Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period
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We'll wrap up our look at the Book of Job by realizing that we might have more questions and less answers than when we began. In our final time together we'll read Job's words from Chapter 42 and discover a few elements the author seems adamant we not miss. At the end of it all, Job came through the fire and proved Satan a liar. Scriptures: Job 42---------------Beth taught this message at her local Thursday night Bible Study in Jan/Feb 2026. We hope you find this five-session series to be helpful in your faith journey. To obtain a copy of the free Listening Guide, please visit: https://www.lproof.org/job-artistry-and-mystery---------------Living Proof Ministries is dedicated to encouraging people to come to know and love Jesus Christ through the study of Scripture."For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword." –Hebrews 4:12---------------Connect with us:WEBSITE: https://www.lproof.org/NEWSLETTER: https://www.lproof.org/newsletterSUBSCRIBE: @LivingProofwithBethMooreINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/livingproofministries/FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/livingproofministrieswithbethmooreX: http://www.x.com/bethmoorelpm
As the US Civil War (1861-1865) dragged on, both sides resorted to conscription (the draft) to fill their ranks. Under the Confederate law, a draftee could dodge service by hiring a man who was exempt from the draft to replace him—in most cases someone under or over the conscription age. Generally, the “principal” (as one evading the draft was called), paid a fee to the government as well as a large sum to his substitute. Only the wealthy could afford substitutes. The apostle Paul writes of the cosmic spiritual war, where “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (6:23). There was no clause or loophole that gave those with “means” some way out. But what about a substitute for us all? The writer to the Hebrews praises God, who in His infinite mercy sent Jesus to be our substitute—to bear the punishment our sin deserved, to pay our debt by sacrificing “the body of Jesus Christ once for all” so that we would be “made holy” through His substitutionary sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10). We have “died with Christ,” and one day “we will also live with him” (Romans 6:8). That’s the good news right there. Christ died for you and for me; the substitute took our place. We’re now more than simply survivors of the war. We’ve become the sons and daughters of God.
Waiting is one of the hardest parts of following Jesus—but it's also one of the places where God does His deepest work. In this episode of our Fruit of the Spirit series, we're talking about patience—not as passive waiting, but as active trust in God's perfect timing. Whether you're waiting for healing, a relationship, answered prayers, direction, or a breakthrough, this conversation is for you. We'll walk through what biblical patience really means, why waiting can feel so difficult, and how God used seasons of waiting to shape some of the most influential people in Scripture—including Abraham, Joseph, David, Moses, Hannah, Job, and even Jesus. If you've ever wondered why God seems silent or why His timing doesn't match yours, I pray this episode encourages you to trust that He is still working—even when you can't see it. Because waiting on God is never wasted. In This Episode: What the Fruit of the Spirit teaches about patience The biblical meaning of patience (makrothymia) Why God often grows us through waiting What impatience reveals about our hearts Lessons from Abraham, Joseph, David, Moses, Hannah, Job, and Jesus How to grow in patience during difficult seasons Encouragement for anyone waiting on God today Key Scriptures: Galatians 5:22–23 James 1:2–4 Romans 5:3–5 Romans 8:25 Isaiah 40:31 Psalm 27:14 Lamentations 3:25–26 Hebrews 6:15 Ephesians 4:2 Colossians 3:12 Psalm 37:7 2 Peter 3:9 If this episode encouraged you, be sure to share it with a friend who may be in a season of waiting. And if you're enjoying our Fruit of the Spirit series, we'd love for you to subscribe, leave a review, and join us next week as we continue learning what it looks like to live by the Spirit.
Today's Scripture: Hebrews 7:1-17 Mary is reading Hebrews 7:1-17 in the WEB. Access Pray Every Day every single day on the Pray Every Day App! Not only can you listen, but I’ve created 365 daily devotions you can read as well–all about connecting deeply with Jesus, finding healing, and experiencing His presence. Download the app here: […]
Some people say they have faith, yet their lives show little evidence of it. Others who possess true faith are willing to take risks. In this message on Moses' life from Hebrews 11, Pastor Lutzer identifies Moses' radical decision and powerful motivation. After all, any act of faith has risk. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/172/29?v=20251111
As studiers of the Word, we have to correctly study the Old Testament (covenant) in light of our New Covenant, so we don't put ourselves in bondage. Here are a few things to keep in mind about the differences in the covenants. __________ Matthew 19:7–9 NLT, Acts 17:29–30 NIV, Galatians 3:10–13 NLT, Deuteronomy 28:1–2 KJV, Deuteronomy 28:15 KJV, Malachi 3:8–10 KJV, Galatians 3:14 NLT, Genesis 12:2–3 KJV, Matthew 23:23 NLT, Leviticus 27:30–34 NLT, Hebrews 7:11–16 NLT, 1 Peter 2:5 NLT, 1 Peter 2:9 NLT __________ Partner with Us: https://churchforentrepreneurs.com/partner Connect with Us: https://churchforentrepreneurs.com __________
Some people say they have faith, yet their lives show little evidence of it. Others who possess true faith are willing to take risks. In this message on Moses' life from Hebrews 11, Pastor Lutzer identifies Moses' radical decision and powerful motivation. After all, any act of faith has risk. This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives. Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren. SUPPORT: Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/ Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/ SUBSCRIBE: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoodyChurchMedia Daily Devotional and Weekly Digest: https://www.moodymedia.org/newsletters/subscription/
Reformed Brotherhood | Sound Doctrine, Systematic Theology, and Brotherly Love
In this episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal walks through Jonah 1–2, focusing on the remarkable prayer Jonah offers from the belly of the great fish. Far from a simple morality tale, the Book of Jonah presents a complex, deeply theological portrait of a disobedient prophet who nonetheless clings to the Lord in his darkest moment. Tony explores the Hebrew literary features that shape how we read Jonah's prayer, the doctrine of divine sovereignty as it operates through human agency, and the rich typological connections between Jonah and the death and resurrection of Christ. Most importantly, the episode grounds Jonah's experience in the Westminster Confession's teaching on sanctification — offering genuine hope to believers who feel buried under besetting sin, assuring them that salvation, from beginning to end, belongs entirely to the Lord. Key Takeaways Jonah is not the hero of his own story — he functions more as an anti-hero whose failures actually make him a more useful and relatable example for ordinary believers. Divine sovereignty operates through, not apart from, human agency — the sailors freely threw Jonah overboard, and yet Jonah rightly says God cast him into the deep; both are simultaneously true. The sequence debate in Jonah 2 matters theologically — whether Jonah prayed before or after being swallowed affects how we read the book; reading it as a strict cause-and-effect sequence risks turning the gospel into a quid pro quo transaction with God. Jonah's "yet I will see your holy temple" is a confession of eschatological faith — in the midst of near-certain death, Jonah expresses confidence not merely in earthly rescue, but in his ultimate destiny as one of God's people. The deep is a Genesis image — Jonah's descent into the primordial waters deliberately echoes the formless void of Genesis 1 and the undoing of creation in the flood, placing his experience within the grand arc of biblical cosmology. Jonah is a prophetic type of Christ's death and resurrection — his three days in the belly of the fish, his descent into the pit, and his emergence onto dry land anticipate and foreshadow the resurrection, as Jesus himself confirms in Matthew 12. Sanctification is real but imperfect — drawing from Westminster Confession Chapter 13, Tony argues that the up-and-down nature of Jonah's spiritual life is not an aberration but a description of the normal Christian life, in which the flesh and spirit remain in perpetual war until glory. Key Concepts Eschatological Faith in the Pit One of the most striking moments in Jonah's prayer is his declaration in 2:4 — "Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple." Tony argues that this is not merely a hope of physical rescue and a return to Jerusalem. Jonah believed he was dying. The waters had closed in to take his life; he was being dragged into underwater trenches that the ancient Semitic mind associated with the very gates of Sheol. In this context, Jonah's declaration is better understood as eschatological faith — a confession that even if God takes his life in judgment, he will still see the Lord face to face in the heavenly temple. It mirrors Job's cry, "Yet in my flesh I shall see God," and anticipates the kind of faith that says, with the father in Mark 9, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." Sovereignty and Human Agency Working Together Tony uses Jonah's descent as a teaching moment on the Reformed doctrine of concurrence — the truth that God's sovereign decree and human free will are not in competition but operate simultaneously on different levels. The sailors made a free, agonized decision to throw Jonah overboard; and yet Jonah rightly attributes his casting into the sea to God himself. Tony draws the parallel to Joseph's words to his brothers in Genesis 50: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." This is not a philosophical sleight of hand. It is the consistent testimony of Scripture that God governs all things — including the underwater currents that dragged Jonah to the ocean floor — without reducing human beings to puppets or eliminating their moral responsibility. Sanctification Is Real, Imperfect, and Guaranteed Perhaps the most pastorally significant thread of the episode is Tony's application of Westminster Confession Chapter 13 to Jonah's experience. Jonah makes genuine progress in faith — his prayer is theologically rich and demonstrates real trust in God — and yet he almost immediately slips back behind the curve, making vows the sailors had already made before him, and later in chapter 4, sulking over a dead plant. Tony refuses to read this as a failure of the text. Instead, it is the text faithfully portraying the reality of sanctification: real throughout the whole person, yet imperfect in this life, with an irreconcilable war between flesh and spirit. The hope is not that we will finally overcome that war on our own, but that through the continual supply of the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part will overcome. Salvation — including sanctification — belongs entirely to the Lord. Memorable Quotes Jonah is constantly behind the curve, but for this little moment, for this glimpse in the very center of the book, the pinnacle of the book is Jonah finally catching up to the sailors. All outside visible indicators said he was going to die and he was going to hell. Yet he trusted in the Lord that he would see his holy temple again. God redeems our life from the pit. From the very depths of hell itself, he snatched us like brands from the fire. Full Transcript [00:00:08] Tony Arsenal: Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. For their evil has come up before me." But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. [00:01:24] Storm and Sailors [00:01:24] Tony Arsenal: But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him and said, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god. Perhaps the god will give us a thought that we may not perish." And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?" And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. [00:02:36] Cast Into Sea [00:02:36] Tony Arsenal: He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to the dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, "O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood. For you, O Lord, has done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. [00:03:15] Fish and Prayer [00:03:15] Tony Arsenal: And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, "I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the dep-- into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your waves and billows passed over me." Then he said, "I am driven away from your sight. Yet I shall look again upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head." At the root of the mountain I went to the land, whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. When I-- when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord. [00:04:23] Jonah Not the Hero [00:04:23] Tony Arsenal: And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land Jonah is an interesting book because, as I commented a year ago, Jonah is not necessarily the hero of the story. Uh, if anything, he is kind of the villain in, in some senses. But nevertheless, I think as we'll see today, Jonah still gives us a good example to follow in a sense, and that I think is really the centerpiece of this prayer, is that even as Jonah's going through all of this, his prayer is still remarkably