Podcast appearances and mentions of elijah john

Luke 1:57-80; “John's Story”  Pastor Dodge explores Luke's account of John the Baptist in today's study.  It's a story that starts with the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth who was well past her child-bearing years, yet God was faithful to His promise to her husband Zechariah. In today's text John is born and it is the 8th day after his birth, the day that the baby boy would be circumcised and named.  Their family and friends are sure the baby boy will be named a family name after Zechariah. However Elizabeth follows through with what the angel Gabriel had told her husband when the angel had announced they would have a son. And Elizabeth states the child would be named John just as the angel told them to name him. Since the angel's visit to Zechariah he had become unable to speak because he doubted the word of God through the angel. As family is saying how can you name him John, Zechariah writes on his tablet that the child's name is John and he is instantly healed and able to speak.  He praises the Lord and everyone joins in thanking God for this miraculous healing. The story is a reminder that God has never stopped doing things. He has never stopped acting. He is moving constantly and revealing himself to men, women and children.  He is the Living God. He is near and He does these things still today! Zechariah is a priest - with some holy speculation - it is possible he is the one who may have circumcised John that day.  We read that Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit.  From the beginning of the Last Days which began with the coming of Jesus when Mary became pregnant God has been filling people with His Holy Spirit - men, women, young and old.  Not just then, 2000 years ago, but still today. Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit and  then prophecies the coming of the Messiah, the fulfillment of God promises of a Redeemer.  Zechariah goes on to prophecy over his son as the one to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. John grew up and became strong in the Spirit. He lived in the wilderness until he began to appear publicly to the people of Israel. We read in all 4 gospels about  JOHN'S CHARACTER     1.     Prophetic - John was prophetic in his actions and his behavior.  Wearing a camel hair garment and a leather belt - an outfit that harkened back to the prophet Elijah - John like Elijah calls people back to God.       2.    Courageous - John called all to come back to God. He even told the religious. He told soldiers, prostitutes, tax collectors, even a king. John did not back down from courageously speaking God's of all needing a Savior.     3.    Humble - John knew his life belonged to God. He knew his life was not his own.  We too are called to be humble before God because a humble heart is open to receive what God desires to impart. JOHN'S MESSAGE     1.     Sin - John taught the unpopular message that God takes sin seriously. Sin is rebellion against God.  All have sinned and all of us need a Savior.  Sin is treason against God.     2.    Repentance - repentance is the proper response to recognizing that “I am a sinner.”  Repentance is a 180 degree turn around - it's an about face in one's life and it is turning back to God. Repentance is also a change of mind in the way we look at our sinful nature.     3.    Salvation - John taught that God keeps His word and redeems us by sending His Son to save us all through faith in Jesus. John points us to Jesus - our Savior who brings us Salvation. In our lives we too are to prepare the way for Jesus' return, He is coming, and so we prepare by living for Him alone.     ⁃    Prepared.       ⁃    Changed.      ⁃    Renewed.     ⁃    Inviting Jesus into our daily living.     ⁃    Reflecting on Him.     ⁃    Living out of the Good News.   He transforms us  and on the last day  He will raise us! Until then we are to serve, follow and grow in Him who is Lord of our lives. Our website –  https://www.awakeusnow.com Watch the video from our website! https://www.awakeusnow.com/2-year-study-of-the-gospels-upper Watch the video from our YouTube Channel!! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOzMkhPyiNWwlJRpV6Bwpu01 St. Luke's Account is part three of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. This book written by Luke, a non-Jew, offers a unique perspective into the story of Jesus' life. This study is great for large group, small group or home group study.

The Perplexed Prophet - Matthew 11:1-19 Today we will see Jesus explain His calling to John the Baptist; we will also see Jesus explain John the Baptist's calling to the crowds; and finally Jesus' call for everyone to walk in the wisdom of faith. Matthew 11:1-19 Jesus sent out the first ones, and began training the next ones – just like we do to this day! The next ones probably included men like Justus and Matthias, who later would be the finalists to replace Judas Iscariot. Jesus explains John the Baptist's calling to the crowds - V. 7-15 JTB was more than a prophet because he served as the Messiah's forerunner – His prophetic ministry stood at the end of the age of Mosaic Law and at the beginning of the offer of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of sins. - Luke 1:76-77 And many came to Him (Jesus). And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this Man was true. And many believed in Him (Jesus) there. - John 10:41-42 In Old Covenant days believers went to the Temple; In these New Covenant days believers are each Temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). Thus every believer living in New Covenant days is ‘greater' than the greatest saint living under Old Covenant days. “You brood of vipers – who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our Father.” - Matthew 3:7-9 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. - 2 Tim. 3:12 JTB was the fulfilment of Malachi 4:5-6. John himself denied that he was Elijah (John 1:21), yet he came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). Jesus explains His calling to John the Baptist - V. 2-6 John was probably both perplexed and perturbed! Perplexed because he had spoken of the Christ as bringing judgment to evildoers and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matt. 3:12). Perturbed because he was also related to Jesus (Luke 1:36), yet rotting in evil King Herod's prison while ‘cousin' Jesus was healing, not judging! Jesus answered JTB by citing the miracles He was doing, all in fulfilment of prophecies (see for instance Isa. 29:18-19; 35:5-10; 61:1). In his zeal for what we would call Christ's Second Advent (Coming) as Conquering King to bring absolute righteousness to Israel and judgment of God's enemies, JTB had minimized what we would call Christ's First Advent (Coming) to deal with both Israel and the world's bigger problem of spiritual lostness. No one will experience the physical external rule of the King who doesn't first experience the spiritual internal reign of King Jesus. What chokes every prayer and every hope is the memory of all the prayers H.and I offered and all the false hopes we had. Not hopes raised merely by our own wishful thinking, hopes encouraged, even forced upon us, by false diagnoses, by X-ray photographs, by strange remissions, by one temporary recovery that might have ranked as a miracle. Step by step we were ‘led up the garden path.' Time after time, when He seemed most gracious He was really preparing the next torture. - C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, page 30 What are you going to do when your expectations of God's work in your life don't match up with the way He actually works? Will you still worship and follow Jesus? Or will you choose to be offended at Him because of your unrealistic expectations. Some of you may be perplexed and even perturbed at Jesus right now. I hope you will go to Him in prayer and get back to a place of surrender to God and His actual calling for you rather than your unmet expectations. Jesus' call for everyone to walk in the wisdom of faith - V. 16-19

