Podcasts about Galilee

Did you know that Jesus wasn't the only apocalyptic prophet traveling around Galilee during the 1st century CE? If the answer is "yes Megan, of course!", then you probably know something about John the Baptist. But what do we really know about him, and what impact did his teachings have on the historical Jesus?

What do you do when the battle seems stronger the closer you get to God's purpose for your life? In Overcoming the Warfare Attached to Your Harvest, guest speaker Richie Seltzer teaches that spiritual warfare often intensifies where God has spoken His promises and prepared a harvest. Looking at Jesus' baptism, His temptation in the wilderness, and the storm on the Sea of Galilee, Richie shows how the enemy attacks identity, peace, and purpose in an effort to keep believers from walking in their God-given calling. Through biblical teaching and powerful personal testimonies, Richie reminds us that the greatest resistance often surrounds the greatest assignments. Whether the battle comes through fear, discouragement, distraction, delay, or doubt, believers can overcome by standing on God's Word, resting in His presence, and trusting His timing. Vision gives purpose to pain, and God's promises remain true even when the journey is difficult. If you've drifted from the Lord or found yourself returning to old patterns, remember that this is not who you are. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, your past does not define your future. Come home to the Father, stand on what He has spoken over your life, rest in His strength instead of striving in your own, and refuse to let spiritual warfare keep you from the harvest He has prepared for you. The Roads Church - https://theroads.church

What do you do when everything you built is taken from you in a single storm? Almost no one thinks that question will ever land on them personally, and then one day it does. Pastor Brian preached this message to a congregation whose city had just been devastated by an EF3 tornado, and the answer he gave is one every person is going to need at some point.In this sermon, Pastor Brian opens with a hard truth. On July 27, 2026, an EF3 tornado over a mile wide touched down for more than twenty minutes and tore through the neighborhoods of Appleton, Menasha, and Neenah. Miraculously, no one was killed. But the loss will take generations to rebuild. And in a moment like that, everyone around you starts watching to see how you respond. Not because you asked for the spotlight, but because the world is quietly asking a question in every disaster. How do Christians handle storms?Pastor Brian says the answer is that Christians are different. Not weird. Different. Christians still grieve. Jesus himself grieved the death of Lazarus in John 11, even though he was minutes away from raising him. Grief is not weakness. It is honesty. But the way a Christian grieves is otherworldly, because our identity is anchored in a King whose kingdom is not of this world.Then Pastor Brian walks through two storms in Scripture that reframe everything. In Luke 8, Jesus calms the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and the disciples' response is not relief but fear, because they realize they had no idea who was in the boat with them. And in Matthew 27, at noon on the day Jesus was crucified, the sky went dark and Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22:1). He names what the cross actually is. It is the storm that defines Christians. You and I were asleep in a sinking boat we did not even know we were in, and Jesus went into the water for us. We may not get every "why" answered on this side of glory. But we know the why of Jesus. His why was you.That is why Christians are different about home (we build houses, not homes, because only Jesus is home), different about neighbors (we can be generous because we gave up everything to Christ already), and different in storms (we do not have all the answers, but we have the God who understands the tears).Eight people gave their lives to Christ in the seven days after this tornado through Samaritan's Purse and community ministry. The house may fall. The eternal work never does.If you have been through a storm you cannot explain, or you are watching one right now, this teaching is for you.#AllianceChurch #SundaySermon #BibleTeaching #JesusSaves #ChristianFaith #ChurchOnline #WisconsinChurch #FaithThatMoves #HopeInJesus #SermonSeries #faith #jesus #god #christianity #christian #tornado #storm #hope #grief #church #gospel #wisconsin

