2:15 ---

(Insight Santa Cruz)

Are you ready for change—but feeling overwhelmed about where to start? You know something needs to shift this year. Maybe it's your spiritual life, your marriage, your mental health, or simply how you're showing up day to day. But when you try to decide what to work on first, everything feels equally important… and equally exhausting. In today's episode, we move beyond inspiration and into practical action. This is the next step in our Wonder series, where we take the declarations you made in previous episodes and finally put hands and feet to them. Because while mindset matters, real transformation happens when faith meets intentional action. In this episode, I walk you through a clear, prayerful, step-by-step process to help you: Identify the one area God is inviting you to focus on right now Stop trying to change everything at once (and burning out) Discern what habits to add, what to drop, and what actually fits your season Invite God into your decision-making instead of relying on pressure or comparison Choose 1–3 realistic next steps that lead to lasting change This is not a “feel good and forget it in two weeks” kind of episode. This is a grab-a-pen, pause-the-podcast, let's-do-this-together kind of episode. love, Brittany    Ready to become a peaceful wife and Mama? Sign Up for the Pain to Peace Academy HERE. Come say hi and join the Morning Mama Facebook Group! I would love to hear your story and know your name.    ALL THE LINKS FOR ALL THE THINGS! Morning Mama Website Pain to Peace Academy Morning Mama Facebook Group Follow Us on Instagram Find a Restoration Therapist Come say hi by emailing hello@morningmamapodcast.com

How Niche Is Too Niche? Crafting a Story That Converts, Not Just Connects Most people stumble when asked, "What do you do?" But in today's crowded marketplace, a vague story doesn't sell—it stalls. In this episode, AJ and Rory Vaden break down how to clarify your story, define your audience, and convert conversations into clients. You'll learn how to: Identify your niche through your personal story—not the other way around Discern which version of your past self you're best positioned to serve Create a simple but powerful elevator pitch that moves people to action Use the "six-foot rule" to uncover hidden offline opportunities Avoid the trap of telling stories that connect but don't convert Whether you're speaking on stage, posting online, or standing in line at Starbucks—this episode will help you master the art of storyselling and turn everyday moments into meaningful business growth.

GRAB THE PROPHETIC NEW YEAR PLANNER, FREE DOWNLOAD HERE: subscribepage.io/NewYearPlannerGET IT PRINTED FOR YOU ON AMAZON: https://a.co/d/6xKetjn----------------------------------------------------Every year has a spiritual pace. A word that hovers over it, pregnant with promise for the new season.In this episode, I share the prophetic word God gave me for 2026—a word meant to birth promise, bring alignment, and establish vision for how you can move forward with Him in the year ahead.This is not a reaction to current events or a pep-talk message.It is a prophetic word meant to help you understand how God is leading, what He is addressing, and what posture is welcomed as you enter 2026.This Episode Will Help You:Understand the spiritual tone and direction of 2026 as I'm hearing it from the Lord (it's not the only thing He is saying, but it is AN invitation)Discern where misalignment, fear, or limitation may be shaping your life experiencesRecognize what God is inviting you into in the coming yearShift from limitation, confinement and pressure into trust, freedom, and peace with GodEnter 2026 with a clear internal compass instead of confusion or anxietyI also lead listeners through a guided prayer of alignment, helping you release what no longer belongs in the new season and respond to God's leadership with faith and surrender.If you've been sensing that something is changing, that God is calling you to move differently, or that the next year requires a new posture—this episode will help you set your footing before you take your next steps.GRAB THE PROPHETIC NEW YEAR PLANNER, FREE DOWNLOAD HERE: subscribepage.io/NewYearPlannerGET IT PRINTED FOR YOU ON AMAZON: https://a.co/d/6xKetjnCONNECT WITH JEN: IG: www.instagram.com/javawithjenEmail: jen@javawithjenpodcast.comMAKE A value-for-value DONATION TO THE PODCAST:PAYPAL GIVING LINK:https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/7B647DMFXD5L8VENMO: @JavawithJenCASHAPP: $JavawithJen

Life is filled with endless choices, responsibilities, and opportunities—yet time remains limited. Whether you’re facing a full to-do list, standing at a crossroads, or simply longing for your days to feel purposeful, God invites you to seek His wisdom. James 1:5 assures us that when we ask God for guidance, He gives generously and without judgment. Honoring God with our time begins by going to Him first—listening, waiting, and trusting His direction. Even when clarity feels delayed, we can rest in the confidence that God is at work and will guide each step as we surrender our plans to Him. Main Takeaways You’ll learn why discerning how to spend your time begins with seeking God’s wisdom. Discover how waiting on God can sometimes be the most faithful response. Understand why uncertainty doesn’t mean failure, but often invites deeper trust. Reflect on how God works through both action and stillness to accomplish His will. Be encouraged that when you are in Christ, God redeems and guides every moment. Bible Verse References James 1:5 – https://www.biblestudytools.com/james/1-5.html Romans 8:28 (referenced conceptually) – https://www.biblestudytools.com/romans/8-28.html Your Daily Prayer Dear Lord, You are sovereign over my time, my choices, and my days. Teach me to seek Your wisdom daily and surrender my plans to You. When I feel uncertain, help me wait patiently and trust that You are working even in the silence. Guide my steps, shape my decisions, and use every moment of my life for Your glory. Thank You for promising to lead me with generosity and grace.In Jesus’ name, Amen. Want More? Subscribe to Your Daily Prayer for daily encouragement and biblical wisdom. Leave a rating or review to help others discover the podcast. Visit LifeAudio.com for more Christ-centered podcasts. Explore faith, life, and spiritual growth articles at Crosswalk.com and Christianity.com. Relevant Links & Resources Win Over Worry: Conquer What Shakes You and Soar With the One Who Overcomes by Keri Eichberger – available on Amazon and major online retailers Study today’s Scripture passages at:BibleStudyTools.com – https://www.biblestudytools.com Christian living and devotional resources:Crosswalk.com – https://www.crosswalk.comChristianity.com – https://www.christianity.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.