Podcasts about Edom

Isaiah 63:1-6 — What does it mean that the Lord has conquered Edom? In this sermon from Isaiah 63:1–6 titled “Revival Sermon: The Crowning Day is Coming,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on the prophecy of Isaiah where God has conquered Edom, the enemy of Israel. This prophecy looks forward to the day when God will destroy all the enemies of His people and those that persecute the church. He does this by dying upon the cross for sinners. Jesus Christ is the means of overcoming sin, evil, and the devil. Jesus has come to make sinners righteous by granting them His righteousness and adopting them into God's family. All this is seen in God overcoming Edom. What does this mean for the Christian's everyday life? This declaration of what God has done in Jesus Christ is the great and only hope. The truth that God has saved His people by His own hand is at the heart of the gospel because Jesus alone saves. It also tells that all who reject the gospel are enemies of God and under His judgment. The only escape from the wrath of God is through faith in Christ. This sermon is a call for all to believe in Jesus.

Isaiah 63:1-6 — What does it mean that the Lord has conquered Edom? In this sermon from Isaiah 63:1–6 titled “Revival Sermon: The Crowning Day is Coming,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on the prophecy of Isaiah where God has conquered Edom, the enemy of Israel. This prophecy looks forward to the day when God will destroy all the enemies of His people and those that persecute the church. He does this by dying upon the cross for sinners. Jesus Christ is the means of overcoming sin, evil, and the devil. Jesus has come to make sinners righteous by granting them His righteousness and adopting them into God's family. All this is seen in God overcoming Edom. What does this mean for the Christian's everyday life? This declaration of what God has done in Jesus Christ is the great and only hope. The truth that God has saved His people by His own hand is at the heart of the gospel because Jesus alone saves. It also tells that all who reject the gospel are enemies of God and under His judgment. The only escape from the wrath of God is through faith in Christ. This sermon is a call for all to believe in Jesus. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/603/29

Discovering Balance and Healing: A Journey with Trish Lott In this episode of Good News!, Lynn Shematek and Deacons Jon Shematek and Lauren Welch welcome Trish Lott, who shares her fascinating career evolution from a health educator in reproductive health to a licensed acupuncturist deeply involved in international outreach. Trish recounts her transformative experiences in the Peace Corps, living in rural Paraguay, and how these shaped her approach to acupuncture. She explains the philosophy behind acupuncture, its roots in nature, and her unique practice model in Towson, Maryland. Additionally, Trish discusses her work with midwives in Guatemala through the Global Acupuncture Project, emphasizing the importance of reconnecting with nature for holistic wellness. Tune in for an uplifting conversation about the intersection of passion, service, and healing.00:00 Welcome and Introduction00:20 Trish Lott's Early Career and Peace Corps Experience02:26 Transition to Acupuncture03:29 Philosophy and Practice of Acupuncture08:39 Community Acupuncture Model12:28 International Work and Impact14:52 Personal Reflections and Advice18:08 Conclusion and FarewellCommunity Acupuncture of Towson website: https://www.catowson.comCommunity Acupuncture of Townson FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/CommunityAcupunctureofTowson/The Good News! podcast series is part of the ListeningforClues portfolio. Catch us at https://listeningforclues.com/#listeningforclues.com #Good News! #EDOM #incarnationbmore.org #deacons #Community Acupuncture of Towson #Trish Lott© 2025 Listening for Clues

Obadiah 1-9 (NASB) 1 The vision of Obadiah.Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom--We have heard a report from the Lord,And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying,“Arise and let us go against her for battle”--2 “Behold, I will make you small among the nations;You are greatly despised.3 “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you,You who live in the clefts of the rock,In the loftiness of your dwelling place,Who say in your heart,‘Who will bring me down to earth?'4 “Though you build high like the eagle,Though you set your nest among the stars,From there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.5 “If thieves came to you,If robbers by night--O how you will be ruined!--Would they not steal only until they had enough?If grape gatherers came to you,Would they not leave some gleanings?6  “O how Esau will be ransacked,And his hidden treasures searched out!7 “All the men allied with youWill send you forth to the border,And the men at peace with youWill deceive you and overpower you.They who eat your breadWill set an ambush for you.(There is no understanding in him.)8 “Will I not on that day,” declares the Lord,“Destroy wise men from EdomAnd understanding from the mountain of Esau?9 “Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman,So that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. Themes:- If you go against God's people, you go against God, and you will lose- If you take pride in your own power to secure yourself and your life you are going to be more than disappointed.- Israel has troubles with God right now, but that is only temporary. Outline this week:- Intro/background: A long family feud (v. 1)- God's assessment of Edom (pride comes before a fall (vv. 1-9)Coming in two weeks after Mother's Day:- God's indictment of Edom (you are your brother's keeper (vv. 10-14)- God's judgement on all haters (those who curse Israel will be cursed (vv. 15-21)

The book of Obadiah contains a surprising communication of hope amidst judgment. Despite Judah's sin and lack of repentance, God promises her restoration based on His sovereign election and mercy. This is not the case with Edom's, however, who receives a declaration of destruction from the Lord. Romans 9:13 helps us understand the mercy God showed to Judah (Jacob) and the severe judgment He showed to Edom (Esau).

Hezekiah teaches from the Old Testament book of Obadiah about the dangers of bring prideful.

05-02-2025 Rev. Dillon Morgan "Water From Edom" FRI 730PM

“Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah? This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? 'It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.'” Isaiah 63:1 This week's podcast continues the sermon series by Reverend W. V. Higham. Mr. Higham was the pastor of John Snyder and his family while he spent time in Wales working on his doctorate. In this sermon, Mr. Higham continues discussing the need we have for revival but also highlights the fruit of true revival such as powerful preaching, earnest prayer, and a commitment to biblical worship. The discerning hearer might realize all these things are the ordinary means of grace through which God meets His people. That is true. But in revival, all these ordinary means are made effectual to an extraordinary degree. Same means; different degree. We pray this sermon is not only an encouragement to you in the troubled days we live in, but that it also gives fuel for you as you pray for revival in our day. Show Notes: W. V. Higham Trust: https://www.wvhigham.org/ The Turn of the Tide by W. Vernon Higham: http://churchawakening.com/product/the-turn-the-tide/ Lectures on Revivals by William Sprague: https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/theology-books/lectures-on-revivals/ Lectures of the Revival of Religion, by Ministers of the Church of Scotland edited by W. M. Hetherington https://www.abebooks.com/Lectures-Revival-Religion-Ministers-Church-Scotland/31027820289/bd Free ebook: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Lectures_on_the_revival_of_religion_by_ministers_o?id=T-kDAAAAQAAJ&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1 Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Hebreos | Tercer anuncio de castigo a Edom | Pr. David de la Cruz | VNPEM Norte

Hebreos | Segundo anuncio de castigo a Edom | Pr. David de la Cruz | VNPEM Norte

“The Song of Salvation”Exodus 15:1-21 [ESV]1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;    the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.2 The Lord is my strength and my song,    and he has become my salvation;this is my God, and I will praise him,    my father's God, and I will exalt him.3 The Lord is a man of war;    the Lord is his name.4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea,    and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.5 The floods covered them;    they went down into the depths like a stone.6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,    your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;    you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;    the floods stood up in a heap;    the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,    I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.    I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.'10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;    they sank like lead in the mighty waters.11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?    Who is like you, majestic in holiness,    awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?12 You stretched out your right hand;    the earth swallowed them.13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;    you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.14 The peoples have heard; they tremble;    pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;    trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;    all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.16 Terror and dread fall upon them;    because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,till your people, O Lord, pass by,    till the people pass by whom you have purchased.17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,    the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,    the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.”19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”CONNECT WITH USIf you have any questions or would like to get to know us further, head over to https://www.triumphlbc.org/connect and fill out our online connection card.ABOUT TRIUMPHTriumph wants to see the life and message of Jesus transform your heart, home, and city. To learn more visit https://www.triumphlbc.org/

The prophecy of Obadiah speaks out against the pride and cruelty of the Nation of Edom. It is a warning to any person or nation who in arrogance, thinks they don’t need God. The post You're So Vain (The Prophecy of Obadiah) appeared first on PLEASANT HILL COMMUNITY CHURCH.

“The Reason Why We Sing”Exodus 15:1-21 [ESV]1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;    the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.2 The Lord is my strength and my song,    and he has become my salvation;this is my God, and I will praise him,    my father's God, and I will exalt him.3 The Lord is a man of war;    the Lord is his name.4 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea,    and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.5 The floods covered them;    they went down into the depths like a stone.6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,    your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;    you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;    the floods stood up in a heap;    the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,    I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.    I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.'10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;    they sank like lead in the mighty waters.11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?    Who is like you, majestic in holiness,    awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?12 You stretched out your right hand;    the earth swallowed them.13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;    you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.14 The peoples have heard; they tremble;    pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;    trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;    all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.16 Terror and dread fall upon them;    because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,till your people, O Lord, pass by,    till the people pass by whom you have purchased.17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,    the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,    the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.”19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”CONNECT WITH USIf you have any questions or would like to get to know us further, head over to https://www.triumphlbc.org/connect and fill out our online connection card.ABOUT TRIUMPHTriumph wants to see the life and message of Jesus transform your heart, home, and city. To learn more visit https://www.triumphlbc.org/

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VCAST: Deception and Evil are in the Air Will the new Pope promote Noahide Laws? How and why will Muslims accept Noahide Laws? Did Trump convert to Judaism? Is Trump the NWO Repo Man doing the bankers bidding to implement the final stages of the MOTB system (another witness)? Will Trump destroy EDOM, what Rabbi's call the West? How does this fit the Deagle Report? The optics, Evil is coming. Kenneth Copeland attended an Easter dinner with Trump. “On Resurrection Sunday, President Donald Trump unleashed a fiery tirade, to to lambast his political enemies and the judicial system he claims is enabling an “invasion” at the U.S. border.” I'm not buying the Third Temple. Rethink the third temple and the Abomination of Desolation. Bible Study: https://sjwellfire.com/?s=third+temple.

The last days of Esau's line

The meaning, and is a Mala'ch called "Adam".Source Sheet: https://res.cloudinary.com/ouinternal/image/upload/outorah%20pdf/dxeuzvydc42cjvc3tpxy.pdf

Welcome to Day 2613 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2613 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 60:1-12 – Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2613 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2613 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. In today's Wisdom Nugget, I'll be your guide on this insightful journey through the timeless truths found in God's Word. Together, we'll explore the depths of Scripture to uncover wisdom for everyday life. It's a joy to have you join me again today as we continue our meaningful journey through the Psalms. Today's trek brings us to Psalm 60, a unique and powerful Psalm. Psalm 60 is intriguing because it addresses a time of national crisis in ancient Israel—a time when King David's military campaigns faced unexpected setbacks, leaving Israel feeling vulnerable and abandoned. Yet even amidst these disappointments, Psalm 60 shows how the Israelites wrestled with their circumstances, honestly lamented their confusion, and ultimately placed their hope in God alone. Let's journey together through Psalm 60:1-12 from the New Living Translation. Listen closely as we unpack its truths verse by verse: Psalm 60:1-12 (NLT) 1 You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses. You have been angry with us; now restore us to your favor. 2 You have shaken our land and split it open. Seal the cracks, for the land trembles. 3 You have been very hard on us, making us drink wine that sent us reeling. 4 But you have raised a banner for those who fear you— a rallying point in the face of attack. 5 Now rescue your beloved people. Answer and save us by your power. 6 God has promised this by his holiness: “I will divide up Shechem with joy. I will measure out the valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh, too. Ephraim, my helmet, will produce my warriors, and Judah, my scepter, will produce my kings. 8 But Moab, my washbasin, will become my servant, and I will wipe my feet on Edom and shout in triumph over Philistia.” 9 Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will bring me victory over Edom? 10 Have you rejected us, O God? Will you no longer march with our armies? 11 Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. 12 With God's help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes. A Heartfelt Lament: Feeling Abandoned (Verses 1-3) David opens Psalm 60 with raw honesty about Israel's crisis: “You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses. You have been angry with us; now restore us to your favor. You have shaken our land and split it open. Seal the cracks, for the land trembles. You have been very hard on us, making us drink wine that sent us reeling.” These words capture the Israelites' deep sense of abandonment and confusion. David and the nation experienced surprising military defeats—losses they never expected. Notice how directly David speaks to God—he does not soften his words or hide his pain. In the ancient Israelite worldview, national victories indicated God's favor, while defeats suggested divine displeasure. David understands clearly that God has allowed these difficulties, yet he boldly asks God to restore them,...

Hebreos | Primer anuncio de castigo a Edom | Pr. David de la Cruz | VNPEM Norte

Deuteronomy 2 speaks of the last days of the wilderness wanderings. Israel had reached the territory of Edom – the name assigned to the land of Esau, the elder of twins, the younger brother being Israel (or Jacob). There was hatred between the brothers throughout their lives and their descendants continued the hostility as the prophecies of Obadiah and Malachi reveal. Edom massed their army and came out to fight against their brothers. This happened even though Israel only requested safe passage and stated that they would pay for all food and water as they journeyed. So verse 8 records that Israel turns north to the land of Moab. Once again the nation of Israel was told not to pick a fight with the Moabites as their land had been given them by God. The Moabites had gained their territory by dispossessing the giants that had previously occupied that land. So 38 years after first arriving at that location Israeli crossed the brook Zered. A journey that should have taken 17 days, had the nation been faithful, had now occupied 38 years. The remainder of Deuteronomy 2 speaks of the LORD being with His people and giving them the victory over Sihon the king of the Amorites, who was himself a giant have descended from the Rephaim – those people in the Promised Land that had instilled fear into the 10 faithless spies; and as a result of that the entire nation became terrified and would not enter the land. Israel had requested the right to traverse through Sihon's territory under the same terms that Israel had offered to Edom and Moab. Sihon mustered his army against Israel and was humiliated by the defeat that God brought upon those people. So Israel took possession of the land of Gilead. Proverbs 29 deals with faithful work, as opposed to those who are careless and shoddy in what they do. The chapter begins with the need for humility and the results that this brings. It contrasts with those who scoff at the ways of the LORD and the problems that arise from such folly. The fool rushes heedlessly into foolish and destructive ways. The wise ruler heeds divine instruction and ensures its application within his realm. Discipline is essential for success in life; and when we grow older parental discipline needs to be replaced by self control and heeding the wisdom of our Father's Word. Verse 18 informs us that without the guidance of the Almighty a nation becomes unrestrained in its behaviour. The literal Hebrew words for this is identical to the lascivious behaviour of Israel in the incident of the golden calf – literally “a people is made naked”. Our Sovereign has revealed to His children, through His Word, what is now happening in our world and the future He will bring. Surely this understanding will moderate the behaviour of His children as they live in an unheeding world. Let us learn to live justly in this present evil age – see Titus 2 verses 11-14. In John 12 Mary anoints Jesus' feet with precious ointment and because of that the odour fills the house. This waste of precious ointment becomes the catalyst for Judas going to the high priest and seeking opportunity to betray the Lord. Judas was the treasurer and a thief. There follows a plot to kill Lazarus and the chapter describes Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Philip brings some Greeks to see Jesus – this greatly encourages our Lord. Christ speaks of his being lifted up to glorify God in his crucifixion. Isaiah prophesied that in chapter 6 and this was to be the great stumbling block for the Jews to believe that Messiah could be crucified: 1 Corinthians 1:23. Our Lord had come into the world to save believers, whom he would raise up at the Last Day.  https://christadelphianvideo.org/thoughts-on-the-readings-for-april-19th-deuteronomy-2-proverbs-29-john-12/

Thus says the Lord God: "While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord." - Ezekiel 35:14-15

Ezekiel 35 (Listen) Prophecy Against Mount Seir 35:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. 4 I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the LORD. 5 Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment, 6 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; because you did not hate bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it all who come and go. 8 And I will fill its mountains with the slain. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain with the sword shall fall. 9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 10 “Because you said, ‘These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them'—although the LORD was there—11 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred against them. And I will make myself known among them, when I judge you. 12 And you shall know that I am the LORD. “I have heard all the revilings that you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given us to devour.' 13 And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me; I heard it. 14 Thus says the Lord GOD: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD. (ESV)

The Kings of the South and the North11 “And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. 2 “And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. 3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 4 And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these. 5 “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority. 6 After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times. 7 “And from a branch from her roots one shall arise in his place. He shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail. 8 He shall also carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north. 9 Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land. 10 “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress. 11 Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. 12 And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. 13 For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies. 14 “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail. 15 Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. 16 But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand. 17 He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. 18 Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him. 19 Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. 20 “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. 21 In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 22 Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant. 23 And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people. 24 Without warning he shall come into the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what neither his fathers nor his fathers' fathers have done, scattering among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time. 25 And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him. 26 Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain. 27 And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed. 28 And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land. 29 “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. 30 For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. 32 He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. 33 And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. 34 When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, 35 and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time. 36 “And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done. 37 He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price. 40 “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through. 41 He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites. 42 He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. 44 But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. 45 And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Da 11:1–45.

