Podcasts about first century

A Sermon for Rogation Sunday St. James 1:22-27 by William Klock I was out on my gravel bike this week, riding the trails through Merville and Black Creek and down to Williams Beach.  At one point I had to stop to take a picture.  I was riding down this narrow corridor with walls of little yellow flowers on both sides.  It was really beautiful.  But just a short way down the trail I ran into a big group of people cutting it all down.  I had a stop and wait for a minute so they could get their cart off the trail.  One of the women asked how my ride was going.  I said I was having a great ride.  It was a beautiful day.  I pulled out my phone and showed her the picture I'd just taken of the trail.  I thought it was beautiful, but she scowled at it.  “We'll get there tomorrow morning,” she said, “Ugh!  Vile stuff, but we'll get it!”  (And, sure enough, when I rode through again a few days later the walls of scotch broom were gone.)  I was kind of disappointed, but I'm sure the “broom busters” were happy, because they really, really, really hate scotch broom. The funny thing is—I notice this most places they cut it down—is that when they're done, there's usually still scotch broom as far as the eye can see—on the other side of a fence.  It's like that where I was riding my bike.  They cut it all down on Regional District property, but they can't touch the private property on the other side of the fence.  And later in the summer, I'll be riding my bike down the trail and in the heat of the day I'll hear the seed pods popping open and scattering their seed on both sides of the fence.  And next year the scotch broom will be back.  To me the whole thing seems pointless, but these folks envision an island scoured clean of scotch broom and so they come back year after year after year to cut it down wherever they can get to it.  Even though that island scoured clean of broom will never be. As I rode later in the week and saw the trailsides devoid of broom, but acres and acres of yellow flowers on the other side of the fence it got me thinking about the theme of our Eastertide scripture readings.  (I know, you think I'm just out there riding my bike, but I'm out there praying and meditating on scripture and putting sermons together in my head.)  We began Easter with the theme of hope.  Jesus' resurrection meant something to the disciples.  It wasn't just a miracle.  It was the evidence, the proof that God's new creation had begun and that Jesus is king.  That's what lit a fire under them to go out and announce the good news to Jerusalem, to Judaea, Samaria, and to the whole world—even though it eventually got them all killed.  This theme of resurrection life carries all through Eastertide and we meet it here again today.  We could run with either the Gospel or the Epistle, but I'm going to go with the Epistle—this lesson from St. James that begins with those familiar words: Be people who do the word, not merely people who heart it and deceive themselves.   Brothers and Sisters, the good news of Jesus' resurrection from the dead ought to give us a vision of the world set to rights—of sin and death defeated and cast forever into hell, of no more trials and no more tears, and of new life with nothing to separate us from the presence of God.  When we look at the mess and the darkness around us that hope might sound crazy—like an island scoured clean of scotch broom—but the fact is that God has done the hard part already.  He gave his son to take up our flesh, to die, and to rise to life again.  The rest is just his people—us—going out to preach and to do that good news and to let his word and his Spirit spread and grow his new creation.  So don't just hear the word.  Go out and do it.  Don't just long for God's kingdom, go out and be it. It also helps to understand that for the Jews, speaking Hebrew, to hear and to obey were inextricably linked together.  The Hebrew word for “hear” is a call not just to the ears, but to the heart, and to hear is to respond, whether it's for the Lord to hear the cries of his people in their bondage and to come to their deliverance or for Israel to hear the word of the Lord and to take it to heart and do it.  When Moses and the Prophets announced, “Hear the word of the Lord!” it wasn't just a call to listen, but to obey—to do.  We have a word in English that we don't use anymore that is very similar: hearken.  Don't just hear, but take note, take what you hear to heart.  Do it. Brothers and Sisters, words are important—and the word of God especially so.  As I've said so many times, God's word brings life.  By his word he created life in the beginning and when we were mired in sin and in slavery to death, he heard our cries for deliverance and sent his word again, this time in human flesh, in Jesus, to die and to rise from death so that we might know life again.  This is at the core of Easter and so, these last two Sundays of Eastertide we read from St. James' epistle about the power of God's word to bring us life and to transform us.  But first he contrasts God's word with our words, which are so often spoken in anger or spoken, not to heal or to give life, but to hurt.  This is in the first chapter of James.  Our Epistle begins at verse 22, but I want to back up a bit into last week's Epistle, to verse 19.  Here's what James writes: So, my dear brothers [and sisters], get this straight.  Every person should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.  Human anger, you see, doesn't produce God's justice.  (James 1:19-20) “Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  How many times would that have saved you a world of hurt if you'd only heard and obeyed? Now, there can be a place for anger.  So often we get angry because the world isn't what we know it should be.  Sometimes—a lot of the time—that's just our pride being hurt or our selfishness being tweaked, but when we see real wrongs being done, when we see real injustice in the world, there is a place for just and righteous anger.  Godly anger over sin and injustice is often precisely what we need to get us up and out into the world to help the needy or the hurt, to stand up for the defenceless, or otherwise to speak out and to work for wrongs to be righted.  St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry” but then there's an “and”, a big “and”: “and do not sin.”  Deal with what needs dealing with and “do not let the sun go down on your anger,” because that “gives opportunity to the devil”.  If you're angry because your pride has been hurt, put a stop to it right there.  Swallow your pride and move on.  If you're angry because something is truly wrong, use that anger productively to set things right, but do not sin in the process.  Two wrongs won't make things right.  And righteous or not, don't let your anger fester.  Deal with it one way or another, because simmering anger is fodder for the devil and for all sorts of sin.  We all know that from experience.  Let your anger simmer and before too long you're thinking about payback and revenge and neither of those things have any place in the Christian life.  That was our lesson two Sunday's ago: As he has vindicated Jesus, so the Father will one day vindicate us.  We don't need to vindicate ourselves. In short, James says, “Human anger doesn't produce God's justice.”  In other words, your anger is not what will set this broken world to rights.  I know it always seems like it will at the time, but it won't.  Just consider: You think your anger will set things right so you lash out at that other person.  And now what are they thinking?  They're thinking the same thing: All the situation needs is a little bit of their anger to fix it so they lash out at you.  And all it all does is make everything worse.  Brother and Sisters, James reminds us to instead be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.  God is the one who will bring justice to the world and right the wrongs.  If we have been wronged, God will vindicate us.  The best thing we can do is to respond with the gospel and the Spirit.  Where the world is broken, where relationships are broken, we should be asking ourselves how we can bring to bear the things that God's Spirit gives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Our anger won't help God make things right.  And so James warns: So put away everything that is sordid, all that overflowing malice, and humbly receive the word which has been planted within you and which has the power to save your lives.   Do you see what he did there?  More often than not, when we get angry, it's because our pride has been hurt and that kind of anger tempts us to lash out—it tempts us to respond to a hurt or a wrong with some kind of sin.  Insults, brawling, that sort of thing.  In contrast, James says that when our pride is threatening to take control of us, we need instead to meekly receive—to hearken to—the word that God has implanted in us.  If this were St. Paul, he'd be reminding us to put off the old man and to put on the new.  The pride and anger are the old man talking, but in Jesus and the Spirit God has made us new.  James puts it in terms of the word by which God has forgiven us and made us a new creation.  I think James had Isaiah 55:10-11 in mind when he was writing this.  That's where the Lord, through the Prophet, says: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven          and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout,          giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;          it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,          and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.   This is one of my favourite passages in all of Scripture.  When I get frustrated with my own sin and my own shortcomings and my own failures to be faithful to God, I remember what he says about his word here.  And as a pastor, when I'm discouraged with ministry and when it seems like nothing is happening or people aren't maturing or when I see sin and shortcomings and failures to be faithful in the church, again, I come back to what the Lord says about his word here and I go back to the word, because God's word is the source of life.  Nothing I can do will bring the life of God to myself or to other people—only his word can do that—and he promises through Isaiah that his word always accomplishes what he purposes and it always succeeds in that for which he sends it forth.  So I preach his word to myself and I preach his word to you and trust him to cause it to bear fruit in me and in you, because he says that that is what he will do.  God's word is life. So, Brothers and Sisters, don't let God's word go in one ear and out the other.  James writes, “Be people who do the word, not merely people who hear it and deceive themselves.”  Don't just listen to the word.  Don't just read it.  Hear it, Brothers and Sisters.  Hearken to it.  Do it.  If it helps, read your Bible with your finger in your ear to remind you not to let it go in one ear and out the other.  These are God's words and they are life!  Too often we come to church and hear the word or we sit down at home and read the word, but we don't actually hear it, we don't let it sink in, we don't let it take root like a seed, and so we don't become doers of the word, letting it make a difference and transform us.  If we just let the word go in one ear and out the other we're in danger of deceiving ourselves.  We think, “I've read the Bible or I've listened to it in church and I've done my duty,” but Friends, if the word doesn't take root in our hearts and minds, if it doesn't make a difference, we miss out on the life of God.  He promises that his word will accomplish what he purposes—that it will make a difference, that it will bring new life—but first we have to hear it, not just listen, but hear it, take it in, obey it, and let it change us. James uses an illustration here.  Look at verses 23-25: Someone who hears the word but does not do it, you see, is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror.  He notices himself, but then he goes away and quickly forgets what he looked like.  But the person who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and goes on with it, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer who does the deed—such a person is blessed in their doing.   You walk past a mirror, have a look, then walk away and forget.  In one ear and out the other.  That's not how we should approach God's word.  And how do we know if we're really letting God's word take root and grow in us?  We know it's growing in us when we go from being mere hearers to being actual doers of that word.  When we don't just know in our heads that truth is important, but when we stop telling lies, when we stop misrepresenting people, and speak the truth.  When “love your enemies and do good to them” goes from being something in your head to something you actually live out.  When love your wife or submit to your husband translates into loving your wife or submitting to your husband in real and practical ways.  When the Lord's Supper goes from being something you eat to something you live out in your interactions with your brothers and sisters in the Lord, showing love and living in the unity Jesus has given us.  When we confront the injustices of the world, not with anger, but with the gospel and the life of the Spirit. And notice how James makes this point.  He takes us back to his own roots.  He was a Jew.  He was circumcised into the Lord's covenant people when he was eight days old.  He grew up living torah, because he was one of the covenant people and that's what covenant people did.  That's how they were faithful to the Lord in return for his faithfulness to them.  And they learned the torah, the law, by reading and studying God's word.  And as much as Jesus changed everything, he didn't change the fact that the Lord continues to live in covenant with his people.  Jesus established a new covenant, but it's still a covenant.  And the Spirit has given a new law, but it's still a law.  God's people are still called to be different from the world.  As he marked out the Jews with circumcision and called them to live according to the torah, so he marks out the people of Jesus with baptism and calls us to live the law of the Spirit—what James calls the “perfect law, the law of liberty”.  Faithful Jews were doers—keeping the sabbath, eating clean foods and not eating unclean foods, all of that.  Some people think that Jesus has freed us from all of the doing, but it's really just the opposite.  Jesus calls us to even more and better doing, the difference is that instead of pointing to a list of laws written on stone and saying “Do that”, he fills us with God's own Spirit, gives us his own example of love at the cross, rises from the dead and gives us a foretaste of his new creation and says “Do that in the power of the Spirit”.  And this new law, instead of burdening us, actually ends up freeing us from all those things that used to weigh us down: anger and filthiness and wickedness and replaces it all with the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as the Spirit and the word work in us to redirect the affections of our hearts from sin and from self to love for God and love for each other. And so James sums it up in verses 26 and 27, writing: If anyone supposes that he is devout, and does not control his tongue, but rather deceives his heart—such a person's religion is futile.  As far as God the Father is concerned, pure, unsullied religion works like this: you should visit orphans and widows in their sorrow, and prevent the world leaving its dirty smudge on you.   God's word and God's Spirit will transform us.  It doesn't happen in an instant, so we have to be careful here.  Our expectations for a new Christian aren't the same as they are for a mature Christian, but still, a Christian will show the transforming work of God's life-giving word in his life.  And so James says that if you think you're religious—note that “religion” isn't the bad word some people make it out to be today.  Religion is our service to God.  There's good religion and there's bad religion as we'll see in a bit.  So if you think you're serving God but you don't have a bridle on your tongue—that's not the only thing that might show this, but since James has been talking about anger and sinful words, this is the example he uses here—if you speak hateful and hurtful and untrue things, you've deceived yourself.  You've been letting God's word go in one ear and out the other.  You haven't actually heard it and so it hasn't taken root and it's not growing in your heart.  It calls into question your profession of faith and your place in the covenant.  We enter the covenant through faith in Jesus.  And we show our membership in the covenant by doing the word, by living the law of the Spirit.  And if you aren't living the law of the Spirit, well, it begs the question: Are you really a member of the covenant?  Is your faith in Jesus real?  Because a Christian without the fruit of the Spirit, a Christian who is worldly and doesn't bridle his tongue, well he's like a Jew who isn't circumcised and who labours on the sabbath.  He's a contradiction. In contrast, true religion, real service to God looks like this: visiting orphans and widows and keeping yourself unstained by the filthiness of the world.  James could have listed any number of things here, but he's certainly practical and these are things that stood out in the First Century and made people take note of Christians and the Church.  It was a dog-eat-dog world, but the Christians took care of each other and they took care of the poor and vulnerable, because that's what love in action looks like and because that's what new creation looks like.  And in a world of filth, where culture was crude and vulgar and religion often involved ritual drug use and prostitution, God's people stood apart—much as the Jews of the old covenant had stood apart.  Jesus' people, transformed by word and Spirit, should stand as beacons of his new creation, by our lives and by our proclamation, lifting the veil on what God has in store for this broken world. So Brother and Sisters, be Easter people.  If you have believed that Jesus died and rose from the dead to forgive our sins and to make us part of his new creation, prove it.  Really be Easter people.  Immerse yourselves in God's word and hear what he has to say.  Don't let it go in one ear and out the other.  Let it sink in and take root and grow.  And then be the new creation that God's word will make us if we give it the chance.  As he promised, he will make us the firstfruits of his new creation—and that, Brothers and Sisters, is how he is setting the wrongs of this world to right.  Not by our anger, but by his word and by his Spirit. Let's pray: O Lord, from whom all good things come: Grant to us, your humble servants, that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by your merciful guidance put them into practice; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Were there bishops in the early Church? What will happen to the world at the end of time? And is love truly necessary for salvation?

Episode 130: Year C In today's episode, we focus on three details, one per reading for this upcoming 5th Sunday of Easter, Year C. The detail in the first reading, which is Acts 14:21-27, relates to the objection posed by some Protestants that there were no first century rank of bishops but merely elders/presbyters. The […]

JT Thompkins Fishing has started on the second half of his 2025 season on the Elite Series. This week he just secured a top 5 fiinsh with an incredible bag of over 120 pounds for the 4 days. A tourney that saw 10 anglers achieve this feat and the all time largest bag was in jeapordy. The lake could only be the one and only Lake Fork in Texas. The show that this lake and these anglers put on may have rivaled any moment in sports over the weeked and possibly years of history on the Elite Series. It was an honor to have JT call in on his way to the nest stop on the Sabine River. We talk baits, his surrent streak, and the rest of the season with 4 events left. He has made us proud all year, and at this streak he is on he will have a hot finish and be a force to reckon with on all the bodies of water left on the schedule. Be sure to go check out all of his videos and give him a follow on all the social media platforms out there. Go Get Em JT!!!! We are here cheering loud!!www.trilogyoutdoorsmedia.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/trilogy-outdoors--5441492/support.

Did the teachings of Vatican I—like papal primacy and infallibility—suddenly appear in the 19th century, or do they have roots in the early Church? In this episode, Karlo Broussard explores whether first-century Christianity shows signs of the very authority Vatican I defined. From Peter's leadership to early documents like First Clement, we trace the continuity between apostolic Christianity and conciliar declarations, helping you respond to historical objections with clarity and confidence. Join The CA Live Club Newsletter: Click Here Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 04:59 – How can we avoid begging the question against the Catholic faith when talking to Orthodox? 12:34 – Does sitting in adoration impart grace? 18:46 – If sacrifice is the only actual worship, how is it that the offering of the Eucharist, worship of Jesus if we're offering his own body? 18:46 – If sacrifice is the only actual worship, how is it that the offering of the Eucharist, worship of Jesus if we're offering his own body? 21:26 – Why was Jesus’ death so horrific but the sacrifice of Isaac didn’t seem like it was as brutal? 31:44 – If all the angels were created in a perfect state, what inclined them to their first sin? 36:23 – I believe that being elevated as one of the greatest like Mary and John was because of their humility. What are your thoughts? 42:14 – Are the teachings of Vatican 1 apparent in the first century? 47:35 – I know that communion on the hand was allowed recently but was the intended form palm to mouth? When did picking it up with our fingers and placing it into our mouth specifically allowed? 50:52 – I'm a new convert. How does the Church view the imparting of the Holy Spirit and Pentecost?

Many Christians find it hard to see the papacy in the first-century Church. In this episode, Erick Ybarra addresses the historical and biblical foundations for the papal office. Was Peter truly the first pope? How did early Christians view his authority? And what evidence do we have from Scripture and tradition that connects the leadership of Peter to the role of today's pope? Join The CA Live Club Newsletter: Click Here Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 12:33 – I struggle with not seeing the papacy in the first century. Can you help clarify where we see it? 18:30 – How close have we ever gotten to the pope who was the minimal requirement, a male baptized Catholic? 22:32 – Regarding his debate with Ubi Petrus. Do you have clarification from one of your questions from the debate? 35:29 – How is it ok that we added the filioque to the Nicene creed? Didn’t the Nicene Creed have a clause that not one word could be changed? 42:09 – How do you think the Church balances separating itself from being too political and how it’s done that historically? 48:24 – How closely do we tie our belief in Christ to our belief in the Church? If the pope were to dogmatically declare heresy, would it invalidate the magisterium? 52:06 – What do you think about the passages in First Clement where he says the Holy Spirit is writing/speaking through him? Is this evidence of papal infallibility?

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Love God. Love people. These two commandments comprise the entirety of God's Law. The church at Ephesus was doing a lot of things right back in the First Century. This body of believers was committed to the truth of the Gospel, and they worked hard to share it with the world. But the Lord had one thing against them, and, as you'll see today, it was a pretty big problem! Stay with us now as Ron moves ahead in his teaching series, “Ready For His Return,” based on Revelation chapters 1 to 3.  

Created by Mike Nawrocki, co-creator of VeggieTales, the animated series, Dead Sea Squirrels, is now out. The Dead Sea Squirrels follows the adventures of a pair of First Century squirrels who are ready to dive into the 21st century. They love sharing the lessons they learned first-hand from Jesus’ teachings. Mike will join Wednesday’s Mornings with Eric and Brigitte to share his creation with us. https://gominno.com/deadseasquirrelsDonate to Moody Radio: http://moodyradio.org/donateto/morningshow/wrmbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent St. Matthew 15:21-28 & 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 by William Klock In today's Gospel St. Matthew tells us that Jesus and his disciples left Jewish Galilee for the district of Tyre and Sidon.  While there were plenty of Jews living in the district of Tyre and Sidon, this was Canaanite country—pagan country—outside the bounds of Israel.  I expect they kept themselves to the countryside and away from the cities crowded with unclean gentiles.  That, and Mark's telling of this story suggests Jesus was taking a little bit of a holiday from the crowds that followed him everywhere in Galilee.  So Jesus and the disciples found a quiet place to stay, but there's no peace and quiet for Jesus.  Last week the devil found him on his forty-day retreat in the wilderness.  Now a local Canaanite woman hears he's in the neighbourhood and tracks him down to the place where they were staying.  As Matthew remembers it, he writes that: A Canaanite woman from those parts came out and shouted, “Have pity on me, Lord, son of David!  My daughter is in a bad way…she's demon-possessed!”   Remembering what happened that day and how Jesus and how he and the other disciples responded to her, Matthew tells us that Jesus said nothing at all to her.  And for their part, the disciples prodded Jesus saying, Send her away!  She's shouting after us.   These are the same disciples that shooed away the little children when they approached Jesus, so their reaction doesn't seem very surprising or out of character.  After all, they were here to get away from all the people and here's this pagan, gentile woman shouting at them.  It probably does seem a little odd, however, that Jesus would ignore the woman.  But writing decades later about what happened that day, if we listen closely, we do get a sense of how the gospel had softened Matthew's heart.  Back then she was just an annoying gentile disturbing their day.  But looking back, Matthew describes her plight with compassion.  Her daughter was in a bad way, he says.  That's how he usually describes the hurting people who came to Jesus for mercy.  Her daughter, the woman cried out, was demon-possessed.  A terrible thing.  And yet the key to the story is in Matthew's detail that she was a Canaanite. That's the problem.  Think about how we often struggle to feel compassion for people who put themselves in bad situations or do dumb and irresponsible things and then suffer the consequence.  Play with fireworks and you might blow your fingers off.  Do drugs and you'll end up a junkie strung out on the street.  Sleep around and you'll end up with an STD.  Lie with the dogs and you'll get up with fleas.  We have various ways of describing this.  “Play stupid games; win stupid prizes” comes to mind.  The Bible has a saying too: You reap what you sow.  Most Jews would look at this Canaanite woman with a demon-possessed daughter with that kind of attitude.  If you worship false gods—remember that Paul says those false gods are just demons in disguise—if you worship false gods, it's your own fault if you or your children end up possessed by demons.  You reap what you sow. One of the patron gods of Sidon was Eshmun, a Phoenician god of healing.  He had a great temple in the city.  I expect that this woman had taken her daughter there many times to pray to the idol there and to offer it sacrifices in the hope that it would heal her daughter.  Little did she know that her worship of this demonic false god was just the sort of thing that brought demonic possession on her daughter.  No wonder she didn't get better.  But now she's heard about Jesus.  Even people in her pagan country were talking about him.  She heard her Jewish neighbours tell how he had delivered people from demons.  She also heard them say that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of David, that somehow, through him or in him or something like that, the God of Israel had come to visit and deliver his people.  She'd never prayed to the God of Israel before.  That would be dumb.  She was a Canaanite.  She wasn't his problem.  She had her own gods.  Plus, from her perspective, the God of Israel couldn't be any better than her gods.  His people hadn't heard him speak for hundreds of years.  And he allowed them to be oppressed by the Romans.  He didn't sound very powerful—or even very present.  Gentiles like her mocked the faith that the Jews put in him.  “Where's your God?” they jeered.  But as she listened to the stories about Jesus, it sounded like the God of Israel was finally waking up.  Through this “son of David”, through this “Messiah”, the promises he had made centuries before were starting to come true.  If her gods wouldn't help her, maybe she should go and find this Jesus.  Yahweh wasn't her god or even the god of her people, but maybe in Jesus he would show her mercy.  And so she went looking for Jesus and when she found him, there he was talking with his friends.  She decided it was best to be respectful.  Jews—especially rabbis—avoided contact with gentiles.  They thought people like her were unclean.  Plus she was a woman and it wasn't appropriate for a woman to be too forward with a man who wasn't family.  And so she called out from a distance.  Again, Matthew writes: Have pity on me, Lord, son of David!   And to her dismay—although I doubt she was surprised—Jesus ignored her.  But that wasn't going to stop her.  Maybe if she could annoy him enough, he'd just giver her what she wanted.  That's more or less how the pagans thought it worked with the gods.  Think of our Ash Wednesday gospel and Jesus' warning about heaping up words with long prayers.  That's what the gentiles do, he warns.  So she cries out some more at which point the disciples, who had been ignoring her so far, turn to Jesus and plead with him: Send her away!  She's shouting after us.  And finally Jesus responds—but to them, not to her.  Matthew says that Jesus answered, I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.   Ouch.  Where's all that “For God so loved the world that he sent his only-begotten son” stuff that Jesus says in John's Gospel?  Well, we'll come back to that.  But first, now that Jesus has acknowledged her presence if not actually spoken directly to her, the woman feels comfortable drawing nearer and speaking to Jesus.  Matthew says that she came and threw herself down at his feet.  “Lord, she said, “please help me.”  And Jesus answered, “It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”   Wait.  Did Jesus just call her a dog?  But Jesus is just making a point.  He's reiterating what was the normal, common view that Jews had of gentiles.  They were “dogs”.  There were two types of people in the world: Jews.  And everyone else who wished they were a Jew.  At least that's sort of how the Jews saw things.  The Jews were God's people: chosen, called, especially loved.  They were the people who lived with the living God in their midst.  Or, at any rate, they used to be…and they were sure they would be once again.  That was the difference.  The gentiles, they were unchosen, unclean, and unloved.  They worshipped idols and they did evil things.  They were dogs.  And when they talked about dogs, the weren't talking about cute little lap dogs or friendly pets.  They were talking about feral dogs that roamed the streets at night eating garbage.  That's how Jews saw gentiles.  In contrast, they we're the Lord's beloved children. And the woman understands all of this.  She already knew she had no right to be there.  She had no claim on the God of Israel or his Messiah.  I know, Lord, she says to Jesus, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.   I expect Jesus finally smiled when he heard that.  He wasn't really a jerk.  He said and did all of this for a reason.  It was another one of his acted prophecies that said more about his mission and his ministry than words ever could.  So having made his point, Jesus replied, “O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be as you wish.  And Matthew adds, And her daughter was healed from that moment.  Maybe Matthew just knew that this is what happened because this is what always happened, but I suspect that the report got back to Jesus and the disciples.  Maybe the woman brought her healed daughter to meet Jesus.  Who knows.  The point is that this woman saw the God of Israel at work in Jesus, she came in faith, and even though she had no claim on him, the God of Israel healed her daughter. But back the question: Why would Jesus treat this woman this way?  Why would he call her a dog?  What's with all this about not giving the children's bread to the dogs?  Didn't God so love the world that he sent his son?  He did.  But here's the thing: remember that Matthew wrote his Gospel for a Jewish audience and a big part of his agenda was to show them that Jesus really was their Messiah and that he'd come in fulfilment of their prophecies.  In doing that, Matthew reminds us that Jesus didn't jump into history to save humanity and the world at any old random time and place.  There's been a tendency in the Church to abstract Jesus' ministry, to separate theology and story, doctrine and history.  He is the Saviour of the world after all, and so we start thinking that if he'd wanted to he could have come at any time and any place and any people to do his saving work, but in doing that we forget that—no—he came and he had to come where and when and to whom he did because Jesus is part of a bigger story.  Jesus of Montréal couldn't have saved the word.  Jesus of Nazareth—because he was Jesus of Nazareth—could. This is why I say that this was sort of an acted-out prophecy.  I expect Jesus planned to help this woman from the start, but what he says and does here stresses a point that will be vital to his own people and that, ultimately, will be vital as the gospel goes out from Judea to the whole world.  And that point is that Jesus reveals the faithfulness of the God of Israel.  He does that by first ignoring this gentile woman, then he refuses her request and calls her a dog.  But maybe the most remarkable thing—and it highlights that he really was a prophet—is that his refusal of her request ends up prompting her to speak that vital truth when she says, “But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.”  Take note: The dogs don't eat until the master's children have eaten.  And, Brothers and Sisters, just so with the gospel.  The gentiles can't eat until the children of Israel have first been fed.  The Lord must fulfil his promises to his people before those gospel crumbs can fall to the gentiles.  The amazing thing—and what this Canaanite woman couldn't have realised at the time—was that those crumbs that fell under the table would, in time, become a great feast for the nations.  But what has drawn the nations to the table was seeing the faithfulness of the Lord to feed his own children, just as the household dogs only came to the table, because they saw the master feeding his beloved children and hoped to eat what was dropped. We too often forget this.  It's true that “God so loved the world”.  But we've forgotten the bigger story of which this is just one part: the story of the people of God that runs from Genesis to Revelation.  We tend to lift Jesus out of his historical and Jewish context, out of his First Century context, which means lifting him out of the story of Israel—which again means lifting him out of the Genesis to Revelation story.  And when we do that, we lose the very thing brought—that still brings—the nations to Jesus: the great theme of the faithfulness, the righteousness of God.  But  Matthew won't let us do that.  Today he shows us Jesus right in the middle of the big story. So it's true what Jesus says to the woman here: He did not come to the gentiles.  Jesus came to Israel.  Jesus is Israel's Messiah.  “But again,” we protest, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son…”  Jesus said it.  Yes.  Jesus brings salvation for all, but we need to first understand that he does so as Israel's Messiah.  Jesus stresses it right here: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Jesus came to bring the kingdom that had been promised to Israel through Abraham and through David and he did it to fulfil the Lord's promises—to show his faithfulness.  There were aspects of that kingdom that were new and different, but Jesus' kingdom is built firmly and immovably on the covenant and the promises the Lord had made with Israel down through the ages from Abraham's time.  He had called Israel to be his people.  He had promised to be their God.  He had rescued Israel and set her apart so that he might show her his blessings and give her his word and he did it all so that the world, the nations, the gentiles would see God in the midst of his people and be moved to come and give him glory.  And that's exactly what Matthew wants us to see happening in our Gospel today. We don't know exactly what this Canaanite woman hard heard or what she knew.  There were enough Jews living in her part of the world that she might very well have known their stories and have heard about their prophets.  Knowing those things made it all the easier to mock the faith of the Jews.  They told these stories of past greatness.  They told stories about Abraham being led across the desert by their God.  They told stories about their deliverance from slavery in Egypt—about the plagues and the Red Sea—about the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  They told stories about how the Lord had conquered the land of Canaan for them.  And the Canaanites laughed: “Where's your God now?”  Because the God of Israel wasn't in the temple anymore.  He hadn't spoken in centuries—if he had ever really spoken at all.  The stories were probably all made up anyway.  Consider that these pagans had their own stories about their own gods.  And, yes, the God of Israel was so much better in Israel's stories.  He was just and righteous and loving.  Their gods were fickle and capricious and subject to all their passions.  You couldn't trust them, which is why they heaped up long prayers.  But their gods didn't speak and, as far as they could tell, neither did the God of Israel. But then, he did speak and he did act.  The first gentiles to notice were the wise men from the East.  The God of Israel placed a star in the sky that guided them to his king, to his Messiah.  And as Jesus travelled around Galilee healing the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, and the demon possessed.  As Jesus preached good news and coming judgement, it got the attention of some of the gentiles.  There was that Roman centurion in Capernaum who went to Jesus to plead for the life of his son.  There was the demoniac in the Decapolis.  Jesus had cast his demons into a heard of pigs and now he was healed, sane, and proclaiming what the God of Israel had done.  And now this Canaanite woman.  She'd heard what the God of Israel was doing through Jesus.  In a world of idolatrous and demon-filled darkness, she had a glimpse of the light, and so she came to Jesus in faith—faith that this foreign God whom she'd once mocked, just might actually be for real and unlike any of the other gods her people had ever known.  And through Jesus the God of Israel healed her daughter, drove the darkness away, and sent her home with her faith confirmed. Brothers and Sisters, the Canaanite woman, responding to that little glimpse of God's light in the midst of the darkness, prefigures what God knew would happen with the gentiles once the light of his righteousness, his faithfulness began to blaze out from the cross and from the empty tomb.  This was his plan all along.  Because he loved the whole world, he sent his son take up the identity and mission of his people, Israel.  Through Jesus—and especially in his death and resurrection and through the judgement that Jesus brought to Judea—the God of Israel fulfilled the promises that he had made to his people.  And in those events, he made his glory known to the gentiles.  In Jesus, the gentiles saw a God unlike any god they had ever known: a God who speaks, a God who acts, a God who is present with his people, and most of all a God who is faithful and just.  And they abandoned their false gods, their demonic idols and through Jesus they bowed down, they submitted in faith, they gave their allegiance to the God of Israel.  And in that, God gathered the dogs and made them his children.  He took what was unclean, and washed it pure.  As Paul writes in our Epistle today: God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness.  By putting his glory on full display in Jesus, he has taken us away from our idols and our idolatry and made us holy.  Brothers and Sisters, the Canaanite woman is us—or the vast majority of us, at any rate.  An unclean, gentile dog now washed clean and made holy by Jesus, because we have seen the glory of God shining forth from him—from his cross, from his empty tomb, and from his ascension.  Our ancestors believed and we believe, because the good news about Jesus outshines every god, every demon, every philosophy, every ism, every idol.  And, Brothers and Sisters, my prayer is that—particularly during this season of Lenten fasting—that God by his word and by his Spirit would hold his glory before us and drive away all the distractions that we've let creep back into our view, that his glory would drive away every idol, whether that be worldly thinking, selfishness, politics, money, sex, entertainment—whatever our distractions might be and that we would fix our gaze and our grip solely on Jesus, the glory of his Father, and the life of his Spirit and that we would remember that he has delivered us from uncleanness and called us to holiness. Let's pray: Gracious Father, as you revealed your righteous glory to the Canaanite woman through Jesus, let your glory blaze forth as we recall the good news of Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension.  Keep the gospel ever before us so that as we see your great glory, everything else, every idol, every false source of hope and security pales in comparison.  Cause us to let go of everything that we might hold tightly to you and you alone.  Through Jesus we pray.  Amen.

Discover the enchanting history and ancient legends of the Philippines in "The Philippines: The Land of Gold - Unveiling Ancient Legends." Join us on a captivating journey as we explore the mythic connections to treasures like Paradise, Ophir, and Chryse. Through stunning aerial visuals and historical insights, we delve into the accounts of renowned explorers, from Roman geographers to Marco Polo, who depicted the Philippines as a land rich in gold and wealth.Learn about the cultural significance of gold in Filipino heritage and how these legendary narratives still resonate today. Don't forget to like and share this video to spread the magic of the Philippines! #Philippines #AncientLegends #Gold #Ophir #CulturalHeritage #traveldocumentary OUTLINE:00:00:00 Islands of Gold and Legend00:02:25 Charting the Golden Archipelago00:06:55 Whispers from Ancient Texts00:08:16 Ophir and the Eastern Trade Winds00:09:08 Gold in the Tapestry of Culture00:12:03 Echoes of Chryse and Argyre00:12:59 A Legacy Gilded in GoldFor our full position, which no one can challenge without actually reviewing (now, that is nonsense!), read our international books available on Amazon, International Bookstores, and Shopee PH:The Search For King Solomon's Treasure in English, Tagalog, or Ilokano (free in eBook); Garden of Eden Revealed: The Book of Maps; and our New Release, The Mystery of the Three Kings (in English or Tagalog, free in eBook)Links at our new website on: https://thegodculture.org/And watch Solomon's Gold Series:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru2qbCMGOi4PhVocfJEi1oZRRj0AWnzxFor those immediately thinking about the location of the Rivers from Eden which are never represented in the Bible as the Occult Creation Myth in Mesopotamia is that origin, certainly never the Tigris which did not exist prior to the Flood according to Gen. 2; never Israel in any sense as the Gihon Spring is not a River, and the River cannot be in Israel according to Genesis 2 unless one moves Israel into Africa (which is illiterate); and never found in India despite Josephus' confusing the Ganges as the Pison which is why maps in the First Century actually illustrate the Ganges in Indochina. Oops! Rivers From Eden Series:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru2qbCMGOi6Xt-ts2C1QVz-ZnAZxicWJFind the Garden of Eden Series:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLru2qbCMGOi4KPuAcFq4Bx4A2l8dmcfxPFinally, why Lanzones as the Forbidden Fruit? No scripture ever defines that as an apple. However, the Book of Enoch describes this fruit. Watch:Forbidden Fruit?: https://youtu.be/-zDrflASad8Why are Adam and Eve Medium Brown on the cover? Anyone calling themselves a scholar or academic that are not aware the "dust" from which Adam was formed was "red" has executed no research. Learn what the Hebrew Bible has always said. Watch: What Color Was Adam?: https://youtu.be/bVDmWI-Q_5MEnjoy the journey. One last thing, this is our channel, and our rules. There will be no debate on an 8-min brief of research that stems over 1,000 published pages supported by a 300-page Sourcebook, and 100+ videos. Those who attempt so will be muted without notice. We have already responded to likely every single one of those objections throughout our research and we are not entertaining trolling in ignorance. Go review the evidence, because an 8-min. brief is not such. One should know better. We invite you to review the full position even with skepticism. No one has proved these conclusions wrong in over 8 years now since 2017 when our first video went viral. Scoffing and ridicule are not positions, nor is "nuh uh." Yah Bless.TheGodCulture.comSupport the show

We have been reading in Leviticus about the laws and offerings that were to come into operation now that they had made the Tabernacle with its Holy Place, altars and other furnishings. The clothing and rituals for the priests are very detailed and elaborate.Today's reading (Ch. 8) is about how the LORD tells Moses to bring Aaron and his sons and assemble all the congregation to the Tabernacle. They are then to hold what might be called an ordination ceremony. There are various ordination offerings (v.22,28, 29,31) Aaron and his sons are to stay within “the tent of meeting … until the days of your ordination (the A V uses the word consecration) are completed, for it will take 7 days to ordain you.”[v.33]Now all this is a total contrast to the way the church operated in the First Century. The New Testament has no mention or indication of anything like an ordination ceremony, there is no mention of them building places of worship – they appeared to meet in the homes of members as we read today in 1 Corinthians 16 v.19 to “the church in their house”– and note Acts 2 v.46. The word church does not mean a building, it means an ‘assembly' or congregation, as it is translated in Acts 19 v.32,39.There were elders and Peter simply describes himself as “a fellow elder” [1 Peter 5 v.1] and goes on to write that elders should “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering … but being examples to the flock.” [v.2,3] Jesus bluntly said, “call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.” [Matt 23 v.9]It was not until the Church was officially recognised by the Roman Empire in the 4th Century that an elaborate ritual of ordination and costuming was developed and this still happens today; most of the world is aware of the present drama of deciding who will be the next Pope! The First Century believers saw Jesus Christ as their only Priest. Read Hebrews 4 v14 to 5 v.10. Even the Jews abandoned their Priesthood system after their Temple was destroyed.Is there not a sense in which baptism is an ordination? When each individual ordains to be baptised, that is decides, they are made aware in various ways of the commitment they are making to Christ and to GodHow meaningful are those “the days of ordination” – what searchings of the heart! – but this world then presents them with many challenges and the regularly feeding of their and our minds on God' word is an essential source of strength to “endure unto the end.”

Because of a computer glitch only the last half of this sermon was captured on video. Please listen to "The Rest we Need, Part One for the audio and the transcript.1. Let us Focus on Rest Today.2. How Does this Passage Focus on the First Century of the Christian Era?3. As with the Olivet Discourse, There is an Initial Fulfillment in the First Century.4. The Mark of the Beast Contrasts with the Mark of the Lamb.5. There Is no Rest for the Wicked.6. Who Made me a Judge or an Arbiter Between you?7. Take your Rest.8. There Is Labor that Is Restful.9. Take your Burdens and Give them to Jesus; then Find Rest in Worshipping God.

Useful Luke 1:5-17 Out of all the thousands of Levites serving in the Temple in the First Century, Zechariah is one of the only ones we know by name. God knew where to find Zechariah. God does not require that we have a big, flashy, well-known life to be significant to Him.  All that matters is what He sees, what He thinks, and how He is pleased with our lives. This is not a flashy, outgoing couple. They are dutifully behind the scenes in their lives. Zechariah and Elizabeth were just a tiny, almost insignificant part of a community of thousands of Levitical priests, grouped into 24 teams that took their turns on duty at the Temple of God. Zechariah was one of 24,000 priests who served 2 weeks each year by rotation. An an aged man, it was a supreme honor given once in a lifetime to serve at the altar of incense. The incense was offered daily before the morning sacrifice at about 9am, and after the evening sacrifice about 3pm in the afternoon. It was probably the evening offering that was assigned to Zechariah.  Application: God knows your address. You can be plain, unknown to most people in the world, never achieving public fame, live as an ordinary person, having a nondescript life and still be living a Spirit-filled life, useful to God.   Resources: If you're ready to take a step of faith and finally finish your book we have a few ways we can help you.  1. Free Writing Week Challenge: Create a Writing Habit in 15-Minutes a Day Even if you feel overwhelmed or stuck in procrastination, sitting down to write for just 15 minutes a day is the best way to finally reach your writing goals. Most writers think they need hours of uninterrupted time to make progress in their writing. However, in this free challenge, we will show you how much you can accomplish in just 15 minutes of focused writing. Click here to create a consistent writing habit this week.   2. Book Writing Lab Workshop - Map Out Your Book in Just 90 Minutes If over the last year, you've struggled to get your book written, this workshop is for you. Choose your book topic, write an outline, and create a writing plan in just 90-minutes! Finally, feel confident that you will actually finish your book. Get started now for just $27 3. Want More Support? Join Christian Book Academy Most writers stay stuck and never finish their first draft. Inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author. Finally, ditch your self-doubt and take a step of faith so you can finish your book. Join Christian Book Academy (coupon code PODCAST) Get 50% off your first month by using the coupon code PODCAST at checkout.  

Dr. Miles Smith of Hillsdale College Religion and Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War The post The Role of Religion in America's First Century – Dr. Miles Smith, 2/4/25 (0353, Encore) first appeared on Issues, Etc..

Luke 4:21-30Then he began to say to them, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!" And you will say, "Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum."And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet, Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. If you heard last Sunday's sermon, it was full of good news, but I warned you that things were going to change. Back in Nazareth, Jesus' hometown – his friends, family, and neighbors had heard what he'd been up to – preaching and teaching his way around Galilee, and when he showed up in the synagogue, where we find him, still, today – he had that good news for them, which he has been anointed by God to share: “good news for the poor, release for the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord's favor.”And they were all over it. Their home-town boy made good. A local hero. An anointed prophet, filled with spirit and good news and so many gracious words falling from his lips.And Jesus knows they'd like more than just to hear about these things. They'd like to see some of his best work, too, which is why he kind of teases them with that old proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself.” “Show us a trick.” “Give us a show.” “Let's see just how ‘anointed' you really are.”He knows what else they're thinking, too: “Jesus, do something for us – your family, friends, and neighbors – like we've heard you've been doing out there in the world. Release some captives, here. Heal some of us who are sick. Give some of the Lord's favor to those of us who know you best, now that you're home. If you're doing it for them, surely you can do it for us, too.”But Jesus reminds them – not so subtly – that this “Lord's favor” the prophets spoke of wasn't about playing favorites, or taking sides, or “us and them.”He reminds them about how – during a famine once, way back in the day – when all of Israel – the nation of God's chosen ones – could have used a little release and recovery and a dose of the Lord's favor, the prophet Elijah was sent outside the fold, to help some widow at Zarephath in Sidon. And he reminds them about how, during the good ol' days of the prophet Elisha, there were plenty of Hebrew lepers who could have used a cleansing, but that God sent the prophet to an outsider – some foreigner named Naaman, from Syria.And when they hear it, Jesus' newly minted fans lose their minds. They turn on a dime. They turn on Jesus. And they run him out of the synagogue, and straight out of town.“You mean this grace and favor and this recovery and release stuff isn't just for us?!” “You mean we aren't supposed to look out for number one?!?!” “You mean we don't take care of our own, first, and then pick and choose who we think might be worthy?!?!?” “You mean this ‘recovery' and ‘release' and ‘freedom' and ‘favor' is for them, just as much as it is for us?”And, to begin to grasp what was so upsetting and unsettling to Jesus' hometown crowd, we need to be reminded about the insignificance of these widows and these lepers and these foreigners about whom he was telling them. They were at the bottom of the barrel as far as social standing was concerned. They were outcasts. They were outsiders. They were unclean, unworthy, unloveable, and unwanted by the rest of the world. (They were probably undocumented, too, if you know what I mean.)Because, not only was Jesus talking about the outcast, the sinner, the shamed, and the shameful, he was talking about people outside of the Jewish circle. Jesus was saying that, just like the prophets Elijah and Elisha had shown … foreigners to Israel were welcome to the grace of God, too. Not only was God's grace for losers – like lepers and widows – but it was even for Gentile widows and Gentile lepers, too. Which seems to imply that there wasn't anyone beyond the reach of God's love, or beyond the reach of Jesus' own ministry, as a result.Could this be a more hard, holy, timely lesson for us, these days? If Jesus walked into the midst of his people this morning – Christian churches on Sunday morning, filled with those of us who call ourselves, friends and family and brothers and sisters and siblings in Christ – what would HE find, and what would WE do, if he reminded us about the likes of Naaman, the Syrian, or about that widow from Zarephath in Sidon – outsiders and outcasts and foreigners, too?It reminds me of how Bishop Mariann Budde, from the National Cathedral simply, humbly, faithfully, graciously, kindly asked our President to show mercy to immigrants who are afraid of what border policies and deportation practices could mean for them and their families – and about how at least one US Congressman proposed she be deported for it; the 21st Century, American version of being hurled off a cliff, you might say.It makes me think of the rabbit hole of reels and Tik Toks I found myself in, just this week, where Christian-flavored people spend a lot of time explaining why women can't be and shouldn't be allowed to be priests and pastors in the Church. These were men and women, young and old, red and yellow, black and white followers of Jesus – in the year of our Lord, 2025 – who are blind to the fact that, other than Jesus, the very first person EVER to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel, was Mary Magdalene on that first Easter morning.It makes me think, too, of a conversation at the Wellness Center, right around the corner – and quite recently – where someone made note of how, as more people of color find their way there that “the quality of the clientele seems to be going downhill.” I couldn't help but wonder where she might be worshiping Jesus this morning.And did you know that just this past Monday, the Idaho House of Representatives passed a memorial suggesting the US Supreme Court reconsider – and undo – the legalization and protection of same-sex marriage in our country? Heather Scott, the Idaho state representative behind it all, blamed it on Jesus, suggesting that Christians across the nation are being targeted by having to welcome the idea of marriage equality.The sad truth is, too many Christians are still too busy looking for cliffs whenever the message of God's grace and love and mercy and favor gets too wide and too mighty and too scary and too uncomfortable and asks too much of us. And Naaman, the Syrian, and that widow at Zarephath, in Sidon – and those knuckleheads in Nazareth – are all just First Century examples of our 21st Century reality.So today, “this Scripture that is fulfilled in our hearing,” convicts us to ask, who are the 21st Century “widows” and “lepers” among us – because none of this is about widow and lepers anymore. Who are the unloved, the unloveable, the unworthy, or the unwanted as we sit here this morning? Even more, who do we pretend is outside the circle of God's grace as far as Christians in the Church and our community are concerned?We can try to limit God's grace or draw lines in the sand and keep it for ourselves. We can even vote for politicians and policies that do our bidding one way or another. And we can pretend that Jesus' preaching and teaching has nothing to do with those politicians or those policies.We could even try to silence the truth by running the messenger out of town or by hurling him off a cliff or by nailing him to a cross – but we have been there and we've done that and we know how that story ends.Or, rather, we know how that story begins, thanks be to God.Because it is the resurrection that reminds us that God's grace will be shared – no matter what. It will bring good news to the poor. It will release the captive. It will restore sight to the blind. It will let the oppressed go free. The Lord's favor will be proclaimed – whether you and I – Jesus' friends, family, and neighbors are on board or not.And what always gets me when I hear about Jesus' near-death experience that day in Nazareth, is the invitation to get with the program. What I hear is a call to the Church – our congregation at Cross of Grace and the larger Church as God's people in the world – to not be left standing on the cliff like the people of Nazareth, only to find that Jesus has passed through the midst of us – untouched.What I don't want any of us to find is that he's continued on his way sharing grace, doing justice, and offering God's blessings to a world so desperate for it, but that we were too busy or too angry, too self-absorbed or too blind, too partisan or too proud, too selfish or too scared, to join him in that work.Amen

We never expected to be here, especially less than two years after launching. Thanks to everyone who has listened, watched and supported us. In this episode we look back at our story so far and talk about how far we have come. https://www.patreon.com/TheEuroLegionsPodcast https://linktr.ee/theeurolegionspodcast mythic legions toy collecting fantasy cosmic legions

Jake McCandless speaks with Darren Huckey about the Jewish context of discipleship and what it means for parents raising children in faith. Learn how first-century discipleship was more than just knowledge—it was about full-life transformation through devotion, imitation, and replication. Key Takeaways: How first-century discipleship worked What Jesus meant when He said, "A disciple, when fully trained, will be like his teacher." How parents can model and teach discipleship at home Darren Huckey is the Assistant to the Rabbi at Shalom Macon Messianic Synagogue in Macon, Georgia. He is a husband, a father, an author, a teacher, and posts weekly videos to the Shalom Macon YouTube channel. He has published seven books to date with his eighth book due out the first quarter of 2025. He has been active in ministry and/or religious leadership since 1994. Learning about the Jewishness of Jesus has radically changed his life and understanding of Jesus' call to discipleship. His focus over the last several years has been connecting the church back to its Jewish roots, bringing insights into the life, teachings, and ministry of Jesus from Jewish sources. Darren currently lives in Macon, GA with his beautiful wife and four of his five wonderful children (the oldest is happily married and living in Texas), building community with the people he loves. Darren's book: Four Responsibilities of a Disciple, https://a.co/d/3LIICOZ Darren's website: https://www.emethatorah.com

Bob Strader. Disciples 2025 - Sermon series. January 5, 2025. Christ Community Church: https://www.cccfamily.org. Watch online: https://www.youtube.com/user/CCCFamilyArlingtonTX

John 1:19-34,19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said.”24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” Today we're gonna talk a lot about John the Baptist, and I'll admit it feels a little bit strange because John the Baptist was so much not about himself. I think that if John the Baptist were here he'd tell us to Hurry up, move on, don't spend too much time on him — But we're still gonna talk about him because the Bible talks about him, and here in the Gospel of John he's not just in Chapter 1 but he also shows up in Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 and Chapter 10. John the Baptist is an important person in this Gospel, so we're gonna talk about him, but true to the wishes of John the Baptist, I'm gonna try to keep the part about him brief and I'll end with why he matters for us as a local church in St. Paul, in the year 2025. So for the sermon, I got two things about John the Baptist and one thing about us. Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit and for the Holy Scriptures. And thank you that as your people we can gather together for worship. As your children, this morning we have come eager and expectant. We want to hear from you. Speak our hearts, we pray, in Jesus's name, amen. First thing about John the Baptist …1. John the Baptist is a bridge. Remember the first time John the Baptist is mentioned is back in verse 6. Almost out of nowhere verse 6 says:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.The purpose of this mention in verse 6 is the same as the purpose of the mention in verse 15:John the Baptist is the one who brings the news of the eternal Word into history. Remember this Gospel starts in verses 1–5 with this tremendous explanation of the Word — the Word is God, is life, is light — and this is deep and wondrous and it stretches our minds, and then John the apostle, the narrator, he interrupts this depth with verse 6 to tell us that God sent a man named John … and John came to tell us about this Word. Verse 14 picks back up the wonder of this Word, telling us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” — and we saw this last week: this is a profound statement — this is dense theology; it's full of Old Testament allusions — and then, Boom, again, there's John in verse 15! Same guy from verse 6! John bore witness about this Word made flesh.Mining the FitAnd I know that in some of our English translations verse 15 is put in a parenthesis, but it doesn't have to be. Verse 15 actually fits nicely with what comes after it and I want y'all all to see this. So look with me. Chapter 1, verse 15 … 1:15.Verse 15:John bore witness about him [Jesus], and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.' ” 16 For [or because] from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. “Grace upon grace” — now what's that mean? Well, let's keep reading …Verse 17:“For [or because] the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”Track with me here, okay? Verses 15–17 are a series of explanations: Verse 17 explains verse 16 explains verse 15. Verse 17 is a contrast between the law (which came through Moses) and grace and truth (which came through Jesus). These are two different moments in the history of redemption: The ‘law/Moses' is a stand-in for the old covenant; and ‘grace and truth in Jesus' is the new covenant. And that explains that phrase “grace upon grace.” Another way to translate that little preposition “upon” is to say “in the place of.”John is saying: From the fullness of Jesus we have all received grace in the place of grace, because the law (which was one grace) came through Moses; but grace and truth (a better grace) came through Jesus Christ.John is saying in verse 16 that in Jesus we have received new covenant grace in the place of old covenant grace.And remember verse 16 is supposed to explain verse 15 about John the Baptist. But how?Well, it's because in the movement from old to new, John is the bridge. A Foot on Both SidesWhen John stepped onto the scene of what became the First Century, there's no doubt that he was an Old Testament prophet. It had been a long time since Israel had seen a prophet, but John was sent by God as a prophet to Israel with a message. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, John the Baptist is this “Elijah figure” who was prophesied in the Book of Malachi — the other Gospel writers tell us that John the Baptist literally dressed like Elijah. He was an old school prophet leading a Jewish renewal movement. Even within Islam, they recognize John the Baptist as a prophet. Historically, this is a fact. Josephus, the Jewish historian, described John the Baptist as a moral-political troublemaker — which is prophet material.So John the Baptist was this Old Testament prophet and he came at an extremely important historical juncture. It's like John the Baptist has got one foot in the Old Testament and one foot in the New. He's got one foot in Promise and the other in Fulfillment. Imagine it like this: Say you're going on a hike. We've got some hikers in here, right?You're going on this hike, and it's a long one — there's a lot of ground to cover. It starts with a nice garden, but then there's a big river (or two) to cross, there's a high mountain, there's a desert, at times it gets really dark and quiet, and kinda spooky. There are some signs along the way pointing you forward, but this terrain goes on and on (for 39 books).But then you come to the edge of this thing, and there's like a ditch between you and the other side. And you look over at the other side and it's full of color, and they're having a party over there — it's a 27-book long party! But you're not exactly sure how to get from where you are to there. And that's when “There's a man sent from God whose name was John” — he's standing where you are but then he's able to reach one foot over to the other side and he says, “Come on!” He becomes a bridge.John the Baptist is the biblical bridge from the old to the new. That's what he is: a bridge. That's John the Baptist as a category. The second thing to know is that …2. John the Baptist is a voice.Verse 19 brings this all down to the ground even more. This marks the beginning of the official testimony of John the Baptist, and it starts with questions. John the Baptist was making a splash; he was gaining a following within the Jewish world, and the Jewish leaders wanted to know what's going on, so they send a delegation of men to look into it (we learn in verse 24 that it's the Pharisees who sent this delegation), and that's important because the Pharisees were a sect of Jews who were looking for the Messiah. They were devoted to the Hebrew Bible and they knew it said a Messiah would come, so they have that anticipation, and it's reflected in the questions these men ask John. They ask five questions and he responds to each one. That's verses 19–23, but I want to situate these verses within the whole of Chapter 1. Altogether, in Chapter 1, the identity of John the Baptist is referred to eight times (either by himself or by John the apostle). Seven of the eight mentions of John the Baptist are either negative or a deflection. The overwhelming majority of the times John the Baptist is talked about it's either about who he's not or it's about how great Jesus is — He ranks before me! I'm not worthy to untie his shoe! The only time we actually see a positive statement about John's identity is verse 23. Y'all look at verse 23.Just a VoiceThe delegation that's asking him questions basically gives up. In verse 22 they say, Okay, look, you keep telling us who you're not, but we gotta tell our leaders who you are. What do you say about yourself? (What a question! We're gonna come back to that!)But look what John the Baptist says, verse 23:23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said.”John the Baptist tells us that he's getting this from Isaiah, and we can turn back to Isaiah 40, verse 3, and we can read where Isaiah says this. Isaiah 40, verse 3,3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”John the Baptist is saying: That's me. I am the voice. Y'all know that singing competition show called The Voice? …It really has nothing to do with this. Except that, as I understand it, when that show started, the difference between that singing competition and all the others was that the judges could not see the contestants, they could only hear them. The genius was that they were de-emphasizing physical appearance, and focusing completely on the sound of the voice. So it's called “The Voice” as in just the voice. And that's what John means here — except that he's de-emphasizing his person entirely! He's solely focused on what he has to say. The voice is defined by its witness to the word. The Word is what he wants you to hear!So hear him — The Word, Jesus Christ, he is before me! John says …He's higher than me! I'm not even worthy to touch his feet! He is that great. Behold, he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He's gonna baptize with the Holy Spirit. John is saying that Jesus is bringing the kingdom of God — the promised end-time kingdom, where the Spirit is poured out, where God judges and saves — Jesus is bringing that here. So you better get ready! All of y'all better get ready!Preparing the WayThat's what Isaiah was talking about when he said a voice cries “prepare the way of the Lord.”He doesn't mean prepare the way for the Lord as in Jesus's way to us needs to be prepared. Isaiah is taking about our way to Jesus. Jesus doesn't need any help. We're the ones who need the help. In the context of Isaiah 40, Isaiah is prophesying about the end of Israel's exile. He's saying the road from exile to restoration should be made straight. Clear the way. Level the ground. Make the pathway from a dark exile to a restored Zion CLEAR — he's not talking about how the Messiah gets to us, but it's about how we get to the Messiah. That was the mission of John the Baptist. He was a voice — just a voice — sent for our sake. He's a bridge and he's a voice — two things about John the Baptist. Now one final thing about us. 3. We should be like John the Baptist.Within all of redemptive history, John the Baptist is the model witness to Jesus Christ. He's the paragon that every witness to Jesus thereafter is supposed to look to. That's why he matters to us as a local church in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2025.We want to have a voice like his, and there are two things especially that standout. These are two things from the example of John the Baptist that I pray would be true of us. 1. We should clear the way for people to get to Jesus. And I'm thinking first corporately: Cities Church — are we clearing the way for people to meet Jesus or are we getting in the way?That's a question worth asking. Jesus is the cause of our existence. We are here by him and for him, and he's everything to us. And we want more of him. We want more of him for ourselves and we want these cities to have more of him through us. Corporately, we want Jesus to take our utmost — all that we've got, all we can give — we want him to take our utmost for his highest. We're a church committed to his fame. We want him to be impossible to ignore in the cities. We want people to know Jesus. Amen?So are we doing that? Are we helping people know Jesus? What about people who currently don't know him? Does our being a church make any difference for the people in these Twin Cities who don't know Jesus?That's a question for our church corporately, but what about you as an individual Christian? Does your life — does the way you live, the way you work, the way you interact with neighbors and others — does your life forge a path for people to get to Jesus or does it put obstacles in the way?Hey, let's be like John the Baptist!Let's make straight — in this 21st century post-Christian land — let's make straight a highway to our God! Every valley lifted up, every mountain and hill made low, uneven ground made level, rough places made plain — let us resolve, altogether and as individuals, to do everything we can to clear the way to Jesus, not be in the way.2. We should remember it's Jesus people must get to, not us. I'll say it like this: we want to clear the way for people to get to Jesus while also remembering that we're not Jesus. This gets back to that amazing question in verse 22. They asked John the Baptist: “What do you say about yourself?”This is the question: how do you understand who you are? Everybody has some kind of self-understanding, so what is ours as a church? What do we think of ourselves as a church and what would we say about ourselves if asked?Well look, the first thing John the Baptist says when he's asked this question is “I am not the Christ.” Don't rush past that. This is really important. It is absolutely essential to know that in the work of being a witness it is not yourself you are pointing to. You need to know that right from the start. If you're planting a church, you need to know that. And I can't think of a better time to remember this than on our 10th birthday, which is today (we're gonna celebrate next Sunday, but it was this Sunday, ten years ago, when we first gathered to worship as a church). We've been doing this ten years. Ten years. And ten years is a milestone, because now we're way past imposter syndrome. We feel pretty legit, and maybe we stand a little straighter now. Maybe we can start to think, Hmm, look at us. Maybe we feel a little increase in our self-understanding. STOP IT. Don't go there. Remember who we are and why we're here. It's not for ourselves. The goal is not our comfort. It's not that people would know us. Hey, we are all about Jesus. Who the Twin Cities need is Jesus Christ, not Cities Church. Jesus must increase, we must decrease. We show him. We point to him. We clear the way for people to get to Jesus. Clearing the WayAnd I want to end like that: if you're a guest with us this morning, or if you're here and you don't know Jesus, I want to tell you about him. Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this world as man to reveal and redeem. He came to show us what God is like, and he came to reconcile us back into a relationship with God. The short way of saying it is that Jesus came to save sinners, which is all of us. We were condemned because of our sin, but Jesus went to the cross in our place: took our sin upon himself, he suffered the punishment we deserved. He was crucified, dead, and buried, and then on the third day he rose from the grave in victory. Jesus defeated sin and death, and now in Jesus forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. If you turn away from trying to be your own savior, and if you put your faith in Jesus, he will set you free. He will make you alive. You will become a son or daughter of God — not because you've earned it, but because of what Jesus has done. So trust him. I'm trying to clear the way right now. If you've never put your faith in Jesus, put your faith in him now. Say to him: Jesus, I can't save myself and I'm done trying. You died and rose to save me, and I trust in you. Put your faith in Jesus. And if you have, if you are a Christian, we now come to this Table to remember what he did. The TableAt the Lord's Table, the bread represents the broken body of Jesus, and the cup represents his blood. Together, this is a symbol of his sacrificial death for us. So when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we are saying This is our hope. We have been united to Jesus by faith, and we eat and drink to give him thanks. So if you are a Christian this morning, if you have put your faith in Jesus, we invite you with us to this table.

A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas St. Matthew 2:13-23 by William Klock For us, a week has passed since we heard Matthew's account of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem and the visit by the shepherds.  But as we come to today's Gospel, roughly two years have passed in the story of Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.  For now, we'll skip over Matthew's account of the visit of the wisemen.  (That's for this coming week as we celebrate the Epiphany.)  So today we pick up the story at Matthew 2:13, Matthew tells us that after the wisemen had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.  “Get up,” said the angel, “and take the child and his mother and hurry off to Egypt.” I can only imagine what Joseph was thinking.  This is the second time an angel has come to him to tell him what to do.  Remember from last Sunday's Gospel, Jospeh was thinking through how best to extricate himself from his upcoming marriage to Mary after he found out she was already pregnant.  The angel came to him in a dream.  “Don't be afraid!”  The famous first words of every angel.  “Don't be afraid.  Mary didn't cheat on you.  She's pregnant by the Holy Spirit and she's going to have a son and you need to name him ‘Jesus'—which means 'Yahweh saves'—because he will save his people from their sins.” So it's not like Joseph didn't know there was something special about Jesus.  Ditto for Mary.  Matthew tells the story from Joseph's perspective.  Luke tells it from Mary's.  Luke tells us about the visit she had from the angel and how the angel told her—also—to name the baby “Jesus”.  Why?  “Because he will be called the son of the Most High.  The Lord,” the angel said to her, “will give him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.  His kingdom will never come to an end.”  That was all familiar messianic language to Mary.  There's that song that popular Christmas song that asks over and over, “Mary did you know?”  Yes.  She did.  She even composed a song about it that she shared with her cousin Elizabeth—who, you remember—was pregnant with John, who would prepare the way for Jesus.  Mary knew what her baby meant.  Think of the words she sang out in praise: My soul doth magnify the Lord… He hath shewed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the might from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath send empty away. He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel, as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever.   That night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph both knew with absolute certainty that in him the God of Israel was about to act and that the world would never be the sme.  And not that he was about to act in some unforeseen way that exploded into history totally unexpectedly.  No.  This was the fulfilment of prophecy.  This was the fulfilment of the Lord's promises to his people.  The fact that shepherds came, having been told by angels; the fact that wisemen came, having been guided by a star—these were no mysteries to Mary and Joseph.  They knew from the beginning who Jesus was.  I'm sure they had lots of other questions: Why us?  How is this going to work?  But they knew from the beginning that this child would one day cast down the powers, the gods, the kings of the present evil age and set their world to rights.  That's what Mary's song is all about. So they knew that Mary's baby was a challenge to everything and everyone that stood in the way of God's new age.  As much as scripture gives us every reason to think that they trusted the Lord, I have to think that if they're anything like us, they still had their worries.  At the top of the list had to be King Herod.  And so, I suspect, Mary and Joseph probably didn't go around town announcing any of this.  Surely word got around at least a bit.  There were, of course, the shepherds.  But I expect Mary and Jospeh kept what the angel had told them on the low down as much as they were able.  And then the magi—the wisemen from far away—no one could mistake them riding into town with their camels.  And to hear that they'd been to see Herod, to ask about the new-born King of the Jews.  That was not good news.  Not at all.  Because now Herod knew about Jesus and Herod was what people today might call a “psycho”. Herod was an Idumean—today we'd call him an “Arab”.  His ancestors had been absorbed into Judaea, were circumcised and converted to Judaism—at least nominally.  Most people saw Herod as a pretender.  His decadent lifestyle was out of step with Judaism, but most of all, people hated him for the way he cozied up to the Romans and betrayed his people.  He had no right to call himself King of the Jews.  The Roman Senate had given him that title.  He was no descendant of David.  And all this made Herod more than a little insecure.  Deep down he knew he had no right to Israel's throne and it made him paranoid.  He murdered his own family members—even his wife—because he thought they were scheming against him.  Just before he died, he ordered the leading citizens of Jericho to be killed so that the people would be weeping as his funeral procession passed through the city. So Joseph and Mary had to be worried to hear that Herod had been told about this young “King of the Jews” in Bethlehem.  If Herod would murder his own family at a hint of sedition, what would he do to a new-born rival?  I expect Jospeh was already trying to think through their best course of action.  And then the angel came and said, “Get up and take the child and his mother and hurry off to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you.  Herod is going to hunt for the child to kill him.” Matthew says that Joseph wasted no time: “He got up and took the child and his mother by night, and went off to Egypt.  He stayed there until the death of Herod.”  And then Matthew adds a quote—just as we saw him do in Chapter One, last week, with that quote from the Prophet Isaiah about the virgin conceiving and bearing a son whose name means “God with us”.  Matthew does it again.  He does this all through is Gospel, but we have to know our Jewish scriptures to know who he's quoting.  In this case it's Hosea 11:1.  Matthew's Jewish audience would have recognised it instantly and it's an indictment against our poor knowledge of the Bible that we need a footnote in our Bibles to tell us.  Anyway, Matthew writes, “This happened to fulfil what the Lord said through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.'”  We'll come back to this in a bit. Matthew then continues with the story.  You'll remember that instead of reporting back to Herod about the child as he'd asked them to do, the wisemen—because of their own visit from the angel—they bypassed Herod on their way home.  So Matthew tells us that when Herod realised that he'd been tricked by the wisemen, he flew into a towering rage.  He dispatched men and killed all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding districts, from two years old and under, according to the time the wisemen had told him.”  And then another quote from the Prophets, this time from Jeremiah 31:15: “That was when the word that came through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:  There was heard a voice in Rama, crying and loud lamentation.  Rachel is weeping for her children, and will not let anyone comfort her, because they are no more.” And then another visit by an angel.  Matthew writes in verse 19: “After the death of Herod, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. ‘Get up,' he said, ‘and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel.  Those who wanted to kill the child are dead.'  So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judaea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there.  After being advised in a dream'—again—he went off to the region of Galilee.  When he got there, he settled in a town called Nazareth.  This was to fulfil what the prophet had spoken: ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.'” Again, we sort of have this idyllic scene of Christmas in our heads: Jesus in a manger.  No crying he makes, of course.  The shepherds kneel adoringly.  Mary and Joseph sit there peacefully with their halos glowing.  Even the animals stifle all their natural noises and gather around to adore the baby.  “Silent night…all is calm…sleep in heavenly peace,” loops in our heads. But when you read the actual story as Matthew tells it things aren't nearly so peaceful.  Matthew tells us of the birth of Jesus at a time and a place of trouble, of violence, and of fear.  Jesus was born in a world of darkness, into a world controlled by powers and gods and kings who stood opposed to him.  Before he had learned to walk or to talk, the wrath of a psychotic king forced his family to flee to Egypt.  The shadow of the cross lies dead across the Christmas story.  And yet all this is in keeping with what Matthew told us last week.  If Jesus is the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy of Immanuel—of God with us—we'd expect this.  God's people longed for his presence, they longed for his deliverance, because the world was not as they knew it should be.  And so God came to them in the midst of the darkness, the brokenness, the evil, the pain—the violence and injustice—the sin and death.  God entered the world of a king who would murder dozens of innocent children just to keep his investment in the present evil age secure.  Think about the fact that on the three days after Christmas Day the Church commemorates St. Stephen, St. John, and the Holy Innocents.  John was exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the good news about Jesus.  Stephen—the first martyr—was stoned to death outside Jerusalem for preaching to the people that Jesus was the fulfilment of Israel's story.  And the Holy Innocents—the collateral damage of the first attempt on Jesus' life.  It's a reminder that, yes, the light has come into the darkness, but that there are those who love the dark and there are those invested in it. Brothers and Sisters, as much as the light has shined in the darkness and as much as the darkness has not overcome it—as St. John writes in the opening of his Gospel—the darkness still remains and the darkness still fights back.  Herod's murder of the innocents of Bethlehem—probably a few dozen baby boys—pales in comparison to the millions of unborn children murdered in modern times in our once Christian nations.  The wars and violence of Herod's or of Caesar's day pale in comparison to the wars and violence of the last century—all too often perpetrated by supposedly Christian nations, kings, presidents, and prime ministers.  We see the light around us too often subverted by the darkness.  First by Modernists and now by Postmodernists, the gospel virtues that once transformed the West are plucked from the gospel tree, left to go feral, and fed back to our culture, twisted and abused—darkness masquerading as light. It's easy to get discouraged, isn't it.  Last year I read historian Tom Holland's book Dominion.  It's about how Christianity transformed the West.  The Gospel came into a world of Herods and Caesars and taught us things like mercy and grace that hadn't been known before.  It transformed sexual ethics.  It gave status to women and children and to the poor.  It ended slavery.  And now you look at the world around us and everythings reverting back into the darkness.  Large segments of the church have or are selling out.  I look at the alumni page for my seminary on Facebook and it seems everyone is “deconstructing”—and it always ends the same way—with denying the exclusivity of Jesus and an embracing of Postmodernism and the twisted sexual ethics of our post-Christian culture.  I've listened to local pastors who spend their time apologising for the Bible, blurring the lines it makes clear, and walking their people through deconstructing their faith.  Others have sold out to the materialism of our secular culture and are preaching a crossless gospel of health and wealth.  The gospel—the real gospel—is the answer, but it seems like it falls on deaf ears these days and that the people lost in today's darkness have become resistant to it.  It's easy to lose hope. But Brothers and Sisters, that's when I think of Matthew as he drops his quotes from the Prophets through his telling of the good news.  Remember that I said last week that Matthew saw God's promises down through the ages as lights in the darkness.  Last summer Veronica I did some railgrade riding on our bikes.  We rode through some tunnels—some of them long and windy enough that there was no light at the end—at least not at first—and so there were small lights at intervals, guiding the way, until you finally came around that final corner and daylight blazed into the tunnel.  I didn't appreciate those lights until I rode through the Adra Tunnel in the mountains between Kelowna and Penticton.  It's one of the longest rail tunnels in BC and it's been closed since the 80s.  Volunteers have spent the last few years making repairs and it's just about ready to be reopened.  At present the trail bypasses it and there are fences across the old railgrade to keep people out of the tunnel.  But when I got there, the fences were off to the side.  I took the turn and pretty soon found myself inside the tunnel.  It goes through something like a 270° turn and pretty soon I was in pitch dark, riding slowly, cold water dripping on me.  There are no little lights to light the way.  And I almost ran—smack!—into a grader that was parked in the dark.  I could just as easily have run off the grade and into a ditch or a wall. Like the lights in those tunnels, God's promises led his people through the darkness—around the corners, keeping them out of the ditch, keeping them from running—smack!—into obstacles sitting in the darkness—so that he could lead them out into the light.  At the time those little lights seemed like really big deals—those little lights like Passover and the Exodus, like the torah and the tabernacle, like King David and like the return from Exile.  They gave the people some bearings.  The lights gave them hope.  But what many didn't realise at the time was that those lights were leading the people—preparing them—to understand how God works, to understand that he is faithful, so that when they finally came out into the bright light of Jesus, into the bright light of the gospel—they'd understand that this is where the story had been taking them all along.  This is what Matthew's up to all through his Gospel.  Like we saw last Sunday with that bit of Isaiah and the baby, Immanuel, who served as the sign to accompany the Lord's promise to deliver his people from Israel and Syria.  And here, Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”  At first it looks like Matthew is ignoring what that passage means in Hosea.  It's not looking forward.  It's looking back.  Israel was the Lord's son whom he had called out of Egypt.  That meant—at the time, back in the dark days of Hosea—that the Lord would not abandon the people: Israel was his beloved son and he'd gone to great lengths to deliver Israel from Egypt.  And Matthew saw that little light back there in the darkness of Hosea's day and it led him towards the light that had come in Jesus.  Jesus brings Israel's story to completion.  He's not just “God's son” in the sense that he's divine.  He's “God's son” in the sense that he is the embodiment of Israel.  Remember what I've said before: the King represents his people.  And so Jesus came to represent his people, to finally accomplish what they'd failed at all those centuries, and then to die on their behalf the death that they deserved. Matthew does something similar with the prophecy spoken by Jeremiah.  He holds up Rachel weeping for her children as a backdrop to Herod's murder of the baby boys of Bethlehem.  But when Jeremiah spoke those words, he was drawing on the imagery of Rachel to describe the pain of Israel's exile to Babylon and to proclaim the hope of God's promise to renew his covenant and to restore his people—to bring Israel back from her long exile.  The long darkness is full of weeping and mourning, but at the end is the Lord's deliverance. And then that bit of Isaiah 11 that Matthew quotes about Jesus being a Nazarene.  Isaiah uses the Hebrew word nazir.  It means “branch” and through Isaiah the Lord promises that he will be faithful to the promises he'd made to David and his descendants.  A branch will grow out of the stump of Jesse.  It's about a new beginning for the royal line of David.  Matthew hinted at this already in Joseph's genealogy.  The fact that the Old Testament nowhere mentions Nazareth, the fact that the Isaiah passage about the branch has nothing to do with Nazareth, that's okay.  Matthew knew that the lights along the tunnel—even if it doesn't look like it—they all lead to the same place.  Everything in Israel's story was leading to Jesus and so he takes Isaiah's prophecy of the nazir, the branch, and ties it to Jesus' hometown of Nazareth.  Matthew's sort of saying that we know Jesus is the promised branch because he came from “Branchville”.  Maybe it's a more “creative” way of using the Old Testament than we're comfortable with, but for Matthew it worked—again—because he knew that everything God said and everything God did—the whole story of the God of Israel and his people—was leading them through the darkness to Jesus and to the light of this new age, this new world, this new creation. And Brothers and Sisters, that's why as much as it's tempting to lose hope as we look at the surrounding darkness and even as the darkness creeps in and takes ground that was once won by the gospel, I don't lose hope.  Because the scriptures assure me of the faithfulness of God to his promises.  Because I know he has, in the birth, in the death, in the resurrection of Jesus done the hard part already.  Because he has poured out his Spirit.  And as surely as he called Abraham and his family and led them through the darkness—through slavery and through exile and everything in between—and then brought them finally out into the blazing glory of Jesus and the gospel, I know that God, who has established his church and has equipped us with his own Spirit to proclaim the good news—to carry his light into the darkness—will not fail to bring us eventually to that day when his glory covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, when every last enemy has been put under his feet, even death itself, when every tear is wiped away, and everything is once-and-for-all set to rights. Matthew saw God's promises fulfilled all through the story—even at its darkest.  As Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane he said, himself, “All this has taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”  God is sovereign and God is faithful, Brothers and Sisters.  Even as the darkness mustered its forces and rose to its full height to deal a death blow to Jesus, it was doing so as part of a plan orchestrated by the Lord.  Darkness, unwittingly, concentrating itself all in one place so that, through Jesus, it could be defeated when he rose, triumphant over sin and death.  And that is why I remain full of hope.  God's faithfulness to his promises did not end in the First Century.  He remains faithful today.  If we will only walk with him in faith, his light—his gospel promises, his Spirit indwelling us—will lead us through today's darkness. Let's pray: Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word:  Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

To support the ministry of Celebration Church please click here: https://subsplash.com/celebrationchurchtn/giveSubscribe to receive our latest content: https://tr.ee/2b6XuDKlaS...FOLLOW US►► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rwmccollum/►► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rwmccollum/►► Twitter: https://twitter.com/rwmccollum#celebrationchurchnashville #online #jesus #celebrationchurch #church #onlinechurch #sermon #nashville....And Jesus said to them, "It has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”Matthew 13:11Here is what the Spirit is shouting to the Body of Christ in this nation – “The Church has lost the Kingdom of God Message that Jesus preached.”Pastor Glynn AdamsJesus referred to the ‘Kingdom' 126 times in the Gospels; He only mentioned the ‘Church' twice. But today, you are likely to 126 sermons on the subject of the church before you hear 2 teachings concerning the Kingdom. Something has gone terribly wrong.“The world is not waiting for a new definition of Christianity. It's waiting for a new demonstration of true Christianity. In the First Century, while He was on this earth, Jesus cleansed the temple; if He came back today, He would cleanse most of America's pulpits from their religious humanism.”Leonard RavenhillWe hope you can be with us this weekend as we introduce our major new teaching series on “The Mysteries of the Kingdom of God”.

This is Pastor Tom Arnould welcoming you to the Good News Radio Broadcast. In the book of Colossians, we are blessed with a beautiful prayer that the Apostle Paul prayed for the first century Christians living in the city of Colossae. On today's program, I will be teaching on this opening prayer. I believe you will be blessed as we study this prayer together.

Matthew 1:18-21Everyone in Nazareth would have known Jesus' mother, Mary, was pregnant before she and Joseph were married. While everyone knew about the scandal, no one understood Mary's conception was miraculous and one day her baby would save the world.

Holiday Nog. Yes or No? The Godmother. And Love at First Century! That's what Paul Layendecker is BuZzin' about today on The Daily BuZz!!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Special links! The interview on "Two Creations One Creator" is found on Spotify at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fBBumuP8DngBzRCBp8cXT On to the episode!Rome! City? Empire? Church? Why, yes. This episode deals with all three. Join in for an overview of the significant moments of Rome in the first century for church history. Title: Rome of the First Century Date: 0 - AD 100 Place: The City of Rome, the Province of Judea Key Figures and Events: Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Clement, Peter, and Paul. Contact: churchhistoryandtheology@proton.me Want to Support the Show? If you'd like to help cover hosting costs, development, and general support of the show, you can do so here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/churchhistory License: Church History and Theology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For full license details, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Under this license, you are free to download, copy, share, remix, and translate episodes. You must credit Church History and Theology, link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. These materials may not be used for commercial purposes.

Special links! The interview on "Two Creations One Creator" is found on Spotify at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fBBumuP8DngBzRCBp8cXT On to the episode!Rome! City? Empire? Church? Why, yes. This episode deals with all three. Join in for an overview of the significant moments of Rome in the first century for church history. Title: Rome of the First Century Date: 0 - AD 100 Place: The City of Rome, the Province of Judea Key Figures and Events: Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Clement, Peter, and Paul. Contact: churchhistoryandtheology@proton.me Want to Support the Show? If you'd like to help cover hosting costs, development, and general support of the show, you can do so here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/churchhistory License: Church History and Theology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For full license details, please visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Under this license, you are free to download, copy, share, remix, and translate episodes. You must credit Church History and Theology, link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. These materials may not be used for commercial purposes.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! (Psalm 98:4). In this Adventures in Lutheranism episode, Rachel shares her recent experience joining a new-to-her church choir.   Beginning with a brief foray into the history of sacred choral music — from ancient Greece to Garrison Keillor and beyond — she then examines the physical and mental health benefits of singing in groups and ponders the long decline of church choirs (even as choral singing in general has been on the rise). She invites Sarah and Erin to relate their own experiences with church choirs before sharing her personal choral history up to the present day. At the end of the episode, she airs interviews with each of her four children, who confirm that church choir is absolutely for all ages.   Sources cited in this episode include:   Choir - Wikipedia  Why do Lutherans Sing? Lutherans, Music, and the Gospel in the First Century of the Reformation | Church History | Cambridge Core  Singing the Reformation - Lutheran Reformation  The Young Lutheran's Guide to The Orchestra  How a superspreader at choir practice sickened 52 people with COVID-19 | Live Science  Pandemic brings opportunities for some choirs hit by coronavirus restrictions | ABC News - YouTube  Interest in choral singing is not declining in America, so why are church choirs disappearing? – Baptist News Global  Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram! Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at lutheranladies@kfuo.org.

What if the key to understanding your faith lies in the stories of the past? Join us as we welcome Marty Rind, a passionate youth minister from Western Illinois, who shares his unique journey of faith and leadership inspired by first-century youth ministry. With personal tales of overcoming adversity, from bullying to depression, Marty illustrates how mentorship and transformative experiences, like his unforgettable trip to Israel, have reshaped his approach to engaging with the Bible and inspired him to make ancient teachings relevant for today's youth. Marty's connection with Heather, a former youth pastor and author of "First Century Youth Ministry," adds depth to his understanding of discipleship and brings a refreshing energy to our conversation.For full show note details, go to the episode webpage:https://thelionwithin.us/podcast/450-first-century-youth-ministry-with-marty-rind/Send us a textGet started for free with our 30 Day to Unleash the Lion Within series In just 30 days, you'll embark on a journey of self-discovery and growth. This free resource offers a series of messages, with proven methods to simplify and apply God's Word to your life, empowering you to be an effective leader. Visit thelionwith.us/unleash to get started for free today. Support the showJoin the Community TodayThe exclusive community for men who are seeking Truth and Accountability which creates courage to lead, fulfillment and direction. Start your 30-Day Risk-Free trial today!Join the Daily Spiritual Kick OffJoin Chris and other members every weekday morning in our app FREE! Dive into God's Word and leave with practical ways to simplify and apply it to your daily walk. Join the Daily Spiritual Kick Off today!

Sources: https://www.returntotradition.org Contact Me: Email: return2catholictradition@gmail.com Support My Work: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/AnthonyStine SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.net/return-to-tradition Buy Me A Coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AnthonyStine Physical Mail: Anthony Stine PO Box 3048 Shawnee, OK 74802 Follow me on the following social media: https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToCatholicTradition/ https://twitter.com/pontificatormax +JMJ+ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/anthony-stine/support

Heather and Jonathan have a discussion with Dr. Sandra Glahn through her book Nobody's Mother. They discuss a fictional character from her book, Theodora. This fictional character helps us understand what women would have been fearing as recent converts to Christianity in Ephesus. Dr. Glahn offers some truly amazing insights on what the women in first century Ephesus would have been wrestling through having just left the cult of Artemis to worship Jesus. Join us at www.firstcenturyyouthministry.comBecome part of our growing Facebook community Join our "closed" group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/firstcenturyouthministryLike our fan page! https://www.facebook.com/FirstCenturyYouthMin

100 years. That's how long it's been since Alexander the Great died. Before we move on from Seleucus III, let's look back on the past century and our five Seleucid monarchs... Sources for this episode are past episodes, with the exception of Diodorus Siculus for Alexander's plans. The reference for this is given below: Diodorus (1984), Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes. Volume IX: Books XVIII and XIX 1-65. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd.

Today's Scripture reading: Ecclesiastes 5.8 - 9 ( MSG)

Today's Scripture reading: James 5.1-6(MSG

Diving right into this teaching, Rabbi Steve Berkson starts us in Matthew 15:1, where we see the Scribes and Pharisees confronting Yeshua about how his disciples did not observe one of the “traditions of the elders” – the ceremonial washing of hands before eating food. • For what purpose did the religious authority of the First Century continually confront Yeshua? • What did the Pharisees do that Yeshua took issue with? • Are “traditions” bad and not to be observed at all? • What could Yeshua have done that would have completely destroyed his ministry? • What does the phrase, “blind leading the blind” mean? • What does the true ‘discipleship model' look like? Rabbi Berkson then takes us to the passage in Isaiah 29:13-24 that Yeshua directly quoted when confronting the Scribes and Pharisees about elevating man-made traditions to the level of the Torah, eclipsing actual Torah. In this passage, Rabbi Berkson expands on the issue of Light vs. Dark being spoken of by the prophet. He also shares a conversation he had with an atheist in which Rabbi Steve proposed a “what-if” all that we believe turns out to not be true. Then in Luke 1:67-79, Rabbi Berkson shows us another aspect of Light in the purpose of John, a prophet and forerunner of Messiah Yeshua. His purpose was to also be a light to the people of that time who were living in darkness, shining on the coming of the Messiah, our hope of redemption. In Luke 4:17-21, we see Yeshua again quoting the prophet Isaiah in chapter 61, verses 1-2. Rabbi Berkson takes us to the passage in Isaiah and brings up an interesting point concerning the differences in translations of the Bible. • What translation was Yeshua reading from when he read Isaiah 61:1-2? Finally, Rabbi Berkson takes us into Isaiah 42:1-7, 16 to give more context to Isaiah 61:1-2 as that passage describes a role of the Messiah. Once again, Rabbi Steve Berkson delves deeper into scripture to uncover even more dimensions of Darkness and Light.

Turkeys and Eagles, Part 5: Following Jesus Changes Everything in Our Families MESSAGE SUMMARY:   Series Overview: This Series has been looking at Paul's letter to the Ephesians to point out “Turkeyisms” – those things of our culture and some worldviews by which we may have been duped into beliefs inconsistent with the Gospel of Jesus or behaving in a manner that is not what Christianity is all about. This Series has pointed out some changes in our thinking needed to be like “Eagles” so that we can be the people that God wants and expects us to be. Today's Sermon: A look into Ephesians 5 provides a perspective on many “Turkeyisms”; however, the focus today is just on one: Turkey Thinking – “My Christianity has no effect on my family relationships, but my upbringing does”; but Eagle Thinking – My Christianity places me in the Kingdom of God with a radically different view of family relationships”. Being in the Kingdom of God Changes everything for those that follow Jesus. Marriage in America is having a rough time, and we can't say that Christian marriage is different. Too many of us, who say that we follow Jesus today, don't let Christianity follow us through the front door as we live our secular lives. In the First Century of the Ephesians, both Jewish and Greek laws greatly diminished the roles, respect for, and value of women. In the Roman world, of the same period, women and children were just passed around – women had many husbands. It was into this world of Judaism and Greco Roman culture that Jesus walked in; and we found Jesus respecting and honoring women. Jesus raised the status of women – Jesus brought a whole new way of thinking about family, marriage, children, and divorce into First Century culture that has provided an ethical context for two thousand years. In the same period and culture, Paul came along; and he set up churches. He wrote letters, which were written in the culture of this period, to the Christians in churches like the church in Ephesus. These early Christians were a part of the Kingdom of God – the blessed followers of Jesus – they were called to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be imitators of Jesus. Therefore, followers of Jesus were to be vessels of His light to the world. Followers of Jesus were to be different from this culture of the period. By being different in their families, followers of Jesus would transform the culture (which, eventually, they did!!!). From Ephesians 5:21, we are to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”. “Submitting” is treating others like you wish to be treated. In Ephesians 5, Paul applies this principle of Christianity to the family (i.e. wives, husbands, and children) and to the workplace (i.e. employees). The Kingdom of God calls us to loving family relationships; therefore we, as followers of Jesus, are called to be different and not a part of the culture.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Keeping the Sabbath, Lord, will require a lot of changes in the way I am living life. Teach me, Lord, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me to trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 129). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Luke 11:13 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  Ephesians 5:21-33, 6:1-4; John 4:25-28; Mark 10:6-10; Proverbs 31:10-31; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.; Psalms 73a:1-14. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “God, the Father, Is Spirit; Jesus Followers Must Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth with Reality and Honesty and Not a Façade”: at our website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The Journey Podcast 165James DayTHE FRAUD OF TURIN and The Passion of Jesus ChristPublisher R. A. “Kris” Millegan speaks with James Day, whose new book, THE FRAUD OF TURIN, reviews the evidence for a medieval creation of the world's most famous religious artifact, the Shroud of Turin, and it shows how all-consuming the Passion of Jesus Christ was to the medieval mind. James' other books include THE MAD BISHOPS: The Hunt for Earl Anglin James and His Assassin Brethren, about the peddler of phony degrees who built a network of contacts that led to the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK.Topics discussed:THE MAD BISHOPS shows through the JFK assassination story that there's not one big evil out there. Many different people are running around with different agendas. Sometimes they come together to work together on different things [and sometimes they compete and fight, and they can be used by intelligence agents and others to accomplish things unknown to the participants].James was asked to prove that the Shroud of Turin was created by Jesus' resurrection. He found evidence to the contrary. “The hate mail has already started, even before the book came out officially.”The JFK assassination and the Shroud both have people saying, “This is how it was done, or this is who did it.” In both cases you're dealing with religious institutions and chivalric orders. James has continued to put out research and commentary on the Kennedy assassination. (See his work here, JamesFDay.Medium.com.There's a tradition of putting Christ's face on cloth and imagery and icons. In the 1980s three different labs with the approval of the Church carbon dated a piece of the Shroud. All three studies produced a range between 1260 and 1390 AD as the date of the cloth, which corresponds with the historical record of when the Shroud appeared in late Fourteenth Century France. That closed the case in some ways for many secular authorities.In James' Catholic experience in grade school, high school, college, and graduate school in Catholic schools, the Shroud was not dealt with. “To this day the Church does not have a formal opinion on the Shroud of Turin. It is housed in the cathedral of Turin, and it is brought out every once in a while, which helps its aura of wonder [that it is shown infrequently]. But it's officially declared an icon, not a relic.”A relic is something tangible from Jerusalem, from the apostles, or from the saints. An icon is something that East and West Christianity adopted and respect as something that the believer gazes on as a devotion, or something that brings them closer to the divine. And that's what the Church encourages the Shroud to be seen as, something to gaze upon and inspire one to think about Jesus' whole purpose and the way of the cross.To many Catholics, the Shroud isn't going away. There is a whole school of apologists peddling the Shroud as authentic [as being created by the resurrection in the First Century] despite the carbon-14 dating, asserting that there was an error in those tests and the Shroud proves the truth of Christianity.James set out to find the truth. He found that its apologists say a lot about the Shroud but not about the world of the Shroud, not about the medieval mind that was consumed with the image of Christ. People in the 1300s declared it to be a fake.First Century studies, the century before and the century after Christ, are fascinating. Many now say, “Christ never lived. It was a story made up to get people behind the Romans.” Kris, through research, is satisfied that Jesus was an actual historical figure, and Kris always liked Albert Schweitzer and thought his research and questionings were very good.

In this "lost scripture" called the Ascension of Isaiah, the prophet gets a tour of the heavens. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss what Isaiah sees, including what sees concerning Jesus, and what it means for us today. The post The Ascension of Isaiah (First Century Christian Apocalypse) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

In this "lost scripture" called the Ascension of Isaiah, the prophet gets a tour of the heavens. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss what Isaiah sees, including what sees concerning Jesus, and what it means for us today.

This "lost scripture" focuses on the biblical prophet Isaiah and contains traditions about Jesus not recorded in the Gospels. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss the Ascension of Isaiah, when it was written, what it says, and its relationship to the Bible. The post Lost Scriptures: The Martyrdom of Isaiah (The Ascension of Isaiah; First Century Apocalypse) appeared first on StarQuest Media.

This "lost scripture" focuses on the bibllical prophet Isaiah and contains traditions about Jesus not recorded in the Gospels. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss the Ascension of Isaiah, when it was written, what it says, and its relationship to the Bible.

Click here to get a 25% discount on the Dwell Bible App. Apostle Paul's letter to the fledgling Christian church in Rome - which he wrote during the second half of the First Century - has often been hailed as the hub of Christian theology because in it he establishes the foundational walls of biblical orthodoxy. In fact, all you have to do is read the statement of faith listed on a few of your favorite Christian church or ministry websites to discover that the majority of our doctrinal beliefs as Christ followers have been mined from this New Testament treasure trove called the Book of Romans. However, Romans is broader and more nuanced than just a brilliant treatise on humanity's need for salvation and justification, so we're kicking off this rollicking adventure through Romans by pulling up on the proverbial nose of the plane for a 30,000-foot view to better understand the historical and sociological context of this profound epistle. So please grab a pumpkin cream cold brew – is it just me, or are coffee shops pulling out the pumpkin drinks earlier now? If memory serves me correctly, those fancy pumpkin flavored coffees didn't use to debut until September so the whole gourd theme made sense in light of the Fall season, but now they start advertising pumpkin-juiced-java-lattes in July when the back of my thighs are still sticking to my hot car seat and my hair looks like Beetlejuice because of the humidity and it just feels wrong. If we've got any Back Porchers who are big dogs in the coffee industry, will you please tell the powers that be to push the pumpkin campaign back a few weeks, y'all – at least until projectile perspiration season is over? Well anyway, regardless of whether it's squash infused or not, please grab your favorite cuppa Joe or tea, your Bible and a notebook because our excursion through Romans for the next several weeks is going to be chock full of so much good stuff it'll be hard to hang onto without jotting a few notes! Then pull up your chair and join Alli, Dr. Howard and me on the porch – I can't overstate how glad we are that you've chosen to hang with us today.

The Pharisees challenged Jesus on the issue of divorce, asking him, "When is it allowed?" Christ's response is surprising and reveals his care and concern for women, especially compared to the prevailing laws and attitudes toward women in first-century Judaism.

The Antiquities of the Jews, written by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in 93 CE, is our most important resource for knowing about the history of Israel around the time of Jesus and his earliest followers. This twenty-volume work contains two brief references to Jesus himself, and are in fact the only two mentions of Jesus in any non-Christian writing of the entire first century. But there are many questions surrounding these statements. Are they authentic to Josephus? Were they added to his writings by later Christian scribes? Could the be authentic in part but altered by scribes. If they are authentic do they strengthen the case for the historicity of Jesus, or are they merely records of hearsay? Do they provide us with any valuable informatioin about Jesus that we otherwise would never know?

Dr. Miles Smith of Hillsdale College Religion and Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War The post 1861. The Role of Religion in America's First Century – Dr. Miles Smith, 7/4/24 first appeared on Issues, Etc..

If you find a great restaurant, or see a good movie, chances are you're not shy in mentioning it to someone else. We like to pass along helpful suggestions. But so many of us just don't feel comfortable in suggesting someone consider the hope of the Gospel. We'll talk about that reluctance today on A NEW BEGINNING as Pastor Greg Laurie continues his studies in the book of Acts. We'll learn to follow the example of our First Century forefathers and discover the thrill of spreading the Good News. Keep up with Harvest Crusade details --- Listen on harvest.org --- Learn more and subscribe to Harvest updates at harvest.org A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we spend some serious time out in the sun, it's pretty obvious. People can see it all over our face. “You got some sun, didn't you?” Well today, we'll see when we spend some time with the Son – S-O-N – it may be just as obvious. People will wonder what's different about us. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie continues our studies of the Church of the First Century in the book of Acts. It's a series called The Upside-Down Life. Let's see how to show we've been with Jesus. Keep up with Harvest Crusade details --- Listen on harvest.org --- Learn more and subscribe to Harvest updates at harvest.org A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the past month, we've studying the rich writings of the Gospel of Mark. Mark weaves together a vivid narrative of the life of Jesus . . . and certainly the most vivid is his description of the end of Jesus' life and ministry. These events were choreographed by the Father from the beginning of time, but the events were surprising to a First Century citizen seeing it in real time. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie presents his message, What the Death of Jesus Means to You. Listen on harvest.org --- Learn more and subscribe to Harvest updates at harvest.org . A New Beginning is the daily half-hour program hosted by Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. For over 30 years, Pastor Greg and Harvest Ministries have endeavored to know God and make Him known through media and large-scale evangelism. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.