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 2nd of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Joshua 3:13:“And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.” Do you know, I have been to the Jordan River many, many times. I have had the privilege of baptising hundreds of people in that Jordan River. I want to assure you, the Jordan River is not a stream. It is the life spring of the country of Israel. Without the Jordan River there would be no Israel. Then we go to Luke 8:25: “But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”What we see here is that there are always signs and wonders. Every time the Lord performs a miracle, like stopping the Jordan River so that the people of Israel can cross over, just like calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee by speaking, the disciples were absolutely amazed. It reminds me of the story and I have told it to you a few times, I will probably tell you a few more times because it is a miracle that touched my life. We had a fire that was getting away from us on the farm. It was heading towards the forest on our neighbour's farm and there were no clouds in the sky, there was no rain predicted. I got on my knees in front of all my workers and some of my neighbours, and they were helping me to put the fire out, and I prayed, “Jesus, please help us!” And the wind turned around, and it came up from the south, and a most beautiful, gentle storm of rain fell over Shalom Farm and put the fire out - a sign, a miracle and a wonder when we trust the word of God.Today, Trust the Lord. He won't fail you. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. Acts 1:1-5 Spencer Carey Download TranscriptGood morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. We did it you guys. We made it through 2 Samuel. 1 and 2 Samuel.And now we're in the book of Acts. So if you're new to our church, we typically, not exclusively, but the majority of what we do is we walk through books of the Bible. And we're gonna go verse by verse, passage by passage. And we're in Acts chapter 1 today. As we begin the book of Acts, we'll be in this for the next season. We're in the first five verses of the book of Acts.That is on page 1053, 1053 in your black Bibles. The main text will be coming from the Bible. So we will hold a Bible and read that with this. There'll be other texts. They'll be on the screen. But we're gonna introduce the book of Acts because it is wise when you jump into a book to have some context for what you're actually studying.So I want to point out three things as we begin to introduce us, I think, well to understanding the book of Acts. If you grab a study Bible, like the ESV study Bible, you open it up before we start reading a book. If you're gonna study it, you're gonna see different introductory elements. And I'm gonna give you three that kind of help us frame our time together in the book of Acts. Genre, author, and purpose. So let me hit those very quickly.It's important to first know the genre because not all scripture is the same. You don't read Proverbs like you read the Psalms, like you read Genesis, like you read the Gospels, like you read the epistles, the letters in the New Testament. They are all, they come from different genres. So it's important to understand what you're reading before you jump in. The book of Acts is historical narrative. Functions like the Gospels in that way.It's historical narrative. It's a bunch of stories that tell the story of how the church began starting in the first three decades of the church is what the book of Acts and 28 chapters covers. So from around 33 AD to around 60 to 65 AD, we're gonna read a bunch of stories and teachings that shaped the church early on and that we get to be shaped by as well. So it's one of the longest books in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke is the only book that's longer and we'll be in it for a bit. So the second thing that is helpful to know is the author.And the author is Luke. So Luke was inspired by God to write this. So let's introduce ourselves to Luke. We don't know a ton. Here's what we do know. Luke was likely Greek.Okay. He may have been Jewish, it's debated, but if he's Jewish, he's very what you would call Hellenistic, meaning he's very Greek influenced. So he's Greek. What we also can see from the letters of the New Testament is he's likely a doctor. So likely a physician like Mike Goble who was just standing here leading us in prayer.He's a doctor. It's also clear that he's an historian. He was tasked with the job of both telling an orderly account of the Gospel in Luke of Jesus Christ and his life, his ministry, his death, his resurrection and the book of Acts, which tells the story of the early church. So some will say that Paul wrote most of the New Testament. It's actually not true. When you go by word count, Luke actually was inspired to write most of the New Testament because Luke and Acts is longer than all Paul's 13 letters combined.Fun fact. Three, purpose. Okay. Why is the book of Acts and our Bibles? Why did God inspire it? Why was it so important that it became an essential part of what's called the New Testament canon?What is the official books of the New Testament? Why do we have this? That's what we get to look at today. One of the things that's clear when you read the book of Luke is that there's this foreshadowing of the inclusion of the Gentiles. So that's basically, I would assume everybody in this room that comes from a non-Jewish background.There's this foreshadowing that the Gospel is going to go to the nations and that we're going to be included. And the book of Acts is going to show us how. How we are brought into the household of faith. So we're going to see this. We're going to look at the values and the witness and the Gospel that spread all that comes out of this. We're going to look at key figures like Philip and Peter and James, the brother of Jesus Christ, and Paul.We're going to look at all of this. And when you actually, if you look at a Bible and you go to Acts, oftentimes they're going to have the subscript that we have from the earliest manuscripts that says Acts of the Apostles. And if you read that, it may lead you to believe that this book is primarily about the work of the apostles. But what we're going to see is this book is primarily about a God rescuing his people and his rescue plan for the nations. And then even more of the point, one of the things that makes Acts so unique and so essential is it gives us the most comprehensive window into the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.We're going to read a lot about the Holy Spirit. No book in the Bible mentions the Holy Spirit more than the book of Acts. It would be wrong to say that this book is only about the work of the Holy Spirit, because God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are both present and loom large in this book. But there's no other book in the Bible that gives us a more upfront window to the work of the Holy Spirit than the book of Acts, which makes this very helpful for us as we want to be a Spirit empowered people and the season that we're in trying to be missional and planting a church. So we're very excited to be able to walk this book together.And what we're going to see today and these first few verses and what we're going to see throughout this series can be summarized in this sentence, the Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world. That what we're going to see is the Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world. So let me pray and then we'll walk through this introduction together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news of the gospel that we just sang about, that we just prayed for, that we just recited from the Scriptures. God, I pray that you would help us be, have open eyes to see how you started your church and what it's built upon.And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, go to verse one. In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. So let's pause there.Out the gate, there should be some questions that jump off the page. Who's Theophilus? When did you do all this, where you dealt with all the things that Jesus began and taught? And that is why understanding Acts, it's very helpful to have a working general knowledge of the book of Luke. The gospel of Luke helps us understand the book of Acts. Luke functions very much like a part one and Acts functions very much like a part two.So what I want to do a little bit today is to go to the book of Luke and to help us see a little bit of how this helps us understand Acts. I want to go to Luke chapter one. This will be on the screen. You can look up here and hold that place in Acts because we'll come back to it. Luke chapter one says, many have undertaken to draw up an account of these things that have been fulfilled among us just as they were handed down to us by those who were, who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you most excellent Theophilus so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.So this is very similar to the introduction to the book of Acts. Who is Theophilus? We don't know for sure. We know that his name means lover of God. Theo and Phyllis, those are two different Greek words to come together, lover of God. It is very likely that he was a wealthy Christian who put the money forward for Luke to do the work of gathering all these reports.It takes time and energy and effort and money to go and travel throughout all of the New Testament world and to put together what is the gospel of Luke? What is these stories that tell us about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? And we should be familiar with that concept because we know today they are investigative reporters, that they make their living, they get paid to go out and do investigative work and put together reports from Bob Woodward and his work all the way to reporters like Christopher Rufo today. They are all types of different people that get paid to put together reports.And that is what Luke was. He was an historian who got paid and traveled to go and put together this gospel of Luke that tells us about Jesus Christ. And what I appreciate about Luke is that he's not only just giving us a bunch of facts about Jesus, he does the work of organizing it into a story. So when you read it, like the other gospels, it has story arc. So most stories, the gospels, stories in the Bible and stories that you go and you watch in the movie theaters, most stories have a general story arc.There's an introduction, there's rising tension, so there's going to be some different plot things that happen. There's rising tension, there's a climax, and then there's resolution. That's the majority of stories. And when you read the gospel of Luke, there's an introduction to who Jesus Christ is. He was born. And then all of a sudden, very early, you see the rising tension as he's ministering and establishing and teaching the kingdom of God.He's got the tension with the Pharisees and the religious leaders. And there's this tension that builds all the way towards Jerusalem where Jesus Christ is crucified, where he is resurrected. And then there's this resulting action, which is the commissioning of the church. And I appreciate that because it makes reading the gospels a lot of fun. It helps us see that he's a good storyteller in pulling all these stories together for us to see. But buried in the end of the gospel of Luke, in what we just read a few minutes ago, is a bit of a cliffhanger.And I also appreciate the art of a cliffhanger. My oldest recently has gotten really into books. She loves reading. And what happens sometimes is that she'll come down tired. And she's like, I'm so frustrated because I just want to go to sleep. But every chapter, there's just this cliffhanger.And I just have to keep reading. And it's like, I love that you love reading. We're going to have to learn to live with a cliffhanger for a bit because you actually need to go to sleep. But cliffhangers do that. They kind of leave something lingering that draw you into the next part. And that's what's the genius of the end of the gospel of Luke.And I want to go back to what we read just a few minutes ago so that we can see that. You get the very end of Luke, chapter 24, verses 44 through 49. This is how the gospel of Luke ends. Then he said to them, this is on the screen, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Okay. That's what we call biblical theology.That's the reality that the entire Old Testament, all of it points to Jesus Christ. And he sang it. Listen, law, the prophets, Psalms, all of it points to me. Verse 45. Then he opened their minds to the scriptures, which is Jesus Christ, opening their minds to understand.46, And said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. 47, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed and is named to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. So Jesus points to the climactic work, his death, his resurrection. And then he tells them in verse 47, really a preview of what is ahead. He nods to, you're going to go and preach.It's going to be the message of this gospel of his life, death, and resurrection. You go preach that there's going to be a call for repentance of sins. They're going to experience forgiveness that washes and covers us. This is what you're going to proclaim, and that message is going to the nations. You are going to be witnesses of this. But first, you're going to go to Jerusalem, and you're going to wait, because power is going to come from on high.Wait for the promise of the Father. It's coming, but you go into Jerusalem first, and that's like the cliff thing. Oh, wait, what? And it's like, oh, I want to know more about that. And here's the good news. You don't have to wait a year for part two of the movie to come out.You can just flip over the book of Acts, which is what we're in. So go back to verse one. Now, we have a good working knowledge of what Luke is doing in the gospel of Luke. Pick up in verse one, the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, verse two, until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Which just for a moment, I appreciate that what is clear is that when Jesus is teaching his disciples throughout his ministry, the Holy Spirit is present with him, teaching his followers.Verse three, he presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. Okay, so there's a period of time between Christ's resurrection and his ascension, which is what we're going to look at next week is when he ascended to the right hand of God the Father. That period of time is 40 days. So in that 40 days, when you look and read the end of the gospels and you pick up in this part of the book of Acts, we don't get all likely of what Jesus did during that period. We can tell that he appears to them at various times.He's not with them every second, but he appears to them and what he's doing is he's preparing them. He's teaching them the kingdom of God and he's preparing them for what awaits them. He appears to them in Jerusalem. He appears to them on a mountain in Galilee. He appears to them on a lake in Galilee and he's doing the work of preparing them for what's next for the unfolding plan to reach the nation. So he's preparing them, but also what I like in this passage is it points out that he's also establishing that he is alive, that there are witnesses who have seen Christ.That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians, he points out that there are 500 people at one point that saw Jesus in the flesh. So Jesus is both preparing his church for what is ahead and establishing I am alive through all types of eyewitness accounts that we read in the scriptures. So he's in the period of preparation preparing them for what's next over that 40 days and now he's here verse 4. And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.So Jesus is getting ready to ascend, but he tells them you're going to wait. You're going to wait in Jerusalem. You're gonna wait for the promise of the Father and that's foreshadowing what we're going to see the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church. You're gonna wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon you. Now at this point, it's very likely Jesus has taught them all about water baptism from the moment that he's baptized until now.And they should have the understanding at this point that baptism is the new covenant sign that you belong to God. But what they're going to learn is that faith does not begin with water baptism. It doesn't begin with water that faith begins with fire. That faith begins with fire that comes upon you when the Holy Spirit changes you into a new creation in Christ Jesus. When you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit overtakes you and changes you into someone who is new that you belong to Jesus Christ. And then you enter the waters of baptism to declare that you belong to him, which is why we as good Baptists baptize after someone is converted to Jesus Christ.That's what he's giving a nod to here at the end of this verse five. So he's telling them they need to wait. You're gonna go to Jerusalem and you're gonna wait for the Spirit to come upon you. And then you're going to begin to see this wonderful redemption plan that's going to unfold. And the rest of the book of Acts is how that plan unfolds. God in his people with them, bringing them into his mission to reach the nations.And I personally am very thankful that God brings us out of the stands and into the game so that we get to participate with our God in doing the most important eternal work there is. Around this time every year, I get excited because football is not far away. Okay. I love football. It's my favorite sport. I like other sports.Football is my favorite. I like how in August as the first game approaches, how delusional I get into thinking I will convince myself by the end of August that Lenora Sellers may be a Heisman candidate for the University of South Carolina. It's going to happen. I can convince myself of that delusion while also know I can't wait for the disappointment. It's going to be so exciting. I hold those two intention simultaneously and I get excited because I love watching the Gamecocks.I love watching us take on like blue blooded SEC programs like Kentucky and Mississippi State on the SEC Plus Network where we usually play. I just I look forward to it. I like pro football. I like watching. I'm a huge Indianapolis Colts fan. I love watching every season.I was like one time we won the Super Bowl in my entire life and I enjoy doing it. I love watching it. But let me tell you something. When I play football, I had way more fun. When I got to play football growing up, I mean Friday nights were way better than Saturday mornings in the stands. Friday nights in the field were far superior to ever watching something on TV or being there in person to watch it.No, it was a lot more rewarding, a lot more fun to be in the game playing. And what I appreciate about our God is that this wonderful redemption plan that He has given us, that He's unfolding for us, we get to participate in. That we get to wait for the power of God to come upon us and we get to be obedient to where He calls us to go. We get to see the spirit change people's lives. Guys, there's nothing more wonderful in this world than declaring the good news of Jesus Christ to someone who does not believe. And then God goes to work in their heart, brings them to faith in Jesus Christ.And then 10,000 years from now, you are standing in the presence of Christ with that brother's sister because you leveraged your life now for eternity. There is nothing more important. There's nothing more glorious. There's nothing more wonderful. And none of that happens unless the Holy Spirit is present. None of that happens unless the Spirit goes to work.We're like little kids that just want to get in the game and we're like three feet tall and we want to dunk a basketball and we can jump two inches off the ground and we're dreaming up just I want to dunk it and then we get picked up and we get to participate. And that's what the spirit does in us. He works in us in a way where we get to be a part of this, the Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world. That's what all of this is about. And that's what we're gonna see throughout the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit in God's church taking Jesus to the world.I just want to give you a preview of what's ahead. I want us to see how this this theme of the Holy Spirit and God's church taking Jesus to the world, how it shows up all over the place. Because we'll work through Acts 1, then we'll get to Acts 2. And in Acts 2 we're gonna see at the festival of Pentecost where all the Jews are coming in to celebrate that at the right time the Holy Spirit will descend upon the church. And then Peter who, think about this, just six weeks before that was denying Jesus Christ repeatedly, stands up what we'll see at Pentecost and preaches a sermon where 3,000 plus people, their eternity has changed and the church begins.And then we're gonna watch from Acts 3 to Acts 6 as the church explodes in Jerusalem. The Spirit working in profoundly wonderful ways as people are being changed. And with that comes what Jesus promised. That if you declare the good news of Jesus Christ, you will be persecuted. You will suffer and they do. And as the church begins to declare the good news of Jesus Christ and powerful, wonderful things begin to happen, the church begins to be persecuted.And that comes to the head in Acts 7 when Stephen, a servant of Jesus Christ, is declaring the gospel and he's murdered and martyred for his faith. And then we'll see how the Spirit uses that. Because the Spirit uses that to expand the church further. When we get to Acts 8 we'll see how this plan is unfolding because they're gonna spread when they're being persecuted into Samaria, into Syria. And now the gospel is spreading. And then we'll follow this as Acts 10 to Acts 12 we'll see the finally how the Gentiles are included and how God works in that.We'll see in Acts 13 at Antioch when the church is commissioned and Paul and Barnabas are sent to go and take the gospel to Asia Minor into Europe and the gospel begins to spread from Acts 13 to Acts 20 all over from Turkey to Greece. The gospel begins to go everywhere. And then as we finish the book of Acts we're gonna see in Acts 21 to 26 when Paul is giving a defense for the gospel as being persecuted, being imprisoned, and that he uses his imprisonment for the gospel to go forward. He uses imprisonment to get the gospel to Rome. He's like I want to get to Rome. So I'm gonna be in prison and that's where I'm going.And then Acts 27 there's a shipwreck and then Acts 28 he finally gets there. And what I love about Acts 28 is when he gets there guess what there are any Christians there. That's what God does. He keeps working in lots of different people. But you keep reading this the Holy Spirit and God's church taking Jesus to the world.You keep following chapter after chapter after chapter and then all of a sudden you get to 28 you get done reading it and it just ends. It's like Luke just dropped the pen and said I'm done. It's the wildest thing. Go read through the book of Acts. I encourage you guys as we start this series go read through the whole book. And you get to the end and it's just like this isn't complete.And we know that Luke knows how to write a story because you can read the gospel of Luke and you can see such compelling story arc and how it and it just that's not we just have this rising tension and it just stops. He just quits writing and it's clearly so incomplete. It's not like any other book in the Bible just stops. And the question that should linger is why. Why? Why is it just that?And the answer is because the story isn't finished. Acts continues. The story isn't finished. The gospel is still trying. We're still taking the gospel to every tribe nation and tongue. The story isn't over.The church keeps going. Years ago there were some clever Christians that came up with a church network name called Acts 29. Which was brilliant. But it was a statement on it keeps going. That we are living and Acts continues. That the story continues.And it does. It continued in the first century as the gospel spread from North Africa to as far as Spain over to India and to Asia. The gospel spread as of the next few centuries as the church began to be further established as they were once a persecuted minority. Faith becomes a majority faith in the Roman empire. And the church begins to grow and to expand and that eventually you follow the centuries and centuries later that there were some Christians who were being persecuted for their faith by the established church of England. And they say we want to go to this new place called America.And they travel to America and that kind of starts a big wave of Christians moving and pastors moving and missionaries moving to America. And eventually you saw land in this state where they start churches from the coast up to the upstate. And eventually at around the early 1900s people came to this part of the river and they began a new church. First Baptist Church of Casey. And this church ministered for a century and then all of a sudden another church started up in the area of Mill City Church. And then a few years later we merged together as one church, Mill City Church.And the spirit is still at work taking Jesus to the world. And what I love is that if you've ever read a book, you ever watched a movie that leaves the ending ambiguous? That leaves a cliffhanger? Instead of getting frustrated, what I like to do is I like to dream a bit. I like to imagine what actually is going on and what could be. Like if you watch the movie Inception, you get to imagine does the top fall or does it keep spinning?And you get to dream a bit about what that can be. If you read a book like The Giver, you get to imagine does he make it? Did he die in the snow or did he make it to experience reality? Whatever story has this ambiguous ending that is unclear, you get to dream a little bit about what that gets to be. And when you read the book of Acts, what I want us to do is I want us to dream a little bit. When we walk through this series, I want to dream about what can be.That if the Holy Spirit is at work in the church to take Jesus to the world, then let's dream a little bit. Because I'll tell you something, we dreamed for years about doing what we just prayed about earlier. For years we dreamed about planting a church. We want to multiply this church. We want to expand to a different part of the city. And then finally God put the pieces together.And if you've been here the last six months, you remember to hear this story. And I'm excited about sending out Oak Ridge. I'm excited about our little small version of Acts continued that we get to do. I'm excited that Mike who is just standing up here and that Isaac get to head out with right now it seems like 60 of y'all counting to go and take the gospel to a very strategic place on exit 51 to reach that part of Lexington that expands all the way into Gilbert and as far as Leesville. Like I'm pumped about that. But if we do that and we go, yes, we did it.We nailed it. We accomplished it. Then we missed it. If we think we've arrived at this, if we think that Jesus Christ's blood was poured out and wrath came upon him, that he conquered death at the resurrection, that he ascended to the right hand of God the Father to be king over all of creation, that the Holy Spirit descended upon the church for just Mill City in Oak Ridge. We missed it. So we need to dream a little bit.We need to dream about what can be. Dream about how God can continue to work because we got work to do. I'm gonna put up a timeline that'll hopefully help visualize this. You can go to that slide. Christ ascended almost 2,000 years ago. Like literally we're getting close to almost literally 2,000 years ago.Okay. At some point he's promised he's going to come back. He's going to return. Now you go to the next slide. I don't know where we are in this timeline. Don't get hung up on this.If you were in the book of Revelation, it's clear that you know we don't know where we are in this timeline, but we're somewhere in the middle of this. Now this expands for thousands of years. We've got a small place in that timeline where we have work to do until he comes back. And we should dream about what that gets to be. Because here's the deal. We've talked about this and we'll keep saying this, that once we set out Oak Ridge, everyone has work to do.There's no neutrality in how this is going down in January. Oak Ridge is going out and they've got work to do. And everyone who's staying here, we have work to do. So I want you to dream. How are we going to be obedient to the call to go and make disciples? How are we going to do that in our version of the Acts-continued story?What are we going to do? I want to give you some considerations for how you should think of this. Some of you need to start taking your faith more seriously. Some of you come on Sundays and you go to a group and or hopefully both. But what it has largely been is a time for you to be filled up.And don't miss something. We want we want you to be filled up. We want you to grow in maturity. But maturity in Christ is not just consuming and being filled up. It's pouring out. That God fills us so that we might multiply ourselves into others.That we might make disciples. The great commission is to make disciples. And some of you need to press into maturity. You get the wonderful opportunity to do that. You get to go deeper into the Bible, deeper into the discipline of prayer. You get to help you have a zeal for evangelizing, for sharing the gospel with your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers.And then I hope you get people that are coming around that don't know Jesus or just new to Jesus and you get to sit with them and point them to who Jesus Christ is and say, come follow me as I follow Christ. There's no better way to use your life than for the sake of helping others know Christ. And you get to. And this next season, you get to be a disciple maker. Some of you will have the opportunity to become a leader in training in your group. And you should take it and you should want this because community groups are the means by which we advance the mission in our city.Okay. Our groups are how we reach our city and our group leaders, you can talk to them. Leading a group is wonderful, but it's also quite difficult at times because the good work that God calls us to do is difficult. That's told to us. And what you get to be as a leader in training is not only grow in knowing more of Christ and maturity, but you get to be a helpful and healthy part of your group. You get to breathe life into your group that when everyone just opts out last minute and the person who was supposed to bring the meat just says, I got the sniffles and I'm out.But you're just like, I'm okay. Well, I'm jumping in. What do you need? That you're going to be a helpful part of your group. And some of you should aspire to them. You should want that.You should want to be a leader. You should want to say, hey, come follow me as I follow Christ. And I want to follow you as you're following Christ. We should want that. There's another thing I want to point out. And when I say this, this is autobiographical.When I led a group, it's reality in my group. Now, I already told my group leader, I'm like, this isn't, this is, this is not just us. This is widespread, but I want to put up group content for a moment. All right. This is last week's group content. This is second Samuel.We have five different versions of group content that show up. It's typically this format. If you're not in a group, you should be in a group and you'll see this and it's pretty great, but there's a gospel centered section. There's a community section. There's on mission section. Something that I've noticed that happens in not just my group, but in a lot of groups is that we will love discussing the Bible.We will love getting deep. We'll get the community and everyone has updates and we'll share and we'll talk. And then all of a sudden it's like time to leave and kids are going crazy and someone hurt themselves. And, and, and, you know, because they ran into the wall or something downstairs, not a, not an adult, but a child. And then it's on mission and it's like, ah, we should do it, right? Yeah.Cool. All right. Let's go home. I'm not going to ask you to show your hands, but how many times does that get buried? That's an afterthought. And it's like that, that needs to come to the foreground.There might be weeks where it's just like, ah, you know what? I love, but let's, we're eating a meal. Let's, let's, let's share some life updates. Let's, let's have some time for this. Let's not miss this because we have friends and neighbors and coworkers who we need to understand the eternal situation that right now they are journeying towards an eternity under the wrath of God because of their sin.And the church is plan a for advancing. You are the person that God has put in their life to tell them Jesus is better, that, that eternity is real and God wants you and is for you and desires you. And it's you. And we need to remember that because what could happen when you get to a church of our size is that you can get comfortable and you can think there isn't a need, but there is. And we can't miss that for a moment. So some of you, some of us need to regain our missional hustle in this season as we dream about what we could be in this Acts continued story.Some of us, some of you need to step up and serve. We've run some Numbers that are out of retreat. We kind of looked at all this stuff. There are 58 members of our church who currently do not serve in any capacity. Now there are some folks who have very, very real legitimate excuses, members of our church who have legitimate excuses for why that cannot happen.But there's a lot that don't. And here's the problem. There's 58 members of our church right now who've set in their commitment. They're committed to serving the church, but they're not serving in any capacity. When we send out Oak Ridge, there's going to be that number drops to 54. Now that tells us a couple things.First Oak Ridge is about to go out with a bunch of people who've served for years. And what Mike and Isaac are going to tell you is guess what? There's more where that came from. You got more work to do there. But what that means for us is that we're losing a big part of our church that has served for years.Like if I put up a chart right now, which I don't have, but if I put up a chart of all the different areas that people serve in our church and I just put in bright colors all the different people who've committed to go to the Oak Ridge church plan and the next slide, after they're gone, it just gets real dark. And it's because we will have opportunities for everyone to pick up a shovel and go. And I'm excited about that. I think you should be too excited about the opportunity to step into Kid City and breathe life into it, to our kids excited to step into hospitality and into groups and a bunch of different ways and to serve and to hustle and to grind because Jesus Christ is worth it.He's worthy of our worship and our service that is worthy of the gospel going forward. We're going to have a variety of ways that we get to dream. And I want you to dream. I want you to have personal dreams where you pray about this. I hope the series of Acts opens that up for you. I've got some.I want to share one of just one that's personal to me. That I feel called to this land and in this area. All right. That wasn't always the case. At one point when I went to seminary, I was like, I'm never coming back. I said it out loud.I'm never coming back. And I came back. Let me tell you something. I love this people. I love this place. Okay.My family history, they came over like 300 years ago to Pelion and they like never left. Like Pillion, West Columbia, Casey Lexington, you draw a triangle and my people have posted up in that area for 300 years. And I personally, I want this part of the Midlands, I want the Midlands to see scores and hundreds and thousands of people come to Christ. Because there's so, I know you think there's, there's lots of people that are, there's lots of churches that there are thousands of people in and around you that do not know and are not following Jesus Christ. And what I'm also seeing is that there are a lot of churches in our area that are dying as a statistical fact.There are a lot of churches in our area that are running in the red financially, that if they lose a few members, they're losing a big part of their church. They're physically dying. They are like a roof replacement away from just, it just have to shut the doors. My personal dream right now is that I want to see men in this church aspire to the office of overseer elder pastor. I want to see men in this church who want to step up and become pastors and pastor churches in this area over the next 10 years that need to be replanted, that need to be revitalized, that need life again. And right now there's a massive pastor shortage across the country.There's a massive pastor shortage. There's a bunch of boomers who are retiring, who are dying, and it's not being filled with younger generations. So what I want to see is men in this church. I want you to pray some dangerous prayers and I want you to ask, do I need to be the kind of man of character that says, follow me as I follow Christ as I shepherd the people of God here or somewhere else? And that's my personal part of the dream. And for the next 10 years, I want to see that happen all over the city.I want 50 years from now the Midlands to look dramatically different in churches because for the next 10 years, we leveraged our time, our energy, our money, and our people to send out pastors and teams of people to go and make more disciples in this city. And I want it to go further because it's been a few years since we have sent a missionary to the foreign mission field. It's been a few years and there are unreached peoples that get the smallest amount of resources and people. And some of you need to go and you don't need to be here in five years. And some of you need to have a conversation with Ben Johnson at 1040 Hub with Tim.Where's he at? Tim Rice over there, who works with IMB. We got missions, opportunities, good Lord. I'd love to see someone go to the nations, but we're going to have to pray and we're going to have to dream and we're going to have to own our part of the Acts-continued story. So in this next season, let's dream a little bit.Let's pray some dangerous prayers. Let's let the Holy Spirit work in a way that gets us in the game. Let's be obedient even when it feels risky, even when it feels uncomfortable. Let's own our part of our very small part, but important part of the story of the Holy Spirit and His Church taking Jesus to this city and the world. Let's pray.Heavenly Father, I pray that You might work in us in this season to stir us towards faith and trusting You. And the fruit of that would show up in beautiful, eternal ways. God, that first means that in this season there are people that do not know You that need to. There are people in this room who do not know You, have not surrendered their life to You, do not see You as Lord, and they need to. And I pray that You open their eyes to who You are and a baptism of the Holy Spirit would take over their lives. God, there are folks in this room that are going, that are going with Oak Ridge, and I am so thankful for their obedience to go, to be uncomfortable, to take risks.Lord, may You bless their labor, and may there be people in the kingdom of God a thousand years from now because they were obedient to go. And God, may You stir in us. May You give us a hustle. May You empower us for the good work that You have right here and beyond for years to come. In Jesus' name, amen.Transcript

DATE: August 2, 2026 - Sunday AM Sermon Series: WHO AM I? INTRODUCTION . This account is different than the one in Matthew 10 and Luke 9:1-11 where Jesus sent out the 12 Apostles. — Jesus sent them throughout Galilee. Here Jesus is sending out the 70 or 72 into Judea. Luke 10:1-24 . MESSAGE . I. We are…

Read OnlineGod's Providential Care“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me,” and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over—twelve wicker baskets full. Matthew 14:17–20In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, there are two distinct miraculous feedings of large crowds. Today's Gospel depicts the first one, given primarily to Jewish people near the Sea of Galilee. Five thousand men (not counting women and children) were fed from five loaves and two fish, resulting in twelve baskets left over. This feeding of the five thousand is notably the only miracle of Jesus recorded in all four Gospels, underscoring its significance. Matthew and Mark also recount a second miraculous feeding—this time of four thousand people—in the largely pagan region of the Decapolis, using seven loaves and a few fish, with seven baskets left over.This first miracle takes place within the context of Jesus' sorrowful heart, as He mourns the death of His cousin, John the Baptist. Jesus knew that John's death occurred for the Father's glory and according to His permissive will. Yet this divine perspective did not eliminate His human sorrow. Holy sorrow is a profound expression of love in the face of suffering.Because Jesus' love was perfect, His sorrow was genuine and deep. The depth of His sorrow is evident from His deliberate choice to withdraw by boat to be alone, to fully embrace His grief. It is beautiful to note that Jesus' divinity does not overshadow or diminish His humanity. Rather, with divine love, He fully accepts John's death, and with a genuinely human heart, He properly mourns. In Jesus, humanity and divinity intertwine perfectly.Upon disembarking, Jesus finds that a large crowd has followed Him on foot, anticipating His arrival, hungry for His teachings and miracles. Here we encounter a second revelation of Jesus' divinity shining through His humanity. Seeing the crowd and perceiving their brokenness, sinfulness, and suffering, “his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.” The Greek word translated here as “pity” indicates a deeply felt, visceral compassion. This compassion, divine in origin, flows perfectly through Jesus' sacred humanity. His compassionate gaze vividly reveals God's merciful love: Jesus does not merely sympathize; He acts decisively, healing the sick and alleviating their suffering. His divine love compels Him to act for the good of His people.The miracle itself recalls God's providential care for the Israelites during their forty years in the desert, when manna appeared each morning, providing sufficient food for the day. That miracle, coupled with today's Gospel, teaches us a consistent truth: God always provides for us when we turn to Him, seeking Him earnestly as the crowd did.The multiplication of the loaves and fish also foreshadows the Eucharist, likely the reason it is recorded in all four Gospels. In the Eucharist, God provides abundantly for our spiritual nourishment. When received with faith and trust in God's providence, Jesus' Body and Blood nourishes every virtue within us, empowering us to flourish spiritually. The Eucharist prepares us for eternal life, where we anticipate sharing in the eternal Wedding Banquet of Heaven—a perfect, everlasting celebration free from all sin, sickness, and suffering.Reflect today on Jesus' tender care. He looks upon your needs with the same compassion He showed to the crowds in the wilderness. Consider especially how He desires to feed you daily through the Most Holy Eucharist, the true Bread from Heaven. Bring to Him whatever you have, even if it seems small or insufficient—your struggles, weariness, prayers, and hopes—and trust that in His hands, they will be multiplied for the good of your soul and the souls of others. Let this miraculous feeding stir within you a deeper faith in God's providence and a more fervent desire for the Eucharist, where Christ Himself is our sustenance, our healing, and our foretaste of eternal joy.My Eucharistic Lord, the Gift of the Eucharist is beyond my comprehension. Just as the crowds were amazed at the multiplication of the loaves and fish, astonish me with an understanding of the Eucharist and Your providential care that fills my heart with openness and gratitude to You. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: Main: Feeding of the Five Thousand, by Jozef SedmakSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

by Bro. Byron Fair (preached on July 19, 20260 As we began to see in the first half of this sermon by Bro. Byron Fair, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee in a storm and marched right up to a man living in the tombs, all because He is the Great Shepherd who seeks the...

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This week we look at one of the most famous moments of Jesus on the road in Matthew 28 and what is known as the Great Commission. We will learn from Jesus as he calls his disciples to give the rest of their lives to being disciples who make disciples.

Peter, a fisherman from Galilee, called to be a disciple and apostle by Jesus Himself, here writes a second letter to the Church that is as relevant today as ever! 2 Peter contains a range of topics, from the importance of Scripture, to the life of a believer as they wait on the second coming of Jesus, and avoid the many false teachers and doctrines in the world.   Join Jerry as he unpacks this book, and helps you apply it to your every day life as you "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)  You can also take your daily Bible reading to another level with The New Testament Daily with Jerry Dirmann—so grab your Bible and let's get started!  -------  Thank you for joining us today! For more resources like this, or to support the ministry of Solid Lives, visit one of the links below:  LINKS:  « FREE MEDIA LIBRARY » To listen to or download more teachings from Jerry and others from Solid Lives ministries, visit our new media library at: https://app.jesusdisciple.com/jesus-way/media-library « THE NEW TESTAMENT DAILY PODCAST » https://thenewtestamentdailywithjerrydirmann.buzzsprout.com « SOLID LIVES » Find out more about the ministries of Jerry Dirmann and Solid Lives at https://www.solidlives.com/  « SUPPORT » You can help us get free resources like this out to more people. Visit https://pushpay.com/g/jdglobal Thank you for joining us today! For more resources like this, or to support the ministry of Solid Lives, visit one of the links below:FREE MEDIA LIBRARY » Download or listen at https://SolidLivesMedia.com/ ABOUT SOLID LIVES » Find out more at https://www.solidlives.com/SUPPORT » Help us get the word out at https://solidlives.com/give/

by Bro. Byron Fair (preached on July 19, 2026) In this powerful sermon by Bro. Byron Fair, we learn about Jesus’ encounter with the wild Gadarene man. Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee – through a storm, no less! – and met this man in a cemetery in a land of pig farmers. This was...

Jesus boards a boat on the Sea of Galilee to begin His third great discourse in the Gospel according to St. Matthew. As He speaks to the crowds in parables, He uses stories from everyday life to teach how God is reigning as King. The story of the sower includes the unusual detail that this sower casts his seed even in unfruitful places. Through the parable, Jesus reveals to His disciples various ways that the Word of God is heard and encourages them to proclaim that Word persistently.   Rev. Jared Nies, pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Lapeer, MI, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.  To learn more about St. Paul Lutheran, visit stpaul-lapeer.org. “The Reign of Heaven Stands Near” is a series on Sharper Iron that studies the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The first evangelist proclaims that God has fulfilled His Old Testament promises by sending Jesus to bring the reign of the heavens among us. As the Son of David, Jesus is the gracious King we need, and as the Son of Abraham, Jesus is the blessing to all the families of the earth.  Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God's Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen. Pastor Appel serves at Faith Lutheran Church in Godfrey, IL. Learn more at flcgodfrey.org. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org

Peter, a fisherman from Galilee, called to be a disciple and apostle by Jesus Himself, here writes a second letter to the Church that is as relevant today as ever! 2 Peter contains a range of topics, from the importance of Scripture, to the life of a believer as they wait on the second coming of Jesus, and avoid the many false teachers and doctrines in the world.   Join Jerry as he unpacks this book, and helps you apply it to your every day life as you "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)  You can also take your daily Bible reading to another level with The New Testament Daily with Jerry Dirmann—so grab your Bible and let's get started!  -------  Thank you for joining us today! For more resources like this, or to support the ministry of Solid Lives, visit one of the links below:  LINKS:  « FREE MEDIA LIBRARY » To listen to or download more teachings from Jerry and others from Solid Lives ministries, visit our new media library at: https://app.jesusdisciple.com/jesus-way/media-library « THE NEW TESTAMENT DAILY PODCAST » https://thenewtestamentdailywithjerrydirmann.buzzsprout.com « SOLID LIVES » Find out more about the ministries of Jerry Dirmann and Solid Lives at https://www.solidlives.com/  « SUPPORT » You can help us get free resources like this out to more people. Visit https://pushpay.com/g/jdglobal Thank you for joining us today! For more resources like this, or to support the ministry of Solid Lives, visit one of the links below:FREE MEDIA LIBRARY » Download or listen at https://SolidLivesMedia.com/ ABOUT SOLID LIVES » Find out more at https://www.solidlives.com/SUPPORT » Help us get the word out at https://solidlives.com/give/

What would it be like to see Jesus not as He walked in Galilee, but robed as heaven's great High Priest? Jim Scudder examines the dazzling portrait of Revelation 1—hair white as snow, eyes of flame—and what those golden lampstands demand of the church today.

This week on Faith to Go we are joined by Bishop Susan Brown Snook to discuss the story of Jesus feeding (more than) 5000 people by the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 14.  Together we explore what the story has to teach us about community, liberation, and how we are called to take care of one another. Faith to Go is a ministry of The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego.  Click here to learn more about EDSD's great work in our region and how you can support this ministry.Remember to get in contact with us!Email: faithtogo@edsd.orgInstagram: @faithtogo

Peter, a fisherman from Galilee, called to be a disciple and apostle by Jesus Himself, here writes a second letter to the Church that is as relevant today as ever! 2 Peter contains a range of topics, from the importance of Scripture, to the life of a believer as they wait on the second coming of Jesus, and avoid the many false teachers and doctrines in the world.   Join Jerry as he unpacks this book, and helps you apply it to your every day life as you "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)  You can also take your daily Bible reading to another level with The New Testament Daily with Jerry Dirmann—so grab your Bible and let's get started!  -------  Thank you for joining us today! For more resources like this, or to support the ministry of Solid Lives, visit one of the links below:  LINKS:  « FREE MEDIA LIBRARY » To listen to or download more teachings from Jerry and others from Solid Lives ministries, visit our new media library at: https://app.jesusdisciple.com/jesus-way/media-library « THE NEW TESTAMENT DAILY PODCAST » https://thenewtestamentdailywithjerrydirmann.buzzsprout.com « SOLID LIVES » Find out more about the ministries of Jerry Dirmann and Solid Lives at https://www.solidlives.com/  « SUPPORT » You can help us get free resources like this out to more people. Visit https://pushpay.com/g/jdglobal Thank you for joining us today! For more resources like this, or to support the ministry of Solid Lives, visit one of the links below:FREE MEDIA LIBRARY » Download or listen at https://SolidLivesMedia.com/ ABOUT SOLID LIVES » Find out more at https://www.solidlives.com/SUPPORT » Help us get the word out at https://solidlives.com/give/

We picked up right where we left off last week, with Jesus coming up out of the water at his baptism and heading straight into forty days in the wilderness. No food, no comfort, just the devil waiting for him at the end of it. Where Adam failed in the garden, Jesus stood firm in the desert, and he did it using the same practices we talked about last week: prayer, scripture, fasting.From there we followed him into Galilee, where he started preaching that the Kingdom of God had come near. That phrase shows up over a hundred times across the Gospels, and it meant something specific and dangerous to the people hearing it. These weren't people wondering what happens after they die. They were living under Roman occupation, watching their neighbors get crucified along the road, and waiting for God to actually do something about it. When Jesus said the kingdom was already here, he wasn't offering comfort. He was making a claim that could get him killed.We talked about why Jesus taught in parables and why he called himself the Son of Man instead of announcing himself outright. It kept him one step ahead of Rome while still speaking directly to anyone who knew their Scripture, especially Daniel 7.Then we shifted to something we don't talk about enough. Jesus had a sense of humor. We walked through the plank in the eye, the camel and the gnat, the fish with a coin in its mouth, and Jesus letting his friends think he was a ghost before he strolled out onto the water. We looked at him showing up on a beach after the resurrection, cooking breakfast like nothing had happened, recreating the very moment he first called those same disciples.This is the real Jesus. Not the solemn figure we've flattened him into, but someone playful, subversive, and fully human. The invitation is the same as always: come and know him, not as a concept, but as a friend.URF WEBSITE: ➤ http://www.urfellowship.comSOCIALS: ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urfellowship/➤ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urfellowship

This was filmed in Israel starring: LARRY SPARGIMINO / LARRY STAMM  /  MICAH VAN HUSS /  JOSH DAVIS / CLAYTON VAN HUSS         Step into the Land of the Bible with five teachers. Filmed on location in the Holy Land, SWRC is pleased to bring you the "In the Land" video project. Today, you will hear portions of each teaching, plus some background information about this exciting new resource. From the Sea of Galilee to Petra, join this amazing adventure into God's Word.           

In this episode of Come Follow Me, we continue our journey through the Gospel of Mark by exploring one of the most surprising aspects of Jesus' ministry: the people He chose to follow Him. When the long-awaited Messiah arrived and the Kingdom of God broke into the world, Jesus didn't begin by recruiting kings, religious elites, or cultural influencers. Instead, He called ordinary fishermen and working-class people to become His first disciples. Why would Jesus build His Kingdom through a group of blue-collar fishermen? What did He see in them that others overlooked? As we examine Mark's account, we discover that Jesus has always delighted in using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary purposes. His invitation was not based on status, power, or credentials, but on a willingness to trust Him and follow Him. This message is a powerful reminder that the same Jesus who called fishermen on the shores of Galilee is still calling people today. No matter your background, abilities, or past, Jesus invites you to join His mission and be part of what He is doing in the world.

Episode 4189 │ July 26, 2026 Is trust a choice or a fruit? You cannot trust someone unless you're convinced they love you. Most Christians have never settled that about God. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS  Scott Kesterson and Brad Cummings open with the single question that reframes everything: is trust a choice or a fruit — and Brad's answer, that trust is a fruit grown only in a relationship where you are convinced the other person loves you and seeks your highest good at all times, dismantles the entire Old Covenant performance framework that most American Christianity is still running on and replaces it with the New Covenant reality that God has no illusions about you, was never disappointed in you, and is not running a self-improvement program but a conforming-to-the-image-of-His-Son program that He promised to finish. The episode moves through Peter, James, and John as three distinct relational postures toward Christ — the director, the beloved, the warrior — and their presence at the Mount of Transfiguration as preparation not for doctrine but for vision; the two storms on the Sea of Galilee as a live diagnostic of what you actually believe about the heart of God; the definition of humility as simple agreement with God rather than self-deprecation; and Brad's definition of repentance as returning to the highest place from which you have fallen, not groveling at the bottom of it. The episode closes on Hebrews 12 — fixing your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross — and Brad's closing prayer that God would give every listener a vision of how He actually sees them, because as a man thinks in his heart, so is he, and the greatest transformation available is not discipline but the tractor beam of God's presence pulling you toward who He already knows you to be. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED  Is trust a choice or a fruit — and why does Brad argue that you cannot manufacture trust toward God through willpower or decision-making, only receive it as a fruit grown in a relationship where you are genuinely convinced He loves you and seeks your highest good at all times, even on your worst day? What does the tone of voice you insert into Jesus saying "O you of little faith" reveal about what you actually believe about the heart of God — and why does Hebrews 1 make the good cop/bad cop reading of the Old versus New Testament theologically impossible? What is the difference between an Old Covenant response to sin and a New Covenant response — and why does Brad argue that going to God with your failure, asking Him what happened and inviting Him to fix it, produces transformation that decades of self-improvement, discipline, and performance never could? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,100 episodes and 50 million lifetime downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Spatial Terra Intelligence Methodology (STIM v5) — the analytical framework built by Scott Kesterson — with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. All analysis, conclusions, and editorial judgments are those of Scott Kesterson. BardsFM's archive includes hundreds of episodes on prayer, scripture, and walking the Way of Christ — available free in the full episode catalog. AFFILIATE LINKS Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939.  EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Treadlite Broadforks...best garden tool EVER. Promo code BARDS26: TreadliteBroadforks.com EnviroKlenz Air Purification, promo code BARDS to save 10%: www.enviroklenz.com Morning Intro Music Provided by Brian Kahanek: www.briankahanek.com Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS >>> TheFoundersBible.com Windblown Media 20% Discount with promo code BARDS: windblownmedia.com White Oak Pastures Grassfed Meats, Get $20 off any order $150 or more. Promo Code BARDS: www.whiteoakpastures.com/BARDS Mission Darkness Faraday Bags and RF Shielding. Promo code BARDS: Click here DONATIONS: If you wish to support this podcast directly you can donate here... DONATE: Click here MAILING ADDRESS: Xpedition Cafe, LLC Attn. Scott Kesterson 591 E Central Ave, #740 Sutherlin, OR  97479

When you put God FIRST, He takes care of the REST.Who goes FIRST?1. It's not IF you give—it's WHEN. The ORDER matters.The word TITHE simply means A TENTH.Proverbs 3:9-10 "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing."John 6:1-14 "Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”2. The tithe is where you TRUST God with FIRST PLACE.Malachi 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."3. When God is FIRST, everything else falls IN ORDER.The goal isn't that God can just give TO you but actually FLOW THROUGH you.Deuteronomy 8:17-18 You may say to yourself, " My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.Proverbs 11:24 The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.Tithing is not really an OBEDIENCE indicator. It is aSURRENDER indicator.

The storm came without warning. The wind howled, the waves crashed, and the disciples—seasoned fishermen who had seen their fair share of rough waters—were terrified. Meanwhile, Jesus slept. Same storm, different response. This week is all about how we handle chaos. We live in a world full of anxiety—global unrest, personal crisis, emotional storms that rage beneath the surface. Panic often feels like the natural response. But in this moment on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus shows us a better way. Peace isn't found in perfect circumstances—it's found in the presence of Jesus. His calm wasn't rooted in denial, but in divine authority. He stood up in the middle of the storm and spoke peace over the chaos. And that same Jesus is still in our boat. This message invites people to wrestle honestly with fear while anchoring themselves in faith. It gives permission to feel overwhelmed but points to the Savior who is never shaken. Whether your storm is external or internal, the presence of Jesus changes everything. If He's in your boat, you're going to make it through. This isn't just a story about a storm—it's a promise about peace. 

Truth without love is brutality. Love without truth is sentimentality. The church is called to both - and the model is Jesus with the Samaritan woman. He looked her in the eye and told her the one thing she didn't want to hear, in a way she never forgot, and she ran to tell her whole village. Real love doesn't protect people from the truth - it speaks truth in a way that frees them. Ephesians 4:15-16Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.James 5:16Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.John 4:1-30Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him.

Losing Our Life By the Devil's Helpers David Eells - 7.26.2026 (originally 7/18/19)  (Audio) We Must Lose our Life to Gain Our Life Mar 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he spake the saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. 33 But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and saith, Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men. 34 And he called unto him the multitude with his disciples, and said unto them, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whosoever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it. 36 For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? The Hatred of the Wicked Crucify our Life Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you; 18 yea and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. 21 And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child: and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household! Joh 15:18 If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Luk 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy: for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same manner did their fathers unto the prophets. Luk 6:27 But I say unto you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, 28 bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you. 29 To him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and from him that taketh away thy cloak withhold not thy coat also. 30 Give to every one that asketh thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. 31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 32 And if ye love them that love you, what thank have ye? for even sinners love those that love them. 33 And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thank have ye? for even sinners do the same. 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much. 35 But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. 36 Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Joh 7:7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Saved From Hateful Enemies Luk 1:67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying, 68 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; For he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people, 69 And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of his servant David 70 (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old), 71 Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To show mercy towards our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware unto Abraham our father, 74 To grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Should serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 2Ti 4:18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. 2Ti 3:10-11 But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, 11 persecutions, sufferings; what things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: and out of them all the Lord delivered me. Psa 34:17-19 The righteous cried, and Jehovah heard, And delivered them out of all their troubles. 18 Jehovah is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, And saveth such as are of a contrite spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But Jehovah delivereth him out of them all. We are called to Suffer For Jesus, His people, and His Life in us. Mat 17:12 but I say unto you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they would. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. 13 Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Act 5:34 But there stood up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in honor of all the people, and commanded to put the men forth a little while. 35 And he said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves as touching these men, what ye are about to do. 36 For before these days rose up Theudas, giving himself out to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and came to nought. 37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the enrollment, and drew away some of the people after him: he also perished; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad. 38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown: 39 but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them; lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against God. 40 And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles unto them, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name. 42 And every day, in the temple and at home, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ. Act 9:13 But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many of this man, how much evil he did to thy saints at Jerusalem: 14 and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name. 15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. 17 And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way which thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 18 And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized; Rom 8:16 The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: 17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him. 2Co 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; 4 who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ. 6 But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: 7 and our hope for you is stedfast; knowing that, as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the comfort. 8 For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead: 10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us; 11 ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf. Php 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that, whether I come and see you or be absent, I may hear of your state, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the gospel; 28 and in nothing affrighted by the adversaries: which is for them an evident token of perdition, but of your salvation, and that from God; 29 because to you it hath been granted in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer in his behalf: 30 having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. 2Th 1:3 We are bound to give thanks to God always to you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith growth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth; 4 so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure; 5 which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: 6 if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, 7 and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, 8 rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: 9 who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day. 11 To which end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire of goodness and every work of faith, with power; 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2Ti 2:2 And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. 5 And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended lawfully. 2Ti 2:9 wherein I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the word of God is not bound. 10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him: 12 if we endure, we shall also reign with him: if we shall deny him, he also will deny us: 2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2Ti 4:2 preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables. 5 But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry. 6 For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: 8 henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing. 1Pe 2:19 For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. 21 For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. 1Pe 3:10 For, He that would love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile: 11 And let him turn away from evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And his ears unto their supplication: But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil. 13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that which is good? 14 But even if ye should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are ye: and fear not their fear, neither be troubled; 15 but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear: 16 having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. 17 For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. 18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: 13 but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. 14 If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you. 15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: 16 but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name. 17 For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator. Jas 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge standeth before the doors. 10 Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful. Rev 2:9 I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. 11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Php 3:7 Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; 11 if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, 8 though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation; 1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2 that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 3 For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries: 4 wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: 5 who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer: 8 above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins: 9 using hospitality one to another without murmuring: 1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, 9 whom withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you. 11 To him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

In this sermon from Mark 4:35-41, Pastor Mike explores the story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He draws out three key observations: we see the storms of life, we see ourselves in the storms of life, and we see Jesus in the storms of life. The storm in the passage serves as a vivid picture of the sudden, overwhelming trials that all people face in a broken and fallen world. Just as the disciples were caught off guard and filled with fear and doubt, so too do we often struggle to trust Jesus when life's storms hit without warning.The central message of the sermon is that Jesus does not always deliver us from our storms, but He faithfully delivers us through them. Drawing on personal experience and the witness of Peter in 1 Peter 5:7, Pastor Mike reminds the congregation that Jesus is always present, never absent, and deeply caring. The disciples' question, "Who is this?" is answered clearly on the other side of the resurrection: Jesus is the Son of God, the Lord of all, who has authority over creation and who walks with His people through every storm they face.

JULY 26 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:12-31 ...On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me." They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don't mean me?” “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:“‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

JULY 26 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:12-31 ...On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me." They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don't mean me?” “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:“‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

JULY 26 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:12-31 ...On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me." They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don't mean me?” “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:“‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

JULY 26 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:12-31 ...On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me." They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don't mean me?” “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.“You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written:“‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.'But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same.

PA595 Isaiah 9:1-21 mp3 In this message, Isaiah prophesies the great light that will arise on Galilee of the nations when the Child is born and the Son given Who will rule over the government and be called the Father of Perpetuity and Prince of Shalom. The northern kingdom, already severely decimated by Assyria, decides […]

Friends of the Rosary,Today, July 25, is traditionally the Feast of St. James, the Apostle, known as the Greater, in order to distinguish him from the other Apostle St. James. Jesus called him Boanerges, "son of thunder."James the Greater was our Lord's cousin (an old legend states that Salome, his mother, was a sister of Mary), and John the Evangelist's brother and the son of Zebedee, the fisherman from Galilee. With Peter and John, he was one of the witnesses of the Transfiguration, and later of the agony in the garden. He was beheaded in Jerusalem in the year 42 or 43 A.D. by King Herod Agrippa, becoming the first apostle to give his life for proclaiming Christ.In Spain, his magnificent shrine at Santiago de Compostela has been a place of pilgrimage since the ninth century, through el Camino, "the Way of St. James". After the pilgrimage to Rome or the Holy Land, it is the most famous and the most frequented pilgrimage in Christendom. The paths to Compostella form a network over Europe; they are dotted with hospices and chapels.Saint James is a powerful saint for today because he shows both human ambition and holy transformation.In today's Gospel (Matthew 20:20-28), Jesus tells James and John that greatness in His Kingdom is not about status, but service: “Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant.” The glory comes through the chalice — suffering, sacrifice, and service. Saint James followed that path all the way to martyrdom.Staying close to Jesus, we will see how He will turn our ambition into mission.Saint James, pray for us!Ave Maria!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• June 25, 2026, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

Today we celebrate the feast of St. James the Apostle, one of the first disciples Jesus called from the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

“From the Word to Stone to Flesh – Torah’s Living Covenant,” pt 13 Matthew 4:23-5:6 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 23 Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout […]

Full Text of Readings Feast of Saint James, Apostle Lectionary: 605 The Saint of the day is Saint James Saint James' Story This James is the brother of John the Evangelist. The two were called by Jesus as they worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had already called another pair of brothers from a similar occupation: Peter and Andrew. “He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him” (Mark 1:19-20). Saint James was one of the favored three who had the privilege of witnessing the Transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus, and the agony in Gethsemani. Two incidents in the Gospels describe the temperament of this man and his brother. Saint Matthew tells that their mother came—Mark says it was the brothers themselves—to ask that they have the seats of honor in the kingdom. “Jesus said in reply, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?' They said to him, ‘We can'” (Matthew 20:22). Jesus then told them they would indeed drink the cup and share his baptism of pain and death, but that sitting at his right hand or left was not his to give—it “is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” (Matthew 20:23b). It remained to be seen how long it would take to realize the implications of their confident “We can!” The other disciples became indignant at the ambition of James and John. Then Jesus taught them all the lesson of humble service: The purpose of authority is to serve. They are not to impose their will on others, or lord it over them. This is the position of Jesus himself. He was the servant of all; the service imposed on him was the supreme sacrifice of his own life. On another occasion, James and John gave evidence that the nickname Jesus gave them—“sons of thunder”—was an apt one. The Samaritans would not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to hated Jerusalem. “When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?' Jesus turned and rebuked them…” (Luke 9:54-55). Saint James was apparently the first of the apostles to be martyred. “About that time King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also” (Acts 12:1-3a). This Saint James, sometimes called James the Greater, is not to be confused with James the Lesser or with the author of the Letter of James and the leader of the Jerusalem community. Reflection The way the Gospels treat the apostles is a good reminder of what holiness is all about. There is very little about their virtues as static possessions, entitling them to heavenly reward. Rather, the great emphasis is on the Kingdom, on God's giving them the power to proclaim the Good News. As far as their personal lives are concerned, there is much about Jesus' purifying them of narrowness, pettiness, fickleness. From James there is much to learn still.Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

What is it like to walk where Jesus walked?! Jenny's guest is Pastor, Counselor & Author Jason Butler. He just returned from Israel - the epicenter! The place that is holy, the where our history comes alive, and the very ground that Jesus Christ will return to walk on! In Part 1 of this compelling conversation, Jason talks about the beauty of the land where Jesus walked, being on the Sea of Galilee, the challenges facing Messianic Jewish believers, spiritual warfare, and what surprised him most during his visit. He also shares why he believes it's important to seek truth with discernment rather than relying solely on today's news cycle. Whether you've visited Israel, dream of going someday, or simply want a deeper understanding of the land where biblical history came to life—and where Scripture says Christ will one day return—this conversation will encourage and challenge you. His podcast is "Will Jesus Know You?"  Part 2 of this conversation goes into Jason's personal story of success, overcoming addictions and following Jesus.  You can find his book, "Will Jesus Know You?: The Blueprint to Mold Your Heart to the Heart of the Father!" on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and other major retailers.

As a Jesus Follower, You Live in a World of Hurting People; and You Have their Answer - Are You Sharing the Answer with Others? MESSAGE SUMMARY:  Even though we are followers of Jesus, we live in a world of hurting people; but we have the answer to their pain. God has blessed us so that we might be a blessing to others, and He has healed us so that we might provide God's healing powers to others. He has saved us so that we might be His ambassadors. While we have the answer, we keep the answer to ourselves in the way we live and by not speaking about Jesus to others. Before Jesus Ascension, He instructed us, in Matthew 28:16-20, that we must “Go” and tell others about the answer, which the Gospel provides, by “making Disciples”: “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'”. Therefore, you must communicate the Answer of Jesus and the Gospel to others through both your “talk” and the way that you “walk” in your life. Walk the walk and talk the talk to share Jesus with others.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, I acknowledge that I prefer to ignore and deny my pain and loss. I struggle with seeing how resurrection life can come out of death. Grant me the courage to pay attention to what you are doing, and to wait on you — even when everything in me wants to run away. In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 114). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Insensitivity. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit's fruit of Gentleness. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 28:16-20; John 1:1-18; Matthew 16:15-19; Psalms 66a:1-10. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Following Jesus – Jesus Calls Us to Follow Him Without Reservations” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

What if the miracle you've been waiting for is on the other side of one honest yes?In this message, Pastor John Huseman walks us through Luke 5 and shows how Peter's first encounter with Jesus reveals what revival actually looks like, a choice to let Him into your boat, into your business, into every part of your life you've kept at a distance. Drawing from Luke 5:1–7, Joshua 24:15, Ephesians 3:20, and Galatians 6:9, this sermon reframes revival not as a feeling, but as a decision. And it costs something.In this message, you'll discover:-Why revival isn't a mood, it's a choice you make on purpose-What Jesus is really asking when He climbs into your "boat"-Why deeper with Jesus always leads to sacrifice and to serve-What Peter's "at Your word, I will obey" unlocked, and how to say it yourself-Why some of Jesus's greatest miracles happened at the lowest place on the map (Galilee, 700 feet below sea level)Whether you're feeling dry in your faith, stuck in a season that hasn't produced the harvest you hoped for, or unsure whether Jesus really wants to get involved in the parts of your life you've kept private, this message will remind you that a deeper yes is where revival starts.

Our study in Matthew 8 explores the gamut of Jesus' power—over nature (when He stills the Sea of Galilee) and over the demonic realm (when He commands demons out of people). But perhaps the greatest power that reaches us today is when Jesus heals broken people and tells them their sins are forgiven. He is still forgiving people today.

She was from the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, for which reason she is called "Magdalene." The Lord Jesus cast out seven demons from her, after which she became His faithful disciple, following Him even to the Cross when most of His disciples had fled. With the other holy Myrrh-bearers, she prepared the spices to anoint His body and carried them to His tomb. There she was one of the first witnesses to the Resurrection, and the first to proclaim it.   Various traditions hold that, after Christ's ascension, she traveled to Rome, where she presented the Emperor with a red egg and proclaimed "Christ is Risen!" For this reason her icons often show her holding a red egg, and from this the tradition of distributing red eggs at Pascha is said to have arisen. She is then said to have travelled to Ephesus where she helped St John the Theologian in his gospel ministry before reposing there.   Mary Magdalene is sometimes identified with the "sinful woman" of the Gospels, but this is not the Church's tradition. Neither the Gospels nor the sacred hymnography of the Church make this connection.   The name 'Madeleine' is a form of 'Magdalene'.

Friends of the Rosary,Today, July 22, we celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, the Apostle of the Apostles, the first recorded witness to the Resurrection, and announcer of the message of the Resurrection of the Lord, like the other apostles.Mary Magdalene had indeed the honor of being the "prima testis" to the resurrection of the Lord, the first to see the empty tomb and the first to hear the truth of His resurrection. She fulfilled the mandate the Risen Christ gave her: "Go to my brothers and say to them." Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” — and that he had said these things to her.In this way she became an evangelist, or, as Rabano Mauro and St. Thomas Aquinas said, "apostolorum apostola", as she announces to the apostles what they in turn will announce to all the world.She was from Magdala, a small fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Tiberias. She was known to be a "great sinner," a woman of the streets who heard Jesus speak of the mercy and forgiveness of God and changed her life completely.Christ had a special consideration and mercy for this woman, who showed her love for Him with "lacrimas humilitatis", as St. Anselm said.She stood with the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross on that brutal Good Friday afternoon and had been by the side of Mary during these difficult hours.Ave Maria!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• ⁠June 22, 2026, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

23:44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 23:45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. 23:47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 23:48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. 23:49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. 23:50 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: 23:51 (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. 23:52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 23:53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. 23:54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 23:55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 23:56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 24:2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 24:3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 24:5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 24:7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 24:8 And they remembered his words, 24:9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 24:10 It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 24:11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. 24:12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

21 Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”23 But He answered her not a word.And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us.”24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs.”27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.”28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.29 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

She is known as the Apostle to the Apostles and was from the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, for which reason she is called Magdalene. Saint Mary Magdalene’s story describes her as one of the first witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and the first to proclaim it. Books about Mary Magdalene available at https://amzn.to/4wdqLUp Gospel of Mark available at https://amzn.to/3X3m9Ba Gospel of John available at https://amzn.to/3AozdbL Gospel of Luke available at https://amzn.to/3M6sTId Gospel of Matthew available at https://amzn.to/3LEeP8F ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Mark's History of North America podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 X (twitter): https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credits: Saint of the Day podcast - Holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, July 22, 2025, Greek Orthodox Deacon Jerome Atherholt and Ancient Faith Radio; The Saint of the Day podcast - St. Mary Magdalene July 22, 2024 (s3e22) Good Catholic and The Catholic Company; Today's Catholic Mass Readings Monday, July 22, 2024; Saint Of The Day podcast with Mike Roberts by Covenant Network (ourcatholicradio.org) Saint Mary Magdalen 22jul2024 e83; Jesus 24/7 Podcast (HustleStudios) - Mary Magdalene First Witness June 30, 2026. Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this sermon from Exodus 25, Pastor Jared Richard takes the church on a guided tour through the tabernacle, unpacking one of the most important visual aids in all of Scripture. From the outer courtyard's bronze altar and basin, through the holy place with its lampstand, table of bread, and altar of incense, all the way to the ark of the covenant resting in the holy of holies, every element was deliberately designed by God to communicate something true about Himself — His majesty, His heart, and His holiness. Just as God enriched Israel with Egypt's plunder to build this dwelling place, every piece of that tent was a declaration that the God who brought them out of bondage still desired to be in their midst. Yet the tabernacle also holds a deep tension at its center: God draws near to His people, but His people can only come so close. The veils, the restrictions, the cherubim guarding the inner room — all of it echoed back to the Garden of Eden, where sin first separated humanity from God's presence. Even the holiest of priests had to be ritually cleansed, and even then, the glory of God remained veiled and partial. The sacrifices offered on the bronze altar could allow for God's presence among His people, but they could not fully erase the distance that sin had created. The resolution to this tension, Pastor Jared makes clear, is Jesus Christ — the true and better tabernacle. As John 1:14 declares, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" — and that word dwelt literally means tabernacled. Jesus is God's glory walking the dusty roads of Galilee without a veil, welcoming children into His arms, and ultimately tearing the temple curtain at the moment of His death (Matt. 27:51) so that all who repent and believe can finally draw near to the Father. And because of His finished work, the Spirit of God now lives in His people (1 Cor. 6:19), making the church itself the living tabernacle — called to display God's majesty, heart, and holiness to a watching world. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! Take a moment to fill out our digital connection card here: https://www.bayleaf.org/connect We hope you enjoy this programming and please let us know if there is anything we can do to be of service to you. ONE CHURCH. TWO LOCATIONS. ONE MISSION. Bay Leaf at Falls Lake: 12200 Bayleaf Church Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 Bay Leaf at 540: 10921 Leesville Rd, Raleigh, NC 27613 SERVICE TIMES Come join us on Sundays at Bay Leaf at Falls Lake (8:30 AM or 11:00 AM) or at Bay Leaf at 540 (10:00 AM) CONTACT www.bayleaf.org (919) 847-4477 #BayLeafLife #Worship #Inspiration

Pastor Andy brings us today's message, 'After You'. We will be using Matt.4:18-20 as our reference point today. "While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him."

TODAY'S TREASUREAs Jesus walked beside the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once, they left their nets and followed him.Mark 1:16-17Send us a comment!Support the show

Read OnlineThe Certitude of FaithSome of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” He said to them in reply, “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.” Matthew 12:38–39Imagine if Jesus had responded differently to the scribes and Pharisees, saying, “Yes, I will perform a sign right now. Whatever you ask of Me, I will do.” Suppose they then asked Him to part the Sea of Galilee—just as Moses parted the Red Sea—and walk through on dry land, and Jesus fulfilled their request. Would that have been enough for them? Most likely not. The problem was not a lack of miracles, or even dramatic ones. The real issue was the hardness of their hearts, which closed them off to the transforming and supernatural gift of faith.Had Jesus done this, they might have been temporarily impressed. They might even have professed belief that He was the Messiah and the Son of God—but not through faith. And there lies the deeper problem. Believing in Jesus' divinity solely because of witnessing a miracle requires no faith. They would have seen the proof with their eyes but not received it into their hearts.The supernatural gift of faith is far greater and more certain than anything we see. Faith leads to a conviction so deep that it transforms the soul. Countless saints have endured persecution, clung to the truth, and embraced martyrdom for this gift. But if one believes merely because of external signs—like parting the Sea of Galilee—then that belief remains shallow, always dependent on more visible proof rather than rooted in divine revelation.Now consider an exaggerated scenario. Suppose you walk past a street preacher who declares himself to be the Son of God. You respond, “Prove it.” The man levitates, spins in the air, and lifts the cars on the street with a single command. He descends and says, “Worship me.” What would you do? Would such a spectacle bring about a true conversion of heart and lead you into divine worship? Now imagine a real scenario. You are praying alone in a church. Your heart is open to God, and you express your deepest love for Him. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit enters your soul—convicting you of the Father's will, illuminating your mind, and strengthening your resolve. You rise from prayer with clarity, courage, and peace.Though the first scenario is unreal, it serves as a useful contrast. Its proof is external and sensational. Though extraordinary, many might suspect a demonic deception or illusion. It is unlikely to move the heart to true conversion. Rather, it would stir curiosity, not commitment—an appetite for signs, not surrender.In the second, the proof is entirely interior, which is unquestionably greater. When God speaks within the depths of the soul and the soul responds with surrender, life is truly transformed. That encounter becomes a fountain of divine peace, strength, and love, satisfying the heart more deeply than any external sign ever could.Jesus refused to offer the scribes and Pharisees the sign they demanded because He loved them and sought to draw even their hardened hearts to faith. By refusing a miracle and speaking instead in veiled language—“no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet,” referring to His death and resurrection—Jesus moves their hearts, inviting them to ponder the mystery of His life, to be open to the Spirit's revelation, and to respond in faith. Perhaps some of these religious leaders did eventually open their hearts. Many did not.Reflect today on your own heart. Why do you believe in God? Why do you profess Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Has faith truly taken hold of you? Have you heard God speak within and responded with surrender? If so, then this is the transforming power of faith at work. Pray for this gift—that it may take deeper root and grow stronger each day—so that, unlike the scribes and Pharisees, the gift of faith will be the only sign from Heaven you need.My miraculous Lord, though You performed many signs and wonders to strengthen the faith of those who believed, You withheld such signs from those who rejected the gift of faith, calling them instead to interior conversion. Strengthen my faith—not by external wonders, but by speaking to me in the depths of my soul. May Your grace take hold of me, transform me, and sustain me. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: The Pharisees Wish to Stone Christ, by Georg PenczSource: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Among the many things that Luke illustrates in his record of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, is that all of it was in fulfillment of Scripture, including a number of references to Psalm 22. While sinful men sought to snuff out this king and his message about a coming kingdom, they in fact helped usher in the new kingdom by crucifying the Son of God. Then, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead as He had prophesied way back in Galilee. The disciples' eyes were opened to many things they had not previously understood, and the kingdom of heaven begins to spread in the hearts and minds of Christ's disciples. Luke 22 - 1:13 .  Luke 23 - 12:11 .  Luke 24 - 21:25 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org