The message of God's judgment continues as Amos shares the charges against Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, and Ammon.

Minor Prophets - Obadiah We've reached the little book of Obadiah. He was the most minor of the minor prophets, in that his book is the shortest! In fact, it's the shortest book in the whole of the Old Testament with just one chapter, containing 21 verses. Obadiah means “one who serves Yahweh”. We're not told anything else about the prophet him-self. In the course of the prophecy, the fall of Jerusalem (which happened in 586 BC) is referred to as a past event and the fall of Edom (which happened in 553 BC) as a future event. So it is likely that the book was written between these events. The seemingly obscure prophecy of Obadiah is part of Jesus' great story. It's all about him. Be-tween the lines of prophecy about Edom and Judah we see the greater picture of God's redemption plan and his justice, mercy and grace. When the risen Jesus walked on the road to Emmaus and ex-plained to the amazed disciples how the Law and all the prophets spoke about himself, I like to think that he said a bit about Obadiah. Download the audio to find out more concerning this amazing book of Obadiah! Click or tap here to download the audio mp3

Pastor Jeff Lewis preaches on Genesis 36.

For today’s installment of our 40 Days Meditation series, our brother Martin Steinbereithner provides commentary on Num 20: 1-13; 21:4-9. Listen below, download here, or search for Words from the Brothers on your favourite podcasting app. And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there. Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy. From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. Num 20: 1-13; 21:4-9

Deuteronomy 2 continues Moses' recounting of Israel's long journey through the wilderness as they approach the Promised Land. This chapter is rich with themes of divine timing, obedience, respect for boundaries, and God's sovereign control over nations and territories. Overview of the Chapter Verses 1–3: Wandering Ends Moses recalls how God instructed the Israelites to turn northward after years of aimless wandering around Mount Seir. This signals a divine shift—God is now ready for them to make progress toward their inheritance. “You have circled this mountain long enough; now turn north.” (Deut. 2:3) This verse reflects a spiritual pivot point. Often, people dwell too long in seasons of delay, fear, or disobedience. God's word here is a clear command: stop circling and start advancing. Verses 4–23: Boundaries and Respect God gives specific instructions not to provoke or engage in battle with certain nations- Edom (descendants of Esau): Israel is told to pass through peacefully and even purchase food and water. Moab (descendants of Lot): Again, they must not fight or take their land. Ammon (also Lot's descendants): God emphasizes that He has given land to other nations as well, and Israel must respect that. This teaches respect for God's allotment—not every place or position is meant for us. God has ordered and distributed nations and territories according to His purposes. Spiritual Reflection: There's a time to advance, but also a time to respect boundaries God sets. Not every battle is yours to fight. Verses 24–37: Victory over Sihon Finally, the Lord instructs them to engage in battle: “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.” (v. 31) Unlike earlier nations, Sihon king of Heshbon opposes Israel. Here, God hardens his heart so that judgment may come through Israel's conquest (v. 30). This echoes God's actions with Pharaoh in Exodus. Israel defeats Sihon's army, takes the cities, and fully conquers the region. However, God again commands restraint—they are not to go near the Ammonites, maintaining the earlier instructions. Key Themes 1.Obedience and Timing: God determines when we move forward. Israel's success begins when they act at God's word, not before. 2.Divine Justice: God gives and takes land according to His righteousness and purposes. Sometimes judgment comes through conquest, but always under God's control. 3.Respect for Others: Even in victory, Israel must respect other nations that God has protected. Obedience includes honoring God's justice for others. 4.Spiritual Progress: The end of wandering begins with heeding God's direction. Wandering seasons end when we are ready to listen and obey fully. Life Application Are you circling a mountain too long? Are you ready to obey God's direction even when it seems delayed or unclear? Are you respecting the boundaries God has placed in your life and the lives of others? Sometimes the breakthrough isn't about fighting—it's about listening, trusting, and waiting for the divine “Now, move.”Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sendme-radio--732966/support.

A new MP3 sermon from Heritage Presbyterian Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: God's Everlasting Hatred for Edom Subtitle: Jeremiah 2024 Speaker: Joe Morecraft III Broadcaster: Heritage Presbyterian Church Event: Sunday Service Date: 3/30/2025 Bible: Jeremiah 39 Length: 72 min.

Pastor Maritza Gutierrez brings this week's message, “Turn Up the Volume." 2 Chronicles 20.1-15 ESV: “After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.' And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's.” Sermon Topics: Worship, Battles, Faith If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe and share it with your friends on social media. For more information about PNEUMA Church, visit our website at mypneumachurch.org.  Connect with Us: Instagram: https://instagram.com/mypneumachurch YouTube: https://youtube.com/mypneumachurch Facebook: https://facebook.com/mypneumachurch Time Stamps: 00:00 - Introduction 00:30 - Welcome 07:41 - 2 Chronicles 20.1-15 ESV 11:51 - Turn Up the Volume

