Podcasts about Ephesus

Three pairs of Unmercenary Physicians (Anargyri) named Cosmas and Damian are commemorated (today, on October 17, and on July 1); The two commemorated today lived near Ephesus in Asia. They were of noble birth and well-educated in all the branches of higher learning; but they turned away from worldly knowledge to practice medicine without charge for anyone who sought their help, caring for the rich as well as poor, and even for animals. They used none of the secular tools of medicine, but relied only on the Name of Christ, by which they were enabled to perform countless healings. Both reposed in peace.

I John 5 - Revelation 1 We are covering I John 5, II John, III John, Jude and Revelation 1 in The Message. 7streamsmethod.com | @serenatravis | Donate Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis Jesus, thank you for your care for us that comes through in comforting letters of encouragement, instruction, warnings and pastoral inspiration. May we rise to the calling, the blessing, the deeds, and 'the rest' that you have planned for us. Amen. I John 5 - The issue in this chapter is that you know for certain.  The word "know" doesn't surface in today's translation but it is a chapter of confidence from what you know about our God and Savior, our relationships, our destiny, future and eternity.  The core is that we know we have eternal life. We know that our prayers are heard by God. We know that God has us for we are His children and chosen ones; we are His own.  And we can believe our God who never lies. And in typical fashion with the rest of John's writing we need to love others and keep God's commands. Part of loving others, btw! is to exhort them to get away from/out of/and refrain from sin.  E.g. we are each others' business, and helping fellow believers along in this way is part of our Christian experience. 2 John - is written to a beloved congregation. The "dear lady" doesn't show up in the translation we read today, but that has been fhis familiar greeting through history. Was she a "school marm" type that all were endeared to? Was John referring to them as another thread of precious affection in the wedding gown of the church that was spreading across the continent? Memo: We, His followers, are the Briiiide of Christ...  The alternate suggestions may be inconsequential. The paramount reminder is certainly a theme of John's - that they love each other.  This is John's "chorus" since leaning on Jesus during the Last Supper. The people in this congregation (it may well have been a house church in Ephesus) they love in truth, know the truth, live in it, have God's traits because of truth, and they walk in truth.  John also warned them, in their loving nature, to be alert to roving false teachers who are spreading lies that Jesus was never really here as a human-God-incarnate. These "anti-Christers" are to be labeled as such and 'blocked at the door'! Don't let them in or let them teach. They are "cancer" and should be dealt with like cancer.  John said as much in I John 2 - for 12 verses of that chapter. 3 John - John's welcome to Gaius sounds like the meeting up of old friends who, upon arrival, come bearing hugs, and gifts, and well wishes. Paul had trained a number of good men to be pastors and they had launched into ministry. Their hospitality ministry was thriving and a golden testimony in the Holy Spirit.  John continued the oversight of these ministries and leaders. And it's quite apparent that a certain man;  "Diotrephes" (another Pastor in Gaius' region-but a malcontent) was a man who needed to feel he was  "top Dachsund at the wiener-dog race." John gives him a talking to and advises others how to handle it.  Hey, pastoral care is not all cheery. John will tell them more in person when he arrives. And note that when John refers to himself as "the Elder", it's quite the label.  By this time, he is the only surviving member of the original 12 Apostles. It's a well-deserved term. Jude - this is another of Jesus' brothers who was Joseph's blood son and born to Mary. He was one of the 12 Apostles.  His original intent was to write a nice treatise about salvation. But that was abruptly eclipsed by the urgent need to address the issue of roving trouble makers who were scuttling around the Roman Empire and doing their devilish best to lead people of Church into pagan living.  Their insidious method was to teach cultic behavior and encourage people to do so AND remain in the church that they are in. Leviticus talks fo mixing things that shouldn't be mixed.  Remember rat poison is 99.99% good food. Only 1/10,000th of it is poison. It is the mixing them together that ushers in the danger.  These trolling gremlins are trying to illicitly sexualize the congregations. History teaches that doing this systematically blurs the drive and focus of any cultural movement and vulnerably steers them into darkened aimlessness. These tramps that Jude is exposing want this for the churches.  They are truly groomed for this task by the devil himself. They won't follow God, they deny Christ, they are moral "hyenas" (how's that!?), pigs who have snuck in, selfish, fruitless men. They complain, scoff, criticize, brag and are only in church to tear it apart. They work for the Devil. And darkest judgment awaits these people who probably won't even realize how bad they are and how bad their treatment is going to be.          But YOU, saints in the fold, keep to your doctrine and fellowship, for God is with you. Amen. Revelation is God revealing what is to come. Just as God told us how our world began in Genesis, He tells us where things are headed in Revelation. He doesn't leave us groping in the dark, wondering, sifting through pagan mysteries and man-made ideas which fill the heads of lost people. Revelation is the finale~, the triumph of Christ, the new heaven and new earth.  Know that Christ Jesus is the center of things in this book. It is prophecy as well as practicality. It calls for discussion, listening, searching, and prayer. !John didn't write Revelation to split all the churches! He wrote it to assure them that evil will be vanquished, that paradise lost will be returned, and God's children will be gathered once and for all in glorious manner. Remember to wait until you understand the book better before getting entrenched in opinions. It is interesting that commentaries on Revelation are very few. Biblical scholars (whose vocation is deducing and giving definitive answers) realize that doing this with Revelation is an extremely sketchy task. So most avoid it. We'll touch on this more in the weeks to come; the views, the categories, and the schools of thought that arise from Revelation.   Today, chapter one, is John talking to the church about the things they had seen; what had already taken place. Ch.'s 2-3 was what they were experiencing now. Ch's 4-22 is what will take place from then onward. Revelation is Holy Spirit driven. The number seven appears 16 times. There are seven beatitudes, 27 angel references, spiritual battles, smoke and fire, dragons, demons, signs and wonders.  Our prayer is that you are blessed beyond measure by Revelation this time through it - not confused or frightened - but inspired to press on to know that God that has such great plans for you. Rev. 1 - It is stated that this is a testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessing is promised to those who read this revelation. The book closes with the same promise of blessing for its readers [22:7].  John greets the seven churches and lists them. Their sites can still be visited today east of the Aegean Sea in Western Turkey. John in his visions and in his concern for these congregations is not a railing senile old man "losing it" on his way to hospice. He deeply cares for them in a pastoral way as if they were his own children. The grand memo is summed up in three words: CHRIST IS EVERYTHING.  There is so much that people do not know about Jesus. His wonders, His miracles, His infinite wisdom. What we read of His deeds in the four gospels is a miniscule introduction to what we will know when we all meet Him face to face! John is writing this in 95 A.D. from Patmos, an island where prisoners were sent. Emperor Domitian had just finished torturing and executing 40,000 Christians in Rome for sport and a spectacle. Emperor Trajan would soon assume the same disposition in 98 A.D. John is fortunate to be exiled and free to write this marvelous book. And His vision of Christ is dazzling; overwhelming. This vision is a memo to the churches to put their full trust in Jesus who is all things marvelous. He's been gentle and yet is a battle-suited and ready warrior set to conquer His frantic enemy.  This is all the more reason for the churches to make themselves ready for Christ; abandon all corruption, lukewarm living, disloyalty and such. The Thread Through the Streams The issue that kept coming up was that love is more than just feeling good and roses and such. Love also requires "house-keeping", cleansing, vigilance and removal of things that don't mix with God. Nov. 26 - Deut. 16-20   There were to be judges and officers, fairness and honesty must be adhered to. No sex cults in my country! No witchcraft, nor sorcery. And have cities of refuge so that the land isn't controlled by murderous rage and endless paybacks. Moses also explained very practical issues of management that are sensible and keen to people's needs.  I.e. Israel was not to be a crazy country filled with lunatic citizens. Nov. 27 - Ezra 9 - Neh. 04   Back in Israel, some of the men had taken foreign wives and ... painful as it all was, the wives (raised as pagans) had to go.  Israel couldn't press on as a nation under God until this is dealt with. And Nehemiah had a vision for seeing Jerusalem rebuilt ... but he had to get out of Persia. I.e. As with all of us, if we are going to grow, there are things that need to go. Nov. 28 - Prov. 30-31  .The beginning of Prov. 30 makes it clear that doubt needs to go so you can get anywhere spiritually. Agur also asks that there be no lies, no destitution, no squalid excess for him. King Lemuel's [mother] says, don't waste your life on women (plural) The wisdom is to "stay with your one". And for leaders especially, avoid the booze life.  Also don't become callous to the suffering. ALL those attitudes/tendencies need removing. Nov. 29 - Ezek. 36-38   Dry Bones: that was what's left of Israel's morale. And they best get ready to desert the hopeless, desolation, "whoa is me" mentality.  God is going to put it all back together. And there's no room in this plan for an Eeyore mindset (remember his gloom?!). And the enemies of Israel are going to be ever-decimated. They have to go and Israel has to thrive in order to be a blessing to the whole world. Nov. 30 - Zech 9:1-11:3  The neighbors of Jerusalem, harassing the Hebrews eternally, are going to be put down in a big way when Greece marches through. [Yet they left Jerusalem in tact!] Not only the pesky neighbors needed removal, the illicit leaders within the Hebrew culture; these "shepherds" who were virtually wolves at heart - they needed to be swept out! They were blocking people from understanding the love of God. Dec. 01 - John 13:31 - 16:4   It was Last Supper time, and after the foot-washing, it was time to tell some wonderful things that applied to all of them except Judas. Judas needed to vacate before Jesus could move forward with His faithful Disciples. Now as for you 11 disciples, the jousting for position is done with. Love each other!.As for the Way to God - tell the world to abandon all other spiritual pursuits except Jesus. And as for pruning the excess, counter-productive things in your own lives... just let the Holy Spirit do that in you - that is if you want to remain on "my team".  As for being accepted by the world --> let that go too Dec. 02 - I John 5 - Rev. 1   The Church Stream this week exhorted the people over and again to block/shun/expel all false teachers.  It was intense house cleaning that needed to take place and they [WE!] must remain vigilant about.  You could even call it "steam-cleaning", better yet "power-washing"!  It was a desperately vital task that needed to be executed immediately.  And vigilance against false teachers required eternal safeguards.    

Old Testament: Ezekiel 32–33 Ezekiel 32–33 (Listen) A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt 32 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:   “You consider yourself a lion of the nations,    but you are like a dragon in the seas;  you burst forth in your rivers,    trouble the waters with your feet,    and foul their rivers.3   Thus says the Lord GOD:    I will throw my net over you    with a host of many peoples,    and they will haul you up in my dragnet.4   And I will cast you on the ground;    on the open field I will fling you,  and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,    and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.5   I will strew your flesh upon the mountains    and fill the valleys with your carcass.16   I will drench the land even to the mountains    with your flowing blood,    and the ravines will be full of you.7   When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens    and make their stars dark;  I will cover the sun with a cloud,    and the moon shall not give its light.8   All the bright lights of heaven    will I make dark over you,    and put darkness on your land,      declares the Lord GOD. 9 “I will trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations, into the countries that you have not known. 10 I will make many peoples appalled at you, and the hair of their kings shall bristle with horror because of you, when I brandish my sword before them. They shall tremble every moment, every one for his own life, on the day of your downfall. 11 “For thus says the Lord GOD: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12 I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most ruthless of nations.   “They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,    and all its multitude2 shall perish.13   I will destroy all its beasts    from beside many waters;  and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,    nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.14   Then I will make their waters clear,    and cause their rivers to run like oil,      declares the Lord GOD.15   When I make the land of Egypt desolate,    and when the land is desolate of all that fills it,  when I strike down all who dwell in it,    then they will know that I am the LORD. 16 This is a lamentation that shall be chanted; the daughters of the nations shall chant it; over Egypt, and over all her multitude, shall they chant it, declares the Lord GOD.” 17 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,3 on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18 “Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the world below, to those who have gone down to the pit: 19   ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?    Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised.' 20 They shall fall amid those who are slain by the sword. Egypt4 is delivered to the sword; drag her away, and all her multitudes. 21 The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: ‘They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.' 22 “Assyria is there, and all her company, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, 23 whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit; and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living. 24 “Elam is there, and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into the world below, who spread their terror in the land of the living; and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. 25 They have made her a bed among the slain with all her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are placed among the slain. 26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, and all her multitude, her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 And they do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living. 28 But as for you, you shall be broken and lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. 29 “Edom is there, her kings and all her princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit. 30 “The princes of the north are there, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, for all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. 31 “When Pharaoh sees them, he will be comforted for all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord GOD. 32 For I spread terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid to rest among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel Is Israel's Watchman 33 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, 3 and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4 then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. 7 “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Why Will You Die, Israel? 10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?' 11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? 12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness5 when he sins. 13 Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die. 14 Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,' yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, 15 if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 16 None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live. 17 “Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,' when it is their own way that is not just. 18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it. 19 And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. 20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.' O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.” Jerusalem Struck Down 21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.” 22 Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; and he had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute. 23 The word of the LORD came to me: 24 “Son of man, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.' 25 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? 26 You rely on the sword, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife; shall you then possess the land? 27 Say this to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence. 28 And I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and her proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that none will pass through. 29 Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed. 30 “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.' 31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. 32 And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays6 well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. 33 When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Footnotes [1] 32:5 Hebrew your height [2] 32:12 Or wealth [3] 32:17 Hebrew lacks in the twelfth month [4] 32:20 Hebrew She [5] 33:12 Hebrew by it [6] 33:32 Hebrew like the singing of lustful songs with a beautiful voice and one who plays (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 121 Psalm 121 (Listen) My Help Comes from the Lord A Song of Ascents. 121   I lift up my eyes to the hills.    From where does my help come?2   My help comes from the LORD,    who made heaven and earth. 3   He will not let your foot be moved;    he who keeps you will not slumber.4   Behold, he who keeps Israel    will neither slumber nor sleep. 5   The LORD is your keeper;    the LORD is your shade on your right hand.6   The sun shall not strike you by day,    nor the moon by night. 7   The LORD will keep you from all evil;    he will keep your life.8   The LORD will keep    your going out and your coming in    from this time forth and forevermore. (ESV) New Testament: 1 Timothy 1–3 1 Timothy 1–3 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Warning Against False Teachers 3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship1 from God that is by faith. 5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. 8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,2 liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound3 doctrine, 11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. Christ Jesus Came to Save Sinners 12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.4 Amen. 18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Pray for All People 2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man5 Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. Qualifications for Overseers 3 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer6 must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,7 sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Qualifications for Deacons 8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,8 not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 Their wives likewise9 must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. The Mystery of Godliness 14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:   He10 was manifested in the flesh,    vindicated11 by the Spirit,12      seen by angels,  proclaimed among the nations,    believed on in the world,      taken up in glory. Footnotes [1] 1:4 Or good order [2] 1:10 That is, those who take someone captive in order to sell him into slavery [3] 1:10 Or healthy [4] 1:17 Greek to the ages of ages [5] 2:5 men and man render the same Greek word that is translated people in verses 1 and 4 [6] 3:2 Or bishop; Greek episkopos; a similar term occurs in verse 1 [7] 3:2 Or a man of one woman; also verse 12 [8] 3:8 Or devious in speech [9] 3:11 Or Wives likewise, or Women likewise [10] 3:16 Greek Who; some manuscripts God; others Which [11] 3:16 Or justified [12] 3:16 Or vindicated in spirit (ESV)

This may change your perspective on what Thanksgiving in the United States really means. Paul's prayer for Ephesus has him down on his knees. Join us as we compare Paul's desire for Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit and what President Lincoln wrote in the 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation.

Ephesians 1:1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus:   Download This Week’s Sermon Notes: https://tinyurl.com/wzcu8mcy   For YouVersion Notes visit: https://bible.com/events/48803254   ANNOUNCEMENT LINKS:   First time visitor: Text ‘Welcome’ to 559-500-4830   Tithes and Offerings: https://www.kchanford.com/give […] The post We The Church | Koinonia Church | Pastor Candace Cortez appeared first on Koinonia Church.

Pastor Ted teaches a powerful message from Paul's letter to Timothy in Ephesus. Website https://www.saintjameschurch.com/ Blog https://www.tedhaggardblog.com/ Zoom Bible Study: Wednesdays @10am (Mountain) Click "Join Meeting" Use code 7193380079 For the Bible Highlights Booklet, write to: Saint James Church 4615 Northpark Dr Ste 203 Colorado Springs CO 80918

2 Thessalonians 1–3 2 Thessalonians 1–3 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving 3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers,1 as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. The Judgment at Christ's Coming 5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from2 the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Man of Lawlessness 2 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,3 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness4 is revealed, the son of destruction,5 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Stand Firm 13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits6 to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Pray for Us 3 Finally, brothers,7 pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored,8 as happened among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.9 4 And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Warning Against Idleness 6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.10 13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Benediction 16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. 17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Footnotes [1] 1:3 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters [2] 1:9 Or destruction that comes from [3] 2:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 13, 15 [4] 2:3 Some manuscripts sin [5] 2:3 Greek the son of perdition (a Hebrew idiom) [6] 2:13 Some manuscripts chose you from the beginning [7] 3:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 6, 13 [8] 3:1 Or glorified [9] 3:3 Or evil [10] 3:12 Greek to eat their own bread (ESV) Acts 18:18–19:22 Acts 18:18–19:22 (Listen) Paul Returns to Antioch 18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers1 and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus. 22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Apollos Speaks Boldly in Ephesus 24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit,2 he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Paul in Ephesus 19 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland3 country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in4 the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all. 8 And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.5 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. The Sons of Sceva 11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all6 of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. A Riot at Ephesus 21 Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” 22 And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. Footnotes [1] 18:18 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 27 [2] 18:25 Or in the Spirit [3] 19:1 Greek upper (that is, highland) [4] 19:5 Or into [5] 19:9 Some manuscripts add from the fifth hour to the tenth (that is, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) [6] 19:16 Or both (ESV)

The letter from Christ to the church at Ephesus gives all of us a warning we need to consider.Reading Plan: Old Testament - Ezekiel 30-32Psalms - Psalm 133Gospels - John 11:17-27New Testament - Revelation 2:1-11Visit https://www.revivalfromthebible.com/ for more information.

Theme: The Need For Godliness And Order In The Leader And In The Assembly Intro: Paul is the grisled veteran of many a gospel war writing to young Timothy, a man Paul had assigned to be a pastor of the church in Ephesus. The letter is a practical straight forward teaching on how to live, how to lead,…

What would you do when a crowd gets unruly? This is the situation that faced a City Clerk in the city of Ephesus while Paul was visiting the city. Join us today as we walk through Acts 19:21-41 and find out how the story ends. Missed the devotion on the first part of Acts 19? Watch it here: https://youtu.be/vpExeeZd4oY Share your stories, prayer requests, or your response to this video in the comments below. If you would like to know more about who we are, what we believe, or when we meet, visit newlife.church. Or you can fill out a digital connection card at http://newlife.church/connect - we would love to get to know you better!

Chris, Chelsea, and Ryan talk about the riot in Ephesus, Paul's incredible letter to the Romans, and evangelism

What are your thoughts on spiritual warfare? Often, I think Satan hope that we are too into it or believe that it doesn’t exist. Both views help the battles rage on around us and us remain blissfully unaware. Let’s look at how the spiritual battle going on at Ephesus changed the course of the city. Here is the link to the Jason Whitlock article Brett refers to in the video: https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/whitlock-glenn-youngkins-victory-exposes-the-wickedness-of-big-tech-czars-mark-zuckerberg-and-jack-dorsey Share your stories, prayer requests, or your response to this video in the comments below. If you would like to know more about who we are, what we believe, or when we meet, visit http://newlife.church. Or you can fill out a digital connection card at http://newlife.church/connect - we would love to get to know you better!

Speaker: Justin WheelerSeries: Revelation Permalink

Sunday - The Book of Revelation - 05 - The Church at Ephesus - Rev. 2:1-7

Old Testament: Ezekiel 7–9 Ezekiel 7–9 (Listen) The Day of the Wrath of the Lord 7 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.1 3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 4 And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 5 “Thus says the Lord GOD: Disaster after disaster!2 Behold, it comes. 6 An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. 7 Your doom3 has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. 8 Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 9 And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD, who strikes. 10 “Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come; the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. 11 Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.4 12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude.5 13 For the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.6 14 “They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, for my wrath is upon all their multitude. 15 The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. He who is in the field dies by the sword, and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour. 16 And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity. 17 All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water. 18 They put on sackcloth, and horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. 19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20 His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of foreigners for prey, and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and they shall profane it. 22 I will turn my face from them, and they shall profane my treasured7 place. Robbers shall enter and profane it. 23 “Forge a chain!8 For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places9 shall be profaned. 25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none. 26 Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law10 perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” Abominations in the Temple 8 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, a form that had the appearance of a man.11 Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.12 3 He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. 5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy. 6 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.” 7 And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8 Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. 9 And he said to me, “Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.'” 13 He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.” 14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.” 16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their13 nose. 18 Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.” Idolaters Killed 9 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. 3 Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. 4 And the LORD said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” 5 And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. 6 Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house. 7 Then he said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city. 8 And while they were striking, and I was left alone, I fell upon my face, and cried, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?” 9 Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see.' 10 As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will bring their deeds upon their heads.” 11 And behold, the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.” Footnotes [1] 7:2 Or earth [2] 7:5 Some Hebrew manuscripts (compare Syriac, Targum); most Hebrew manuscripts Disaster! A unique disaster! [3] 7:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain; also verse 10 [4] 7:11 The meaning of this last Hebrew sentence is uncertain [5] 7:12 Or abundance; also verses 13, 14 [6] 7:13 The meaning of this last Hebrew sentence is uncertain [7] 7:22 Or secret [8] 7:23 Probably refers to an instrument of captivity [9] 7:24 By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew and those who sanctify them [10] 7:26 Or instruction [11] 8:2 By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew of fire [12] 8:2 Or amber [13] 8:17 Or my (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 119:89–96 Psalm 119:89–96 (Listen) Lamedh 89   Forever, O LORD, your word    is firmly fixed in the heavens.90   Your faithfulness endures to all generations;    you have established the earth, and it stands fast.91   By your appointment they stand this day,    for all things are your servants.92   If your law had not been my delight,    I would have perished in my affliction.93   I will never forget your precepts,    for by them you have given me life.94   I am yours; save me,    for I have sought your precepts.95   The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,    but I consider your testimonies.96   I have seen a limit to all perfection,    but your commandment is exceedingly broad. (ESV) New Testament: Ephesians 1 Ephesians 1 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful1 in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritual Blessings in Christ 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us2 for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known3 to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee4 of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,5 to the praise of his glory. Thanksgiving and Prayer 15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love6 toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Footnotes [1] 1:1 Some manuscripts saints who are also faithful (omitting in Ephesus) [2] 1:5 Or before him in love, 5having predestined us [3] 1:9 Or he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known . . . [4] 1:14 Or down payment [5] 1:14 Or until God redeems his possession [6] 1:15 Some manuscripts omit your love (ESV)

Good relationships are built by trust. When you don't trust someone it's nearly impossible to maintain any kind of relationship with them. You may work with someone or even live with someone that you don't really trust. You may have some interaction, yes, but you would never say you have a good relationship. And why? Because you do not trust them. But instead of talking today about the people in our live who we don't trust, let's ask ourselves this question: Am I trustworthy? Am I the one that others might say this about, “Don't ask her to do it. Believe me, it will not get done because they can't be trusted.” And to be fair there are some people that truly cannot be trusted. But again, my question for you today is, can YOU be trusted? The Lord is completely trustworthy. Our goal is to be like Him. He has never lied and never will. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). He not only speaks truth, He IS truth. Jesus said this about the devil in the second half of John 8:44b: “He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Lying is evil and when we lie we are acting like the devil. Please don't ever make light of lying. So, what destroys trust? Lies. Many times lying is something we do because we do not have the courage to tell the truth. We are afraid that if we admit that what we did or didn't do, was wrong, then people won't trust us. Nothing could be further from the truth! What you did wrong might disappoint someone, yes, but lying over and over again destroy trust others have in you The Apostle Paul says this to the church at Ephesus, yes to believers in chapter 4 verse 25: “So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.” This is what we need to do. Stop lying. Admit the truth. Then and only then will you be able to build good relationships with others. The Lord will help you. Slowly and steadily you will become someone who can be trusted. Good relationships are built on trust and with God's help we can become trustworthy.

Paul placed a high value on personal face-to-face ministry (5-7). Note the phrase “if the Lord permits.” Paul's life was always subject to the Lord's leading. He was currently having an effective ministry in Ephesus (9). The open door signified the opportunity to preach the Gospel. God directs through open and closed doors. Paul's ministry in Ephesus caused the Gospel to be spread throughout the Roman province of Asia (Acts 19:26). Paul's preaching caused a riot in the city. Satan will bring opposition when his kingdom is threatened. Ministry on any level is challenging and requires commitment. Daren Ritchey

The earliest Christians in Ephesus struggled with feeling like they were not enough, feeling like they didn't matter, and feeling like they didn't belong. It's because their culture told people you only matter IF you are smart (or intelligent), IF you are beautiful, IF you possess athletic prowess, or IF you can entertain. So the Apostle Paul reassured them...of God's love...of their identity...of their new FAMILY. It's the very kind of reassurance that we Americans need today.

Lead Pastor Paul Mumaw explores Ephesians 1 from the context of the historical impact of that timeline in Ephesus to the takeaway for all of us in our identity through Christ.

Preached from the pulpit of Valley Bible Baptist Church by Pastor Brian McMath

What we have before us is the first of seven letters written to seven different churches that existed in Asia Minor in the First Century. These letters could be considered from three different perspectives. 1.  They can be viewed Prophetically – These churches represent different stages of the church over the last 2,000 years.  The church at Ephesus represents the time period between the Day of Pentecost and 100 AD.  This was a time of great expansion for the early church.  It was also a time when some began to lose their zeal and fervency. 2.  They can be viewed Practically – These letters were sent to literal, real congregations that were actually functioning at the close of the First Century.  While they were written to real churches existing in that day, they still speak to every church in existence today.   3.  They can be viewed Personally – These letters speak to congregations, but we should also be mindful that the Lord has a word for the individual in these letters as well.  He has something to say to you and to me about our relationship with Him.      

Pastor Brennan Aschleman continues in the book of Revelation through the letter to the church of Ephesus. He discusses the history of this city along with the relevance of this letter for us today.

Do you feel far from God? Pastor Chuck is teaching through the seven churches of Revelation. The first church is Ephesus, the church that forgot their first love, God. Has this happened to you? Have you forgotten about God or feel far from God? Pastor Chuck goes through Revelation 2:1-7 and teaches through what John told the church of Ephesus to do to come back to God.

The Pastors continue their series about the churches in the book of Revelation. These letters, despite being written over 19 centuries ago, are still vital to the churches in today’s society. Today’s show focuses on the first letter in Revelation 2:1-7, addressed to the church of Ephesus. About Gospel for Life Four Treasure Valley pastors […]

Old Testament: Jeremiah 45–47 Jeremiah 45–47 (Listen) Message to Baruch 45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, ‘Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.' 4 Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. 5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.” Judgment on Egypt 46 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. 2 About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 3   “Prepare buckler and shield,    and advance for battle!4   Harness the horses;    mount, O horsemen!  Take your stations with your helmets,    polish your spears,    put on your armor!5   Why have I seen it?  They are dismayed    and have turned backward.  Their warriors are beaten down    and have fled in haste;  they look not back—    terror on every side!      declares the LORD. 6   “The swift cannot flee away,    nor the warrior escape;  in the north by the river Euphrates    they have stumbled and fallen. 7   “Who is this, rising like the Nile,    like rivers whose waters surge?8   Egypt rises like the Nile,    like rivers whose waters surge.  He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth,    I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.'9   Advance, O horses,    and rage, O chariots!  Let the warriors go out:    men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,    men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.10   That day is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts,    a day of vengeance,    to avenge himself on his foes.  The sword shall devour and be sated    and drink its fill of their blood.  For the Lord GOD of hosts holds a sacrifice    in the north country by the river Euphrates.11   Go up to Gilead, and take balm,    O virgin daughter of Egypt!  In vain you have used many medicines;    there is no healing for you.12   The nations have heard of your shame,    and the earth is full of your cry;  for warrior has stumbled against warrior;    they have both fallen together.” 13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt: 14   “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;    proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;  say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared,    for the sword shall devour around you.'15   Why are your mighty ones face down?    They do not stand1    because the LORD thrust them down.16   He made many stumble, and they fell,    and they said one to another,  ‘Arise, and let us go back to our own people    and to the land of our birth,    because of the sword of the oppressor.'17   Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt,    ‘Noisy one who lets the hour go by.' 18   “As I live, declares the King,    whose name is the LORD of hosts,  like Tabor among the mountains    and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.19   Prepare yourselves baggage for exile,    O inhabitants of Egypt!  For Memphis shall become a waste,    a ruin, without inhabitant. 20   “A beautiful heifer is Egypt,    but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.21   Even her hired soldiers in her midst    are like fattened calves;  yes, they have turned and fled together;    they did not stand,  for the day of their calamity has come upon them,    the time of their punishment. 22   “She makes a sound like a serpent gliding away;    for her enemies march in force  and come against her with axes    like those who fell trees.23   They shall cut down her forest,      declares the LORD,    though it is impenetrable,  because they are more numerous than locusts;    they are without number.24   The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame;    she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.” 25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the LORD. 27   “But fear not, O Jacob my servant,    nor be dismayed, O Israel,  for behold, I will save you from far away,    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.  Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,    and none shall make him afraid.28   Fear not, O Jacob my servant,      declares the LORD,    for I am with you.  I will make a full end of all the nations    to which I have driven you,    but of you I will not make a full end.  I will discipline you in just measure,    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.” Judgment on the Philistines 47 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck down Gaza. 2   “Thus says the LORD:  Behold, waters are rising out of the north,    and shall become an overflowing torrent;  they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,    the city and those who dwell in it.  Men shall cry out,    and every inhabitant of the land shall wail.3   At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,    at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,  the fathers look not back to their children,    so feeble are their hands,4   because of the day that is coming to destroy    all the Philistines,  to cut off from Tyre and Sidon    every helper that remains.  For the LORD is destroying the Philistines,    the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.5   Baldness has come upon Gaza;    Ashkelon has perished.  O remnant of their valley,    how long will you gash yourselves?6   Ah, sword of the LORD!    How long till you are quiet?  Put yourself into your scabbard;    rest and be still!7   How can it2 be quiet    when the LORD has given it a charge?  Against Ashkelon and against the seashore    he has appointed it.” Footnotes [1] 46:15 Hebrew He does not stand [2] 47:7 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew you (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 119:9–16 Psalm 119:9–16 (Listen) Beth 9   How can a young man keep his way pure?    By guarding it according to your word.10   With my whole heart I seek you;    let me not wander from your commandments!11   I have stored up your word in my heart,    that I might not sin against you.12   Blessed are you, O LORD;    teach me your statutes!13   With my lips I declare    all the rules1 of your mouth.14   In the way of your testimonies I delight    as much as in all riches.15   I will meditate on your precepts    and fix my eyes on your ways.16   I will delight in your statutes;    I will not forget your word. Footnotes [1] 119:13 Or all the just decrees (ESV) New Testament: 1 Corinthians 15–16 1 Corinthians 15–16 (Listen) The Resurrection of Christ 15 Now I would remind you, brothers,1 of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. The Resurrection of the Dead 12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope2 in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God3 has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. 29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? 30 Why are we in danger every hour? 31 I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”4 34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. The Resurrection Body 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”;5 the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall6 also bear the image of the man of heaven. Mystery and Victory 50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:   “Death is swallowed up in victory.”55   “O death, where is your victory?    O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. The Collection for the Saints 16 Now concerning7 the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. Plans for Travel 5 I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. Final Instructions 12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will8 to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. 13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love. 15 Now I urge you, brothers9—you know that the household10 of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints—16 be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people. Greetings 19 The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!11 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 

Starting in the letter to the Ephesians, Rabbi Steve Berkson points us to the fact that the Apostle Paul was trying to help the believers in Ephesus understand that even with what Messiah Yeshua accomplished in His death, burial and resurrection, there is still an “expectation” to abide by the covenant with the Creator that was laid out in Exodus chapter 19, (paraphrasing) “If you diligently follow my words, I will take you as my people and bless you more than you can know.” Rabbi Steve helps us to understand that we don't have to “understand” every thing that we are required to do, but that in the doing we will begin to understand. We should have an attitude like Abraham in that whatever YHVH told him to do, even to the sacrificing of his son, he said, “Here Am I!” In Hebrew, hineni. This is what Rabbi Steve calls, “a ‘Trusting' Obedience.” In this teaching Rabbi Steve explains thoroughly the famous passage found in chapter 2 and verses 8-10. Throughout this teaching the word grace is defined and explained as to whether it is “unmerited favor” or “merited favor”. Are we really saved (delivered) by unmerited favor? What are the “good works” that were prepared beforehand? What is “the Torah of the commands in dogma”? Rabbi Steve brings clarity to these seemingly unclear and difficult sayings of Paul. Don't miss out on new teachings every week. For more information about MTOI (Messianic Torah Observant Israel), visit our website, https://mtoi.org. Join us on Social media! Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mtoiworldwide Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mtoiworldwide Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mtoiworldwide We are located in Cleveland TN. If you would like to know more about us, we would love to hear from you! Feel free to visit us on our website, https://mtoi.org, email us at admin@mtoi.org or call us at 423-250-3020. Join us for Shabbat Services & Torah Study LIVE Streamed on our Main YouTube Channel every Saturday at 1:15 pm (EST) and every Tuesday for Torah Study Live Stream at 6:30 pm (EST).

Old Testament: Jeremiah 42–44 Jeremiah 42–44 (Listen) Warning Against Going to Egypt 42 Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant—because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us—3 that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.” 4 Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.” 5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” 7 At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the LORD, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. 13 But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,' disobeying the voice of the LORD your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,' 15 then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die. 17 All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them. 18 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. 19 The LORD has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.' Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and whatever the LORD our God says, declare to us and we will do it.' 21 And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in anything that he sent me to tell you. 22 Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.” Jeremiah Taken to Egypt 43 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them, 2 Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,' 3 but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.” 4 So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces and all the people did not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven—6 the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. 7 And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they arrived at Tahpanhes. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: 9 “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, 10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 12 I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 13 He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.'” Judgment for Idolatry 44 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, 3 because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4 Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!' 5 But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. 6 Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day. 7 And now thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? 8 Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of their1 wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10 They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. 11 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah. 12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to come to the land of Egypt to live, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall; by the sword and by famine they shall be consumed. From the least to the greatest, they shall die by the sword and by famine, and they shall become an oath, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. 13 I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, 14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to live in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return to dwell there. For they shall not return, except some fugitives.” 15 Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: 16 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you. 17 But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. 18 But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” 19 And the women said,2 “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands' approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?” 20 Then Jeremiah said to all the people, men and women, all the people who had given him this answer: 21 “As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them? Did it not come into his mind? 22 The LORD could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. 23 It is because you made offerings and because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey the voice of the LORD or walk in his law and in his statutes and in his testimonies that this disaster has happened to you, as at this day.” 24 Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. 25 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.' Then confirm your vows and perform your vows! 26 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord GOD lives.' 27 Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. 28 And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. 29 This shall be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, in order that you may know that my words will surely stand against you for harm: 30 Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.” Footnotes [1] 44:9 Hebrew his [2] 44:19 Compare Syriac; Hebrew lacks And the women said (ESV) New Testament: Revelation 2:1–11 Revelation 2:1–11 (Listen) To the Church in Ephesus 2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.' To the Church in Smyrna 8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. 9 “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander1 of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.' Footnotes [1] 2:9 Greek blasphemy (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 119:1–8 Psalm 119:1–8 (Listen) Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet Aleph 119   1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,    who walk in the law of the LORD!2   Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,    who seek him with their whole heart,3   who also do no wrong,    but walk in his ways!4   You have commanded your precepts    to be kept diligently.5   Oh that my ways may be steadfast    in keeping your statutes!6   Then I shall not be put to shame,    having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.7   I will praise you with an upright heart,    when I learn your righteous rules.28   I will keep your statutes;    do not utterly forsake me! Footnotes [1] 119:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem of twenty-two stanzas, following the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; within a stanza, each verse begins with the same Hebrew letter [2] 119:7 Or your just and righteous decrees; also verses 62, 106, 160, 164 (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 27:12 Proverbs 27:12 (Listen) 12   The prudent sees danger and hides himself,    but the simple go on and suffer for it. (ESV)

Do you ever feel like there’s no way out? Your greatest struggle when dealing with spirits from the dark side is going to be intimidation. At times, the powers of Satan seem overwhelming. You can put your hope in Jesus Christ, who is totally triumphant over all the forces of evil—every single one. The Apostle Paul glimpsed this victory in Ephesus, where sorcerers burned their demonic writings, as the power of the Holy Spirit fell on the crowd. In this message, you’ll be prepared to remind Satan of his defeat.    Click here to listen (Duration 14:35)

Though separated from the church body at Ephesus and elsewhere, the Apostle John still knew he was to them a brother and a companion. Adversity does not sever our tie to Christ and His Church, neither does it deprive us of the revelation of Jesus Christ. We are a part of something BIG! Give this message a listen!

Studying verse-by-verse through Apostle Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus.

Old Testament: Jeremiah 39–41 Jeremiah 39–41 (Listen) The Fall of Jerusalem 39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. 3 Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. 4 When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and he passed sentence on him. 6 The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. 7 He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. 8 The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. 9 Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. 10 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. The Lord Delivers Jeremiah 11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, 12 “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” 13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon 14 sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard. They entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he lived among the people. 15 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard: 16 “Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. 17 But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. 18 For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD.'” Jeremiah Remains in Judah 40 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. 2 The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God pronounced this disaster against this place. 3 The LORD has brought it about, and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you. 4 Now, behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well, but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go. 5 If you remain,1 then return to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present, and let him go. 6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land. 7 When all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men, women, and children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon, 8 they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 9 Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 10 As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah, to represent you before the Chaldeans who will come to us. But as for you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and store them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” 11 Likewise, when all the Judeans who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over them, 12 then all the Judeans returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. And they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance. 13 Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them. 15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, “Please let me go and strike down Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he take your life, so that all the Judeans who are gathered about you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah would perish?” 16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael.” Gedaliah Murdered 41 In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah, 2 Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. 3 Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there. 4 On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, 5 eighty men arrived from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the LORD. 6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, “Come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.” 7 When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. 8 But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields.” So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions. 9 Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with2 Gedaliah was the large cistern that King Asa had made for defense against Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 10 Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites. 11 But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, 12 they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. They came upon him at the great pool that is in Gibeon. 13 And when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him, they rejoiced. 14 So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, whom Johanan brought back from Gibeon. 17 And they went and stayed at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. Footnotes [1] 40:5 Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain [2] 41:9 Hebrew by the hand of (ESV) New Testament: Revelation 1 Revelation 1 (Listen) Prologue 1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants1 the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Greeting to the Seven Churches 4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail2 on account of him. Even so. Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Vision of the Son of Man 9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. Footnotes [1] 1:1 for the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; likewise for servant later in this verse [2] 1:7 Or mourn (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 118 Psalm 118 (Listen) His Steadfast Love Endures Forever 118   Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;    for his steadfast love endures forever! 2   Let Israel say,    “His steadfast love endures forever.”3   Let the house of Aaron say,    “His steadfast love endures forever.”4   Let those who fear the LORD say,    “His steadfast love endures forever.” 5   Out of my distress I called on the LORD;    the LORD answered me and set me free.6   The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.    What can man do to me?7   The LORD is on my side as my helper;    I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. 8   It is better to take refuge in the LORD    than to trust in man.9   It is better to take refuge in the LORD    than to trust in princes. 10   All nations surrounded me;    in the name of the LORD I cut them off!11   They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;    in the name of the LORD I cut them off!12   They surrounded me like bees;    they went out like a fire among thorns;    in the name of the LORD I cut them off!13   I was pushed hard,1 so that I was falling,    but the LORD helped me. 14   The LORD is my strength and my song;    he has become my salvation.15   Glad songs of salvation    are in the tents of the righteous:  “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,16     the right hand of the LORD exalts,    the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!” 17   I shall not die, but I shall live,    and recount the deeds of the LORD.18   The LORD has disciplined me severely,    but he has not given me over to death. 19   Open to me the gates of righteousness,    that I may enter through them    and give thanks to the LORD.20   This is the gate of the LORD;    the righteous shall enter through it.21   I thank you that you have answered me    and have become my salvation.22   The stone that the builders rejected    has become the cornerstone.223   This is the LORD's doing;    it is marvelous in our eyes.24   This is the day that the LORD has made;    let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25   Save us, we pray, O LORD!    O LORD, we pray, give us success! 26   Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!    We bless you from the house of the LORD.27   The LORD is God,    and he has made his light to shine upon us.  Bind the festal sacrifice with cords,    up to the horns of the altar! 28   You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;    you are my God; I will extol you.29   Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;    for his steadfast love endures forever! Footnotes [1] 118:13 Hebrew You (that is, the enemy) pushed me hard [2] 118:22 Hebrew the head of the corner (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 27:11 Proverbs 27:11 (Listen) 11   Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,    that I may answer him who reproaches me. (ESV)

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Welcome dear church to Communion Sunday. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a generous God. In the small things, you gave us an extra hour to sleep, and in the big things, you gave us your son. And Jesus, we thank you that you gave us yourself and the Holy Spirit we thank you for your presence here with us and we thank you for writing this book. Words that define reality, define love, define sacrifice, define generosity. We love your word and we thank you that you're the author of this book. You're in the room. And I pray as we hear from your word that you interpret to us what it means, to us where we are and how to apply this. I pray that you give us a vision for generosity. The same vision that's in your heart and I pray that you bless our time in the holy word. Amen. Grace is generous gift giving. That's the title of the sermon. That's the big idea. Grace is generous gift giving. I've realized recently that a lot of Christians miss out, a lot of people miss out on some of God's greatest blessings because they don't listen to God's word the way you should. A lot of people read God's word, listen to God's word. Some things said to some people by some people a long time ago. And if that's how you approach scripture, it's always going to be theoretical, it's always going to be, this is what it means to me, it's always going to be standing over in judgment over God's word. I do not listen to scripture like that. I do not read scripture like that. I know the God who wrote it and I walk with Him on a daily basis. I'm just so thankful that God is so gracious to me as to speak to me, as to communicate with me and He cares about me. Someone said that no one cares how much until they know how much you care. And God cares about me so I listened to His word. I sit there with God and I say, "You're the author, you're in the room." What does it mean? Here's how I view preaching. I view preaching as me living vicariously through Cameron Hanes. If you don't know Cameron Hanes, he's living the life that I would be living if I were not called to be a pastor. He's a hunter. You can find him on Instagram. He's got 1.2 million followers. He's a hunter and he hunts humanely. He's a bow and arrow guy. So I view myself as I go hunting into the mountain to get the moose and then I carry it back on my back and then I dress it up, and then I cut it up, and I slice it up and then I throw it on the grill. And that's what this is, that's what preaching is. And I do not chew it for you. You have to chew it yourself or else you choke on it. I made a conscious decision to change the way I preach because I'm tired of doing the homework for you. I'm tired of regurgitating to you what you can get in the ESV Study Bible. You want historical context, literary context, you want a definition of the Greek or the Hebrew word? Open an ESV Study Bible, read it. From now on, I just assume that every single one of you has read every single word in the Bible and if there's something that you do not understand, you go into the bottom of ESV, there's cheat codes to explain it to you. I say you got to do your own homework. I say this because I send out a newsletter every Saturday and at the bottom I put the text a link to the chapter. So what am I doing? I assume that you have read it but the data shows that you have not because then I see the click through-rate in MailChimp, which is 2.3%. Having is only 2.3% of the churches with me when I am... I assume you have read. So do your homework. It's like in college where the lecture makes so much more sense if you've read the material the night before. You know what I'm saying? And then you're like, "Oh, the professor got it from the book." That's what I'm saying. I told you a couple weeks ago that we're at war. And the reason why I said that is because a lot of people don't realize that we're at war and the weapons of the enemy are weapons of mass distraction to just get you distracted from what matters. Just hours of your day, you're thinking about the Metaverse, just something out there instead of real life. That's why you need to know the sword of the Spirit, you need to know this word. So it's a conscious decision because I want to spend more time in the sermon doing application and testimony. Because when I listen to a sermon, my favorite part of the sermon is where the guy up there is like, "Before he tells me how to live, I want to know that he actually lived it." So you need testimony to do that. And today, a lot of the sermons give me testimony of the blessing that it is to be generous. And I've thought about this for a very long time. I'm 38 years old and I've experienced life from the perspective of meeting generosity and I've experienced generosity from the perspective of giving and living generously. My parents emigrated to the States in 1989. My dad was 30, my mom was 27. They have three kids, fourth on the way, $700 net worth. We were recipients of generosity. And I watched my dad from this place where he received generosity grow into a place of tremendous generosity. It's hard to be generous in a day like ours. And when I talk about generosity, I'm not just talking about money, I'm talking about wealth. And wealth consists of two parts. They sound the same; presence and presents. That's wealth. Presents. Let's talk about money, presents, with a ts at the end. Presents, this is money, this is gifts, this is things, this is services. It's hard to be generous in a time where inflation, hyperinflation. Now we're going into recession so security payments are going up by 5.9%. If you look at us car market, it's a lot higher. I think we just printed another trillion dollars. Is there going to be recession? Yeah. What else are you worried about? Gas prices, job turmoil, you might have to pick up and move. Real estate, who knows? Kids, you might have to switch schools. You're talking about generosity, you want me to give money. And then there's presence. This is your time. That's our greatest commodity. It's time, it's words, it's ideas, it's encouragement, it's discipleship. It's hard to be generous with that presence in the day when there's members in the church who haven't seen their family in two years. And just being with people is just awkward right now. And then what's the alternative? It's video meetings. And if I have to sit through one more video meeting I will get Bell's palsy. That tic, the nervous tic I get when I'm in a video meeting, that's probably going to be permanent. Okay with people, okay presence, you don't know where they stand on COVID. You do know where they stand on COVID. It's hard to be generous with words when you haven't complimented a person in years. This is my philosophy of complimenting someone. When I see that they're trying, you did something different, I'm going to notice, if I notice it. Usually I have a million things in my mind but if I notice it like, "Hey, you got a haircut? Hey man, happy haircut." If a girl is like, I just know how much it costs to do your hair. I'm like, "Oh, man. That looks good." It's hard to compliment people in a day where... It's awkward. Masks make communicating so hard, especially for internationals or someone with a speech impediment. You want to text. My gift game is through the charts. I got all kinds of pictures on already. That's why we have to talk about driven generosity because no one costs into generosity. You have to talk about a vision for generosity now, here and now, but also in your life. Are you on a trajectory? Do you have a vision in your heart to be generous because that's what love is. It's generosity. That's what grace is. Grace is unmerited favor. And you can't talk about love if you can't talk about treasure. This is why Jesus said, "Wherever your heart is, that's where your treasure is." You can't talk about love if you do not talk about wealth. So that's why we're talking about it. 2nd Corinthians chapter eight. I'm going to assume you have read it. As I mentioned, this is the reading of God's holy and infallible authoritative word. May you write these eternal truths on your heart. And also if you have not read it, I challenge you after to go and read the whole chapter. I'm going to read this as we go along and relisten to the sermon because that's another thing, I assume that if you're a member or if you go here, you do not miss sermons because we pour our life, our heart into these sermon, and we're leading the church through the preaching of God's word. We're leading. So if you're a member and you're on vacation... The average member of this church goes to church half the time, half the Sundays. Stuff just comes up. You got to take a weekend trip. "Yeah, I can't live in the city." You got to go New Hampshire, you go to the White Mountains. You just travel the world and you miss and you come back, you're like, "This is a different church. I didn't go to this church. I became a member of this church?" Yeah, keep up. That's what I'm saying. All right. 1st Corinthians 16, this is the context, verses one through four. It's there if you want. St. Paul said this, he said, "The Gospel was planted in Jerusalem through Jesus Christ." Now there's a church in Jerusalem, Jesus' brother, his younger brother, half brother James, becomes a pastor. And then God sends the Holy Spirit upon the church and then God said to them, "Go and preach the gospel in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to the ends of the earth." They didn't so God sends persecution so they start actually doing their job. And because of the persecution in Jerusalem and because there's a famine at the time, the church isn't doing well, they can't even work, they can't find jobs because people find out that you're a Christian, now all of a sudden you're fired. So St. Paul then, he hears about the church of Jerusalem, and then he's been planting churches in Ephesus, Colossi, Philippi, in Corinth. He plants these churches and he knows that they are prospering financially. And he says, "Hey, the church in Jerusalem has a need so I'm going to ask you to collect finances and then send one representative from your church. Don't give me the money." He says, "Send one representative to Jerusalem with the finances. I will accompany you." And by accompanying you, that shows us that he has no mercenary interest in the matter. It's not for him at all but he's risking life and limb to accompany them to go to Jerusalem and he actually ends up in prison because... So it shows that he's generous with his life to be generous to the church of Jerusalem. And also what he's doing is he's healing tension, racial tension between the Jewish church and the Gentile churches. What he's saying is, "We're one big family." That's the context. Three points. Grace is generous gift giving. Grace is generous gift giving. First of all Grace is, and that's what he starts with. This the first one. We want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. Grace, unmerited favor, God saved them. They added nothing to their salvation. Grace, God predestined them before the foundation of the world. Draws them, elects them, they become Christians, it's all grace, all their sins forgiven, by the grace of God that has been given among the churches, Macedonia for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy so they're experiencing affliction as well. They're persecuted as well. Their abundance of joy. They have so much joy that God saved them. And they're extreme poverty, they don't have much money. They're afflicted, they have extreme poverty in Macedonia that have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. He's saying, "The church is poor." And if that tiny little church plant in Macedonia, that church plant is younger than the church in Corinth, if they were generous because they're wealthy in generosity, shouldn't you be more generous than a baby church?" That's what he's saying. And he's talking about grace. There's a difference between grace and mercy. Mercy is you don't get what you deserve, you don't get help. Grace says you get what you don't deserve. You get pulled over, you're doing 79 and 35 and the cop says you deserve a $450 speeding ticket. If you don't know what I'm alluding to, listen to last week's sermon. And the cop shows up and he's like, "Here's your ticket, $450." But then he tears it up and he says, "Oh, well. Why are you speeding?" And you say, "I'm speeding because my dad set my curfew at 10:00 PM." And he said, "I'm going to take your keys away because my dad said that nothing good happens after 10:00 PM." And I'm like, "Ah, that's when the good stuff started happening." And then the cop says, "I get it. I had a dad like that." And then the cop gives you $450. That's great. Did you deserve that gift? You did not. So St. Paul says, generosity starts on knowing. I deserve hell, but God promises me heaven. Jesus paid all my debts and He redeemed me. I have access to the treasures of Jesus Christ because I belong to him. Once you receive the forgiveness, you are willing to give whatever God causes you to give. They're dirt poor but the rich enjoy their overflow and wealth of generosity. Do you have a vision? Are you driven with a vision for generosity? Are you driven for this? I'm not talking about just working enough to meet your needs. I'm talking about work enough to meet someone else's needs. I once heard that Rick Warren, who wrote The Purpose Driven Life, now it's a different title. What on Earth Am I Here For? It was the best selling book of all time. Hardback books after the Bible. Best selling. He made bank. And then I heard that he turned into a reverse tither where he didn't just give 10%, he gave 90%. I remember hearing that and thinking, "Oh my. Imagine doing that." And I had this desire, I'm like, "Lord, I would love to one day to be the reverse tither." And then I became a pastor. I became a church planter in Boston. How big does your 10% have to be? But I haven't lost the vision because I believe in a God of miracles. If your crypto investments go to $10 million overnight, are you going to tithe? Are you going to give a million dollars to the church? And if you can't be generous with theoretical money. This is absolute real talk because in the same way that 2.3% of the church actually clicks the link, 2.3% of the church actually gives. So there's 10 people that give most of the giving. We'll get to the tithing. I'm just going to plant this here, make you feel a little uncomfortable knowing that we'll get there. By the time we get there you're going to forget that you were uncomfortable, okay? And what are you doing to make the vision a reality? Whoever doesn't work shouldn't eat, Scripture says. And if you do work, you're going to work hard enough to have something else to share. You work hard enough to put yourself in a position where you can be exorbitantly, lavishly, liberally generous. Not conserving, just conserving everything that you're given. So you got to ask your yourself whenever you're making... I just want to plant the vision in your heart and then it's going to be you and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit. Once you add, "Lord, how can I be driven to be more generous? Will this decision helped me become more generous?" And then you weight decision. Even when you're young, you weigh which school to go to and what to major in, how many loans to take out and how long it's going to take you to pay off the loans so that you can be lavishly generous. This vision it's not how you change your life today. It's a philosophy of life. Verse three continues, for they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means like the widow with the two mites and Jesus watched her give money to the Temple of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints and this not as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord. And then by the will of God to us. They first gave and said, "God, I'm yours. You did everything to make me yours. I'm yours and everything I have is yours so Lord, what would you have me do with what you have given me, both my dollars in my days? My time, my treasure, my talent. Everything, Lord, it's all yours." And when you have that mindset and you hear of a need, you say, "Please, let me help you." He uses the word beg. They begged. You don't think of beggars as giving, as generous. And he says, "They're begging me to take their finances to help this other church." What a vision. It's like when you start a company and it's tremendous, and the idea is tremendous. It's going to help so many people, and then someone hears it's a great idea and they're like, "Please, let me invest. Let me invest. I'm begging you, let me invest." Because you know that this investment is going to turn into something a lot more. That's what it means to give in this world. It's an investment for heaven. God keeps track of everything. I've given money away I don't even remember, I don't remember. And then somebody writes to me like, "Hey, you changed my life that one time." My family is from Ukraine and Estonia. I remember we went to visit a family member Ukraine. Their annual salary, she was an engineer, she makes $500 a year. $500, here you go, cash. It changed her life. What's $500 here? Three days of rent? You know what I'm saying? Generosity has to be precise. If you really want to be generous, you always you have extra. You're waiting for the opportunity. You hear of a need and you're like, "Yeah. What's your Venmo?" I'm going to meet the need because God has met mine. Timing is everything. How can I help? And not just finances. If you're in college, you don't have much to finances but you have time. You can be present with people. Timing is everything. How can I help with this posture of heart? What would change your day today? What do you need from me right now? How can I help? And you got to get to know people and practically this is why community groups are so important because in community group you get to know people and then at prayer request time, they're like, "Hey, can you pray for this situation? I need help." So it takes humility to get to know people, it takes humility to pray for people, and it takes humility to actually voice your need. And then it takes humility to receive the gift because there's always this mentality of, yeah. But then I owe you. No. You don't. This is a gift. You didn't deserve it. Just don't forget it. Just say thank you. Just thank you. Are you adding value to someone's life with your wealth? That's true generosity. You can't meet everyone's every need but you can at least pray. That's the bare minimum. I'll think about you. I'll expand my brain energy to actually pray for you and continue to pray for you. For example for me, what do I need? My wife hates buying prisons for me because she's like, "What can you give a man who has everything?" And I hate buying presents for her, different reason. She's not hearing this service, praise God. I can be transparent. I bought her a purse one time. Nice. Leather. Big. She doesn't like big purses. I had no idea so I gave it to her. She took it back. She took it back. Don't take it back. If it was a gift just pretend you like it, okay? So what do I need? I need prayer. I ask that you pray for me, I ask that you pray for me by name. I ask that you pray for my family, I ask that you pray for the Sikkemas and the Hoots, Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. I ask that you pray for the staff. I ask you pray for the members of this church, and I ask you to pray for a building. I was at a pastor's meeting and they're like, "Hey, can you fill out the survey?" And it's all your personal information. They said, "What's the greatest need in your town, in your city?" I wrote church building with a school. I've been here for 12 years and if people had not moved away at the rate that they were moving away, we would have a church of thousands. It'd be a different conversation. So in the back of my mind, I'm always thinking subconsciously, what will make this a church that you're like, "I will not move away." What would that take? And in my mind, I imagine a church building so nice that you're like, "Why would I go anywhere else? I'm going to figure out how to stay here." So I ask that you pray for that. St. Paul talks about this. He talks about his generosity, the generosity with his people Macedonians and then he brings in Titus. Accordingly we urge Titus that as he had started so he should complete among you this act of grace. So Titus is there and he's like "You started the collection. Let's finish the collection so that Titus with representatives from your church can go bring this to Jerusalem. Second is generous verses seven through nine. He uses the phrase excel in generosity. 2nd Corinthians 8:7, But as you excel, you excel. Does that word do anything to you emotionally? Well, if you work with Excel, it does. He says, "In the same way that you excel in faith." I know a lot of Christians like this. "I just want to know about God, I just want to know God's word, I want to memorize the whole thing." Yeah. Keep going, "Excel in speech, excel in knowledge, in all earnestness, in our love for you-- see that you excel in this act of grace also." I went to seminary with these people who have never really done anything in... I went to seminary after working for two years in the business world and I worked in government and I realized I got to seminary, none of these people know life. They don't understand how the real world works and that's why the pastors are like, "I don't want to talk about money." This is what people think about all the time. This is what you do at your job all the time. In some sense, you're thinking about creating value and getting value. He says, "Excel in this act of grace." Not just the faith part. A lot of people they take faith so seriously that it never becomes real so it's just theoretical and works. And some people are all about works theoretically. Some people somewhere should give something. That's why the government should tax everybody and the government should figure out how to be generous so that I don't have to be. That's why whenever I hear Elon Musk gave this amount of money and then all these haters show up and they're like, "Yeah, but that's only 0.001% of his net worth." What if we made your generosity public? I want to come on in on that tweet. He's talking about generosity. Giving, excelling, liberal giving. It's as important to the faith as works is it is works, it's faith with works. It's all intertwined. And by the way, generosity is not tithing. Tithing is giving 10% of your income to your local church before uncle Sam or FICA takes their cut. That's tithing. Giving 10%. Tithing is not generosity. Tithing is just not stealing from God. It's Malachi three. You look it up. He says we are to give, and I will go against any theologian who says otherwise with the like, oh, new covenant, it was the Old Testament, not the New Testament. In the old Testament the tithe remains and then they had temple tax and all kinds of stuff. It was actually computed it was 27 and a half percent, whatever it is. Did Jesus Christ talk about tithing? He just assumed it. He assumed if you love your local church, you will give to your local church because you believe in it. And do you have a verse? Yeah, Matthew, 23:23. Jesus condemning the Pharisees. Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. They were the conservatives. The sad you sees were the liberals. These are the conservatives and Jesus hits both sides. "You're so conservative with your money." He's saying, "Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for you tithe mint, dill, cumin. They had a little garden. They get 10 leaves of mint. One goes to the temple." They neglected the weightier matters of the law. Justice, mercy, faithfulness. These, you ought to have done the justice, the mercy, faithfulness, the most important stuff without neglecting the others, the tithe. Do we care about justice and mercy and faithfulness? We do. Do we care about justice? I stand against any form of oppression, any form of oppression. Any form of oppression I stand against so should you, but also you got to care about giving because money flows when you love something, when you believe in something. You invest in what you believe naturally, you invest in what you love naturally. Take my money, take my wealth. Let me just apply this to dating. So all the single people, but also the married people you listen too because I'm teaching generosity here. So young men, I'm going to start with young men. You like a girl, you like a girl. She's a Christian because why would you marry a non-Christian? Marriage is hard enough. You like a girl and you know that she likes you, that's important because a lot of people just assume, you're single, I'm single, I'm of the other gender so you definitely like me. No. If you can't even read that she likes you or not, you definitely aren't ready for marriage because women communicate very differently than men do. So you got to read her, you got to read the signs. You can't be oblivious to the stuff. And if you are, you come talk to me and I will tell you, "Bro, she literally emailed me and said, Pastor Jan, please tell this person to stop. I don't like him." And then Pastor Jan is going to say, "You know what? Here's a few things that you can work on." Okay. You like a girl. She likes you. You ask her out on a date. You ask her out for dinner and you go somewhere nice. Not too nice. Not too swanky. Good food, good ambiance. You're having good conversation. Lead with the questions. Lead the conversation. You ask her about her life, about her dreams, about her vision, her beliefs, what she likes, you're a student because that's what marriage is. And then the check comes, how are we paying for this? Bro if there's any hesitation in your heart, I didn't expect her to order appetizers. If you have to do that, you're not ready. You're in the wrong place. You should be at your job, at your second job. You should be at your side hustle. There's 16 hours in the day and you're single. What else do you do with your time? Now, also you got to tip. You pay for it and you tip well, not based on, ooh, if they didn't serve me right. Have you ever been in the food industry? Some of the hardest work ever. You tip and you tip well and you'll let her know I'm a boss because that's what a girl wants. Split the bill. Let me just analyze this. It's such a cultural issue because I come in with Slavic bag. On Slavic back it's completely different. Completely. If I said I had to talk about this at church, if I said that to any of my Russian brothers, they'd be like, "Why?" They'll be like, "Oh, Americans. They don't know." You don't know. Tanya, my wife Tanya, in the first sermon, I said that she dated a guy who gave her a gift then she texted me during the sermon. She's like, I never dated him. It was just a birthday present. But this guy shows up and he wanted a date or she didn't go on a date yet. She thought he was boring because girls like to laugh and he had no sense of humor, but he had money. So he bought her a gold watch on her birthday. It didn't work. She kept the watch and she gave it to my daughter, Sophia, who still has the watch. But I had to ask, I'm like, "She's high maintenance because how big does a rock have to be to marry a girl like that?" Back to the cultural analysis, the splitting the bill you're hedging bets. And if you're hedging bets this might not work out. So I don't want to take a hit on my net worth. If you're hedging bets and you don't view this as I'm investing, if you're hedging your bets, you're in the wrong spot. You should have been at community group with her, getting to know her. Because when you get married, you got one bank account anyway so get married and your chances are higher if you pay for the bill, that's one thing. The phrase, let's go Dutch, is splitting the bill. Do you know that phrase? Let's go Dutch. Pastor Shane, who is Dutch told me that that's inaccurate. He said, "No. True Dutch people do not go Dutch in the restaurant because true Dutch people do not go out to eat. They go fishing, which is a much better date." What I'm saying is, if you really love, there's got to be generosity. And ladies, just a word, please have the humility to let the guy pay because marriage is getting an order. There's an order to creation. There's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, husband, wife, children, angels, demons and demons became demon Satan became Satan because he wouldn't get an order where you as the wife, as a woman, you're saying is, I will follow you. I will follow your lead if you're going to lead like that, if you're going to lead with generosity. No one wants to be married to a stingy person. No one wants to be married to a mooch. No one wants to be friends with the mooch. A person who all the do is mooch off of you. They go to your house and they always come with empty hands. And you're like, at some point I'm going to stop inviting you into my house. And usually those mooches are theoretically very generous. In their heart they're like, I'm bringing my presence. Yeah bro but you got to bring presence to. This is the act of grace. That's what St. Paul is talking about. You excel in the act of grace. Do you have a vision to Excel? I say this, not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. Love can be proven. It can be tested. And you can tell if you love when your time and your talents and treasure, everything just flows into the direction of the one whom you love. And Paul uses the example of generosity, Macedonians to inspire the Corinthians verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This is what it's all rooted in. You know the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that though He was rich yet for your sake He became poor so that you by His poverty might become rich. This is the greatest act of generosity in the universe. The God of this universe, the son of God who always existed, there was never a time that He was not. He did not start being when he was born. No, no. When He was born and He took on flesh. That's His incarnation. That's when His humanity started, but Jesus always was. So you've got the whole doctrine Jesus Christ. He was the Christ here in a nutshell, one person, two natures. And we have the greatest motive. We have the greatest motive for the greatest act to ever happened. Why did Jesus do this? Because He loves us and He wants to make us rich. Jesus wants to make you wealthy so He bankrupts himself to make you wealthy. Jesus Christ was poor on purpose. I've heard of people get really rich and then they get poor but it's never on purpose unless you're dying and then you're a philanthropist and you give everything away. My dad says that money is like oxygen. You only need it when you're alive. But Jesus Christ did this intentionally. And by the way, people looked at Jesus Christ and they're like, "Bro, you're poor." And He's like, "But I own everything." And by the way He could have also used, He had a very particular set of skills that He could have used to enrich Himself on earth. He could have started a tremendous wine business or a baker but he chose not to. He chose to bring a different kind of wealth into the world, a wealth that really matters. That's what he did so He loved and He died. So Jesus Christ was rich. We live in a world that demonizes wealth because we idolize it. Jonathan Edwards has this thing where he talks about the cycle of idolization and demonization where you idolize something, this is my savior and you realize it can't save you, you begin to demonize it. The world does this with money. We do this with people. And this is why one of the things I say as a pastor all the time, do not idolize me. I'm not the guy. I'm not Jesus. I'm just here literally just talking about Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. It's not about me. It's about Jesus. I walk with Jesus and I'm going to tell you how I walk with Jesus but it's not about me. So do not idolize me because I've seen and then all of a sudden we're not friends. Same thing the world does with money. Is it inherently wrong to be rich? No, of course not. Is it inherently wrong to be poor? No. Jesus was both. There's righteous rich and righteous poor and there's unrighteous rich and unrighteous poor. And Jesus Christ said, "I came in here. I look poor but I was wealthy." Because you can be poor and wealthy at the same time. You go to countries that are not as materially prosperous as ours and you look at their life and they live a richer life. I was reading Solzhenitsyn this week. Solzhenitsyn he is famous for The Gulag Archipelago, where he was imprisoned. And by the way, if you want to really understand what the world is going through, read him. And one of the things that he said was when he got out of The Gulag, out of the prison for speaking truth, he got out of the prison and he would write in prison and he would memorize everything that he wrote and then he would burn the papers and then when he got out, he wrote it all down and he brought his best friends into his little cabin with a dirt floor and he for five hours recited his work because that's all he could give them. And their life was changed because they were enriched. That's what Jesus is saying. What does Jesus want in return for his word? For his work? He wants gratitude. Just like each one of us when we're generous to someone just say, thank you. Romans one, they didn't thank God, we didn't thank God. That's what sin is. Sin is in gratitude toward God. Jesus says, worship me, glorify me. Verse five, and this not as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Generosity to others as the embodiment of Christ incarnation of his embodiment. What's the most generous thing that you can do to someone? The highest level of generosity. What is the absolute generous thing you can do to someone is help them understand the greatest act of generosity for them, help them understand that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, my sins, everybody. And He wants to forgive you so that you will have life with Him now, eternal life that begins now and for all of eternity. There is no greater gift that you can give anybody than the word of the gospel. There's no greatest act of generosity and that's why I need to say the following. A very famous quote was thrown around in the church all the time and it goes like this, preach gospel at all times and use words if necessary. Francis of Assisi, it's attributed to him but he never wrote it. It's actually very anachronistic. (silence) It's an oxymoronic quote because how did you get that quote in my mind? Did you come up to me and put your hand on my shoulder and infuse and inject those words into my mind. Did you buy me lunch and through that sandwich or just in my mind? No, you use words. And I hear what you're saying. I understand what you're saying but you're saying, you're using words. The problem is that quote, a lot of people use it as an excuse to justify the fact that they have never shared the gospel with another human being. Well you're being a mooch. You're being stingy with your greatest gift. So share the gospel. That's the point. Speaking the gospel's the most compassionate, the most empathetic, the most kind generous thing you can do. It's also the most savage thing you can do. In a world that says, "No, you can't talk about that." You're like, "Oh yeah, I'm going to talk about that." You need to believe in Jesus, repent of your sin because you're going to hell. I don't want you to. Let's go to heaven instead together. Savage. Savage love. So what I'm trying to say is don't Assisi-fy Christianity. Let's do what Jesus did. Jesus didn't just give us fruit from the tree of life. He welcomes us into the garden and shows us where to get it. Three is gift giving. And this is 2nd Corinthians 8:10 through 11. These verses are just an application of St. Paul of these principles. So I'm going to read them fast and I might skip some. In this matter I give my judgment. This benefits you who a year ago started not only to do this work, but also desire to do it so now finish doing it as well. So that your readiness and desire may be mashed by your completing it out of what you have. They had begun to gather lapsed, perhaps false teachers came in, perhaps they won the money themselves, but he says, I want you to give now because everyone's generous theoretically until you have to cut the check, until you have to hit the send button, until you have to actually take from yourself and give to another. Verse 12, for if the readiness is there it is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have. What he's saying is it's not about the amount, it's about your desire to give. He doesn't care who gives what. I have no idea who gives what at Mosaic. I have no idea. I don't have access to any of the finances. I have no idea. I only know how much one family gives. That's my family. And I look at that number every once in a while. I'm like, is this commensurate with how much I love? Verse 13, for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but that as a matter of fairness, your abundance at the present time should supply their need so their abundance may supply your need that there may be fairness. What he's saying is, right now, you are more prosperous than those people, so you should share. We teach little kids at home, hey, you guys share. It's not your Legos and it's not her Legos. It's my Legos. This is how you know that a child is maturing because a child actually turns around at mom who your whole life and I'm saying, did you eat? Are you hungry? Did you eat? Did you eat? You try and say, "Mom, did you eat?" There's a maturity in generosity. Verse 15. This is really a principle and he gets it from the old Testament. As it is written, whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack. And here he goes to when Israel is in the wilderness freed from captivity but they don't have access to food because they're in a desert. They ask God, God sends manna. So every day manna would fall from heaven. I think of manna as a Los Amigos burrito. That's how I think of manna from heaven, the surf and turf, praise God. So burritos are falling from heaven every single morning. And people they go up to grab their burrito. How many burritos are you going to eat? And you know that this burrito is actually going to go bad tomorrow so you can't save it. And you have a decision to make you grab your three burritos for the day, a very nutritious meal. There's a lot of burritos on the floor. You have decision to make. If you are an able bodied, healthy human being. The question, am I going to gather more for whom? Well, it's not for me because it's going to go bad. Am I going to gather for someone else? Perhaps was weak or frail or perhaps it was responsibilities at home like a single parent where I don't have time to go out and gather burritos. And the most industrious, the most driven would say, "You know what? This is an opportunity for me to serve my brothers and sisters. I am going to gather as much as I can to be as helpful as I can." Well that kind of vision for your life, it changes a person. It changes your capacity. One day you gathered 10 burritos, the next day you gathered 12. A year goes by and you're gathering 400 because you need to figure out how to organize people. Now you're managing other gatherers of burritos and after a while you develop the skillset of how the world works, leadership, et cetera, et cetera and then you get into the promised land and you have a certain skill set that other people do not. And this is where the gleaning laws come in. God knew this and he knew that the most industrious, the most diligent, the most self-driven and most ambitious are going to build businesses. So God says, "Look, when you build a business, when you got a farm, do not harvest absolutely every single bit. Don't maximize your profits." I want you to start a business from the perspective of generosity. And he says, "Leave things on the outskirts for the widow, the orphan and the immigrant." The American church today has lost the vision of the gleaning laws. So if you start a company, are you driven by generosity? Are you driven by greed like Facebook is, like Google is, like Apple is. If you publish an app in the app store or Google play, you know how much they take? They take 30%. They didn't build it. Let me speak to my fellow entrepreneurs. My culture creators, influencers, hustlers. Let me speak to founders. I know the heart of a founder, a heart of a founder is like a heart of a father. You are always thinking about your baby consciously or subconsciously. You have dreams about your baby. Build with generosity. To my fellow employees who work for bosses, I want you to understand that when you clock out, your boss does not. You stop thinking. You're like, "I don't get paid to think about this. I don't get paid to answer this email." Well your boss does not. So there's got to be generosity. A generous employees, generous bosses, generous CEOs, managers, generous consumers. I know a guy who's the most generous guy I have ever met. I'm going to tell you a story about him after. He's generous toward everybody except for Chipotle. They mess up his order and he is on the customer service line demanding extra burritos. Bro, generous tip. You got to tip. Most basic thing you can do. Generous lawyers, generous nurses and doctors, generous scientists, generous teachers, politicians, developers, builders, executive consultants, analysts, students, professors, generous in the food industry, generous in the international relations, generous bankers, investors, VCs, designers, artists, musicians, architects, childcare professionals. I've said pastors, athletes, comedians, and everyone I left out. And I want to speak here about someone that everyone leaves out, stay at home moms. My wife was a stay at home mom. You know in Russian what they say? What is your wife doing? And they say doma sidit. She sits at home? Come in my house for a day. Sits at home. My wife is a homemaker. That's her full-time job. That was a conscious decision. We live on one income. Why is it her full-time job? Because it's a full-time job to be my wife. So husbands if your wife works a full-time job, do not demand from her that being a mom and a wife is a full-time job. If you want it to be a full-time job, make it her full-time job. This sermon I like because this topic I like because it throws everyone for a loop. Where's Pastor Jan politically on? Let me just explain where I am politically, because the last few sermons when I go real talk people are like, "Where is he politically?" I went to Brown University. Even in the Ivy leagues it's the most liberal one. Everyone's like, "Oh, you went to Brown. Oh, that's weird. That's just weird." They don't have a business school on purpose. It doesn't help the endowment. So I went to Brown University, but I will go to church on Sundays at a Russian Baptist church as conservative in every perspective as possible. They were Republicans before they even learned English to know that they're Republicans. They're Republicans before they learned the word. So at church, I am the lib and at Brown everyone's like, "What is wrong with you?" There were tree huggers before that became a thing. And Bush was President and I bashed Bush and my dad called me a lib for bashing Bush. And then the libs love Bush now so was my dad a lib? That's where I am politically. Here's my analysis of being in these two worlds. Liberals are strong in works theoretically. The ideas when they hit the pavement, they don't work. They want someone else to be generous. Let's talk about your generosity. And conservatives, they're theoretical in the faith part. God, faith, family, freedom. Great. Let's talk about the faith. All of you need to repent. All of you. Satan sometimes comes as a Republican and sometimes he comes as a Democrat. And I'm an equal opportunity preacher. All of them need to repent, everybody. Trust in Jesus. That's what I'm saying. 2nd Corinthians, I say that because on the one hand, I'm like, generosity. On the other hand, I'm thinking about homeschooling my kids. So where am I politically? I don't look at things through political lenses. I look at things through biblical lenses which makes it hard for people to make sense sometimes. 2nd Corinthians 8:16 through 18. But thanks be to God who put into the heart of Titus. So now he's talking about Titus generosity. The same earnest care I have for you for he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he's going to you of his own accord so Titus is generous with his time. With him we're sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. Great thing to be famous for. Was Paul generous? Of course he was, but he's not talking about his generosity here. He talks about Titus. The brother of preach the gospel. He's talking about the Macedonians. Being generous specifically when people do not deserve it. That's what we're talking about. My friend Walt is one of the most generous people I've ever met. He was our video guy so I'm going to talk about Walt for a second. I bought new couches for my basement from Bob's Furniture. Tremendous place. I bought these new couches. They're supposed to get delivered. So I'm waiting. I'm supposed to get delivered 3:00 PM. They got delivered at 10:30 PM so I'm like, these guys do not deserve anything. It was raining. I saw the guys, they pulled up to my place. I'm like, "Hey, why are you guys late?" And they said, "We got Storrow-ed." You know what that means? Yeah, look it up. They got Storrow-ed. I look at the truck. Yeah, they got Storrow-ed. The truck was too tall for the bridges on the Storrow. I'm like, oh, okay. This is the first time. And then it's raining. They're bringing the couches in. They scratched the mop. Either take my doors off. They wouldn't do that and I brought half the couch in and then Walt comes to me, there's three guys and he's like, "Hey, do you have any cash?" I was like, "For what?" Cash. "To tip them." I said, "Number one, it's not your couch. Number two, they didn't deserve it." And he said, "Yeah, that's why it's a gift." He gave each guy 20 bucks. 20 bucks and I gave him diet Cokes after. That's generosity. 2nd Corinthians 8:19, not only that but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out the act of grace as being ministered by us for the glory of himself in the show of good will. And then he continues in verse 20. We take this course meaning Paul himself is going to be with them, but he's not holding the money, representatives from each church are going so that no one's asking questions. That's verse 20. We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that's being administered by us for we aim at what is honorable, not only in the Lord's sight, but also in the sight of man. So he's saying, I'm taking extra precautions so that no one has any questions. So there's no malfeasance. That's what he's doing. So this is very unique because St. Paul has an open heart. I want to be generous but he's got an open mind. He understands the way this fallen world works and he understands that there's measures to take to make sure that no one's asking questions. It's a discerning generosity. Jesus said, "Be gentle as doves but shrewd as serpents." Because what is generosity? What is grace? It's giving people a gift that they do not deserve but if you are a generous person, what can happen is people just start expecting you. You're supposed to be generous to me. And if they're expecting it, now it's not a gift. It's cheap grace, you paid for it, but it's cheap because they don't value it because they feel entitled to it. And this is why a lot of Christians get taken advantage of because you are not discerning that a lot of people are still sinners. You're a sinner, they're a sinner, all's a sinner. So there's an aspect of total depravity. So sometimes to these people, the most loving thing you can do is say, "Hey, get a job and I'll help you get a job." Because sometimes helping actually hurts and the most generous thing to do is not help. Let me just give you an illustration from one of my least favorite things to do in the world, washing dishes. I do not do it often but when I do wash the dishes, I expect everyone to notice. Because as soon as you've stopped noticing, I stop washing. And here in lie, the source of so much of the gender role struggles. It's a secret, I'm here to reveal the secret to you. Men and women view dishwashing differently. Women washed the dishes after they eat, men wash the dishes before they eat. Because man if you washing the dishes just gave you a lot of things, supply and demand. If I supplied too much then the price goes down. So this is the way, why wash the dishes every day and my wife might stop noticing when I can wash the dishes once a week and she's ecstatic? And the point is notice when people are generous to you. Just say thank you. Don't take it for granted because then it's not a gift anymore. St. Paul view generosity through concentric circles, generous to the Lord, generous to the church. He wasn't married. So I got to bring in a few concentric circles. I'm generous to the Lord. That's my first circle. My second circle is, how can I be generous to my wife? My third circle is, how can be generous to my daughters? My fourth circle is, how can I be generous to my grandchildren? Then I say, how can we generous to my parents, siblings, friends, coworkers, community group, church members, attenders, neighbors and I want to be a reverse tither. So how much we need? God's got it. Verse 23, as for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker. For your benefit as for our brothers, they're messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. So the churches are the glory of Christ so why wouldn't we invest? So prove before the churches of your love and of your boasting about you to these men. Give proof of your love in the context of finances. I'll close with the story before we go into communion, a story of Doyva and Rufina Angira. Rufina was from Siberia. Doyva was from Finland. They met in Narva, Estonia in the '80s. My dad was Doyva's manager at a factory that my dad worked at. And one of my dad's jobs was to give out bonuses at the end of the month, depending on who worked the best. Well there were drunks in the factory because everyone had to work. So if you got fired on one job, you just get another job and it's not about performance by you just showing up so they wouldn't really work. So he would take their bonuses and give it the Doyva. Salary was 200 rubles a month. My dad would make sure that it's an extra 50, 60 rubles a month extra for Doyva. The reason why that's important is because Doyva had eight kids and they were so poor that the whole family could not go outside for a walk because they didn't have enough sets of clothing. So my dad was generous to this guy. My dad shared with me this week, he said, one time, the first time he did it, Doyva will get his check-in and he's looking at it and he had bad eyesight. He's trying to figure out why is the number wrong? And then it finally hit him and he looks at my dad and he says, "May God bless you for that generosity." Well, one of the things that Doyva did was he was writing to the US Senate for a decade. He had been writing since the late '80s for a decade. Hey, I can't live in the Soviet Union as a Christian. I can't feed my family. I need refugee status to come to the United States. And he was granted it and he moved to Providence, Rhode Island. And he's the one that actually invited my family. He forced my dad to give them all the information. And then when my sister Aida was born, she was born in '88. My dad got the invitation and then finally he applied and he got a visa. So our family, with $700 in my dad's pocket, my family immigrated to the United States in Providence, Rhode Island and Doyva, I'll never forget, he came to pick us up in his beater and he was so happy to be in the land of milk and honey. That generosity, alleged generosity but then the cycle continued. My dad made it a mission in his life to help immigrants. How many times have you heard of immigrants coming? There was always finances. There was always groceries. He would help them and he would hire them. We live in a country where everyone's talking about theoretical generosity. We have 11 million undocumented immigrants living here amongst us. Are you generous to your neighbor? Receive the grace of Jesus Christ. If you haven't, grace is a generous gift giving. This isn't just a phrase, it's philosophy of life. Jesus lived like this so let us live like this.

Pastor Eric Jones opens our study through Revelation 2 & 3 with a look at God's heart and care for His Church as we are called to maintain our first love. How do we do this? Remain Gospel-centered.

While zeal for biblical truth is vital, it must not be at the expense of love for God and each other.

Are you a mom that needs a break? You're in the right place! Join Stacey and other moms as they share Biblical wisdom and their journey as moms. Follow on Facebook and Instagram @momsonbreak8. Moms on Break is a production of Pathway to Paradise Ministries.

Have you ever seen a mob? It can be a very scary thing! Paul was staying in Ephesus and one of the local silversmiths got angry at him, getting others around him angry, and you will have to listen to find out what will happen to Paul!Year C Quarter 4 Week 45All Bible verses are from the NKJV.Podcast produced by: Katie ChitwoodIf you have enjoyed this program and would like to know more, go to our website: www.startingwithjesus.comWrite to Ms. Katie at seedpod@startingwithjesus.com to let me know how much you are enjoying this podcast!The Bible story material used in today's devotional podcast has been used with permission from My Bible First. If you would like your own copy, please visit My Bible First's website or call 1-877-242-5317.If you would like to purchase your own Memory Verse CD or Songbook, go to Ouchita Hills Store (https://www.ouachitahillsacademy.org/store?page=1&store_category_id=0&sort_by=title&is_ascending=1&search=).Special thanks to: Bible Readings this week: SavannahSingers for this Quarter: Tory, Caleb, and Enoch Hall, Michael and Amy NelsonOutro: Pastor Jonathan ChitwoodLindsey Mills: Theme Music, www.lindseymillsmusic.com

Have you ever seen a mob? It can be a very scary thing! Paul was staying in Ephesus and one of the local silversmiths got angry at him, getting others around him angry, and you will have to listen to find out what will happen to Paul!Year C Quarter 4 Week 45All Bible verses are from the NKJV.Podcast produced by: Katie ChitwoodIf you have enjoyed this program and would like to know more, go to our website: www.startingwithjesus.comWrite to Ms. Katie at seedpod@startingwithjesus.com to let me know how much you are enjoying this podcast!The Bible story material used in today's devotional podcast has been used with permission from My Bible First. If you would like your own copy, please visit My Bible First's website or call 1-877-242-5317.If you would like to purchase your own Memory Verse CD or Songbook, go to Ouchita Hills Store (https://www.ouachitahillsacademy.org/store?page=1&store_category_id=0&sort_by=title&is_ascending=1&search=).Special thanks to: Bible Readings this week: SavannahSingers for this Quarter: Tory, Caleb, and Enoch Hall, Michael and Amy NelsonOutro: Pastor Jonathan ChitwoodLindsey Mills: Theme Music, www.lindseymillsmusic.com

Have you ever seen a mob? It can be a very scary thing! Paul was staying in Ephesus and one of the local silversmiths got angry at him, getting others around him angry, and you will have to listen to find out what will happen to Paul!Year C Quarter 4 Week 45All Bible verses are from the NKJV.Podcast produced by: Katie ChitwoodIf you have enjoyed this program and would like to know more, go to our website: www.startingwithjesus.comWrite to Ms. Katie at seedpod@startingwithjesus.com to let me know how much you are enjoying this podcast!The Bible story material used in today's devotional podcast has been used with permission from My Bible First. If you would like your own copy, please visit My Bible First's website or call 1-877-242-5317.If you would like to purchase your own Memory Verse CD or Songbook, go to Ouchita Hills Store (https://www.ouachitahillsacademy.org/store?page=1&store_category_id=0&sort_by=title&is_ascending=1&search=).Special thanks to: Bible Readings this week: SavannahSingers for this Quarter: Tory, Caleb, and Enoch Hall, Michael and Amy NelsonOutro: Pastor Jonathan ChitwoodLindsey Mills: Theme Music, www.lindseymillsmusic.com

Three pairs of Unmercenary Physicians (Anargyri) named Cosmas and Damian are commemorated (today, on October 17, and on July 1); The two commemorated today lived near Ephesus in Asia. They were of noble birth and well-educated in all the branches of higher learning; but they turned away from worldly knowledge to practice medicine without charge for anyone who sought their help, caring for the rich as well as poor, and even for animals. They used none of the secular tools of medicine, but relied only on the Name of Christ, by which they were enabled to perform countless healings. Both reposed in peace.

With family: 2 Kings 14; 2 Timothy 4 2 Kings 14 (Listen) Amaziah Reigns in Judah 14 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 Jehoash1 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,2 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. 17 Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. 18 Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 19 And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. 20 And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. 21 And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 22 He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel 23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. 25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. 26 For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. 27 But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. 28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place. Footnotes [1] 14:8 Jehoash is an alternate spelling of Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in 13:9, 12–14; also verses 9, 11–16 [2] 14:13 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters (ESV) 2 Timothy 4 (Listen) Preach the Word 4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound1 teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Personal Instructions 9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia,2 Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Final Greetings 19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. 21 Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.3 22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.4 Footnotes [1] 4:3 Or healthy [2] 4:10 Some manuscripts Gaul [3] 4:21 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters [4] 4:22 The Greek for you is plural (ESV) In private: Psalms 120–122; Hosea 7 Psalms 120–122 (Listen) Deliver Me, O Lord A Song of Ascents. 120   In my distress I called to the LORD,    and he answered me.2   Deliver me, O LORD,    from lying lips,    from a deceitful tongue. 3   What shall be given to you,    and what more shall be done to you,    you deceitful tongue?4   A warrior's sharp arrows,    with glowing coals of the broom tree! 5   Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!6   Too long have I had my dwelling    among those who hate peace.7   I am for peace,    but when I speak, they are for war! My Help Comes from the Lord A Song of Ascents. 121   I lift up my eyes to the hills.    From where does my help come?2   My help comes from the LORD,    who made heaven and earth. 3   He will not let your foot be moved;    he who keeps you will not slumber.4   Behold, he who keeps Israel    will neither slumber nor sleep. 5   The LORD is your keeper;    the LORD is your shade on your right hand.6   The sun shall not strike you by day,    nor the moon by night. 7   The LORD will keep you from all evil;    he will keep your life.8   The LORD will keep    your going out and your coming in    from this time forth and forevermore. Let Us Go to the House of the Lord A Song of Ascents. Of David. 122   I was glad when they said to me,    “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”2   Our feet have been standing    within your gates, O Jerusalem! 3   Jerusalem—built as a city    that is bound firmly together,4   to which the tribes go up,    the tribes of the LORD,  as was decreed for1 Israel,    to give thanks to the name of the LORD.5   There thrones for judgment were set,    the thrones of the house of David. 6   Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!    “May they be secure who love you!7   Peace be within your walls    and security within your towers!”8   For my brothers and companions' sake    I will say, “Peace be within you!”9   For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,    I will seek your good. Footnotes [1] 122:4 Or as a testimony for (ESV) Hosea 7 (Listen) 7   when I would heal Israel,    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,    and the evil deeds of Samaria,  for they deal falsely;    the thief breaks in,    and the bandits raid outside.2   But they do not consider    that I remember all their evil.  Now their deeds surround them;    they are before my face.3   By their evil they make the king glad,    and the princes by their treachery.4   They are all adulterers;    they are like a heated oven  whose baker ceases to stir the fire,    from the kneading of the dough    until it is leavened.5   On the day of our king, the princes    became sick with the heat of wine;    he stretched out his hand with mockers.6   For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue;    all night their anger smolders;    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.7   All of them are hot as an oven,    and they devour their rulers.  All their kings have fallen,    and none of them calls upon me. 8   Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;    Ephraim is a cake not turned.9   Strangers devour his strength,    and he knows it not;  gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,    and he knows it not.10   The pride of Israel testifies to his face;1    yet they do not return to the LORD their God,    nor seek him, for all this. 11   Ephraim is like a dove,    silly and without sense,    calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.12   As they go, I will spread over them my net;    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;    I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.13   Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!  I would redeem them,    but they speak lies against me. 14   They do not cry to me from the heart,    but they wail upon their beds;  for grain and wine they gash themselves;    they rebel against me.15   Although I trained and strengthened their arms,    yet they devise evil against me.16   They return, but not upward;2    they are like a treacherous bow;  their princes shall fall by the sword    because of the insolence of their tongue.  This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. Footnotes [1] 7:10 Or in his presence [2] 7:16 Or to the Most High (ESV)

Hosts: Forest Antemesaris and Hiram Kemp  |  Released Monday, November 1, 2021 1 Timothy 4:6-16 reveals a lot about the nature and importance of Timothy’s task in Ephesus. In this section of Scripture, we find awesome reminders not just for preachers, but for Christians of every role, age, and ability. Join Forest and Hiram as they discuss […]

Have you ever seen a mob? It can be a very scary thing! Paul was staying in Ephesus and one of the local silversmiths got angry at him, getting others around him angry, and you will have to listen to find out what will happen to Paul!Year C Quarter 4 Week 45All Bible verses are from the NKJV.Podcast produced by: Katie ChitwoodIf you have enjoyed this program and would like to know more, go to our website: www.startingwithjesus.comWrite to Ms. Katie at seedpod@startingwithjesus.com to let me know how much you are enjoying this podcast!The Bible story material used in today's devotional podcast has been used with permission from My Bible First. If you would like your own copy, please visit My Bible First's website or call 1-877-242-5317.If you would like to purchase your own Memory Verse CD or Songbook, go to Ouchita Hills Store (https://www.ouachitahillsacademy.org/store?page=1&store_category_id=0&sort_by=title&is_ascending=1&search=).Special thanks to: Bible Readings this week: SavannahSingers for this Quarter: Tory, Caleb, and Enoch Hall, Michael and Amy NelsonOutro: Pastor Jonathan ChitwoodLindsey Mills: Theme Music, www.lindseymillsmusic.com

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Morning. Welcome to Mosaic Church, my name is Jan, one of the pastors here along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. If you're new or visiting, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card that you should have gotten at the back at the welcome table. If you fill it out legibly, and then redeem it at the welcome table, you'll get a gift there. And then if you give us your mailing address, we'll send you another gift in the mail to say thank you for coming out. With that said... Oh, also we have a membership class today. So if you're not a member, you're interested in membership, and if you're not interested you should be, we have a class with lunch provided with I think Burritos. Burritos, heavenly manna. And so we usually order more, so if you didn't sign up, you're still welcome to come, I'll give you mine. With that said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you created a place for us, a space for us, you created this earth, and you gave it to us to rule over under your dominion. And Lord, we rebelled against you, we like the prodigal son ran from you because we thought life would be more enjoyable without you, without your love and it's not. Jesus, we thank you that you the older brother, you did came looking for us, you lived with us and you loved us, and you loved us enough to speak the truth to us, and the truth got you crucified. Our sin got you crucified. We thank you Holy Spirit that you are with us and we repent of the fact that often we have grieved you, we repent. I pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures, I pray that you make us the people who know the truth and love the truth, repent when we transgress against the truth, people who know your love as you define, and people who carry a culture of speaking truth and love anywhere we go. We speak what needs to be said, we have the courage to say it, but it's only because we love. We pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures and show us that you call us to make room for people who disagree with us, to engage with them, to have hard conversations. I pray you remove any spirit of self-censorship from our church, from our homes. Bless our time in the Holy Scriptures, we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. My last sermon two weeks ago, I said some things that ruffled feathers, and I will address those comments today at the end of my sermon, so you have to pay attention until we get there. I've learned from my mistake, don't do it in the introduction. The title of the sermon is Ride or Die. I come from a big family, I have four siblings. And my extended family is also large, my dad has five siblings, my mom has 10 siblings. So I have family all over the world. And one of the things that our family, or one of the culture or core values of our family is we're ride or die. If you're part of my family and you text me when you're in a bind, I am there and I roll deep. I'll give you just a story from my own family. I remember when I was 13 years old, my goal in life, my American Dream, other people want picket fences, my American Dream was to get a car. So at age 17 I finally saved up enough for a car, I got my license. I bought a stick shift but I didn't know how to drive a stick shift, but it was cheaper than the not. So I got this car and I loved it. It was an Audi 80, just old, nasty, just problems all the time, but it was fast. And one time I got pulled over by a cop for doing 79 in a 35. It was a speed trap. I was doing 79 in a 55 but it turned to 35 downhill. And so my ticket was $450, I go to my dad and I say, "Paps, help me out." He said, "You bought the car, all the bills with the car are your bills." So I had to get a job, and I got a job. The only job I could get was delivering newspapers. So I'd wake up at 3:30 AM, and go to the place and fold up the newspapers. And then this is back in the day. This is people used to read newspapers. This is back like AOL, like Juno, like Jan.Vezikov@juno.com. You know what I'm saying? AIM, my name was Jantheman. Way back. Way back. So I realized it's hard to drive stick shift and deliver newspapers, so I would just stall all the time and it was terrible, late for school that first day. I come home, I tell my sister, "I can't deliver newspapers in my car." She said, "What time are we waking up?" 3:30 AM she's with me. I'm driving, she's tossing. And we did that for a month, just long enough to get $450. Ride or die. This text doesn't make any sense unless you understand that St. Paul views church like that, many of us don't. Many of us don't understand church like that. Many of us view church as it's like the movies. How often do you go to the movies when something good is playing? St. Paul viewed as family. He was like, "I'm a spiritual father, and I'm going to say things that are going to grieve you because I love you. And I'm doing it for your good, for your benefit because we're ride or die." That's the heart. And if you know me, I preach expositional message, I go verse by verse, and we explain. This one's a little different. I'm going to cover all the verses, but this one is kind of like an onion. You don't really understand the heart of what's going on unless you go layer by layer, by layer, by layer and then you get into the heart, and that's what we'll do today. 2nd Corinthians 7:12-16, would you look at the text with me? "Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. I do not say this to condemn you for I said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. I'm acting with great boldness toward you, I have great pride in you. I'm filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within. But God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoice still more. For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I see that the letter grieved you though only for a while. As it is I rejoice, not because you are aggrieved, but because you were aggrieved into repenting, for you felt a Godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this Godly grief has produced anew but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing with zeal or punishment, at every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. Therefore, we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame, but just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. And his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice because I have perfect confidence in you." This is the reading of God's Holy and infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. St. Paul starts with this phrase, this metaphor, this image of making room. "Make room for us," he says. He started the language. 2nd Corinthians 6:11-13, he said, "We've spoken freely to you Corinthians, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return, I speak as to children, widen your hearts also." St. Paul is speaking as a spiritual father. This is Papa Paul. I love you, that's why I've spoken hard words to soften your hearts. It was only because of love. My heart's wide open, is yours toward me? And then in 7:2 he says, "Make room in your hearts for us." In the Greek it just says, "Make room for us in your hearts." In the English translation, they put that in because the parallel is in your hearts, but he's saying, "Make room. Is there a room at the church that I planted? Is there room for me?" St. Paul is saying. "We have wronged no one and we've corrupted no one, and we have taken advantage of no one. In Mark chapter two, Jesus Christ goes back to his hometown of Capernaum, and he starts preaching, he starts preaching in the house. And the house is filled with religious leaders, they want to know what Jesus is teaching. And then the gentleman that gets to the door he gets carried there by his four friends, and his friends want this gentleman to be healed by Jesus, but the religious leaders won't let him in. They won't make room for a person who is different than them. They don't make room for a person who needs Jesus more than they need Jesus. And then finally, the friends were like, "All right." They climbed to the top of the house, they dismantled the roof, so I always feel bad for the owner of that house, but what are you going to do? The guy is more important. Lo and Jesus heals and forgives his sins. Jesus makes room for him. Jesus knows what it feels like to be rejected, and so Jesus really does care about making room for those on the fringes, those who have been ostracized. And that's what St. Paul is saying is that, "I make room in the church. I love you." He said, "You have room in my heart, now let's reciprocate." And this is how we'll frame up our time. You know someone is in your heart when you're willing to be grieved by them. You're willing to grieve them, you're bold around them, you're willing to eagerly repent, you're willing to joyfully forgive, you're comforted by them, and you die or live with them. This applies to every relationship. First, you're willing to be grieved by them, this is what it means to love. What it means to love is you open your heart to someone else. You let them in, you make them family, and you make yourself susceptible, you make yourself vulnerable to being hurt by them. That's what it means to love. It's the same thing God did, he creates us. And he's not aloof. He's not just transcended, he's also imminent, he's with us and he feels when we offend. Genesis 6:5-6, this is right before the flood, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and had grieved him in his heart." He saw what was happening. Where is God when there's evil in the world? He's right there. He feels it. Just like Jesus Christ, he made himself vulnerable, God becoming man. He let those whom he loved crucify him. Isaiah says that Jesus was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was despised and we esteemed him not. This explains why St. Paul is so worried about this church. He planted the church, he's in Ephesus planting another church, he hears the church isn't doing well. They've allowed unrepentant sin in the church. They're actually celebrating the sin. And he hears about it, writes 1st Corinthians, hard words for hard hearts. And then he's grieved. How are the words accepted? Did they receive them and did they repent? And he says in verse four, he's worried, "I'm acting with great boldness toward you, I have great pride in you, I'm filled with comfort in all our affliction. I'm overflowing with joy for even when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. We were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within." He's anxious for the church. He's afflicted with thoughts about the church. How many of you think about church outside of church? How many of you think about church on vacation? I had last Sunday off, I could do anything I want. I could have slept in till 2:00 PM. I came to church. On my day off? Yeah. It's my favorite thing in the world. Which service did you? I went to both. I was the last person out of the room. You know what I do for fun? I study other churches. You know what I do? Honestly, you know what? I listen to sermons. I watch football, but I listen to sermons while watching football. I redeem the time. Tanya and I went to a marriage retreat to Maine, the Cliff Hotel. It's awesome. We had an oceanfront room and I didn't think about church once. We were there Monday through Wednesday. Didn't think about church once for like an hour. Then I got texts and emails and phone calls, and then I realized, "Yeah, it's family." If your mom calls you when you're on vacation, will you pick up? It's family. That's how he feels. St. Paul here picks up from the excursus. In chapter 2:13 what he did was, he was telling us about why he's writing, how he felt. He was writing about the fact that he's in Ephesus and he sends Titus to Corinth, and Titus then is supposed to bring a message back to Paul, but Paul waited. Titus didn't come, he goes to Troas hoping to meet Titus there, and then he goes to Macedonia's church planting, and still thinking about the church the whole time. He's exhausted. He said, "Our bodies had no rest." I once heard a pastor say, "Don't complain about how hard your job is to your people." He said, "Everyone thinks you work one hour a week and you play golf the rest of the time." He said, "What do you want? A violin? What do you want?" Well, St. Paul knows, he's comforted by the fact that God knows. God knows. This is verse six. "But God who comforts the downcast," the word downcast here is depressed. St. Paul experienced a spiritual depression. Not a physical depression, a spiritual depression over his concerns about the church. He said, "But God comforts the downcast. Comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal, so that I rejoice still more." His joy is so wrapped up in the joy of the church and their health and their maturity and their growth, that he doesn't experience joy until they experience joy. Any parent knows when your baby is sick at night, you can't sleep normally. You can't. You're riddled with anxiety because you love this little human being. You're allowing that person's pain to be your own pain. You're allowing them to grieve you. Phillips Brooks was a pastor in Boston, you see his statues Downtown. He said this and he wrote a work called The Influence of Jesus. He said, "To be a true minister to man is always to accept new happiness and new distress. The man who gives himself to other men can never be a holy sad man, but no more can he be a man of unclouded gladness. To him shall come with every deeper consecration of before untasted joy, but in the same cup shall be mixed a sorrow that it was beyond his power to feel before." That's how deeply St. Paul loved. He's willing to be grieved. God knows this, God's experienced that kind of love. Titus finally arrived, brought encouragement to Paul, and Paul experiences immense relief. That the message was received, the people repented, the relationship has been reconciled with God. They showed Titus hospitality, communicated their eagerness to see Paul. But it wasn't until that moment that he could rest. 2nd Corinthians 2:13 before the excursus he said, "My spirit was not at rest, because I did not find my brother Titus there so I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia." Parallel language, 2nd Corinthians 7:5, meaning this is the end of the excursus. "For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within." Do you love your brothers and sisters like this? Do you love brothers and sisters in the church like this, where you're willing to be grieved by them? And I say this specifically to a church in Boston. I mean a lot of people, they just come to Boston, this is just a pit stop. This is just, "I'm here. I'm going to get what I need, and then I'm out. I'm going to Florida." "Can I come with you?" But while you're here, love like this. 2nd Corinthians 7:13, "Therefore we are comforted." This is the whole idea of like he's comforted by them, meaning he was grieving over them, meaning he wraps up his joy with them. "And besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all." You can't love without opening yourself up to being grieved. God loves God. Jesus loves Jesus. Holy Spirit loves us. As Christians, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and Ephesians 4:30 says, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit with your sin. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit." Second is you're willing to grieve them. If you really love them, you're willing to grieve them. 2nd Corinthians 7:8, "For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while." What's going on here? "I regret writing what I wrote, but I don't regret writing what I wrote. I'm sorry that it made you feel sorry, but I'm not really sorry because you're sorry." That's what he's saying. And sometimes I do this where I say something, and I'm like, "Oh, I'm so sorry." And they're like, "Are you really?" I'm like, "No, because we're finally talking about the thing." That's what he's saying. He loves them enough to have the hard conversation, the uncomfortable conversation. That's what it means to love. You want the best for the person. This is what it means to love a child, to parent a child. You want the best for the child, so every once in a while you get down and you look your child in the eyes and you say, "I love you more than anyone else on earth. I love you more than your mom does. I love you more than anyone else on earth." And listen to me, I need to tell you something. This is not a comfortable conversation. Do you think I want to have this? No, I don't. But I love you more than I love my comfort so I'm going to speak. No one likes a surgeon's knife, but pain is worth it if it cuts out the disease. Unpleasant truth, life-altering truths. This is what it means to preach the gospel and to teach how to live a life in a manner worthy of the gospel. You tell people, "Hey, your life is not in step with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're not living as someone who is saved." To have that conversation, you tell people that they need to change their life. That's not easy. Life-altering, lifestyle implication truths. Sit down with someone and say, "Hey, we got to talk. I know where you were this weekend. I saw from your Instagram story. It wasn't even your story, you got tagged in it, and I know exactly where you were. And that story didn't stay in Vegas." A conversation like that. Lifestyle conversations. St. Paul says, "If you love, you speak directly." Jesus was willing to grieve the people closest to him. His closest friends. Who Was Jesus' best friend? It was Peter. John thinks it was John, but he wrote down in the Gospel of John, a little biased I think. I think Jesus was like, "John, you're my best friend," and then, "Peter, you know you're my best friend." He goes to Peter, he's like Peter, "You're my rock, you're my foundation. I will build my church using you as you proclaim the Gospel." And sometimes Peter was dumb as a rock too. So in the very next breath, he says to Jesus, Jesus just told him, "Hey, I'm going to die to save you." And Jesus says, "No." "Jesus, I will go to war for you." And Jesus says, "Get behind me," and what does he call him? Satan. "Get behind me Satan." That's offensive. And at that moment, Peter could have written Jesus an email and said, "Jesus, you're not a good pastor. I'm leaving this church. I'm going to find another one of our pastors that doesn't call me Satan." He doesn't deal with the state of friends like, "Yeah, all right, my bad. Hug it out." Truth, love. You can speak truth when you know you love each other no matter what." I got a sister who's a vegan. She's done all the analysis and she says she believes that this is the healthiest way to live. I always tell her, "You got a supplement. If you got a supplement and stuff, then you're not getting that stuff." "Oh, yeah..." I make fun of her all the time for it, she makes fun of me for eating meat. We're still family. On her birthday, I got her a vegan sweatshirt. It's pink. It's made with vegan materials. Because that's what families do. You speak about uncomfortable things because you know you're not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere. That's love. And three is you're bold around them, because you're not afraid of offending them because they're not going anywhere. You're bold around them. 2nd Corinthians 7:4, "I am acting with great boldness toward you. I have great pride in you. I'm filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I'm overflowing with joy." So look how, "I love you, I am proud of you, I take comfort in you. You know that. And I'm going to speak with great boldness." And all this is in the Greek is freedom to speak. Cut to the chase, speak plainly. Jesus used the same phrase in John 16:25. He said, "I have said these things to you in figures of speech, the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father." I'm going to speak plain. I'm going to speak plain to you. The more you love a person, the more you're willing to just cut to the chase, and I respect that. That's when I know you really love me. When you have to sit down with someone and you have to say, "All right, this meeting is going to be an hour. We'll spend the first 45 minutes talking about how I really appreciate this person and I love this person, and then finally, I'm going to say what needs to be said. And the whole time I'm like, "I know what you're doing. Just get to the point." The longer you know each other, my wife and I, 16 years. October 23rd was 16 years from the day that we met. We're at a point where she was sitting in the first service up top. She sits up top when she thinks it's going to be controversial sermon, and she communicates with me through the air. If you've been married for a while, you know. "I know exactly what you're saying." She didn't like my sermon last week, or two weeks ago. I said, "Why didn't you?" I said, "Did I say anything untrue?" She said, "No." She said, "I'm just afraid people are going to hate you and you're going to end up in prison." I said, "Oh, so you get it. We're on the same page." She's like, "Yeah." She said, "Also, can you stop freaking people out with General Jan?" I was like, "I was talking about holy war. What do you want?" So today I'm, "This is Papa Jan." This is more. I even wore a different shirt. This is my dad bod shirt. Just I didn't even do anything to my hair. I'm like, "This is dad. We're going to have dad jokes and we're going to talk about what matters." You're bold, you can speak. What the Holy Spirit has laid on you, you can speak that with people that you truly love. And I'm afraid, I'm afraid that we're losing that at this church. We're definitely losing in the culture, I'm afraid we're losing it. One of my jobs as lead pastor and founder of this church, one of my jobs is I am a culture creator. Whenever I see something in the church, where I don't like the culture, I speak and we change things. For me, it's really important to have tremendous music. I love... I wish so...We have one of the best worship bands in all of the nation. And I know it because I watch other church services for fun. We do. They crush it, they crush it. Even on the livestream like, "Yeah." It's better in person, but even in a live stream, meeting it up. That's culture. Good coffee, its culture. If we have food, we're going to have good food. We're going to have a brisket and there's going to be enough brisket for everyone. I kind of laid an egg last time, I take ownership. Next time we're going to have more brisket. Culture. And I want a culture, I dream about a culture of being able to speak truth however uncomfortable, because we love each other that much. Where there is no self-censorship, where there are no topics off the table, bring whatever topic, free liberal exchange of ideas. Harvard University was started with that at the heart by the Puritans. They said, "This is how we are going to reclaim, recreate culture. We're going to take every single idea, whatever subject, and we're going to analyze it through the lens of Holy Scripture. If the idea is God glorified, we test the spirit, it glorifies God, it's going to further the common good, it's a good true beautiful idea, yes, we take it." "No, we reject it." We'll say it has gone to war against truth, and it does that with postmodern, there is no truth. And then censorship, people aren't speaking about what's true. St. Paul here says no. Like Jesus who is truth, we don't tiptoe around the truth. I get emails and texts and calls every once in a while with good friends of mine listening online, they're like, "I can't believe you said that thing." And I always, I like, "Why? Is it not true?" Like, "No, it's true, you just can't say in Boston." I say, "Why not? Is there some force field around Boston where there's things you can't say?" Apparently there is. And you know this force field, I experienced this force field. I just spent three days with my wife in Maine, we had our room was ocean view. I've never had that in my life. I spent three hours on the balcony just staring at the ocean, talking to God. My wife's like, "You going crazy?" I was like, "No, I'm praying." Because I like praying, I'm going to keep worshiping God, turn on music. And then I'm driving home on Store Road, my wife and I we weren't even talking. We were talking but not talking. As soon as I hit Store Road, I go, "Oh." Just angst, pain, ennui, the Russian word called toska, and you should look it up, T-O-S-K-A, toska. Tolstoy wrote about it, and Solzhenitsyn did. My soul was crushed. My wife is like, "What's happening to you? Can we go back to Maine?" I was like, "Please." Going honestly four hours. I had a brother who stopped by my place and he's like, he didn't say anything but he knew. And then three days later, he's like, "Yeah, you were just weird." It was like depressed, I was depressed. It's spiritual war, and it manifests itself where you can't say things. No, we're going to speak truth in Boston as it is in heaven. And we need to fight for that culture. Four is you're willing to eagerly repent when someone speaks truth to you. And you say, "Yeah, this is true. It's from the Holy Scriptures. I'm not lying. My life isn't in line with the scriptures." Verse two he says, "Make room in your hearts." For us, we've wronged no one, we've corrupted no one, we've taken advantage of no one. So before St. Paul, the great St. Paul starts poking around in other people's eyes to take our specs, he checks his own eyes. He looks at the Holy Scripture as a mirror and he said, "I got a log." Do I? If I got a spec. He says, "Show me where I'm wrong. Show me where I've sinned. Change my mind. I'm willing to repent." The false teachers accused him of lying, of being unreliable, because he didn't come for a visit. He couldn't control those things, he's not a sovereign. He's asking, "Did we sin against you?" He's saying, "I have a clear conscience to you." We don't believe, I don't believe in sinlessness. Only Jesus was sinless. So we don't believe in sinlessness, but we do believe as Christians in sinning less. As you grow in your faith, you are to be more sanctified. You are to grow in holiness. With day by day, a year goes by, you should be more holy then you were a year ago. And when people see you they should say, "What happened? You're different." Too many of you are managing sin, the same sin over and over. You commit the sin and then you go repent, you take communion, you go commit the sin. Just a cycle of wasted life, wasted talents, wasted zeal. My wife told me last week, she's like, "You're talking about holy war? There's people in the church who have not won the war over porn." Holy War. We'll win that war first, win that battle. I'm tired of pastors getting up and talking about, "Oh, we're so broken. Oh, yeah, we're so sinful," and talking about it with a defeatist spirit as if true freedom can't be experienced from a sin. Jesus Christ said, "If you struggle with sexual sin, cut off your arm and pluck out your eye." Savage. I'm going to write a book called Savage Jesus. And I'm saying that out loud just so no one steals the title. Stop. Stop sinning. Stop sinning. True freedom can be found, and it feels so much better than sin management. So we repent when we are called out? Jesus never repented so we can't look to him and say, "What does repentance look like?" But he did repent on our behalf. On the cross he said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Meaning ignorance is not a defense against God. At the judgment, you can't say, "I didn't know." Because you know what Jesus says? It doesn't matter, you're still guilty, and you're still guilty because you didn't know. You didn't know. You did know that was a sin, you did know. And God knows that you know. So we are to repent, and we are to believe, and this is how we grow in the Christian life. We repent and we believe, we repent and we believe and we got blind spots brothers and sisters next to us. They tell us speak truth in love. The first of Martin Luther's 95 theses, he says this, "When our Lord and master Jesus Christ said repent, he will the entire life of believers be one of repentance." Real. That's your whole life. Every day repent, believe, repent, believe. What is repentance? How can we know that it's real repentance? How can we know that it's true, and can it be distinguished from its imitations? Yes. And that's what St. Paul continues. He says, "I'm willing to joyfully forgive," and that's point five, "because I know that this is a real, true repentance." Verse nine, "As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved but because you were grieved into repenting. For you fairly Godly grieved so that you suffered no loss through us, for Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Whereas worldly grief produces death." Now he's differentiating, he's qualifying repentance. There's true repentance and there's false repentance. There's true repentance that starts with a Godly grief, and there's false repentance that starts with a worldly grief and it only ends in death. This one ends in salvation without regret. The reason why he needs to differentiate is because they look the same in the very beginning. In the early stages, it's hard to differentiate which one's real and which one isn't. Because they're sorrow. Both of them are grief. When you sin and you experience the consequences of that sin, you don't have to be a Christian to be miserable about messing up your life. You ask anyone in prison, if they're grieved, they'll tell you they're grieved at being there, at their situation. When the debts run up and the bills come in, and they can't be paid and bankruptcy looms. Played around with a sin, all of a sudden you got addicted to it, and it seems like you can't live without it. You're unmarried and there's a baby on the way. Words are spoken and there's no taking them back. Marital infidelity, the damage is done, you try to rebuild but things will never be as they were completely before. A lie was told, found out, theft, impure. Whatever the sin, troubled pain, heartbreak, grief and sorrow follow in the wake. And tears flow, self-accusation, emotional wounds, but the question is, are you convicted of the sin? Is it grief over the sin or is it grief over being exposed? Worldly grief is what people will experience at the judgment. It's when you're weeping and gnashing of teeth as they're sent to hell. That's grief. It's not Godly grief. You feel bad for yourself. You feel bad that you've sinned against yourself. You don't feel bad that you've sinned against God. You're not grieved that you grieved God. You're grieved that you're grieving. Issa, the Scripture says saw repentance with tears and never found. Judas Iscariot, three years with Jesus Christ, and then finally he realizes what he did. It's not real repentance. Peter and David, they weren't just sorry that they got caught, Peter and David were sorry that they sinned against the Holy God. And St. Paul does this, and I think he does this intentionally because I've seen him do it before. Before he gets to the word that he really wants to use, repentance, he uses a word that's very similar to it but it's very different. Verse eight, "For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it though I did regret it. For I see that letter grieved you, though not only for a while." The line between heaven and hell is the line between remorse and repentance. Regret, remorse, you feel sad on account of how things ended up. If you got on a time machine, you went back, you might change things. But it's my bad, I shouldn't have done that, it's my mistake. That's remorse. And it doesn't matter how deep your remorse, if it doesn't turn into repentance, it's not going to do anything. Matthew 27:3-5, the story of Judas, "Then when Judas his betrayer saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the others saying, "I've sinned by betraying innocent blood. I've sinned. I've sinned." They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and he went hanged himself. "I've sinned. I've changed my mind. I shouldn't have done that." And he didn't repent to Jesus Christ for betraying him. He could have and Jesus would have forgiven him. 2nd Corinthians 7:9, "As it is, I rejoice, not because you are grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. You were grieved into repenting for you felt a Godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us." Repent. This is metanoia. Turning around, it's a change of mind that leads to a change of heart. And the change of mind, change of heart leads to a change of life. You change how you live. Your pattern of life changes. The things you do change. Luke 22:54-62, Peter who denied Jesus shows us what true repentance looks like. "Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house and Peter was following at a distance. They had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light, and looking closely at him said, "This man also was with him." But he denied it saying, "Woman, I do not know him." And a little later, someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted saying, "Certainly this man also was with him for he too is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you're talking about." And immediately as he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. He went out and wept bitterly." Judas was grieved over the fact that he sinned. Period. Peter, as he was sitting, looks and sees the eyes of Jesus Christ looking at him, blood, sweat, tears, crown of thorns. He realized that he didn't just sin, he sinned against Christ. That's true repentance. "God, I'm sorry, I've sinned against you. I grieve over the fact that I've sinned against you. I grieve over the fact that I've grieved your heart." Sin isn't just breaking commandment, sin is breaking the heart of God. "Yes, I shouldn't have but I did. I repent." There's no lawyering up, there's no self-justification. We've sinned against God. Our sin doesn't just offend God, it pierces God. Zechariah 12:10, "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so that when they look on me, on whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly for him as one weeps over a firstborn." So when caught in sin, repent to Jesus, for your sin against Jesus. And even better, repent before getting caught. And better yet, mortify your sin. When repenting, repent with the spirit of King David who when the prophet comes and the prophet Nathan comes to him and convicts him of sin, David repents. Psalm 51:1-4, "Have mercy on me oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly for my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against you. You only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment." Against you only. He sinned against Bathsheba, he sinned against Uriah, but he said, "Yeah, I've sinned against them, but the most egregious sin, the reason why I sinned against them is because I already sinned against you." That's where true repentance starts. Jesus Christ told us to mourn over our sin, that it's a blessing. Matthew 5:3-4, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." Verse 11, "For see what earnestness this Godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves with indignation, with fear, with longing, with zeal, with punishment. At every point you've proved yourself innocent in the matter. Remorse led to true repentance and true repentance leads to reconciliation, restoration, relationship with God and relationship with people. This is why repentance leads to action. Westminster Shorter Catechism defines repentance like this. What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin, an apprehension of the mercy of God and Christ does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God. Full purpose endeavor after new obedience. True repentance, "And God forgive me, and God I'm yours. How do you want me to live? What do you want me to change? It leads to a change of life. And St. Paul, I just love his heart. They've hurt him, they've hurt God, but when he hears about their repentance, the first thing, he doesn't gloat, he's not like, "I told you so. You wicked sinners." They repent and he's like, "Come on. You're back in the family. You're back in the house. We'll make room for you." When people repent, we don't gloat. Just like God doesn't gloat. God is so willing to forgive. God is standing at the door and he's waiting. He's waiting for the prodigals to come home. He's right there. And Scripture says that there's more joy in heaven over the repentance of one sinner than over 99 who are no need of repentance. The fact that God rejoices when we repent should make us eager to repent. Six says, "You know you love someone when you're comforted by them. When just their presence brings you comfort, that's when you know you really love them. 2nd Corinthians 7:12-16, "So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God." I'll deal with that verse. "Therefore, we are comforted, and besides our own comfort, we rejoice still more the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all, for whatever boast I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting for Titus has proved true, and his affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all and how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice because I have complete confidence in you." He's saying, I didn't write just because of the one who did the wrong, that's the man who committed an incestuous relationship with his dad's wife. I'm not writing just because of the man that was wronged and suffered the wrongness of his dad. He said, "I wrote so that you would change." The culture of the church would change. And when they repented, he rejoices with those who rejoice, he takes comfort in them, delight from them just like God does in us. 2nd Corinthians 7:6, "But God who comforts the downcast comforted us by the coming of Titus." And point seven is you know you love someone when you die or live with them. 2nd Corinthians 7:3, "I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together." What a strange way to talk to Christians. Have you ever talked to a Christian like this? We're ride or die. He spent 18 months with them. I would die with you and I'd live with you. There's some people I would die for, living with? Oh. It's like die and live. And he starts with die to show us how deadly serious he is. He's saying, "I'm not condemning you, we're family, we're brothers and sisters." And this is really the heart of the whole text. Every other verse is just a layer of the onion. Paul never lost confidence of the fact that they were Christians, and they proved Paul right. He says, "You're already in our hearts, and we know that we are in your heart as well. We saw that from your repentance." This is what he does in verse 12. "So although I wrote to you, it wasn't for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God." He's saying, I wrote those hard things not just to deal with a particular situation, I wrote it so that you see just how much you love the family of God already. You've made room for us. Continue to do so. We're already in your hearts, just like you are in our hearts. What he says is, "Live together and die together." He uses that language so flippantly because he's like, "It doesn't matter." We're going to spend eternity together, brothers and sisters so we might as well start getting along now. You will spend eternity with people who got vaccinated and you will spend eternity with people who did not. If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, repent of your sins, then you will say at the family table. You will have dinner together for all of eternity. If you don't believe in Jesus, you will spend eternity in hell, which is just like COVID but for eternity. The COVID tension, you know that? That's what hell is. Quarantine here and isolation, that's hell. So trust in Jesus. That's my simplest way of contextualizing the gospel. So since we're on the topic, my wife has three trigger words that turn off her mind. COVID, vaccine and masks. As soon as she hears them, mind off. It's just like something trips and that's it. So I'm going to say a few things right now that will be hard to hear for two reasons that I see. The first reason is the sensitivity of the topic, the second is the simplicity of the analysis. Sensitivity of the topic. People have died. People have lost and people have suffered. I know I've lived through it. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't talk about a hard topic, so don't let the sensitivity of the topic check you out right now. Keep listening, please. And the simplicity of the analysis, I'm going to tell you words that you've heard before. And perhaps it's just the order of the words just slightly different and I don't want you to miss the profundity of the concept because the words are so simple. "Pastor Jan, why did you mention the politically charged topic that you did two weeks ago? Emotionally charged topic? Why did you mention? You usually don't." That's right. I usually don't. Because the things we deal with here are so much more important. Whenever something out there happens, just love each other, love God. Make sure you're going to heaven. But this thing is different. This thing is different because it's not going away. I waited, and I waited and I waited, and I was like, "A vaccine is going to come and we're stuffed. It's going." It's not. Because we have been so caught up in the details of our disrupted lives in the last 20 months, we perhaps have not understood the historical significance of what we have lived through. We have just lived through one of the greatest turning points in all of world history. Climactic. Things have changed. We're talking about the before times, and the new normal. Like an epoch has changed. We're talking about the New World Order. This one's different, and you say, "What about love, Jesus, simple? Isn't that what we focus on?" This has everything to do with love, Jesus, simple because the battle right now, the battle is being waged over the definition of love itself, of what it means to love, of what it means to be a loving person. That's under question right now. Jesus Christ gave us the great commandment, he said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself." I see my neighbor is hurting. You say, "But Pastor Jan, the reason I got the vaccine is because this is how I love God and how I love my neighbor." So should you. See, the first part I don't have issue with. That first part, you did the risk analysis. You got informed, educated, and this is how you choose to love yourself and how you choose to love your neighbor. It's a conscience issue. Okay, great. We're in the family of God together, that's... The very second you say, "So should you," you have entered different territory. You are adding rules to the commandment of God. It's called legalism. It's what the Pharisees did. Jesus Christ didn't tell me to love my neighbor as you love your neighbor, or as you love yourself. Jesus Christ didn't tell me, "Love my neighbor as the government tells me to love my neighbor. CDC, WHO, Fauci, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna." Jesus Christ told me to love my neighbor as I love whom? Love your neighbor as you love whom? Say it together, yourself. Well, that one word changes things. As you love yourself. So I put myself in the shoes of the person in my community group, she has antibodies. But she's being forced to get injected to keep her job, her livelihood. And I said, "Would I want to be put in that situation? No, I would not." And God forbid if the church ever put me in that situation. I'd have two questions, the first to myself, "Jan, why didn't you lead better? Why didn't you have the hard conversation? How did we get here?" And I'd ask, "Lord, is this a sign that I need to go plant a new church in Idaho, on a volcano with an airstrip, or Florida? Make America Florida again. Or Russia, that last bastion of freedom?" I just want to share my heart. And I know I'm an outlier here, I know, but just bear with me for just a little bit. I see out there creation of two classes, and I can't change that out there. I can't. I see it creeping in here. That's what concerns me. Point to one time in world history that this has been done, the creation of two classes and it hasn't led to bloodshed. The Nazis had their Untermensch, the underclass, the inferior people, Jews, gypsies, slobs, Black people, and people with physical disabilities, political prisoners. You're subhuman, you're not even human. And then there's the Übermensch, that's what it means to be a true human. That's what a loving human being is. Now we're living through, "Get the vaccine, enjoy society. Don't get it, but if you don't get it, it's your fault." Phrase, the pandemic of the unvaccinated? You're creating scapegoats and I know how this ends. I've seen this movie before. Two classes clean, unclean, obedient, stubborn, in, out, righteous, unrighteous, good, evil, loving, hateful. I know, I know. I'm one of the only people in the nation whose doing this. I was on a marriage retreat, 70 pastors and their wives. That was Monday. Tuesday we have breakfast, we have breakfast. All the pastors are in one room, all the pastor's wives are in the other room. And it's Q&A. "I got a Q&A, all right, I'll go." So I go. I sit in the back. I always sit in the back. I know I'm weird, and I start talking and people are like, "This guy is weird. What's he talking about?" I just know. There's not many rooms I walk into I'm like, "All right. I belong." I'm just weird. So I walk in and I sit in the back, I'm drinking my coffee, and the head guy comes up to me. He's like, "Hey, Jan, I want you to sit in the front. I got three seats up there and I want the room to look a little more full, so would you please sit there?" I hate when people do that. I never do that to anybody. Whatever. I respect the guy, I go to the front, I sit down, there's question and answer. "How do you lead your wife? How do you love your wife?" I'm like, "You guys are all pastors. Just love her. Talk about Scripture together. pray together, eat good food together. Have fun together. Tell her a joke. Make her laugh. That works." I'm sitting there, I'm like, "All right." Okay, now we're half an hour in, we got another half an hour to go, people stop asking questions. And I'm like, "All right, I got nothing else to do." And I said, "Are all questions allowed?" They're like, "Sure." The guy who was leading is from Brooklyn, the guy who was ahead of church planting here in Greater Boston, and the guy who's a megachurch pastor in Georgia, those were the three guys. First guy says, "Oh, here's my question." I said, "How do you minister to people in your church who are getting fired from their jobs for not getting the vaccine, and the religious exemption isn't accepted?" First guy says, "Religious exemption? I didn't know we have two different religions." I know. What he's saying is, Christians don't even ask this question, because the loving thing to do is to get the vaccine. In his mind, this isn't even a category. It's like these Christians aren't even welcome to the conversation. The second guy said, "I have never even thought about that." The third guy said, "We just decided not to give out religious exemptions." I know. I'm one of the only people that's ringing the bell. Do you realize what is happening here? This is an ungodly worldly sentiment that's creeping. There's churches. I used to deeply respect these pastors. On their website it says, "We have seating arrangements. On the first floor, it's for vaccinated people. For everyone else, you can sit over there." Okay, verses in James that says not to do that. What concerns me is this ungodly sentiment creeping in here where there's people in the church and I hear things, walk around asking, "Are you vaccinated so I know whether I can hug you?" No, no, no, get that out of here. Do what the rest of us do. We don't hug. We awkward fist bomb just like, "Yeah, I'll hug you with my eyes." Do that. Don't bring... I don't check for vaccination status at the door of my house. I don't do that. I'll close with this. I was at another pastors meeting this week in Truman Temple, and they had chicken and rice guys, it was so good. And they had trays of food, really, really good. And so I heaping plate, annihilated it, and then see there's more food. I'm like, "Which tray am I taking home?" But they didn't do that. But they gave us styrofoam little things that you can take food home, so I pile it up. And just I'm pumped, I'm bringing food home for my girls. How do you love your wife? You bring food home. Hunters and gatherers. So I'm walking down the street, walking Park Street into the T, and as I'm on Park Street there's a gentleman sitting there in front of the Park Street, and he says, "Do you have money?" "I don't have cash." I wish he had a sign with those little Venmo. I wanted to give him that tip. Then he looked at, he's like, "Food. Give me your food." I was like, "All right." I gave it to him. He opens it up, and he says, "My man." It looked that good. And then I walk into the T and I have so much joy on my heart and I'm thinking, "Why do I have so much joy?" It's not because I did this thing because it wasn't my food, it was just like, God. And I was like, it hit me, "He treated me like a human being not as a disease carrier." He looked at me and he said, "You're a human being. I'm a human being, you got food, can I have some?" "Yeah, okay." That's love. That's love. That's what it means to love each other. You see the humanity in the person. And this is my fear, it's only lasted 20 months. We stopped seeing the humanity in each other. We stopped loving each other the way Jesus called us. In the church of God, it's a family and there's no partiality. There's no prejudice, there's no discrimination. It doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you dress, it doesn't matter how you smell, it doesn't matter where you're from, it doesn't matter to me your vaccination status, I will love you either way. And also you're not made righteous through your vaccine, you're not made righteous through not getting vax. So this spirit of judgmentalism, of classifying in your mind who are the right Christians and who are the wrong Christians, no, no. We're made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood gives us immunity from Satan, sin and death. Have you repented to Jesus Christ? Well, welcome to the family. "I'd live with the family," St. Paul says, "I'd die with the family." Jesus lived with the family, died for his family. He makes room for us. Have you made room for him and have you made room in your hearts for those whom he has accepted, even if their perspective is different than yours? Make room in your hearts for us just like Jesus made room in his heart for you. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for this word. We thank you for the fact that in this church we can have hard conversations because we love each other and we want to make room for more people here. Holy Spirit continue to use us in that. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Have you ever seen a mob? It can be a very scary thing! Paul was staying in Ephesus and one of the local silversmiths got angry at him, getting others around him angry, and you will have to listen to find out what will happen to Paul!Year C Quarter 4 Week 45All Bible verses are from the NKJV.Podcast produced by: Katie ChitwoodIf you have enjoyed this program and would like to know more, go to our website: www.startingwithjesus.comWrite to Ms. Katie at seedpod@startingwithjesus.com to let me know how much you are enjoying this podcast!The Bible story material used in today's devotional podcast has been used with permission from My Bible First. If you would like your own copy, please visit My Bible First's website or call 1-877-242-5317.If you would like to purchase your own Memory Verse CD or Songbook, go to Ouchita Hills Store (https://www.ouachitahillsacademy.org/store?page=1&store_category_id=0&sort_by=title&is_ascending=1&search=).Special thanks to: Bible Readings this week: SavannahSingers for this Quarter: Tory, Caleb, and Enoch Hall, Michael and Amy NelsonOutro: Pastor Jonathan ChitwoodLindsey Mills: Theme Music, www.lindseymillsmusic.com

Morning: Jeremiah 27–28 Jeremiah 27–28 (Listen) The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar 27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah1 the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD. 2 Thus the LORD said to me: “Make yourself straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. 3 Send word2 to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: 5 “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. 7 All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. 8 “‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the LORD, until I have consumed it by his hand. 9 So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.' 10 For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11 But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the LORD.”'” 12 To Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live. 13 Why will you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the LORD has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. 15 I have not sent them, declares the LORD, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.” 16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the LORD's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,' for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. 17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation? 18 If they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, then let them intercede with the LORD of hosts, that the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. 19 For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—21 thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22 They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.” Hananiah the False Prophet 28 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” 5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD, 6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles. 7 Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.” 10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. 11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way. 12 Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. 14 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.'” 15 And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the LORD.'” 17 In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died. Footnotes [1] 27:1 Or Jehoiakim [2] 27:3 Hebrew Send them (ESV) Evening: 2 Timothy 4 2 Timothy 4 (Listen) Preach the Word 4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound1 teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. Personal Instructions 9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia,2 Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Final Greetings 19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. 21 Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.3 22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.4 Footnotes [1] 4:3 Or healthy [2] 4:10 Some manuscripts Gaul [3] 4:21 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters [4] 4:22 The Greek for you is plural (ESV)

With family: 2 Kings 10; 2 Timothy 1 2 Kings 10 (Listen) Jehu Slaughters Ahab's Descendants 10 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of the city,1 to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons2 of Ahab, saying, 2 “Now then, as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, fortified cities also, and weapons, 3 select the best and fittest of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house.” 4 But they were exceedingly afraid and said, “Behold, the two kings could not stand before him. How then can we stand?” 5 So he who was over the palace, and he who was over the city, together with the elders and the guardians, sent to Jehu, saying, “We are your servants, and we will do all that you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever is good in your eyes.” 6 Then he wrote to them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side, and if you are ready to obey me, take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time.” Now the king's sons, seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who were bringing them up. 7 And as soon as the letter came to them, they took the king's sons and slaughtered them, seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets and sent them to him at Jezreel. 8 When the messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king's sons,” he said, “Lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning.” 9 Then in the morning, when he went out, he stood and said to all the people, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these? 10 Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the LORD has done what he said by his servant Elijah.” 11 So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining. 12 Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, 13 Jehu met the relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah, and he said, “Who are you?” And they answered, “We are the relatives of Ahaziah, and we came down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” 14 He said, “Take them alive.” And they took them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two persons, and he spared none of them. 15 And when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. And he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart true to my heart as mine is to yours?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said,3 “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. And Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. 16 And he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD.” So he4 had him ride in his chariot. 17 And when he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had wiped them out, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke to Elijah. Jehu Strikes Down the Prophets of Baal 18 Then Jehu assembled all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much. 19 Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests. Let none be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal. Whoever is missing shall not live.” But Jehu did it with cunning in order to destroy the worshipers of Baal. 20 And Jehu ordered, “Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it. 21 And Jehu sent throughout all Israel, and all the worshipers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And they entered the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to the other. 22 He said to him who was in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out the vestments for all the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out the vestments for them. 23 Then Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab, and he said to the worshipers of Baal, “Search, and see that there is no servant of the LORD here among you, but only the worshipers of Baal.” 24 Then they5 went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, “The man who allows any of those whom I give into your hands to escape shall forfeit his life.” 25 So as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the officers, “Go in and strike them down; let not a man escape.” So when they put them to the sword, the guard and the officers cast them out and went into the inner room of the house of Baal, 26 and they brought out the pillar that was in the house of Baal and burned it. 27 And they demolished the pillar of Baal, and demolished the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day. Jehu Reigns in Israel 28 Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel. 29 But Jehu did not turn aside from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin—that is, the golden calves that were in Bethel and in Dan. 30 And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” 31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin. 32 In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: 33 from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the Valley of the Arnon, that is, Gilead and Bashan. 34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 35 So Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his place. 36 The time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years. Footnotes [1] 10:1 Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew rulers of Jezreel [2] 10:1 Hebrew lacks of the sons [3] 10:15 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks Jehu said [4] 10:16 Septuagint, Syriac, Targum; Hebrew they [5] 10:24 Septuagint he (compare verse 25) (ESV) 2 Timothy 1 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Guard the Deposit Entrusted to You 3 I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. 4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9 who saved us and called us to1 a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,2 10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11 for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.3 13 Follow the pattern of the sound4 words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. Footnotes [1] 1:9 Or with [2] 1:9 Greek before times eternal [3] 1:12 Or what I have entrusted to him; Greek my deposit [4] 1:13 Or healthy (ESV) In private: Psalm 119:97–120; Hosea 2 Psalm 119:97–120 (Listen) Mem 97   Oh how I love your law!    It is my meditation all the day.98   Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,    for it is ever with me.99   I have more understanding than all my teachers,    for your testimonies are my meditation.100   I understand more than the aged,1    for I keep your precepts.101   I hold back my feet from every evil way,    in order to keep your word.102   I do not turn aside from your rules,    for you have taught me.103   How sweet are your words to my taste,    sweeter than honey to my mouth!104   Through your precepts I get understanding;    therefore I hate every false way. Nun 105   Your word is a lamp to my feet    and a light to my path.106   I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,    to keep your righteous rules.107   I am severely afflicted;    give me life, O LORD, according to your word!108   Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD,    and teach me your rules.109   I hold my life in my hand continually,    but I do not forget your law.110   The wicked have laid a snare for me,    but I do not stray from your precepts.111   Your testimonies are my heritage forever,    for they are the joy of my heart.112   I incline my heart to perform your statutes    forever, to the end.2 Samekh 113   I hate the double-minded,    but I love your law.114   You are my hiding place and my shield;    I hope in your word.115   Depart from me, you evildoers,    that I may keep the commandments of my God.116   Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,    and let me not be put to shame in my hope!117   Hold me up, that I may be safe    and have regard for your statutes continually!118   You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,    for their cunning is in vain.119   All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,    therefore I love your testimonies.120   My flesh trembles for fear of you,    and I am afraid of your judgments. Footnotes [1] 119:100 Or the elders [2] 119:112 Or statutes; the reward is eternal (ESV) Hosea 2 (Listen) Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished 2 1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,”2 and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.”3 2   “Plead with your mother, plead—    for she is not my wife,    and I am not her husband—  that she put away her whoring from her face,    and her adultery from between her breasts;3   lest I strip her naked    and make her as in the day she was born,  and make her like a wilderness,    and make her like a parched land,    and kill her with thirst.4   Upon her children also I will have no mercy,    because they are children of whoredom.5   For their mother has played the whore;    she who conceived them has acted shamefully.  For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,    who give me my bread and my water,    my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'6   Therefore I will hedge up her4 way with thorns,    and I will build a wall against her,    so that she cannot find her paths.7   She shall pursue her lovers    but not overtake them,  and she shall seek them    but shall not find them.  Then she shall say,    ‘I will go and return to my first husband,    for it was better for me then than now.'8   And she did not know    that it was I who gave her    the grain, the wine, and the oil,  and who lavished on her silver and gold,    which they used for Baal.9   Therefore I will take back    my grain in its time,    and my wine in its season,  and I will take away my wool and my flax,    which were to cover her nakedness.10   Now I will uncover her lewdness    in the sight of her lovers,    and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.11   And I will put an end to all her mirth,    her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,    and all her appointed feasts.12   And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,    of which she said,  ‘These are my wages,    which my lovers have given me.'  I will make them a forest,    and the beasts of the field shall devour them.13   And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals    when she burned offerings to them  and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry,    and went after her lovers    and forgot me, declares the LORD. The Lord's Mercy on Israel 14   “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,    and bring her into the wilderness,    and speak tenderly to her.15   And there I will give her her vineyards    and make the Valley of Achor5 a door of hope.  And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,    as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. 16 “And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,' and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.' 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish6 the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. 21   “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD,    I will answer the heavens,    and they shall answer the earth,22   and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,    and they shall answer Jezreel,723     and I will sow her for myself in the land.  And I will have mercy on No Mercy,8    and I will say to Not My People,9 ‘You are my people';    and he shall say, ‘You are my God.'” Footnotes [1] 2:1 Ch 2:3 in Hebrew [2] 2:1 Hebrew ammi, which means my people [3] 2:1 Hebrew ruhama, which means she has received mercy [4] 2:6 Hebrew your [5] 2:15 Achor means trouble; compare Joshua 7:26 [6] 2:18 Hebrew break [7] 2:22 Jezreel means God will sow [8] 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ruhama [9] 2:23 Hebrew Lo-ammi (ESV)

Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.—Thanks for joining us for a special edition of Passion Daily as Pastor Ben Stuart guides us through a twenty-day look at Paul's last letter in scripture, 2 Timothy.—Want to listen on the go? Check out the Passion Daily Podcast available wherever you listen to podcasts. https://passion.link/passiondailypodcast—Pastor Ben's newest book, Rest and War, is now available for preorder: https://passion.link/restandwar—Pastor Ben Stuart will be joining us at Passion 2022 in Atlanta, Ga this January. If you're 18-25 you can register today: https://passion.link/register

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/222/29 Over time, our love for God either tends to grow more rich or more routine. But Dr. Tony Evans says that when that second one happens, it not only leaves our hearts empty, it leaves our churches empty, too. Join him as he shows us how we can find our way back to our first love.