Join us for an information filled episode on Life Insurance ft. Elijah John, Life Insurance Broker. Contact Elijah directly using the information below: Cell: 770-940-9579 Instagam/TikTok: @Elijahtheinsuranceplug Email: Elijahwithinsurance@gmail.com

Today we'll open our Bibles to John 1:19-28 as we continue The Gospel: One Sign at a Time, our year-long study in the gospel of John. In it, Paul shows us how Jesus came to replace the religious status quo of his day. To hear more of these bible studies, visit PaulTripp.com/John.

Today we'll open our Bibles to John 1:19-28 as we continue The Gospel: One Sign at a Time, our year-long study in the gospel of John. In it, Paul shows us how Jesus came to replace the religious status quo of his day. To hear more of these bible studies, visit PaulTripp.com/John.

Episode #104 - Elijah John Grdina In this episode, I sit down with my youngest son to talk about life.  I did this interview to show people how modeling your faith and your actions can speak volumes to your children.  Elijah is in kindergarten and is 5 years old.  The beautiful experience we had is a reminder to all of us that we should all live out our faith as a child. Matthew 18:3-4  “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child — this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I hope this short conversation is a reminder to have humility, that your words and actions matter as a parent, and to live out your faith each day in ALL areas of your life. I wanted you to know that my book, Freedom to Ascend is on sale now on Amazon, so pick up your copy today!  https://a.co/d/8CziyhT Lastly, if you have land that you feel compelled to donate for my future ministry of helping to heal others in their journey of life, please send me an email, which is provided in the show notes.  grdinajohn@gmail.com You can follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jgrdina04/or by going to my website at:  www.johngrdina.com - - - GEAR THAT I USE FOR RUNNING: SHOES: NorthFace https://www.thenorthface.com/en-us/mens/mens-footwear/mens-trail-run-c213281/mens-vectiv-infinite-2-shoes-pNF0A7W5M?color=FM9 Saucony Guide https://www.saucony.com/en/guide-15/ UNDERWEAR: Xoskin https://www.xoskin.us/  20% Discount- Code: truesupporter  WATCH: Coros Pace 2 Watch https://coros.com/pace2 HEADLAMP: Fenix https://www.fenixlighting.com/products/fenix-hl18r-t-rechargeable-headlamp SOCKS: Xoskin https://www.xoskin.us/ and Bombas (running) https://bombas.com/collections/mens-performance-socks ANTI-CHAFING: Salty Britches https://getsaltybritches.com/

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.Hinduism has taught reincarnation for many thousands of years. Sikhism, which derives from Hinduism and Islam, also accepts reincarnation (many passages in the Granth teach this doctrine).The Chandogya Upanishad 5.10.8 reads, “... those who are of pleasant conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a pleasant womb, either the womb of a Brahman, or the womb of a Kshatriya, or the womb of a Vaisya. But those who are of a stinking conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a stinking womb of a dog, or the womb of a swine, or the womb of an outcast.”Kaushitaki Upanishad 12 teaches reincarnation "... either as a worm, or as a moth, or as a fish, or as a bird, or as a lion, or as a wild boar, or as a snake, or as a tiger, or as a person, or as some other in this or that condition, he is born again here according to his deeds, according to his knowledge."Status and the body you inhabit in the next life (canine, porcine, or “untouchable”) depend on your conduct in the present life. Karma (actions) determine the level at which you are reborn.Eventually all souls “graduate” until atman (soul) becomes one with paramatman (the world soul).Individual existence then disappears.And that means communal existence disappears, too. But we were created for community. Reincarnation ultimately negates the social dimension of humanity.John the Baptist reincarnated?In Matthew 17 Jesus says John the Baptist was the Elijah to come, yet in John 1:21 the Baptist denies it. Is this because Malachi only speaks of a prophet to come "in the spirit of Elijah," not Elijah himself?Was John's denial a way to steer his disciples away from the idea of an actual reincarnation? Yes, I think so. Many expected Elijah to return to the earth literally, and this notion persists in Jewish tradition even today, with the empty seat left for him at the Seder Supper. John does come in the spirit (and clothing) of Elijah, his ninth century BC counterpart (Malachi 3-4; Matthew 11, 16; see also 1 Kings 17-19), though he wasn't literally Elijah (John 1:21).Elijah appeared along with Moses at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9), so how could he have he been "reincarnated" as John the Baptist? Worse for those advocating reincarnation, the classic belief requires the rebirth of a dead person, yetElijah never died (2 Kings 2:1-11).Thus there is no biblical basis for importing the popular eastern idea of reincarnation into Christianity, at least not based on the case of John the Baptist.ConclusionThe scriptures do not allow reincarnation. See Hebrews 9:27, Job 7:9-10.Reincarnation does not take seriously the biblical view of humanity as "spirit, soul, and body" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).Eastern reincarnation is something to be escaped, not desired. In contrast, in the West, where it has become fashionable to espouse reincarnation, this is viewed as something positive: a chance to start over. Probably few westerners have any idea about the real source of the idea, or why no one would desire the doleful cycles of reincarnation who really comprehended the doctrine.Reincarnation it is ultimately part of an impersonal worldview.To be fair, "Contrary to the popular stereotype of past lives fostered by the tabloid press, the vast majority of past lives are not those of Egyptian princesses or wives of Henry VIII. Most of the lives that are reported are barely identifiable within the known framework of history. We encounter African tribesmen, nomadic hunters, nameless slaves, Middle Easter traders, anonymous medieval peasants, and so on, from all times and places; often they can barely name their chieftain or lord, let alone place themselves upon some totally irrelevant time map of European or ancient history." (Roger J. Woolger, Other Lives, Other Selves: A Jungian Psychotherapist Discovers Past Lives [New York: Doubleday, 1987], 37-38)

Look to Jesus. He is everything. HE IS LIFE!   Sermon by: Pastor Jimmy Lane   ------------   You are welcome and loved!   ------------   If you need prayer or help, please reach out to us! We are a church that desires to follow Jesus and seek His Kingdom as one body together in Him through loving Him with all we have and loving others.   In all we do, we seek to... worship the Lord passionately, connect authentically, grow to know the Lord deeply, and go and share the gospel boldly as One Body in Christ.     Maybe the Lord has brought you to this message for a reason.   "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." -Matthew 28:18-20

The threads tying the Old and New Testaments together matter deeply, not just for us but for the people who encountered Jesus face to face. Christ was sent here on a mission, and yet God chooses to always include humanity in the work of God's Kingdom. Any Jewish person in the first century would recognize the weight and importance of John the Baptist's words and actions. John was sent as the new Elijah to prepare the way for Christ, the new Moses (which we will learn about next week!).

The threads tying the Old and New Testaments together matter deeply, not just for us but for the people who encountered Jesus face to face. Christ was sent here on a mission, and yet God chooses to always include humanity in the work of God's Kingdom. Any Jewish person in the first century would recognize the weight and importance of John the Baptist's words and actions. John was sent as the new Elijah to prepare the way for Christ, the new Moses (which we will learn about next week!).

October 24, 2021 PM, Matthew 11:7-19.In this message Pastor Matt leads our continued study in the book of Matthew, chapter 11, where we see: A. John would undoubtedly be encouraged by the report, like Elijah before him was encouraged to hear that 7,000 men had not capitulated to Baal. But God does not guarantee a soft landing for us in this life. John still was going to be martyred because He was a man of God and Herod was a vile king. The upcoming words of Jesus feel like a pre-eulogy before the murder of the Baptizer. B. The Lord asked the crowds what they saw in John the Baptist. Was he shaken by the fear of man—like a reed blowing in the wind? Did he blow to and for with every popular thought, every wind of doctrine, every new idea? Not at all. Was he a soft man, a man of royalty, a wealthy man of renown? No there too. He was dressed in camel's hair with a leather belt and ate locusts and wild honey. He was the forerunner not only of Jesus, but also of the modern picture of a crazed prophet. Only in this case, he was not crazed. C. Jesus then asked another rhetorical question: did you see in John a prophet? Indeed, Jesus says, you did. This is really Jesus's evaluation of John, not just the evaluation of the crowds. He said that John was a prophet and then some. He was a special messenger just like the one who was prophesied in Malachi 3:1, 4:5-6—the last book of the Old Testament as well as Isaiah 40:3. D. In fact, John was the greatest man to that time. Not because he was wealthy or powerful, but because He was holy and dedicated to God, and because he was a servant (Matt. 20:26, 23:11; Luke 22:26). He carried out his mission faithfully. He was a prophet who then saw the fulfillment of what he prophesied! He had a greater office and a greater privilege. This does not diminish the OT prophets. It just says there was someone even more significant. E. All the people of God who enter into and enjoy the kingdom of Christ will be even greater than John! The greatness of the greatest servants of God will pale in comparison to what will be possible in God's kingdom in terms of service and seeing God's wonders. F. “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (v. 12). There are a couple of ways people take this statement, including one that is something like this: aggressive people get the kingdom because they take it; they are forcing their way into it (NET). But that is not how one enters the kingdom; entry is by repentant faith! The wording of the variation in Luke 16:16 complicates matters a little bit with the idea of “pressing into it” or forcing their way into it. The problems with interpreting it this way are three: again, you don't force your way into the kingdom by repentance, although there is a sense of determination and resolve that accompany repentance; not everyone is entering the kingdom, because only a few do; and finally, the kingdom was not actually inaugurated at that time, so no one actually “entered” it. Furthermore, some suggest that the kingdom makes forceful progress, but that is not the meaning of these words as plainly read. Here is the correct understanding of the violent taking the kingdom by force. It comports with the fact that John the Baptist was in prison. He was, until Jesus, the foremost announcer of the kingdom. He was thrown in jail for announcing the righteousness of the kingdom. The Pharisees were against him and the kingdom of God. The Sadducees were against him. They were all also against Jesus, the other messenger of the kingdom. Their forefathers killed the prophets in centuries past (Luke 11:47, Acts 7:52, Romans 11:3-5, 1 Thess. 2:15). They were, consciously or not, trying to take the kingdom away from the people by force, withholding it from the nation using their power to silence the messengers of the kingdom. They wanted no threat to their power; they cared nothing about the true things of God. G. Verses 13-15 speak of John's ministry as a prophet. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets, a transitional figure from the old age of Law into the new era of grace and faith. And in fact, if the people were willing to receive it, John would have fulfilled the Elijah prophecy as the forerunner of the Messiah and the kingdom would have begun somehow. But this hypothetical is actually a counterfactual. John said “I am not” Elijah (John 1:21). The nation as a whole was not willing to receive John, nor his message, nor the One to whom he pointed. Of course, a number of people did, witnessed by those who went out for his baptism, and those who followed Jesus. But remember, “many” went back and quit following Jesus (John 6:66). If you have spiritual ears, listen. It is absolutely critical to hear what John preached and what Jesus is saying as well. H. Verses 16-19 teach that the Jewish leaders and many of their people simply would not be satisfied at anything. They were implacable (hard-hearted, unyielding, obdurate, could not be pleased). Jesus likened them to young people playing, on the one hand calling for a game of joy, but their companions do not want to play that. Instead, they suggest what seems to be the desire of their companions, a game of mourning, but they did not want that either. They simply could not be pleased. They were immature like the children of the illustration (ouch!). Jesus explains next. John was a very ascetic minister of the Word. The Jewish leaders rejected him because they said he was very strange in his behavior, attire, and food, and probably was demon-possessed. God in His wisdom then sent Jesus who was not ascetic but would participate at wedding feasts and dinners in people's homes. They rejected him too, making the excuse that he was a glutton and winebibber and a friend of sinners. Back at 9:34, they also began to accuse Jesus of being in league with the Devil. They had a standard playbook of complaints when they did not like someone. They simply refused to be persuaded. But how God arranged it, they had no excuses! Whether they liked their potatoes whole or mashed, there was an option for them, which shared the divine message of the kingdom. But they refused. Our Scripture reading was found in 1 Chronicles 15:1-29.

Elijah John McBride + Cole Kellam + Cade Kellam joined me in-person inside Deep Search Studios. We talked about their trip to bless the body with worship and record music in nature. They love the Lord and we all loved to have this conversation! Clips in Intro -Kellam Worship - All I Need (You Satisfy) | -Elijah John McBride - By The Beach | Live Recordings: -(Unnamed Unreleased Track) - Elijah John McBride | -Lilies - Cade Kellam | -Through the Storm - Cade Kellam | -Like a Child - Cade/Cole Kellam | Connect + Support  Elijah John McBride - https://www.instagram.com/elijahjohnmcbride/ Cole Kellam - https://www.instagram.com/colekellam_34/ Cade Kellam - https://www.instagram.com/cade_kellam/ One Big Family https://www.onebigfamilytour.com/ Theme music by Montell Fish (Song: Orion) / Episode produced by Adam Harney with Deep Search Studios

John the Baptist said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” this is as recorded in Matthew 3: In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ”Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. [Matthew 3:1-4]. Take note: 1. John the Baptist is the Elijah who was to come and he came … 2. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Elijah who was to come and He came … 3. John’s the Baptist’s Birth was announced to his father Zacharias as recorded in Luke 1 … 4. Jesus Christ’s Birth also was announced to Mary as recorded in Luke chapter 1. Please, Read through all the related scriptures and with the guiding of the Holy Spirit, you should be able to see the REAL Pictures within the Scriptures. More messages are to be published soon.

PROPHETIC PAUSE We are looking at the message of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament. It is a prophecy about preparing the way for Messiah to come to his Temple people, and turning their hearts back to God as their loving Father. It is a message for us in these days, as his people, his Temple. Malachi was the last prophet to speak in the Old Testament. He was speaking to the people who had returned from their seventy year exile in Babylon. They went into bondage in Babylon after their temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the king of Babylon. When they came back to Jerusalem they spent quite a few years rebuilding the temple under Zerubbabel their priestly ruler. Then twelve years after they had completed the temple Malachi prophesied that The Messiah would return to their temple. Here is the key verse;  Malachi 3:1 I will send my messenger to prepare the way before me. And the Lord (Messiah) whom you seek will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight is coming, says the Lord. (So this verse mentions two messengers…) You would have thought that now was the time for something wonderful to happen, but nothing wonderful happened – everything stopped and came to a standstill until the time came for God to act. Malachi was actually prophesying about the time of the appearance of John the Baptist, four hundred years later, the messenger (the Elijah) who would proclaim the ministry of Jesus the Messiah, who was the messenger of the New Covenant (mentioned above).During that silence of four hundred years after the final word from Malachi, there were no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God. This four hundred year time of silence is called a prophetic pause. There was another four hundred years of silence, another prophetic pause, at the time of Israel being taken in bondage as slaves in Egypt, after the time that Abraham was told his descendants would inherit the Promised land, the whole land of Canaan. For four hundred years there were no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God, until the Word of God came to Moses, to let my people go’.  a prophetic pause like this speaks of preparing the way of The Lord in a time of uncertainty and ambiguity, with an expectation for something new and different to happen – a waiting time. Background of the birth of John the Baptist (The next thing to happen)After the four hundred years of silence from the book of Malachi it was time for John the Baptist to be born and to become the messenger (Elijah) that Malachi was talking about, who would prepare the way of the Lord, Jesus the Messiah! Zacharias the priest was told that his wife Elizabeth was going to have a child. the Angel Gabriel appeared to him to give him the news that Elizabeth was going to give birth. The Angel said; …Your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John… and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God… he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah (John the Baptist), to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the Lord; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. These words are from Luke 1:13-16, but they are taken straight out of the prophecy of Malachi and are in fact from the last words in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament. But Elizabeth was barren and was well past child bearing age, being 60 years old, and Zacharias did not believe what the Angel told him, so Gabriel said to Zacharias;‘you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time’So here we have a double emphasis upon the significance of the time of silence when Zacharias is struck dumb, a prophetic pause of a time of further preparation before the time to speak would come. The words of the Angel were a repeat of the message of Malachi but the unveiling of them was nothing like anyone expected (For John to be born and live in the wilderness and prophesy of Jesus), and many rejected or ignored the truth of the message. I believe we are in a global prophetic pause in this current time of global catastrophe. But the prophetic pause is always full of the purpose of God. I believe that the prophetic pause we are experiencing today holds the promise of worldwide Holy Spirit activity and the unveiling of that will be like nothing anyone would have expected. We can tend to expect God to speak to his people the same way time after time or to do his sovereign acts the same way time after time. But God will not be locked into our expectations or predictions as to how he will speak or what he will do. There have been many moves of the Holy Spirit on the earth and they all came with different settings and circumstances and activities from the preceding moves of God. Some were times of weeping and repentance, some were times of healing and miracles, some were times of teaching and revelation, and some were times of refreshing and release. An example of God varying his method and manner of speaking to a prophet was after Elijah had seen God do a mighty miracle of bringing rain upon the drought that God had brought upon the nation of Israel. Elijah challenged the bad king Ahab to have his prophets of Baal and Ashtaroth to erect altars on the top of Mt. Carmel and ask their gods to end the drought, while Elijah would set up his altar to Yahweh and call upon him - It was a competition. The prophets of Baal did all kinds of weird rituals but nothing happened. Then it was Elijah’s turn and when he called upon God there was lightning and thunder and a deluge of rain. Elijah won, God won, and a nation repented and turned back to God. Ahab’s wife Jezebel vowed to kill Elijah, so Elijah ran and hid in a cave waiting for God to speak to him again for direction. He heard mighty thunder and saw lightning flash and thought that this was God speaking to him, but the Bible says that God was not in the storm, and God was not in the lightning like before. He then had to wait and listen for the still small voice to tell him of the new thing that God had planned to do. God did things totally differently from before. We appear to be living in a time of prophetic pause, a time of silence, a time of uncertainty and ambiguity, waiting for the Word of the Lord to come and bring new direction to God’s people (Is the Church like Zacharias waiting for the time to speak a clear word), perhaps unlike anything we have heard or seen before. This is a time of reordering God’s people to hear from God. In 1Corinthians 14 Paul speaks about there being many kinds of voices in the world and they are all trying to declare or proclaim something. He also says that if the trumpet (the voice of proclamation) sounds an uncertain or indistinct sound, the people will not know how to go into battle. This means that the people will not be ready, or prepared. We are in a time when God is preparing us and reordering many things in the earth and in his Church (Malachi said God would first visit his temple, his Church).In the Church we are hearing many earnest and sincere voices proclaiming with great zeal what God might be saying at the moment, and there are different perceptions and opinions and discernments as to what is being proclaimed and predicted, and accountability comes with prophesy and prediction.But just as Zacharias had to wait, and more-so just like Elijah had to wait and hear the Word of the Lord in a new way, as a still small voice after the storm and the lightning, this may be a time when we need to be still and hear and see what Jesus has to say and do, not only through what the Holy Spirit whispers to us personally, but also through what Jesus, the head of the Church, does sovereignly in the earth, and in his church - something perhaps unlike what we have seen before in previous moves of the Holy Spirit. There are many on their knees at this moment calling upon the name of the Lord.  Hebrews 1.1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world… God is preparing the hearts of all those who seek him with true hearts to be fully assured in faith that he alone has authority over all that is happening upon the earth and in the heavens at this time. There are parallels to the Church in the message of Malachi in this strange time in which we live, in a time of standstill and disorientation. The Church today appears to have all it could need in the form of resources such as churches and worship and leaders and helpers and programs and marketing, but is God calling for something more? I cannot predict what it would be but what I would hope for is the presence of God in our midst, melting our hearts rather than just the presence of all the sincere and impressive human ability and performance and Bible knowledge in our midst, exciting our senses. Is there something deeper that God wants to do for his childrenFrom the first verse of the book of Malachi we see that God’s purpose was to assure his people that he still loved them and was keeping his Covenant with them, and the theme of the last verse of the book is also of the love between God as our Father and us as his children. Malachi 4:6 I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives… His preaching will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers…   

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD Twelve years after the rebuilding of the walls and gates of the city at Jerusalem had been accomplished the prophet Malachi wrote the last prophetic book of the Old Testament. God’s people now had all they needed to present themselves to the world as a people of God who would be a testimony to the fact that an all loving, all powerful, just and good God was alive in the Heavens. They had rebuilt the altar of sacrifice, laid the cornerstone and true foundation and rebuilt the temple, then re-established the Word of God through Ezra and the priests, then rebuilt the walls and gates of the city, and everything looked so good. There had been such a lot of ‘rise up and build’ on the outside - but unfortunately there had been very little ‘rise up and build’ on the inside that God wanted from them. Prophets like Haggai and Zechariah’s had been speaking a message of the coming of the Messiah and the completion of the temple (516 b.c). And now a mere twelve years after the completion of all the gates and walls and temple there came the final prophesy of Malachi, who was also prophesying that The Messiah would come to this completed temple. Here is the key verse; Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord (Messiah) whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. You would have thought that now was the time for something wonderful to happen, but nothing wonderful happened – everything stopped, came to a standstill. There Then there was time of silence for four hundred years – a prophetic pause! The next prophet to speak was John the Baptist. What does a time of silence of four hundred years speak of? What does a prophetic pause like this mean?It speaks of preparing the way of The Lord even in a time of scarceness and insufficiency with a full hope and expectation for something wonderful to happen. I believe we are in a global prophetic pause in this current global catastrophe. But the pause is full of the purpose of God, and a moving forward  in the purpose of God, with the promise of worldwide Holy Spirit activity. So, There was a silence of four hundred years after the final word from Malachi, no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God. Then something wonderful happened – John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus.There was also a silence of four hundred years from the time God’s people became slaves in Egypt and then became free, and during that time there were no prophets and no revelation of God’s word or priestly instruction in the ways of God. Then something wonderful happened. God set Israel free to be led on a journey to the Promised Land. A four hundred years experience is a time of preparation, the time of expectation for something wonderful to come, while at the same time knowing that things should and could be a lot better now. A four hundred years experience in the Old Testament does not have to be a literal four hundred years in the New Testament (Kairos prophetic time). It simply indicates a time of preparation, a time of expectation, and of waiting for God to presence himself among us.  Paul told us that what Israel went through in the forty years in the wilderness was a prophetic pause for them to be ready to go into the promised Land. He spoke of Israel in their forty year wilderness experience as an example for us of learning how to trust God individually and corporately so as to enter into the fulness of the promise of God in Christ. For us that obviously doesn’t mean forty years – it means the challenges of faith and trust in God that can be jammed into whatever time frame God has to get our attention, to get our response.1Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. This preparation time of waiting and expectation for us becomes the time of understanding how we can be part of the preparing of the way of The Lord, for the powerful presence of God to come, in His time. There are also things we need to attend to that we may need to change, or at least get done with more faith and understanding and revelation from The Holy Spirit. who is our anointed teacher (1John 2:27). The next prophet to speak after Malachi four hundred years later was John the Baptist, spoken of in Malachi as Elijah, a messenger to prepare the way for the other Messenger who was Jesus the messenger of the New Covenant. Can we presume this ? Jesus said it! Matt. 11:13 “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.   The Holy Spirit as our anointed teacher instructs us in the way we should go and challenges when we need course correction through neglect or distraction and inspires us when we need motivation to reach a higher spiritual vision – they needed prophets, we have the Holy Spirit. And at that time the anointed prophet Malachi begins to set a higher goal for God’s people by addressing the priests, who were not honouring God and had become corrupt. Worship had become routine and unfaithfulness in marriage was widespread. Their vision had to be lifted higher. Social justice was being ignored and tithing was neglected. “Will man rob God?” the Lord asks (3:8), and he promised to “open the windows of heaven” (v. 10) if they honoured Him in this way. Malachi assures his people that God knows those who fear him and those who do not. now let us look at seven things that Malachi said God’s people would need to attend to for that time of preparation to be fruitful. Malachi was actually seeking to set their vision higher for their sakes, not just to admonish them in their insufficiency. God sets our vision high because it the most efficient way to inspire us to embrace a life full of meaning and purpose. The most positive emotion we can experience physiologically is that of pushing toward the highest most worthwhile goals (emote = Pootho’ Grk = push forward). God created us with a neurological hormonal pathway from a certain part of our brain, the Hypothalamus that stimulates and motivates us into a sense of purpose and meaning when we aspire to higher goals. A substance called dopamine is released and energizes our entire motivational attitude when we set our heart on achieving what is worthwhile and meaningful to us (in fact the artificial administration of this substance makes a person feel that whatever they are doing seems amazingly meaningful – thus the popularity of illegal recreational drug taking. But God always has something for us to aspire to that is full of his reality and purpose for our lives.  Seven pathways of preparing the way 1. Preparing the way as a priest in the role and example of worship and instruction and faithfulness because a priest was a ‘go-between’ from God to His people. Angels could bless people and mediate the Old Testament Law but they are not authorized to preach the Gospel ( and many strange religions have claimed angelic revelation- the warning of this is in Galatians).Malachi 2:1 Listen, you priests—The words of a priest’s lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the Lord. But you priests have left God’s pathsWe are ALL his priests and able to give Words of life as God’s messengers of hope in a bleak and disheartened world. (1Peter 2:9 …you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood). So who gets us back on the path, the Holy Spirit, who makes the truth of God’s word alive to us so that we can make it live in other people. 2. Preparing the way as bridge-builders of trust in God’s Covenant.Malachi 2;10 Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?We can see all of humanity as belonging to God the Father, and we can be bridge-builders of trust in a world where many people are polarized because of tribalism and identity politics. Holy Spirit can give us wisdom when we become engaged in conversation with people who are being overwhelmed with all the negative talk they are hearing these days, and the abusive criticism they see people attacking one another with constantly on TV or radio. Mark 4:24 Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; We have the choice of what to have multiplied within us. 3. Preparing the way through loving relationshipsMalachi 2:14 You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her.God honours faithfulness in marriage and wants to see healing in our land because of the wounding caused by unfaithfulness. He wants to see faithfulness in all of our relationships and because we are His beloved as His bride we have a special work of the Holy Spirit releasing a loving faithful response back to Him from our hearts -what an aspiration! 4. Preparing the way through showing justice and mercyMalachi 3;5 I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans…says the Lord.True leadership is demonstrating integrity and honesty and mercy in the workplace. When we work as unto The Lord he resources us and rewards the work of our hands (Colossians 3:23)God’s people can be blessed in the workplace in their faithfulness and their faith and be seen as givers and not takers of all God given blessings. We are here to be blessed and to bless. 5. Preparing the way by embracing trials of faithMalachi 3:1-3 I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver…Malachi is talking to the priests again here (that’s us!) and we can only pass on to others what we have actually received from the Lord and then we have the authority  declare the purposes of God – and you will do that by living out the purposes of God.’ That comes by embracing the trials of faith that purify our hearts, knowing that they transform us into his likeness, which is the gold that speaks of the nature of God. (1Peter 1:7).  6. Preparing the way by honouring God financially and materiallyMalachi 3:8-12 Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven. “Then all nations will call you blessed,New Testament tithing is a willing response of grace filled gratitude for God’s provision. It is not a legalistic way of earning God’s blessing or negotiating a deal with God.  We do not tithe to an Old Testament levitical priesthood. We tithe out of grace to Jesus our Melchidisek priest. In all my years of ministry I’ve never believed in putting people under the law in this truth because no human pressure or manipulation  should touch this this act of faith. I have been blessed to witness the response of many hearts of such and grace, and seen the blessing of God upon that.Hebrews 7:8 Here mortal men (Levites) receive tithes, but there (Heaven) He (Jesus) receives them, and that is our witness that we believe that he lives.(I have expanded on this special priesthood of Jesus in Commandment eight in my podcast on the Ten Commandments – click the link at   uncreated.podbean.com  )  7. Preparing the way through family harmony and honour. This is the final Word for us to hear and respond to in our time of silence, our time of hope and expectation to see the blessing of God upon this world. Malachi 4:1 The Lord says, “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse. (So let there come a blessing and not a curse upon our land) In these times in which we live this is not only a word spoken by Malachi in the very last verse of the very last book of the Old Testament about Elijah/John the Baptist – it is the Word being spoken to us in these days.Jesus has made us one with Himself and with His Father. That was his great work to make us a part of his family. We have the power of The Holy Spirit drawing us into his family bond of love with them and with one another. These times of challenge are the times to expect to see the blessing of the healing power of Jesus for families in spirit, soul and body. Pray for reconciliation to happen in families to bless our land of hope and faith and love. There may be ones who feel they have reached out and done all they can, and what more can be done? Remember – We keep our hearts aligned with God’s and It is God who turns the hearts of people. God wants to bring this final blessing upon the earth in these days.                                               Malachi’s message is in the context of preparing the way for the Father’s heart of blessing to be received by his childrenAnd now Malachi writes. The opening statement from God through Malachi (Ch 1:2) is in the context of a loving Father whose inheritance is not being appreciated. He uses the illustration of Jacob and Esau, where Jacob regarded the inheritance and Esau did not. Then a few verses later (CH1:6) God says ‘A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! 10 How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord.’The theme of the honour due to a father is not only spoken of in the first few verses of the book, the aggrieved fatherhood theme is also emphasised in the centre of the book where God speaks as the Father/Creator of all of humanity. Malachi 2;10 Are we not all created by the same God? Are we not all children of the same Father? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?The theme of the honour due to a father is also the theme of the last verse of the book (Ch4:6) I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.In the last few verses of this book Malachi speaks of judgment and of blessing to come, and so it commands the attention of everyone who reads it.   As in the previous accounts of this reset and rebuild of God’s people after a strange time of standstill and disorientation, there are parallels to the Church in this strange time in which we live, in a time of standstill and disorientation. The Church today appears to have all it could need in the form of resources such as churches and worship and leaders and helpers and programs and marketing, but is God calling for something more? What we want and need is the presence of God in our midst, rather than just the presence of all the sincere and wonderful human ability and performance and Bible knowledge in our midst. From the first few verses of this book Malachi’s purpose was to assure his people that God still loved them and was keeping his Covenant with them (Ch.1:2-5 - "I have loved you," says God. But you say, "In what way have you loved us?). Malachi tells us throughout the book that God calls for respect and honor, and faithfulness and love. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the Lord.  

     This pericope opens with a reminder about God’s future day of judgment that is coming. The Lord declares, “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze… so that it will leave them neither root nor branch” (Mal 4:1). This time of judgment is commonly called “the day of the Lord”, a phrase that appears eighteen times in the Old Testament (Isa 13:6, 9; 58:13; Ezek 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14; Amos 5:18, 20; Obad 1:15; Zep 1:7, 14; Mal 4:5)[1] and five times in the New Testament (Acts 2:20; 1 Cor 5:5; 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess 2:2; 2 Pet 3:7-14). The “day of the Lord” refers to when God will judge the wicked and vindicate the righteous. From Scripture we can say with certainty that the “day of the Lord” follows the first coming of Christ, (Mal. 4:5), will come upon the entire world (Joel 2:1-11; 30-31; 3:12-15; Isa 13:6-11; Ezek 30:2-4; Obad 1:15), will be inescapable (Amos 5:18-20), is a day of wrath and destruction (Zep 1:14-18), will come unannounced (1 Thess 5:1-2; 2 Pet 3:10), and will follow the coming of the Antichrist (2 Thess 2:1-4). The church will not experience this time of God’s judgment, for we are waiting for the return of Christ from heaven, “who rescues us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess 1:10; cf. 5:9). The period refers to the seven-year Tribulation (Rev chapters 6-18) and will end with the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 19:11-21), at which time Christ will establish His millennial kingdom on earth (Rev 20:1-6).      The end of the Tribulation and coming millennial kingdom seems to be in view of Malachi in which the Lord declares, “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing” (Mal 4:2-3). “In the kingdom, righteousness will pervade like the sun. Healing in its wings (or rays) refers to the restorative powers of righteousness, which are like the healthful rays of the sun. God’s people will be spiritually restored and renewed.”[2] With this future time of judgment and blessing certainly coming, Malachi’s generation should have been more mindful about how they lived before the Lord, adhering to the Mosaic Law, which was the standard for right-living for the nation. God had already confronted them concerning sacrifices (Mal 1:7-14), idolatry (Mal 2:10-11), and not giving tithes (Mal 3:8-9), and finally exhorts them to “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel” (Mal 4:4).      Finally, God gives a prophecy concerning the future coming day of judgment. He declares, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Mal 4:5-6). The Gospel of Luke reveals John the Baptist had an Elijah-like ministry in that he came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). If Israel had accepted Jesus as the Messiah and His offer of the kingdom, then John the Baptist would have fulfilled this prophecy (Matt 11:7-14). "The Lord promised to send His people Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrived. An angel later told John the Baptist’s parents that their son would minister in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). Yet John denied that he was Elijah (John 1:21–23). Jesus said that John would have been the Elijah who was to come if the people of his day had accepted Jesus as their Messiah (Matt 11:14). Since they did not, John did not fulfill this prophecy about Elijah coming, though he did fulfill the prophecy about Messiah’s forerunner (Mal 3:1)."[3]      The apostle John reveals there will be an Elijah-like prophet—as well as a Moses-like prophet—who will come in the future, during the time of the Tribulation, and he will also help prepare the way of the Lord (Rev 11:4-6). Those who hate the Lord will reject His future prophet and celebrate his death (Rev 11:7-10); however, God will resurrect him and call him to heaven (Rev 11:11-12), and render judgment upon the wicked (Rev 11:13). Malachi was the last of the OT prophets, and another prophet would not arise until John the Baptist, who would shatter the years of silence with the announcement of Jesus’ coming.   [1] The day of the Lord appears twice in Amos 5:18 and Zephaniah 1:14. [2] Craig A. Blaising, “Malachi,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1587. [3] Tom Constable, Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Mal 4:5.

We're continuing our series 'Pray like ____' Looking at the story of Elijah praying for rain, we can see God move through the persistency and expectancy of our prayers. We pray this message blesses and inspires you.

Tricia Carr, spiritual teacher, looks at excerpts Hebrew and Christian Bible through the lens of metaphysics and mysticism. Did you know that the Bible affirms reincarnation at least a couple of times?John 1:1-5In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… John 1:21They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”John 1:29 Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!Matthew 16:13-20… They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”Feel free to comment below if you have request or questions. Any hateful, judgmental or trolling comments will be subject to response in an upcoming video -- in the interest of healing and connection.2020 Intuitive Intensive with Tricia Carr and Crystal Anne Compton, an online, live, twelve week, immersive education and coaching program. Begins Soon!https://learn.lightworkerslab.com/2020ii/Mystic Arts Academy:http://triciacarrcharm.com/subscribeTricia Carr:www.triciacarrcharm.comhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/charmed-life-with-tricia-carr/id1173744974https://www.facebook.com/TriciaCarrCharmhttps://www.instagram.com/triciacarrcharm/Watch Charmed Life with Tricia Carr as a live broadcast weekly on Sundays at 12pm Pacific at:https://triciacarrcharm.com/charmed-life/orwww.youtube.com/triciacarrCrystal Anne Comptonwww.crystalannecompton.com

Theme The People Say that Jesus is Elijah …? John’s Introduction to the Gospel Introduction Who do the Jews say that Jesus is? Who do non-Jews say that Jesus is? Who do people today say that Jesus is? Body Who does John say Jesus is? The Word The Greeks The Jews Brief Exegesis Verses 3-14 The Word Became Flesh Conclusion Jesus is Fully God and Fully Man   Source

Прямой эфир: 5 мар. 2016 г.Играет: Ekacho @JackinBrothers в @SunshinecafeTracklist:1 Naibu - Clouds (feat. Key)  2 LM1 - Pantheon (Original Mix)  3 Enea - You Know It  4 Klute - Gaze Into Your Eyes (feat. MC Fava) / Commercial Suicide 6 Chartstalker - With Me  7 Solar Empire - Gravity Shift Covert Operations (COVCD006) 8 MsDoS & Blade - Cold In Summer  9 Enea - The Lake (feat Mc Fava)  11 Silent Witness - Looking Up Triple Seed Recordings 12 Pixel - Mankind  13 DJ Clart - Who Are We (feat. Elijah John)  16 Neonlight & Wintermute - Never Stop / BlackoutYoutube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUYsxv…

The Lord explains how Elijah returned in the person of John the Baptist, and then Jesus goes on to say how he will suffer just like John.  As we draw near to the Feast of Christmas, we remember how God so loved the world he gave His only Son...to teach us how to offer our lives for one another. December 16, 2017 - Cathedral Rectory - Superior, WI Fr. Andrew Ricci - www.studyprayserve.com

It's Not Only About You, Elijah! // John Groves by Hope Church Winchester