Jesus Is The Way - Humility To Glory (5)  (audio)  David Eells – 3/30/25  I'm going to continue with our study on Jesus is the Way – Humility to Glory and talk with you today about who and what is blessed of God and what it truly means to be blessed.   Father, in the Name of Jesus, we ask that You open our understanding. Help us, Lord, to retain the things that You say to us. We need the Holy Spirit to bring to our remembrance everything, Lord, to protect us, to guide us, and to give us wisdom in the days to come. We hold fast to that promise because we need so much, Lord, that Your Spirit will bring these things to our remembrance again. Thank You, Lord, for blessing our minds. We know that our minds were created to be much more useful than they have been under the curse. We also know that according to Galatians 3:13, Jesus bore the curse for us and, therefore, Lord, we know that You're working to restore our minds today. We thank You for that, Lord. Father, we want to understand what Jesus did for us. We want to be able to exercise faith in Your Will. And in order to know Your Will, we need to have knowledge, Lord, so we ask You to open our knowledge and give us understanding, in Jesus' Name. Thank You, Father! Praise You, God!   Now some people may be wondering, “David, what does that word ‘blessed' actually mean? What is it to be ‘blessed?'” So let's go first to Deuteronomy 28 because the first 14 verses speak of that, and we can translate these into what they mean for us in our day.   (Deu.28:1) And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God (“Hearken” there is the Hebrew shama meaning “to hear and obey.” Not just be hearers of the Word but be doers of the Word {James 1:22}.), to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day (We know that the Lord has given us commandments in our Covenant, too. We need to be diligent to study them and obey them, and we know that by faith, God's Grace gives us power to do just that.), that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth. This not talking about our physical nation where we live; this is talking about our spiritual nation. We are the nation of Israel. We who have been born again and believe in the sacrifice of Christ, according to Romans 11, have been grafted into the olive tree called “all Israel.” So we are Israel, not physical Israel, but spiritual Israel.     (Deu.28:2) And all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. (3) Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. (4) Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy beasts, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flock. (5) Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. That was very important to them in those days, and this could translate into a few different things for us today, but basically, this was their livelihood and their food.    (Deu.28:6) Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. (So whether you're coming or whether you're going, meaning just about everywhere you are, you're going to be blessed.) (7) The Lord will cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee… Now, we know that our enemies are both natural and spiritual, and Paul tells us this in (Eph.6:12) For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places]. The Lord has promised us victory if we will “hearken” diligently unto His Voice, meaning if we will keep His commandments.     (Deu.28:7) The Lord will cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee: they shall come out against thee one way, and shall flee before thee seven ways. In the midst of the trial, “hearken” unto the Word. Accept the good report, and the devil won't know what to do with you, and neither will your physical enemies (Numbers 13:30). Our physical enemies come against us as persecutions and a matter of crucifixion, so the best thing to do is lay down your life. Stop trying to save yourself by man's methods. Put your trust in the Lord and “hearken diligently” unto His Word.    (Deu.28:8) The Lord will command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto; and he will bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (9) The Lord will establish thee for a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee; if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. (10) And all the peoples of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. Wow! That certainly doesn't sound anything like Psalm 2, where we are told all the nations are going to come against God and against His people. Let's look at that.     (Psa.2:1) Why do the nations rage, And the peoples meditate a vain thing? (2) The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord, and against his anointed, [saying,] (3) Let us break their bonds asunder, And cast away their cords from us. And it's a far cry from what Jesus said in (Mat.24:9) Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. Instead, the Lord says the nations will fear you if you hearken unto His Voice.     (Deu.28:11) And the Lord will make thee plenteous for good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. (12) The Lord will open unto thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. That's certainly contrary to what a majority of people believe about the Will of the Lord nowadays: “thou shalt not borrow.” The Lord says you'll lend, but you won't borrow, and that's part of the blessing, saints. If you hearken unto His Voice and believe what He says, He will provide your needs.     (Deu.28:13) And the Lord will make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do [them,] (14) and shalt not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. “Other gods” there is the word elohim, and many, many people today choose to follow another “Jesus” of their own making.  Paul complained about that even back in his day, didn't he? (2Co.11:3) But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. (4) For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, [or] if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with [him]. And if we follow after something other than the commands of God, He's not making any promises about blessing here. The blessing comes from our finding the Will of God in the Word and then walking in it through faith.    So who is it that receives the blessing of God? Let me remind you of the text we were studying last time in Matthew 5. (Mat.5:1) And seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain: and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: (2) and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying … (4) Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Evidently, the people who are obedient “to the Lord thy God,” who do His Will, and seek to be submissive to His commandments, are a people that mourn. Now how could that be? In what way is mourning righteous and just? The thought that comes to my mind is that the first thing we need to mourn about is our own life. As David said, “I will not be satisfied until I awake in thy likeness” (Psalm 17:15). The first thing we have to mourn about is not manifesting the Life of Christ.   James also speaks about this. (Jas.4:6) But he giveth more grace. Wherefore [the scripture] saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Grace is all we need to walk with the Lord. We've learned that grace is His favor in our life; His favor makes us able. He's putting in us the desires that we need and giving us the power that we need. Grace is all we need, and God says He gives it to the humble.     (Jas.4:7) Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded. (9) Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. (10) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you. In whatever ways the Lord reveals to us that we're walking contrary to His commandments, that we're not hearkening unto His Voice, that we're not representing Jesus Christ to the world as true Christians, we have something to mourn about. And it should be grievous to us to not walk in His Steps because that's what it is to “abide in Christ” (1 John 2:27- 28; 2 John 1:9; etc.). It should be grievous to us to be anything contrary to the Will of God.    Of course, repentance always precedes faith. Faith alone won't overcome our own lack of repentance, and repentance is what mourning is all about. However, after we mourn what the Lord shows us about ourselves, we need to be careful not to spend too much time in condemnation. We confess our sin to the Lord, He forgives us, and then He cleanses us from it. (1 John 1:9) We need to go from there to faith. We need to reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God (Romans 6:11). So you repent and you mourn because of what the Lord shows you in your life, but He doesn't reveal everything all at once, or He would overwhelm us with grief. Thank God, it's “line upon line; here a little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Otherwise, we probably would never come to faith because we would be overcome with condemnation. So He's very merciful. He leads us through our promised land to conquer one enemy at a time.     This reminds me of a vision my wife received in which she and her sister were standing underneath an apple tree, and worms were hanging out of the apples, just eating away at them. So my sister-in-law got a can of pesticide spray and started broadcasting it over the whole tree, but my wife said, “No, that won't work.” She took the can from her sister and told her, “This is how you do it.” She sprayed each one of those worms in the mouth, and as she did that, she realized that they were all little serpents, not worms. And, of course, that's what we have to do. We attack these things one at a time as the Lord shows them to us, and the first thing we have to change is our mouth as we're told in (Rom.10:10) for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. We have to put that wickedness to death. We have to use the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).    And what does God promise us if we humble ourselves in His sight, if we cleanse our hands and are afflicted and mourn concerning this problem, and turn our laughter into mourning? He says that He will exalt you. Humbling ourselves is the first step. Yes, we can be grieved over other people's sins, and there's a place for that, but first, we need to get the board out of our own eye, so we can see clearly to get the mote out of our brother's eye (Matthew 7:3-5; Luke 6:41-42). Certainly, we can cry out to the Lord to give us the grace to humble ourselves, because working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure is something that comes from Him, too (Philippians 2:13). It's not a case of picking ourselves up by our bootstraps. We're not deceiving God by mourning over something that we don't feel. He knows if our repentance is sincere or not. The Lord wants to give us a conviction of sin. He wants to put that mourning in our hearts concerning sin. He wants us to hate sin as He hates sin (Psalms 1:5,5:5-6; Romans 1:29- 32; etc.)     Needless to say, there is a place of mourning because of the persecutions and the tribulations that come upon us through the wicked people around us. Jesus told us in (Luk.6:21) Blessed [are] ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed [are] ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. (22) Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you [from their company,] and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. We don't see that as a blessing, but it's listed here as one of God's blessings because when we're hated of the world, that means we're loved of God. If we weep because of what we're giving up in the natural, because of persecutions that we're suffering and enduring for Christ's sake, persecutions that we endure because of the crucified life, this is good.  The Lord is going to bless us for this.   Going on, He says (Luk.6:23) Rejoice in that day, and leap [for joy]: for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets. (Luk.6:24) But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. (25) Woe unto you, ye that are full now! for ye shall hunger. Woe [unto you,] ye that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. It's better to weep and mourn now, while the world is rejoicing, while the world's been given the high hand, so to speak.     We're heading into a time when, other than the judgments that are falling upon them, the world is going to think they have everything going their way. They will be given authority over the saints to bring them to their crosses. You and I are going to be hated; we're going to be ostracized. They will cast out our names as evil, and God says we can certainly mourn over that, but He also says to rejoice because your names are written in the Lamb's book of life (Luke 10:20; Revelation 20:12,15; etc.) and your reward is great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Hallelujah!    (Luk.6:26) Woe [unto you,] when all men shall speak well of you! for in the same manner did their fathers to the false prophets. There is a time coming of much weeping and mourning, but He also commanded us in the midst of that to rejoice and leap for joy because, when the world hates you, that means God loves you. You're on His side, and you're on your way to His Kingdom. When we're loved of the world, and we love the world, then we're departing from God.     Let's look at another good example of what God considers to be righteous mourning. (2Pe.2:6) And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly (God's judgment is coming upon the wicked, but, at the same time, He will save those who are His.); (7) and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked… If we're not grieved by and mourning over the wicked life of the people around us, it's because we don't have the conviction of God in our hearts. The Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem. (Luk.19:41) And when he drew nigh, he saw the city and wept over it, (42) saying, If thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the things which belong unto peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. He was grieved at the hardness of heart in the people to not receive His Words from the Father.     It's right for us to be grieved because of the people around us who won't listen, won't submit to God, and who won't be convicted of sin, just as Lot was “sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked.” “Lasciviousness” is their license to “unbridled sensuality and excess.” Basically, it's their license to do what they want to do, and even among Christians, this is common. Their doctrines that promote lasciviousness and permit a person to live any way they want to live while still thinking that they are a disciple of Christ and are going to heaven are common. This is a strong delusion among major portions of Christianity, and it's just not the Truth. It's a deception that comes to people who are living after their own lusts and being bribed by self-will to please their flesh. Lot was sore distressed seeing this in the people around him, and we should be grieved today over people who call themselves “Christians” yet who walk in this way with the Lord.    (2Pe.2:7) And delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked (8) (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his] righteous soul from day to day with [their] lawless deeds): (9) the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment… That is so true! People wonder why they're living under a curse, and it's because they have turned the grace of God into lasciviousness (Jude 1:4).     They're living the way they want to live, and they're paying the penalty for their unrighteousness because the blessings come upon the people that “hearken to,” that “hear and obey,” the “voice of the Lord thy God.” The blessings come upon the people who are diligent to keep His commandments. This should be highly motivating for us to get into the Word to find out what the Will of God is and come out from under the curse. Yet, sadly, multitudes of people have insulated themselves with lascivious doctrines that permit them to live the way they want.    We know that Jesus wasn't talking about what we loosely call “Christians”; He was talking about “disciples,” which means “learners and followers.” We need to lead people into discipleship, but if they desire to live in the lusts of their flesh, they will believe and promote these flesh-pleasing doctrines. And I tell you, the “Lots” in this world will be grieved. They will mourn. They will be distressed over these kinds of things. The text says that it “vexed [his] righteous soul,” but the Greek basanizó translated as “vexed” is actually “tormented, tortured.” It tormented Lot's soul to see the “lascivious life of the wicked.”     The lasciviousness being spoken about here is not referring to the wicked because we know that's how the wicked live. It's talking about those who are promoting the lifestyle among Christians, and the rest of the text agrees with that. (2Pe.2:9) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment; (10) but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion… The Numeric Bible states the word here for “dominion” is “lordship.” These people “that walk after the flesh” despise anybody ruling over their lives. They just want to do what they want to do, which is why they despise dominion, whether it be the dominion of those whom God has sent to be leaders or the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. They would rather make up their own mind about what the Scripture says and their own “Jesus” that smiles upon their lifestyle.    (2Pe.2:10) But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities: (11) whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord. These self-righteous people, here, are the ones that are going to persecute the saints. They're self-righteous in their religion, and they rail at people who are dignities. The Greek word dóksa, translated there as “dignities,” actually means “glories; majesties; brightness.”     And who are the glories being spoken of here? (2Co.3:18) But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. As we manifest Christ to a greater and greater degree, we grow from glory to glory: from star glory to moon glory, to sun glory. Paul pointed out the three different bodies that are given to the people who manifest the different glories (1 Corinthians 15:35-49). We grow into these glories, and the closer you get to Christ and manifest His life, the more that religious people will rail at you and come against you. But remember this: the fact that some people hate you is a good sign, and the Lord says to “leap for joy.”     (2Pe.2:12) But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, (13) suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; [men] that count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their deceivings while they feast with you… Some people are actually trying to deceive us. They're “pretend Christians.” They live in the world because they love the world, but they like to “talk the talk” when they're among Christians. They're sons of perdition hidden in the midst (John 17:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:3) whom the Lord is going to reveal for what they truly are.     And they love the hire of wrong-doing because they've been bribed by their flesh, which they love to please. (2Pe.2:13) Suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; [men] that count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their deceivings while they feast with you; (14) having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of cursing; (15) forsaking the right way (We can see here that he's talking about people who profess Christianity.), they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the [son] of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing… Yes, just as Balaam did, these people love the pay, love the advantage gained by wrong-doing.    So, whom did Jesus cry over? It was God's people because they wouldn't come to Him (Luke 19:41). He grieved over them, saying, (Luk.13:34) O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen [gathereth] her own brood under her wings, and ye would not! Much of our grief, too, is for Christians. It's for lost loved ones that we've prayed for to come into the Kingdom. It's like the grief that Lot felt about the people being led astray around him. If we have a holy heart and we are seeking to be pleasing unto the Lord, then we will be convicted by the Word of God, and we will feel the same thing.     (2Pe.2:15) Forsaking the right way they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the [son] of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing; (16) but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet. (17) These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved. (18) For, uttering great swelling [words] of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error… That's very true. Many so-called “pastors” preach wonderful words, but they're enticing people with lascivious doctrines. They're full of greed for tithes and offerings, but they're just filling churches with tares, as Peter says. (2Pe.2:3) And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.    We've studied and taught a lot about sanctification. We've been given warnings that there is a great falling away coming for those who are enticed away by lasciviousness (2 Thessalonians 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1). Nothing will be able to stand above the water in the flood that's coming except for those that are righteous. They are walking with the Lord, and they have grace and faith. Nothing else is going to preserve God's people in the days to come.    (2Pe.2:18) For, uttering great swelling [words] of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error; (19) promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage. Multitudes of Christians are in bondage in Babylon! They may think that, through their knowledge of Christ, they've come out of the world and they've escaped the corruption in the world, but in reality, they've just been brought into bondage again with something that is not Christianity.     (2Pe.2:20) For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. When people come back into bondage and they stay there, they become worse than the people in the world. They still walk in wickedness, yet they justify themselves because now they're self-righteous. They have knowledge but they're rejecting that knowledge. They're worse in God's eyes than the people in the world, and they're going to suffer greatly.     (2Pe.2:21) For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it (So these people have knowledge.), to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. When somebody has knowledge and yet they continue to do the things that are contrary to that knowledge, they're a deceiver. We just read, “their deceivings while they feast with you” (2 Peter 2:12). These people are deceivers, and the Bible says, (Jas.4:17) To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.    (2Pe.2:22) It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire. This is heartbreaking! Great judgments are coming to the nations soon, and it's going to take away multitudes of people who consider themselves to be Christian. And because they don't have the mark of God, multitudes of Christians are going to take the mark of the beast.     (Rev.13:16) And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead; (17) and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, [even] the name of the beast or the number of his name. (18) Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six. However, we also see the people that have the mark of God in (Rev.14:1) And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.     Ezekiel also talks about God judging who is righteous and who is not righteous, based on whether they mourned and were grieved over the ungodliness that they saw around them. Let's look at that text first. (Eze.9:4) And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. Again, we see this is not talking about the sin in the world, but the sin in the church. And the people that are marked in the forehead because they “sigh and cry over all the abominations,” are the people that are going to escape the wrath of God, the judgment of God, that's coming.     Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 repeatedly mention the “abomination” and the “desolation,” all leading up to chapter 9 and the mark of God. In chapter 8, we even see the image of the beast. And notice, when we read these chapters, how we don't find the theology that we hear in Christianity nowadays. In every case, the “abomination of desolation” described is God's people walking in the flesh in the Temple. They are the flesh man, and they are the beast ruling in the Temple of God. This is what God calls an “abomination.” And what does He give them for that? Desolation. The holy people of God grieve for them; they grieve for these people who walk abominably before the Lord.    (Eze.8:1) And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth [month]… Notice that these chapters are leading up to a time that's identified with six-six, and in the next chapter, six men come with their slaughter weapons in hand. That's six-six-six. And what does this identify? It identifies the end time, the time of the beast, the time of the abomination of desolation (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14). Now remember, in the New Testament there is no temple made with hands that God is interested in or concerned about being holy (Job 4:19; Matthew 26:61; Mark 14:58; etc.) It's the Temple “made without hands” that God requires and expects to be holy (Acts 7:48; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 9:11; etc.), and this is the only temple that can have an abomination of desolation.   Only the Temple of the Body of Christ can have an abomination that “maketh desolate,” because every other temple out there is desolate. God has departed from them. He will never again dwell in temples made with hands, and so they are desolate (Acts 17:24). But we are the New Testament temple; we can become desolate, “twice dead, plucked up by the roots” (Jude 1:12). That's the temple we need to be concerned about.     Paul told us, (Php.2:12) So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; (13) for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. And Peter exhorted, (2Pe.1:10) Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: (11) for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It should be the Lord Jesus Christ Who lives in us and Who manifests His holy Life in us.     Returning to our text in Ezekiel, God asks him (Eze.8:6) … Son of man, seest thou what they do? (All throughout these texts, it's always “what they do” and that's the abomination.) even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here (So the “beast” in the Temple is the corporate body of these people that walk in the flesh and are in rebellion against God.), that I should go far off from my sanctuary? (Or, in other words, “leave it desolate.”) but thou shalt again see yet other great abominations. (7) And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.     (8) Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold, a door. (9) And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. (10) So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts… This is just as Solomon said in (Ecc.3:18) … It is because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts.    Peter was given the same revelation. (Acts 10:11) And he (This is Peter.) beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth: (12) wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven. (13) And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. (14) But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. (15) And a voice [came] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. Then Peter was given the understanding that God was speaking to him of the Gentiles, because all lost people are beasts, and so he preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his family (Acts 10:34-48). So we can see clearly from these texts that the “abominable beasts” in the Temple of God are these people who walk in the flesh.    Back to (Eze.8:10) So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. (11) And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand… Those 70 men are the Sanhedrin. They were the corporate body of the false prophet that ruled over the people of God in Jesus' day, and God calls this the “abomination.” (12) Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chambers of imagery? (There's the image of the beast in the Temple.) for they say, the Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the land. (13) He said also unto me, Thou shalt again see yet other great abominations which they do. Again, notice there is no individual man.     There is a corporate body committing these abominations that make desolate, and that body is not only the priests; it's also the people. (Eze.8:14) Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. (Tammuz was a false “Jesus” worshiped by Babylon. God is saying that in the midst of the Temple are those who worship “another Jesus” {2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6}.) (15) Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen [this,] O son of man? thou shalt again see yet greater abominations than these. Well, this chapter goes on to speak of abomination after abomination, all committed by the people of God in rebellion against the worship of the true God. In their idolatry, they were creating gods after their own liking and in their own image.    (Eze.9:1) Then he cried in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause ye them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. (2) And behold, six men… That's the third six. This represents the beast, and all throughout history, the Lord has given the beast charge over God's people when they were in rebellion. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome each had authority over God's people in their day. Today we have a revival of Rome and, just as the Lord gave those earlier beasts authority over His people, He is going to do that again because the beast is in the Temple and there has to come a desolation.   In 70A.D. God brought the Roman armies into Jerusalem to slaughter those who hadn't already slaughtered each other. Multitudes of the Jews were so full of the beast that they were killing each other off, and when the Romans came into Jerusalem, they just finished the job. [Editor's Note: Referenced from The Works of Josephus, translated by William Whiston, Hendrickson Publishers, 1987.] But, once again, it was the corporate body of the wicked in the Temple that was an abomination to God, and so He destroyed both them and their Temple.    (Eze.9:2) And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lieth toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand… The Hebrew word for “slaughter weapon” is also translated “battle-ax,” and who does God call His “battle-ax”? Let's look at that. (Isa.10:5) Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation! (6) I will send him against a profane nation (This is Israel.), and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (7) Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few… (Well, the Assyrian beast thought this was their great idea to plunder Israel, but God says, “No, no, I put it in their hearts,” and He called these people His “ax.”) (15) Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?… The Assyrians thought it was by their own might, but God says, “No, I gave you the strength to do this, and I sent you against these vain, abominable people, to judge them and bring them to their cross and, hopefully, to repentance.”     Truly, we're going to see a repetition of history come upon us in our day, although people with their lascivious doctrines teach that this is something which is only going to happen to little Israel far away from them. They refuse to understand that Christians are New Testament spiritual Israel. They are blind to the corporate beast body coming upon Christianity.     (Eze.9:2) And behold, six men; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen… I believe this is Jesus in the Man-child. Revelation 12 tells us the man-child ministry is coming in the end times, and it's coming again like Moses, like Jesus, to show God's people the correct way. What the Man-child teaches is going to separate the sheep from the goats. It's going to define who is going to be judged and who is not going to be judged.     (Eze.9:2) And behold, six men; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar. (3) And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side. (4) And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem (So notice that He is not bringing judgment upon the world. He's bringing judgment upon God's house, upon those who profess to be His people.), and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof. Does it grieve you that God's people have been so led astray, so deceived by their leadership, and so lured into sin by their own self-will? Now listen, nobody can be deceived by another man if they don't first have a lust to live in that way and accept these false and lascivious doctrines.    People are going to be self-deluded and self-deceived because, just like Balaam, they love the hire of wrong-doing. They love to please their old flesh. And they're being bribed by the flesh to accept a doctrine, a teaching, a lifestyle that is permitting the old man to live. Saints, we're here to live the crucified life (Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27; Hebrews 13:13), and if we don't lose our life, we won't gain our life (Matthew 16:26; Luke 9:25).    (Eze.9:5) And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye through the city after him, and smite… He is speaking to the beast here, the six men. Six is the number of the beast, and six is the number of man. In fact, the sixth chapter of the sixth verse of the sixth book in the New Testament talks about the old man. (Rom.6:6) Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [him,] that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin.    (Eze.9:5) And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye through the city after him, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; (6) slay utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark … Now the mark being spoken of here is the mark of the Lord, and it identifies those who are members of the body of Christ, just as the mark of the Beast identifies those who are members of the body of the Beast. Jesus said there are only two men in the earth, Christ and anti-Christ (Matthew 24:40; Luke 17:36). The truth is that people love to identify themselves as “Christian”, but these marks will prove in the coming days who really are Christians and who are not.     (Eze.9:6) Slay utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house. (In other words, they've lived longer, and they know more, so they're more guilty than anyone else.) (Eze.9:7) And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. Great destruction is coming against Christianity because it doesn't reflect what was given to us through Jesus Christ. We are to (Jud.1:3) … contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. The faith of our day won't count because religion has turned people away, through their own lustful desires, from true discipleship. (1Jn.2:6) He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. “Discipleship” is walking in the Master's Steps, and that means a disciple studies their Master to walk as He walked.    (Eze.9:7) And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and smote in the city. (Eze.9:8) And it came to pass, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord God! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy wrath upon Jerusalem? Well, we know this is coming again because it says in (Ecc.1:9) That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. The Israelites were types and shadows of the end time, and a great falling away will happen just as the Bible says (2 Thessalonians 2). And notice this is old Jerusalem receiving judgment. This is the old city and the people that belonged to it. This is not born-again Jerusalem.    Then in (Eze.10:2) And he spake unto the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling [wheels], even under the cherub, and fill both thy hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city… In other words, he brings judgment. The Man-child ministry is coming to bring judgment upon the city of God. These judgments are going to cleanse it of the goats and cleanse it of the tares. The Lord Jesus Himself spoke words that separated the goats from the sheep, separated the wheat from the tares. His Words brought judgment in His day, and the ministry of the Manchild will do the same in these days, but the people that will escape are the people who have been, and are going to mourn. They are the ones that are blessed, according to Jesus. While the world is rejoicing, they will mourn because of the great wrath and the judgment of God upon the people that call themselves “Christians.” They will mourn because of the great falling away of the people who had no faith.     We need to see and understand that the judgment that's coming is going to prove who has faith and who does not have faith. The judgment that's coming is going to prove who is a believer and who is not a believer. The wilderness tribulation for Israel was to prove whether they had faith or not. And, of course, Joshua and Caleb, who had faith, went to the Promised Land (Numbers 32:12). They didn't have to die in the wilderness because they had faith. They believed in the Lord. They spoke His Word, and they didn't die like the men who spoke the bad report, they spoke against the Lord and died in the wilderness (Numbers 26:65). Once again, today we are coming to a “wilderness” that God is going to use to prove who is truly of Him and who is not. The Word of God is going to separate the sheep from the goats. We need to put the Word in our hearts so that we have the conviction of Jesus Christ, so that sin is sinful to us, so that the rebellion of rebellious people grieves us.     Father, in the Name of Jesus, we're asking You, Lord, that You convict those “Christians” who have created a religion and a doctrine that pleases them because they don't have to give up anything. They don't believe they have to live a sacrificial life; they don't have to deny themselves; they don't have to take up their cross. Lord, we ask that You convict them mightily and that You bring them to You, Father, in the Name of Jesus. Thank You so much, Lord. Amen.  Now, I'd like to share some other scriptures about the blessings that will come from the Lord for those who have mourned, as we've been discussing. When the Man-child ministry begins, Jesus is coming with His reward!  Zion, the Bride, has gone through their time of mourning and warfare to get rid of their sins and their enemies within. To get rid of the leaven. Jer.9:17 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the skilful women, that they may come: 18 and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. 20 Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into our palaces; to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus saith Jehovah, The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman; and none shall gather them.     23 Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; 24 but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah. 25 Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will punish all them that are circumcised in their uncircumcision: 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, (All of the faction) and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.    Zec.12:10-11 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.  Psa.35:11-17 Unrighteous witnesses rise up; They ask me of things that I know not. 12 They reward me evil for good, To the bereaving of my soul. 13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I afflicted my soul with fasting; And my prayer returned into mine own bosom. 14 I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother: I bowed down mourning, as one that bewaileth his mother. 15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: The abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; They did tear me, and ceased not: 16 Like the profane mockers in feasts, They gnashed upon me with their teeth. 17 Lord, how long wilt thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destructions, My darling from the lions.  The sorrow of persecution and crucifixion is now turning into joy for those of the remnant Bride. Est.4:1-3 Now when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 2 and he came even before the king's gate: for none might enter within the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.   Est.9:20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, 21 to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, 22 as the days wherein the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. (Down goes the DS and religious factions.) Isa.40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.    Psa 30:2 O Jehovah my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. (Like Joseph, who came out of prison to the lies that were told about him by the harlot, to rule and preserve the people through the tribulation famine.)    4 Sing praise unto Jehovah, O ye saints of his, And give thanks to his holy memorial name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a life-time: Weeping may tarry for the night, But joy cometh in the morning. (Here is the joyful saints again) 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. (But through much tribulation shall we enter the Kingdom) 7 Thou, Jehovah, of thy favor hadst made my mountain to stand strong: Thou didst hide thy face (As in the crucifixion of Jesus the Man-child type.); I was troubled. 8 I cried to thee, O Jehovah; And unto Jehovah I made supplication: 9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? 10 Hear, O Jehovah, and have mercy upon me: Jehovah, be thou my helper. (Been there)    11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. (Joy of the David's and the Bride.)    Joh.16:20-24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament (Because Jesus was crucified), but the world shall rejoice: ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. (Because He is coming again in the Man-child reformers.) 21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow (This is the Woman Church in Revelation 12 in our day.), because her hour is come: but when she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. 22 And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again (in the Man-child reformers of Rev.12), and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. 24 Hitherto (Meaning until this time) have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.    Psa.30:1-12 A Psalm; a Song at the Dedication of the House. (Representing the true house of God, not that of Babylonish captivity) A Psalm of David. I will extol thee, O Jehovah; for thou hast raised me up, And hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. (This is the David Man-child but also Joseph the Man-child was resurrected from prison, like Jesus the Man-child was, to rule those who lied about him.)  Isa.61:1 The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified…  6 But ye shall be named the priests of Jehovah; men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. 7 Instead of your shame ye shall have double; and instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be unto them. 8 For I, Jehovah, love justice, I hate robbery with iniquity; and I will give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Jehovah hath blessed.  10 I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth bringeth forth its bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.     Isa.51:3 For Jehovah hath comforted Zion; he hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.  Isa 51:11 And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you: …    Isa.57:15-18 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. 16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls that I have made. 17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him; I hid my face and was wroth; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. 18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.      Isa.66:10-14 Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; 11 that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.    Isa.12:1-6 And in that day thou shalt say, I will give thanks unto thee, O Jehovah; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away and thou comfortest me. 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Jehovah, even Jehovah, is my strength and song; and he is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day shall ye say, Give thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name, declare his doings among the peoples, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing unto Jehovah; for he hath done excellent things: let this be known in all the earth. 6 Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.    Rev.21:2-4 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God: 4 and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. 

