Podcasts about Epistle

The commandments are about making us more, not less, alive. Thursday • 7/17/2025 •Thursday of the Fifth Week After Pentecost (Proper 10) This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 37; 1 Samuel 20:24–42; Acts 13:1–12; Mark 2:23–3:6 This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Change or Die.Wednesday • 7/16/2025 •Wednesday of the Fifth Week After Pentecost (Proper 10) This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 38; 1 Samuel 20:1–23; Acts 12:18–25; Mark 2:13-22 This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For David, “the smoke goes upwards” for the sake of God's mission in the world.Tuesday • 7/15/2025 •Tuesday of the Fifth Week After Pentecost (Proper 10) This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 26; Psalm 28; 1 Samuel 19:1–18; Acts 12:1–17; Mark 2:1–12 This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠⁠

He, along with his wife Priscilla, is mentioned in the book of Acts and in St Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He and his wife were Jews who moved to Corinth when the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Italy. They were working as tentmakers in Corinth when they met and worked with St Paul, also a tentmaker by trade, who brought them to faith in Christ. From that time onward they worked diligently to spread the Gospel of Christ. The Prologue says that they died at the hands of pagans, the Great Horologion that the circumstances of their repose are unknown.

Sermon delivered on the Fifth Sunday After Pentecost, 2025, at Queen of All Saints Mission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, by Rev. Tobias Bayer. Epistle: 1 Peter 3, 8-15. Gospel: St. Matthew 5, 20-24.

And encouragement is what he bestows wherever he goes.Monday • 7/14/2025 •Monday of the Fifth Week After Pentecost (Proper 10)  This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 25; 1 Samuel 18:5–16; 27b–30; Acts 11:19–30; Mark 1:29–45 This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠⁠

Notes - https://www.generationword.com/notes/Epistles/01-Galatians.pdf

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity Romans 8:17-23 by William Klock Sometimes you have to stand back and look at the big picture when you want to find your way.  Think of going to a strange town and getting lost going from street to street and intersection to intersection.  When I first started working in Bellingham I kept getting lost when I was out making service calls.  I have a good sense of direction.  I don't usually need a map—which is what had back then before Siri.  But what's now Bellingham was originally five separate towns, each with its own street grid that didn't match up.  Then, to make matters worse, when they ran Interstate 5 through the city, they cut it in half and left only a handful of thorougfares connecting everything.  Our service manager handed me a nifty spiral-bound “Guide of Whatcom County” and said: “New guy takes the map.”  A map lets you get above everything.  It gives you a bird's eye view,  so that you can see the lay of the land.  The big picture helps you get your bearings. We need something like that for the Bible.  As kids we read books full of disconnected “Bible stories”.  We know Adam and Abraham and Moses and Jesus, but we struggle to know how their stories are related and part of the bigger story.  As adults the most common approach to reading the Bible—when we read it!—is the cover-to-cover, Genesis-to-Revelation approach.  Don't misunderstand; any type of Bible reading is good Bible reading, but the order the books of the Bible are arranged in isn't chronological and doesn't do much to help us see the “big picture”.  Even Bible scholars and theologians aren't immune from missing the big picture.  They're often so focused on the individual trees that it becomes easy to inadvertently forget the shape of the forest. I say this because our Epistle from Romans 8 this morning is one those wonderful, short passages that bring us back to the big picture of the Good News, of God's redemption and renewal of humanity and of his entire Creation.  But even here we might miss it.  Many Christians reading through Romans miss the big picture here because they are not expecting Paul's language of God subjecting his Creation to futility and bondage and of that Creation waiting in with eager longing.  And yet our Epistle this morning is St. Paul leading us right to the climax of his letter to the Romans.  Paul walks us up a mountain so we can see the lay of the land, where we've come from, where we're going, and how it all fits together. We don't have time this morning to get into the details of Paul's line of reasoning in the first half of Romans, but what he does in those chapters is to work his way through the story of Israel and all her ups and downs—and for Israel things were mostly “down”.  And now in Chapter 8 he begins talking about the life in the flesh versus life in the Spirit and the law of sin and death versus the law of the Spirit.  This is where, in verse 11, he famously writes that if the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, the One who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies—if we are in Jesus the Messiah we live in hope of the same resurrection he has experienced.  But even more than that, Paul goes on to write, through our union with Jesus we are children and heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ—that means sharing in Jesus' inheritance.  But what is that?  Paul writes in verse 17 that it means to suffer with him so that we can be glorified with him.  The Christian life—life with Jesus—for Paul means two things: suffering and glory.  Suffering is a given as we long for glory. And so we should what Paul mean by “glory”?  And what about suffering?  Most Christians living through the last two thousand years have understood that suffering is part of our calling as we follow Jesus.  Jesus promised it.  The New Testament writers talk about it often—and most of them faced it themselves and were martyred for proclaiming the lordship of Jesus.  Many of our brothers and sisters today are persecuted for their faith in various parts of the world.  And yet in the West—probably in part because we haven't faced persecution for such a long time—many Christians have no place for suffering in their theology.  Many even go so far as to say that if you're experiencing suffering—sickness, poverty, rejection or anything else negative—it's due to a lack of faith.  But that's just the opposite of what Jesus taught and it's just the opposite of what Paul teaches here.  The inheritance we share with Jesus is one of suffering that leads to glory.  What this means is at the centre of our Epistle and Paul goes on in verse 18: This is how I work it out.  The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us.   This is how I work it out.  Knowing the Scriptures, knowing Jesus, working under the Spirit's inspiration, this is the only conclusion Paul can reach.  He's been building this argument for eight chapters in Romans and here he reaches the inevitable conclusion: those who will be glorified will first face suffering, but he's also worked out that this suffering can't begin to compare with the glory to be unveiled in us. Think about what a powerful statement that was when Paul wrote this.  When he writes that word “suffering” most of us probably read into that whatever our own trials and tribulations are.  That's fine.  But what did Paul have in mind?  Later in the chapter, in verses 35-36 he writes that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ—nothing—and then he goes on to detail the sorts of suffering that he and other Christians were facing—things people might think mean that God doesn't love them, things they might think show a lack of faith, things that might separate them from Jesus.  Here's his list: hardship or distress, persecution or famine, nakedness or peril or sword.  And he quotes from Psalm 44: “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted sheep to be slaughtered.”  These things are far worse than the sorts of suffering any of us are likely to face.  And as horrible as this suffering was, none of it could compare with the glory to be unveiled in us—no amount of suffering could make the glory not worth it. But what is the glory Paul's writing about?  Paul says this glory will be revealed in us.  It's a sense of this glory being bestowed on us as a gift—and this makes perfect sense when we remember what Paul said before: that if we are in Christ, then we will share in and we will participate in his inheritance. And then what's the inheritance?  Well, consider: Who is Jesus?  He is Lord.  His glory is revealed or it's unveiled in his glorious and sovereign rule of Creation and Paul is saying here that the glory we wait for with eager longing, the glory that is the basis for our hope as Christians is not glory in the sense many people often think.  We often think of “glory” as a place or a state of being.  When a Christian dies we often hear people say that he or she has gone on or been promoted to “glory”.  Brothers and Sisters, “glory” isn't going to heaven when you die.  As Jesus' glory is his sovereign rule over Creation, so the glory to be revealed in us is our participation, our sharing in the sovereign and saving rule of Jesus.  And this is why he says what he does in verse 19: Yes, creation itself is waiting with eager longing for the moment when God's sons [and daughters] will be revealed.   If our hope, if our glory—as it is so often wrongly portrayed—was for the destruction of this world and an eternity of disembodied existence in heaven with God, then the Creation would have no reason to eagerly long for that glory to be revealed.  What Paul describes here is the opposite: God's Creation is waiting for the great day when its true rulers are revealed, the sons and daughters of God, and when it will be delivered from corruption.  Look at verses 20-22: Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the once who placed it in this subjection, in the hope that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God's children are glorified.  Let me explain.  We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labour pains together, up until the present time.   This is where we need to stand back and look at the big picture.  Everything Paul's saying here is dependent on that.  It's the big picture the Bible gives of us of God's Creation, from beginning to end.  We read in Genesis that God created and that everything was good.  We even read there that when he created human beings he looked at his handiwork and declared us not just “good”, but “very good”.  But we look around us now and have to wonder what happened.  War is always ranging somewhere, there's violence everywhere, there's greed and corruption everywhere.  Justice is in short supply and so are the basic things that people need to survive—maybe not in our part of the world, but for billions of others.  And yet even if we don't pay attention to the big evils that play out on the international scene—or even on the local scene, for that matter—we only have to look at the struggles that we have ourselves and that we share with our family and friends to keep away from sin and to do good.  Hate is easy; love is hard.  Paul knew it.  The Roman Christians knew it.  We know it. So Paul tells the story of Creation in the book of Romans, but he tells it as Israel's story.  We don't have time to run through the whole book this morning obviously, but Paul's point is that the whole Creation is enslaved in the same sort of way that Israel was in Egypt.  And right there we get a glimmer of hope.  Remember, when Israel went down to Egypt—we read about that in the story of Jacob and Joseph—it was all according to the Lord's plan.  The Lord arranged for Joseph to become a slave in Egypt so that through him he could rescue his people.  Egypt started out good for Israel.  When things turned around under a new king who enslaved Israel, it wasn't because the Lord had ceased to be good and it wasn't because the Lord was no longer in control.  No.  We learn later that the Lord allowed the Israelites to become slaves in Egypt so that he could then manifest his glorious sovereignty to everyone—to Israel in rescuing her and to the Egyptians by showing his power over her false gods and over her mighty horses and chariots.  In the Exodus, the Lord marked Israel forever as the people he had freed from slavery, people to whom he had given a new life.  That became their national identity, celebrated every year in the Passover. In all of that Paul is working up to his point here.  As the Lord allowed Israel to fall into bondage to Egypt, so he has allowed his good Creation to be subjected to death and decay.  We may look around and wonder if things are hopeless.  Every time one war ends and we see peace break out another war begins somewhere else.  We work hard to lift this group out of poverty, but then that group over there falls into it.  We cure one disease only to have two new ones crop up.  Isaiah wrote about a day when the lion would lie down with the lamb and we look around us and wonder if that's ever going to happen. And Paul assures us: Yes, it's for real.  This is God's promise.  No matter how bad things are, this is still his good Creation and he has promised to put everything to rights.  Even as he cast Adam and Eve from the garden he was promising them that he would one day overcome sin and restore everything to the way it should be.  Genesis shows things going from bad to worse.  It shows us humanity losing even the very knowledge of God and sinking into paganism and idolatry.  But then it tells us how God came to Abraham and established a covenant with him.  The Lord promised that through Abraham and his family he would restore not only humanity, but all of Creation and here Paul reminds us what that means, what it looks like and why the Creation itself would long for it to happen. Again, we need the big picture—we need to remember where things started.  In Genesis we read that the Lord created human beings to be his image bearers.  The Lord built a temple for himself.  When the pagans built their temples, they placed images of their gods in them made of wood or stone, but in his own temple God placed human beings to represent his sovereignty and to rule his creation with wisdom and justice—to have dominion and to subdue Creation in the Lord's name.  That's what it meant for humanity to bear God's image: to be his stewards, the priests of his temple.  But then we chose to rebel.  As Paul writes in Romans 1, we chose to worship the Creation instead of the Creator.  We subjected the Lord's good creation to corruption. Now, in light of that, it should make sense that Creation is longing for the day when our inheritance is revealed.  That's the day when Creation will be set free from the corruption we brought on it.  That's the day when we, Creation's stewards will be restored and renewed and put back in charge, reigning with Jesus.  Again, think back to Israel.  God chose and called her, he rescued her, he made her his people, he sent her to the nations to bring healing and restoration.  But she rebelled and she rejected her mission.  And yet the Lord didn't give up and he didn't change his plan to redeem his Creation through Israel.  He simply sent a faithful Israelite—he sent Jesus.  And Jesus not only redeemed Israel by dying in her place, he established a new Israel in his own person, a new people to be a light to the nations—this time equipped by the Holy Spirit. This is what Paul is getting at in verse 23.  It's not just the Creation that groans in eager longing: And not only the creation, but we too, we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit's life within us, are groaning within ourselves as we eagerly await our adoption as sons [and daugthers], the redemption of our bodies. The Lord hasn't given up on his Creation any more than he gave up on Israel.  Creation is eagerly waiting for its rightful stewards to be set right.  On that great day the Lord will make all things new and restore his redeemed people to their rightful place as good, wise, and just rulers of Creation—as the faithful priests of his temple.  This is what it means for our glory to be revealed.  The big picture, the story of redemption, reminds us that this was how it was supposed to be from the beginning.  And so we groan and we wait eagerly too.  We live in the mess we've made here in the world.  We live with sin and with sickness and with death, and yet we live in hope, knowing that what God has begun in Jesus he will one day complete. And we can hope because our God has given us the firstfruits of his new creation.  He's given a down payment on what he has promised.  The present age and its rulers have been decisively defeated by Jesus at the cross and the empty tomb and God's new age has been inaugurated.  Jesus is Lord.  He truly is God's King.  He's given us his Spirit—Paul describes the Spirit here as the firstfruits—and that's because we live in the overlap between these two ages, these two kingdoms.  The Jews brought the firstfruits of the harvest—usually sheaves of grain harvested at the very beginning of the season—as offerings to God.  They offered them in good years and even in bad years in faith that God would provide the rest of the harvest.  And so the Spirit is the sign of hope for us.  The life he gives to us here and now is a reminder that encourages our faith and hope in the resurrection and the new creation to come.  We groan and we sigh, we wait longingly in eager expectation, but our hope is certain because God is faithful and keeps his promises.  The prophet Habakkuk wrote that one day the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.  Brothers and Sisters, when that seems impossible, we only need remember the cross of Jesus, his empty tomb, and his gift of the Holy Spirit. But our faith is not a complacent faith.  We haven't been redeemed by Jesus and given the gift of the Spirit so that we can retreat into a sort of personal holiness or private piety while we wait for Jesus to return.  Not at all.  Jesus has inaugurated this new age in his resurrection and somehow someday the making new that began in his resurrection will encompass all of Creation and you and I are called, in the power of the Spirit, to embody that renewing work here and now.  How is Habakkuk's prophecy going to be fulfilled?  How does the knowledge of the glory of the Lord spread to cover the earth?  Brothers and Sisters, that's our mission.  We're called to proclaim to the world the Good News that Jesus is Lord and that his kingdom is here and now.  Our mission is to call the world to repentance and faith.  But don't forget: We are also called to live out repentance and faith in our lives in such a way that we lift the veil on the kingdom and that we give a glimpse to the world of what heaven on earth looks like.  So far as we are able to do so today, we are called to exercise the good dominion that was given to Adam—we are called to be stewards of God's temple, of his Creation.  Jesus has led the way for us here as the second Adam.  In his earthly ministry he made his Father's new creation known in practical ways to the people around him and so should we.  In a word full of sin we should be visible in seeking after holiness.  In a world full of war and injustice, we should visible and at the forefront working for peace and justice.  In a world full of hurting and sickness, we should be seeking to make the healing ministry of Jesus known.  In a world full of anger and hate, we should be working for forgiveness and reconciliation. If you're like me you might get discouraged thinking about that mission.  When I think of these things I think of things that we as Christians can do to bring Jesus and his glory to the world in “big” ways.  I think of Christians—and there are so often so few of us—working on the big international scene or I think of missionaries going to far off countries.  And then I get discouraged.  That's far away.  It's bigger than me.  But Friends, never forget that for every St. Paul or St. Peter, there were thousands of ordinary saints manifesting Jesus in their ordinary lives, proclaiming the Good News, and building the kingdom right where they were.  We fulfil Jesus' calling to us as we raise covenant children to walk with him in faith and to live the values of his kingdom.  We fulfil Jesus' calling when we work for peace and reconciliation with our neighbours, in our workplaces, and in our schools.  We fulfil Jesus' calling when we forgive as we have been forgiven.  We fulfil Jesus' calling when we love the hard-to-love people around us, knowing that we ourselves are hard-to-love too, but that Jesus loved us enough to die for us.  We fulfil Jesus' calling when we sacrifice ourselves, our rights, our prerogatives, our time, and our treasure in order to make Jesus and his love known.  In everything we do, we should be seeking to give the world signs and foretastes of God's new creation. Let us pray: Heavenly Father, as we asked earlier in the collect we ask again for grace to pass through the trials of this life without losing the things of eternal importance.  Remind us that the suffering we experience cannot begin to compare with the glory to be revealed in us.  Remind us always of the suffering that Jesus endured for our sake, that in love and gratitude we might suffer too for the sake of making him known.  And as we think of Jesus' death and resurrection and as we live the life given by your Spirit, fill us with hope and faith, knowing that the glory inaugurated in us today will one day be fully accomplished in our own resurrection and the restoration of all your Creation.  Amen.

The Epistle of Romans is Paul's magnum opus. Martin Luther called it, "The chief book of the New Testament....It deserves to be known by heart, word for word, by every Christian." Paul wrote the epistle on his third visit to the city of Corinth.

This is the second message on the False Teachers the Apostle Jude were exposing and warning the brethren about in His epistle. It is part of an onging verse by verse study through the Epistle of Jude.

Epistle to the Romans, Part 12: Romans 7:1-12Today we continue our study through the Epistle to the Romans with Ps Nathan teaching that the law is still valuable, but it isn't the point of Christian living.

July 12, 2025

Paul continues his lengthy conclusion in Romans 16:1–16 by naming many of the people with whom he ministered and asks for greetings to be sent to them. Of note is Phoebe, whom Paul describes as a servant of the church in Cenchrea, the sister city of Corinth and the location that many think Paul wrote the letter of Romans from. Two other co-workers are noted, Priscilla and Aquila, who were fellow tent-makers and companions of Paul in Corinth.

Paul finishes his conclusion to the book of Romans with some final exhortations regarding false teachers and those who cause division, followed by some final greetings to individual believers in Rome.

Paul ends his letter to the Romans with an extended discussion of his plans to visit Rome along with personal greetings and a final exhortation. In this section of Scripture, he focuses on the first theme, that of his desire to visit Rome after taking aid to the saints in Jerusalem as the result of a famine in the late 50's AD (see 2 Corinthians regarding the collection he took for this relief effort). He then relates his desire to pass through Rome on his way to Spain, and closes with a request for prayer to be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.

Join Pastor Kirk as he continues this study: Real Faith - A Study Through the Epistle of James.  This weeks lesson is entitled "The Duty of Real Faith" seen in James 1:22-27

You gave your Son every resource he needed to…go about healing broken bodies and oppressed spirits.Friday • 7/11/2025 •A Friday in the Season After Pentecost (Proper 9) This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 16; Psalm 17; 1 Samuel 17:17–30; Acts 10:34–48; Mark 1:1–13 This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6–11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)  

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠

…pining for a love that could satisfy the longing in the Beatles 1966 song, “Here There and Everywhere.”  Thursday • 7/10/2025 •A Thursday in the Season After Pentecost (Proper 9) This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 18; 1 Samuel 16:14–17:11; Acts 10:17–33; Luke 24:36–53  This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠

The Collect and Psalms will be read from The Episcopal Church Book of Common Prayer The Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel will be read from The New Century Version Bible The Collect: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things … Continue reading → The post Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, July 13 appeared first on Sunday's Lectionary.

David's whole being is defined by his love for and dependence upon Yahweh.Wednesday • 7/9/2025 •A Wednesday in the Season After Pentecost (Proper 9) This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 119:1–24; 1 Samuel 16:1–13; Acts 10:1–16; Luke 24:13–35 This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠⁠

A pretend or equivocal allegiance, a “meh, ok,” is no allegiance.Tuesday • 7/8/2025 •A Tuesday in the Season After Pentecost (Proper 9) This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 5; Psalm 6; 1 Samuel 15:24–35; Acts 9:32–43; Luke 23:56b–24:11 This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠

Sometimes it's OK to take instructions as suggestions. Sometimes it's not.  Monday • 7/7/2025 •A Monday in the Season After Pentecost (Proper 9)  This morning's Scriptures are: Psalm 1; Psalm 2; Psalm 3; 1 Samuel 15:1–3,7–23; Acts 9:19b–31; Luke 23:44–56a This morning's Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠⁠bcnewton.co⁠⁠Resources⁠⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠⁠

July 5, 2025

Join Pastor Kirk as he continues this study: Real Faith - A Study Through the Epistle of James.  This weeks lesson is entitled "Being Receptive to God's Word" seen in James 1:19-21

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠bcnewton.co⁠Resources⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠bcnewton.co⁠Resources⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠

The Collect and Psalm will be read from The Episcopal Church Book of Common Prayer The Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel will be read from the New American Standard Bible The Collect: O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your … Continue reading → The post Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, July 6 appeared first on Sunday's Lectionary.

Preached in 2023. For more resources for knowing and loving God's word, visit ⁠bcnewton.co⁠Resources⁠Exegetical & Theological Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews // Robert Paul Martin⁠⁠Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul // R. Kent Hughes⁠⁠ESV Expository Commentary Vol 12: Hebrews-Revelation⁠⁠Hebrews // Richard Phillips⁠⁠New Testament Commentaries Vol 2: Philippians-Hebrews and Revelation // Geoffrey Wilson⁠⁠Hebrews // John Brown⁠⁠Hebrews // John Calvin⁠

123 John Part 18: Hunter recaps the 123 John series to make final comments and observe some key takeaways.--Scriptures Explored: --123 John Series:Part 1 - Introducing 3 Letters - 1 John 5:13; & 1 John 1:1-2Part 2 - The Foundation of Christian Fellowship - 1 John 1:1-4Part 3 - Congruent with Christ - 1 John 1:5-10Part 4 - Jesus our Propitiation and Advocate - 1 John 2:1-6Part 5 - A New Commandment - 1 John 2:7-11 Part 6 - Poetry in an Epistle? - 1 John 2:12-17Part 7 - Abiding and Antichrists - 1 John 2:18-27Part 8 - Abiding as Children - 1 John 2:28-3:3Part 9 - Practice Makes "Perfect" - 1 John 3:4-10Part 10 - Child of God - 1 John 3:10-23Part 11 - Spirits and the Holy Spirit - 1 John 3:23-4:6Part 12 - The Victory of the Love of God - 1 John 4:7-5:5Part 13 - The Dividing Line - 1 John 5:6-12Part 14 - The Honor Christ Has Given Us - 1 John 5:13-21Part 15 - You Just Got [Another] Letter - 2 JohnPart 16 - A Fight for Influence - 3 John--Hunter grew up in Montana and now serves the Church in Albany, Oregon where he works as a youth and young adults pastor. He and his wife Ana stay busy with two kids. Hunter loves studying the Bible and communicating it in a way which encourages further exploration of others.--contact@parableministries.comhttps://www.parableministries.comhttps://www.instagram.com/parable_ministries/--If you feel led, give to the work of Parable:https://www.parableministries.com/donate--Music created by Chad HoffmanArtwork created by Anthony Kuenzi

6-29-25 Biblical-Literacy Dr. David Capes provided an introduction in a summer study of Philippians: an Epistle of Friendship. Paul's relationship with the church: established on his 2nd missionary journey. First church in Europe. Paul wrote the letter during Roman military custody - Christian community supported him - He was able to communicate outside of jail - People were able to see him and tend to his needs - Imprisoned a long time Friendship Letter - a sharing of life together. - Fellowship - Equality - Friends hold all things in common - Friends have the same mind - Sharing in trouble and sufferings and rejoicing Points for home - Friendship is central to the Gospel - God will complete what he started - Paul can teach us to pray Listen to Dr. Capes present the background for Paul's letter to the Philippians, written while incarcerated in a Roman prison. Dr. Capes breaks down Paul's language of friendship to show the Joy of Christ.

A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Trinity 1 John 3:13-24 & St. Luke 14:16-24 by William Klock Another town.  Another Sabbath.  And Jesus found himself in the synagogue reading the scriptures.  He'd spent the last few days doing the usual Messiah things: healing the sick, casting out demons, proclaiming good news to the poor, calling the people to repentance because God's kingdom was coming.  Some people loved it.  Others hated it.  If Jesus was the Messiah, he sure was doing it all wrong.  St. Luke says some of the Pharisees were determined to trap him.  They lurked everywhere he went, waiting for him to do or to say just the wrong thing that would get him into trouble.  “See!  See!” they want to shout to the crowds.  “He's a fake!”  If they were really lucky, maybe Jesus would do something downright arrestable and he'd end up in jail.  So far, no such luck. One of the leading Pharisees in this town invited him to lunch after the synagogue service.  If nothing else, it would look good to have this popular rabbi in his house, but maybe he'd get lucky.  Maybe he'd catch Jesus breaking the law red-handed.  And lo and behold as Jesus arrived at this Pharisees' house, he met a man whose limbs were swollen with dropsy.  I doubt he was invited.  The rabbis taught that dropsy was the Lord's punishment for secret sexual sins.  But in those days, doors were open, people came and went from banquets.  The poor and needy would show up looking for handouts.  On any other day, this Pharisee might have shooed away the man with dropsy, but not today.  It was a perfect opportunity to see what Jesus would do.  It was a given that Jesus healed the sick—but would he do his messianic doctoring on the Sabbath? But instead of letting himself be put on the spot, Jesus—as he so often did—flips the tables.  He takes one look at the afflicted man, then turns to the Pharisee and his torah-expert friends and puts them on the spot.  “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath or not?” he asked.  They really should have seen that coming.  Now, no matter what they said, they'd condemn themselves.  And so while they stood there looking awkward, Jesus healed the man with dropsy and sent him away.  And then he turned back to the Pharisees and to the lawyers and said, “Suppose one of you has a son—or an ox—that falls in a well.  Are you going to tell me you won't pull him out straightaway even on the sabbath day?”  And, of course, they just looked at him.  They had nothing to say that wouldn't condemn them.  Because if their son or their ox fell in a well, even on the sabbath, of course they'd pull him out. It was hard to hear.  The Pharisees were right about a lot of things. They knew that Israel was supposed to be a bubble of God's light in the middle of a dark world.  They were the people who lived with the living God in their midst.  They were his people, graciously chosen, delivered from bondage, and made holy for just this task: to be light in the darkness.  The Pharisees were zealous for the law because they were grateful for God's grace.  Not all of the people in Israel were as faithful as the Pharisees.  The Pharisees tried to live their lives—even the little things—as if they were in the temple, in the presence of God.  They saw themselves as walking manifestations of God's light and of his kingdom—walking bubbles of what the world is supposed to be like.  And Jesus just exposed them, because as much as they were right on a lot of things, they'd forgotten the most important thing.  The law was about more than do this and don't to that.  It was about loving God and loving neighbour.  It was about showing others the same grace, the same lovingkindness that God had shown to them.  They knew this deep down, but somehow, through the generations, they'd forgotten.  Instead of being a light to lighten those lost in the dark, they were being light to shame and condemn those lost in the dark—and that's not light at all. At this point Jesus had already spoiled the party, so he just kept going.  Luke tells us in 14:7 that Jesus noticed how each guest claimed the best seat he could, so he told them that God's people should, instead, be humble.  “If you go to a wedding and just assume you can sit in the seat of honour, the host is going to tell you to move so the real guest of honour can sit there and you'll look like a fool in front of everyone.  No.  Instead, be humble.  Take the lowliest seat and let your host offer you a better place.” They were starting to figure out what Jesus was getting at.  He said, “Everyone who pushes himself forward will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be honoured.”  They knew this wasn't just about banquets.  Jesus was saying that the way these leaders of Israel were behaving at banquets had become representative of how they thought of themselves in relation to God and to each other.  They acted like God had chosen them because they were special when it was really the other way around: They were special because God had chosen them.  They knew better—just like we do.  They knew God chose Israel because he is gracious.  But they didn't act like it. So Jesus says: If you truly want to represent God and his kingdom, stop thinking so loftily of yourselves, stop avoiding the people who aren't like you and who don't share your status, and start throwing banquets for the crippled, the lame, and the blind.  Rejoice when sinners repent.  Rejoice when God saves the lost.  That's what God has done for you, after all—you've just forgotten. Everyone could feel the tension in the room growing and that's when some poor, clueless soul shouted out, “A blessing on everyone who eats bread in the kingdom of God.”  Maybe he'd totally missed point.  Maybe he was just trying to defuse the situation.  Blessed, indeed, is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God, but who will be there.  That was Jesus' point.  These people were sure they'd be there, but in so many ways the way they acted and the way they saw themselves said otherwise.  They weren't the walking bubbles of the kingdom they thought they were.  For all their holiness, they were really more like walking bubbles of darkness. So in response, Jesus told them another parable.  This is our Gospel today beginning at Luke 14:16. Jesus said, “Once a man made a great dinner, and invited lots of guests.  When the time for the meal arrived, he sent his servants to say to the guests, ‘Come now.  Everything is ready!'  But the whole lot of them began to make excuses.  The first said, ‘I've just bought a field, and I really have to go and see it. Please accept my apologies.'  Another one said, ‘I've just bought five yoke of oxen, and I've got to go and test them out.  Please accept my apologies.'  And another said, ‘I've just got married, so naturally I can't come.'  So the servant went back and told his master all this. As they sat eating what was probably a simple sabbath lunch prepared the day before, Jesus brings to mind an elaborate and expensive feast—the sort of thing that took days to prepare and that cost so much that the man throwing the part would send out invitation months in advance.  And the guests responded, “Yes, we'll be there!” and he made preparations.  So much wine and so much fruit.  So much meat and so much bread.  He arranged for musicians and dancers and other entertainers.  He got his house ready.  He sent his servants around to remind everyone.  And then the day of, he put on his finest clothes, threw open his doors—and no one came.  So he sent his servant out to find out what was up with his guests.  And they all had excuses.  This one bought a field sight unseen and had to go have a look at it.  This one bought a bunch of oxen and just had to try them out.  Another just got married.  Obviously his honeymoon was more important than this man's great feast. Imagine all the effort and expense that this man invested.  It was a huge deal for him.  But no one else cared.  No one else valued all that he had done for them.  Imagine how you'd feel if no one came to your wedding banquet after they all returned their RSVP cards saying they'd be there.  Jesus says the man was understandably angry, but he wasn't going to let all his expense and preparations go to waste. ‘Go out quickly,' he said to his servant.  ‘Go into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.'  ‘Alright, Master,' the servant said, ‘I've done that—but there's still room.'  ‘Well then,' said the master to the servant, ‘go out to the highways and the hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be full!  Let me tell you this: none of those people who were invited will get to taste my dinner.' If his rich friends won't come, he'll invite the poor.  Notice that his servant literally has to bring, to compel them to come to the banquet.  Imagine what the poor people in the town thought at the invitation.  Imagine what the blind beggar sleeping in a ditch thought when this rich man's servant pulled him up and dragged him into a fancy house full of fancy food.  They would have thought it was a joke, at least until they actually got there.  That's why the servant had to compel them to come, because they knew how these things worked.  They didn't belong.  But the rich man brought them in.  He brought them all in.  And they had the time of their lives—and, I think, so did he. Now, Luke doesn't tell us how the Pharisees responded.  In the next verse he jumps to a completely different time and place.  But we know.  We know that this just made them angrier and more hostile to Jesus—not every last one of them, but most of them.  Eventually they'd be angry enough that they'd conspire to have Jesus arrested.  But why did the things that Jesus did and said at that sabbath lunch make them so angry? So remember that the Jews, and especially the Pharisees, were waiting for the Lord's return.  The prophets had talked about that day in terms of a great banquet and this banquet idea then became a common image of the coming Day of the Lord.  Israel's God would return to judge and to cast down the nations (and the unfaithful within Israel—like the tax collectors and the sinner with dropsy) and then he'd throw a great feast for his beloved people.  The closest things they had to describe it was their entry into the promised land, the land of milk and honey, and the prosperous days of King David.  It would be like that, only a thousand times more so.  When Jesus told a story of a man preparing a great feast, everyone listening knew he was talking about the Lord and how he would come to deliver his people and set everything to rights and usher in the age to come—the age when they would feast in his presence.  And now Jesus explains that he's come to throw open the doors to God's great banquet.  This is what Israel has been waiting for all these years.  And yet Jesus rebukes them.  This isn't the first time the Lord has extended his invitation.  For centuries he had called to his people through the prophets, but they had refused to hear the prophets and had even killed some of them.  The Pharisees knew that and they were committed to making sure they didn't do the same thing.  Except that's exactly what they were doing.  This time God has spared no expense.  His people had rejected and killed the prophets.  This time he's sent his own son, who humbled himself to be born in their flesh.  He's travelled through Galilee and Judea, calling everyone to the banquet, but like the people in the parable, they all have excuses. And those excuses.  One man says that he's bought five yoke of oxen sight-unseen and has to check them over.  Another has bought a field sight-unseen and needs to go have a look at it.  The third just got married and has obligations to his new bride.  All three of these excuses have echoes that go back to the law in Deuteronomy.  A man who had built a new house, but hadn't dedicated it yet; a man who had bought a field, but hadn't enjoyed its produce; and a newly married man were all legitimately excused from going off to war.  And now these guests twist those laws as excuses to reject their host's banquet.  But this is what Israel had done with the law: twisting it into something it was never meant to be.  And it's that twisting of the law that was particularly exemplified by the Pharisees.  Jesus didn't meet their expectations of the Messiah.  His banquets included too many sinners, unclean people, and outsiders.  Those were the people that the Pharisees, with their hyper-holiness, left exposed.  The Messiah was supposed to come and feast with people like them, while raining down fire and brimstone on all those unholy people.  And so they scowled as Jesus forgave sins and welcomed home the prodigals.  The Pharisees had gutted the torah of its loving heart and that was profoundly exemplified by their angry glares as Jesus healed a sick man on the sabbath.  There could be no better way to celebrate the sabbath than to dance and sing and glorify God for his lovingkindness, but instead they tisked-tisked and frowned and gave Jesus disapproving how-dare-you scowls.  The angels rejoiced in heaven to see God's mighty works—but here on earth the people most expecting it, the people most longing for it, frowned and disapproved because God didn't do his mighty works according to what they thought the rules were.  That was their attitude towards Jesus' entire messianic ministry.  The banquet had come, but now they wanted nothing to do with it.  And so Jesus warns them: I'm going to take my invitation to the unclean and to the sick and to the poor—and even to the gentiles—and having rejected me, you will have no share in God's new creation.  If I were to let you in, you'd only mess it up—because you don't know what love is. The parable was a warning.  Matthew records it too, and I expect he was thinking of his people, most of whom continued to rejected Jesus even as their judgement day was so close.  But think of Luke.  He was one of those gentiles.  He was one of those poor men, sleeping in a ditch while the rich man prepared his banquet.  Maybe he didn't even know the banquet was going to happen.  He saw the caterers coming and going, wondered what it was all about, but he never expected to be there.  He'd never received an invitation, but more importantly, he wasn't even the right sort of person.  He was a gentile—uncircumcised and unclean.  Jews didn't associate with his sort.  And then the rich man's servant came, woke him up with a kick, and said, “Hey!  My master's thrown a banquet and no one came, so now he's inviting you to know his goodness.”  For Luke, that servant seems likely to have been the Apostle Paul.  And Paul gave Luke a firm gospel shove into the banquet.  And before he knew it Luke was dancing and singing and praising and glorify the God of Israel—the God of those weird, annoying Jews—and this God was like none of the gods he'd ever known.  This God was good and loving and most of all faithful.  And even though Luke, as a gentile, had no right to be at the banquet, he was welcomed in because when he heard about this Jesus, this Messiah who had died and risen from the dead, and he believed and he was caught up in God's great redemptive act of new creation. In fact, this unexpected and undeserved invitation to the banquet so transformed Luke that before too long he joined Paul as they set sail for Europe as gospel heralds—to proclaim to the lordship of Jesus.  A few years later he would join Paul on another missionary journey.  And about ten years after they'd left Troas that first time, Luke would journey with Paul on his final voyage, the one that took him to Rome to appeal his case before Caesar.  And not only was Luke, with Paul, singing the glories of Jesus and the God of Israel through Greece and on to Rome, he also talked to those who had met Jesus and he recorded their stories and wrote his gospel and then followed it up with the book of Acts.  Luke learned profoundly what grace is.  He knew profoundly the love of God.  Because even though he was a foreigner, through Jesus, the God of Israel had made him a son and even poured his own Spirit into him—including Luke in promises he had no natural right to be part of. Brothers and Sisters, Luke is us.  Like Paul hauling him out of the ditch and sending him into the banquet, the Lord's servants have come to us, proclaiming the good news about Jesus, hauling each of us out of our own ditch, giving us a gospel kick in the pants, and (with the Spirit's help) propelling us into God's great banquet.  We need a reminder of this, because we're prone to taking our place before the Lord for granted.  The Pharisees had their way of taking their family status for granted and we have our ways, but however we do it, it always seems to stem from forgetting that whether Jew or gentile, whether we were born into the family or whether we came later, we forget that it is by the gracious lovingkindness of God—who gave his son to die so that we who were his enemies can be here as his sons and daughters.  And when we forget the lovingkindness of God, we tend to become unloving ourselves—just like the Pharisees. Remember how Paul rebuked the Corinthians saying that they could have all sorts of spiritual gifts, but without love, they were might as well just be clanging cymbals?  Well, here's how John puts that same sentiment in today's Epistle—form the third chapter of his first letter: We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the family.  Anyone who does not love abides in death.  Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has the life of the coming age abiding in him.  This is how we know love: [Jesus] laid down his life for us.  And we too ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  Anyone who has the means of life in this world, and sees a brother or sister in need, and closes his heart against them—how can God's love be abiding in him?  Children, let us not love in word or in speech, but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:14-18) Does God's love abide in us?  I think that all too often, we come to the banquet, to the Lord's Table.  We eat the bread and we drink the wine, but we've forgotten the amazing sacrifice of love in which we participate here.  We take the Lord's feast for granted.  Or maybe we eat it for the wrong reasons.  But we find some kind of assurance here, the Table reminds us that we belong to God and to his family, but then we go out into the world—or maybe we even interact with our brothers and sisters here—and instead of being bubbles of gospel light in the darkness, instead of being bubbles of God's future here in the present, we're darkness.  We call ourselves God's sons and daughters, we follow the rules, but there's no love.  We eat the Lord's bread and we drink the Lord's wine and we should be reminded of God's great provision for us, of his great blessings, but we ignore the needy.  Here we're reminded that in Jesus and because of his death on our behalf, we've been given life and have a share in God's new creation, but too often we keep it to ourselves instead of taking it to the highways and hedges.  Here we have the means of life, the gospel, the good news about Jesus, crucified and risen.  We know the gracious lovingkindness of God.  We don't belong here, but he's invited us anyway.  He's forgiven our sins and filled us with his Spirit and given us a promise of new creation.  And we go out to a world in need, people suffering physically and people dying spiritually, and we close our hearts against them. So, Brothers and Sisters, come the Lord's Table this morning and be reminded that in Jesus, God has humbled himself and given his life for our sake.  This is the defining act of love.  But don't just remember.  The Lord's Supper is more than an intellectual exercise.  As we eat the Lord's bread and drink his wine, we participate in that great act of love ourselves.  So be shaped, be transformed by the love of God made manifest at the cross.  Every time you come to the Table and participate in God's perfect love, let it define you more and more.  Abide in God's love and, more and more, let God's love abide in you, that you might truly be a gospel light in the darkness. Let us pray: Father, you delight to show mercy to sinners and you graciously sent your Son to suffer the punishment we deserve.  We have received your grace and have been given new life.  Remind us to set aside all thoughts of self-righteousness.  Give us opportunities now to share your gracious love with others—with each other and with the world, that everyone we encounter may be transformed by your gospel.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

* Letter to the Galatians: For over twenty-five years Bob Enyart has studied God"s Word praying for the wisdom to share the truth of Scripture with a lost and dying world. Now you can benefit from this very exciting Bible study. This eight-tape study through Paul's Epistle to the Galatians builds upon the foundation of knowledge laid down in Bob's Plot series. And Bob deals with Paul's strange proclamations like: "I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me" and "after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter but I saw none of the other apostles except James." "I do not lie!" Every story has a plot, and a story's details can be confusing unless you understand its overview. Grasping the big picture will help you reconcile many seemingly contradictory, and controversial Bible passages. Achieve a fuller understanding of God's plan from Genesis to Revelation and equip yourself to share God's Word with friends and family. Consider listening to The Plot series based on Bob's manuscript of the same title. Then enjoy Bob's book studies and see how the big picture can help you to better know the living God.   Today's Resource: Please consider one of our monthly subscriptions that will not only help support BEL, but they also promote better understanding of the Bible and will equip you to be a better witness to those around you. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Downloads: Enjoy your monthly subscriptions downloaded rather than on disc. Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* Letter to the Galatians: For over twenty-five years Bob Enyart has studied God"s Word praying for the wisdom to share the truth of Scripture with a lost and dying world. Now you can benefit from this very exciting Bible study. This eight-tape study through Paul's Epistle to the Galatians builds upon the foundation of knowledge laid down in Bob's Plot series. And Bob deals with Paul's strange proclamations like: "I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me" and "after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter but I saw none of the other apostles except James." "I do not lie!" Every story has a plot, and a story's details can be confusing unless you understand its overview. Grasping the big picture will help you reconcile many seemingly contradictory, and controversial Bible passages. Achieve a fuller understanding of God's plan from Genesis to Revelation and equip yourself to share God's Word with friends and family. Consider listening to The Plot series based on Bob's manuscript of the same title. Then enjoy Bob's book studies and see how the big picture can help you to better know the living God.   Today's Resource: Please consider one of our monthly subscriptions that will not only help support BEL, but they also promote better understanding of the Bible and will equip you to be a better witness to those around you. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Downloads: Enjoy your monthly subscriptions downloaded rather than on disc. Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

By virtue of our creation by God in Paradise, we were created to be expressors; expressors of the nature and likeness of God to all creation. Therefore, at any given moment, we are always expressing something to the world. We are either expressing our fallenness and brokenness or we are expressing the nature of God Who brings healing to the nations. Today, the Apostle John in his Epistle 1 John, reveals the nature of God. God is love. On this day we examine the love that we are to become and the results of becoming love as God is love.

Pastor Alan R. Knapp discusses the topic of "The Salvific Patience of our Lord - Especially in Romans" in his series entitled "Romans the Epistle (2X)" This is Lesson 7 and it focuses on the following verses: 2 Peter 3:15-16

The Epistle of Barnabas is an early Christian work from around AD 100. Attributed to Paul's companion but likely anonymous, it reinterprets the Old Testament through allegory, claiming the Mosaic Law was never meant to be kept literally. Rich in symbolism and sharp in tone, Barnabas offers a bold vision of Christian identity in contrast to Judaism. It is a glimpse into how some in the early church read Scripture and saw itself in God's plan. Have a question? Send me an email: churchhistoryandtheology@proton.me All Resource episodes of Church History and Theology are donated to the public domain.

Amy Peeler is a professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, a priest at St. Marks Episcopal Church, an author, a wife, and a mom. She shares her love for the Bible with her students, equipping them with the tools for exegesis. Her writings focus on the Epistle to the Hebrews and Mary, the mother of Jesus. She serves as assistant pastor at her church, using her gifts to complement those of the rector. Her husband, Lance, is choir director/organist at their church and teaches music and theology at Wheaton. Her three kids are in high school, middle school, and elementary school. God's invitation to Mary to conceive, raise and testify about Jesus and what that says about God's invitation to all women. www.amypeeler.com   Women and the Gender of God (Eerdmans)

SummaryIn this conversation, Hakeem Bradley shares his journey from growing up in the 5% Nation to becoming a biblical scholar. He discusses the contrasting views on scripture between Islam and Christianity, his transition from pastoral ministry to biblical research, and the significance of Genesis in understanding powers and principalities. Hakeem emphasizes the importance of equity in the creation narrative and explores the cultural context of Genesis in relation to ancient Near Eastern texts. He also highlights the influence of Genesis on the Epistle of James and the role of the church in spiritual warfare. In this conversation, Hakeem Bradley and Danielle Strickland explore the themes of spiritual warfare, the power of love and generosity, the concept of original sin as passive participation, and the awakening potential of scripture. They discuss the authority given to humanity, the wisdom from above, and the true nature of power as demonstrated by Jesus. The dialogue emphasizes the importance of living generously and the transformative power of love in combating darkness.Takeaways* Hakeem Bradley's journey from the 5% Nation to biblical scholarship is profound.* The Bible can be a tool for liberation, not oppression.* Understanding the cultural context of scripture is crucial.* Genesis sets the foundation for understanding powers and principalities.* Equity is inherent in the creation narrative of Genesis.* The line of the woman and the line of the snake represent spiritual allegiances.* The wisdom from above is accessible to all believers.* The church has a role in crushing spiritual oppression.* Hakeem's work aims to equip families for biblical literacy.* The narrative of Genesis challenges patriarchal interpretations. We join in with Christ's mission to defeat darkness.* Living generously and hospitably is a form of spiritual warfare.* Original sin is about passive participation in evil.* Scripture serves as an awakening tool for believers.* Authority was given to humanity to rule wisely.* The snake symbolizes twisted authority in creation.* True power is often perceived as weakness in the world.* Choosing not to retaliate reflects true strength.* The wisdom of God is accessible to us now.* Engaging with scripture shapes our understanding and actions.About HakeemHakeem is a biblical scholar, teacher, blogger, and researcher. He has served various communities across the United States and Canada through preaching, teaching, and research. He holds a Master's of Theological and Biblical Studies from Western Seminary and is a Ph. D. candidate in New Testament Studies at Ridley College (Melbourne). He works as an Associate Scholar at BibleProject, and serves as the chaplain for the College Park Skyhawks. Lastly, he is an Academic Fellow with the Center for Hebraic Thought. Get full access to Right Side Up: Danielle Strickland at daniellestrickland.substack.com/subscribe

Sermon delivered on the Sunday Within the Octave of Corpus Christi, 2025, at Queen of All Saints Chapel, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, by Rev. Tobias Bayer. Epistle: 1 John 3, 13-18. Gospel: St. Luke 14, 16-24.