filled with faithful sayings and trust in the Lord. We learned early on in Jonah that Jonah was a prophet during the time of the kings. Uh, he, uh, he seemed to have been a sort of a court temple. He was in the presence of the kings in Jerusalem itself, and he received a calling from the word of the Lord, and this phrase, "the word of the Lord," seems to imply a pre-incarnate, uh, visible manifestation of the second person of the Trinity. So we're not just talking about a, a disembodied voice. We're not just talking about some sort of sense or impression, but the word of the Lord itself, himself, came to give Jonah this mission, to give Jonah this task, to commission him as a prophet to Nineveh. And Jonah gets up and says, "No, thank you," and he goes the opposite direction. We see in that first section there the repeated phrase, "He goes to Tarshish. He boards a ship in Tarshish." The author here, who we, we think is Jonah, is hammering that he did not go where he was supposed to. He went the opposite direction. He went to Tarshish instead of Nineveh, which is 180 degrees the other direction from, uh, from Nineveh on the map. And he boards the, he boards the ship in order to flee the presence of the Lord. He pays, probably buys out the entire ship itself. He pays the fare for the whole ship, and the Lord hurls a great wave, uses the language of weapons. He hurls this storm like a spear. He weaponizes nature itself to correct and chastise and judge Jonah for his disobedience We get to verses seven through 17, and everyone on the boat is crying out to their chosen deity except Jonah. Jonah is asleep in the hold of the ship, oblivious to everything, totally dead to the world and dead to his Lord. The sailors begin to seek divine li- divine wisdom after they wake Jonah. He comes to the deck of the ship, and they cast lots to identify by divine, uh, revelation, sort of a strange practice in the Old Testament or the old, uh, world. Divine revelation that shows them Jonah is the source of this wickedness that is being wrought upon them, at least their impression of it. So they ask Jonah, "Who are you? Tell us who it is that has caused this great calamity." And he says emphatically, "A Hebrew am I." He identifies himself with God's people, and he says, "The Lord is my God, and he made the heaven and the earth and the sea." There's no small amount of irony, and it explains why the sailors are so afraid when he says that God created the heavens where the storm was. He created the sea where they were about to die, and he created the dry land where they were trying to get to. And so this one phrase that Jonah uses almost casually demonstrates that the Lord has total and utter sovereignty over what is going on, which is a theme that we'll see come back again and again through the book The sailors say, "Well, what do we do about this?" And Jonah says, "Throw me into the ocean, because I know that if you do so, then the storm will calm down and you will be saved." Whether he knew this because he's a prophet and it had been revealed to him, or whether he just was surmising that this was the case, we don't know. But the, uh, sailors are hesitant to do so, and we talked about how it was a little bit strange that these, uh, pagan sailors from cultures that d- had no qualms about human sacrifice were suddenly, uh, unwilling to throw Jonah over the sea a- as a, an appeasement offering to this Lord. And we came to the conclusion that they had been regenerated. They had come to faith in this God who created the heavens and the sea and the dry ground. And so they knew intrinsically that this was wrong, that there was a moral imperative not to do this. So they tried to row back to the land. They jettisoned all of their, uh, all of their goods, all of their cargo. They were making for land as best they could, and when it finally became clear that they couldn't do this, they sought the Lord's mercy in saying, essentially, "We don't understand how this is, but please don't put this man's blood on us, because you, Lord, have done as you please," right? The sovereignty of the Lord again comes to the forefront. They finally cast Jonah into the sea, and this is, this is important. They cast Jonah into the sea, and then they worship, they vow vows, and they vow to sacrifice. They offer sacrifices. They seek the Lord, they acknowledge his s- his sovereignty, and they worship him with what they have left. And then rounding out the chapter, the Lord appoints a great fish to come and swallow up Jonah. And we talked about how this, this swallowing of Jonah, although our popular children's books and VeggieTales and other stories we might read to our kids paints the fish often as the vehicle of judgment, it's actually a vehicle of deliverance for Jonah. There's this interesting grammatical feature that happens where in 1:17 the fish is masculine. The, the, the gender of the word is masculine, and then when we get to 2:1 it switches over to the feminine, almost as if to indicate that the whale was pregnant with Jonah, that Jonah was in the whale and was about to be reborn into the world in a new way And that brings us to our passage here today. [00:10:21] Sequence Debate [00:10:21] Tony Arsenal: I'm gonna read, uh, 1:17 even though that's a little bit outside of our scope. I'm gonna read it along with 2:1 to, to make the point here. It says, "The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the whale, of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish." When you look at the Hebrew text, 1:17 is actually verse 2:1 and 2:1 is then 2:2 and so on and so forth. In the original Hebrew mindset of how this book goes together, these two things were linked together, him being swallowed by the whale and being in the belly of the fish and then him praying was linked together in this sequence. There's a feature in the Hebrew that's called a vav consecutive. You don't need to remember that. Nobody is gonna care about that. But it's, it's a little grammatical feature where it adds this little character to the front of the verb and it indicates a sequence. It's the narrative storytelling. When you look at Genesis 1 it's, "And then God said, 'Let there be light,' and then there was light." It tells you the sequence of events. Sometimes it indicates that it is a strict sequence of events. This happened and then that finished and then the next thing happened and then that finished. And many of the commentators use this passage to justify a perspective of Jonah where Jonah is this rebellious, stubborn prophet who holds out his stubbornness until the very last minute. He's swallowed by the whale, he's getting digested by stomach acid and he sort of finally relents to the Lord and cries out for deliverance and the Lord acquiesces in response to his prayer. That's certainly a possible interpretation. There's lots of good reasons in the, the text here to think Jonah was kind of a chucklehead and was not paying too much attention to what the Lord had for him The other option is to see this as a way for the author of the text to situate this prayer in contrast to other prayers that are not necessarily talked about directly in this text. And I'm gonna take that later view here, and I think it's important. This makes good sense of the text, and we'll explain exactly why that is when we get to the next little section here. But it also protects us theologically if we understand it this way. Jonah is already a book, uh, as I've alluded to, that tends towards a sort of crass moralism or fabulism. We tend to read it as sort of an allegory of if you do the wrong thing, God punishes you, and when you finally do the right thing, He blesses you. And there's a certain level of common grace wisdom to that approach, right? The whole book of Proverbs is-- are these proverbial sayings that if you do this, then the God-- then God will do this. If you raise up your children in the way they will go, they will not depart when they are older. But we also learn in the Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes that those proverbial sayings, although generally true, it's not a magic formula. And so we have this tendency to read Old Testament literature as though it was this sort of like equation, that God punishes us when we're bad. He, uh, He relents from His punishment when we say we're sorry, and we have to be careful about that. If we understand what I'm about to teach from the next section here, that this is not a strict sequence of events, that Jonah began praying before he was swallowed by the whale, and this is simply recording the prayer that was actually within the whale. It helps protect us from seeing Jonah in this sort of quid pro quo, this for that kind of thing. I think we should simply understand this as saying Jonah was in the water, he got swallowed by the whale, and then when he was in the whale, he prayed. It doesn't say anything about whether he was overly stubborn or whether his stubbornness held out. It simply tells us that he was in the pray-- in the whale when this prayer occurred [00:14:23] Sheol and Descent [00:14:23] Tony Arsenal: He says in verse two, he calls out to the Lord out of his distress. He, and God answers him. Out of the belly of Sheol, Jonah cries, and God hears his voice This here tells us that he began praying, right? He was in the water, he was in the deep. All of this descriptive language we're gonna see later on about how deep he was, how quickly the current took him. He was wrapped up in seaweed, his life was fading from him. It was in the midst of all of that that he cries out in his distress. It's a pretty distressing situation. And Jonah, like all of us would, like even most atheists would, cries out to the Lord, even just out of instinct. I think it's kind of crazy for us to think that this man who's now been cast overboard and is being swept to the bottom of the ocean is sure he's gonna die. Somehow, he overrides all of his instinct and his entire life teaching and refuses to pray to the Lord. It just doesn't make sense, and it doesn't make sense of what the text presents here Jonah was in the belly of Sheol. He was in the very, the very womb of Sheol. And there is this interesting contrast that he goes from the belly of Sheol into the belly of the whale. This phrase, the belly of Sheol, is probably roughly equivalent to our phrase about being at death's door, right? It, it may or may not come from some sort of Mesopotamian, um, mythology. It may be a phrase of sort of co-opted into Hebrew, kinda like our phrase at death's door is actually co-opted in from Greek mythology, where there were actually literal doors to the underworld, and people would go there and when they were about to die. Jonah's point is that this was not a small thing. When we watch VeggieTales, he gets thrown in the water, and, like, 13 seconds later, the, the whale comes up and takes him. Jonah was swept down into the water almost supernaturally quick. He was drawn down to the very bottom of the ocean. We talk about the miracle of him surviving in the whale, and it was miraculous for sure, but the miracle of him being swept to the bottom of the ocean and not being crushed by the weight of the water, by the pressure, is equally miraculous. It's no more difficult for God to do that than it is for Him to preserve him in the whale or to raise Jesus from the dead or to create everything from nothing He finally starts to catch up with the pagan sailors. A theme in Jonah is that everyone around Jonah who shouldn't know any better somehow gets to the right conclusion before he does, right? The sailors begin to worship the Lord. They recognize this is divine wrath while Jonah is still asleep in the hold. Later, we'll see that, uh, the, the Ninevites recognize God's mercy and grace and thank Him for it, and Jonah is still mad because the plant he was sitting on d- uh, dies, right? Jonah is constantly behind the curve, but for this little moment, for this glimpse in the very center of the book, the pinnacle of the book is Jonah finally catching up to the sailors. [00:17:34] Sovereignty Explained [00:17:34] Tony Arsenal: He recognizes that it was God who cast him into the depths. This teaches us something about the doctrine of sovereignty and how it relates to human freedom, right? We, we often ask the question, what, what causes rain? Well, you can answer that by saying tiny particles of dust collect water in the air, and once they have enough weight, they fall out of the sky 'cause the air can't hold them up anymore. That's true, and it's good, and that's what nature teaches us. It's also equally true that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike, and those two things are not contradictory. So when Jonah says, "You cast me into the sea," he's recognizing, like Joseph does in the Book of Genesis, that what the sailors in this case meant for good but what the brothers meant for evil, God purposed and caused for good. What the sailors did by their own volition, their own free will, they exercised their own, uh, autonomy in the, the horizontal sense to cast Jonah into the sea, God also cast him into the sea As I said, the text here uses language that we may not catch in our English translations to indicate that it's not just the sea here that's the problem. God's sovereignty continues to affect and act on Jonah. The word that we read here as the, the water or the flood, other places refers to the current of a river. The, um, the Euphrates itself is sometimes referred to this, the large- sort of the largest river apart from the Nile that the Egyptian or the, um, Israelite mind would have is the Euphrates, right? This underwater river, this underwater current, the undertow sucks him to the bottom of the ocean. It's like if you're swimming at the beach at the ocean and you get caught in the undercurrent. There's not a lot you can do about it. Y- sometimes even the strongest swimmers can't