Podcasts about Galilee

In this Bible Story, we learn about Jesus' stories of thankfulness and humility. Jesus healing lepers, ministering to his disciples, and rebuking the Pharisees. In all these interactions, Jesus shows that he is driven by compassion. This story is inspired by Luke 17:11-19; 18:1-14. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Luke 18:13 from the King James Version.Episode 203: As Jesus was nearing Galilee again, a group of lepers cried out to him for mercy. Filled with compassion Jesus healed all ten of them. But only one returned to thank him. Later that evening Jesus' disciples began to ask Him about prayer. In response, He told them of a Judge who feared neither God nor people and a widow who would not give up. Eventually, the Judge gave up and granted the widow's request. Then He reminded both us and the disciples to be persistent in prayer because God is much more compassionate than this judge. The next day He taught the crowds a lesson on what it means to be humble in the sight of God.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Luke 17:11-19 - On the way to Jerusalem He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Jesus called his disciples to crossover to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It's a powerful story, and a mighty illustration of God's calling upon our lives to leave what is safe and familiar, and launch out on the God mission adventure!

Ten lepers approach Jesus, calling out to him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Dr. Chris Croghan explains how one of them, a Samaritan, is a Lutheran: He hears a word from Jesus and believes it. He practices true worship, “Lord have mercy on me, and thank you.” And he doesn't go back to the law for his righteousness after receiving mercy. CARE OF SOULS - ADDICTIONIn Care of Souls, a special mini-series podcast from Luther House of Study, Lutheran pastors and theologians come together to explore the deeply personal and pastoral task of preaching to and caring for those struggling with life's challenging situations: addiction, death, family disharmony, and more. Rooted in the theology of the cross and the Lutheran tradition of radical grace, this series offers both theological depth and practical guidance for pastors, church workers, and lay leaders.With conversations, real-life stories, and reflections from the front lines of ministry, Care of Souls equips listeners to enter the broken places of addiction not with easy answers, but with the crucified and risen Christ.Because in the end, it's not about fixing people—it's about preaching the Gospel.Listen to Care of Souls wherever you listen to podcasts or on the Luther House website: Care of Souls - AddictionCONFIRMATION Does your church have a confirmation class? Luther House of Study is excited to present a comprehensive online confirmation curriculum. The curriculum includes interactive digital lessons and supplemental teacher guides featuring custom videos, quizzes, drag and drop tasks, discussion questions, scripture passages, and prayers about the Apostles' Creed, the 10 Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments. Visit lutherhouseofstudy.org/confirmation to dive into the curriculum and share it with your church or your pastor. SING TO THE LORD Martin Luther said, "Next to the word of God, the art of music is the greatest treasure in the world." To understand the importance of hymnody in the Lutheran church, Lars Olson and Mason Van Essen sit down with Zachary Brockhoff to discuss the lectionary's hymns, their meaning and history, and how the music preaches the Gospel. 

Nathanael’s question in the Gospel of John has been taken by many to mean that Nazareth was looked down upon, even by people of Galilee. "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). E145. Catholic Saints podcast available at https://amzn.to/4evE0Hx Augustine Institute books at https://amzn.to/4h1lGaE Ben Aker book available at https://amzn.to/3ZZ1yQl 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 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 Twitter: https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio Credit: Catholic Saints podcast with Dr. Ben Aker and Dr. John Sehorn (episode: St. Bartholomew on Who Christ Is, 24oct2022; Augustine Institute. 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.

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus's feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? 18 Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” 

Rise: to move from a ___________ position to a ______________ one. [Matthew 28:1-7] Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. [2] Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. [3] His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. [4] The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. [5] Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don't be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. [6] He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. [7] And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” Jesus is the _______________ king! [John 11:25] Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Jesus is offering his Resurrection ______________ to you. [Romans 8:11] The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Salvation is ___________-based, not ___________-based. [Titus 3:5a] he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. God saves us not because _____ _______ good, but because _____ _____ good. You can't experience Resurrection Power until you've went through __________________. [1 Corinthians 6:14] God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Jesus rose from the ___________ and I can rise above my __________________. [Romans 10:13] For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. He overcame the _________, so I can overcome my ____________.

Sorry for the clickbait, but it's true. The word trinity will not be found in the Bible. There are a few terms we use today that are not found in the text, verbatim, however, they fully exist by the idea that branches from OT to NT and through the early church fathers. Again, the heart for today is to remind YOU to go to God's Word today. Matthew 3:13-1713 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him,[a] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,[b] with whom I am well pleased.”Following Jesus and enjoying life are not mutually exclusive. Let's connect to learn more about how that can look in your own life.Let's connect on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

The book of Matthew concludes with Jesus's crucifixion, resurrection, and the Great Commission that gives every Christian their true calling regardless of profession or circumstance.• Mike celebrates the podcast reaching 25,000 downloads, with listeners in all 50 states and 80 countries worldwide• Matthew's gospel strategically highlights fulfilled prophecies pointing to Jesus as the Messiah• Judas returns the 30 silver coins before taking his own life, fulfilling ancient prophecy• Jesus remains silent before Pilate and the religious leaders, refusing to defend himself• The crucifixion is accompanied by supernatural signs including darkness and an earthquake• Women discover the empty tomb and become the first witnesses of the resurrection• Religious leaders bribe guards to spread the story that disciples stole Jesus's body• Jesus meets his disciples on a mountain in Galilee where some worship and some doubt• The Great Commission calls all believers to make disciples, baptize, and teach obedience• Jesus promises his presence "to the end of the age" as followers carry out this missionDownload our Echo Discipleship Guide "Not Just Another Sermon" at outloudbible.com to put Jesus's teachings into action through daily challenges that will take you slightly outside your comfort zone.Send Mike a quick message! (If you seek a reply, instead please contact through Outloudbible.com) Support the showCheck out outloudbible.com for helpful study resources, and to discover how to bring the public reading of God's word to your church, conference, retreat, or other event.

After forty days of fasting in the wilderness, Jesus faces three temptations from Satan and responds with Scripture alone. Following John's arrest, Jesus moves to Capernaum in Galilee to begin His public ministry, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy about light dawning in darkness. He calls four fishermen to follow Him and begins teaching in synagogues, preaching the kingdom, and healing throughout the region. Matthew 4 shows Christ succeeding where Israel failed and launching the mission that would transform the world.  The Rev. Roger Mullet, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Buffalo, WY, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Matthew 4.  To learn more about Prince of Peace, visit princeofpeacebuffalo.org. The Gospel of Matthew bridges Old and New Testaments, presenting Jesus as the promised Messiah who fulfills the Law we could never keep and establishes His kingdom of grace for all nations. Written by a tax collector transformed by pure grace, Matthew reveals Christ as the true Son of David and Emmanuel (God with us) who challenges us with the crushing demands of the Law in His Sermon on the Mount to the sweet comfort of the Gospel in His death and resurrection. From royal genealogy to glorious resurrection, this verse-by-verse study proclaims the One who conquered sin, death, and the devil for us, now delivering forgiveness, life, and salvation through Word and Sacrament as He remains with His church always, even to the end of the age.  Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God's Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

5:1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, 5:2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 5:3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. 5:4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5:5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. 5:6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 5:7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 5:9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: 5:10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 5:11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him. 5:12 And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 5:13 And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. 5:14 And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. 5:15 But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. 5:17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 5:18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. 5:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. 5:20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 5:21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? 5:22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? 5:23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 5:25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 5:26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.

Discover what virtually every Pre-Nicene Christian believed about the arrival of Jesus on earth in 90 seconds. And also discover why the Roman Empire tried so desperately to erase it from history."In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar (29 A.D.), Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Jesus descended into Capernaum, a city in Galilee..." - The Gospel of The LordMarcionite Churchhttps://www.marcionitechurch.org/The Very First Bible:https://www.theveryfirstbible.orgJournal of Pre-Nicene Christian Studieshttps://journal.pre-nicene.orgThe Persecution of Diocletian: A Historical Essay: A classic historical analysis by Arthur James Mason focusing on the motivations and events of the persecution.Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources: An edited volume by William Stearns Davis that includes primary accounts of the persecution, such as the search for Christian scriptures.

Two of the most liberating words in our language are: “Thank You!” Hebrews 13:5 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Philippians 4:6, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Psalm 35:18, I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among many people.  In Psalm 107:22 "Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy." (NIV) THANK YOU  closes the circle of breakthrough in our lives. Lesson from the Ten Lepers: Ten were cleansed, but one was MADE WHOLE by saying "Thank You!" Luke 17:11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

1 Chronicles chapter 14 deals, firstly, with David's wives and sons; and then with two miraculous victories over the Philistines as they sought to destroy David before he had opportunity to organise his kingdom. Verses 8-12 tell of the LORD's instructions to David and His aiding of the king when the Philistines launched an attack on an unprepared Israel. These verses reveal David's thanks for Yahweh's aiding Israel and giving them the victory. Verses 13-16 says that the Philistines tried another attack shortly after the first failure. Once again the Almighty went before His people who heard the movements of the angelic hosts in the tops of the balsam trees. As a result of these two mighty victories the surrounding nations were in awe of Israel and their God. The comments lack commentary for 1 Chronicles 15. These will be added in the next few days. The 27th chapter of Ezekiel contains a lament over how great Tyre had been brought low. The Tyrians had enlisted the best of all nations into their military machine. Tyre had become wealthy through her commercial enterprises. Any nation that had assisted Tyre also prospered from their association with Tyre. Indeed, the humanly unexpected demise of Tyre illustrates Daniel's declaration: "The Most High rules in the Kingdom of men" Daniel 4:17. But none of those nations cared that Yahweh had brought Tyre low. Their only concern was that no longer would the wealth that the Phoenicians had thought to be theirs belong to them. Verses 1-12 of Luke 24 describe events associated with the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The time of his raising would have been 6pm Saturday evening, which by Jewish way of reckoning time began the first day of the week. The women, of whom there may have been around six in number, find the stone which had been sealing the tomb, rolled back. Two men, who stood by (undoubtedly angels), tell them not to seek the living Lord among the dead. But, that Jesus' disciples are to meet him in Galilee as he had told them before his death. Several of the women ran to tell the news to the Apostles, who found the women's report incredulous. Peter together with John (see John chapter 20) come and verify the women's message. That same day two of our Lord's disciples are journeying to Emmaus and are joined by Jesus. The record tells us that their capacity to recognise the Lord was restrained. The two express their great disappointment in the events that had taken place recently. Jesus takes the initiative and explains from Moses, the Psalms and the prophets the entire picture of Messiah, who had to suffer before being glorified. As the group of three approach a village Jesus indicates that he wishes to travel further, but the other two constrain him to stay with them. Jesus reveals himself to them in the breaking of the bread. The two disciples hastily return to Jerusalem with great excitement. On finding the Apostles assembled together those two hear of Jesus' appearance to Simon Peter and add their own witnessing. The Lord appears to the group assembled and shows them the wounds in his hands and side - some translations say "back". Further Jesus eats some food to show that he was not an apparition. Then the chapter says the Lord gives his Apostles the great commission to take the Gospel into all the world. Luke's final account is that Christ is praying he ascends from the Mount of Olives into heaven (compare Acts 1verses 6-11).

Radical Life // Week 2 // Scandalous CallingPastors JF & Ashley WilkersonMatthew 28:16-20 NIV 16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”1. THE BODYMatthew 28:19 NIV 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.Ephesians 3:4-6 NIV 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.1. THE BODY2. THE BLESSINGGalatians 3:5-9 NIV 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. 7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.Galatians 3:26-29 NIV 26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.Galatians 3:28-29 NIV 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.1. THE BODY2. THE BLESSING3. THE BEAUTY1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NIV 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.Romans 12:4-5; 9-10; 15-16a NIV 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others…9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves…15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16a Live in harmony with one another…1. THE BODY2. THE BLESSING3. THE BEAUTY

St. Luke 5:1-11. Drawing on St. Luke's account of Christ calling His disciples to become fishers of men, this homily explores why marriages and parishes often falter when built on human strength alone. Fr. Anthony reminds us that brokenness, poor models, and cultural confusion cannot be overcome by willpower or good intentions, but only through Christ and His Church. Just as the apostles' empty nets were filled at the Lord's command, so too our families and parishes flourish when rooted in His blessing and obedience. --- Homily: Why is it so hard to build a good marriage (and parish)? Saint Luke 5:1-11; Fishers of Men So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him (St. Luke 5:1-11). Introduction: How Christ Builds the Church This is a beautiful story from the ministry of Jesus Christ. It comes on the heels of his Baptism, his temptation by the devil in the wilderness, and the beginning of his preaching ministry in the synagogues of Galilee. In this Gospel, Christ has started building something very special; something that would never fall; something that would bring healing to broken humanity; something through which He would change the world. He began building the Church. And He did it with simple fishermen on the side of a lake. Continuation: We are Building, too We are participating in this work as well. We want to build something that will never fail; something that will bring healing to broken people; something that will transform a troubled place. We are building a parish. Today's Gospel provides a wonderful lesson for us on this very thing. In his homily on today's Gospel, St. Nikolai Velimirovich writes; “Except the Lord build the house, all who labor labor in vain.” (Psalm 126:1) If the builders build in God's name, they will build a palace, even their hands are weak and their material poor. If, though, the builders build in their own name, in opposition to God, the work of their hands will be brought down as was the Tower of Babel. There is no power that can bring God's work to ruin. Pagan palaces and cities fall into ruin, but God's huts remain standing. That which God's finger upholds stands more firmly than that which [the mythical titan] Atlas supports on his back… May the almighty Lord preserve us from the thought that we can achieve any good without His help and His blessing… May today's Gospel serve as a warning that such vain thoughts must never be formulated our souls. It speaks of how all men's efforts are in vain if God does not help them. While Christ's apostle's were fishing as men, they caught nothing; but when Christ commanded them to cast their nets once more into the sea, they caught such a great haul of fish that their nets tore. Why would anyone think they can build something worthwhile without Christ? I don't know. It is futile. We know better. But we do it all the time. Understanding the Curse of Sin: the example of marriage Let's look at the example of marriage. It can be so hard to get it right, and there are just so many ways to get it wrong. Why is it so hard? It isn't because people aren't trying. In fact, they are trying all kinds of things… but they aren't working very well. At best, some couples might end up with a marriage that lasts, but marriage was not just meant to endure. It's not supposed to be like a boxing match that makes it to the final round; with the two so tired they can hardly lift a glove and they just lean on one another gasping and looking forward to the bell (or, as is as likely to happen in marriages, the two just hang out in their separate corners doing their own thing until the final bell sounds). A good marriage does more than last, it brings joy to its members and its fruit brings happiness that endures from generation to generation. But why is this so rare? It should come as no surprise. Look how many people  come from broken families. It isn't their fault, but this really puts them behind the eight ball. They come from broken families and a broken world, so they have bad examples and have internalized all the wrong instincts. Brokenness has been imprinted in their minds and hearts; this cannot help but shape their actions, no matter how good and noble their intentions are. Even if they try to rise above and do things right, what examples are they going to follow? Television? Movies? TikTok?  Their friends? Their hearts? None of these is a reliable guide – all of them are fallen. If statistics are correct – and there is no reason to doubt them – our young men are learning more about how to relate to women from pornography than they are from anything good and real. And the expectations and self-respect of our young women are being shaped by this same blighted culture. Is there really any wonder that we are so bad at marriage? That even those young couples who try to get it right end up building a perverted parody of the kind of blessed union of flesh and spirit that we celebrate in the Mystery of Crowning? That we have far more “towers of Babel” than temples of true love? Reiterating the Problem… and the solution To repeat the Psalm; “Except the Lord build the house, all who labor labor in vain.” (126:1). We cannot overcome our own brokenness by trying harder or following the examples and guidance of people who are broken, too (St. Matthew 15:14; … if the blind lead the blind both will fall into a pit). An alcoholic cannot live a healthy life by trying harder; he has to admit his problem, heal and transform his heart and habits. And he has to let God be the foundation of this process. This is why twelve-step programs are so successful: they transform the hearts and habits of the repentant, with God as the foundation of the process. How many addicts do you know that continue ruining their lives because they think they can work everything out on their own? But alcoholics and philanderers do not just hurt themselves. We know from history and our own observations that the children of alcoholics and broken homes are cursed by both nature and nurture. Again, it isn't fair, but it is true. If we want the next generations to succeed then we have to be honest about both the cause and the cure of what ails them and us. The cause is our brokenness, and the cure is Christ Jesus. The cure is His Church. The cure is the Way of Holy Orthodoxy. All else is vanity. They are Towers of Babel. They are sand castles at a low tide. Back to Today's Gospel: becoming fishers of men The curse of sin is the very thing that Christ came to remove. To put it in very practical terms, Christ came to save your marriages, to heal your addictions, to restore your sanity, and to replace your sorrow, pain, and frustration with joy and eternal blessedness. That is to say, He came to save you from the very real, very specific, and very damning problems in your life. And not just yours, but everyone's. A world that was created good groans in agony, and our Lord loves it too much to allow that to continue. And so He became a man, He taught us, He died for us, He was resurrected and ascended into Glory, and, more to today's point, He established the Church to be the Ark of our salvation. What a beautiful image a boat is for the Church. Think about it: we are drowning in a sea of sin and trying to tread water amidst a storm of temptation. We cannot survive this on our own, and it does not help to band together – eventually, even the strongest swimmer must succumb to weakness; moreover, the weak are infamous for dragging the stronger down. It is a terrible situation to be drowning in this stormy sea. Our breaths are numbered, and we are sure to die in agony. It is only a matter of time. But into this bleak scene comes salvation: the apostles cast out their nets and pull us in to the safety of the boat. We can finally breath without struggling. It is calm in the boat. It is here that our real healing begins… then we are given our own nets.  Conclusion: we cannot catch men if we don't try; we cannot catch men if we don't learn how We are in the boat. Here at Christ the Saviour, we have the fullness of the faith (we are like a fractal of the Universal Church) so it is fair to say that we are the boat. But remember that bit earlier about how nature and nurture conspire against our marriages? You know me well enough by now to know that I wasn't just talking about marriage. Marriage is an image of the Church: the union of flesh with one another and the union of that one flesh with God (Ephesians 5:32). Why should we think that we are naturally any better at living as the Church than we are with marriage? The same forces work against us: we suffer from both nature and nurture. Just as good intentions are not enough for the children of broken homes, they are not enough for us as we try to build this parish. Without serious help, we will just end up building the equivalent of a miserable and failed marriage, another Tower of Babel, a perverse monument to our own fallenness. We cannot do it on our own.  We need help.   We need Christ. Without Him, we are like the Apostles in today's lesson before our Lord came; “toiling all night and catching nothing” (St. Luke 5:5). It had been a hard night for them and they had given up on catching anything; but then Christ came and told them to go back out, and they caught more than they could carry. So many that their boats almost broke. This parish has been through a lot.  There was a time when it was down to a handful of people.  Like Simon in today's lesson, we had good hearts and the best of intentions, but we were tired; and we had pretty much given up on catching fish. But the Lord has told us to get back out there and get it done. And so that is what we are doing.  Of course, we are smart in the ways of the world, and we are always tempted to rely on our own strength and our own hearts. But our hearts are broken and our strength will fail us. “Except the Lord build the house, all who labor labor in vain.” (126:1). But for those who put their trust in the Lord and in His way – there is no limit to the good that they can do. This is where we are. We have given our lives and the future of this parish to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Like Simon, we haven't always seen the point of what the Lord commands, but also like Simon, we follow Him. And we know the result of doing the Lord's will: the catch was so great that their nets were so full that they were all but bursting, and the ship could barely stay afloat.  Does this sound familiar?  The Lord has bless your commitment and your faith; and our growth has been so great that we wonder if our walls can hold the number of men, women, and children who have been pulled in to the safety of the Church. So great that we, like Simon calling for the second boat, are helping to plant missions and look for new properties to provide enough room. Because there is no reason to expect this growth to stop.  After all, there are a lot of people drowning in the waters around us. We cannot allow them to perish – it is God's will that all be saved. It is a tough calling. But we do not labor in vain: because we are building according to the Lord's command. We have been transformed fishers of men. To God be all glory and may He bless us as we do this work.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 29th of September, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Exodus 14:15: “And the Lord said to Moses,'”Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” There's no reverse gear in the kingdom of God, we are only going forward. There is no future in the past, we are not about to go backwards. Jesus Christ is coming back soon and we need to be going forward when He comes back. No more talking about it. No more double-guessing. Maybe I'm talking to someone today who is between a rock and a hard place. Oh, my dear friend, I know the feeling so well, by the way, so did Moses. Moses was looking at an ocean, the Red Sea before him, and behind him was the most powerful army in the world coming down upon him, and they were very bitter and angry. They had lost the oldest boy in each one of their families. They wanted revenge. What could they do? The people cried out to Moses, ”Why have you brought us here? It would have been easier if we'd remained in Egypt as slaves.” Maybe you're saying that today, ”I shouldn't have done this. I've got myself into a position now. If I'd just stayed the way I was before, I would have been alright.” That's not the truth and you know it, we've got to go forward!Now we've got to do it by two things: Number one, by faith, and number two, by obedience. You see, by faith Moses stretched out his arm with his staff, and the ocean parted, and they walked through it. What you need to do is hear clearly what it is God told you to do at the beginning, and then follow through. Go forward, and then do it by faith and obedience, and the Lord will do the rest.Hebrews 11:1: ”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” That is what we've got to do. We can't please God without faith, folks. He doesn't want our good works. He wants us simply to obey Him. Verse 6 says: ”But without faith it, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”That's why the Lord loved Peter so much. There were twelve disciples in the boat. Jesus came walking on the water and Peter said, ”Lord, call me and I'll come.” The Lord said, “Come!” He stepped out of the boat and he walked on top of the lake of Galilee. Folks, there's no man in the world that has ever walked on water. Peter did, through faith and obedience. Yes, he started sinking but the Lord was there to pick him out.Today, look to the Lord and go forward. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

Luke chapter 23 commences with Jesus before the Roman Governor Pilate, who wants nothing to do with the trumped-up charges that had been levelled against our Lord. Pilate pronounces Jesus innocent and on hearing that he was from Galilee felt he could evade any responsibility by sending Jesus to Herod. Herod had been curious about Jesus for some time. Herod questions Jesus and receives no answers. Herod reverts to mocking and handing our Lord over to be brutalised at the hands of his soldiers. Then having found no fault in our Lord, Herod returns him to Pilate - a partial reconciliation occurs between Herod and Pilate - the Governor. Pilate once again declares Jesus innocent, but causes him to be brutally scourged (this was sometimes called the intermediate death - and many a man died under the barbaric scourge). This barbaric act fails to evoke any pity from our Master's foes. For the third time Jesus is pronounced innocent. But the chief priests stir up the crowd to bay for Jesus' blood. Pilate is forced into making a decision he did not want to make. Our Lord is delivered to be crucified, and Barabbas is released. Jesus was so weak that the Romans pressed Simon of Cyrene to carry his crucifixion post. This man and his two sons in future years became disciples. The women wept to behold our Lord, but he tells them not to weep for him, but for the miseries that would fall on them. Jesus is crucified between two thieves, quite possibly Barabbas' followers. The place of his crucifixion was that of a skull; again, in all probability that of Goliath's skull. The soldiers gamble for his clothes, as had been prophesied in Psalm 22. Jesus, himself implores his Father to forgive them as they knew not what they were doing. One of the two thieves rails upon the Lord. The other turns in repentance to Jesus and asks Jesus to remember him when Jesus comes into his kingdom. Very likely the second thief understood the Gospel of the Kingdom. This thief is given the assurance of a place in Christ's Kingdom. Jesus' words were that the thief would be with the Lord in that day. Neither were in paradise that day for Jesus spent three days in the tomb. Our Lord suffered the taunting of sinners, by masterfully controlling himself and being the Victor verses Colossians 2 verses 11-15. About 3pm Jesus dies calmly causing a hardened centurion to exclaim that surely this man was the Son of God. For three hours the Almighty had veiled the scene in darkness, as a sign of His indignation at the wicked doings of those who crucified the Lord of glory. On his death there was a great earthquake, and the veil of the temple was torn by God from top to bottom. The law was now finished, and Christ has accomplished the opening of a new and living way. The Lord Jesus' remarkable control of himself under extreme provocation provides a wonderful example to us as Peter comments in 1 Peter 2 verses 20-25. A rich counsellor of the Sanhedrin begged Pilate for Jesus' body. Pilate enquires if our Lord has died and then hands our Lord's body to Joseph and Nicodemus who take it to Joseph's new and unused garden tomb. The women follow to see where Jesus was laid and to where they would come with the spices, they would purchase to embalm the Lord's body. The women then rest on the Sabbath day. This Sabbath day was a high Sabbath.

In this sermon by Pastor Chris Romig, the focus is on the spiritual battle at the heart of Jesus' ministry and its relevance for believers today. Chris highlights how Jesus, during his years of ministry, especially in Galilee, was constantly confronted by demonic forces, emphasizing that prayer was central to his spiritual strength and battle against evil. Chris draws from Mark's Gospel, particularly the story of Jesus casting out demons, to show that Jesus' mission was more than teaching or healing it was about bringing God's kingdom into a world of darkness and directly confronting evil. He notes how Jesus redefines the idea of “the enemy” moving the focus away from human adversaries, like the Romans, to the true enemy: Satan and spiritual forces behind human conflict. Christians, Chris says, should not demonize others but recognize the spiritual reality behind hate and division. Turning to current events, Chris laments the assassination of Charlie Kirk, urging believers to respond not with hatred but with prayer, forgiveness, and a renewed sense of spiritual mission. He calls the church to stand firm by praying, knowing and sharing God's Word, and worshipping as essential ways to engage in spiritual warfare. Chris ends with a word of encouragement and hope, reminding Christians that despite the turmoil in the world, Jesus is victorious. He urges the congregation to engage courageously in faith, prayer, and praise, recognizing their role in God's ongoing work and looking forward to Christ's ultimate renewal of all things.

This weekend our worship service is going to discuss faith. Christians and non-Christians alike talk about faith often. But there are often misunderstandings about what faith is, or whose work it it. Faith is a gift from God, and it is the means by which we become recipients of Christ's work for us. True faith rests in the promises of God and His strength, and not our own.  This weekend we are studying a hymn which prays for the kind of faith that will help us in the troubles of life. William Bathurst wrote the familiar hymn "Oh, for a faith that will not shrink" which is hymn 396 in The Lutheran Hymnal. Bathurst was a priest in the Church on England for most of his life and this is probably his best known hymn. The first 5 stanza develop a prayer for a faith that stands firm against the enemies of our God, and in the pain, storms, and afflictions of life in a sinful world. As we sing these stanzas many Biblical examples will come to mind. David as he faced the mighty Goliath. The widow who was about to prepare her last meal, but whose jar of oil did not run out. The disciples in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Joseph facing the temptation of Potiphar's wife. Daniel as he was thrown into the Lion's Den. The Children of Israel in the wilderness. The Apostle Paul as he faced death.  The Apostle John writes:  "And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith" (1 John 5:4-5). Jesus has already won the victory over our greatest enemies. He is greater than any storm, trial or persecution we will face. We are "More than conquerors in Christ." May the LORD bless your worship this weekend, as we pray for a faith that trusts in the LORD, whatever difficulty we face!

In this Bible Story, Jesus feeds five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. The crowds want him to be made king, so Jesus departs before the crowd becomes violent. The disciples depart on a boat while Jesus stays on shore to pray. Then, in power and glory, Jesus walks on water to return with his disciples. This story is inspired by John 6:1-10, Matthew 14:14-33. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Matthew 14:29 from the King James Version.Episode 193: As Jesus resumed his teaching around the shores of Galilee, the crowd around Him grew to swelling numbers. After teaching them all day, He had them sit for a meal. Though there were only two small fish and five round loaves of bread, Jesus showed the crowd that He has the power to provide for their needs. He multiplied the food to feed over five-thousand people! After this, the crowd became frenzied and Jesus sent His disciples ahead of Him on the sea while He escaped to pray. As the disciples were on the sea in the late of night, Jesus appeared walking on the water next to them. And though they were frightened they got a first-hand glimpse at what faith in Jesus can do.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daily Dose of Hope September 25, 2025   Scripture – Luke 24:1-35   Prayer:  Today we pray an ancient prayer from St Ambrose of Milan, who lived from 337-397 AD...O Lord, who has mercy upon all, take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle in me the fire of Your Holy Spirit. Take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore You, a heart to delight in You, to follow and to enjoy You, for Christ's sake.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional/podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently working our way through a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we begin a deep dive into Luke 24.    We start with Luke's resurrection account. And today, we find ourselves walking with the women: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others.  These are real women who traveled with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem, they cared for his needs, learned from him, witnessed his power and glory, and loved him.  This has been a horrible week for them.  They helplessly watched him die.  And now, filled with grief, they want to anoint his body for burial.  They need to do this.  I should mention that Jesus was crucified on a Friday.  His body was hastily put in a tomb just before the Sabbath began (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown).  So they have to wait to prepare his body for burial.  Saturday night, it would have been too dark to take care of the body so we are meeting them probably very early on a Sunday morning.  They are ready.  They have brought their spices, they plan to attend to the body properly.  In the Jewish culture, a proper burial demonstrated honor for the deceased and for these women, it was an act of love and respect.    But when they get there, the most unexpected thing happens.  The stone has been rolled away from the tomb and the tomb is empty.  Jesus' body is simply not there.  This doesn't make sense to them.  And it was while they were wondering about where the body is, totally confused and perplexed, that two men in dazzling clothes (clothes that gleam like lightening), we can assume they are angels, they stand by the women.  And the women put their faces down, they were probably scared out of their minds.  And the men say, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”    Such a bizarre question.  Why do you look for the living among the dead?  They are at a tomb, which is typically where dead bodies, not living bodies, are kept.  And they fully expected Jesus' dead body to be there.  Afterall, they saw Jesus die.  They were the last to leave the cross.  They saw his limp, lifeless body placed in the tomb.  What do you mean?  Why do you look for the living among the dead?  But the sparkling men continue…he is not here, he is risen.  Remember how he told you these things?  Way back when you were in Galilee, he told you this was going to happen?    It was then that they remembered his words.  Multiple times, Jesus had said told them but it didn't make sense at the time.  Whether they simply weren't paying enough attention or they didn't want to know the truth, they didn't understand. Luke 9:22, And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”   Now, it's all coming together.  They do remember! Maybe they don't completely understand but they know that something totally unexpected, something totally amazing has happened, and they can't wait to tell the others.  So they burst into the room where the male disciples are hiding and out it comes.  They spill their guts.  They tell them about their morning.  You can picture it.  They are probably talking really fast and they might have been talking over one another and kind of out of breath.  They are excited.  They are so excited!    And the guys, well, let's just say aren't impressed.  They don't believe the women, saying their words were nonsense.  Other translations say the men tell the women they were spreading an idle tale, that what they were reporting was fake news.  It wasn't what they were expecting so it must not have been true.  Wow.    The narrative ends with Peter getting up and running to the tomb.  He also finds it empty, with the strips of burial cloth that would have been wrapped around Jesus' body just lying there on the ground.  And he walks off, wondering what really happened.    And then the narrative shifts to a different scene. Two of Jesus' disciples, not the twelve but two other male disciples, one named Cleophus and the other left unnamed, were walking from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus.  There are some walks that are longer than others — not because of the miles or even because of the landscape, but because of the burdens. This was a 7 mile walk but it might as well been a 27 mile walk because these men are distressed.  They are grieving.  They have been following Jesus.  They believed him to be the Messiah and Savior and they have just seen him killed, murdered on a Roman cross.  So, they are walking slowly and speaking intensely.  The Greek suggests they may have been having some kind of theological argument.  Bottom line:  they are tired, weary, sad, and confused.  They don't understand what they have just witnessed.  And now they have to go back home and continue with their lives.  You can kind of imagine the kinds of questions they had.  Why did this happen?  How did God allow this to happen?  I can relate to their distress.  Every one of us, at some point, will have to take a walk to Emmaus. Some of you have been down this road already or you are walking it right now! In this world we will have trouble. And it will hit close to home. There will be times when all hope seems lost, and our world seems to be crumbling around us.  Maybe it's a walk out of an office where you have given years of your life but you are now being let go.  Maybe it's a walk out of the doctor's office after your spouse has just been given a terminal diagnosis.  Maybe it's the walk out of the attorney's office after the divorce papers have been finalized.  These are painful walks, in which we question God.  God, how could you let this happen?  God, I thought you were powerful and real.  What in the world is going on here?  In some way, all of us have experienced a walk like that.  Now, Jesus interrupts their argument, but they don't know it's Jesus at this point.  They are kept from knowing him.  He is a stranger to them.  I love this.  Because Jesus shows up to them JUST as he shows up to us.  We don't always recognize his presence either.  I don't know about you, but I've had times in my life that were so difficult, so painful, so anxiety-provoking, that I am so consumed with those feelings and then I look back and realize later, that Jesus was there with me.  His presence was real.  It was protecting me, guarding me, guiding me.  Jesus has a way of showing up when we need him most.  We just don't always recognize it.  Here's the thing.  Jesus could have said, “Hey guys, its me.  I'm here.  I've fixed everything.  Look, I'm alive!”  But he doesn't do that.  Instead, he says, “Don't YOU understand?”  And he begins to explain, starting at the very beginning of Scripture and walks them through the prophecies, walks them through how God said he would send a Savior who would have to suffer and die.  Hope and faith must have begun to stir their hearts as he spoke. They must have never heard, really heard, the gospel like this before—a gospel that included the suffering of the Messiah before entering his glory—told by the resurrected Lord himself!  Now, keep in mind, their circumstances have not changed but their perspective is beginning to change.  Faith is budding. They invite Jesus (still a stranger to them) to come stay with them.  It's late and they insist that he come and dine with them.  It was at the table, when they were breaking bread together that they recognize him.  Just as he did on Thursday night in the Upper Room --- it's when he takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and offers it to them.  Their eyes are opened and they know – this is our Jesus.  Are our eyes open to Jesus when we break bread together?  Blessings, Pastor Vicki    

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 25th of September, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of John 21:9: “Then as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it and bread.”Faith has got feet, faith is a doing word, not a noun. A noun is a table or a chair. It can't move, it can't do anything, but faith is active. Don't tell people that you love them, show them that you love them. Now, the Master taught us very well. Remember, after He had been resurrected He was at a place called Peter's Landing on the Sea of Galilee. It's actually a big lake. It is 21 km long and 13 km wide, and very, very deep and full of fish. The disciples had been fishing all night. Now they were coming to land, and there was the Master, but He wasn't just standing there. He had already taken time to take flour to make bread, to catch fish, to prepare them on the fire, and He was waiting for them. That is what I love about our beloved Jesus. He is not just a talker, He is actually a doer. Now, what about you and I, today. Why don't we do something and especially for someone who can't repay us, then we know that our motive is pure. I want to say to the men, why don't you cook supper tonight? You say, “I don't cook!” Well you better learn. If Jesus can cook, you can cook too! Why don't you wash the dishes? Get up a bit earlier and do something for your family. Mow the grass! Now ladies, I am not letting you off the hook either. Why don't you sit down and watch that rugby match with your husband? “I don't like rugby.” No, he knows you don't like rugby and that is why I am saying, why don't you do it? Then he knows you are doing it because you love him and do it joyfully, and don't forget to shout for the correct team! But jokes aside, let's start to put our faith into practice, let's start doing what Jesus would have done. Let's start helping people physically, not just with a word of encouragement but following up by action.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,Goodbye.

Read OnlineHerod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying, “John has been raised from the dead”; others were saying, “Elijah has appeared”; still others, “One of the ancient prophets has arisen.” Luke 9:7–8Herod the tetrarch, also known as Herod Antipas, ruled the Jews of Galilee for some forty-two years. He began his reign in 2 BC and continued to reign until he was exiled by the Roman Emperor in 37 AD. During his reign, he spent much time in Tiberias, one of the main cities on the western edge of the Sea of Galilee. Most of Jesus' ministry took place within the region of Herod's domain, all of Galilee, so Herod was very aware of the many stories about Jesus.Today's Gospel concludes by saying that Herod kept trying to see Jesus. Of course, Herod, just like anyone living in that region, could have traveled to where Jesus was preaching so as to listen to Him at any time. But he didn't do that. Instead, he continued to receive reports about Jesus and remained curious about Him, trying to find a way to figure out Who Jesus was.Try to imagine what would have happened if Herod would have traveled to where Jesus was preaching so as to listen to Him with an open heart. If he would have done that, and truly listened, Herod would have received one of the greatest gifts imaginable. He would have received the gift of faith and conversion and would have begun down the road toward eternal salvation. But Herod was living an immoral life. He was known to be a cruel leader and also an unrepentant adulterer. He loved his power and was quite jealous of it. Herod most likely knew, at least in the back of his mind, that if he were to listen to Jesus, he would have to change. And he most likely didn't want to change.This presents us all with a powerful lesson. Each one of us can easily dismiss various communications and invitations from our Lord, because, deep down, we do not want to change. God is speaking to us all day long, every day of our lives. He is constantly offering us His message of the full Gospel. And though you may be open to much of what God says, there are most likely parts of His divine message that you either knowingly or unknowingly do not listen to. The key to being able to hear everything that God wants to speak to you is to be disposed to completely change in any and every way that God wants you to change.Reflect, today, upon Herod. First, reflect upon his curiosity about Jesus. This is a good quality, in that it's much better than being indifferent. From there, think also about the fact that Herod never went to Jesus to listen to Him. His first meeting with Jesus was on the night of His arrest, when he interrogated our Lord and made fun of Him. As you consider Herod's obstinacy, use it as an examination of your own life. Where you see any small reflection of obstinacy, fear of change or a closed heart, seek to remedy that by turning to our Lord telling Him you are open to all He wishes to say and that you are ready and willing to change in any way He calls you to do so. Do not fear the change our Lord wants of you. Embracing that change will land you on the quick and narrow road toward true holiness of life.My ever-present Lord, You call to me day and night, inviting me to change as I listen to Your holy Word. I thank You for these constant promptings of grace and commit myself to remain open to all that You ask of me. I choose You, my Lord. And as I turn to You, I pray that I will have the courage I need to respond wholeheartedly to Your call. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: John Rogers Herbert, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 4:15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 4:21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? 4:23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 4:24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 4:25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 4:26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 4:27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 4:29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 4:30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way, 4:31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 4:32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. 4:33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 4:34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 4:35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 4:36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. 4:37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. 4:38 And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. 4:39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. 4:40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 4:41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. 4:42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. 4:43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. 4:44 And he preached in the synagogues of Gali...

Looking Foolish For JesusNumbers 11:23 “The LORD answered Moses: Is this beyond the LORD's reach? You shall see now whether or not what I have said to you takes place.”I have been reading two books lately that have really got me thinking about how I pray.  One is called The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson, and the other is called The Cross and the Switch Blade by David Wilkerson.  Both books have similar themes.  One central theme seems to be praying boldly and specifically.  They both talk about how if we want to see extraordinary things, we need to be willing to look foolish sometimes.  Here is a short excerpt from the book The Circle Maker.  “Faith is the willingness to look foolish.  Noah looked foolish building a boat in a desert.  The Israelite army looked foolish, marching around Jericho, blowing trumpets.  A shepherd boy named David looked foolish charging a giant with a sling shot.  The Magi looked foolish tracking a star to Timbuktu.  Peter looked foolish getting out of the boat in the sea of Galilee, and Jesus looked foolish wearing a crown of thorns.  But the results speak for themselves.  Noah was saved from the flood, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, David defeated Goliath, the magi discovered the Messiah, Peter walked on water, and Jesus was crowned king of kings. Foolishness is a feeling that Moses was very familiar with. He had to feel foolish going before the pharaoh and demanding that he let God's people go. He felt foolish raising his staff over the Red Sea, and he most certainly felt foolish promising meat to eat for the entire nation of Israel in the middle of the wilderness, but his willingness to look foolish resulted in epic miracles: the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the quail miracle.”  The quail miracle is what I want to talk to you about today.  God had saved the Israelites from Egypt; he was providing a miracle for them every single day by providing manna, and yet they were not happy.  They were complaining about not having meat to eat. They were talking about all the good things they had to eat when they were in Egypt and reminiscing as if those were good times because they had so much free food and fish. But they're forgetting that the food was free because they were not; they were slaves.  In Numbers 11:10-15, Moses hears the people complaining and asks God why he treats him so badly as to give him the responsibility of all these people.  Then in Numbers 11:18-21 God says, “To the people, however, you shall say: 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, when you shall have meat to eat. For in the hearing of the LORD you have cried, ‘If only we had meat for food! Oh, how well off we were in Egypt! Therefore, the LORD will give you meat to eat, and you will eat it, not for one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your very nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. For you have rejected the LORD who is in your midst, and in his presence you have cried, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?'” This is one of those times I talked about earlier when sometimes faith requires you to look a little foolish.  Moses did not understand how there could be enough meat to feed all these people for a whole month.  He even questioned God about this.  In Numbers 11:22, Moses asks, “The people around me include six hundred thousand soldiers; yet you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.' Can enough sheep and cattle be slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” I find this remarkable and comforting.  After all the truly extraordinary miracles Moses has seen, he still questions the Lord when he tells him something.  I find it remarkable because I would think by now, he would know to just trust God.  I find it comforting because if someone who is as close to the Lord as Moses was can question or doubt the Lord, then I don't have to be so hard on myself when I do it.  Moses could not see how this could happen; the math did not add up.  
Then the next verse is one that we should ask ourselves often, especially when we are facing a situation that seems impossible.  Numbers 11:23 says, “The LORD answered Moses: Is this beyond the LORD's reach? You shall see now whether or not what I have said to you takes place.”  Wow, is this beyond the Lord's reach?  What a great question!  And I hope we all know the answer is No, nothing is beyond the Lord's reach.  I wonder what Moses was thinking in that moment when God said that to him.  He was probably feeling the same way we feel when our parents ask us a question that we ought to know the answer to.  
After this talk with God, Moses had a decision to make.  Was he going to trust God and go out in front of his 600,000 soldiers and tell them that God would provide them with meat for a month?  Would he put his reputation on the line to say something that he himself had trouble believing?   I think a lot of us find ourselves in this situation more often than we would like to admit.  We all know the power of the Holy Spirit and of God, and yet, we are hesitant to voice our prayers loud enough for others to hear.  Or we are afraid to go out on a limb and pray a specific prayer out loud because what if God doesn't come through?  What if we look foolish?  What will people think?  Luckily, Moses did go out and tell the people what God had said.  And you know what, God showed up.  He always does.   In Numbers 11:31-32, it talks about this miracle, “There arose a wind from the LORD that drove in quail from the sea and left them all around the camp site, to a distance of a day's journey and at a depth of two cubits upon the ground.  So all that day, all night, and all the next day, the people set about to gather in the quail. Even the one who got the least gathered ten homers* of them. Then they spread them out all around the camp.” Not knowing what a cubit is, or how much a homer is, I had trouble picturing how magnificent this miracle actually was.  I did not understand how much of a miracle this was until I heard it explained in the Circle Maker book.  I thought I would explain it as the author Mark Batterson explained it. The area which was filled with quail was 10 times larger than Washington D.C., and the quail were piled 3 feet high.  Each person collected at least 10 homers.  If you multiply 10 homers by the 600,000 soldiers, you get 6 million homers of quail.  Which means that the day it rained quail, it rained down at least 105 million quail.  I had no idea it was so many.  That seems so crazy to me.  Can you even imagine what that must have looked like?  God provided this miracle for Moses and the people; however, he did not provide the miracle until after Moses went out and told the people what God had promised to them.  What if Moses had decided not to stand up and tell the people what God had said?  Would they still have gotten the miracle?  Oftentimes, if we want to experience a miracle, we need to be willing to do something first.  Take some action in faith.  Oftentimes, that action on our part may make us look foolish or feel uncomfortable. Faith definitely asks us to step outside of our comfort zone at times.  If we aren't willing to risk looking foolish, we may not get our miracles. You may be nervous to pray to God for certain things because you are worried that your prayers won't get answered. But remember this, 100% of the prayers never prayed don't get answered.  If we don't ask for it, then we don't give God the chance to answer it. We don't give him the chance to show off his power and glory.  The next time you are unsure how God could answer your prayers, remember these words from God: “Is this beyond the Lord's reach?”Dear heavenly father, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you give us the courage and boldness we need to do as you ask. Lord Jesus, we ask that you give us a holy boldness to look foolish or step outside of our comfort zone if that's what you're asking us to do. We ask that you help us take a chance on you, Lord. We know you always show up, and we know you always come through. Lord, we believe, please help our unbelief. Lord, give us the faith of Moses and Noah and Joshua and all those who came before us.  Lord help us to have unwavering faith in you, help us to ask you for whatever it is we need without hesitation. Lord Jesus, you are amazing, and we're so thankful for all you do for us.  We love you so very much, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, amen. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

In this teaching, Dave Bigler quest teaches at Adirondack Christian Fellowship. He goes through Matthew 8.23-27 talking about Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. Dave talks about the historical context of the Sea of Galilee and how quickly storms can rage on that water. We see Jesus, not worried at all, quickly calm the story and ask the disciples why they doubted. We see this applicable in our lives today as we face the storms that rage in our own lives, and how we grow from going through them. Dave ties this into short-term missions and how we grow from intentionally putting ourselves in situations that will strengthen our faith in the Lord. Dave concludes with a recap of his recent team trip to Malawi, Africa.

Join Pastor Mike Burchfield as he continues his series, Jesus Christ: Perfect Man - Mighty God. This Sunday he will be discussing: Inaugurating a New Kingdom. Matthew 4:12-17 "Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 'The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.' From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

"The King" is our sermon series through Matthew. Jesus gets aboard a ship to cross the Sea of Galilee with his disciples and a fierce storm arises while Jesus is asleep. By calming the storm, he teaches his disciples a lesson about his deity. On the heels of the storm, thousands of demons await Jesus and the disciples on the shore. If you made the decision to trust Jesus, or God challenged you in a specific way during this sermon, please let us know by contacting us at hello@newheightswv.com, so that we can celebrate and pray with you!

Your Daily Prayer

What does it mean to live in light of the resurrection? How do we, imperfect people on this side of heaven, live lives that echo eternity? Jesus walks the shores of Galilee one last time, and reassures His beloved apostles that He will always be with them. Then, shrouded in glory, He ascends into heaven. Go to JesusPodcast.com and receive daily devotionals about Jesus.Today's Bible verse is Mark 16:6 from the King James Version.Download the Pray.com app for more Christian content including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Pray.com is the digital destination for faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Luke 5:1-11, Matthew 6:24-34 Luke 5:1-11 pg. 1,597 v.1: “One day as Jesus was standing by the sea of Galilee the people were CROWDING around Him and listening to the WORD of GOD.” Where ever there is an active, outward facing Church that embraces the tone and the posture of Jesus, doing what Jesus calls […]

Chaplain Don Moldstad was preacher for this service. Luke 17:11-19: Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Order of Service: - Prelude - The Confession of Sin (p. 109) - Hymn 65 - Praise To the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation - The Versicles (pp. 109-110) - The Invitatory (p. 110) - The Venite Exultemus (p. 111) - Psalm 42, sung as Hymn 462, As After the Water-Brooks: v. 1 Soloist, v. 2 Choir, v. 3, 4 All - Jeremiah 17:13-14 - Galatians 5:15-24 - Choral Anthem: If You Love Me: If you love Me, Keep My commandments; And I will ask the Father, And He will give you another comforter, To be with you forever. This is the Spirit, The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot know; But you can know him because He abides with you, And He will be in you, and He will be in you. If you love Me, Keep My commandments, If you love Me. - Philip M. Young - Luke 17:11-19: Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” - Hymn 462 - As After the Water-Brooks Panteth - Sermon - Hymn 43 - Holy God, We Praise Thy Name: 1 All, 2 Women, 3 Men, 4 All, 5 Women, 6 Men, 7 All - The Kyrie (Lord have mercy) (pp. 116-117) - The Lord's Prayer (p. 117) - The Collect (pp. 118-119) - Hymn 63 - Now Thank We All Our God - Hymn 598 - On My Heart Imprint Thine Image - Announcement: Dr. Gene Pfeifer, President - Special Recognition: Exceptional Service to Bethany Award - Mr. William Overn - Remarks by Mr. Lyle Fahning Service Participants: Chaplain Don Moldstad (Preacher), Nathan Nikoley (Organist), BLC Concert Choir (Choral Group), Prof. David Paulson (Choir Director)

A Sermon for the Feast of St. Matthew St. Matthew 9:9-13 and 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 by William Klock “As Jesus was leaving that place, he saw a man called Matthew sitting in the toll booth.” I expect that Matthew was just itching to get to this part of the story as he wrote his gospel account.  It's nine chapters in, roughly a third of the way.  But he knew that the Gospel is about Jesus, not Matthew.  Still, he was excited to tell people how he had met Jesus.  Up to this point, Matthew's been telling us about walking around Galilee preaching good news and doing all the Messiah things that made the good news real and tangible to people.  He's been across the Sea of Galilee where he cast a multitude of demons out of a man and now he's back and on his way home to Capernaum.  And that's how he meets Matthew.  Matthew's a tax- or a toll-collector and here he is, sitting in his tollbooth next to the road.  I suppose there must have been some kind of gate.  Matthew would get up from his stool, go out to the road, and collect the toll from everyone going from Point A to Point B and from Point B to Point A.  And everyone who went by grudgingly handed over their money.  And they grumbled.  And probably not a few people had some choice words for Matthew.  Because everybody hated tax collectors. I was racking my brain this week trying to think of an example from our world that would explain just how much people hated tax-collectors and why and it's hard to think of a modern equivalent.  That was a different world.  No one likes a tax-collector, because no one likes paying taxes.  But in First Century Judaea there was way more to it than just people not liking paying taxes.  The local Roman government decided how much they would need to run things and then they'd farm the collection of taxes out to the highest bidder.  And, of course, the tax collectors had to make a living themselves, so they'd pad their collection.  But they weren't just getting by.  Tax collectors were notorious for using their position to enrich themselves.  And the local council or governor didn't care just so long as they got their cut of the revenue.  It was bad enough and common enough that when the rabbis wrote about tax collectors, they typically lumped them together with thieves.  And it only made it worse when the tax collectors were working for the Romans.  We don't know if Matthew was working directly for the Romans or for some local Galilean authority, but at the end of the day it didn't really matter.  At some level the Romans were in charge of it all and tax collectors were thieves doing their dirty work. But there's more to it than that.  We think of Matthew, padding his toll collecting and getting rich by stealing from people whom he's got over a barrel and we think he's a pretty rotten guy.  That's an awful thing to do.  That's a scummy way to make your money.  But for the Jews there was another layer, something deeper to what made it so horrible, what made them hate someone like Matthew so much. Let me try to explain.  So, if you or I hear about a thief—or maybe a crooked tax collector skimming off the top—we just think, “That's a bad person”.  If we found out that this thief had been baptised and grew up going to church and Sunday school, we'd think something like, “I guess he forgot everything he was taught as a kid.”  Maybe if it came out he was an active warden or elder or deacon in his church, then we might start to think about what he'd done as a betrayal not just of his faith, but of us all.  Here's a guy who professed faith in Jesus, but betrayed that faith by doing something really sinful.  And maybe that gets us closer to how Matthew's fellow Jews would have thought about him.  Because Matthew was circumcised.  Matthew was part of the covenant community.  Matthew was marked out as one of the Lord's people.  And Matthew knew their story.  Matthew knew all about the Lord and how he had delivered his ancestors from Egypt.  Matthew knew all the great things the Lord had done in the centuries that followed.  We can kind of excuse some people today.  We all know people who were baptised, but they were never really taught the faith, their parents never really took them to church, now they're grown up and say they're an atheist, and the sinful lifestyle they live kind of makes sense in light of all that.  But that wasn't Matthew.  That wasn't anyone in Israel.  Everyone knew what it meant to be God's people.  There were no atheists.  They all knew that God hates sin.  They knew what it meant to be the people who lived with God in their midst.  They knew that you had not only to be holy to enter God's temple, but that you also had to be pure.  That's what set them apart from the pagans.  Matthew knew all of this.  Even if he he'd had rotten parenting, everything and everyone around him would have reinforced all of this. And he rejected it.  Maybe he chose this life on his own.  Maybe he inherited the job from his father who inherited it from his father.  That probably would have made it easier.  But whatever the case Matthew chose to live a life in apposition to everything his family, his people, and his nation stood for and he chose to do it right in the midst of them.  Imagine an Amish boy who decides he doesn't want to be Amish anymore.  Usually they leave and go to live in the outside world, but imagine this Amish kid decided to stay in his close-knit Amish town, but he struts around in fancy clothes, whips around town in his Porsche, and throws wild parties with loud music at his house on the weekends.  And everyone would be horrified at him.  That's Matthew, a tax-collector in Israel. But it gets worse.  Or at least I think it does.  Not everyone would agree with me on this part.  Mark and Luke, in their Gospels, refer to Matthew by the name of “Levi”.  Christian tradition has mostly understood Matthew and Levi to be the same person, but to make this connection is not without its difficulties.  One of those difficulties is that it was pretty rare for a Jewish person to have two Aramaic names.  A Jewish name and Greek name?  Like Saul of Tarsus who is also known as Paul: that's common.  But usually if someone with an Aramaic name has a second Aramaic name, it's because their given name is common, like John or Judas or Joshua, and the second name—maybe the name of his father—distinguishes him from other guys with the same name.  But neither Matthew nor Levi were common names.  No one was likely to confuse this Matthew with another Matthew.  But the one instance in which we see men with two Aramaic names is when they come from prominent families.  It wasn't uncommon for these men to be known by their family names.  And I think that's what has happened with Matthew.  Mark and Luke remember him as “Levi”—his family name—but Matthew went by his given name.  Because the family name Levi mean that they were a Levitical family.  And this made things all the worse for Matthew.  The tribe of Levi were the priestly family.  They were the ones who served in the temple.  They were the ones who acted as mediators between the Lord and his people.  Israel was a holy people, but the Levites were a holy tribe within that holy people.  Consider that one of the duties of the Levites was the collection of taxes.  They collected the tithes of Israel.  Those tithes were their livelihood.  And they collected the temple tax, to pay for the upkeep of the Lord's house.  But Matthew had become a tax collector of another kind, not one dependent on the Lord and the faithfulness of his people, but a man who fleeced God's people in collusion with the pagans. Brothers and Sisters, that was Matthew sitting in his toll-booth.  A wealthy traitor not only to the Lord, but to his people and to his family and to his calling and despised by everyone.  I fully expect there were days when Matthew longed to get out of the mess he was in.  In theory he could have made everything right and returned to the Lord, but to do that he'd have had to make restitution.  I don't think Matthew would have even known where to begin.  And so he stayed in his toll-booth, he kept his riches, and he threw parties for other tax collectors and sinners—because they were the only people who would associate with him.  And every day he became a little bit more dead inside. And then, this day, along came Jesus.  Matthew knew perfectly well who Jesus was.  Everyone in Galilee was talking about Jesus.  If nothing else, Matthew would have heard about his miracles, but I expect he'd heard about his preaching, too.  Maybe Matthew had even stood at a distance a time or two in Capernaum to hear Jesus preach.  Matthew knew that in Jesus the God of Israel was doing something.  But Matthew stayed at a distance.  Because Matthew knew he was a traitor to his God and to his people and to his covenant.  As attractive as Jesus and his message were, it was not for someone like Matthew. Brothers and Sisters, how many people around us feel just like that?  They're sinners.  They feel the weight of it and would love for it to be gone.  They've got some vague knowledge of Jesus.  But they'd never come to church.  A coworker once said to me, “Church is for holy people, not for people like me.”  They see no way out. And now Matthew sees Jesus approaching his gate.  Maybe he thought, “This might be the Messiah.  I should really cut him a break instead of ripping him off like I do everyone else.”  And that's when, he writes in verse 9, Jesus “said to him, ‘Follow me.'”  And he just says, “And he rose up and follow him.” I have to think there was at least a little bit more to it than that.  But those words, “Follow me” were ultimately what did it for Matthew.  No Pharisee, no scribe, no lawyer had ever come to Matthew and said, “Follow me, Brother.  Let me help you get out of your sins.”  They paid his extortionate toll, dropping their coin in the toll-box and being extra careful not to touch it or anything else that Matthew had touched.  They sneered at him—if they looked at him at all—called him “traitor”, and went on their way.  But this Jesus, this man in whom the God his fathers was so clearly at work doing something new, Jesus smiled and invited him to join in what he was doing. Brothers and Sisters, sometimes that's all it takes.  Matthew had seen God's glory on display in Jesus, but he didn't think it was for him.  He just needed to hear that, yes, in fact it was for him—for everyone, but especially for people like him.  That was actually part of the new thing Jesus was doing.  Without Jesus, reconciliation with is people was hopeless.  He was a toll-collector.  How could he ever make things right with everyone he'd ever stolen from?  How could he even make a good faith effort?  But in those words, “Follow me,” Jesus offered Matthew forgiveness.  Jesus bypassed the temple, because he is the new temple himself; he bypassed the priests, because he is our new priest; and he bypassed the sacrifices and the law of restitution, because he is the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of Israel and the whole world.  Jesus simply held out forgiveness and reconciliation to Matthew.  All Matthew had to do was leave his tollbooth behind—that's repentance—and follow Jesus.  And, Matthew says, that's just what he did.  “He rose up and followed him.” He “rose up”.  I think Matthew chose that language deliberately.  It's resurrection language.  When he decided to trust Jesus—and that's just what it was: trust and loyalty and allegiance—he was raised up out of his sin, he was raised up out of his alienation from God and from his people, and he was given his life back.  And not just given back his old life, Jesus gave him something even better.  He lifted Matthew up out of the life this evil age of sin and death and gave him a taste and a promise of the age to come, of new creation, of the Holy Spirit, and of the fellowship with God that his people had been so longing for. And, too, Jesus restores to Matthew his birthright as a Levite.  As the Levites mediated the Lord to his people, so Matthew now brings the good news about Jesus to his people.  In verse 10 he immediately takes us to his house.  “When he was at home,” he writes, “sitting down to a meal, there were lots of tax-collectors and sinners there who had come to have dinner with Jesus and his disciples.”  Other tax collectors and sinners were the only people who hang around with Matthew.  Matthew knew that some of them felt the same way he did.  They were traitors to the Lord and traitors to his people.  They were hopelessly lost sheep.  There was no way out.  But Matthew had found it—or, rather, the way out had found him.  And so he invites his friends to meet Jesus.  They'd heard and seen him doing amazing things.  Like Matthew, they'd been on the fringe.  If the priest and Levites—not to mention everyone else in Israel—condemned them and kept apart from them, the Messiah certainly wasn't for them.  But here he was and Jesus was saying the same thing to them that he'd said to Matthew: “Follow me.”  And, I expect, at least some of them did.  And Jesus and the disciples rejoiced with those people because they knew that heaven itself was rejoicing too. But there were always the Pharisees.  Matthew writes that when they “saw it, they said to Jesus' disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?'  But Jesus heard them.  ‘It isn't the healthy who need a doctor,' he said, ‘it's the sick.  Go and learn what this saying means: “It's mercy I want, not sacrifice.” I haven't come to call upright people, but sinners.'” Like Paul says in our Epistle today, there was a veil over their eyes.  The Pharisees were sick in their own ways, and Jesus exposed their sickness by going to the tax-collectors and sinners.  When they complain about it, he quotes the words the Lord had spoken to Isaiah.  We heard those words last week when our Gospel was the parable of the good Samaritan—Hosea 6 turned into a story.  The problem was that the people lacked the heart of God.  The sinners devoted to their sinning, the greedy tax-collectors ripping everyone off, and the Pharisees too—almost everyone in Israel—was far from God.  His absence from the temple all those years was a metaphor for Israel's problem.  Even those who were devoted to the law and who were “religious” about their tithing and their sabbaths and their diet and their sacrifices, were no closer to God than the prostitute or the tax-collector.  And so Jesus came to the sinners with God's mercy—because they so desperately needed it—and he gave it to them in front of the watching scribes and Pharisees and all the “upright” people in Israel so that they could see that they needed to learn that same mercy and know it themselves. It was that mercy that reached Matthew.  It was that mercy that reached Paul and lifted the veil from his eyes.  And it was that mercy, made manifest in Jesus, that both Paul and Matthew proclaimed.  It was this mercy that's at the centre of the Gospel that Matthew wrote to his people.  And it's this same mercy that Paul preached.  In today's Epistle from 2 Corinthians 4, he writes that it's this mercy that drives him forward despite all the obstacles.  “The ‘god' of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they won't see the light of the gospel of the glory of the Messiah, who is God's image.”  So what's the solution?  Paul writes, “We don't proclaim ourselves, you see, but Jesus the Messiah as Lord…because the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts, to produce the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus the Messiah.” Brothers and Sisters, Paul—and Matthew, for that matter—knew that it wouldn't be gimmicks or tricks or fancy speaking or trying to make God's word palatable to sinners that would lift the veil from the eyes of unbelievers.  It would be the proclamation of the good news about Jesus.  That light—the glory of God in the face of the Messiah as Paul describes it—that light met Matthew in the darkness of his tollbooth.  That light met Paul on the road to Damascus.  And it lifted the veil.  It dispelled the darkness.  It cast out the ‘god' of this world who enslaves us to sin and death and makes us to think there's no hope of escape.  The light of the glory of God revealed in the good news of Jesus the Messiah is the answer and the only answer.  It's our hope and our only hope.  We too often try those other things.  We water down God's word to try to make it less offensives.  We try gimmicks or we try programmes.  But Brothers and Sisters, we should know better.  The Lord has promised that one day the knowledge of his glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and that will happen because and only because his people have been faithful to proclaim his glory revealed in Jesus the Messiah who died and rose again. Brothers and Sisters, don't be afraid.  Don't question whether it'll work or not.  If the light of the gospel could tear down the veil that once had you blinded, if it could break the chains of sin that once bound you, it will tear down the veils that blind and it will break the chains that bind the rest of the world.  Just proclaim it.  Jesus has died and Jesus has risen, not just for you or for me or for holy people, but for sinners—for everyone.  He holds out his hand to us wherever we are and invites us to leave it all behind, to follow him, and to rise to new life. Let's pray: O almighty God, whose beloved Son called Matthew from his tollbooth to be an apostle and evangelist: Set us free from the chains of our sins to follow and to proclaim your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

7 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother'; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ' (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” What Defiles a Person14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Jesus Heals a Deaf Man31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 7:1–37.

What would it be like to see Israel through the eyes of a child? From riding on the Sea of Galilee to standing in the synagogue at Capernaum, every moment brings the Bible to life. Join Jim Scudder on InGrace for this joyful adventure that shows the land of Scripture in a whole new way. Join the adventure!

Top headlines for Friday, September 19, 2025In this episode, we explore the tension in conservative circles as Charlie Kirk's pastor publicly challenges Candace Owens' claims about Kirk's stance on Israel. Next, we travel to Montreal, where a local church is contesting a hefty fine imposed on them for organizing a worship event featuring Sean Feucht. Plus, we uncover a fascinating archaeological finding in northern Israel, offering new insights into a lesser-known Jewish uprising against Roman rule.00:11 Candace Owens' claims about Charlie Kirk condemned by pastor00:58 Tenn. sheriff accused of trying to force church to oust pastor01:42 Canadian church fighting $2,500 fine for hosting Sean Feucht02:26 Iraqi Christian killed in France after facing online threats03:14 Rare coins unearthed in Galilee reveals hidden chapter04:13 Pa. city, church reach agreement over eminent domain dispute05:02 'America's Got Talent' star Jessica Sanchez on God's faithfulnessSubscribe to this PodcastApple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle PodcastsOvercastFollow Us on Social Media@ChristianPost on TwitterChristian Post on Facebook@ChristianPostIntl on InstagramSubscribe on YouTubeGet the Edifi AppDownload for iPhoneDownload for AndroidSubscribe to Our NewsletterSubscribe to the Freedom Post, delivered every Monday and ThursdayClick here to get the top headlines delivered to your inbox every morning!Links to the NewsCandace Owens' claims about Charlie Kirk condemned by pastor | U.S.Tenn. sheriff accused of trying to force church to oust pastor | U.S.Canadian church fighting $2,500 fine for hosting Sean Feucht | WorldIraqi Christian killed in France after facing online threats | WorldRare coins unearthed in Galilee reveals hidden chapter | WorldPa. city, church reach agreement over eminent domain dispute | U.S.'America's Got Talent' star Jessica Sanchez on God's faithfulness | Entertainment

The Chronicle's account does not begin with the genealogy of Saul, the nation's first earthly king, as we might have expected, since he was disgraced and taken away by God in Yahweh's anger. It rather begins with the Almighty's chosen king - the man after His own heart. It tells us of David's thirteen wives and seventeen sons and the circumstances that brought one of David's younger sons, Solomon, to succeed him on the throne. It also outlines the genealogies of some of his prominent wise counsellors and of David's administration. In Ezekiel 15 we find a short but powerful parable about the vine that tells us that the wood from the is useless for making anything. The vine is also very poor in its use for kindling heat. The vine has but one use; to produce fruit and the kingdom of Judah had shown that they were useless in this respect. The vine is an oft used symbol of God's people, Israel - Isaiah 5; Psalm 80 etc. The same lessons must be applied to spiritual Israel - those who have embraced the gospel message verses Matthew 21 verses 43. We come across it in each of the four gospel accounts. The greatest lesson on our need for fruitfulness comes from the Master teacher verses John 15 verses 1-11. We can only produce fruit by abiding within the Vine of our Father's planting i.e. of ourselves we can produce fruit, but in our Lord Jesus Christ we can and will by his grace do. In Luke 11 we start with a record of, what is termed, the Lord's Prayer. It is a model prayer, not a mantra to be repeated without thought. It commences with an acknowledgement of the Father's awe-inspiring status. Then follows petitions for the Almighty's will to be fulfilled on earth, as it is in heaven. The kingdom will come when Messiah returns in glory. Lastly are personal petitions for forgiveness and for food. The prayer closed with an acclaiming of the praise, greatness and glory of our Sovereign. Then follows teaching about generosity among friends and our need to be seekers, askers and knockers on doors. Our Father is generous and gives only benefits to His children. Upon curing a deaf-mute Jesus is accused of doing it by a demon power Beel-zebul - the Lord of the dung heap. This was equivalent to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells his enemies that if he was casting out diseases by a demonic power then Jesus would be a destroyer of the kingdom of the enemy who had "inflicted" those who suffered. No, just as the magicians of Egypt at the time of Moses were forced to acknowledge - "this is the finger of God". A parable of the need to fill our cleansed and empty house with good things after the sweeping out of evil is next mentioned in the chapter. The Lord says that happiness lies in hearing and keeping the Word of God. Then follows Christ's telling the hearers of the sign of the prophet Jonah. There is more to this sign than would first seem apparent verses 1) Jonah from Gath-Hepher which is in Galilee where our Lord's ministry thrived verses see John 7 verses 52; 2) Jonah means 'dove' the evident sign at Jesus' baptism; 3) the overwhelming majority of Jesus' disciples were Galilean as Isaiah 9 verses 1-7 predicted; 4) Jonah spent three nights in the belly of hell i.e. inside the belly of the great fish before being symbolically resurrected. The chapter then instructs us to be single minded seekers. The record in this chapter concludes with the pronouncing of woes upon the Pharisees and the Lawyers because of their hypocrisy. Rather than having the effect of curtailing them in their behaviour these evil men sought even more to provoke our Lord.Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciation of God's words, join again tomorrow

In this Bible Story, Jesus speaks about the four soils. He tells of what happens to many different hearts when they come in contact with the word of God. This story is inspired by Mark 4:1-32 Matthew 13:1-23, 31-32. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Mark 4:32 from the King James Version.Episode 187: As Jesus was teaching crowds on the shores of Galilee, He began to tell a parable about a farmer sowing seeds. The farmer sowed his seed into four different types of soil, yet only one yielded a crop. Not everyone in the crowd understood His meaning, however, and even His own disciples needed Him to explain this to them. But in the end, we find that this timeless parable is a tale about our own hearts in response to God's Word.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A special event was held to commemorate a very strategic victory by the British and Commonwealth forces against the Turks and Germans in World War One in Palestine 107 years ago; the battle of Semakh on the southern shores of the Sea of Galilee. It was probably the last cavalry charge in history. Reporter Arieh O’Sullivan spoke with historian Joe Sofair about the event and its importance today. (photo: Hadas Parush/flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this timely Q&A from Galilee, Israel, Amir Tsarfati, Pastor Barry Stagner, and Steve Yohn tackle your questions about Bible prophecy, world events, and the convergence of crises shaking the globe.They discuss the rise of apostasy, the fallout from Charlie Kirk's assassination, the spiritual deception spreading online, Israel's message to Qatar after failed strikes on Hamas leaders, and what could happen if the UN pushes through a two-state resolution. They also dig into the question of America's future in prophecy, the purpose of baptism, and how to know if you have the Holy Spirit.Connect with us on social:Telegram: @beholdisraelchannelInstagramFacebookXYouTube

Sleep better and Stress Less— with Abide, a Christian meditation app that provides a biblically grounded place to experience peace and progress in your relationship with Christ. We hope this biblical sleep meditation, narrated by Tyler Boss, helps your body relax and your mind rest on the truth found in scripture. Fall asleep as you travel to a cool, peaceful spot on the shores of the sea of Galilee, where Jesus prepares breakfast on the beach for his disciples. The same Jesus who cared for them cares for you now. For a 30 day free trial of our premium ad-free content, your trusted friend for better sleep is right here: https://abide.com/peaceDiscover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us

Acts 1:1-14In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

“How did people travel in the time of Jesus?” This episode explores the transportation methods of the era, including the quality of Roman roads around Jerusalem. Additionally, we delve into intriguing topics such as the existence of two tombs of Jesus and the significance of Mount Tabor, offering a rich perspective on life in biblical times. Join The CA Live Club Newsletter: Click Here Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 2:00 – How did people travel in the time of Jesus? 10:38 – Were there high quality Roman roads around Jerusalem? 14:50 – Jesus followed Mary twice a day for 1/4 mile to get water every day — imagine little Jesus “Wait up for me, Mom!” 19:30 – Are there 2 tombs of Jesus? Which one is the real one? 29:19 – Have you done the full walk of Mount Tabor? 32:43 – What are your thoughts on the flight to Egypt? 40:20 – What place in the Holy Land inspires you the most? 46:42 – I've heard there is a lot of demonic activity there. The holier the place the more demonic activity. Is this true? And what can one do to protect themselves when visiting? 48:42 – Is the Eye of the Needle a real gate into the city of Jerusalem? 50:00 – What's the Sea of Galilee like? What would fishermen's life be like? 52:26 – How large was the temple where Jesus was lost?

John 12:20-24, 27-33 - Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. … Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify Your Name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not Mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death He was going to die.

In this Bible Story, we see Jesus through the eyes of Peter. His mighty works of healing and acts of compassion bring Peter to his knees. He truly sees that Jesus is a man worth following, and he would soon come to the understanding that Jesus is God himself. This story is inspired by Matthew 8:14-17, Mark 1:22-38, Luke 4:31-44, Luke 5:1-11. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Luke 5:10 from the King James Version.Episode 181: After a long night of no catches, Peter and his brother Andrew were getting ready to go ashore. Just as they were getting ready to turn in, Jesus came to them asking to use their boat as a platform to teach from. After He was done, Jesus told Peter and Andrew that if they went back out into deeper waters they would catch fish. Though there may have been some reluctance, Peter obeyed and to his amazement, they took in a catch so big that the nets began to break. This got Peter’s attention. Later that week, as Jesus was walking around Galilee, a leper approached Him and begged Jesus to cleanse him. Breaking all convention Jesus touched the man and he was made clean!Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world’s greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Bible Story, the ministry of Jesus begins to take on form. Jesus preached with authority, healed with compassion, and cast out demons with power. His fame begins to grow rapidly. This story is inspired by Matthew 4:13-17, Matthew 13:54-58, Luke 4:14-32, John 4:43-54. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Luke 4:21 from the King James Version.Episode 180: As Jesus was walking the streets of Cana and Galilee, an official from Capernaum came running to Jesus begging Him to heal his son. Jesus, showing both compassion and tact, tells the man his son will live. And it was so. Jesus stayed in Galilee for a while longer, then made His way to the synagogue in Capernaum. While there a man, possessed by a demon, began to make a scene, but Jesus cast the demon out and set the man free using only His words. After a few weeks of healing and teaching, Jesus came back to His hometown of Nazareth where He was met with a less-than-warm welcome.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.This episode is sponsored by Medi-Share, an innovative health care solution for Christians to save money without sacrificing quality.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.