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent Galatians 4:21-31 by the Rev'd Dr. Matthew Colvin Our epistle lesson this morning comes from Galatians 4. I know that Pastor Bill preached on it just recently, but I would like to look at it too, from a different angle. It is one of the most controversial chapters in the NT, both for its view of Judaism and for its hermeneutical maneuvers. Paul is concerned for Christians in Galatia. The Judaizers were taunting Gentile Christians with the manifest visible superiority of Judaism: its splendid temple; its priesthood; its Torah; all the society's esteem and honor. And against this, what did Christians have to show? They were hiding for fear of the Jews; they were subjected to persecution and arrest; they had been kicked out of the synagogue and subjected to the ban, excommunication. Above all, there was the disgrace of worshipping a criminal who had been killed by the most shameful sort of execution, crucifixion by the Romans. All this was exploited by Paul's enemies in Galatia, the Judaizers or the circumcision party. Their strategy was to exalt themselves by trying to get the Gentiles to envy them - “They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.” – The verb zeloō means both to be zealous and to be jealous. Paul's enemies are behaving like spiteful middle school girls — not like the righteous women of this church, but like the ones I knew when I was in school — trying to exclude a hated rival by social shunning, in order to magnify their own status. To stop them and shut them down, Paul needs to do more than just answer their case logically. He also needs to undermine their ethos; he needs to subvert the system of value that makes their case so plausible at first glance. They are counting on Paul's readers sharing their value system. Paul wants to make sure his readers do not share it. It is a task that he undertakes in many of his letters. In Romans he addresses the Jews as those who “rest on the law, and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.” He is setting forth the Jewish system of value, the grounds of their boasting. And it was a very good grounds for boasting. The longest book in the Bible, Psalm 119, is one continuing paean of praise to the Law, the Torah. It is full of statements like, “I love thy commandments above gold and precious stones” and “The law of thy mouth is dearer unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” But Paul rips this point of boasting away by asking, “Yes, the Law is wonderful — but do you actually obey it?” In Philippians 3, Paul gathers together all the things that he could have been proud of as a Jew: “If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” That stuff that the Jews think is so valuable? Their circumcision, their membership in one of the two faithful tribes (Benjamin and Judah)? Their zeal, their lawkeeping? It's all worthless. In fact, it's so worthless that I threw it all away. I have something of real value that none of that stuff can give you. In the book of Hebrews, Paul or someone from his circles who thought an awful lot like him has the difficult task of undermining Jewish boasting about the Temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifices — a task that might seem impossible, since these things were instituted by God and everybody knew it. The temple was imposing, gleaming with gold. Paul calls it a “tent”, the sort of makeshift, flimsy structure that you go camping in, and you lie down in it, and there's nothing but a thin layer of cloth between you and the outside, and if it's too windy, the thing is in danger of collapsing; and anyway, it's that way because you're going to take it down and pack it up anyway. That's what he thinks of your fancy temple. Besides, the real temple is in heaven. Your tent is made by human hands; the only Temple worthy of the name is made by God. The priests' ministry was observable; they were dressed in robes; everyone could see their work, and that they had been instituted by God. Paul says, “They keep on dying, which is proof that their work isn't much good. And they have to offer sacrifices for their own sins, not just the people's.” The sacrifices were there for all to see: they had been commanded by God himself. The blood of the sacrifices flowed continually at the temple, on a daily basis. Paul says, “See how they have to do it over and over again? That's because it doesn't really work. They need Jesus. That's the only sacrifice that works, and that's why Jesus only needed to be sacrificed once.” Yes, Paul is a genius at overthrowing his opponents' strongest arguments. He loves to take their most powerful evidence and use it against them. He is a master of rhetorical jujitsu, throwing his opponents to the mat by using the momentum and force of their own attacks. He is like Elijah in the contest with the prophets of Baal, one man against 450, “And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.” In Galatians 4, it is a terribly difficult rhetorical task that Paul faces: his opponents appear to have the Torah, the OT, on their side. It does, after all, command circumcision; it does prohibit the eating of unclean foods; it does tell the stories of Ishmael, Moab, and Ben-Ammi, the ancestors of the rival nations surrounding Israel, all of whom are deprecated as the offspring of incest, slave marriage, or concubinage. These stories account for the origins of the Gentiles around Israel. Israel itself, however, was descended from Isaac, the legitimate son and heir of Abraham. These stories underscore the chosenness of Israel, and the fact that these other nations were not chosen. “Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated” was not just a statement about two sons. It was a statement about two nations: the Edomites and Israel. It says that Israel is the covenant people that God loves, and Edom is not. So it is Paul's opponents, not Paul, who have the easier case to make here: Jewish people are (most of them) descended from Jacob (Israel) and Gentiles are not. And they might have made this case most plainly from the story of Isaac, Abraham's son miraculously conceived by the power of God in Abraham's old age. This is strong rhetorical ground for the circumcision advocates in Galatia. Circumcision is commanded in the Torah for God's people. It is breathtakingly audacious for Paul to argue that a proper understanding of the Torah will lead you to the conclusion that circumcision doesn't matter. Paul calls the Torah a yoke of bondage. I'm not sure we appreciate how bold a move this is. The exodus was Israel's independence day. It's when they came out of slavery in Egypt and became a free nation. Paul says that the circumcizers advocating Torah-obedience in Galatia are like those who wanted to go back to Egypt. It would be like an American saying that the Declaration of Independence is the document in American history that made everyone slaves. But that is what Paul says about the Torah, given on Mount Sinai: that covenant has led to the present state of affairs: Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children. Now, we know from elsewhere in Paul's letters, especially Romans, that he considered the Law a good gift of God and the reason why the Law was now leading to slavery was because Israel was using it wrongly, not because the Law was bad. The slavery results from Israel's sinfulness, not something wrong with the Law. But here, he doesn't go into that, because he is focused not on the Law as it was given by God, but on the Law as it was used rhetorically by his opponents. You have heard the expression, “He is wrapping himself in the flag”? That is what the Judaizers in Galatia are doing with the Torah: using it as a uniform to distinguish true, Jewish Christians from second-rate, Gentile Christians. And Paul says: You think that you look cool with your bling; but it's really chains to keep you enslaved. Above all, Paul takes the bull by the horns and uses an audacious maneuver to deal with the Judaizers' most powerful weapon: the taunt of illegitimacy. That is the point of the Ishmael story as used by Jews: the Ishmaelites, the Arabs, are illegitimate offspring of Abraham, just as the Moabites and Ammonites were stigmatized as the offspring of Lot's daughters after the destruction of Sodom. Only Jews were the children of Isaac; they had been called into existence by the power of YHWH himself. They were not the product of an ill-conceived attempt at surrogate pregnancy, and with a slave wife. Be aware that the Judaizers have centuries and centuries of social and legal precedent for their view. That line that Paul quotes from Sarah — “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman” — that was a line that Paul's opponents loved to quote. When Sarah said it to Abraham, she wasn't just being mean. The lawcodes of Ur-Nammu and Lipit-Ishtar, from around the same time as Abraham, contained rules about exactly this sort of situation, and they are formulated with exactly the same sort of phrasing: “If a man has a wife a free woman who has born children to him, and he takes a slave wife and she also bears children to him, the children of the slave wife shall not share in the inheritance with the children of the free wife.” Sarah is saying, “Husband, you know the law from when we lived in Ur. This is what we have to do.” And the heretics in Galatia were taking up this two-thousand year tradition of legal and social stigma against children of slavery, and applying it to Gentile Christians. It's a powerful tool of shaming and social marginalization, and it is based on a very foundational text of the covenant: the story of the birth of Isaac. Both the Judaizers and their Galatian Gentile victims believed this text was the word of God. Both believed that the Jews were descendants of Isaac. Paul knows all this. He has chosen to fight them on their strongest ground; he gives them home field advantage. He pours water so that it fills up the trench. And then he incinerates their whole argument like Elijah. The stigma of illegitimacy? He turns it back on the Judaizers. They are the bastards now, the “children of the flesh”; they are “in bondage” with their slave-mother. The Gentile Galatian Christians? They are “children of the promise.” And just as it was back then, the child of the slave woman is persecuting the child of the promise. The two sons are marked not by their circumcised or uncircumcised status but by the slave/free polarity that distinguishes their mothers. Paul has to reach a little bit here. The LXX Greek translation that Paul used here doesn't actually say, “persecuting”. What the LXX says is that Sarah “saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian who had been born to Abraham playing with her son Isaac (paizonta meta Isaac tou huiou autes).” That's the most straightforward way to take it. But the word “playing” can also mean “mocking”. And that's probably how Paul took it. And then he magnifies it into the sibling rivalry from hell by glossing “mocking” as “persecuting”. Where did he get this from? It is transferred from the situation between the Judaizers and the Gentile Christians in Galatia. By casting the rivalry as a conflict between the flesh and the promise, Paul undercuts the Judaizers' use of the Torah. That is why he says, “These are two covenants” — the boldest piece of clever interpretation in the Bible. It is all part of his rhetorical strategy concerning the Torah that he has laid in the previous chapter, Galatians 3. The two covenants are NOT the Old and the New. They are the Torah covenant and the covenant with Abraham (which turns out to find its fulfillment in Christ). And the covenant with Abraham is more original, more foundational, more important, more primary. The law was added 430 years later. The Torah was a stop-gap measure to keep things under control until the fulfillment of the covenant with Abraham. And for Paul, Gentile Christians are that fulfillment: “in you, all the nations — the ethnê — shall be blessed.” This aligns the Gentile Christians with the whole purpose of the Covenant with Abraham, and means that Paul can cast them as the true children of the promise. They are citizens of the only Jerusalem that counts, the “Jerusalem above”. And by citing the line of Sarah, “cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman”, Paul makes clear what the stakes are here: the Judaizers and those who trust in the Torah to be their badge of membership in the covenant are not merely mistaken. They are Ishmaels and they will not inherit. They will be cast out. The Gentile Christians — and faithful Jewish Christians who did not pressure them to get circumcized — will be counted as true members of the covenant with Abraham, and the Judaizing circumcision-pushers will not. Who are the bastards now? Paul revels in what God has done. It is perfectly in accordance with his way of working: "He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.” (Job 5). The Judaizers have fallen into the pit that they have dug: their taunts of illegitimacy rebound on their own heads; the glory of the title of “true children of Abraham” is wrapped around the Gentile believers whom they had stigmatized. Paul's jujitsu victory is complete and total, because it is the victory of Christ, who led captivity captive and triumphed by being crucified. In the end, Paul's fierce warfare over the Galatians has to do with vindicating the honor of Christ, with proving that He has really accomplished all that Paul says he has; with showing that the covenant with Abraham is truly fulfilled in Jesus, because he is the yes and amen. To go back to the Torah is to turn the clock back and engage in historical reenactment; to live a life of live-action-role-playing instead of reality. It is a costly and foolish attempt to gain privilege and honor by denying the completeness and finality of Jesus' work, and attempting to supplement it with another identity in terms of the Torah. The true Exodus is via Christ, not via the Torah. That is part of the meaning of our gospel lesson this morning from John 6. Here the true bread from heaven, Jesus, works a miraculous feeding like the manna of old. But he does it not in order to cause the crowd to envy his disciples; he has no desire for his followers to act like the Judaizers, zealous courting others to provoke them envy. No, his disciples are to be the means by which the bread of life is given to the multitudes — and the two small fish, symbol of Gentiles and of fishing for men, of the fulfillment of Jeremiah 16:16: “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them.” In the end, the nations are to be blessed through the disobedience of Israel. Our time is short, so I will not try to prove this exhaustively, but I want you to see the pattern: Joseph's brothers disobey and sell him into slavery, so that he is carried off to a Gentile land, Egypt, and becomes assimilated to Egyptian ways. But God works it all out so that Joseph's imprisonment in an Egyptian prison works out for the salvation of Joseph's brothers and all Egypt, “to save many alive.” When Jesus touches dead bodies, a woman with a 12 year flow of bleeding that made her unclean, or a leper, what happens? The usual laws of uncleanness work backward: rather than becoming unclean, Jesus makes these people clean. That is the way God has designed the exile of Israel to work: rather than the exiled members of Israel becoming lost and destroyed, they have mingled with the nations and thereby brought it about that in order to keep His promises to Israel, God will save the Gentiles as well. As a result, “In Abraham's seed, all the nations shall be blessed.” Isn't it funny how Satan's schemes always backfire? He is truly the Wile E. Coyote of the Bible. He will have his church be Israel for the sake of the world; thus we are to be true heirs of Abraham, fulfilling the purpose for which He was called. Amen.

Return of the Man-Child (4) (audio) David Eells – 3/26/25 Dear Father, we thank You so much for being our Savior. Thank You for guiding us with Your Word. Thank You for encouraging us and for showing us wonders and revelations concerning the times to come. We want to be in agreement with You and You said, “How shall two walk together, except they be agreed?” We thank You for revealing to us Your Word so that we can cooperate with You in the principles that You abide by and we thank You for drawing us, giving us wisdom and opening our understanding. We thank You for giving us eyes to see and ears to hear that this may be possible. Thank You so much, Lord. Amen.  We've been studying out of Matthew some things that show us the truth, That which hath been is that which shall be (Ecc.1:9). We have been looking at the principles of what we know to be not only literally true, but a parable of things to come; and we've been reading in Matthew 2, where we discovered that the Messiah appears as a type and shadow of the coming Man-child Ministry, in whom He will live as the first-fruits.  The Messiah showed up and Herod and all of the people in Jerusalem were troubled concerning this, which is amazing unless you understand that people who are walking in the flesh and enjoying this world really do not want to be disturbed by a Messiah, or by a coming Kingdom, and they don't want their sins to be revealed. God's people have no business being troubled about the coming of the Lord. It should be a joyous thing and it is for all disciples of Jesus Christ. We left off here in (Mat.2:7) Then Herod privily called the Wise-men, and learned of them exactly what time the star appeared. (8) And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Goand search out exactly concerning the young child; and when ye have found [him,] bring me word, that I also may come and worship him. (9) And they, having heard the king, went their way; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.Notice that He wasn't a baby anymore; at this point Jesus was a “young child.” (Mat.2:10) And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.  (11) And they came into the house (He was not in the cave. He was in a house at this time.) and saw the young child with Maryhis mother; and they fell down and worshipped him; and opening their treasures they offered unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (12) And being warned [of God] in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. (13) Now when they were departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. Sounds very much like what we know from the Scriptures in Revelation 12, where the dragon was awaiting the birth of the Man-child to devour him, but the Man-child escaped and was caught up to the throne.  In the same circumstance here, we see that Jesus is about to escape the clutches of Herod. (Mat.2:14) And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt; (15) and was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt did I call my son. The Lord has called His Son, and all of His sons, to come out of Egypt, and if we don't come out of Egypt, we cannot be useful in bringing other people out of Egypt. Herod was seeking to destroy the Messiah. The Bible says that Joseph took the young child and His mother and departed into Egypt. Going into Egypt from where they were in Bethlehem would have entailed them going into the wilderness and God said that they were to stay there until the death of Herod. Then He called His Son out of Egypt to come through the wildernessand go to the Promised Land. This fits very well with all of the histories of the Man-child back through the Bible. Moses went into his personal wilderness when fleeing from Pharaoh, only to return after the death of Pharaoh and become a leader of God's people. Now we see the same thing of Jesus going into His own personal wilderness in fleeing from Herod until the death of Herod.  Then, when Jesus came out from His wilderness, He started His ministry very quickly. We're not speaking physically, but you'll see as we continue this study that there is a seeming jump in time and suddenly the child grew up. The Man-child ministry is the same. Many people have had visions and dreams of what occurred here, that the Man-child was born and immediately started walking, talking, and acting in the Kingdom. He grew up very quickly, as we will see. The narrative jumps from the time He was a young child until the time when His ministry started and that's about to be fulfilled. But notice that all the Man-child types went into their own personal wilderness until the death of the king who ruled over God's people and then they came out of the wilderness and started their ministries. Now Herod wanted to make sure he killed this Messiah; he did not want any competition from any other kings. (Mat.2:16) Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Wise-men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had exactly learned of the Wisemen. As we have learned, the word “Bethlehem” means “house of bread” or “house of food.” Notice that Herod slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem. That's very interesting because Herod was seeking to destroy the Man-child by killing all the people who were in the “house of food.”  I know that some people think that this murder of all the children applies only to something like abortion, but I think it's the other way around. Abortion is just a physical sign of what is really happening in the Spirit. Herod represents the Beast and Pharaoh represents the Beast kingdom. The beasts attempt, like the Dragon, to destroy the promised seed. How is that fulfilled in the earth today? How does the Beast destroy people in the first place? Well, the Beast represents all mankind that walks in the flesh because it is at enmity with God. If a person walks after the flesh, the Bible says he must die (Romans 8:13). If you walk after the flesh, the Beast has destroyed you. The Beast is making a war on the people who are receiving the Word of Life, the “house of bread.” In these days, God is revealing His promise to raise up His first-fruits in His image. There are a lot of people who understand, who know, who want to be a part of this, and are seeking to be full of the food of God so they can grow into maturity. The fact that God uses a child does not mean that He is not seeking maturity. To be mature in the Kingdom is quite the opposite ofthe way it is in the world. (1Co.14:20) Brethren, be not children in mind: yet in malice be ye babes, but in mind be men. So, according to the ways of the world, we are children, but in mind and soul we are mature.  Jesus said, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mat.18:3).We have to be a child in trusting our Father, in being submissive to Him, and that is what maturity is. The Man-child as a corporate body, is very small, so you could see him as a child in that way. We're seeing that Jesus was what the Bible says in Isaiah 7:14. He was “a sign,” an uwth, a sign of something to come; and the Lord has shown us that, as history repeats, it repeats on a larger and larger scale, with larger and larger groups of people. The Man-child Jesus represents an end-time Man-child of a large number of people, but it's still a relatively small corporate body.  Let me say, there are more people called to this first-fruits ministry than are attaining to it. One of the reasons is that some of them are being put to death by the flesh, the Beast. They're being taken out and I've seen myself that people who desired to be in the first-fruits were tricked by their flesh into succumbing to the lusts of the world and so were removed from taking part in this first-fruits ministry. They're slain by the Beast and carried away from the “food” to Babylon; they're carried into bondage. I've seen people who started out with Christ but were taken out by the world. They were taken into bondage in Babylon, bondage to the Beast, and that's what Herod wanted to do – he wanted to capture the Christ-child. This fits with what follows in (Mat.2:17) Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, (18) A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she would not be comforted, because they are not. This text quoted from Jeremiah 31:15 fits with what I just described, which is going into bondage to the Beast is death. The Bible says, for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die (Rom.8:13). Being in bondage to the flesh, to Babylon, to Pharaoh, is death. That's when the old man is ruling over the spiritual man like it was in Egypt.  So who is Rachel? And what does she represent here? Rachel was the second bride of Jacob, the second, favored bride of Jacob, who was Israel, the father of the 12 patriarchs. Can you think of another father of 12 patriarchs? Yes, that would be Jesus. In this case, Jacob, or Israel, represents Jesus, the father of the 12 patriarchs. The second, favored bride represents the Church, and not only that, Rachel bore Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph represents the Man-child, as you know. He was the one who was taken to Egypt and was basically “crucified,” sent to prison (Genesis 39), where he preached to the butler and the baker about who was going up and who was going down (Genesis 40) and came out of prison to be the king over everything, second only to Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40). Jesus did the same thing as a type. So Rachel was the one who brought forth the Man-child, but some of these people were being slain; people who lived in the same “house of bread” as Jesus did were being slain. Rachel was also the mother of Benjamin, who is the last fruit of the Church. You see, there is another fruit after Joseph, who is the first-fruits. The Bible says, But many shall be last [that are] first; and first [that are] last (Mat.19:30). We know that natural Israel is coming back into the Kingdom, but they are coming in last. When the brothers of Joseph came to meet him in Egypt, Benjamin was the last-fruits of Rachel, and I believe that this is referring to the fruits of natural Israel that are coming into the Kingdom at the end. Let's pay attention to Joseph here. What does Rachel and the death of her children represent, and how can we avoid it?  Let's look at the original text in Jeremiah that's quoted in Matthew: (Jer.31:15) Thus saith the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not. They have in some way died and the rest of the text will reveal to us in what way they've died. In the text, Jeremiah speaks of Ephraim and he refers to the children of Rachel, but how is Ephraim of the children of Rachel? Well, Ephraim was the second-born son of Joseph, and the first-born was Manasseh. When Israel came to bless Joseph's sons, who followed in Joseph's steps, Israel took his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, then he took his left hand and put it on Manasseh's head and he began to bless them (Genesis 48:14). The right hand is always placed on the son of the double blessing, so Joseph was displeased when he saw his father doing this and he tried to move his father's hands. But Israel refused, and said, I know [it,] my son, I know [it;] he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations (Gen.48:19). It says “the fullness of nations” in the original text, so Ephraim represented the fullness of nations. Not only did Rachel represent the Church, in that she was the second and favored bride of Israel, who represents Jesus, the father of the 12 patriarchs, but also her son was the second-born son who received the first-born's blessings. You remember that Jesus came first to give that blessing to the first-born son, Israel, and they refused it, so He turned to the Church, which was made up of both Jews and Gentiles, to receive this blessing. But, by and large, the first son did not receive the double blessing. Instead, the right hand was upon the second son. Joseph's second son (or his born-again son) is God's first-born.  How is that? Because Israel was not born-again. They should have entered into that blessing and they did not. They were not born-again, but the Church was and is born-again. So Joseph's second son was God's first-born. How do I know that? (Jer.31:9) They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Why wasn't Manasseh, who represented Israel, the first-born? Because he was the first-born son of Joseph, who represented Jesus. Everything that happened to Joseph happened to Jesus. So, once again, the doctrine that the Church has about the relationship of the Church to natural Israel is totally wrong. God has from the beginning planned to have a born-again people and the “letter people” were a type and shadow of the born-again people. If you don't understand that, you're going to go around worshipping Israel, which failed. If the Church doesn't have any better sense, they will walk in the steps of those people and fail as well. Now we can continue and find out what is meant for Rachel to lose her children. How did they die? What did it represent? (Jer.31:16) Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. Wow! What is it for them to be dead? It's the same thing we were talking about; it means they were in bondage to the Beast, they were walking after the flesh and so they were dead in the eyes of God. I'll prove it just a little further down. “They shall come again from the land of the enemy.” In other words, they were taken into captivity, serving the old man, like Israel was doing in Egypt or in Assyria when they were taken captive. They were no longer living in their Promised Land.  (Jer.31:17) And there is hope for thy latter end, saith the Lord (Israel must come out of captivity in the latter end and so will the Church.); and [thy] children shall come again to their own border. The Lord calls it “living” when we come back to live in the Promised Land, or live on the promises of God, or live in right relationship to the Presence of God, which was in Zion. That's what He calls “living.” To be in bondage, walking after the flesh in the world, in bondage to your flesh, that's what being “dead” is, according to the Lord. (1Ti.5:6) She that giveth herself to pleasure is dead while she liveth. God calls that “death” – spiritual death. For us to come out of this bondage is God's plan. Why did God raise up the Man-child? To bring His people from death into resurrection life. (Jer.31:18) I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus,] (Notice, we're seeing Rachel's children here as Ephraim and he represents the “fullness of nations,” the Church, the second-born son.) Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke:] (You know how a calf is if it's unaccustomed to the yoke – they buck and snort, trying to get loose, wanting to do their own thing.) turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. This is grace. Ask the Lord to turn you, to grant you repentance. It's His gift to give. (Jer.31:19) Surely after that I was turned, I repented (That shows grace, doesn't it? If God turns you, you will be turned. Repentance means “turn and go the other way.”); and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.  (Jer.31:20) Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord. The Lord has a heart to deliver His people out of bondage. Ephraim went into bondage before their enemies. They were taken captive by the Beast. They were reckoned as the dead by Rachel. So, we see this in Jeremiah chapters 30 and 31 where it speaks of this. The whole story is there of God delivering His people out of bondage. Why did Jesus come? He came to deliver His people out of Babylonish, or beastly, bondage so that they could serve God. You cannot serve God while you are serving the Egyptian, while you're in bondage to the old man. God started the story in Jeremiah the same way He did in Matthew. Looking at the previous chapter in Jeremiah, we find where He talks about the woman in travail with the Man-child. (Jer.30:6) Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child: wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Why? Because this is where the whole sequence of events is going to begin. (Jer.30:7) Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. So we're told that it's during the time of “Jacob's trouble,” the Tribulation. Not only that, but He goes on to say of His people that during this time, strangers shall no more make him their bondman (Jer.30:8). In other words, they are going to come out of bondage for the last time. God says they will never again be in bondage. When? The end time.  Then He says, but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them (Jer.30:9).There is the end-time David that's being raised up because Jesus came to sit upon David's throne (Luke 1:32). (Jer.30:10) Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. That is being “saved,” not being in bondage to your flesh anymore, not being in bondage to the Beast anymore, not serving the world anymore. That is what the Lord has promised for us. So you're either saved or you're dead. The Bible calls it being “dead in your sins,” and “dead in your trespasses.” Rachel was weeping because her children had been taken away into bondage and were no longer free to serve God. (Jer.30:21) And their prince shall be of themselves (We read that in Matthew 2; then it was Jesus coming and it's also the Man-child coming in the end time.), and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is he that hath had boldness to approach unto me? saith the Lord. (22) And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. The Lord is going to draw these first-fruits unto Himself and that will be the beginning because their job is like Moses' job, which is to bring the people out of Egypt. Moses went through his own wilderness, as we have seen, and then his job was to go back and bring the people through the same wilderness to meet the Lord in the Mountain of God. (Jer.30:24) The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it. So this is a latter-day revelation. God's judgment is part of what brings God's people out of bondage and into their Promised Land, which is the place of safety.  Jeremiah 31 tells us this story of Ephraim coming out of bondage and we saw that was because God raised up the Man-child to lead them out of bondage. We see here the same sequence of events. The prince will be raised up from the midst of the people. (Jer.31:1) At that time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel … “All Israel,” as we know from Romans 11, includes everybody who's abiding in the olive tree. Natural Israel rejected Jesus, and were broken off of the olive tree and the Church was grafted into the olive tree through faith in Jesus Christ. Those true disciples who followed Jesus in the Gospels, who were natural Jews who came into the Kingdom, remained in their olive tree. But it says, “all the families of Israel,” referring to all Jews, Gentiles, and all those who through faith in Jesus Christ are members of the olive tree, which in Romans 11:26 is called “all Israel.”  (Jer.31:1) At that time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. This includes the remnant of natural Jews that is to come back in, which I am calling “Benjamin,” who was the last fruit of Rachel. (Jer.31:2) Thus saith the Lord, The people that were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness … There was a sword that came upon Egypt, representing the world, to motivate God's people to be willing to leave the fleshpots of Egypt, to come out from among them and be separate and to worship God in the wilderness. Egypt had to suffer the plagues, while God's people in Goshen were separated from Egypt and delivered from those judgments. Then He moved them out of Egypt and into the wilderness, where God could once again deal with them and teach them faith. (Jer.31:2) Thus saith the Lord, The people that were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. God planned to bring Israel into His rest.  (Jer.31:3) The Lord appeared of old unto me, [saying,] Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. (4) Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel … You might think that He's referring to the Bride here when He says the “virgin of Israel,” like the virgin Mary, who brought forth the Man-child and also went into the wilderness to be instructed of the Man-child. In Revelation 12, the Man-child was birthed and then he was caught up to the throne of David, which is God's throne on Earth, where He rules over Israel, according to the Scripture. And from that place of authority, He led the woman, who brought forth the Man-child, through the wilderness. (Jer.31:4) Again will I build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: again shalt thou be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.When God's people are led out of bondage, it will be a time of rejoicing. (Jer.31:5) Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy [the fruit thereof]. There is going to be freedom for people who have escaped the bondage of the Beast in the days to come. That's what Moses came to do, that's what Jesus came to do and that's what the Man-child is coming to do: escape the bondage of the Beast and help the Church do the same. Not everyone is going to escape that bondage. (Luk.21:36) But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the son of man.  (Jer.31.6) For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. In other words, the second son is coming out of bondage. (7) For thus saith the Lord, Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. That's a good thing to cry today because here we are again. The Beast is about to bring God's people into bondage and the overwhelming majority of God's people have been in bondage all along. The bondage that we're talking about is more severe persecution, death, and destruction.  (Jer.31:8) Behold, I will bring them from the north country … The “north country” is the place of bondage. That's where Babylon brought them into captivity, that's where Assyria brought them into captivity and that's where the Medes and the Persians ruled over them. It represents the beast in the north. (Jer.31:8) Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth … This is because now God's people are in bondage to the beast all over the world. We are not talking about only little Israel, who is God's people, but worldwide spiritual Israel, who is circumcised in heart and not just in flesh. They're in bondage to the nations in which they live and God is calling them out of those nations to be a part of “all Israel,” one holy nation. (Jer.31:8) Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, [and] with them the blind and the lame (Yes, God's people who are in bondage are quite often blind and lame, and God is calling them to be able to see and to be able to walk straight before the Lord.), the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together (In other words, those who have already borne fruit and those who will bear the fruit of Christ.): a great company shall they return hither. They're going to come back to their “borders,” inside the borders of their Promised Land. The borders could represent the outline of the way you live and you want to stay within the boundaries of God's Word, so to speak.  (Jer.31:9) They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters … Amen! Rivers of living water, which Jesus spoke about in (Joh.7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. (39) But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive … Out of your innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Jesus Himself brought to His people rivers of living water. That's where their life came from – the Word that came out of His mouth. (Joh.6:63) It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.  (Jer.31:9) They shall come with weeping; and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born. (10) Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off … (We are one of those “isles afar off” here in America.); and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as shepherd doth his flock. In other words, the Lord, Who sent His people into bondage in Egypt or in bondage to the nations, is going to draw them out now. This is a time of rejoicing. People are so fearful of the Tribulation, but they don't understand that the Tribulation is the judgment that's coming upon Egypt so that God's Israelites can come out and go into the wilderness to serve God. This is a good time. (Jer.31:11) For the Lord hath ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Which is which? It's the Beast entity “that was stronger than he.” We are not talking about a man when we say “the Beast.” We're referring to the whole body of the Beast. You're either a part of the Body of Christ or you're a part of the body of anti-Christ. The anti-Christ is the Beast kingdom. (Jer.31:12) And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion … God is drawing His people to come into His very Presence on His holy hill. God told Moses, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain (Exo.3:12).  (Jer.31:12) And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow unto the goodness of the Lord, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden(Praise the Lord! This is talking about the Tribulation and God is going to raise up His people to bear fruit and they're going to be blessed.); and they shall not sorrow any more at all. (13) Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. (14) And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord. Then it goes into the text we studied earlier, where Rachel was weeping for her children and God was comforting her by telling her not to worry, as they would return to their borders. They are coming back. Yes, they have been taken into bondage and are serving the flesh and are dead to the spiritual world, dead to the Kingdom of God, but He's going to change all of that. That's what God is saying in (Jer.31:21) Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide-posts; set thy heart toward the highway, (This refers to the highway of holiness that Isaiah 35:8 said leads to Zion.), even the way by which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. (22) How long wilt thou go hither and thither, O thou backsliding daughter? In other words, while they're out there wandering around in the world, this is where they are supposed to dwell. These promises are the ones they are supposed to live upon.  …for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth: A woman shall encompass a man. God is bringing the virgin into the wilderness to be led by the Davidic Manchild. The woman encompassing a man is the Bride encompassing the Man-child. Zion was the Bride, according to Revelation. God told John, Come hither, I will show thee the bride (Rev.21:9). And He showed him the New Jerusalem coming down, being born from above (Revelation 21:10). The Man-child David ruled in the midst of Zion, but he also ruled in the midst of the rest of the Church outside of Zion. So there is the larger Church, there is the Bride and there is the Man-child. This is the new thing that God is going to do: “A woman shall encompass a man.” It's not a new thing as far as history is concerned; it's a new thing as far as we are concerned, in our lifetime, because this is an end-time prophecy. (Jer.31:23) Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity …It's an old English way to say it because it sounds like just the opposite in our modern ears. If you would translate that today, you would say, “I will bring them again from the land of their captivity.” It's a good thing to come out of captivity and into the Kingdom of God. There are only two places you can dwell in this world: you are either in Babylon or you are in Zion. We are coming out of Babylon, which is this world. All of the nations of the world were at Babel. They all came from Babel and they're all part of Babylon, but Zion is separate.  Zion is that holy place that we're all going to. God enjoins them to find this highway to Zion. (Jer.31:23) Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity: The Lord bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness. Zion represents the place of holiness, the place of separation from the world. That's what “holiness” or “sanctification” means. It's the same word and it means giving up your sins in obedience to following the Lord. If you're obeying the Lord, you're walking in servitude to the Lord and you have matured in that obedience to the Lord. That is what Zion is. (Jer.31:24) And Judah and all the cities thereof shall dwell therein together, the husbandmen, and they that go about with flocks. (25) For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I replenished. (26) Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me. (27) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. (28) And it shall come to pass that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith the Lord. While in Babylon, they were living under the curse. Zion is where the curse is done away. So, spiritually speaking, you cannot physically go to Zion because obviously there is no physical Zion. We are not physical Israelites; we are spiritual Israelites and we can spiritually go to Zion. It is the place of holiness, the place of God's presence, and the place of His temple. When we come into the presence of God, that is that place of holiness. Those who were slain by the Beast, by Herod, by Pharaoh, by Nebuchadnezzar, by whatever Beast conquered them, they're going to return to their Promised Land. And living in the Promised Land represents resurrection life, the resurrection of God. This same story is found in Isaiah. (Isa.11:1) And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit. This is the Branch that in Jeremiah chapters 23 and 33 speak of an end-time David ministry that God is going to raise up. We've spoken about this already. This Branch represents the Man-child ministry in the end time, the one in whom Jesus lives, because Christ in you is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).  I knew a brother years ago who had a dream and he called me about it. His name was Tubby and he said, “David, I had this dream and I was talking to you, and in the dream, I said, ‘David, you remind me of someone I read about in the Bible.' You quoted those verses from Isaiah 11:1-5 and you said, ‘Yeah, I know that person.' Then you quoted these verses.” He was saying that these are going to be an end-time people who are going to come into this image, walking in the Spirit of God as the Branch. (Isa.11:2) And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. (3) And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; (In other words, this is a people who are walking in the Spirit and not walking in the flesh, nor ruled by the fleshly senses. They have their senses exercised to discern good from evil, as in Hebrews 5:14.) (Isa.11:4) but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. (6) And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. A little child, the Man-child, is going to lead them. Why these beasts? Well, if you remember Noah's Ark and the people who were saved in the Ark, the beasts were also saved in the Ark and they represented the Gentiles. When Peter saw the sheet come down out of Heaven with all the unclean beasts on it, God told him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat (Act.11:7). And Peter said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath ever entered into my mouth (8). But the Lord answered, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common (9). This was when Cornelius had sent his servants to Peter to get him to come and preach to them the Gospel (Acts 10:1-8) and Peter got the revelation of, “Oh, God has cleansed the Gentiles (Acts 10:46,47),” who became the Church. These were people who were members of the body of the Beast – different beasts around the world, as a matter of fact. They had come out of this beast and out of that beast. They were members of those bodies, but now they had come into the Kingdom and they were at peace with one another.  There is nothing that can bring the world together in peace except God's Kingdom. So here you see that God is going to raise up the Man-child. He's going to draw His people out of all nations, out of all beast kingdoms. By the way, they were all called beast kingdoms by Daniel, just as they are in Revelation 7. God was going to draw His people out of bondage and out of all these beast kingdoms to come and dwell in their land, which He called the land of rest, the land of milk and honey, the land of blessings, provision, and everything. Is a little child really going to lead all these beasts to be at peace and go back to the Promised Land? Yes, that's what He's talking about. (Isa.11:7) And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. At the end of 2007, I saw a vision of this happening. In the vision, the Lord was giving me a piece of property and there were all these beasts that were fleeing onto this property from the judgments that were happening outside the boundaries of this property. I saw it. They were all in total peace with one another, all these creatures that normally bite and devour one another, like the nations do. They were at peace and God's Kingdom was there; His peace was there. The Lord gave me a house and money to prepare and provide for these beasts that were coming to this refuge. (Isa.11:8) And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. (In complete safety!) (9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain … So where are these beasts? They are at God's holy mountain and a little child, the Man-child, shall lead them. When all the beastly people of the world get saved, when they come out from under the bondage of the Beast and come into God's holy mountain, then what this refers to will be fulfilled. These are Rachel's children about whom she did not have to worry anymore. They are going to be restored. (Isa.11:9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (10) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto him shall the nations seek (Of course, this is the Lord.); and his resting-place shall be glorious. Amen! That's where they're going – to this holy mountain, His resting place. (Isa.1:11) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people (Praise the Lord!), that shall remain, from Assyria … That's one of the “beasts” that conquered God's people and brought them into bondage. God is saying, “Come back out of bondage! Come back out of the north! Come back to your Promised Land!” God is telling us to come and dwell in Zion in the Presence of God on His holy mountain. You cannot dwell on His holy mountain without being holy because the highway that goes there is also called the “Highway of Holiness.” (Isa.11:11) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam(These were all the nations that were round about Israel.), and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. (12) And he will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.  The Lord will gather them out of all the beast kingdoms to come back and dwell in their Promised Land. God is going to do this in the Spirit in the days to come. There is going to be a people who will dwell in safety and be blessed of the Lord. All their provision is going to be sure because they are a holy people. They are not under the curse. Those who walk in rebellion to God are under the curse because the curse was pronounced on the people who walked in their stubborn ways. (Isa.11:13) The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and they that vex Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. (14) And they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west; together shall they despoil the children of the east: they shall put forth their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. Judgments are going to fall all over this earth where God's people are being persecuted. When they were in bondage in Egypt, the judgments that we see in the Book of Revelation fell upon Egypt, to deliver God's people out of Egypt and into their Promised Land. (Isa.11:15) And the Lord will utterly destroythe tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind will he wave his hand over the River, and will smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dryshod. (16) And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, that shall remain, from Assyria; like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.   Praise God!