overcome this, and Jonah in all of his Middle Eastern robes, all of this stuff, probably with all of his baggage, his, his own equipment, things he had on him, is caught in this undercurrent that sucks him to the bottom of the ocean. And it's not just below the surface of the water. He's dropped down into the heart of the sea, the very core. We're seeing this language of him being pulled to the depths. In, in chapter one he goes down, down, down, and now he's being drawn into the belly of the ocean, into the pit of Sheol, into the heart of the waters The picture here is that Jonah doesn't just get thrown in the water and sink. He is actively pulled down to the bottom. This is not just a judgment where perhaps he can swim to the top. Just as the mariners hopelessly tried to reach land, Jonah would've been hopelessly trying to swim against this. We don't actually have any indication he tried, but had he tried, there would've been no chance He goes on to say that the God's breakers and his waves roll him. This is the picture we see if you ever watch surfing competitions on the ocean, where a surfer will get hit by the wave and he just gets rolled over and rolled over and rolled over, and it can be incredibly dangerous. That's why they have like the little lifeguards on the jet skis that zip out there to get them. Because when you get caught in that breaker, you just get rolled over and rolled over and rolled over, and soon you lose track of which direction is up, and even if you did, you couldn't get out This process is not just the forces of nature doing what they do. This is, again, the Lord weaponizing the forces of nature to execute judgment on Jonah This tumultuous and supernatural rapid descent showed Jonah that this is not only the moment in which God wanted to take his life, but was actively casting him away from the g- from the presence of the Lord [00:21:47] Yet I Will See [00:21:47] Tony Arsenal: It says here, um, in verse four, Jonah says, "I am driven away from your sight If you do a word study on this, you start to see that Jonah is pulling language from the creation account. He's pulling language from the fall. He's pulling a lot of language from Genesis itself. He's also pulling from the Psalms, which are pulling from the Genesis account. This word driven away could also be tran- translated as banished. He's cast out of the presence of the Lord. Just as in Genesis 3, we read, "God drove the man out at the east of the Garden of Eden. He placed cherubim and flaming swords." He drove the man out. Genesis 4:14, Cain says, "You have driven me away from the ground." And in Jonah 1:3, we see that Jonah was trying to get away from the presence of the Lord. And I wonder if there was this moment where he goes, "Ooh, I guess I got what I was looking for." Now, the second half of Jonah f- 2:4 here does something a little bit weird, and it's hard to translate. I think we should be honest at times. Hebrew is a language that in some senses is mysterious to us at times. There are still parts of the Hebrew Bible that we're not always 100% sure of. This verse here could be translated... In, in Hebrew it's just a statement. It's, "I, um, I shall again see the holy temple, or your holy temple." How that fits into the text itself is tricky. Some read it as, uh, as a question. "How shall I see your holy temple?" It's actually a statement kind of reaffirming the doubt and the fear and the idea that God was banishing him Most translations translate it as sort of a contrast. He says, "I was driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look on your holy temple." The force of this is even though you're driving me away, even though you're casting me out of your presence, I have faith, I have confidence that I will again see your holy temple The question here, and this is where I think Jonah becomes our example It's certainly possible that Jonah was asserting his belief that he would be rescued from this calamity and he would make his way back to Jerusalem and he would return to the holy temple. I think that what he says in the rest of this, he's recounting what he was praying. What he was praying in this context is not that he would return to the temple. He was confident God was taking his life. He says in verse five, "The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head." The other way that the phrase holy temple is used in the Old Testament is to refer to the place that God lives in heaven. Jonah was asserting faith that even though he was being cast out of the presence of the Lord in this life, even though he was being justly punished for his sin, even though he was about to enter the belly of Sheol and to enter the pit, the very abyss, that he would see God again in His holy temple. This is a statement of Jonah's belief in his own destiny as one of God's people, destined to be saved by faith in God. In this moment, Jonah trusts the Lord despite all of the appearances that God was out to get him It's not all that different than when we read in Mark chapter 9, where this father brings his, uh, demon-possessed child to Jesus, and Jesus says, "I can heal him." And he says, "If you can do anything, Lord," I'm paraphrasing here. He says, "If you can do it, please, Lord." And he says, "If? All things are possible for me." And the father desperately cries out, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." It's this raw, unfiltered statement of just the human condition on this side of glory, right? I believe in the Lord, but there's always that little part in the back of my head that isn't sure, because we're never going to be perfect. Now, I've said before, and, and this is becoming my new catchphrase, I think, I'm not here to rob you of your assurance of faith. Our, our confession, the Bible, this church, our Reform, broader Reform tradition, the assurance of faith of the Christian is the rightful possession inheritance of every person in this room who trusts the Lord. But it is a reality that at times that assurance is shaken. And if there's ever a time for your assurance to be shaken, it's when you're being dragged to the bottom of the ocean, right? One of the words in here, I don't have it-- I don't actually have it in my notes for some reason, but one of the note, words here, uh, s- about the roots of the mountain, I believe, in the next verse. It's not just that he was dragged to the bottom of the ocean. This word root of the mountain is like the word that's used to cut. He's not just being dragged to the bottom of the sea, he's being dragged to the bottom of a deep sea crevasse. He's literally being pulled into the pit, right? Many, uh, in the ancient Semitic world would have seen these underwater pits. They would have theorized or thought about these underwater crevasses as the actual entry into Sheol. And Jonah sees himself being drawn down into these things. Yet, he believes he will see the good presence of the Lord We read a similar statement, I won't, uh, I won't make us go there for time. We read a similar statement in Job. Job goes through this long speech about all the things that God has done to him, and at the very end of it, he says, "Yet I will see the Lord with my eyes, and he will stand up next to me on, on the earth." Right? Even though Job was going through this unimaginable grief, and we know that Job didn't deserve it in the strict sense, he still was saying, "I'm gonna be destroyed. God is shooting arrows at me," right? "His sword is in my side. He's targeting me. He's sending hornets after me." All of these terrible, vibrant images that he's using to show what God is doing to him, and yet he still trusts. I would say that he trusts that he would see the Lord in the flesh. This is not only Jonah's faith, it's a-- or Job's faith, it's a prophecy of Christ This is alien to our modern mindset. We've been talking about this in the Psalms. Weston's been leading us through the, the lament Psalms We often think that suffering and trials and difficulties are the opposite of blessing and favor. And we might recognize that in some sort of way that in God's economy, one thing leads to another. And again, there's an element of truth to that. James says, "Count it all joy when you face trials of every kind." He's not saying that the trials you're facing are in themselves joyful. You don't have to love when you get sick. You don't have to, you don't have to man up and put a smile on or s- pull yourself up by your bootstraps or whatever analogy you wanna use. It's okay to be sad when bad things happen. It's actually good, right? If we're to weep with those who weep, there's an element of sadness that must come with that, not to mention the one who's weeping is not chastised. But the idea that that only leads to this, that that's just one step in the chain, that's not really the mindset the Bible has. All across the Psalms, in the lament Psalms, all across the prophetic literature, the Book of Lamentations, Habakkuk has this long prayer at the end that's very similar, the entire Book of Job, suffering and sanctification, trials and joy and restoration, they're all sandwiched right there, and there is usually this statement in the middle of it that God will do what is right This is Jonah's example for us, and what an example it is. We'll talk in a little bit about all the ways that this whole scenario is typological of Christ. We'll, we'll get to that. But just for a minute in the middle of this book, Jonah is not such a bad guy. And it's because he still has all his faults that he can be this example for us [00:30:26] Genesis Deep Imagery [00:30:26] Tony Arsenal: As though it wasn't clear enough, Jonah in verse five says that the purpose of the waters closing over him was explicitly to take his life. He's now in the belly of the sea. He's being dragged down to the very roots of the mountain, to the very core of the earth in his mind. He, he thinks he's going to hell in the, the Hebrew mind. There's both this idea that God is dragging him to hell in a very real sense. The Hebrew mind, Sheol was a physical place that people went to, and we learn more about it and that becomes clarified as revelation is progressive, not contradictory, but as, as it's clarified But he uses this word deep, and this is where he's drawing again from Genesis. Genesis 1:2, he says, "The earth was without form and void. The darkness was over the face of the deep." The deep is this sort of like unformed chaotic water. It's what exists before God makes everything orderly and good. And in the fall, and especially in the flood in chapter seven, uh, chapter seven verse 11, the f- the flood itself is a sort of undoing of the order. God opens the floods from beneath, from the bottom of the earth, from the wellspring of the deep, as well as the chaotic waters from outside the firmament, and it all pours back in together and the entire world becomes again this deep, primordial, chaotic water And just as in Genesis God separates the land, in, in Genesis 7 or in Genesis 8, he separates out the land by drying it up, drying up the water. We also see that Jonah has this trust that he will return to the dry land. Again, he's the God of heaven and sea and dry earth. We could even read this phrase, depending on the context, as the abyss, which is this, a- again, is some borrowed language from Greek here that the Hebrews use. But it's this deep, watery, murky place th- full of shadows and darkness. Sounds familiar, I think, right? Christ says that those who are apart from him who refuse to obey will be cast into the outer darkness. This is the imagery that Jonah is seeing. All outside visible indicators was that he was gonna die and he was going to hell. Yet he trusted in the Lord that he would see his holy temple again Apart from God's gracious intervention, Jonah was right. So although God is the one that's bringing him to the depth, bringing him to the pit, dragging him down, using the very currents of the sea, weaponizing these underwater currents that only thousands of years later do we understand, and even then only this much, he also graciously rescues him from this by miraculously appointing a whale or a great fish who comes and swallows Jonah, takes him whole, and keeps him there in his own belly, keeps him there in her own womb when we get to chapter 2. In chapter six, or in verse six, Jonah makes this pivot. Again, he says he's brought to the very bottom of the sea, to the roots of the mountain, which is these deep underwater trenches. He conceptualizes himself now in this locked city behind bars. Again, this jail imagery, this pit imagery, it's all meant to evoke this idea of the final punishment of the wicked. This place of murky, gross water, this place of darkness and, uh, limitations of freedom, he's being taken there. This is the section here where people would actually argue that Jonah dies. He actually dies and is resurrected when he's swallowed by the whale. This comes from language where it says God does not prevent him from going to the pit. God actually draws him to the pit and then raises his life up from the pit. Now, I'm not convinced, um, that we should think that Jonah actually died. I don't, I don't think that the text fully supports that. But it certainly is using this imagery [00:34:45] Christ Typology [00:34:45] Tony Arsenal: This is where we get to some typology about Christ. This is where Jonah really shines as a prophet. Sometimes people wonder why the Book of Jonah is considered a prophetic book, and this along with it is part of that. Jonah, although the sign of Jonah in Matthew and in the other Gospels refers to the belly of the whale, that just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so also Christ will be in the heart of the earth, the pit, for three days and three nights. When we're talking about typology, we can't get too tripped up on the details. We're not talking about strict allegory where this figure is that person and this signpost represents that thing. This isn't Pilgrim's Progress or Chronicles of Narnia, which is not allegory, but it's similar. Topology functions often on sort of these big picture concepts, right? Although there are some typological references that are super detailed, there are also some that are just sort of evocative The idea that Jonah died and was raised to life and sort of incubated in the earth, in- incubated in the whale and sort of reborn into the world, that certainly sounds a lot like a picture of the resurrection And I think we should see it that way. When Christ says that the sign of Jonah is roughly His resurrection, He is tying it to the three days and three nights, but He's not limiting to that Jonah comes to this pivot, and now he starts to reflect on the context of his deliverance. This whole s- this whole prayer should be seen sort of in the light of the thanksgiving psalms. There's a situation in which Jonah is in, and then God rescues him, and he begins to praise him for it. There's elements of lament, but it's really a thanksgiving psalm that he's drawing on here or that he's, he's writing In 2:7, Jonah is either dead or he's actively dying. I don't know about you, but if you've ever, uh, dove into a pool and got a little deeper than you thought you were, and you-- there's that, like, two seconds before you get to the top where you're sure the lights are going out and you've really only been underwater for, like, 45 seconds, but everything in you tells you if you don't get there, you're gonna die. Every instinct you have is to scramble for the surface. Think about how long it took Jonah to be dragged to the bottom of the ocean. Even at this accelerated pace, we're talking about a long time. And we have no reason to believe, and lots of reasons to think otherwise, Jonah was not preserved from the pain and the terror and the difficulty of feeling like you're drowning because he was drowning. He was without oxygen. His life was fading away. And it is in this context of him being on the brink of death, at death's door, in the belly of Sheol, being drawn into the very pit itself, that his prayer reaches the Lord in His holy temple. Right? This gives further evidence to the thought that Jonah is not talking about the temple in Jerusalem. There was, there was theology, and I, I think it's fine theology, that God lived in the temple in a special way. This is the reason that Daniel faces Jerusalem when he prays. There is a sense in the Old Testament that God's special place of presence is the temple in Jerusalem, and that the prayers of the people physically go to that place to be received by God. But Jonah doesn't know which direction the temple is. He's underwater. He's been tossed around by breakers. He has no sense of geography at this point He knows that his prayers are reaching the Lord in his heavenly temple. And they reach him in his heavenly temple just as his life is being lost in the pit. And it is from this moment that God raises him to life, or preserves his life, depending how you read it, and appoints the well to come reach him And some read this next verse as a little bit of a step back for Jonah, and it may be. [00:39:02] Vows and Idols [00:39:02] Tony Arsenal: He reads, "Those who pay vain regard to i- regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. And what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord." Jonah didn't see the sailors on the ship vow their vows and offer their sacrifices. That happened after they threw him into the pit and the current sucked him under So we may read this with a little bit of a, "Thank God I'm not like that tax collector," kind of a lens. And there's probably some wisdom for us in that, to recognize that Jonah still hasn't quite gotten there. But it's also very common in the Old Testament to recognize that God treats His people differently because they are different. God brings people to a place of sanctification, and through that process of sanctification, they cease to worship vain idols. And it is absolutely true that those who worship vain idols forfeit their hope of steadfast love from the Lord. That's straight out of the Ten Commandments, right? He visits the iniquity of, specifically of idolatry. He visits the iniquity unto the children to the third and fourth generation. But for those who love the Lord, He loves them with a steadfast love unto thousands We can recognize in Jonah that although he had made great progress in faith, that he still wasn't there yet. And we can recognize that in him because we can recognize that in ourselves. Jonah is the example in this because he is not perfect, because he has not arrived, 'cause he doesn't do a 180 about-face and get everything right going forward We can read this in light of Jonah in chapter four, where he takes big steps back Or we can read this as the regular up and down progress of sanctification in the life of all believers everywhere It is also ironic again, we're back now to Jonah being a little bit behind the curve. He was sent to Nineveh to evangelize the heathens, some of the worst enemies that Israel was going to face, and he ignores that call. And he, instead of going to Nineveh, he goes to Tarshish. He goes the opposite direction, and he does something that would be unthinkable to most Israelites. He goes out on the open ocean. That's just insanity to someone living in the ancient world He should have recognized that the sailors were fearing the Lord when they refused to throw him overboard. I think we all have a sort of innate sense when someone's behavior suddenly changes, and I think most of us, and not in some sort of strange, kooky, charismatic sense, but I think most of us can sort of go, "I think I know why that is." Right, when you, when you see someone at work that suddenly stops lying about everything and stops backbiting and stops taking credit for other people's work, and then you find out a little while linger- longer that they've come to faith in Christ, if we're being honest, we're not all that surprised. But Jonah doesn't get it. Jonah here promises the same things that the sailors already did, so now we're again back behind the curve [00:42:37] Sanctification Confession [00:42:37] Tony Arsenal: To wrap this out, I, I wanna, um, I wanna ground this in something that I think is really vital for us to understand. As I said, Jonah is an example to us because he demonstrates the limited nature of sanctification, but he also demonstrates in a certain sense the fact that sanctification is real and has real effects. So this is a little out of the ordinary, but grab your Trinity Hymnal from the pew in front of you. If you happen to have a copy of the Confession, you could use that if you'd prefer. But open with me to page 927 I have, um, I've been, uh, broadly Reformed most of my Christian life and didn't realize it until I got to seminary. And since I discovered the Westminster Confession of Faith a decade ago, it's not new, uh, not new to me, um, I realized how valuable this resource was. This is essentially a search engine without the internet. And so I wanna just read a little bit out of chapter 13 here, which is our Confessions chapter on sanctification. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but the, the first, uh, the first section here essentially says that sanctification is real, and it happens throughout the whole person. We talk about total depravity, and there is a sense in which the Christian remains totally depraved after regeneration, in that there still is, there still is corruption within our entire being, uh, that is depraved. There's also an equal sense in which we can say we are totally sanctified in Christ because sanctification is throughout the whole man in which we are renewed after the image of God. So that's section one. And then section two says, "This sanctification is throughout," again, throughout the whole man, "in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life. There abiding still some remnant of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irre- irreconcilable war, the flesh left lusting after the spirit, and the spirit lusting after the flesh." Now, that may feel like just a crushing burden if you stop reading there, but it lines up with our experience, right? This is Paul in Romans 7, "The good things I wanna do, I do not, and the bad things that I, I kn- I do not want to do, I somehow do. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." We shouldn't read that as though somehow our spirits are purified entirely and our bodies are what's really causing us to sin. This is a picture of the spirit being, uh, our, our spiritual part of us. The part of us that's regenerated is willing, but the part of us that remains corrupt is our flesh And our confession goes on to say, "In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctification- sanctifying spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome." And so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This is revolutionary in our broader evangelical world. The storybook Bible, Jonah did a bad thing and he gets punished, and he did a good thing and so he gets better, cannot understand this concept. This is why I think we have to be so careful when we choose what books to give to our little ones, right? I, I make jokes about VeggieTales. I loved VeggieTales when I was in VeggieTales age range. I probably would sit down and watch VeggieTales with Augie when he gets old enough. But we have to be so careful not to let those messages come to our children, or to ourselves for that matter, uninterpreted by the scriptures first and foremost, and our Reformed tradition that we all believe. Amen. [00:46:49] Assurance in the Pit [00:46:49] Tony Arsenal: This is vital for us When all is said and done, salvation, whether we're talking about justification, sanctification, glorification, resurrection, all of the different stages and phases of our salvation, it is entirely of the Lord. And it's for this reason that Jonah says, "I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will pay." Salvation belongs to the Lord So this is the application of the sermon, loved ones. No matter how close to or actually into the pit itself we have fallen The, the chapter on assurance of faith, I won't go there, but the chapter in our confession on assurance of faith is very honest with us that our assurance will be shaken, and at times we may not feel as though we have any assurance at all But even when we have fallen that deep into the pit of despair, even when we feel as though we are in the very depths of hell No matter how much our spiritual or physical life is fainting away as we starve for spiritual breath, as we feel that impulse in us that recognizes we're moments away from losing the faith entirely. No matter how much the remnants of corruption in every part swirl around our heads like seaweed, how often do we feel wrapped up in sin? Whatever it is, I don't need to get specific 'cause I'm sure all of you are thinking of something in your head right now that has been swirling around you for years. Maybe it's months, maybe it's years. Maybe you've never felt, since coming to Christ, you've never felt like it wasn't wrapped up around you like seaweed. Besetting sin is something that we need to be serious about, and it's a good cause for us to think hard and deep about our status as Christians, and to go to our pastor and seek the elders' assistance in this. But besetting sin is not, is not a mark that excludes you from, from Christianity. Right? We're justified by faith alone, in Christ alone, by His grace alone. Not because we've overcome our besetting sin alone, right? That's not one of the five solas God redeems our life from the pit. From the very depths of hell itself, he snatched us like brands from the fire And though it is the case that we often are shaken, and at times God, just as he let Jonah, he let Jonah go to Tarshish. God had every ability to stop him from doing a stupid thing, and sometimes he does that, right? I'm sure there's plenty of times we can think about in our lives where we were heading towards sin and God just pulled a U-turn on us, and we are thankful for that. But there are times that he does not, and he lets us, he lets us do that. He lets us suffer the consequences, and he does that to chastise us and bring us back to him And even in the context of that, it is through this continual supply of the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, right? [00:50:19] God Beautifies His Bride [00:50:19] Tony Arsenal: Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit from the womb beyond measure. That's in the Book of John. There was never a time where Christ did not have the totality of the infinite sanctifying Spirit of the God, of God. We do not have the totality of the sanctifying Spirit of God. Now, we can get into a discussion after the service about divine simplicity and all the complexity of that, but the reality is that God sanctifies us more and more and more, and He does it by giving us the Spirit more and more. Might be more accurate to say He gives more of us to the Spirit. He gives us to the Spirit more and more. He gives us to Jesus more and more. We are Christ's inheritance. We are His bride. And just as the bride, as they're approaching the wedding, is made more and more beautiful, they start their, their beauty treatments weeks and months ahead of time, right? They're already making their hair appointments. They're already doing what they need to do to feel as beautiful as they can and to be as beautiful as they can on their wedding day. If that's the way we treat human weddings; guys do it too, just not as much. If that's the way we treat human weddings, how much more does God treat the heavenly wedding of His Son to His beloved bride? He's beautifying us, Church. Doesn't always feel like it. Doesn't always look like it, but He is.
Faith can sometimes feel difficult to hold onto, especially during seasons when God’s presence feels distant or circumstances seem overwhelming. Yet Scripture reminds us that God remains our refuge and strength, even when we struggle to recognize His work in our lives. Doubt does not mean God has abandoned us. Many believers experience moments of uncertainty, questioning, or spiritual exhaustion. In those seasons, God invites us to return to Him through prayer, Scripture, and a deeper understanding of His character. He is not only present in the moments when we feel strong in faith—He is faithful when we feel weak. Highlights: Seasons of doubt can become opportunities to rediscover God’s faithfulness God remains present even when His work is difficult to see Our faith is rooted in Jesus, not in the actions or failures of others Prayer and Scripture help rebuild trust in God’s character and promises God is our refuge and strength when life feels uncertain or overwhelming Join the Conversation: Have you ever experienced a season where your faith felt distant or difficult to hold onto? What helped you remember that God was still present and faithful? Continue the conversation with the Crosswalk community here: https://forums.crosswalk.com/ Do you want to listen ad-free? When you join Crosswalk Plus, you gain access to exclusive, in-depth Bible study guides, devotionals, sound biblical advice, and daily encouragement from trusted pastors and authors—resources designed to strengthen your faith and equip you to live it out boldly. PLUS ad free podcasts! Sign Up Today! Full Transcript Below: Finding Faith AgainBy Vivian Bricker Bible Reading:“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (Psalm 46:1-3). Most of us have had times when we doubt our faith. We doubt if we are truly saved or if anything we do truly matters. While I have never doubted God’s existence, I have doubted His goodness and provision. In retrospect, I can now see God has provided for me even in the darkest of times. However, during trying times, it can be hard to see God. We automatically blame God and reason that He is why we are going through challenging times. Since God is ultimately in control, we question why He is not bringing us deliverance. As someone who has been in this place many times, I can attest to just how much God is present when we think He is not. God is always with us, even if we do not realize it. A particularly tough time for me was when I was in England. I was serving on a mission trip, and there was only one other person and me. I struggled as this was my first time away from home, and I missed my family. I struggle with social anxiety, and it was challenging to be around people I didn't know very well. The host families I stayed with were all supportive, but a few profoundly changed my life. They helped me to know that I matter and that God has plans for my life, even if I could not see them right away. Although my faith struggled at times during this mission trip, I left England with a stronger faith than I had before. I knew God would be with me through everything, even if I had doubted Him. An Ever-Present Help in Trouble The Bible tells us, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (Psalm 46:1-3). While many people believe only David wrote the Psalms, others wrote them as well. Another writer was the Sons of Korah, who wrote Psalm 46. The Sons of Korah lived during a time of exile. They longed to return to Israel and yearned for the day when God would deliver His people. Despite what they saw each day, they knew God was their refuge, strength, and an ever-present help in trouble. By studying Psalm 46:1-3 and applying it to our lives, we will slowly begin to trust God again. We will realize that He is also our refuge, strength, and ever-present help in trouble. Although the earth may give way and the mountains will fall into the sea, we will not fear because God is with us. He is our mighty protector, and He will keep us safe from all harm. If you need to find your faith again, start talking with the Lord in prayer today. Read the Bible and study what it has to say for yourself. Rather than relying on other Christians or a church, seek out matters for yourself. Sadly, many of us struggle with our faith because of a negative experience with a Christian or a church. Try to remember at these times that our faith is in Jesus, not in other Christians or a church. These individuals will fail us and might even cause us much harm, but the Lord never will. He will always fight for us and be on our side. Even as everything else in our lives falls apart, Jesus will stand by our side (Hebrews 13:5-6). We can have faith in Jesus because He is our mighty Savior and the One who has redeemed our souls. Praise God for such a wonderful blessing in the Lord. Intersecting Faith & Life: Have you ever struggled with your faith in Jesus? What did this look like? Why do you think most Christians struggle with their faith at times? How might Jesus help you in the journey of finding your faith again? Further Reading: Psalm 23:1-6 Exodus 14:14 2 Timothy 4:18 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
(Hebrews 6:12-20) Can a believer ever become lost? In today's broadcast, Scott Pauley addresses this important question by examining the Word of God, including Hebrews 6. Learn how believers can have assurance in their salvation, and that God's Word and His promises are sure. (10151260625) Join Scott Pauley's study through Scripture this year. Find resources for every book of the Bible by Dr. Pauley and Enjoying the Journey at enjoyingthejourney.org/journey-through-scripture/. Whether you're a new believer or have walked with the Lord for years, you'll find thousands of free devotionals, Bible studies, audio series, and Scripture tools designed to strengthen your faith, deepen your understanding of the Bible, and help you stay rooted in the Word of God. Explore now at EnjoyingTheJourney.org. Extend the Work Enjoying the Journey provides every resource for free worldwide. If you would like to help extend this Bible teaching, you may give at enjoyingthejourney.org/donations/
Today's Scripture: Hebrews 6 Mary is reading Hebrews 6 in the WEB. Access Pray Every Day every single day on the Pray Every Day App! Not only can you listen, but I’ve created 365 daily devotions you can read as well–all about connecting deeply with Jesus, finding healing, and experiencing His presence. Download the app here: […]
Raised: When Jesus Calls the Dead to Life – John 11:27–57 In Episode 141 of Divine Table Talk, Jamie and Jane explore one of the most powerful miracles in all of Scripture—the raising of Lazarus in John 11:27–57. As grief, doubt, hope, and faith collide, Jesus declares Himself to be “the resurrection and the life” before calling Lazarus from the tomb. Together, they unpack what this miracle reveals about the heart of God, the power of belief, and how Jesus often works in ways that stretch our faith beyond what we can see. This chapter is not only about a man being raised from the dead—it's about a Savior who brings life into every place that feels hopeless, buried, or beyond redemption. If you've ever wondered whether God can still move in what feels impossible, this conversation is a reminder that Jesus specializes in resurrection. What area of my life feels beyond hope—and am I willing to believe that Jesus still brings dead things back to life?____________________________________ Connect with Jamie: Website: www.jamieklusacek.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacek Connect with Jane: Website: www.janewwilliams.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliams
This week's double Parsha is chock-full of fascinating narratives, story lines, and mitzvos. We begin with the great mystery of the red heifer. We then read about the passing of Miriam, sister of Moshe and Aaron, and its repercussions. There are wars against foes, water coming out of rocks, talking donkeys, and two plagues, including one from venomous serpents. It is a story rich with drama and intrigue, of great heroes and heinous villains. In this special edition of the Parsha Podcast, we explore the twists and turns of our parsha and share a profound insight, an insight can radically reshape our pursuit of greatness.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –This Parsha Podcast is dedicated in honor of and in the merit of the success for Noam Yitzhak ben Shlomi. May he be blessed with an outpouring of success.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:TORCHPO BOX 310246HOUSTON, TX 77231-0246– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletterrabbiwolbe.com/newsletter– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe's PodcastsThe Parsha PodcastThe Jewish History PodcastThe Mitzvah Podcast This Jewish LifeThe Ethics PodcastTORAH 101 ★ Support this podcast ★
Today's Scripture: Hebrews 5 Mary is reading Hebrews 5 in the WEB. Access Pray Every Day every single day on the Pray Every Day App! Not only can you listen, but I’ve created 365 daily devotions you can read as well–all about connecting deeply with Jesus, finding healing, and experiencing His presence. Download the app here: […]
A hardened heart doesn’t happen overnight. Today on BOLD STEPS, Mark Jobe wraps up a message from Hebrews 3 with a convicting look at how spiritual callousness creeps in … not through dramatic rebellion, but through small, repeated delays in obedience. He’ll also explain why you can’t fight it alone. It’s time to respond ... listen to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold Steps Gift: Tenacious: Living a Faith That Outlives YouBecome a Bold Partner: https://www.moodyradio.org/donateto/boldstepsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Are financial stress and disagreements quietly straining your marriage? Pastor Jeff Schreve teaches from 1 Timothy 6 and Hebrews 13 that peace with money begins when you put God first and loosen your grip on everything else. He shows how contentment in Christ reshapes your priorities and brings unity instead of conflict. This message connects biblical truth to real-life financial tension. Trust God with your resources and discover freedom that lasts.
In every generation there are malevolent forces seeking to destroy the Jewish people. They have never been successful, nor will they ever be. The Almighty always protects our people and ensures our continuity. Most of the time we are completely unaware of the mortal dangers that the Almighty thwarted on our behalf. The canonical example of this phenomenon is the story of our Parsha , when the greatest sorcerer of all time was hired to curse the Jewish Nation. In this special edition of the Parsha podcast, we share three deep ideas on the very unusual story of Bilaam's unsuccessful attempts to curse the Jewish Nation.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:TORCHPO BOX 310246HOUSTON, TX 77231-0246– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletterrabbiwolbe.com/newsletter– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe's PodcastsThe Parsha PodcastThe Jewish History PodcastThe Mitzvah Podcast This Jewish LifeThe Ethics PodcastTORAH 101 ★ Support this podcast ★
In this lesson from the Gate of Repentance (Shaar HaTeshuvah), Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe explores the 12th, 13th, and 14th components of authentic teshuvah: understanding the consequences of sin, treating even seemingly small transgressions seriously, and the essential role of confession (vidui). The author teaches that part of sincere repentance is recognizing that actions have consequences. Not because Hashem seeks to punish, but because every sin creates distance between a person and their Creator. Understanding the spiritual cost of our choices helps awaken a deeper commitment to growth and a greater appreciation for the relationship Hashem desires to have with each of us. A central theme of the episode is the danger of minimizing "small" sins. Rabbi Wolbe explains that we often convince ourselves that certain behaviors are insignificant, yet the Torah warns us not to measure mitzvos and prohibitions according to our own standards. First, every commandment is significant because it comes from Hashem. Second, small actions accumulate over time. Third, repeated sins become normalized until they no longer feel wrong. Finally, the Yetzer Hara often begins with tiny compromises that eventually lead to far more serious transgressions. What appears insignificant today can become spiritually destructive tomorrow. The lesson concludes with the power of vidui—verbal confession. Rabbi Wolbe explains that repentance is not complete until a person articulates their mistakes before Hashem and commits to change. Confession is not merely an admission of guilt; it is an act of spiritual purification. Using the Talmud's famous analogy, he teaches that confessing without abandoning the sin is like immersing in a mikvah while still holding a source of impurity. True teshuvah requires both honest acknowledgment of the past and a sincere commitment to a different future. _____________This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by Peter & Becky BotvinRecorded at TORCH Centre in the Levin Family Studios (B) to a live audience on October 27, 2025, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on June 24, 2026_____________This series on Orchos Tzadikim/Ways of the Righteous is produced in partnership with Hachzek.Join the revolution of daily Mussar study at hachzek.com.We are using the Treasure of Life edition of the Orchos Tzadikkim (Published by Feldheim)_____________Listen, Subscribe & Share: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jewish-inspiration-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1476610783Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4r0KfjMzmCNQbiNaZBCSU7) to stay inspired! Share your questions at aw@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content. _____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life. To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback, please email: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Our Mission is Connecting Jews & Judaism. Help us spread Judaism globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org.Your support makes a HUGE difference!_____________Listen MoreOther podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Hey Rabbi! Podcast: https://heyrabbi.transistor.fm/episodesPrayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.orgv_____________Keywords:#JewishInspiration, #Mussar, #MasterClass, #Repentance, #Teshuva, #Vidui, #Confession, #BreakingBadHabits, #EveryActionMatters, ★ Support this podcast ★
Hebrews 11:39-40Nothing you do for the Lord is ever wasted. It's never in vain. Even if you receive no credit or even a “thank you” don't be discouraged! God promises you will be rewarded when the time is right.
Pastor Alan R. Knapp discusses the topic of "“What Does Straw Have in Common with Grain?” AND “Aqedah - Part One: ‘H2020 IN OVERDRIVE' ”" in his series entitled "Short Sermons : Special Editions" This is Short Sermon (Special Editions) 3 and it focuses on the following verses: Genesis 1:26; Isaiah 7:14; Jeremiah 23:21-23, 28; John 1:18; 3:16-18; Acts 13:26; 20:32; Romans 5:15-18; 1 Corinthians 1:30, 2:2, 3:12-15, 15:49; 2 Corinthians 4:4, 13, 5:14, 19, 21, 8:9; Galatians 1:6-9; Ephesians 1:13, 4:15; Hebrews 5:7, 11:17-19; 1 Timothy 4:6; 2 Timothy 2:15; 1 John 4:9
The Bible is a revelation of the sovereign God working to accomplish His glory in an unstoppable and predestined way. This is the basis for the good news, yet many rage at these things because they hate the sovereignty of God. Today we will go through the entire New Testament and look at several verses which settle this debate once and for all, and hopefully also offer you some great encouragement for the months and years to come.* 00:00 - Introduction* 16:23 - The Gospel of Matthew* 20:45 - The Gospel of Mark* 25:59 - The Gospel of Luke* 31:31 - The Gospel of John* 45:15 - Acts* 1:02:27 - Romans* 1:09:44 - 1st & 2nd Corinthians* 1:20:25 - Galatians* 1:27:56 - Ephesians* 1:35:00 - Philippians * 1:39:18 - Colossians* 1:41:47 - 1st & 2nd Thessalonians* 1:47:00 - Timothy, Titus & Philemon* 1:54:40 - Hebrews* 1:59:05 - James* 2:00:52 - 1st & 2nd Peter* 2:07:41 - 1 John* 2:09:57 - Jude This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.danceoflife.com/subscribe
In this session, Tom Short continues our walk through Hebrews 11, examining the nature of biblical faith. Whether you are seeking daily encouragement or a deeper understanding of scripture, this devotion focuses on applying God's word to your life. We navigate the text together to find practical ways to honor Christ in our daily walk.This study is for anyone desiring consistent Christian devotion rooted in the Bible. By focusing on the empty tomb and the crosses, we challenge ourselves to answer the question: Will you live for Him? This daily word and prayer is designed to help you align your heart with His purpose, regardless of life's technical difficulties or distractions.Subscribe for daily Bible study insights and comment below with your thoughts on Hebrews 11. Join this Hebrews 11 study for a daily word and prayer to strengthen your faith. Reflect on the call to live for Him through scripture.Scripture Used in Today's MessageHebrews 11:7To find Tom on Instagram, Facebook, TiKTok, and elsewhere, go to linktr.ee/realtomshort
In this message, Adrian Rogers shares insight from Hebrews 12 about the race of faith, so that we may endure and finish well. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/135/29?v=20251111
Today's Scripture: Hebrews 4 Mary is reading Hebrews 4 in the WEB. Access Pray Every Day every single day on the Pray Every Day App! Not only can you listen, but I’ve created 365 daily devotions you can read as well–all about connecting deeply with Jesus, finding healing, and experiencing His presence. Download the app here: […]
In this episode, we walk through the most common rebuttals to the biblical view of homosexuality — not to win arguments, but to equip believers with Scripture and point people toward the truth in love.This episode is sponsored by The Master's University. To learn more about how you can invest in a college education devoted to Christ & Scripture, visit https://www.masters.eduWe cover:• Did Paul only condemn exploitative relationships — not committed gay couples?• Was "homosexual" added to the Bible in 1946?• Doesn't Jesus never mention homosexuality?• Isn't God just a God of love — who accepts everyone as they are?• What about the shellfish and mixed-fabric objections?• Is same-sex attraction itself sinful, even if never acted on?• What do you say to someone genuinely struggling with SSA?This is part two of a two-part series. Part one lays the full biblical foundation from Genesis to 1 Corinthians.
God hasn’t gone quiet … so why does it feel like it? Today on BOLD STEPS, Mark Jobe brings a message straight from a President’s Chapel at Moody Bible Institute that cuts right to the issue: the problem isn’t whether we can hear God … it’s whether we obey when we do. The writer of Hebrews had a word for this, and it’s one we all need to hear ... listen to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Bold Steps Gift: Tenacious: Living a Faith That Outlives YouBecome a Bold Partner: https://www.moodyradio.org/donateto/boldstepsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Two giants passed away in this week's Parsha: Moshe two elder siblings, his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron - two of the great leaders and benefactors of the nation - both die in Parshas Chukas. In this special Parsha podcast we share two profound insights relating to the death, mourning, and aftermath of these two deaths. We discuss the extraction of water from a rock and how it differs from the another instance where water was desired and a rock played a very different role. We conclude with a sharp analysis of the difference between the nation's mourning of Aaron and how the people mourned Moshe. All in all, I highly recommend that you listen to this podcast. It will bring you joy and maybe even some insight.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:TORCHPO BOX 310246HOUSTON, TX 77231-0246– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletterrabbiwolbe.com/newsletter– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe's PodcastsThe Parsha PodcastThe Jewish History PodcastThe Mitzvah Podcast This Jewish LifeThe Ethics PodcastTORAH 101 ★ Support this podcast ★
In this message, Pastor Sam Picken from C3 Assembly in Toronto unpacks a robust, biblical vision of discipleship and equipping in the local church, drawing primarily from Ephesians 4 and the “net‑mending” call on every believer.Built around Ephesians 4:11–16, this sermon explores how Christ gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Pastor Sam clarifies that:Christians are born again in a moment (John 3:3–7; 2 Corinthians 5:17), fully righteous in Christ (Romans 3:21–26),But disciples are made over time, moving from spiritual infancy to maturity (Hebrews 5:12–14; 1 Corinthians 3:1–3).Using the language of Ephesians 4:14, he contrasts mature disciples with “infants, tossed back and forth by the waves” of culture, ideology, and deceitful schemes (John 10:10; Colossians 2:8). The message calls believers to resist a me‑centered, consumer Christianity (Luke 9:23–25; Mark 8:34–36) and embrace a life of surrender, holiness, and mission.Pastor Sam lays out a holistic view of discipleship that includes:Personal devotion and prayer (Matthew 6:5–13; Acts 2:42)Weekend services and corporate worship (Hebrews 10:24–25; Psalm 122:1)Godly friendships and groups (Proverbs 13:20; Acts 2:46–47)Serving on teams and submitting to leadership (Mark 10:43–45; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 4:10)Drawing on the Greek word for “equip” (katartismos) in Ephesians 4:12, he illustrates discipleship as mending, repairing, and strengthening nets—restoring people to purpose (Matthew 4:18–22), arranging their lives according to God's design (Romans 12:1–2), and helping them become “useful to the Master” (2 Timothy 2:20–21).Throughout the sermon you'll hear:A prophetic encouragement for a young couple to step into calling and strict training (1 Corinthians 9:24–27)A challenge to shift priorities—finances, time, and relationships—toward the kingdom (Matthew 6:19–24, 33; 2 Corinthians 9:6–8)A call for every believer to move from only receiving to also pouring out (John 7:37–38; Acts 20:35)Anchored in John 6:35, Jesus as the “bread of life,” Pastor Sam describes discipleship as one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread. Every conversation, text, coffee, and small group becomes an act of sharing that bread and mending the net so others can step into fullness of life in Christ (John 10:10; Colossians 1:28–29).The message closes with Romans 15:13, praying that the God of hope would fill believers “with all joy and peace as you trust in him,” so they overflow with confident hope through the Holy Spirit—and join God's work of equipping everyone to equip everyone.
In this message, discover how God calls every believer into “holy work” empowered by His Spirit—not just inside the church, but in creativity, business, parenting, and everyday vocation.Drawing from Colossians, Ephesians, and the sweep of the biblical story, this sermon explores:The sacred nature of workWork in Eden before the fall – Genesis 1:26–28; 2:15Co-laboring with God in His mission – 1 Corinthians 3:5–9Making disciples as the core “work” of every believer – Matthew 28:18–20; John 15:1–8Living in the fifth act of God's storyCreation, Fall, Israel, Jesus, Church, New Creation – Genesis 1–3; Exodus 19–20; Jeremiah 31:31–34; John 1:14; Acts 1:8; Revelation 21–22Our place in God's unfolding drama – Acts 13:36; Ephesians 2:10In Christ: the engine of holy workFully mature “in Christ” – Colossians 1:28–29; 2:5–7, 9–10Firm faith in Christ vs. hollow tradition – Colossians 2:8–17Abiding in Christ for lasting fruit – John 15:4–5A New Testament view of SabbathSabbath as a shadow; Christ as the substance – Colossians 2:16–17Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath – Matthew 12:1–8; Mark 2:27–28Rest not as a rigid day but a Person we live in – Matthew 11:28–30; Hebrews 4:1–11Power for the assignmentStrenuously contending with His energy – Colossians 1:28–29 (NKJV/NIV)Dunamis and energeia: resurrection power at work in us – Ephesians 1:18–20; 3:16–21You will receive power and be My witnesses – Acts 1:8Calling creatives and business leadersCommissioning creatives to disciple through art, music, and media – Exodus 31:1–5; Psalm 33:3Commissioning marketplace leaders as kingdom builders – Deuteronomy 8:18; Proverbs 11:25; Luke 16:10–12Learn why vision is the antidote to sin (Proverbs 29:18), why mature Christians go to church full to leave empty in service (2 Timothy 4:6–8), and how to live a life of costly, joy-filled obedience that ends each day exhausted but deeply at rest in Christ.
Featuring: Judah Thomas, David LaManna, Lenny Salgado, Ben Cossette, Johnny V., Mike McHugh, and James GowellEdited by: Tim NicholsonIn this episode of Thriving in the Word, we continue The Hall of Faith series and arrive at one of the most beloved figures in all of Scripture: Joseph. But instead of focusing on the colorful coat, the dreams, the pit, the prison, or even the palace, Hebrews 11 points us to a much different moment. Joseph's place in the Hall of Faith comes down to a dying man's confidence that God's promises would outlive him.We walk through Genesis 37-50 and Hebrews 11:22, where Joseph, nearing death, instructed his family to carry his bones out of Egypt when God eventually brought Israel into the Promised Land. It's a strange detail to spotlight in a life filled with dramatic twists and miraculous turns, but that's exactly the point. Joseph's greatest act of faith wasn't his rise to power. It was his unwavering belief that God would do exactly what He said He would do, even if Joseph would never live to see it happen.The crew explores Joseph's transformation from a favored and arrogant young man into a humble leader shaped by betrayal, slavery, false accusations, imprisonment, and years of waiting. We discuss the jealousy of his brothers, the dreams that set everything in motion, and the incredible reality that God used every setback to prepare Joseph for a purpose far greater than he could have imagined.Along the way, we examine the parallels between Joseph and Jesus, the significance of Joseph's bones making the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, and what it means to trust God's plan when the road ahead doesn't make sense. Joseph's story reminds us that faith isn't just believing God for today. It's believing Him for a future you may never personally witness.That leads us into some honest questions: What promises of God are you trusting even when you can't see the outcome? Are you willing to let God shape your character through hardship? Can you still believe He's working when it feels like you've been forgotten in the pit or the prison? And if your story isn't finished yet, what might God be preparing you for right now?Topics include: Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11, Joseph, Genesis 37-50, Joseph and his brothers, Joseph's dreams, Joseph in Egypt, Potiphar's house, Joseph in prison, forgiveness in the Bible, faith in God's promises, Joseph's bones, Promised Land, Exodus connection, Joseph and Jesus parallels, God's providence, suffering and faith, endurance through trials, trusting God's timing, biblical leadership, redemption, reconciliation, God's plan in hardship, faith that lasts beyond your lifetime, Christian podcast, Bible teaching, Bible study, Hall of Faith series, Hebrews study, spiritual growth, walking with God, and Thriving in the Word.More Info: https://www.thrive.churchGive: https://www.thrive.church/give/Need prayer? prayer@thrive.churchThis is a presentation of Thrive.Church.© All Rights Reserved.
This episode of the Bible Explained Podcast delves into Hebrews 13:7-14, where Jenn emphasizes the importance of scrutinizing leaders and their conduct. The way the American church is set up can promote narcissism, with a single leader at the top, but this is not a scriptural system: The Bible calls for a system of shared leadership with checks and balances to ensure that no one leader goes off the rails. Imitate the faith of your leaders, but only if their conduct is in line with Scripture. Elders should be held to high standards, as seen in 1 Timothy and Titus, where specific guidelines are laid out for who can and cannot be an elder. The importance of not being carried away by various and strange teachings, and the need to double-check all theology with Scripture. Christians must separate themselves from the world and its teachings, just as Jesus did when He went outside the camp to suffer for our sins. Related episodes: 1 Timothy 5:17-25 - Avoiding Extremes When It Comes To The Pastor 1 Timothy 3:1-7 - 15 Qualifications For Pastors and Elders 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - What Is The Rapture, And Did It Already Happen? Leviticus 6:24-30 (From Creation) - The Sin Sacrifice and the Washing of Water After you're done with that, check out these websites: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnh-aqfg8rw Ko-Fi - https://ko-fi.com/p40ministries Website - https://www.p40ministries.com Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/p40ministries Contact - jenn@p40ministries.com Books - https://www.amazon.com/Jenn-Kokal/e/B095JCRNHY/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk Merch - https://www.p40ministries.com/shop YouVersion - https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/38267-out-of-the-mire-trusting-god-in-the-middle Check out LifeAudio for other faith-based podcasts on parenting, studying Scripture, and more:www.lifeaudio.com Need help memorizing Scripture? Check out Verse in the Chorus: https://www.youtube.com/@VerseintheChrous Become a Coffee-Tier member to gain access to The Bible Explained on Fridays: https://ko-fi.com/p40ministries Support babies and get quality coffee with Seven Weeks Coffee https://sevenweekscoffee.com/?ref=P40 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
Church hurt is real — and it's one of the most common reasons people walk away from the church, and sometimes the faith altogether. In this episode, Nathan sits down with Nicholas Hines for an honest, compassionate, and biblically grounded conversation about what church hurt actually is, why this happens, and what to do when it happens to you.Nathan and Nicholas break down two distinct types of church hurt — the everyday relational conflict that comes from doing life with imperfect people, and the larger, more public moral failures that can shake entire congregations. They talk honestly about unrealistic expectations, the danger of putting leaders on pedestals, and why running from conflict might be costing you more than you realize.This episode doesn't dismiss anyone's pain — it takes it seriously. But it also issues a loving challenge: don't let someone else's failure become a reason to turn your back on Jesus.Topics covered:The two types of church hurt and why they require different responsesWhy setting proper expectations changes everythingHow Jesus himself navigated relational conflict and betrayalThe danger of social media algorithms feeding a distorted view of the churchWhy your faith can't be built on a pastor or leader — only on JesusPractical steps to pursue reconciliation instead of runningWhat the Bible (Matthew 18, Proverbs, Hebrews 12) says about conflict and forgivenessWhy isolation makes church hurt worse, not better
Part of our verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Hebrews. Taught by guest preacher & Shepherd Bible Missionary, Michael Kanai.
In this message, Adrian Rogers shares insight from Hebrews 12 about the race of faith, so that we may endure and finish well. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/135/29?v=20251111
In Session Four, we get to study the Lord speaking back to Job. It is a storm of words. These divine speeches are spectacular and mysterious and full of artistry. We'll discover that God didn't solve it for Job but he did salve it. He didn't bring Job answers but he did bring Job WONDER. How has wonder been a balm to you? Share your thoughts with us below in the comments. And join us for Session Five as Beth wraps up our study of the book of Job.Scriptures: Job 38-41---------------Beth taught this message at her local Thursday night Bible Study in Jan/Feb 2026. We hope you find this five-session series to be helpful in your faith journey. To obtain a copy of the free Listening Guide, please visit: https://www.lproof.org/job-artistry-and-mystery---------------Living Proof Ministries is dedicated to encouraging people to come to know and love Jesus Christ through the study of Scripture."For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword." –Hebrews 4:12---------------Connect with us:WEBSITE: https://www.lproof.org/NEWSLETTER: https://www.lproof.org/newsletterSUBSCRIBE: @LivingProofwithBethMooreINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/livingproofministries/FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/livingproofministrieswithbethmooreX: http://www.x.com/bethmoorelpm
In Session Four, we get to study the Lord speaking back to Job. It is a storm of words. These divine speeches are spectacular and mysterious and full of artistry. We'll discover that God didn't solve it for Job but he did salve it. He didn't bring Job answers but he did bring Job WONDER. How has wonder been a balm to you? Share your thoughts with us below in the comments. And join us for Session Five as Beth wraps up our study of the book of Job.Scriptures: Job 38-41---------------Beth taught this message at her local Thursday night Bible Study in Jan/Feb 2026. We hope you find this five-session series to be helpful in your faith journey. To obtain a copy of the free Listening Guide, please visit: https://www.lproof.org/job-artistry-and-mystery---------------Living Proof Ministries is dedicated to encouraging people to come to know and love Jesus Christ through the study of Scripture."For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword." –Hebrews 4:12---------------Connect with us:WEBSITE: https://www.lproof.org/NEWSLETTER: https://www.lproof.org/newsletterSUBSCRIBE: @LivingProofwithBethMooreINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/livingproofministries/FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/livingproofministrieswithbethmooreX: http://www.x.com/bethmoorelpm
Today's Scripture: Hebrews 3 Mary is reading Hebrews 3 in the WEB. Access Pray Every Day every single day on the Pray Every Day App! Not only can you listen, but I’ve created 365 daily devotions you can read as well–all about connecting deeply with Jesus, finding healing, and experiencing His presence. Download the app here: […]
“That those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” — Hebrews 12:27 We have many things in our possession at the present moment which can be shaken, and it ill becomes a Christian man to set much store by them, for there is nothing stable beneath these rolling skies; change is written upon all things. […]
Top Ten from 2025: #7 Raising Healthy Children with Dr. Charles Fay (Episode 254) 2 Chronicles 20:12b (NIV) "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” *Transcription of original episode* Raising Healthy Children with Dr. Charles Fay (Episode 254) Questions and Topics We Discuss: When it comes to helping our child find purpose in life, what are some helpful questions to ask and why is this even important? What are some specific examples of beneficial discipline for a variety of ages of children? What are natural and proactive ways we can improve mental health in ourselves and our children? Charles Fay, PhD, is an internationally recognized author, consultant, and public speaker. He is also president of the Love and Logic Institute, which became part of Amen Clinics in 2020. Millions of educators, mental health professionals, and parents worldwide have benefited from Dr. Fay's down-to-earth solutions to the most common and frustrating behaviors displayed by youth of all ages. These methods come directly from years of experience serving severely disturbed youth and their families in psychiatric hospitals, public and private schools, homes, and other settings. For more information, visit loveandlogic.com. Dr. Fay's Book, Co-Authored with Dr. Daniel Amen: Raising Mentally Strong Kids Dr. Amen's Website Thank You to Our Sponsor: Inquisicook Connect with The Savvy Sauce on Facebook or Instagram or Our Website Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast! Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“ Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“ Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
There are so many stages of life. Some are longer than others, but none of them last forever. How do we steward each stage in a way that glorifies our Savior and Creator? This podcast series focuses on the practical in different seasons of life with women who are all seeking to be rooted in Christ. Our second episode of the series follows two gals who are in a transitional stage — what to do after high school! There are so many paths to take (college, moving out, staying home, working), and so much pressure from the world over on what those decisions should look like. Listen in as Ana and Addie give biblical insight as they walk into adulthood.References:Psalm 119:105; Hebrews 12:1-3; 1 Peter 4:10-11; 1 Corinthians 14; Ephesians 3:17-19Contact us:devotedpodcast@atheycreek.comwomen@atheycreek.comhttps://atheycreek.com/ministries/womenFollow us on IG:@atheywomen @ammcreynolds
“Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10 NLT) Benjamin Franklin wrote, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Many people have devised strategies to avoid the second. No one has yet devised a strategy for avoiding the first—and no one ever will. The Bible is very clear about the fact that there will come a time for every person when life on earth will end. The author of Ecclesiastes wrote, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest” (Ecclesiastes 3:1–2 NLT). The author of Hebrews wrote, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27 NKJV). Most people assume (or, at least, hope) that their appointed time will come after a long life here on earth. But the Bible makes no such promises. For some people, the time to die comes much sooner than expected. For others, it comes much later. Statisticians have estimated that two people die every second. One hundred and twenty people die every minute. Over seven thousand people die every hour. That’s why the words of the psalmist still resonate: “Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10 NLT). A historical legend tells us that Philip II of Macedon commanded his servant to stand in his presence every day and repeat something like, “Remember Philip, one day you will die.” The ruler wanted to be reminded of his mortality. When Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Stanford University, he said, “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.” Death is the great equalizer. It’s no respecter of persons. It comes to everyone. And that reality is what gives our Harvest Crusade its urgency and importance every year. People need to hear about the life beyond this one before this one ends. According to the Bible, after death there are two destinations. Every person decides now—not later, not after death—which destination it will be. Every person decides where they will spend eternity. Those two options are Heaven or Hell. The apostle Paul wrote, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 NLT). That’s how you decide to go to Heaven—to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. To do anything else is to choose to go to Hell. This is our urgent message. Two people who were alive just one second ago won’t have a chance to hear it again. Reflection question: What causes you to feel a sense of urgency about sharing your faith? Harvest Crusade tickets are fully claimed—but it’s not too late to participate and witness what God does on July 11. Invite your loved ones to watch online with you and make sure you join the waitlist in case more tickets become available. — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest Partner Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It takes years to develop a taste for prayer. Prayer is described in our sources as "service of the heart." Service of any sort is difficult for us, and most of us are not attuned enough to our hearts to even understand what service of the heart means. Prayer is a foundational pillar of our religious life. When our sages identified the three things upon which the world stands, one of them is prayer. Prayer is built into the Jewish day. We pray multiple times a day, and we are encouraged to pray even outside the regularly scheduled prayer services. How do we approach this very lofty but distant subject? In this very interesting podcast, recorded with my friend Dan Kullman of the Shema podcast, we explore the system of prayer, the philosophy of prayer, and address many core elements of this service of the heart. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:TORCHPO BOX 310246HOUSTON, TX 77231-0246– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletterrabbiwolbe.com/newsletter– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe's PodcastsThe Parsha PodcastThe Jewish History PodcastThe Mitzvah Podcast This Jewish LifeThe Ethics PodcastTORAH 101 ★ Support this podcast ★
Hey ya'll welcome to the podcast and thanks for joining us. We are continuing on in our series through the faith hero's in Hebrews 11. We are on the last episode pertaining to Abraham . In this episode Bro. Dean breaks down Genesis 25. Starting where we left off last episode. Bro Dean ties in end times and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Get your notepad ready and your bible opened we are diving in!We pray this episode is a blessing to you and you are elevated in the word!
CheckoutThe God Centered Concept Academy Training Community to learn what growth in Christ ishttps://api.tuvu.com/redirectGroup/6a2ac0e2c9f728027338244cCheck out this link to view Kingdom Cross Roads on TV.https://jesussaid.tv/?affiliate=tswright_gccTo get a copy of our new book "Embracing the Truth" or to have TS Wright speak at your event or conference or if you simply want spiritual or life coaching or just a consultation visit:www.tswrightspeaks.comVisit our website to learn more about The God Centered Concept. The God Centered Concept is designed to bring real discipleship and spreading the Gospel to help spark the Great Harvest, a revival in this generation.www.godcenteredconcept.comKingdom Cross Roads Podcast is a part of The God Centered Concept.In this episode of TS Wright Speaks, TS Wright teaches on “The Calling of Abraham and Moses” and how these two foundational biblical callings reveal the way God still calls His people today.Abraham was called out of the nations to become the father of a covenant people. Moses was called back into Egypt to deliver that covenant people from bondage. Abraham had to walk by faith into a promise he could not fully see, while Moses had to confront a power he could not overcome in his own strength.This episode highlights an essential truth: God does not call people merely for their own blessing. He calls them to become vessels through whom His purposes enter the earth. Abraham's calling required separation from country, kindred, and his father's house. Moses' calling required surrender before the holiness of God at the burning bush and obedience in the face of fear.TS Wright also explains how both callings point directly to Jesus Christ. Abraham reveals the promise of the Seed, fulfilled in Christ. Moses reveals deliverance through blood and power, foreshadowing Christ as the Passover Lamb and Redeemer.Key ThemesGod calls people into new seasons for His covenant purpose.Abraham's calling shows faith that moves.Moses' calling shows fear that must be overcome by God's presence.Delay does not cancel the calling; delay prepares the servant.Calling is not merely an invitation to significance, but an invitation to surrender.Obedience to God may affect generations, deliverance, and testimonies we cannot yet see.Scriptures ReferencedGenesis 12:1–4 Genesis 15 Genesis 17 Exodus 2 Exodus 3:2, 3:7–10, 3:14 Exodus 4:13 Hebrews 11 Galatians 3:16 Galatians 5 John 5:46 John 8:56Closing EncouragementWhether God is calling you away from what is familiar or sending you back to confront what once intimidated you, the issue is not whether the assignment is easy. The issue is whether God has spoken. If God has spoken, the right response is faith, obedience, patience, and total surrender to His will.KeywordsAbraham and Moses Calling of Abraham Calling of Moses Genesis 12 Exodus 3 Burning bush Biblical calling God's purpose Faith and obedience Christian podcast Bible teaching Covenant promise Moses and Pharaoh Abraham covenant Christian discipleship Trusting God God's presence God's promise Jesus Christ in the Old Testament Biblical faith Spiritual growth Surrender to God God's covenant plan Deliverance from bondage Faith journey Obedience to God Christian encouragement Hebrews 11 Passover Lamb Messianic prophecyTagsAbraham Moses Genesis Exodus Burning Bush Bible Teaching Christian Podcast Faith Obedience Calling Covenant Deliverance Jesus Christ Discipleship Surrender God's Purpose Old Testament Biblical History Christian Living Spiritual Growth
Today's Scripture: Hebrews 2 Mary is reading Hebrews 2 in the WEB. Access Pray Every Day every single day on the Pray Every Day App! Not only can you listen, but I’ve created 365 daily devotions you can read as well–all about connecting deeply with Jesus, finding healing, and experiencing His presence. Download the app here: […]
Debt was never meant to define your future. In Supernatural Provision: Removing Mountains of Debt, Pastor Jerry Dirmann shares biblical encouragement and practical steps to help believers trust God for financial breakthrough. Learn how faith, obedience, stewardship, and God's supernatural provision work together to bring freedom from debt and confidence in His promises. Scripture References:
In this special episode, Dr. Clark talks with the Rev. Dr. S. M. Baugh, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Westminster Seminary California, about his commencement address at the Westminster Seminary California 2026 graduation ceremony and his forthcoming commentary on the book of Hebrews. This episode of the Heidelcast is sponsored by the Heidelberg Reformation Association. You love the Heidelcast and the Heidelblog. You share it with friends, with members of your church, and others but have you stopped to think what would happen if it all disappeared? The truth is that we depend on your support. If you don't make the coffer clink, the HRA will simply sink. Won't you help us keep it going? The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All your gifts are tax deductible. Use the donate link on this page or mail a check to Heidelberg Reformation Association, 1637 E Valley Parkway #391, Escondido CA 92027. All the Episodes of the Heidelcast Subscribe to the Heidelcast! Browse the Heidelshop! On X @Heidelcast On Insta & Facebook @Heidelcast Subscribe in Apple Podcast Subscribe directly via RSS Call The Heidelphone via Voice Memo On Your Phone The Heidelcast is available wherever podcasts are found including Spotify. Call or text the Heidelphone anytime at (760) 618-1563. Leave a message or email us a voice memo from your phone and we may use it in a future podcast. Record it and email it to heidelcast@heidelblog.net. If you benefit from the Heidelcast please leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts so that others can find it. Please do not forget to make the coffer clink (see the donate button below). SHOW NOTES How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia The Heidelblog Resource Page Heidelmedia Resources The Ecumenical Creeds The Reformed Confessions The Heidelberg Catechism The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Commentary (Lexham Academic) Recovering the Reformed Confession (P&R Publishing, 2008) Why I Am A Christian What Must A Christian Believe? Heidelblog Contributors Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to: Heidelberg Reformation Association 1637 E. Valley Parkway #391 Escondido CA 92027 USA The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
Jase, Al, Zach, and Christian sit down with Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church and author of “Becoming Like Jesus,” to talk about Matt's rough childhood, the church camp that changed his life, and why following Jesus is usually slower, messier, and more painful than people expect. Jase remembers taking a beating instead of fighting back and watching the man who attacked him later come to church wanting to hear about Jesus. The guys also dig into why suffering can expose what God wants to heal, and why the church is still the place where flawed people learn to love — and sometimes simply tolerate — one another. In this episode: Luke 15, verse 17; Hebrews 12, verse 2; Isaiah 61, verse 3; Matthew 5, verses 3–12; Psalm 27, verse 4; 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1–2; 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9–11; Exodus 13, verses 17–18; Romans 5, verses 3–5; James 1, verses 2–4 “Unashamed” Episode 1358 is sponsored by: https://chministries.org/unashamed — Get a better solution at half the cost of traditional healthcare! https://vanman.shop/unashamed — Get 15% off your first order with code UNASHAMED https://www.wildalaskan.com/UNASHAMED — Get $35 off your first box of wild-caught, sustainable seafood delivered right to your door. http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/show/3LY8eJ4ZBZHmsImGoDNK2l Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters 00:00 The Best Thing About Being a Pastor 11:35 Matt's Rough Childhood & First Glimpse of Jesus 17:22 The Camp Sermon That Changed Matt's Life 23:50 Life's Lowest Moments Are the Most Important 29:50 Knowing Jesus Isn't Like Flipping a Switch 34:22 Jase Takes a Beating Instead of Fighting Back 39:33 The Gospel Is More Than Grinding It Out 44:04 Jesus Doesn't Want Distance from Us 50:10 Deep Work, Over Time, In Community — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Al, Jase, and Zach reflect on Al's powerful visit to a Louisiana prison, where hundreds of men gathered to hear the Gospel and a group of fathers prepared for a long-awaited visit with their children. Al talks about following in Phil's footsteps through prison ministry, the unexpected Robertson cousin he met behind bars, and the hope men can still find when they choose a new future for their families. Jase also shares the wild story of a duck hunter whose run-in with an alligator became the rock-bottom moment that sent him back to God. In this episode: Isaiah 61, verses 1–11; Matthew 5, verses 3–16; Luke 4, verses 18–19; 1 John 4, verses 7–21; Hebrews 3, verse 6; Hebrews 4, verse 16; Hebrews 10, verse 19; Hebrews 10, verse 35; Hebrews 11, verse 1; Hebrews 13, verse 6; Leviticus 2, verse 13; Psalm 37; Ephesians 1, verses 20–23 “Unashamed” Episode 1357 is sponsored by: https://www.bruntworkwear.com/UNASHAMED — Get $10 Off at BRUNT with code UNASHAMED #Bruntpod #sponsored https://unashamedgold.com — Get a free 2026 Gold & Silver Guide and a no obligation consultation! http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Chapters 00:00 Al Heads to Prison 09:58 Prison Fatherhood & Second Chances 14:50 Those Crazy Robertson Eyes 19:18 Freedom for Captives & Isaiah's Promise 24:14 Al's Prison Message Takes a New Direction 30:05 An Alligator Fight Changes a Man's Life 34:35 The Source of Love & Confidence 41:40 Salt, Light & the City on a Hill 46:44 Choosing Your Forever Family — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices