Podcasts about faith in jesus

It is our prayer that today's word would encourage and challenge to walk out your faith in Jesus, shine brightly in darkness and experience Kingdom impact in all you do! Stay connected with Belmont Church on our Facebook page, website or on the Church Center App.

0:00 Intro / Mark E. Shaw3:00 7 Ways to Shepherd in Your Church32:34 Wrap-Up

0:00 Intro / Mark E. Shaw1:12 First step of Christmas - powerless, hopeless disease4:34 How did we get to an unmanageable life?5:15 Christ gives you power to say "no" to sin by His Holy SpiritCredits for song, "Twelve Days of Christmas: 12 Steps Edition," Mark Shaw, Mary Shaw, Seth Singleton: LyricsSeth Singleton: Vocals, guitar

Christmas is about Jesus, the "reason for the season," but not everyone responds with joy. In this message, we look at the reaction of King Herod, who became enraged at the thought of a new "King of the Jews" and sought to destroy Him (Matthew 2:16).   Jesus said, "He who is not with me is against me" (Luke 11:23). Herod rejected Christ violently. How will you respond to the Gospel? Will you count the cost, humble yourself, and place your faith in Jesus? The life you can live in Christ is the best life!   Support Our Ministry: Your financial support provides funding for outreach, upkeep, and essential resources. Thank you for your generosity! Give here: https://firstbaptistofindependence.aware3.net/give/ Stay Connected:Download our App: https://a3a.me/firstbaptistofindependence Like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/1stBaptist/   We look forward to this journey with you—see you next week!

In this uplifting Abounding Love episode, I continue a series in the Gospel of Luke. There are two places you can live today; the kingdom of this world; or the Kingdom of God, if you are born of the Spirit; created anew by faith in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. The purpose of Jesus' coming was to translate us out of the hate and darkness of Satan's kingdom -- the kingdom of this world, into God's Kingdom of Love and Light. And like Jesus, we can break the words of Satan by speaking the Truth of God's Word [Luke 4:1-15]. Satan gets his word out through media, television, magazines and the internet -- all the bad things the world has to offer contrary to God's Truth. If we learn God's Word and use it,  we'll be victorious over Satan and this world system. Jesus came speaking the Word, "So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the Word of God" (Luke 5:1, NKJV). The people came to hear what other religious leaders were not speaking. In this message, we're looking at Luke, chapters 6, 7 and 8. It begins with Jesus declaring that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. In Luke 6:12, He chooses His disciples. Then, in verse 20, He begins "The Sermon on the Plain," on how we are to walk, which we realize now can only be accomplished in the Spirit. Jesus said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 8:10a, NKJV). It is only with the power of the Holy Spirit that we can know God's Kingdom. Join me as we study the Scriptures to find out how we are to walk in the Kingdom God. Selah! [For more: Copy and Paste or Enter into ChatGPT, "Create a Study Guide for episode #069 Creative Faith in Luke #3 from Abounding Love Ministries" ].      www.aboundinglove.org

Simon Camilleri has always had a passion for the arts and since becoming a Christian, he has used the arts to express his faith in Jesus. One example of this is the book he’s written called, ???When Santa Learned the Gospel.??? Simon shares his story and gives a dramatic reading of the Christmas story from the Bible.Your support sends the gospel to every corner of Australia through broadcast, online and print media: https://www.vision.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mohamed Maassaquoi is a former NFL wide receiver who played five seasons with the Browns, Jets and Jaguars. He was selected in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft by Cleveland. In 2017, Massaquoi had four fingers amputated on his left hand after injuring it on a trip with friends. Chapters:- Choosing Georgia as his college of choice (01:10)- His NFL Draft Day experience in 2009 (02:52)- Lessons from playing with the Browns as a rookie (07:05)- Transitioning from NFL to retirement (10:08)- The origins of his faith in Jesus (17:46)- His accident that led to 4 fingers being amputated (23:24)- Starting VESSOL, his leadership development company (30:27)- Seeing his accident as a blessing to help others (38:03)- How can we be praying for Mohamed? (40:43)Have a question? Got a guest suggestion? Want to advertise with us? Email us - jason@sportsspectrum.comWATCH all of our podcast episodes on our YouTube page:https://www.youtube.com/SportsSpectrumMagazineSign up for our Sports Spectrum Magazine and receive 15% off a 1-year subscription by using the code PODCAST15https://www.theincrease.com/products/sports-spectrum-magazine Do you know Christ personally? Click below to learn how you can commit your life to Him.https://sportsspectrum.com/gospel/

When the rush of Christmas leaves your heart feeling thin, Isaiah 9:6 offers the anchor every soul is truly craving. Beneath the wrapping paper, busy schedules, and pressure to “get it all right,” there’s a deeper longing—one only the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace can satisfy. Our hearts were never designed to be filled by productivity, perfection, or presents; they were made to be filled by Him. Highlights Cultural pressure can turn Christmas into a checklist instead of a celebration. Many feel a quiet inner ache during the holidays—a sign we’re longing for Christ, not more activity. Childhood traditions may be fun, but they can’t replace encountering Jesus personally. True Christmas joy comes from worship, gratitude, and seeking the One born to save us. Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy in His first coming—and will fulfill the rest at His return. Materialism can’t satisfy the soul; Christ alone brings peace, purpose, and rest. Gift Inspiration: Crosswalk's Holiday Gift Guide Looking for a meaningful way to celebrate the season? Check out our Holiday Gift Guide—from beautifully illustrated Bibles and devotionals to novels, greeting cards, and picture books, there’s something for everyone on your list. Wrap up stories for loved ones, tuck a book into your own nightstand, and join us in celebrating the wonder of giving this Christmas! Full Transcript Below: Seeking Something More This Christmas By Vivian Bricker Bible Reading: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). During the Christmas season, it is common to get caught up in all the holiday preparations. We are so worried about buying gifts for everyone, preparing the Christmas dinner, and planning all the activities. All of this can become overwhelming and even take the joy of Christmas away from us. Rather than viewing Christmas as a day to celebrate our Savior, we see it as a stressful day, filled with obligations. Sadly, this is not unusual for most people living in the modern world. Productivity has become the baseline for us, and if we are not being productive all the time, we are somehow failing. Within the realm of the Christmas holiday, we feel that we are not being productive or efficient if we haven’t bought all the presents we need to buy and finished all our preparations. In other words, we feel we are somehow failing at Christmas if everything is not perfect according to this materialistic world. Similar to many people, I grew up with the view that Christmas was all about Santa Claus and gifts. However, even as a kid, I sometimes felt like there was something I was missing. As I became a teenager, I quickly saw how Christmas activities could turn sour when family members couldn't get along, and it made me more stressed about the holiday. I didn’t look forward to Christmas because I didn’t fully understand what it meant—I just associated it with stressful situations. By the end of my first semester in college, I had truly come to understand that Christmas is the celebration of the Lord’s birth into the world. Even if we don’t have gifts, fancy dinners, or elaborate activities, we can still worship, praise, and give thanks to the Lord. We will all eventually come to this reality. Our souls will hunger and thirst for something more on Christmas if we genuinely do not know the Lord. Our own family traditions and celebrations can be fun, but if they are not rooted in honoring Christ, our souls will continue to yearn for more. You may have already felt this, and you are ready to make a change. Talk with Him in prayers, read and study the Bible, and seek out trusted sources to learn more about Him. Jesus will reveal Himself to you and help satisfy your spiritual hunger. Intersecting Faith & Life: Isaiah prophesied, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus is the child who was born into the world. He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy when He came into the world. There are many other prophecies He fulfilled during His first coming, and He will fulfill even more prophecies during His second coming. Christmas is a time to seek out the truth of the Lord as well as to look forward to His return. He will return, which means we need to be ready (Revelation 16:15). This Christmas, let us focus on seeking the Lord. We don’t need to try to satisfy our yearning hearts with materialism. Instead, we need to turn to the Lord and truly celebrate Him. Our hearts, souls, and entire beings can worship Him. Seek Him this Christmas and ensure your heart is following Him. If you have not placed your faith in Jesus yet, know that you can do so today. Confess your sins to Him, ask Him to be your Savior, repent, and follow Him. You can start a new life today and walk in accordance with the Lord. Allow Jesus to bring your heart what it truly needs this Christmas and every other day of the year: His love. Jesus will fulfill our hearts' desires better than anyone or anything else. How might you return to Him this Christmas rather than turning to materialism? Further Reading: Deuteronomy 4:29 Jeremiah 29:13 Matthew 6:25-34 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Want more exclusive content?! http://prometheuslens.supercast.com to sign up for the "All Access Pass" and get early access to episodes, private community, members only episodes, private Q & A's, and coming documentaries. We also have a $4 dollar a month package that gets you early access and an ad free listening experience!====================SummaryIn this episode of the Prometheus Lens Podcast, host Doc Brown welcomes Jesse Dowdrick, who shares his profound journey from dabbling in witchcraft to finding faith in Jesus. Jesse discusses his experiences with darkness, generational curses in his family, and the supernatural encounters that shaped his life. The conversation delves into the importance of teaching boundaries to children regarding spirituality and the power of Jesus in overcoming darkness. Jesse emphasizes the significance of understanding spiritual dynamics and the frequency of God in our lives, while also exploring the differences in how men and women process thoughts and emotions.In this engaging conversation, Kelly Dowdrick and Doc Brown explore a variety of themes including ancient rituals, the influence of media on beliefs, the power of words, and the nature of church and community. They discuss the importance of authenticity in ministry, the need for reform within the church, and the significance of reaching out to those who feel lost or unreachable. The dialogue emphasizes the role of personal experiences in shaping faith and spirituality, while also challenging traditional structures and expectations within religious communities.===================

Father speaks to our hearts today to encourage our faith in Jesus.

If you placed your faith in Jesus, we are celebrating with you!Click below to fill in your information so we can connect with you!New to Church: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/people/forms/631827I've Decided to Follow Jesus: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/people/forms/631829Subscribe to Our Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEHNDPb5XMkf1LyqoTU30vg Help Support and Grow our Ministry to reach people around our community and spread the love of Jesus: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/giving Stay connected with us through our:Church Alive Website: https://churchalive.tvInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/churchalivenj/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChurchAliveNJ/Plan your next in-person visit. We are located at:Rutherford Location- The Williams Center9AM, 11AM, 1PM 15 Sylvan St, Rutherford NJLyndhurst Location- 10AM, 12PM525 Riverside Ave, Lyndhurst NJ

Faith fuels the harvest! In this powerful sermon, discover how unwavering faith and generosity are changing lives around the world. Pastor Duane unpacks timeless biblical truths, highlighting scriptures like 1 Corinthians 15:58, Matthew 10:24, and Hebrews 6:10, offering a timely reminder of how God uses your labor in His kingdom for eternal impact. Through powerful testimonies from Asia and the Middle East, this message explores the transformative power of salvation, hope, and faith in Jesus. Learn how God's message of redemption continues to reach the lost, as individuals take bold steps to share the gospel with those in need. From miraculous healings to life-changing encounters with Christ, this sermon showcases how partnering with God's mission brings eternal rewards. Your faith and actions today have a lasting impact, not only on the lives of others but for eternity. Feeling far from God? This message invites you to take your next spiritual step and opens the door to salvation. Jesus is knocking—will you answer? Whether it's prayer, giving, or sharing the gospel, you can be a laborer in His harvest field. Don't wait; now is the time to align your life with God's purpose. Experience this inspiring call to action and discover how faith, hope, and salvation can transform lives across the globe. Join the mission and sow into the eternal harvest. Remember, every act of faith resonates forever.

Exploring the Connection Between Matthew 14 and 2 Chronicles For BibleInTen.com  By DH, 9th December 2025 Welcome back to Bible in Ten! In the last episode, we explored how every event in Matthew 14 functions as a living re-enactment of the entire history of Israel. Building on the astounding groundwork laid in the previous commentary - where CG showed how Israel's past and future are woven typologically and chronologically into Matthew's narrative - we now turn to yet another beautiful structural pattern in Scripture. Matthew's Gospel contains 28 chapters, and remarkably, it mirrors the first 28 books of the Old Testament as arranged in the Christian Bible. So in this episode, having concluded our walk through Matthew 14, we'll now look at its fascinating counterpart: Book 14 of the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles.   The Pattern: Matthew as the Echo of the Old Testament  The Gospel of Matthew has been recognised for its deep structural connection to the Old Testament, and one striking pattern is how each chapter of Matthew echoes themes found in the corresponding book from the Old Testament. Superior Scholars of the Word like Charlie Garret from the Superior Word have explained this pattern before.    Check out the episode linked in the description “the book of Matthew an introduction part 2 a” https://www.bibleinten.com/the-book-of-matthew-an-introduction-part-iia/   As book 1, Genesis introduces origins and genealogies, Matthew 1 opens with the genealogy of Christ. As book 2, Exodus recounts Israel's deliverance and early threats against God's chosen deliverer, Matthew 2 presents Jesus' birth, the flight into Egypt, and Herod's murderous rage. This pattern continues throughout the Gospel, with Matthew's chapters reflecting, summarizing, or re-framing the major themes of each Old Testament book.   So that the readers of the Old Testament have another source of proof to consider when evaluating the authority of the New Testament.   God certainly is not through with the Jew!   Whether or not Matthew intended this one-to-one mapping seems unlikely but, All Scripture is God breathed and so we can say God did intend them!   Furthermore we can therefore gain further confidence in book order and authority of the Scriptures as presented in the Christian Bible. The parallels are rich and unmistakable, showing Jesus as the fulfillment, continuation, and climax of Israel's story from Genesis to 2nd Chronicles. And the parallels are stunning. 2 Chronicles: Israel's Story in Summary   2 Chronicles is more than a historical account but contains a pattern of national Israel's spiritual trajectory. Parallel 1 - Sound advice is rejected.   (2 Ch. 10) Parallel 2 - Death Ends an Era    (2 Ch. 11) Parallel 3 - The people enter wilderness/exile.  (2 Ch. 12) Parallel 4 - God remains faithful.   (2 Ch 21) Parallel 5 - Out of Control and under threat.  (2 Chr 36) Parallel 6 - Restoration under a new leader (2 Chr 36:22-23) Now let us consider how every one of these six steps reappears in the same sequence in Matthew 14. Parallel #1: Sound advice is rejected 2 Chronicles Rehoboam rejects the counsel of the elders.      IN 2 Chronicles 10:6-8  (ICB) 6 There were some elders who had helped Solomon make decisions during his lifetime. So King Rehoboam asked them what he should do. He said, “How do you think I should answer these people?” 7 They answered, “Be kind to these people. Please them and give them a kind answer. If you do, they will serve you always.” 8 But Rehoboam did not listen to the advice the elders gave him.  Matthew 14 Herod plays a similar role.  He rejects John the Baptist, the final prophet under the Law.  Matthew 14 opens with the murder of the prophet Parallel #2: Death Ends an Era   2 Chronicles   After Solomon's death, the kingdom fractures. Rehoboam wants to fight and restore unity, but God says: “You shall not go up or fight against your brothers… for this thing is from Me.”  2 Chronicles 11:4 At this moment where God: cuts off the northern tribes from the Davidic monarchy, ends the united kingdom, begins a new era: Judah and Israel now separated. Matthew 14 John the Baptist's death signals the end of the old covenant era. The Law and the Prophets are closing; the Messiah's ministry moves into a new phase. Just as Solomon's death closed an age, John's death announces another ending—and a new beginning. Parallel #3: Wilderness as Divine Reset  2 Chronicles Israel repeatedly enters “wilderness experiences”: exile, loss, scattering and yet God preserves them and promises restoration. Israel abandons God (12:1). God sends Shishak of Egypt to strip them of security (12:2-4). A prophet says: “You have abandoned Me; therefore I have abandoned you.” (12:5) Judah is thrown into deep distress  - a wilderness-like, spiritual low point. They humble themselves (12:6). God responds with partial deliverance, not destruction (12:7-8).   Matthew 14 Immediately after John's death, the people follow Jesus into a desolate place. Here, a remnant gathers, they receive teaching, they are fed miraculously. Like Chronicles, in the wilderness is the place where God uses to reset the story. Parallel #4: The Remnant Theme   2 Chronicles God preserves a remnant who will return and rebuild.   “Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David,  because of the covenant”   2 Chronicles 21:7 Matthew 14 Jesus feeds the remnant in the wilderness: 5 loaves → God's grace Bread in the wilderness → Jesus the Bread of Life 12 baskets of Leftovers → abundance for the true Israel Both narratives insist: Israel is not destroyed; God preserves His people.  God is not finished with Israel.   “All Israel will be Saved” after the Church Age has finished (Romans Chapter 9-11 & the entire book of Revelation) Parallel #5: Israel “Out of control and Under Threat”  2 Chronicles The exile is described as being: Scattered,   2 Chronicles 36:19-20 (implied scattering through destruction and captivity) under threat, carried far away,    “He carried into exile to Babylon those who had escaped from the sword…” 2 Chronicles 36:20 yet preserved,    2 Chronicles 36:21  “The land enjoyed its sabbath rests… until the seventy years were completed…”   This verse shows God's intentional preservation of His plan, His land, and His people during exile. and finally brought home by God (2 Chr 36:23). Matthew 14 The disciples - symbolizing Israel - enter a boat and are: tossed by waves, in danger, alone in the night, visited by their God, saved by His hand, and brought safely to the other shore. This exile-and-return is played out on the Sea of Galilee. With the physical visitation of Jesus the God marking this encounter of added signficance. Peter's rescue mirrors the believers individual walk: Beginning with faith in Jesus the Lord, then failing to keep our eyes on Jesus, sinking, crying out and saved. Parallel #6: Restoration Under a New Leader   2 Chronicles Ends With… A new ruler: Cyrus A new beginning A return to the land A restoration of worship Matthew 14 Ends With… Recognition that Jesus is the God Safe arrival in Gennesaret “Princely Garden” - a fore shadow of the Renewed Kingdom of the Lord to come Healing, restoration, and grace Israel symbolically entering the promise of a renewed covenant Jesus is greater than Cyrus, His arrival on this land not only blessed the people in the land at the time, but it also symbolises his own future return which brings an infinitely greater restoration, when Jesus the Lord returns and the curse on the earth is reversed! CONCLUSION   The cohesion between 2 Chronicles and Matthew 14 reinforces typological assertions in the previous episode to be valid, correct and intentional. Matthew 14 isn't just a miracle chapter, or a super exciting day in the life of Jesus as it has most often been presented in sunday school but It's Israel's salvation history - from Israel leader rejection to Israel people exile, preservation and individual salvation offer and final restoration - retold through Jesus in a magnificent way. 2 Chronicles closes the Old Testament storyline. Matthew 14 shows Jesus stepping into that story as its fulfillment. He is the Prophet rejected, the God who walks on the sea, the Savior who brings His people home.  

Discover the profound journey of a man born blind who receives not only physical sight but also spiritual vision through an encounter with Jesus, challenging the misconceptions of the religious leaders.In this episode, Jesus heals a man born blind, revealing the power of faith and the transformation that comes from divine intervention. As the man gains his sight, he faces skepticism and hostility from the religious leaders, but ultimately finds true vision and faith in Jesus.Today's Bible verse is John 9:25, from the King James Version.Download the Pray.com app for more Christian content including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Pray.com is the digital destination for faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you placed your faith in Jesus, we are celebrating with you!Click below to fill in your information so we can connect with you!New to Church: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/people/forms/631827I've Decided to Follow Jesus: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/people/forms/631829Subscribe to Our Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEHNDPb5XMkf1LyqoTU30vg Help Support and Grow our Ministry to reach people around our community and spread the love of Jesus: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/giving Stay connected with us through our:Church Alive Website: https://churchalive.tvInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/churchalivenj/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChurchAliveNJ/Plan your next in-person visit. We are located at:Rutherford Location- The Williams Center9AM, 11AM, 1PM 15 Sylvan St, Rutherford NJLyndhurst Location- 10AM, 12PM525 Riverside Ave, Lyndhurst NJ

In this special celebratory episode, we honor an incredible story of hope, and the power of second chances. Join me as I sit down with my friend, Sean Johnson, who was unexpectedly released from prison this week, 40 years earlier than his original sentence.Shawn shares his heart —from the moment he received the life-changing news to how he's adjusting to newfound freedom, and the true power of putting your faith in Jesus. Plus, we want to hear what his first meal was when he got out.We also honor New Jerseys Governor Phil Murphy and the trailblazing work he is doing with incarceration reform. This is a must listen episode..Follow Nina Here: https://www.instagram.com/ninapalmertexas/Checkout the new Hopecast website:https://thehopecastnetwork.com/Buy Merch here:https://www.bonfire.com/store/the-hopecast-network-swag/This show is brought to you by The Hopecast Networkhttps://www.instagram.com/hopecastnetwork/

Once upon a time there was a queen named Esther. Being a queen sounds great, but sometimes it can be dangerous! What would you do if you found out someone was planning to do something bad? Listen to hear what Esther did!EstherHey parents! Use these questions as a guide to talk over this week's lesson about Esther with your child after they've watched the video service!Who was today's Bible story about?Esther. God made Esther and she loved God.What did Esther wear on her head?A crown! The crown showed everyone that Esther was a queen.One day, she heard someone was going to do something bad. Uh oh! Did Esther stop the bad thing from happening?Yes! She stopped the bad plan. Shake your head “no” because the plan was not good.Esther had to do something brave and tell the king to stop the bad plan. Can you be brave, too?Yes! God helps us be brave. Show me your strong arms because God made us to do good and brave things.Take some time to pray with your toddler. Encourage your toddler to sit with you and fold their hands, saying something like:God, thank you for loving us and wanting to be our friend. Thank you for making us. Help us do good things and be brave like Esther! We love you! Amen.Parent Encouragement - EstherHey parents! Here's something for you to be encouraged by and get ideas to bring this Bible story into your everyday conversation with your child at home!DownloadToddler Craft – Esther Character StickIn this craft, your toddler will create their own Esther Character Stick to remind them of the main character from the Bible story. God made Esther, and God made them!DownloadToddler Activity – Talk Like EstherIn this activity, your toddler will bring the craft they made to life. They will practice saying and doing things with their Esther Character Stick to remember this Bible story about Esther.DownloadToddler Coloring Page - EstherWe have a variety of coloring pages to help your child remember familiar faces from this month's lesson!DownloadNavigating Parenthood - EstherHey parents! Saddleback Parents has great training, tips, and tools to help you win. Check out this blog post all about how to foster healthy obedience in our children that comes from a place of love and respect rather than rules they follow out of obligationDownloadAt Saddleback Kids we believe every kid should be known, connected, equipped and empowered. KNOWN by another kid and a leader. CONNECTED to a group where they can grow spiritually. EQUIPPED with the tools and the knowledge to develop a strong faith in Jesus. EMPOWERED to serve others and share Jesus in the world.To sum it up, Saddleback Kids exists to connect kids to God and others while helping them live a purpose driven life.

In this episode of the Lausanne Movement Podcast, Dan Sered, Chief Operating Officer of Jews for Jesus and Lausanne Catalyst for Jewish Evangelism, shares his remarkable journey from a secular Jewish home in Israel to discovering Jesus as Messiah while studying in New York City. Jason and Dan explore the meaning of Messianic Jewish identity, how the gospel can be shared in culturally meaningful ways with Jewish people, and why peacemaking—not political partisanship—is the calling of every follower of Jesus. Dan also offers profound reflections on the Israel–Palestine conflict, the Church's responsibility during times of polarization, and how Jewish and Gentile believers can together bear witness to the hope of the gospel.

Join us to witness the miraculous healing of ten lepers by Jesus and the profound lesson on faith and gratitude taught through the actions of a grateful Samaritan.In this episode, Jesus heals ten lepers, showcasing the power of faith and gratitude. As the lepers are miraculously cleansed, only one, a Samaritan, returns to give thanks, highlighting the transformative power of gratitude and faith in Jesus.Today's Bible verse is Luke 17:19, from the King James Version.Download the Pray.com app for more Christian content including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Pray.com is the digital destination for faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is our prayer that today's word would encourage and challenge to walk out your faith in Jesus, shine brightly in darkness and experience Kingdom impact in all you do! Stay connected with Belmont Church on our Facebook page, website or on the Church Center App.

John 12:12-19,The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!”16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”This morning is doubly special. One, it's the second Sunday of Advent. Two, we get to witness 15 baptisms.This will be the most baptisms I've witnessed in one gathering. (In March of 2019, we baptized 14 on one Sunday.) I love when born-again people, with a credible profession of personal faith in Jesus, give public witness in the waters of baptism to the realness of Jesus, and his saving cross and resurrection. Baptism bears witness to Jesus. Which is a connection with our passage this morning. Verses 17-18:The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.We have two crowds: a smaller one and a larger one. The smaller one saw Jesus raise Lazarus. The larger crowd, gathered in Jerusalem, goes out to meet Jesus as he comes because they heard the witness of the first crowd.And baptism bears witness like that. Those who step into the water, and go under, and come back up, bear witness to the realness of Jesus: “he came, he died, he rose, he broke into my unbelieving life, he has won my faith and trust, he has changed me, and he is changing me.” And so, they say, “I bear witness to you that Jesus is real. And either you already know it or I invite you to experience him for yourself.”So, as we witness these baptisms this morning, we don't sit idly by. We don't twiddle our thumbs and watch the clock. We watch the waters with faith. We hear with our eyes the witness they bear in baptism. We see the gospel of Jesus's death and resurrection dramatized. And as we do so, we remember and enjoy what he's done for us — or we hear a promise of what he will do for anyone who will trust in him.So, this morning is special, to witness these 15 baptisms. And because it's Advent. And this is a surprising advent text.Jesus's ComingDo you know what Advent means (from the Latin adventus)? Arrival or coming. And this is a coming text: verse 12: “the large crowd . . . heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.” Verse 13, quoting Psalm 118: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Verse 15, quoting Zechariah 9: “behold, your king is coming.”So, let's take our cues from these three mentions of coming. All three represent daring moves by Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.1. He comes in dignity.Verse 12, that first mention of his coming:The next day [after the anointing at Bethany; it's a Sunday] the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.How will he come? Verse 14 introduces Jesus's daring move: “Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it.” Don't miss that: Jesus arranges for the donkey. All four Gospels are very clear about this. This is Jesus's idea. No one forced or tricked him into it.Now, we are 21st-century people. We don't have donkeys. We make fun of donkeys. We have cars. Who needs a donkey? But in the ancient world, donkeys were valuable. They can haul. They can work. You can ride them. To have a donkey was to have wealth.And this is not the first mention of a donkey in the Bible.First comes Jacob's blessing for his son Judah in Genesis 49. He foresees that Judah's tribe will have the kingship in Israel. His brothers will praise him and bow to him (Gen 49:8). Judah is “a lion's cub” (49:9) on the rise. The king's ruling staff, the scepter, “shall not depart from Judah,” and to him, even beyond Jacob's family “shall be the obedience of the peoples” (49:10). Then comes this strange mention of a donkey's colt:Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. (49:11)Strange as this reads to us, this is “deliberately the language of excess” (Derek Kidner). Hungry beasts hitched to precious grapevines, free to feed as desired, with wine in such plenty as to be used like water — these images suggest “exuberant, intoxicating abundance” (Kidner, 230). So, beginning here, both wine and the donkey's colt become symbolic of the lavish blessings to come through Judah's line.Then we find in the time of the judges that donkey ownership (and riding) is a mark of privilege and dignity. The rich ride on donkeys (Judges 5:10), and celebrated leaders give donkeys, as well as cities, to their sons (Judges 10:4; 12:14).And Judah's great descendant, King David, has a mule on which he rides, as do his sons (2 Sam 13:29; 18:9). Late in David's life, in the midst of national turmoil, a zealous supporter brings two donkeys “for the king's household to ride on” (2 Sam 16:2) — not an insult but an act of allegiance and royal hope. And when David appoints his son Solomon to be king, he has him ride to the anointing on the king's own mule (1 Kings 1:33).So, first, the donkey means dignity. Riding the donkey is an exalted position. Jesus comes in dignity.2. He comes as royalty.Jesus receives the crowd's praise as Messiah, the long-awaited King. Verse 13: So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”At one level, the crowds are right about this: Jesus is the Messiah. He is the King of Israel. But at another level, they don't get it yet. He is far, far more than just King of Israel, and King of just Israel. He is a vastly different and greater king than they expect.The palm branches hint at what the crowd has in mind. Almost two centuries before Jesus, in the Jewish revolt against the Greeks, palms became political and nationalist symbols. Then against the Greeks; now against the Romans. And this is especially so when paired with the people declaring Jesus to be “King of Israel.” These are very natural expectations that require no new birth and no Holy Spirit. The large crowd is right that Jesus is the Messiah, but he is so different than what they think, and what he will do in Jerusalem is not at all what they expect. He is far bigger than their little political and nationalist and temporal and very worldly hopes.Amazingly, the psalm they've reached for to capture the moment has the surprising truth about Jesus right under their noses. They quote Psalm 118:25-26:Save us [Hosanna], we pray, O Lord! . . . Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Yes, Jesus is the long-awaited King. But, right there in Psalm 118, the immediately preceding verses (22-24) say,The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.And not only does the large crowd not understand, but not even Jesus's disciples, as we've seen throughout John (2:22; 7:39; 13:7). Verse 16:His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified [raised from the dead], then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.What's “these things” referring to? Verse 15 and the Zechariah 9 prophecy. So, let's finish with that.3. He comes in humility.Now, we get the rest of the story on the donkey. Not only is the donkey a sign of his dignity; it's also a sign that Jesus comes in a very different way than the crowds expect. The donkey, chosen by Jesus, in line with Zechariah 9, is meant to refine and redirect the hopes of the people for their Messiah, and for us. Let me make this clear: these refinements are not letdowns. They are upgrades. Jesus doesn't refract their hopes down; he raises them up. He lifts them up. Jesus is so much more than an earthly, temporal, political, national king. So much more! He's not letting them down, unless they stay unbelieving; he's raising their gaze. Oh we are such half-hearted creatures, fooling about with such shortsighted and short-lived concerns, like getting free from Rome. We are far too easily pleased.So, verse 15, quoting Zechariah 9:9, says,“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!” So, how does Zechariah 9:9–13 upgrade their hopes and ours?First, verse 10, he comes to offer peace. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth [Psalm 72:8]. The large crowds expect him to ride a war horse against Rome. But Jesus selects the donkey of Zechariah 9. In this first advent, he comes to offer peace. Later, in his second advent, he will come in judgment, on the white horse of war (Rev 19:11-12). But in his first coming, he is king on a colt, offering amnesty.And, verse 9, he comes to accomplish peace:Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.This is the heart of Zechariah, and why John 12 quotes this verse. There are two striking pairs here: “righteous and having salvation” is one; “humble and mounted on a donkey” is the other.We only have time for the second. We've already seen the dignity of being “mounted on a donkey.” Now “humble,” or better “humbled,” is paired with that dignity. Elsewhere in the OT, and in Zechariah, this word for “humbled” is translated “afflicted.” (And “afflicted” sounds like a faint echo of Isaiah 53.) The one on the donkey is both humbled and exalted, afflicted and yet seated in dignity. What's that affliction?Next, verse 11, he comes to shed his own blood:As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. At the Last Supper, Jesus will take up this very language of the “blood of the covenant.” In Exodus 24, “the blood of the covenant” inaugurated the first covenant with Israel. Then, Jesus will say, as he goes to the cross, he will shed “the blood of the covenant” which he will pour out for many, for the forgiveness of sins — to set prisoners free from something far bigger than Greece or Rome: from sin and death and hell.Finally, verse 13, he comes to gather all nations:For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. We already saw in verse 10 that “he shall speak peace to the nations.” Now verse 13 mentions Greece. Why Greece?Jesus's WorldBack to John 12, verse 19. When the Pharisees see the large crowd praising Jesus, they get worked up again, like the end of chapter 11:So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”The world has gone after him. That's an exaggeration, right? Well, for now, it's Jesus on a donkey in one city with a large crowd of Jews shouting Hosanna. But they over-speak as they worry where this is going. And John loves the irony. Yes, they exaggerate, but their words turn out to be true. Jesus comes to gather all nations. Not just Jews. Even Romans. And Greeks. Which is exactly where John goes in the next verse:Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.So, Jesus comes in humility. He offers peace, and accomplishes that peace in his own blood as he is afflicted at the cross for our sins. And he comes to do it for a people he will gather not only from the Jews but from all nations. And so he lifts up our worldly eyes to a greater kingship and greater hopes that are spiritual, eternal, and transnational.In choosing the donkey, Jesus finds the perfect way to say, “I am the long-expected King, but not the King you expect.” You hope for an earthly king who will liberate you from an oppressive government. But Jesus says, “Yes, I am the King. But I come not to conjure war against a power as passing as Rome but to make peace with God Almighty and save my people from their sins.”To the WatersSo we come to the waters and witness of baptism. This is a one-time experience of grace for the believer in the water. And it is a repeated, ongoing experience of grace for believers who look on in faith. And it is an invitation to all: Jesus will do the same for you.

Pastor Blaine explained how sin entered the world through Adam, and how death spread to all people because all are born into that same sinful nature. Adam represents humanity—his fall shows our own tendency to rebel against God. Blaine contrasted this with Jesus, the "second Adam," who brings righteousness and life. Where Adam's sin brought death, Jesus' obedience brings salvation. He emphasized that we are not saved by works, rituals, or religious systems, but by faith alone in Christ. The sermon also addressed cultural confusion about human nature, showing that the Bible teaches we are not naturally good but in need of rescue. Blaine concluded by calling listeners to place their faith in Jesus, be "born again," and live as new creations who carry the hope of Christ into a broken world.

John 3:36 captures the gospel in one powerful sentence: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." In this verse, John brings the entire chapter to a crossroads belief or rejection, life or judgment. There is no middle ground. This message reminds us that faith in Jesus isn't just an idea; it's a response. To believe in Him is to trust, follow, and surrender. To refuse Him is to remain under the weight of our own sin. Yet within this verse is the heartbeat of God's mercy: the offer of eternal life through His Son. If you've ever wondered what it truly means to "believe in Jesus," this passage lays it bare. It's not about religion it's about life or death, and the invitation to step into grace that never ends.

The Gathering (vv. 1-4; Genesis 11; Revelation 16:1-21; 20:7-15)Two Seeds (vv. 5-12)Eternity (vv. 13-19)Discussion StartersMonday—What happened at the Tower of Babel? (Genesis 11) What were they trying to accomplish? Why did God confuse their languages as an act of judgment?Tuesday—What were the people afraid of—the Jews or Mordecai? (vv. 2-3) What is our confidence on the Last Day—our strength or Jesus'? Read Zechariah 4:6-7. How should that be a comfort to you?Wednesday—Why is the world really only divided into two groups? What are they? To which do you belong?Thursday—What awaits those who reject Jesus' offer of mercy and grace in eternity? Why does God tell us that before it comes? What is the most loving thing we can do for those who have not yet come to faith in Jesus?Friday—What awaits those who have placed their faith in Jesus in eternity? How can that comfort you and give you endurance as you await the Last Day?

After the flood, God made a covenant with humankind. In Genesis 17, He renewed that covenant with Abraham. But what does that mean for us thousands of years later? Join John Bradshaw for “The New Covenant,” and learn about the saving relationship God offers His children under the new covenant and how we can experience transformation through faith in Jesus.

After the flood, God made a covenant with humankind. In Genesis 17, He renewed that covenant with Abraham. But what does that mean for us thousands of years later? Join John Bradshaw for “The New Covenant,” and learn about the saving relationship God offers His children under the new covenant and how we can experience transformation through faith in Jesus.

have you ever wondered how education drifted so far from God's truth? In this powerful interview, Nancy Sabato sits down with Dr. Corey Miller, President of Ratio Christi, to talk about how secular ideologies captured America's universities—and how believers can reclaim the classroom for Christ.Cory shares his journey from Mormon roots to saving faith in Jesus, his bold stand for truth while earning his PhD, and how Ratio Christi is equipping students and professors to defend the Christian worldview right where culture is shaped—the university campus.✨ You'll Learn:Why losing biblical truth in education affects every area of culture.How Christian students and professors can stand for Christ on hostile campuses.The one mindset shift every believer must make to engage culture with grace + truth.

Gabe VanCoonis is 23 years old. While he was born in California, Gabe grew up in the Houghton Lake area of Northern Michigan. In 2022, he moved to Grand Rapids where he eventually came to Calvary Church that opened the door for him to begin a personal relationship with the Lord. Since coming to Christ, Gabe's passion for Jesus has been on fire and continues to grow. His favorite things now are studying theology and sharing what he is learning with others.  Gabe currently serves as the Facilities Night Shift Team Lead at Calvary Church, a role that gives him many opportunities for ministry. He regularly uses his passion and gift for teaching to pour into coworkers, high schoolers, and Community Service Volunteers. He's involved in facilities ministry, young adults' ministry, and leads a Saturday morning Bible study for his coworkers. Through everyday conversations and intentional discipleship, Gabe loves helping people grow in their faith and seeing the beauty of both them and himself as well walking more closely with Christ.         In this podcast, Gabe tells his amazing story of how, since coming to Calvary church, he came to real faith in Christ. He also shares how Jesus' presence in his life has produced in him an overwhelming love for our Lord and a passionate desire to share Jesus with those who don't yet know Him. While Gabe is working in a job that could be considered a bit tedious, he loves the fact that it allows him daily to be able to encourage other people to come to faith in Jesus or, for those who already are Christians, to grow in their faith.

Today on The Shawn Bolz Show: We're taking a prophetic and practical look at two major stories shaping the culture right now. First, we break down President Trump's newly announced immigration policies and his move to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization — and what these decisions could mean for everyday Americans. Then we shift gears with a surprising, light-hearted deep dive into the transformation of UFC legend Conor McGregor. Once known for his crass, anti-religious persona, he's now openly professing faith in Jesus — and his journey may be one of the most unexpected redemption stories of the year. Join us as we explore where politics, culture, and faith collide, and what God may be highlighting through it all. Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/7E9jAeeRAc0 Come join me on my Social Media:  Facebook: Shawnbolz Twitter: ShawnBolz Instagram: ShawnBolz TikTok: ShawnBolz YouTube: ShawnBolzofficial Find me on TV: TBN: https://www.tbn.org/people/shawn-bolz Watch my series on the names of God: Discovering God series: https://bit.ly/3erdrJ9 Watch my series on hearing God's voice: Translating God series: https://bit.ly/3xbcSd5 Watch my weekly series/Vodcast on CBN News Network: Exploring the Marketplace https://bit.ly/3B81e41 Join me for my podcasts on Charisma Podcast Network: News Commentary: Prophetic Perspectives:  https://bit.ly/3L9b5ej Exploring the Marketplace: https://bit.ly/3QyHoo5 Exploring the Prophetic:  https://bit.ly/3QyHoo5 Take a class or attend an event at our Spiritual Growth Academy: Our 4 week classes and monthly events are designed to do the heavy lifting in your spiritual growth journey. Learn how to hear from God, stay spiritually healthy, and impact the world around you: https://bit.ly/3B2luDR Take a read:  Translating God - Hearing God's voice for yourself and the world around you https://bit.ly/3RU2X3F Encounter - A spiritual encounter that will shape your faith https://bit.ly/3tNAW4Y Through the Eyes of Love - http://bit.ly/2pitHTb Wired to Hear - Hearing God's voice for your place of career and influence https://bit.ly/3kLsMn9 Growing Up With God - Chapter book and kids curriculum https://bit.ly/3eDRF5a Keys to Heaven's Economy - Understanding the resources for your destiny: https://bit.ly/3TZAc7u Read my articles: At CBN News : https://bit.ly/3BtwSdp At Charisma News : https://bit.ly/3RxPJtz Email My Assistant: events@bolzministries.com Our resources: resources@bolzministries.com Our office: info@bolzministries.com

What is the unpardonable sin? In episode two of "The Holy Spirit," Duane Sheriff teaches the three major functions Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would fulfill when He came. According to John 16, the Holy Spirit is our helper sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. This conviction of sin isn't about individual transgressions, but rather the sin of unbelief in Christ. The Holy Spirit reveals our righteousness through faith in Jesus' resurrection, freeing us from the burden of earning our salvation. Finally, the Holy Spirit convicts of judgment, revealing that the devil has been defeated and judged.Click for FREE offer ➡️https://pastorduane.com/landing/the-holy-spirit/

Join Kelly as he visits with Gaby Reid, wife of Torchbearers General Director Peter Reid. Gaby shares how she came to faith in Jesus, how the Lord carried her through the loss of her first husband, what it looked like to trust the Lord as a single mom, and how the Lord ultimately brought her and Peter together. She also explains what it's like to minister alongside her husband today.www.instagram.com/thehishillpodcast/www.hishill.orgkelly@hishill.org

Danielle (00:02):Hey, Jenny, you and I usually hop on here and you're like, what's happening today? Is there a guest today? Isn't that what you told me at the beginning?And then I sent you this Instagram reel that was talking about, I feel like I've had this, my own therapeutic journey of landing with someone that was very unhelpful, going to someone that I thought was more helpful. And then coming out of that and doing some somatic work and different kind of therapeutic tools, but all in the effort for me at least, it's been like, I want to feel better. I want my body to have less pain. I want to have less PTSD. I want to have a richer life, stay present with my kids and my family. So those are the places pursuit of healing came from for me. What about you? Why did you enter therapy?Jenny (00:53):I entered therapy because of chronic state of dissociation and not feeling real, coupled with pretty incessant intrusive thoughts, kind of OCD tendencies and just fixating and paranoid about so many things that I knew even before I did therapy. I needed therapy. And I came from a world where therapy wasn't really considered very Christian. It was like, you should just pray and if you pray, God will take it away. So I actually remember I went to the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, partly because I knew it was a requirement to get therapy. And so for the first three years I was like, yeah, yeah, my school requires me to go to therapy. And then even after I graduated, I was like, well, I'm just staying in therapy to talk about what's coming up for my clients. And then it was probably five years, six years into therapy when I was finally like, no, I've gone through some really tough things and I just actually need a space to talk about it and process it. And so trying to develop a healthier relationship with my own body and figuring out how I wanted to move with integrity through the world is a big part of my healing journey.Danielle (02:23):I remember when I went to therapy as a kid and well, it was a psychologist and him just kind of asking really direct questions and because they were so direct and pointed, just me just saying like, nah, never happened, never did that, never felt that way, et cetera, et cetera. So I feel like as I've progressed through life, I've had even a better understanding of what's healing for me, what is love life like my imagination for what things could be. But also I think I was very trusting and taught to trust authority figures, even though at the same time my own trauma kept me very distrusting, if that makes sense. So my first recommendations when I went, I was skeptical, but I was also very hopeful. This is going to help.Jenny (03:13):Yeah, totally. Yep. Yeah. And sometimes it's hard for me to know what is my homeschool brain and what is just my brain, because I always think everyone else knows more than me about pretty much everything. And so then I will do crazy amount of research about something and then Sean will be like, yeah, most people don't even know that much about that subject. And I'm like, dang it, I wasted so much effort again. But I think especially in the therapy world, when I first started therapy, and I've seen different therapists over the years, some better experiences than others, and I think I often had that same dissonance where I was like, I think more than me, but I don't want you to know more than me. And so I would feel like this wrestling of you don't know me actually. And so it created a lot of tension in my earlier days of therapy, I think.Danielle (04:16):Yeah, I didn't know too with my faith background how therapy and my faith or theological beliefs might impact therapy. So along the lines of stereotypes for race or stereotypes for gender or what do you do? I am a spiritual person, so what do I do with the thought of I do believe in angels and spiritual beings and evil and good in the world, and what do I do? How does that mix into therapy? And I grew up evangelical. And so there was always this story, I don't know if you watched Heaven's Gates, Hells Flames at your church Ever? No. But it was this play that they came and they did, and you were supposed to invite your friends. And the story was some people came and at the end of their life, they had this choice to choose Jesus or not. And the story of some people choosing Jesus and making it into heaven and some people not choosing Jesus and being sent to hell, and then there was these pictures of these demons and the devil and stuff. So I had a lot of fear around how evil spirits were even just interacting with us on a daily basis.Jenny (05:35):Yeah, I grew up evangelical, but not in a Pentecostal charismatic world at all. And so in my family, things like spiritual warfare or things like that were not often talked about in my faith tradition in my family. But I grew up in Colorado Springs, and so by the time I was in sixth, seventh grade, maybe seventh or eighth grade, I was spending a lot of time at Ted Haggard's New Life Church, which was this huge mega, very charismatic church. And every year they would do this play called The Thorn, and it would have these terrifying hell scenes. It was very common for people to throw up in the audience. They were so freaked out and they'd have demons repelling down from the ceiling. And so I had a lot of fear earlier than that. I always had a fear of hell. I remember on my probably 10th or 11th birthday, I was at Chuck E Cheese and my birthday Wish was that I could live to be a thousand because I thought then I would be good enough to not go to hell.(06:52):I was always so afraid that I would just make the simplest mistake and then I would end up in hell. And even when I went to bed at night, I would tell my parents goodnight and they'd say, see you tomorrow. And I wouldn't say it because I thought as a 9-year-old, what if I die and I don't see them tomorrow? Then the last thing I said was a lie, and then I'm going to go to hell. And so it was always policing everything I did or said to try to avoid this scary, like a fire that I thought awaited me.Yeah, yeah. I mean, I am currently in New York right now, and I remember seeing nine 11 happen on the news, and it was the same year I had watched Left Behind on that same TV with my family. So as I was watching it, my very first thought was, well, these planes ran into these buildings because the pilots were raptured and I was left behind.Danielle (08:09):And so I know we were like, we get to grad school, you're studying therapy. It's mixed with psychology. I remember some people saying to me, Hey, you're going to lose your faith. And I was like, what does that mean? I'm like 40, do you assume because I learned something about my brain that's going to alter my faith. So even then I felt the flavor of that, but at the time I was with seeing a Christian therapist, a therapist that was a Christian and engaging in therapy through that lens. And I think I was grateful for that at the time, but also there were things that just didn't feel right to me or fell off or racially motivated, and I didn't know what to say because when I brought them into the session, that became part of the work as my resistance or my UNC cooperation in therapy. So that was hard for me. I don't know if you noticed similar things in your own therapy journey.Jenny (09:06):I feel sick as you say, that I can feel my stomach clenching and yeah, I think for there to be a sense of this is how I think, and therefore if you as the client don't agree, that's your resistance(09:27):Is itself whiteness being enacted because it's this, I think about Tema, Koon's, white supremacy, cultural norms, and one of them is objectivity and the belief that there is this one capital T objective truth, and it just so happens that white bodies have it apparently. And so then if you differ with that than there is something you aren't seeing, rather than how do I stay in relation to you knowing that we might see this in a very different way and how do we practice being together or not being together because of how our experiences in our worldviews differ? But I can honor that and honor you as a sovereign being to choose your own journey and your self-actualization on that journey.Danielle(10:22):So what are you saying is that a lot of our therapeutic lens, even though maybe it's not Christian, has been developed in this, I think you used the word before we got on here like dominion or capital T. I do believe there is truth, but almost a truth that overrides any experience you might have. How would you describe that? Yeah. Well,Jenny (10:49):When I think about a specific type of saying that things are demonic or they're spiritual, a lot of that language comes from the very charismatic movement of dominion and it uses a lot of spiritual warfare language to justify dominion. And it's saying there's a stronghold of Buddhism in Thailand and that's why we have to go and bring Jesus. And what that means is bring white capitalistic Jesus. And so I think that that plays out on mass scales. And a big part of dominion is that the idea that there's seven spheres of society, it's like family culture, I don't remember all of them education, and the idea is that Christians should be leaders in each those seven spheres of society. And so a lot of the language in that is that there are demons or demonic strongholds. And a lot of that language I think is also racialized because a lot of it is colorism. We are going into this very dark place and the association with darkness always seems to coincide with melanin, You don't often hear that language as much when you're talking about white communities.Danielle (12:29):Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's interesting when you talk about nuts and bolts and you're in therapy, then it becomes almost to me, if a trauma happens to you and let's say then the theory is that alongside of that trauma and evil entity or a spirit comes in and places itself in that weak spot, then it feels like we're placing the victim as sharing the blame for what happened to them or how they're impacted by that trauma. I'm not sure if I'm saying it right, but I dunno, maybe you can say it better. (13:25):Well, I think that it's a way of making even the case of sexual assault, for instance, I've been in scenarios where or heard stories where someone shared a story of sexual assault or sexual violence and then their life has been impacted by that trauma in certain patterned ways and in the patterns of how that's been impacted. The lens that's additionally added to that is saying an evil entity or an evil spirit has taken a stronghold or a footing in their life, or it's related to a generational curse. This happened to your mother or your grandma too. And so therefore to even get free of the trauma that happened to you, you also have to take responsibility for your mom or your grandma or for exiting an evil entity out of your life then to get better. Does that make sense or what are you hearing me say?Jenny (14:27):Well, I think I am hearing it on a few different levels. One, there's not really any justification for that. Even if we were to talk about biblical counseling, there's not a sense of in the Bible, a demon came into you because this thing happened or darkness came into you or whatever problematic language you want to use. Those are actually pretty relatively new constructs and ideas. And it makes me think about how it also feels like whiteness because I think about whiteness as a system that disables agency. And so of course there may be symptoms of trauma that will always be with us. And I really like the framework of thinking of trauma more like diabetes where it's something you learn to moderate, it's something you learn to take care of, but it's probably never going to totally leave you. And I think, sorry, there's loud music playing, but even in that, it's like if I know I have diabetes, I know what I can do. If there's some other entity somewhere in me, whatever that means, that is so disempowering to my own agency and my own choice to be able to say, how do I make meaning out of these symptoms and how do I continue living a meaningful life even if I might have difficulties? It's a very victimizing and victim blaming language is what I'm hearing in that.Danielle (16:15):And it also is this idea that somehow, for instance, I hate the word Christian, but people that have faith in Jesus that somewhere wrapped up in his world and his work and his walk on earth, there's some implication that if you do the right things, your life will be pain-free or you can get to a place where you love your life and the life that you're loving no longer has that same struggle. I find that exactly opposite of what Jesus actually said, but in the moment, of course, when you're engaged in that kind of work, whether it's with a spiritual counselor or another kind of counselor, the idea that you could be pain-free is, I mean, who doesn't want to be? Not a lot of people I know that were just consciously bring it on. I love waking up every day and feeling slightly ungrounded, doesn't everyone, or I like having friends and feeling alone who wakes up and consciously says that, but somehow this idea has gotten mixed in that if we live or make enough money, whether it's inside of therapy or outside of healing, looks like the idea of absence of whether I'm not trying to glorify suffering, but I am saying that to have an ongoing struggle feels very normal and very in step with Jesus rather than out of step.Jenny  (17:53):It makes me think of this term I love, and I can't remember who coined it at the moment, but it's the word, and it's the idea that your health and that could kind of be encompassing a lot of different things, relational health, spiritual health, physical health is co-opted by this neoliberal capitalistic idea that you are just this lone island responsible for your health and that your health isn't impacted by colonialism and white supremacy and capitalism and all of these things that are going to be detrimental to the wellness and health of all the different parts of you. And so I think that that's it or hyper spiritualizing it. Not to say there's not a spiritual component, but to say, yes, I've reduced this down to know that this is a stronghold or a demon. I think it abdicates responsibility for the shared relational field and how am I currently contributing and benefiting from those systems that may be harming you or someone else that I'm in relationship with. And so I think about spiritual warfare. Language often is an abdication for holding the tension of that relational field.Danielle  (19:18):Yeah, that's really powerful. It reminds me of, I often think of this because I grew up in these wild, charismatic religion spaces, but people getting prayed for and then them miraculously being healed. I remember one person being healed from healed from marijuana and alcohol, and as a kid I was like, wow. So they just left the church and this person had gotten up in front of the entire church and confessed their struggle or their addiction that they said it was and confessed it out loud with their family standing by them and then left a stage. And sometime later I ran into one of their kids and they're like, yeah, dad didn't drink any alcohol again, but he still hit my mom. He still yelled at us, but at church it was this huge success. It was like you didn't have any other alcohol, but was such a narrow view of what healing actually is or capacity they missed. The bigger what I feel like is the important stuff, whatever thatBut that's how I think about it. I think I felt in that type of therapy as I've reflected that it was a problem to be fixed. Whatever I had going on was a problem to be fixed, and my lack of progress or maybe persistent pain sometimes became this symbol that I somehow wasn't engaging in the therapeutic process of showing up, or I somehow have bought in and wanted that pain longterm. And so I think as I've reflected on that viewpoint from therapy, I've had to back out even from my own way of working with clients, I think there are times when we do engage in things and we're choosing, but I do think there's a lot of times when we're not, it's just happening.Jenny (21:29):Yeah, I feel like for me, I was trained in a model that was very aggressive therapy. It was like, you got to go after the hardest part in the story. You have to go dig out the trauma. And it was like this very intense way of being with people. And unfortunately, I caused a lot of harm in that world and have had to do repair with folks will probably have to do more repair with folks in the future. And through somatic experiencing training and learning different nervous system modalities, I've come to believe that it's actually about being receptive and really believing that my client's body is the widest person in the room. And so how do I create a container to just be with and listen and observe and trust that whatever shifts need to happen will come from that and not from whatever I'm trying to project or put into the space.Danielle (22:45):I mean, it's such a wild area of work that it feels now in my job, it feels so profoundly dangerous to bring in spirituality in any sense that says there's an unseen stronghold on you that it takes secret knowledge to get rid of a secret prayer or a specific prayer written down in a certain order or a specific group of people to pray for you, or you have to know, I mean, a part of this frame, I heard there's contracts in heaven that have agreed with whatever spirit might be in you, and you have to break those contracts in order for your therapy to keep moving forward. Now, I think that's so wild. How could I ever bring that to a client in a vulnerable?And so it's just like, where are these ideas coming from? I'm going to take a wild hair of a guest to say some white guy, maybe a white lady. It's probably going to be one or the other. And how has their own psychology and theology formed how they think about that? And if they want to make meaning out of that and that is their thing, great. But I think the problem is whenever we create a dogma around something and then go, and then this is a universal truth that is going to apply to my clients, and if it doesn't apply to my clients, then my clients are doing it wrong. I think that's incredibly harmful.Yeah, I know. I think the audacity and the level of privilege it would be to even bring that up with a client and make that assumption that that could be it. I think it'd be another thing if a client comes and says, Hey, I think this is it, then that's something you can talk about. But to bring it up as a possible reason someone is stuck, that there's demonic in their life, I think, well, I have, I've read recently some studies that actually increases suicidality. It increases self-harming behaviors because it's not the evil spirit, but it's that feeling of I'm powerless. Yeah,Jenny (25:30):Yeah. And I ascribed to that in my early years of therapy and in my own experience I had, I had these very intensive prayer sessions when therapy wasn't cutting it, so I needed to somehow have something even more vigorously digging out whatever it was. And it's kind of this weird both, and some of those experiences were actually very healing for me. But I actually think what was more healing was having attuned kind faces and maybe even hands on me sometimes and these very visceral experiences that my body needed, but then it was ascribed to something ethereal rather than how much power is in ritual and coming together and doing something that we can still acknowledge we are creating this,That we get to put on the meaning that we're making. We don't have to. Yeah, I don't know. I think we can do that. And I think there are gentler ways to do that that still center a sense of agency and less of this kind of paternalistic thinking too, which I think is historical through the field of psychology from Freud onwards, it was this idea that I'm the professional and I know what's best for you. And I think that there's been much work and still as much work to do around decolonizing what healing professions look like. And I find myself honestly more and more skeptical of individual work is this not only, and again, it's of this both, and I think it can be very helpful. And if individual work is all that we're ever doing, how are we then disabling ourselves from stepping into more of those places of our own agency and ability?Danielle (27:48):Man, I feel so many conflicts as you talk. I feel that so much of what we need in therapy is what we don't get from community and friendships, and that if we had people, when we have people and if we have people that can just hold our story for bits at a time, I think often that can really be healing or just as healing is meaning with the therapist. I also feel like getting to talk one-on-one with someone is such a relief at times to just be able to spill everything. And as you know, Jenny, we both have partners that can talk a lot, so having someone else that we can just go to also feels good. And then I think the group setting, I love it when I'm in a trusted place like that, however it looks, and because of so many ethics violations like the ones we're talking about, especially in the spiritual realm, that's one reason I've hung onto my license. But at the same time, I also feel like the license is a hindrance at sometimes that it doesn't allow us to do everything that we could do just as how do you frame groups within that? It just gets more complicated. I'm not saying that's wrong, it's just thoughts I have.Jenny (29:12):Totally. Yeah, and I think it's intentionally complicated. I think that's part of the problem I'm thinking about. I just spent a week with a very, very dear 4-year-old in my life, and Amari, my dog was whining, and the 4-year-old asked Is Amari and Amari just wanted to eat whatever we were eating, and she was tied to the couch so she wouldn't eat a cat. And Sean goes, Amari doesn't think she's okay. And the four-year-old goes, well, if Amari doesn't think she's okay, she's not okay. And it was just like this most precious, empathetic response that was so simple. I was like, yeah, if you don't think you're okay, you're not okay. And just her concern was just being with Amari because she didn't feel okay. And I really think that that's what we need, and yet we live in a world that is so disconnected because we're all grinding just to try to get food and healthcare and water and all of the things that have been commodified. It's really hard to take that time to be in those hospitable environments where those more vulnerable parts of us get to show upDanielle (30:34):And it can't be rushed. Even with good friends sometimes you just can't sit down and just talk about the inner things. Sometimes you need all that warmup time of just having fun, remembering what it's like to be in a space with someone. So I think we underestimate how much contact we actually need with people.Yeah. What are your recommendations then for folks? Say someone's coming out of that therapeutic space or they're wondering about it. What do you tell people?Jenny (31:06):Go to dance class.I do. And I went to a dance class last night, last I cried multiple times. And one of the times the teacher was like, this is $25. This is the cheapest therapy you're ever going to have. And it's very true. And I think it is so therapeutic to be in a space where you can move your body in a way that feels safe and good. And I recognize that shared movement spaces may not feel safe for all bodies. And so that's what I would say from my embodied experience, but I also want to hold that dance spaces are not void of whiteness and all of these other things that we're talking about too. And so I would say find what can feel like a safe enough community for you, because I don't think any community is 100% safe,I think we can hopefully find places of shared interest where we get to bring the parts of us that are alive and passionate. And the more we get to share those, then I think like you're saying, we might have enough space that maybe one day in between classes we start talking about something meaningful or things like that. And so I'm a big fan of people trying to figure out what makes them excited to do what activity makes them excited to do, and is there a way you can invite, maybe it's one, maybe it's two, three people into that. It doesn't have to be this giant group, but how can we practice sharing space and moving through the world in a way that we would want to?Danielle (32:55):Yeah, that's good. I like that. I think for me, while I'm not living in a warm place, I mean, it's not as cold as New York probably, but it's not a warm place Washington state. But when I am in a warm place, I like to float in saltwater. I don't like to do cold plunges to cold for me, but I enjoy that when I feel like in warm salt water, I feel suddenly released and so happy. That's one thing for me, but it's not accessible here. So cooking with my kids, and honestly my regular contact with the same core people at my gym at a class most days of the week, I will go and I arrive 20 minutes early and I'll sit there and people are like, what are you doing? If they don't know me, I'm like, I'm warming up. And they're like, yeah.(33:48):And so now there's a couple other people that are arrive early and they just hang and sit there, and we're all just, I just need to warm up my energy to even be social in a different spot. But once I am, it's not deep convo. Sometimes it is. I showed up, I don't know, last week and cried at class or two weeks ago. So there's the possibility for that. No one judges you in the space that I'm in. So that, for me, that feels good. A little bit of movement and also just being able to sit or be somewhere where I'm with people, but I'm maybe not demanded to say anything. So yeah,Jenny (34:28):It makes me think about, and this may be offensive for some people, so I will give a caveat that this resonates with me. It's not dogma, but I love this podcast called Search for the Slavic Soul, and it is this Polish woman who talks about pre-Christian Slavic religion and tradition. And one of the things that she talks about is that there wasn't a lot of praying, and she's like, in Slavic tradition, you didn't want to bother the gods. The Gods would just tell you, get off your knees and go do something useful. And I'm not against prayer, but I do think in some ways it seems related to what we're talking about, about these hyper spiritualizing things, where it's like, at what point do we actually just get up and go live the life that we want? And it's not going to be void of these symptoms and the difficult things that we have with us, but what if we actually let our emphasis be more on joy and life and pleasure and fulfillment and trust that we will continue metabolizing these things as we do so rather than I have to always focus on the most negative, the most painful, the most traumatic thing ever.(35:47):I think that that's only going to put us more and more in that vortex to use somatic experiencing language rather than how do I grow my counter vortex of pleasure and joy and X, y, Z?Danielle (35:59):Oh yeah, you got all those awards and I know what they are now. Yeah. Yeah. We're wrapping up, but I just wanted to say, if you're listening in, we're not prescribing anything or saying that you can't have a spiritual experience, but we are describing and we are describing instances where it can be harmful or ways that it could be problematic for many, many people. So yeah. Any final thoughts, Jenny? IJenny (36:32):Embrace the mess. Life is messy and it's alright. Buckle up.Kitsap County & Washington State Crisis and Mental Health ResourcesIf you or someone else is in immediate danger, please call 911.This resource list provides crisis and mental health contacts for Kitsap County and across Washington State.Kitsap County / Local ResourcesResourceContact InfoWhat They OfferSalish Regional Crisis Line / Kitsap Mental Health 24/7 Crisis Call LinePhone: 1‑888‑910‑0416Website: https://www.kitsapmentalhealth.org/crisis-24-7-services/24/7 emotional support for suicide or mental health crises; mobile crisis outreach; connection to services.KMHS Youth Mobile Crisis Outreach TeamEmergencies via Salish Crisis Line: 1‑888‑910‑0416Website: https://sync.salishbehavioralhealth.org/youth-mobile-crisis-outreach-team/Crisis outreach for minors and youth experiencing behavioral health emergencies.Kitsap Mental Health Services (KMHS)Main: 360‑373‑5031; Toll‑free: 888‑816‑0488; TDD: 360‑478‑2715Website: https://www.kitsapmentalhealth.org/crisis-24-7-services/Outpatient, inpatient, crisis triage, substance use treatment, stabilization, behavioral health services.Kitsap County Suicide Prevention / “Need Help Now”Call the Salish Regional Crisis Line at 1‑888‑910‑0416Website: https://www.kitsap.gov/hs/Pages/Suicide-Prevention-Website.aspx24/7/365 emotional support; connects people to resources; suicide prevention assistance.Crisis Clinic of the PeninsulasPhone: 360‑479‑3033 or 1‑800‑843‑4793Website: https://www.bainbridgewa.gov/607/Mental-Health-ResourcesLocal crisis intervention services, referrals, and emotional support.NAMI Kitsap CountyWebsite: https://namikitsap.org/Peer support groups, education, and resources for individuals and families affected by mental illness.Statewide & National Crisis ResourcesResourceContact InfoWhat They Offer988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (WA‑988)Call or text 988; Website: https://wa988.org/Free, 24/7 support for suicidal thoughts, emotional distress, relationship problems, and substance concerns.Washington Recovery Help Line1‑866‑789‑1511Website: https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/injury-and-violence-prevention/suicide-prevention/hotline-text-and-chat-resourcesHelp for mental health, substance use, and problem gambling; 24/7 statewide support.WA Warm Line877‑500‑9276Website: https://www.crisisconnections.org/wa-warm-line/Peer-support line for emotional or mental health distress; support outside of crisis moments.Native & Strong Crisis LifelineDial 988 then press 4Website: https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/injury-and-violence-prevention/suicide-prevention/hotline-text-and-chat-resourcesCulturally relevant crisis counseling by Indigenous counselors.Additional Helpful Tools & Tips• Behavioral Health Services Access: Request assessments and access to outpatient, residential, or inpatient care through the Salish Behavioral Health Organization. Website: https://www.kitsap.gov/hs/Pages/SBHO-Get-Behaviroal-Health-Services.aspx• Deaf / Hard of Hearing: Use your preferred relay service (for example dial 711 then the appropriate number) to access crisis services.• Warning Signs & Risk Factors: If someone is talking about harming themselves, giving away possessions, expressing hopelessness, or showing extreme behavior changes, contact crisis resources immediately.Well, first I guess I would have to believe that there was or is an actual political dialogue taking place that I could potentially be a part of. And honestly, I'm not sure that I believe that. Well, first I guess I would have to believe that there was or is an actual political dialogue taking place that I could potentially be a part of. And honestly, I'm not sure that I believe that.

What Is the Gospel and Why It Matters Show: Anchored in the Word with Dave Jenkins Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Romans 3:23–26, 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 Show Summary What people often call the “gospel” can sound like music, morality, or general religion. Scripture defines the gospel as good news about what God has done to save sinners through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. From 1 Corinthians 15 and Romans 3, Dave explains that the gospel declares God's saving work, reveals both grace and justice, transforms those who believe, and sends us out to share Christ with bold, loving clarity.

What would happen if you actually bet on yourself for one month? In this episode of the Life Insurance Academy Podcast, Roger sits down with Clark Stanley of Anchor Point – a brand-new dad and former corporate sales manager who just wrapped up the biggest month of his life: $101,000 in final expense AP 71 applications 25 days All while still making time for faith, family, and community But this conversation isn't just about big numbers. It's about the Principled Sales Process, the power of framework over scripts, and how the right community can completely change your life and your family's future. Clark embraced the Life Insurance Academy system, coaching, and became one of our best students. We watched him steadily grow his game from a struggling start to an industry top producer in less than 12 months.   In this episode, you'll hear: How Clark went from a safe corporate job with a newborn at home… to betting on himself and going all-in on life insurance Why his first few months were full of chargebacks, self-doubt, and "just trying to write anything" The principled sales framework that helped him: Stop chasing "perfect scripts" Find his own voice Raise his placement and persistency The story of Miss Shirley, an 86-year-old client whose day-one coverage paid out just days after Clark wrote the policy How one persistently called lead turned into more coverage and $200+/mo in savings for a family Why mindset, consistency, and community mattered more than any lead vendor or contract The real math behind: Leads (Caboom Leads) Investment (~347 leads) 12+ hour days 100k in a holiday month How Clark balances building a team, being a husband and dad, and staying in the trenches producing You'll also hear Clark shout out the people and organizations that shaped his journey: True Wealth (Mike & Jalen), Lasting Mark, Dana Nesen, Elvir Bazdarevic, Anchor Point, his brother Jack, his parents, and his faith in Jesus. If you're a new or struggling agent, or someone sitting in a corporate job wondering if there's more – this episode will challenge your beliefs, your goals, and your excuses.  

A Roman centurion reveals a profound faith in Jesus that echoes in our response at every Mass to this very day. (Lectionary #175) December 1, 2025 - Cathedral Rectory - Superior, WI Fr. Andrew Ricci - www.studyprayserve.com  

If you placed your faith in Jesus, we are celebrating with you!Click below to fill in your information so we can connect with you!New to Church: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/people/forms/631827I've Decided to Follow Jesus: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/people/forms/631829Subscribe to Our Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEHNDPb5XMkf1LyqoTU30vg Help Support and Grow our Ministry to reach people around our community and spread the love of Jesus: https://churchalivenj.churchcenter.com/giving Stay connected with us through our:Church Alive Website: https://churchalive.tvInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/churchalivenj/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChurchAliveNJ/Plan your next in-person visit. We are located at:Rutherford Location- The Williams Center9AM, 11AM, 1PM 15 Sylvan St, Rutherford NJLyndhurst Location- 10AM, 12PM525 Riverside Ave, Lyndhurst NJ

This week Pastor Brandon kicks off our Christmas series, "It's Finally Christmas!". Today, Pastor Brandon focuses on what hope looks like for us as we place our faith in Jesus.Support the show

The difference between inside and outside is more than just a word. It means standing outside of faith, beyond the will and direction of God for your lives. It's also the difference between being in His will and being outside of His will for our lives. Initially, we pictured someone outside a city wall or closed door, with the King inside ready to welcome. The good news is now that the door is open. You no longer have to stay outside; you can enter where God's presence, promises, and pleasure dwell through faith in Jesus. Where are you right now? Do you find yourself on the outside, or have you crossed the threshold through faith? Today, I want to encourage you to take that step. Enter in. The King is calling, and His arms are open wide. Step into His will, by faith, and find the abundant life that only He gives.

It is our prayer that today's word would encourage and challenge to walk out your faith in Jesus, shine brightly in darkness and experience Kingdom impact in all you do! Stay connected with Belmont Church on our Facebook page, website or on the Church Center App.

John 12:1-8,Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”And the Lord, in verse 7, defends the way Mary of Bethany expresses her devotion to him.What Mary does in verse 3 is good and right, and I think we can learn from her. So that's the goal of this sermon. All last week, my prayer for today has been that through Mary's example in John 12, the Spirit would reawaken in us Mary-like devotion to Jesus. I want us to learn from Mary how to be more like Mary for the glory of Jesus. To that end, this morning I want to show you seven truths of Mary-like devotion.1. Mary-like devotion is surprising. Verse 1 opens with the setting: we are six days away from Passover, and Jesus has come back to Bethany. Now remember that Bethany is where he raised Lazarus from the dead in Chapter 11, verse 43, but then when the Jewish leaders plotted to kill Jesus, John tells us in verse 54 that Jesus “no longer walked openly” among them, because they were looking for him. The Pharisees wanted to arrest him. So Jesus left that area and went to Ephraim, which gave him more distance from Jerusalem. (Bethany was 2 miles outside Jerusalem, Ephraim was about 15 miles). So by the end of Chapter 11, Jesus is laying low.But Chapter 12 opens here and he's back in Bethany, where news travels quickly to Jerusalem, which means this is dangerous — why would he do it? Why would he come back to Bethany now? It's because Passover is six days away. Remember Jesus has a purpose to accomplish in Jerusalem, and now he's getting closer. But since Jesus is in Bethany they throw a special dinner for him. And because it's Bethany, we would expect our favorite Bethany family to be there. We saw these three siblings in Chapter 11 — Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now, John knows we'd expect their attendance, so he takes roll in verse 2. Look what he says:“So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served [check her name off — she's there], and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him as table [check his name off — he's just happy to be in the room].And right away that's Martha and Lazarus. Which sibling is missing?Mary. Now look at verse 3 (verse 2 was just a build up to this):“Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.”The first thing I want you to see is that this was not expected. This is a dinner! People are sharing a meal. Martha is staying busy like she does. Lazarus is at the table (you know he's getting seconds). And then Mary, finally, enters into this dining room with a bottle of ointment (or perfume) and she does this extravagant display of worship.Most of us had big dinners a few days ago. Imagine for a minute if something like this happened! It was not on the menu. It's never happened before. This was a surprise! That's the first thing to know about Mary-like devotion. This is not what most people would expect — because it responds in the moment to the glory of Jesus regardless of the context.2. Mary-like devotion is costly.We can see in verse 3 that this perfume was expensive. John tells us that plainly. But he also gives us two details that explain why. It has to do with quantity and quality.First, with quality, this perfume was made from “pure nard.” That's a plant that's grown in India. The root of this plant produced an oil that was collected to make this perfume.So it's a product derived from nature, created by a process, imported from far away — that sounds expensive. (This is why many scholars believe this Bethany family was well off — this perfume would have only been owned by the luxury class of the Mediterranean world.)Second, notice the quantity. John tells us it was a pound — and that's a Roman pound. The Greek word is litra — and it's equivalent to about 12 ounces. So imagine the American pop can. (I don't know the last time you turned a can of pop upside down to pour it out, but it takes a little longer to empty it than you might think.)Twelve ounces is not a little bit. And Mary doesn't have pop, it's perfume — 12 ounces of perfume — that's a lot of a really nice thing. And to give us more of an idea of how precious it is, John tells us the number value in verse 5. Judas says it's worth 300 denarii — which is about a year's wages.So to draw a parallel to our day, this is what we'd call an annual salary, and the average annual salary in the Twin Cities, Google says, is between $80,000–$90,000. So translate this in your imagination... Picture this: Someone at dinner this past week walks into the dining room and pours out $90,000 on somebody else's feet … Again, this is stunning. And the costliness amplifies the surprise! Those two things go together in Mary-like devotion. It's surprising because it's costly.3. Mary-like devotion is humble.Now, for our imagination's sake, it helps to know how people ate together at this culture and time. They didn't use raised tables and chairs like we do, but they used low tables, and sat on cushions on the floor. They “reclined” on the table, like verse 2 says, and their feet were stretched out behind them, away from the table. So Mary approached Jesus, verse 3, while he was sitting like that, and she anointed his feet.This is a key detail. Because with the extravagance of her gift, we might imagine Mary's actions to be surrounded by pomp. Like maybe Mary enters the room and first clears her throat, and makes sure somebody's getting the video, and then she does it. But it's just the opposite.Mary comes into the room, and stays at the feet's distance away from the table. She's not the center of attention. Nobody was probably even looking in her direction, and then she pours the perfume on Jesus's feet and wipes his feet with her hair. This is borderline undignified. She definitely looked a little silly. To everyone's surprise, with likely the costliest thing she's got, she humbles herself at the feet of Jesus in worship — but then the most vivid display of her humility is the use of her hair.In the ancient world, a woman's hair was her glory. It was her honor. This was Mary's strength, but here she turns her strength into a servant's towel … Her radiance into a rag. Her splendor into a sponge. Her crown becomes a cloth. … to wipe feet.Which means, Mary gives the best part of herself for the least part of Jesus. The highest aspect of her presentation (hair) is submitted to the lowest aspect of his (feet).This is profound humility.Mary is not even audacious enough to pray here: “Jesus, take my utmost for your highest.” She just says, “Jesus, take my utmost!” — And I don't care what anybody else thinks. I'm not concerned about appearance. It doesn't matter what people might say. This is all about Jesus. Mary shows us a marvelous self-forgetfulness. Mary-like devotion is humble.4. Mary-like devotion is fitting.This is #4 of 7, and it really is the central truth in Mary's example.So far we've seen that Mary-like devotion is surprising, costly, and humble, but here's where we need to be clear that the only reason any of this makes sense is because of Jesus. And Jesus doesn't just make Mary's actions make sense, he makes them right. Because of who he is, what Mary does is fitting. John calls her act an “anointing,” which is something done to set someone apart for a certain office. The examples we have in the Old Testament are individuals anointed as a priest or king, and we should think especially of kings in the Gospel of John. If you remember, way back in Chapter 1, when Nathaniel first met Jesus he confessed right away that Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel (1:49). Then in Chapter 6, verse 15, after Jesus fed the five thousand, the crowd wanted to take him by force and make him king.So we've seen a kingship theme already.But then right here in Chapter 12, the very next day after Mary anoints Jesus, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a young donkey, and the crowd paves the way for him with palm branches, and they say — in verse 13 — “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”So we have every reason to see that Mary's anointing of Jesus is anointing him as King.Because that is who he is. It'll be explicit and public tomorrow in this story, in Jesus's ‘triumphal entry,' but tonight, at this dinner, with Mary, it's implicit and private. In the moment, even Mary doesn't know the full extent of what she's doing, but we as readers can see it. In Chapter 11, we saw her fall at Jesus's feet in grief, here she bows at Jesus's feet in worship.Last chapter she came to Jesus needing his help; now she comes to him just giving him glory.This doesn't mean we ever stop coming to Jesus for help — we do! We always need his help! But sometimes we can also just come to him in simple worship.This is when we come to him, not to ask him for things, but to give him whatever we can because he is worthy — just because he's our king and he's a good king! It is fitting to worship him!Think about this: When was the last time your heart moved toward Jesus, not for what he gives, but for who he is? When was the last time you were simply compelled by the worth of Jesus?The Little Drummer BoyMary's devotion here in Chapter 12 actually reminds me of what used to be one of my least favorite Christmas songs. “Santa Baby” is dead bottom, but not far from there used to be “The Little Drummer Boy.” And the reason I didn't like the song is because for years it didn't make sense to me, and it was kinda irritating. The pa-RUM-pa-pum-pums are distracting. But if we can get rid of that part and focus on the real words in the song, it's actually beautiful. It's a song about a boy who is invited to meet the newborn Jesus (and it's fictional; didn't really happen; we're supposed to use our imaginations). The boy starts the song by saying:Come, they told meA newborn king to see, Our finest gifts to bring,To lay before the king,So to honor himWhen we come You get it? The boy is invited to come meet Jesus, so he does. And in the second stanza he's at the manger, and he speaks to the infant Jesus:Little baby,I am a poor boy tooI have no gifts to bringThat's fit to give a KingShall I play for you on my drum?See, I imagine that's what Mary of Bethany thought. While Martha was busy serving and Lazarus was sitting at the table, Mary thought: The king is here. He's in the room. What do I have that's fit to give a King?And the technical answer is nothing. Nothing we have is enough to match the glory of this King, but Mary thinks I've got that bottle of perfume — just like the boy thought, I've got this drum. And the boy says, “Shall I play the drum?” Mary thinks, “Shall I pour the perfume?” So the boy plays his best, and Mary pours it all. I don't have enough to give you, but I'll give you my best because you're worthy.That's what the song is about. That's what Mary does here. And it's fitting because of the King!And John tells us that the fragrance of her worship fills the entire house. Which means: her personal reverence and self-forgetfulness in recognizing the glory of Jesus becomes uncontainable. Everybody around her can literally sense her devotion for Jesus.5. Mary-like devotion is criticized. This is verses 4–5: But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”Apparently, Judas caught the aroma, but instead of recognizing Mary's act as a surprising, costly, humble, and fitting act of devotion, he criticized her. He immediately liquidated the value of the ointment in his head, and he corrected her decision. That could have been used for something better! That could have been a lot of money to help poor people! Mary is being unwise!Now, before we look closer into the criticism, I just want to note that it happened, and right away, because that's just how things go — even things as wholesome as Mary's devotion.The Bible gives us no impression that devotion to Jesus will be easy — it actually ensures the opposite. There's a Forest Frank lyric my younger boys love. It goes: Jesus promised that the bad would come along, ‘Cause if life is always easyProbably doin' something wrong.That's true. I want everybody to know: when your devotion to Jesus meets difficulty, that's a good sign. The question for us is about our willingness to endure difficulty. Are we willing to be criticized? Are we willing to express devotion to Jesus that others would call wasteful but Jesus calls beautiful?6. Mary-like devotion is vindicated.Let's look closer at what Judas said in verse 5.At face-value, we might think Judas is onto something, because what he says is not untrue. That perfume was worth a lot of money — three hundred denarii/$80–90K — that's a lot of money you can do a lot with. Judas names one possibility. The problem, though, is that he's thinking about it all the wrong way. See, he's thinking about gifts from the giver's perspective, not from God's perspective. He's thinking about everything from earth looking around, not from heaven looking down.In his mindset — the ‘Judas mindset' — all value is monetary, and all that is monetary is a zero-sum category: which means I'm always thinking, “whatever I give here is what I cannot give there.” And see, Judas is so caught up in this mindset — he cares so much about the optimal management of the gift — that he's blind to the One the gift is for. That is what is most striking about verse 5 — it's the absence of anything to do with Jesus. Judas says nothing about him. So Judas not only rebukes Mary here, but he also registers how little he thinks of Who she worships.And if that wasn't clear, John adds in verse 6. He wants us to know that Judas said what he said:“…not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”Judas was part of a program called ‘Feeding Our Future' …Greed is an ancient sin — it's the root of all evil, and it ruined Judas. (And it's behind the ruin of our state. God help us.)In verse 7, Mary doesn't say anything back to Judas, but Jesus speaks up on her behalf, and he says, first, “Leave her alone.”Which is amazing. Jesus doesn't argue with Judas. He doesn't explain why his mindset is wrong, he first just tells him to stop. Jesus defends Mary, and he makes the issue about himself, because it is!With this perfume Mary has prepared Jesus for the day of his burial, because, verse 8:“…the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”And it's clear now, with the mention of his burial and that he won't always be here, Jesus is talking about his death. Which raises the question for us: Was Mary anointing Jesus as king or preparing him for his death? And the answer is Yes.Again, Mary is doing more here than she realized. She is anointing Jesus as King — it's just that he's a king who will sacrifice his life for his people.He's a King who has come to die. His reign will conquer the grave for good — remember Lazarus — but first Jesus's reign will come through the grave. Our triumphant King will also be a slain Lamb. And John wants us so badly to get this! He gives us hints here in Mary's devotion, but then later in the Book of Revelation he tells us about a vision when saints and angels together pour out their praise to Jesus, and they say, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12)Listen: I want you to know that the final vindication of our every sincere act of devotion to Jesus will come on that day when we see him. If it's Mary-like devotion, it is never wasted. Jesus is worth it. And this brings us to the last point.7. Mary-like devotion is instructive. We're gonna finish how we started: I think we can learn from our sister Mary. It is a gift to us to be able to see her gift to Jesus, and I want us to be more like her. That's been my prayer: that the Spirit would reawaken or awaken in us Mary-like devotion to Jesus.Devotion that is surprising because it responds to Jesus in the moment, even if it doesn't fit the setting. Costly because it brings Jesus our best, humble because it doesn't worry about what others might think, fitting because Jesus is the King and nothing given to him is too much, criticized because it's not supposed to be easy, and vindicated because the King who Mary worshiped is the Lamb who was slain and one day we will see his worth with our own eyes.Mary's devotion is instructive because it shows us what it looks like when a heart is overcome by the worth of Jesus.And what's incredible for us, is that we know more about Jesus's worth than Mary does here. We already know the end of the story! That Jesus who has come will die, will be resurrected, and will come again.So in closing, I want to invite you to ask yourself this: For Advent, in this season of waiting, what is Jesus calling you to do that would simply reflect his worth?That's what brings us to the Table.The TableWe come here to this Table to rest in the worth of Jesus Christ. Let his glory be your comfort by taking refuge in him. That's what it means to trust in Jesus, and that is who this table is for. If you're here and you have put your faith in Jesus, we invite you to eat and drink with us and give him thanks.

Do I have a real faith in Jesus that can withstand the trials and tests that fill this life?

Do I have a real faith in Jesus that can withstand the trials and tests that fill this life?

A miracle happens in Acts 3, but it isn't the main event. The miracle points to the gospel, celebrates lives changed by the gospel, and opens the door for people to repent and believe. In this, Acts 3 shows a gospel demonstration followed by a gospel explanation that leads others to a gospel invitation, and through Peter and John we learn that faith in Jesus shines bright for Jesus!

Jesus Followers Know the Cornerstone of Christianity Is: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” MESSAGE SUMMARY: Jesus is The Door and The Gate by which you must enter the Kingdom of God. In John 14:6-7, Jesus answers a question by the Apostle Thomas with the fundamental tenant of Christianity when He tells us all: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.'". Also, in John 10:9-10, Jesus tells us: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief {Satan} comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Also, Jesus said, in Matthew 7:13-14, that He was "the Narrow Gate", and whomever enters the Kingdom through Him will be saved and have Eternal Life: {You} “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.". Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection are the events, of about two thousand years ago, that provided us all, by God's Grace, with access to The Narrow Gate, which is Jesus. Through Jesus' death on the cross for your sins and His Resurrection, He has given you eternal life, if you choose to enter The Narrow Gate. You may ask: “How do I enter this ‘Narrow Gate' of Jesus?”. By God's Grace you can enter Eternal Life, through Jesus, by your true belief and faith in Jesus as God along with your prayerful confession of your sins to God. With your belief, faith, and confession, you have entered through the narrow and only door to your Salvation. However and after your entry through the door, you must continue, in your faith and obedience, to follow Jesus – this is the only, and it is The Way provided by God's Grace through Jesus.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, help me to grab hold of you today. I need you. Set me free to begin reorienting my life around you, and you alone. Help me to pay attention to and honor how you have uniquely made me. Thank you for the gift of rest. In Jesus' name, amen.       Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 122). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that, because I am in Jesus Christ, I will entrust to Him my future. I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.  From 2 Timothy 1:12 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 7:13-14; John 14:5-7; Psalms150:1-6; John 10:9-10. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Turkeys and Eagles, Part 5: Following Jesus Changes Everything in Our Families” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Since Your Judgment Is Coming, Are You Doing All You Can to Continue Growing Your Relationship with God? MESSAGE SUMMARY: Jesus tells you about the certainty of your Judgment in John 5:25,29: “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live . . . and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.". Since Judgment is coming, are you doing all you can to keep your relationship with the Lord growing? Given certain Judgment for all, a primary purpose of the Church is to lead people into a growing relationship with the Lord. You must be constantly growing and nurturing your faith in Jesus. There is a day when we will all be judged by the Lord – do not you think you can wait until the last minute to have a real relationship with Jesus.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Father, when I read even part of the story of Job, I too am overwhelmed by your “wildness.” Your ways and timing are beyond me. Job moved from hearing about you to having “seen you.” Lead me, Lord, on a pathway so that I too can pray as Job prayed: “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5). In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 89). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, because I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Insensitivity. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit's fruit of Gentleness. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Isaiah 24:19-22; Matthew 7:21-23; John 12:48-50; Psalms149:1-9. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Turkeys and Eagles, Part 5: Following Jesus Changes Everything in Our Families” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

I discovered that Jesus could offer me something that nothing or no one else could offer.  He could quench my spiritual thirst.  He offered me a relationship.  He offered me purpose for my life.  As I began to sincerely follow him, my life was filled with contentment.  I realized that Jesus could satisfy the thirst and the longing that I had inside.Main Points:1. You and I have experienced physical thirst. But we have another kind of thirst. It's spiritual thirst, and yes everyone experiences it, sometimes without realizing it. Inside all of us there is a thirst that nothing in this world can satisfy.  There is a thirst within us that only God can fill.  2. All of us have tried to satisfy our thirst. If a person is thirsty, they are going to search for water.  It's the same way with our spiritual thirst.  We are all looking for a way to quench our thirst.  We search for meaning and purpose through a person, through possessions, or by pursuing pleasure…only to find that our souls are still parched. 3. We experience this living water when we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. It's only then that we can experience the satisfaction of our thirst being quenched.Today's Scripture Verses:John 6:35 - Jesus says, “He who believes in me will never thirst.” John 7:37-38 - : “‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.' Quick Links:Donate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group

Biographies may be just what your child needs to learn how to live out their faith in Jesus in real life! In this episode from the archive Carole Joy Seid sits down with acclaimed author and historian Dr. Lyle W Dorsett. He discusses the role biographies can have as a supplement to the stories in the Bible, in deepening your walk. Join us!RESOURCES+Click here for a complete list of the biographies listed in this episode+Build Your Family's Library: Grab our FREE book list here+Get our FREE ebook: 5 Essential Parts of a Great Education.+Attend one of our upcoming seminars this year!+Click HERE for more information about consulting with Carole Joy Seid!CONNECTHomeschool Made Simple | Website | Seminars | Instagram | Facebook | PinterestMentioned in this episode:The Biggest Story Holy Bible for Kids From CrosswayTry CTCMath-Half Price Discount

Do you believe that sin is a big deal? Do you believe in a final judgement? How can we be free from sin? In today's episode, Keith shares how 2 Kings 23:31-35 encourages us to put our hope and faith in Jesus. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we're exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Kings 23:31-35

As soon as we place our faith in Jesus, we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today I sit down with 22-year-old Dylan Mandell, who is walking through his fourth cancer diagnosis with unshakable faith in Jesus. We talk trials, daily prayer, Scripture, surrender, and the strength of family as Dylan shares why he believes his healing was already paid for on the cross in full.CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction06:13 Facing Cancer with Faith11:27 Dylan's Journey: From Diagnosis to Faith15:24 The Role of Family and Upbringing31:22 The Importance of Discipline and Preparation41:41 Choosing Pain Over Medication44:31 Miraculous Recovery45:09 Keeping the Fire of Faith Alive49:50 The Potter and the Clay: Embracing Suffering57:48 The Power of Words and Discipline01:06:38 Living with Integrity and Faith01:10:31 Finding Peace in Faith01:18:56 Trusting God's Plan01:22:52 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsORDER MY BOOK HERE:https://www.amazon.com/Go-One-More-Intentional-Life-Changing/dp/1637746210FOLLOW:Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 20% off FOR LIFEhttps://bpn.team/memberIG: instagram.com/nickbarefitness/YT: youtube.com/@nickbarefitness