The Geography of Wrath The grapes of wrath are perhaps one of the most terrifying passages in Scripture: Who is this who comes from Edom, ??With dyed garments from Botzrah, ??This One who is glorious in His apparel, ??Traveling in the greatness of His strength?— ?“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” ?Why is Your apparel red, ??And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? ?“I have trodden the winepress alone, ??And from the peoples no one was with Me. ??For I have trodden them in My anger, ??And trampled them in My fury; ??Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, ??And I have stained all My robes. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, ??And the year of My redeemed has come." (Is 63:1-4) Why would Yeshua come from Edom and Botzrah? Out of many reasons (because of Edom's modern identity), one Torah prophecy-template is that it retraces part of the route of the exodus from Egypt and the southern journeys to the Promised Land. Yeshua went to the wilderness to be tested in his first coming, and he overcame in forty days of testing what the Israelites took forty years to do. The difference in the Greater Exodus is that the slaves in exile will come from many nations, not just Egypt. It is the geography of Edom that ties it all together, for it is an ancient commercial intersection of the world. In the Shabbat livestream, we'll look at maps to help decipher the prophecy, but we'll do the best we can here in the newsletter with words. Edom and Israel present in conflict in the geography of the South. The region is separated by the north/south running Great Rift Valley in which two great tectonic plate continually rub against one another and move the earth. In his appearance on the Mount of Olives, Yeshua's feet cause a great earthquake right along this valley from Jerusalem all the way to the Red Sea in the South. In times of Israel's spiritual awakening, Israel/Judah controlled the South from Tamar (Ovot/Oboth) all the way to Etzion-Geber (Eilat). It is a vital trade route between East and West, North and South, from ancient times. In times of Judah's apostasy, Edom controlled it, often in trade treaties with powers such as (first) Egypt, then Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome. Their relatives are the mighty merchants the Nabateans, who controlled trade over the land of the South much as the Phoenicians controlled maritime trade. Esau/Edom was a “man of the field,” controlled by the nefesh, or soul, the beast nature. The most cunning beast of the field is the serpent (land) or his counterpart in the water, the crocodile. These two, the serpent and beast, are in league in the Revelation, and will be judged together, the authority of the serpent wielded by the beast. For a review of these principles, see “A Concise History of the Beast” on YouTube, Workbook Four: The Scarlet Harlot and the Crimson Thread, and Workbook Two: The Seven Abominations of the Wicked Lamp. When Yeshua comes from Edom, the perfect man has subdued both the scarlet beast and his source authority, the serpent. His march is a way of “splitting the sea” in the sight of all nations to make a way of salvation for his exiles and the nations: "When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations…"(Ezek 39:27) The Jewish sages parse the verses of the Exodus that describe the splitting of the waters of the Reed Sea to imply that the waters of every nation were split at exactly the same time so that the miracle could be viewed by all nations (another lesson!). From even before the time of the Exodus, Egypt the serpent and Edom the beast collaborated in harvesting copper [nechoshet] from the South. The Hebrew word for serpent is nachash, sharing a root with copper, which is plentiful in the South.

Babylon, Edom, and Jerusalem are told what will come to pass along with a reminder of the sure fire solution, repent and come home. All In Gospel Podcast is a chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in depth bible study where we seek to understand God's Word.All In Gospel is recorded live at Calvary Chapel with Pastor Seann Dikkers. You can support this study at anchor.fm/allingospel, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ccwhitebear.com.

[2 Chronicles 20:1-4] After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. [2] Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea. They are already at Hazazon-tamar." (This was another name for En-gedi.) [3] Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the LORD for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. [4] So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the LORD's help.The ________________ you are facing is not yours to ________________.The moment you __________________, God steps in and fights for you.[2 Chronicles 20:15] He said, "Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's.God never meant for you to fight ________________.[2 Chronicles 20:17a] But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the LORD's victory.Victory doesn't come from ________________ harder; it comes from ________________ more![2 Chronicles 20:21-22] After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: "Give thanks to the LORD; his faithful love endures forever!" [22] At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the LORD caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.________________ is a ______________ in spiritual battles.There is _______________ on the other side of your praise.[Romans 8:35, 37] Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death [37] No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.We don't fight _______ victory; we fight _________ victory!

The Old Testament gives us the history of God's people, the Israelites, before the coming of their long-awaited Messiah, Jesus Christ. And throughout their history they had good times and bad times—times when they obeyed God and times when they went far astray. Eventually, they split into two nations, Israel and Judah, with ten of the tribes forming the Israel nation and two forming the nation of Judah. I want to focus your attention to one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible, in my opinion, 2 Chronicles 20, which tells us about Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Jehoshaphat was one of the godly kings who obeyed the Lord and led his people to follow Yahweh. But they were a small nation, not well fortified, and therefore very vulnerable to their enemies. In chapter 20 of 2 Chronicles, Jehoshaphat finds himself and his nation in a truly frightening predicament. Here are the first four verses of that chapter: After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came     to make war on Jehoshaphat. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Seas. It is already in En Gedi.” Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Jehoshaphat is faced with a grave dilemma. His entire army and his entire country could be wiped out by this enemy army. And he is alarmed. Who wouldn't be? But notice what Jehoshaphat does in his alarmed condition: He resolves to inquire of the Lord. He could have inquired of his political advisers. They would have undoubtedly told him to try to make a peace treaty with this vast enemy and save their necks, even if it meant giving up the land. He could have inquired of his military advisers, who would have told him to retreat and get out as fast as possible, because there was no way they could defeat this great military army coming against them. But Jehoshaphat didn't inquire of people or counselors or advisers. He inquired of the Lord. Where have you been running for answers as you face your impossible situation? Is the Lord the first one you turn to? Amazing how often we do everything else except inquire of the Lord. This should be the first thing we do when we don't know what to do: Inquire of the Lord. Notice that Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord; he set his will to do it. I can imagine his feelings were taking him in different directions. I can believe he wanted to start running fast and take some kind of action immediately. But he knew he would only find answers by inquiring of the Lord, so whether he felt like it or not, he resolved to do that. Many times, we run with our emotions when we're up against impossibilities. And our emotions take us to hasty action, to running away, to seeking advice from the wrong people, etc. If we would first inquire of the Lord, sit down with his Word and ask for direction, spend time in prayer to listen to his voice, we would find the answers we need. I remember at one point in my life, many years ago now, when I was suddenly faced with what seemed at the time to be a potentially disastrous situation, and I truly didn't know what to do. So, what did I do? I picked up the phone to call my best friend and ask her what to do! Now, there's nothing wrong with seeking godly advice from trusted advisors, but that's not the first place we should go, is it? Well, wouldn't you know she wasn't there. This was long before we all had cell phones, and so I couldn't reach her. I just kept redialing and redialing her number, pacing the floor, and becoming angry with her for not being there when I needed her. It was one of those teaching moments in my life, when I could hear the voice of God in my head clearly saying to me, “Why would you call her before you call me?

Friday Bible Study (3/7/25) // 2 Kings 14:1-22 // Visit our website: https://mbchicago.org Follow us to remain connected: Facebook:   / mbc.chicago   Instagram:   / mbc.chicago   TikTok:   / mbc.chicago   Podcasts: Listen on Apple, Spotify & others To support this ministry, you can donate via: Zelle to: info@mbchicago.org Website: https://mbchicago.org/give Venmo: https://venmo.com/mbchurch PayPal: https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_but... 2 Kings 14:1-22 (ESV) Amaziah Reigns in Judah 1 In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. 4 But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 5 And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. 6 But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”7 He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this day.8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash[a] the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” 9 And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,' and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. 10 You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12 And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. 13 And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits,[b] from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.15 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.Footnotes2 Kings 14:8 Jehoash is an alternate spelling of Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in 13:9, 12–14; also verses 9, 11–162 Kings 14: 13 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters#2Kings | #BibleStudy | #DanielBatarseh | #mbchicago | #mbcchicago | #Bible | #livechurch | #churchlive | #chicagochurch | #chicagochurches | #versebyverse | #church | #chicago | #sermon | #bibleexplained | #bibleproject | #bibleverse #versebyverse #oldtestament

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Josh Peck interviews Justin Brown about his book The Epic of Esau and talks about possible nephilim and bigfoot connections. To get the audio-only podcast version of full videos and Josh Peck's blog, which includes original articles, show notes, and more, subscribe to Josh's Substack at http://joshpeck.substack.comDonate: http://PayPal.me/JoshPeckDisclosureCashApp: $JoshScottPeck

“So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!” (Numbers 21:9 NLT) Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. But the journey was anything but pleasant. The Israelites complained repeatedly about the traveling conditions. They accused Moses of leading them into the wilderness to die. God parted the waters of the Red Sea so that they could walk through the middle on dry ground to escape the Egyptian army. He caused fresh water to flow from a rock in the desert when the Israelites were thirsty. He sent manna and quail to feed them when they were hungry. Still, they complained. God gave them a miraculous military victory over the Canaanites. But after the battle, when Moses led them around the land of Edom instead of through it, “the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. ‘Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?’ they complained. ‘There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!’” (Numbers 21:4–5 NLT). The Israelites needed to learn a hard lesson. “So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.’ So Moses prayed for the people” (verses 6–7 NLT). Lesson learned (for the moment). The people sinned and faced the punishment for it. They confessed, repented, and prayed. And God sent them a way to be saved. He instructed Moses to make a bronze replica of a snake and attach it to a pole. Anyone who looked at the bronze snake was healed and saved from death. Of course, there’s more going on in this story than people recovering from snake bites. This is a preview of the work of Jesus on the cross. In John 3:14–15, Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life” (NLT). And in John 12:32, He said, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (nlt). The apostle John adds this note in the following verse: “He said this to indicate how he was going to die” (NLT). Everyone has sinned and faces God’s punishment of death. The only way you can be saved is to confess your sins, ask God’s forgiveness, and place your faith in the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. You might wonder, “Why would God be concerned about me?” Job asked, “What are people, that you should make so much of us, that you should think of us so often?” (Job 7:17 NLT). There are many reasons, but the most notable would simply be that He loves you! He loves you with an everlasting love! The amazing thing is that the God of the universe loves you and is watching over you. He will bless you, smile on you, keep you, and give you His full attention and peace because He cares for you. Reflection question: Why is Jesus the only way to be saved from God’s punishment for our sins? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Obadiah was a prophet who wrote the shortest book in the Old Testament. In just twenty one verses, the Lord speaks to the brother nation of Edom. Instead of helping their brother Judah, Edom's arrogance and injustice further hurt God's people. How could such a small book about people so long ago and so far away ring true in our lives today? Let's consider this so called "Minor Prophet" together. Links: (1) Help make PSB better: become a Patron at www.patreon.com/PureandSimpleBible. You'll get some behind the scenes access to the podcast and videos, opportunities to vote for future content, and most importantly the joy of partnering and encouraging Jonathan to continue to produce pure and simple conversations about the Bible. (2) Get free resources for PDF download from www.pureandsimplebible.com/studyseries. These study books can help you, your family, and others in your life. Release date:

SHOW NOTES:   In Podcast Episode 313, “Be Someone through Whom the Lord Would Speak,” Kim discusses the miracles in today's scripture passage. One of the miracles in the passage is one each Christ-follower also has the privilege of being used to accomplish. However, we need to be spiritually prepared to be His conduit and listening for His voice.   Our focal passage for this episode is 2 Kings 3:1-27 with 12 as the focal verse:   “Jehoshaphat said, “Yes, the Lord speaks through him.” So the king of Israel, King Jehoshaphat of Judah, and the king of Edom went to consult with Elisha.”     WEEKLY ENGAGEMENT FEATURE:   Is there something that would currently hinder you from being someone through whom the Lord would speak?   Additional Resources and Scriptures:   EMAIL — encouragingothersinlovingjesus@gmail.com TWITTER - https://twitter.com/EOinLovingJesus INSTAGRAM -  https://www.instagram.com/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus” YouTube Channel: Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@EncouragingOthersInLovingJesus   I WANT TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.   RESOURCES USED FOR BOOK OF 1 & 2 Kings PODCASTS: “The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament OT in One Volume” “Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings” by Tony Merida “The Tony Evans Bible Commentary: Advancing God's Kingdom Agenda” “Life Application Study Bible” “The Swindoll Study Bible: NLT” by Charles R. Swindoll Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary “The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Editors) Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament, 2004, by Kenneth L. Barker, John R. Kohlenberger, III.     "Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus" Facebook Group:   Our Facebook Group is devoted to providing a place for us to encourage each other through all the seasons of life. Follow the provided link to request admittance into “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus”—https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ Feel free to invite others who will be good encouragers and/or need encouragement to follow Jesus.   This podcast is hosted by Kim Smith, a small town Country Girl who left her comfort zone to follow Jesus in a big City World. Now, she wants to use God's Word and lessons from her faith journey to encourage others in loving Jesus.   In each episode, Kim will share insights regarding a portion of God's Word and challenge listeners to apply the lessons to their daily lives.   If you want to grow in your faith and learn how to encourage others in loving Jesus, subscribe and commit to prayerfully listening each week.   Remember, “It's Always a Trust & Obey Kinda Day!”   If you have questions or comments or would like to learn more about how to follow Jesus, please email Kim at EncouragingOthersinLovingJesus@gmail.com.     National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   988   https://988lifeline.org/   Reference: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.   Podcast recorded through Cleanfeed and edited through GarageBand. The soundtrack, entitled “Outlaw John McShane” was obtained from Pixabay.         The HIDDEN Episodes:  If you can't access episodes 1-50 on your podcast app (the podcast was then entitled "A Country Girl in a City World - Loving Jesus"), you can get all the content at my Podbean site at https://acountrygirlinacityworldlovingjesus.podbean.com/  

FEAR IS A SIN! Let's move our lives into God and receive His rest and peace on all sides no matter how much of a drama queen the Enemy is.GET NOTIFIED WHEN WE GO LIVE HERE AND DOWNLOAD THE APP!fringeradionetwork.comHOW TO SOW THE SEED FINANCIALLY:PAYPAL:spiritforce01@gmail.comBITCOIN:3H4Z2X22DuVUjWPsXKPEsWZmT9c4hDmYvyVENMO:@faithbucksCASHAPP:$spiritforcebucksPATREON:Michael BashamHOME BASE SITE:faithbucks.com

Welcome to Bible Fiber, where are we encountering the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. This week we are studying Ezekiel 35 and 36. In the previous chapter, Yahweh restated his loyalty to the covenant people as a nation. In Chapters 35 and 36, he reasserts his commitment to the land of Israel. Mount Seir                  God instructs the prophet to direct his prophecy against Mount Seir (35:1-3). As the capital of Edom, Mount Seir represents the descendants of Esau, Israel's perpetual foe. This oracle seems out of place, as God has already declared punishment for Edom in the Oracles Against the Nations (25:12-14). Why is Ezekiel reiterating God's disapproval of Edom when this could have been tacked on to Chapter 25's mini-oracle? The answer lies in the literary structure of the entire book. In the judgment portion of Ezekiel's message, God instructed him to prophesy against the mountains of Israel (6:1-3). The mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines would all experience God's wrath for hosting idol-worshiping Israelites with their pagan shrines and altars. In Ezekiel's salvation portion, however, he reverses the curse on Israel's mountains by shifting the punishment to Mount Seir.Certainly, the exiled audience heard reports of the Edomites encroaching on their abandoned properties and capitalizing on Jerusalem's misfortune. They plundered the city, captured Judean refugees, and handed them over to the Babylonians. While Israel suffered in exile, Edom seemed to thrive. The Edomites aimed to annex the land of both Israel and Judah, which Ezekiel refers to as the “two nations” and “two countries” (35:10). The Abrahamic land promise had been denied to their patriarch, Esau, in favor of Jacob, fueling their resentment. Israel's exile led the Edomites to believe they could finally reclaim the birthright they felt was unjustly taken from them. God condemned their lack of compassion for Israel during its most tragic moments, declaring he would destroy Edom because they “cherished an ancient enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword” (35:5). Their actions during the Babylonian assault displayed a sense of betrayal due to their kinship with Israel.The Edomites' actions during Jerusalem's conquest particularly incited divine disapproval as they celebrated the city's downfall and sought to exploit it for their gain (Psalm 137:7). Before Israel returned to the land, God promised judgment against Edom. The Edomites believed the land of Israel would become theirs by default (35:10-13). However, God declared that this assumption disregarded his sovereignty over Israel. In his omniscience, he heard their blasphemous claims that the land was now theirs to devour (35:12). Despite Israel's failings and the subsequent exile, God remained dedicated to protecting the land for Israel's eventual return.When the Edomites rejoiced over Israel's ruin, they directly challenged Yahweh. Consequently, he would make their land desolate. The Edomites failed to understand that God is the true owner of the covenant land; he repeatedly refers to it as “my land,” even though he entrusted Israel with its care. Seizing any part of the land equates to stealing from Yahweh.When Edom is mentioned in the Bible, it refers not only to historical Edom and a paradigm for all godless nations that oppose God's people. Edom represents those who stand against God and his chosen representatives. Each enemy nation that antagonizes the Jewish people today follows the path of Edom. Although the “Edoms” of the world may experience moments of success, they will ultimately be defeated while Israel is preserved.Support the show

This is message 22 in the Isaiah series. Isaiah 21:1-22:25 Isaish warns of the downfall of nations that rely on human strength rather than God, using Babylon, Edom, Arabia, and Jerusalem as examples of misplaced trust. The watchman's call in Isaiah 21 highlights the urgency of vigilance and dependence on God, while the failures of Jerusalem in Isaiah 22 expose the consequences of pride and self-reliace. The contrast between Shebna and Eliakim reinforces the need for faithful stewardship under God's authority. Throughout, the message is clear--human power crumbles, but those who trust in the Lord stand firm. Don't forget to download our app for more from the Riverview Baptist Church. http://onelink.to/rbcapp Find more at https://riverviewbc.com/ Donate through Pushpay https://pushpay.com/pay/riverviewbc

Welcome to your Friday Faith Minute! Every other Friday of the month I'm going to bring you a quick hit of scripture inspiration, to help hold you in God's Word and remind you of all the power, strength and blessing available to you in Christ. These mini scripture hits will be just a few minutes in length, and (I'm hoping) will be a wonderful way to quickly lift you in mind, spirit and body.Today's verse: Genesis 25:29-33 “One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. Esau said to Jacob, “I'm starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”) “All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.” “Look, I'm dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?” But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.” So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.”____________________________Join me on the 'gram! Get free recipes and tips delivered right to your inbox every Friday!Learn more about your options for working 1:1 with me: https://www.revivewellness.health/services or use this link here, to schedule a free strategy call!Try Syntrax! To try to the most delicious, gluten free, lactose free "top of the line" whey isolate AND save 25% use the code "syntraxallison" at checkout.Want some FREE LMNT? Use this link for a FREE sample pack with any order!Better Bodies discount code "BB15" at checkout to save 15% on my favorite betterbodies gear! Save 10% on PureFactorFormulations supplements with my code "Revive10" at checkout!

Generations of Vengeance - Six Degrees of HateWebsite: http://www.battle4freedom.com/Network: https://www.mojo50.comStreaming: https://www.rumble.com/Battle4Freedomhttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2032%3A35&version=CJBDeuteronomy 32:35Vengeance and payback are mine for the time when their foot slips; for the day of their calamity is coming soon, their doom is rushing upon them.Genesis 36:1 This is the genealogy of `Esav (that is, Edom). 2 `Esav chose Kena`ani women as his wives: `Adah the daughter of Eilon the Hitti; Oholivamah the daughter of `Anah the daughter of Tziv`on the Hivi; 3 and Basmat Yishma`el's daughter, sister of N'vayot. 4 `Adah bore to `Esav Elifaz, Basmat bore Re`u'el, 5 and Oholivamah bore Ye`ush, Ya`lam and Korach. These were the sons of `Esav born to him in the land of Kena`an.Genesis 36:6 `Esav took his wives, his sons and daughters, the others in his household, his cattle and other animals and everything else he owned, which he had acquired in the land of Kena`an, and went off to a country distant from his brother Ya`akov. 7 For their possessions had become too great for them to live together, and the countryside through which they were traveling couldn't support so much livestock. 8 So `Esav lived in the hill-country of Se`ir. (`Esav is Edom.)Genesis 36:9 This is the genealogy of `Esav the father of Edom in the hill-country of Se`ir. 10 The names of `Esav's sons were Elifaz, son of `Adah the wife of `Esav, and Re`u'el the son of Basmat the wife of `Esav.Genesis 36:11 The sons of Elifaz were Teman, Omar, Tzefo, Ga`tam and K'naz. 12 Timnah was the concubine of Elifaz `Esav's son, and she bore to Elifaz `Amalek. These were the descendants of `Adah `Esav's wife. 13 The sons of Re`u'el were Nachat, Zerach, Shammah and Mizah. These were the sons of Basmat `Esav's wife. 14 These were the sons of Oholivamah, the daughter of `Anah the daughter of Tziv`on, `Esav's wife: she bore to `Esav Ye`ush, Ya`lam and Korach.Genesis 36:15 The chieftains of the sons of `Esav were the sons of Elifaz the firstborn of `Esav and the chieftains of Teman, Omar, Tzefo, K'naz, 16 Korach, Ga`tam and `Amalek. These were the chieftains descended from Elifaz in Edom and from `Adah.Genesis 36:17 The sons of Re`u'el `Esav's son were the chieftains of Nachat, Zerach, Shammah and Mizah. These were the chieftains descended from Re`u'el in the land of Edom and from Basmat `Esav's wife. 18 The sons of Oholivamah `Esav's wife were the chieftains of Ye`ush, Ya`lam and Korach. These were the chieftains descended from Oholivamah the daughter of `Anah, `Esav's wife. 19 These were the descendants of `Esav (that is, Edom), and these were their chieftains.Genesis 36:20 These were the descendants of Se`ir the Hori, the local inhabitants: Lotan, Shoval, Tziv`on, `Anah, 21 Dishon, Etzer and Dishan. They were the chieftains descended from the Hori, the people of Se`ir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; Lotan's sister was Timnah. 23 The sons of Shoval were `Alvan, Manachat, `Eival, Sh'fo and Onam. 24 The sons of Tziv`on were Ayah and `Anah. This is the `Anah who found the hot springs in the desert while pasturing his father Tziv`on's donkeys. 25 The children of `Anah were Dishon and Oholivamah the daughter of `Anah. 26 The sons of Dishon were Hemdan, Eshban, Yitran and K'ran. 27 The sons of Etzer were Bilhan, Za`avan and `Akan. 28 The sons of Dishan were `Utz and Aran. 29 These were the chieftains descended from the Hori: the chieftains of Lotan, Shoval, Tziv`on, `Anah, 30 Dishon, Etzer and Dishan. They were the chieftains descended from the Hori by their clans in Se`ir.Genesis 36:31 Following are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king had reigned over the people of Isra'el. 32 Bela the son of B`or reigned in Edom; the name of his city was Dinhavah. 33 When Bela died, Yovav the son of Zerach from Botzrah reigned in his place. 34 When Yovav died, Husham from the land of the Temani reigned in his place. 35 When Husham died, Hadad the son of B'dad, who killed Midyan in the field of Mo'av, reigned in his place; the name of his city was `Avit. 36 When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 When Samlah died, Sha'ul of Rechovot-by-the-River reigned in his place. 38 When Sha'ul died, Ba`al-Chanan the son of `Akhbor reigned in his place. 39 When Ba`al-Chanan died, Hadar reigned in his place; the name of his city was Pa'u; and his wife's name was M'heitav'el the daughter of Matred the daughter of Mei-Zahav.Genesis 36:40 These are the names of the chieftains descended from `Esav, according to their clans, places and names: the chieftains of Timna, `Alvah, Y'tet, 41 Oholivamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mivtzar, 43 Magdi'el and `Iram. These were the chieftains of Edom according to their settlements in the land they owned. This is `Esav the father of Edom.The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.- Mark Twain -Crediting:https://unsplash.com/@jakobowens - Waves

“Whereas the Lord was there.” — Ezekiel 35:10 Edom's princes saw the whole country left desolate, and counted upon its easy conquest; but there was one great difficulty in their way — quite unknown to them — ”The Lord was there”; and in His presence lay the special security of the chosen land. Whatever may […]

Episode NotesFor Daily Prayers and more become a Member on PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com Opening Words:I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Isaiah 49:6b Confession:Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.   Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.   The InvitatoryLord, open our lips. And our mouth shall proclaim your praise. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia. Psalm 95:1–7The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.Come, let us sing to the Lord; * let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving * and raise a loud shout to him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, * and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, * and his hands have molded the dry land.Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. * Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.  The PsalterPsalm 891Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing; *from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.2For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.3“I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *I have sworn an oath to David my servant:4‘I will establish your line for ever, *and preserve your throne for all generations.' ”5The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O Lord, *and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;6For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? *who is like the Lord among the gods?7God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones, *great and terrible to all those round about him.8Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? *O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.9You rule the raging of the sea *and still the surging of its waves.10You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound; *you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.11Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; *you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it.12You have made the north and the south; *Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your Name.13You have a mighty arm; *strong is your hand and high is your right hand.14Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *love and truth go before your face.15Happy are the people who know the festal shout! *they walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence.16They rejoice daily in your Name; *they are jubilant in your righteousness.17For you are the glory of their strength, *and by your favor our might is exalted.18Truly, the Lord is our ruler; *the Holy One of Israel is our King.  Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.  LessonsIsa. 63:1-6“Who is this that comes from Edom, from Bozrah in garments stained crimson? Who is this so splendidly robed, marching in his great might?" "It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save." "Why are your robes red, and your garments like theirs who tread the wine press?" "I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their juice spattered on my garments, and stained all my robes. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year for my redeeming work had come. I looked, but there was no helper; I stared, but there was no one to sustain me; so my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath sustained me. I trampled down peoples in my anger, I crushed them in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."The Word of the Lord. Thanks Be To God.  Te Deum laudamusYou are God: we praise you;You are the Lord; we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All creation worships you.To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory. The glorious company of apostles praise you.The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;Father, of majesty unbounded,your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide. You, Christ, are the king of glory,the eternal Son of the Father.When you became man to set us freeyou did not shun the Virgin's womb.You overcame the sting of deathand opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.You are seated at God's right hand in glory.We believe that you will come and be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people,bought with the price of your own blood,and bring us with your saintsto glory everlasting.  1 Tim. 1:1-17Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my loyal child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith. But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.The Word of the Lord.Thanks Be To God.  Mark 11:1-11When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.'" They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.The Word of the Lord. Thanks Be To God.  Benedictus Dominus DeusBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *he has come to his people and set them free.He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *born of the house of his servant David.Through his holy prophets he promised of old,that he would save us from our enemies, *from the hands of all who hate us.He promised to show mercy to our fathers *and to remember his holy covenant.This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, *to set us free from the hands of our enemies,Free to worship him without fear, *holy and righteous in his sightall the days of our life.You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,To give his people knowledge of salvation *by the forgiveness of their sins.In the tender compassion of our God *the dawn from on high shall break upon us,To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, *and to guide our feet into the way of peace.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.  The Apostles CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.     The PrayersThe Lord be with you.And also with you.Let us pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.    Suffrages BV. Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance;R. Govern and uphold them, now and always.V. Day by day we bless you; R. We praise your name for ever.V. Lord, keep us from all sin today; R. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.V. Lord, show us your love and mercy; R. For we put our trust in you.V. In you, Lord, is our hope; R. And we shall never hope in vain.    The CollectsCollect of the DayO God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  Daily Collects:A Collect for PeaceO God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A Collect for GraceO Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, you have brought us safely to the beginning of this day: Defend us by your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin nor run into any danger; and that, guided by your Spirit, we may do what is righteous in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  Take a moment of silence at this time to reflect and pray for others.  Collect of Saint BasilO Christ God, Who art worshipped and glorified at every place and time; Who art long-suffering, most merciful and compassionate; Who lovest the righteous and art merciful to sinners; Who callest all to salvation with the promise of good things to come: receive, Lord, the prayers we now offer, and direct our lives in the way of Thy commandments. Sanctify our souls, cleanse our bodies, correct our thoughts, purify our minds and deliver us from all affliction, evil and illness. Surround us with Thy holy angels, that guarded and instructed by their forces, we may reach unity of faith and the understanding of Thine unapproachable glory: for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.   A Prayer of St. John ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time, with one accord to make our common supplications to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will grant their requests: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.     DismissalLet us bless the LordThanks be to God! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen