Podcasts about gesthemane

The Poem of the Man God is a retelling of the Gospel story of Jesus of Nazareth as told in the private revelations of Maria Valtorta. In this episode, we see Jesus Monday night before the Passover: Teachings to the Apostles at Gesthemane.Original music by Angela Marie. Easter. Holy Week. Crucifixion. Sacrifice. Passion of Christ. Messiah. Death and Resurrection. Religion. Wisdom.

This is a reading of the Gospel story of Jesus of Nazareth as told in the private revelation to Maria Valtorta. In this episode we see the sabbath at Gesthemane. Plus My Way of Life ch5 Habits and Happiness.

DEATH TO LIFE Paul and Barnabas continue on their journey without John Mark, and they travelled down to Iconium and preached in the synagogue there, and many of the Jews and the Greeks believed. ACTS 14:1. At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went together to the synagogue and preached with such power that many—both Jews and Gentiles—believed. We will read a little further on (vs 21 below) that when Paul returns to Iconium on a later journey he finds that Timothy was one of the first fruits of that original ministry in Iconium, where Timothy lived with his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. (Acts 16:2, 2Tim 3:10) 4. But the Jews who spurned God's message stirred up distrust among the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas, saying all sorts of evil things about them, but the Lord proved their message was from him by giving them power to do great miracles. But the people were divided. And when Paul and Barnabas learned of a plot to incite a mob of Gentiles, Jews, and Jewish leaders to attack and stone them, they fled for their lives, going to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, Derbe, and the surrounding area, and preaching the Good News there. There did not seem to be a definite strategy of the spreading of the word of God. It was what it was, so they were led by The Holy Spirit to the surrounding regions in Lystra and Derbe. God was not going to allow severe persecution to stop his purpose and power from happening no matter what appeared to be happening to them - as we shall shortly see in a most dramatic and compelling way.  In the meantime… 8. At Lystra they came upon a man with crippled feet who had been that way from birth. He was listening as Paul preached, and Paul looked intensely at  him and perceived  he had faith to be healed. So Paul called to him, “Stand up!” and the man leaped to his feet and started walking! The witness of faith – This is an example of how faith meets faith. Paul firstly had faith that the power of God was present and active. While he was looking at that crippled man with eyes of faith, that man was looking to God with eyes of faith. Their faith met and God knew the man's prayer and Paul spoke God's answer - and the man stood up and walked. The same thing happened to Jesus when a woman was looking to Jesus in her need believing she could be healed and reached out and touched his garment, and faith met faith. Jesus felt the healing power flow from him to the woman – faith can perceive faith. When the listening crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted (in their local Hittite dialect), “These men are gods in human bodies!” They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Jupiter, and that Paul, because he was the chief speaker, was Mercury! The local priest of the Temple of Jupiter brought them cartloads of flowers and prepared to sacrifice oxen to them at the city gates before the crowds. 14. But when Barnabas and Paul saw what was happening, they ripped at their clothing in dismay and ran out among the people, shouting, “Men! What are you doing? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them,  16 who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own way. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” So Paul and Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them! The myths and legends of the Greek gods were all about strange ‘beings of renown' who assumed human form whenever they wished and visited the earth. This was also a belief amongst the Egyptians and also the Hindus. (See Gen 6:4) Paul was preaching here to people of an ancient culture, so they spoke about the God of Creation who controlled all the elements of the earth and worked them together according to his design and purpose. This was different to preaching to Jews, where he would speak about the Jewish patriarchs like Abraham and Moses and David, reminding them of their covenant as a Nation with God. His emphasis here to these pagans of Lystra was similar to how he preached to the Greeks in Athens on the Hill of Mars. (Acts 17) where he spoke about the God of creation who determined the boundaries and bloodlines and appointed times and purposes of all the nations of the earth. 19. Yet only a few days later, some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium (where they had fled from) and incited a mob of people to stone Paul to death. They then dragged Paul out of the city deeming him to be dead (nomizo – to deem something to be what it appears to be - the rule of action prescribed by reason - it is what it is). 20However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up (anistemi - to raise up from the dead – as it was said of Lazarus and Jesus ) and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21. After preaching the Good News there and making many disciples, they returned again to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, where they helped the believers to grow in love for God and each other. They encouraged them to continue in the faith in spite of all the persecution, reminding them that they must enter into the Kingdom of God through many tribulations.  Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church and prayed for them with fasting, turning them over to the care of the Lord in whom they trusted. 24. Then they travelled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia, preached again in Perga, and went on to Attalia. Finally they returned by ship to Antioch, where their journey had begun and where they had been committed to God for the work which was now completed. Upon arrival they called together the believers and reported on their trip, telling how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles too. And they stayed there with the believers at Antioch for a long while. Looking at that stoning to death event again… nomizo and anistemi in verse 19. This could have been the time that Paul left his body, as he recounts later in a letter to the Corinthians. ‘This boasting is all so foolish but let me go on. Let me tell about the visions I've had, and revelations from the Lord. Fourteen years ago… (This event in the Book of acts was around the time between 39 and 44 AD and when he wrote the second letter to the Corinthians it was around 56 to 58 AD –so there's fourteen years in there somewhere)  … I was taken up to heaven for a visit. Don't ask me whether my body was there or just my spirit, for I don't know; only God can answer that. But anyway, there I was in paradise, and heard things so astounding that they are beyond a man's power to describe or put in words (and I am not allowed to tell them to others).  On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me in my life and my message. I will say this: because these experiences and revelations were so tremendous, God was afraid I might be puffed up in pride by them; so I was sent a messenger from Satan as a thorn in my flesh, to hurt and bother me and pierce my pride' (2 Cor 12:1-7). So for Paul he would have understood that the power of Jesus was not only about resurrection – it was about death and resurrection. Just because someone believes in the doctrine of resurrection it does not necessarily mean that the power of resurrection is flowing in that person's life. That power is expressed in us when we are challenged to die to something that we realise is working death in us. We can choose to die to what that is in our body and soul and rise up in the life of Jesus working in us. When Jesus died on the cross he knew that he would be resurrected and he told people. Jesus did not and could not fight for his life on the cross. He had always surrendered control over his own life overcoming the struggle of the soul and the spirit and we see his willing surrender in the garden of Gesthemane, and he stayed alive until the life of his spirit left his dead body. He committed his spirit into his Father's hands and when he had done that he was resurrected. His body was raised up (anistemi)on the third day but he was given resurrection life in his spirit when he committed his spirit into the Father's hands. 'into Your hands I commit My spirit (paratithemi – to place alongside). His life was not lost but placed alongside Father's life. The spirit life of humanity was joined to the resurrection life of God through Jesus. Colossians 3:3 you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  How can Paul say ‘you are dead'? – How can he say ‘dead to sin and alive to God' (Romans 6:11) It is because Jesus became our death and our resurrection – all we do is receive repentance to life and have faith in his life working within us. It is called the simplicity of Christ – so simple yet such a hidden mystery! ‘hidden with Christ in God' but waiting to be found …whoever loses his life for me and because of me will find it. (Matthew 16:25)  That is something that has already happened and yet it is waiting to happen. That is a mystery of something hidden waiting to be revealed.  It means that what is waiting for us is to place our spirit in faith alongside the Spirit of God (paratithemi) and our spirit comes alive and out into the open. Our death is dying to the life of our soul being in control and our spirit is set free into resurrection life. The hidden life can be found and our faith releases it.  

from the sermon series "Does Jesus Matter?"

We all know we're supposed to pray … so why don't we? Today, Bryan shares a message based on Jesus' prayer in Gesthemane that addresses each of the common roadblocks to prayer.

Gesthemane | Guided Meditations | Neuma Church Join us today as we read through and meditate on Matthew 26:36-46 How to participate this Easter season. Step 1: Reframe Find a quiet space where you can encounter God uninterrupted. Step 2: Read Read the verses slowly and aloud at least twice. Step 3: Reflect Ponder and meditate on what you have read. Ask yourself what you felt connected with your heart or mind. Step 4: Respond Pray to God about what has moved you today. Step 5: Take a moment and linger in His presence before you go about your day. We invite you to celebrate Easter with us at Neuma Church. neuma.church/easter Participate along with the full visual experience at our Neuma Church Youtube Channel https://youtu.be/e4hWBQUXAyc

The Journey to Gesthemane is an invitation to come to God in complete weakness, frailty, and grief, and to learn to pray in what may feel like our final hour. Full Message Audio Livestream Replay The post Journey with Jesus // Journey to Gethsemane appeared first on Refuge.Church.

The Journey to Gesthemane is an invitation to come to God in complete weakness, frailty, and grief, and to learn to pray in what may feel like our final hour. Full Message Audio Livestream Replay https://youtu.be/nWlIlRK-8T4

Kate and Alex go through chapter 14 and talk about the contrast between Mary and Judas, losing Jesus in Gesthemane and that losing and betraying Jesus are normal parts of the Christian journey as we go to the cross ourselves, address issues from our family of origin, and re-examine our own faulty thoughts about ourselves, God and the world. So much discipleship in following Jesus happens along the way. For me, it hasn't been a list of sermons that changed my life, or a list of places I volunteered, or even a book of the bible, but the way God moved in and through people around those things. The journey has formed me much more than any particular destination. So we are going to try to create that for you via this podcast. Hopefully it's a place where we get to talk about things like what went into writing the sermon from this Sunday and what got cut that you wish you could have included. We'll talk about our passions and hearts and why we are doing different things as a church. We'll have the conversations on here that happen behind the scenes so that you can be a part of them too. You can give to Life Church Livonia via our website or PayPal: https://www.lifechurchlivonia.org paypal.me/lifechurchlivonia

This is a reading from the private revelation to Maria Valtorta of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. In this episode we see when Jesus meets John of Zebedee at Gesthemane.

Nathan: Marlena, tell me about your book.Marlena: Yeah, I'm glad  to talk about this --  The Way Up Is Down. I'd read through the gospels frequently, I should say, listen to them online before I go to bed at night, just to  hopefully absorb the life of Jesus into my life, through listening and, my imagination and mind.And I noticed that a lot of things stood out to me about Jesus.First, that he could have been born in a palace, but he chose to be born poor, which I could identify with because I grew up very poor in my life. And also I was struck by how many times, as people say, he talked about the upside down kingdom: Many of the first will be last and the last shall be first,  and the greatest person in the kingdom will be the servant of all.How  in the upper room where he bowed to wash the disciples feet and he says to those in the room, you don't know what I'm doing now, but later you will. And also Philippians chapter two, where, it talks about, the fancy word kenosis. He emptied himself so that he might be full of God.And so my book basically is about what it would look like to empty ourselves of all that is not Christ so that we can be full of the grace of God and live that way. And, I think it seems to run contrary what we see in the broader Christian culture.And I was so disillusioned with the witness of the church that I wanted to look at the life of Jesus and see and contrast it with how we seem to be collectively living. That said there's a many beautiful saints people that I've met, but I just feel like our witness is not that of Jesus.Nathan: What does it look like to empty ourselves?Marlena: Well, it can be a very difficult thing to do. I know you knew Dallas Willard, but I remember how he would always use the example of not having to have the last word in an argument or when someone put him down, it could be something, I don't want to say as simple as that, because that's difficult, not unleashing our anger on people that we could be justified in unleashing it at, we're in a time where, even, Christians use their words to hammer others, even justifiably so. Like sometimes people do and say things that are horrible and awful online and maybe in-person. And I could see, myself, easily just striking back or if you're attacked, you know, but Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:44 to love our enemies.And so, I empty myself. We empty ourselves, have the right to strike back at people in interpersonal relationships. Of course I'm always careful to tell people that we don't tolerate abuse or allow ourselves to be abused. That's not what I mean, but, I think too in the racial kind of tensions that have continued since the founding of America.Those of us that have privilege and it could be, you know, your racial status, like as a white person, or it could be wealth, Jesus emptied himself of that to serve other people. And that's what it looks like. And it would call for kind of some hard decisions. Like what are we going to do with our money?I remember when I was younger, a teenager or in my early twenties, maybe it's because I didn't have a lot of money, but I could not fathom what Jesus was talking about when he said you will either serve God or money. I'm like, what does he mean? And over the years, that question has been answered.I think that a lot of times the church bows to what money will do instead of doing what's right. You know, and I know it can be a hard decision because some pastors are put in positions, for example, I've I know pastors who've been told if you keep preaching this way or that way, I'm going to take my tithe and take it elsewhere, when they're preaching from scripture and Christian tradition and with the tithe goes, it could be a staff position, you know, depending how much money that person gives.And I just think a lot of times in the church we've chosen to serve money instead of serve others. And that we can kick people that are down, even though I believe it's that Isaiah 42, where he says a bruised reed, he will not break. and it seems sometimes the church is guilty of breaking bruised reeds and hurting the people that Jesus made a beeline to. And those are some of the things I reflect upon in the book, especially that the last will be first.One of my favorite things that I wrote about were the people with intellectual disabilities in my church.just like Lazarus was at the rich man's gate, you know, asking for food and the rich man rendered Lazarus invisible. I think God sends us teachers, I call it--you know, people to teach us the way of Jesus. But at first we wouldn't think that there are teachers. It might be, again, people with intellectual disabilities, it might be the elderly, the poor, or it could be family members within our own household, that God has allowed to be in our life and our paths and we ignore them.We can abuse them and denigrate them when they're the very people that God could use to teach us the way of Jesus. And so that's, again, how, you know, the last might be first. Like these people that I abuse or denigrated. Like CS Lewis talks about in the great divorce. I talk about us, Sarah Smith of Golders green.She was poor on earth, but in a CS Lewis' rendition. She's a great queen. And I actually think that. Maybe on the last day or when kingdom comes, you know, the last will be first and we'll be in for a big surprise.Nathan: There's a very personal piece in the book. I'm curious. How does your story fit into this narrative?Marlena: Yeah, I could really identify with Jesus. I used to say, Lord, why did you make me poor? or did you allow me to be poor? I don't know all the theology behind it. Right. I can never ascertain that. And I don't think we have for millennia, but, I used to wonder why I was allowed to, if you want to use that language to suffer and, you know, I think about not having gifts on Christmas, not having Thanksgiving dinner.I used to hate the holidays because of that. I'm just working cutting wood to earn gas money for my dad. And that allowed me to realize that Jesus said, well, I, you know, I didn't have somewhere to lay my head. And I was like, Oh, I can be in solidarity with Jesus in this way. He understands what I went through.You know, I'm not in the same condition I was growing up. But I still suffer, I guess, what would you call it? Like the consequences of, I would say it's probably generational poverty, you know, no wealth passed on to .. . I don't know to give me some kind of, and my husband too, a cushion. So, everything we've had to pay, you know, by God's grace for ourselves.I think that allows me maybe to see from the bottom up, maybe it's allowed me to see people, the people that the world neglects that have been such an example of Christ to me. And  it might be the, the weight of glory where he talks about, people become such bright lights that you're almost tempted to bow down and worship them or such, you know, maybe hideous monsters.And I have felt like this overwhelming sometimes. Uh, desire to curtsy, to people just cause I see the love of God and the love of Christ in them and see how they live in the every day.  You know, saints every day saints. I just almost see light emanating from them.And usually, I mean, They not even aware of it themselves. Um, and so I give thanks to God and I say, thank you, God, that you've graced me with your presence through these people. And so I'm really kind of fascinated with the Lord, just how he turns everything upside down and that he can relate to me and I can relate to him and his,  at least from American standpoint, I'm not even going to compare myself to the rest of the world, but by American standards was poverty.Nathan: I keep a notebook in my pocket at all times. And part of it's, cause I have some memory challenges, but part of is because I hear something or I have a thought and I just want to remember it. But the other day, I wrote there's a certain trauma to poverty and.Almost like a Maslow's hierarchy, right. Growing up in poverty, it comes with a lot of challenges that I don't think people outside would know. One of the quotes that got me was this statement I think it was Howard Zinn the difference between poor folks and sociologists is poor folks know what they're talking about."You know, there's a certain thing you learn in that, that you can only learn from going through it. And I love that, that that helps you connect with Jesus. Who are some of your teachers.Marlena: Oh, that's a good question. Besides, you know, I love the people at Renovaré, but in the context of what we're talking about, I think of Paula who's now with the Lord. She had Alzheimer's when I met her, I was, director of discipleship at my church. And you know, she would sing my name like "Mar-len-a".And I couldn't believe that Paula remembered my name because she had Alzheimer's. I was, you know, I was newer to the church and her eyes would light up when I came by and she'd come give me a hug. And she just taught me a lot. I mean, just the sparkle in her eyes when she saw me and not just me, I know other people, but I thought, you know,  I think that's how God looks at me the way that Paula looks at me.And I talk about it in the book at one point. She got really teary-eyed. One time she was talking about remembering when she was young, cause someone called her a moose, you know, saying she's ugly when she was a young girl, she remembered that and she's was, you know, a tall lady. And, um, what I saw such beauty in her and I said, no, Paula, you're so beautiful.And another time she started crying because she was forgetting. And she was wondering, you know, is this forgetting gonna affect me and my relationship with God? And I said, no. And then I came home and told my husband about that.I asked him, I said, Sean, how do you think the Lord interacts as far as spiritual formation with people that have Alzheimer's, you know, what kind of relationship? He said that Jesus doesn't mind introducing  himself to Paula over and over again, and to other people.And I was just like, Oh my gosh. Yes. That's exactly what, I was just floating with his comment about it because yeah, Jesus, doesn't it mind introducing himself to Paula over and over again in a new, so Paula was one of my teachers.I used to work with migrant farm workers, asylum seekers, inner city youth. Speaking about poverty, you know, every day it's hard, like getting to school and,  just the obstacles that people have to overcome just to do simple things.And over and over, I just saw love for other people, deference to other people, joy, hard work. A lot of the people that we talk about as our teachers, people have stereotypes like lazy, only wanting a handout and most of the poor people I know that I've ever met are very hard workers.Of course there are people that take advantage of the system, but I've seen rich people that take advantage of the system and middle-class. So taking advantage of the system, isn't particularly salient among the poor it's all levels of society. The Catholics talk about this, even the Eastern Orthodox talk about how the poor can show us the face of Christ.It's not like you have some kind of sainthood because you're poor, but I think it's just because of vulnerability and there's nothing to prove, you know, nothing to prove. And so you could be full of the life of Christ because there's not a lot of things blocking that.  I've often thought that in my own life, like, well, I don't really have much to prove.I have no networks I can, rely on or point to this or that. And sometimes I've grieved that because I'm like, well, that would be a great help right now in my life. But then it drives me to God.Nathan: Many of the poor folk I've known are the most generous people. My father-in-law, lived in pretty extreme poverty and we used to send him food. Like we, uh, kind of surprise him and have food delivered to us, to his house.And he'd invite everybody over. He just would have a big party, you know, and I just, I love that. There's something beautiful in that. Um, but do you see that too, in your work with migrant farmers?Marlena: Yes. I, I think there's statistics too. Like, I don't know, per capita or however, the poor are more generous than those with more money and I do see it. The generosity comes from maybe memory, you know what it's like not to have, and you don't want other people to go through that. And you know of other people, maybe like your father-in-law like, Hey, you know, people would enjoy a good meal today. They don't have to go shopping. We're going to provide dinner.I mean, Jesus himself was poor, right? He was so poor and he was generous. Yes, he was God, but  I think about the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. Jesus was like, you know, it's I know it's going to be hard for you guys to get food, so let's multiply the loaves and the fish.And something else I tell people too, Nathan, is that Jesus, everything he spoke he lived out So when he tells us in Matthew six, you know, don't worry about tomorrow, what you will eat or drink, which is a message I have to remind myself of frequently. He said that because he had to consider the birds and the lilies himself, because, you know,  he was poor.And he had to depend on our Heavently Father for food, for his daily bread and that makes it into the Lord's prayer, you know, give us today our daily bread. I think he included that because he had to pray that frequently, whether it's literal daily bread nourishment, or whatever else that we need for our lives, because Mary wasn't rich and, in Luke it talks about how women and others provided out of their purse for the ministry of the disciples.Joseph was probably old when he married Mary and so we don't see any more about him in the Bible after Jesus was 12 years old. So for her to be a widow at that time, she depended on her son to take care of her. So Jesus was caring for his mom.Like you said, your family with your father-in-law. In this case, Jesus was caring for his mom. She was part of his ministry. And so I'm convinced that he knew what it was like to consider the birds and have to depend on the father for the daily bread. For him and his mom.Nathan: Earlier, you mentioned loving our enemies. What does that look like? How did you work that out in the book?Marlena: When I was young, I was in Puerto Rico in the fourth grade and I was almost kidnapped after I got off my bus. I think the person probably would have kidnapped me, but I got off the bus, his car followed me and said, Hey, in Spanish, where's this place.And you know, I'm like a nice person, you know, I'm like, okay. Yeah, it's here. And I went up and the man grabbed my hand and exposed himself and tried to make me touch him, you know?  It was an assault and that picture stayed with me. I was 10 years old.Well, after that, I was in fourth grade. I, you know, I didn't want to be around men. My parents would say, Hey, go to the store or go into the sprint in and get me like a, you know, a milk or whatever. I didn't want to do that. You know, this was  the late eighties.But I remember fifth grade,  we moved back to the mainland of the United States. We lived in this little green trailer and I didn't have much to do after I would do like, whatever chores I had and do homework. So I would read the Bible, like for two to four hours a day, about the ages from 10 to 14.And I think that's what my people have said: you have a divine imagination. Well, I think that's where it came from looking back. But I remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, that you have to forgive your enemies. And  I'm like, okay, that means I have to forgive this man whose face I remember even till this day whose name I will never know.And so I started praying at 11 years old for this man that assaulted me. Because Jesus said, pray for your enemies, you know, like, taking Jesus at his word as a little girl. Cause if you don't forgive others, you won't be forgiven. You know, it also talks about that in there.That's when that practice of praying for your enemies and forgiving them started in my life. So fast-forward, I should say I've worked with farm migrant farm workers who provide our food and  there's a lot of human rights abuses against them and asylum seekers and immigrants.And I know it's  for some people it's a great political issue for them. For me, meeting people and hearing their stories firsthand. I think it's a human rights issue and a biblical issue. And you know, that we have  a certain kind of obligation to them.But because of that, I get attacked by people.  I've been called unChristian, a communist, or, you know, all sorts of  what people consider derogatory words.  And I was like, I just have to pray for people that say things to me. I say you have no idea what you're talking about.You just are acting on  hearsay. I've talked to people in person. And so I have to forgive them for insulting me.And so I have to wrestle with that. To forgive my brothers and sisters, not only for hurting me, I don't know what the word is for that, but when I see them doing harm to the most vulnerable people.Nathan: I have a theory on Jesus' statement to pray for our enemies. That it's as much for us as it is for them. And the reason I say that is because when I do that, it, sets me free. There's something that happens when I really dig in and pray for someone, you know, how we define enemies, it's a tricky word, but, it changes me and  it liberates me from their  nonsense or  abuse. What do you think of that?Marlena: I think you said it so well, and  I think about what kind of spiritual formation and Jesus's humanity, right? Because yes, he was fully God fully, man. Like I think his Spiritual Formation culminated in two things.  In the Garden of Gesthemane when he said not my will, but yours be done when, you know, he said, get me out of this basically but he went through with it.And also on the cross, when he says father, forgive them for they know not what they do. You know, like, so spiritual formation can not be microwave. For him to be able to say when he was being speared,  spit upon, mocked, when his disciples ran away... to be able to forgive his disciples and cook them some fish on the beach afterwards. That was years of culmination.You know, some people ask, well, how can we  forgive our enemies, especially if you've been sexually abused. I want to be very careful that it could take maybe a whole lifetime, or you might get to the point where say, God, I want to be able to do that, but I can't, you know, you're very honest about it.It doesn't always happen right away. And I think it depends on the seriousness of the transgression against you, but I think, yeah, it does change us. And it's one of God's graces and it doesn't happen always right away. And  for some people I've had to pray for years, you know?Cause I think that I'm good and it wells up in me again and I get very upset and then I have to say, okay, God, they claim to be your children to please bless them, even though they're doing so much harm.Nathan: I'll sometimes start with the prayer of  I want to forgive, you know, or, or I want to want to, right? I don't even want to, but I want to be in a place where I would like to and sometimes That's the only place we can start.Marlena: Yeah, yeah. Agreed. Yep.Nathan: For folks reading the book. What do you hope for them to take away from it?Marlena: There's been a lot of people, they're disillusioned with the church for good reason, right? And some people have been, I think, badly taught like that they're, you know, they call it worm theology. Like God just can't stand you and God just... you know, God tolerates you. That's not the God I've known.I talk about one point in the book where my daughter, when she was three and I won't go into the story right now, but it culminates with her saying, so mommy, you're saying, God looks happy at me. God looks happy at me. And I said, yes, God looks happy at you. That was her translation of what we were talking about. God looks at us with love and joy.And so I hope that readers would take that away. And also,  maybe with some of the stories I shared and insights that you can really live like Jesus. There are people that live like Jesus in the world, the saints, these beautiful people, that many of the last will be first.So that's why it's called The Way Up is Down because you know, the world has a way of success, but Jesus way of being lifted up is not the way of the world and that Christians, when they take the way of Jesus. Nouwen called it downward mobility, when they take that way, it talks about in Philippians chapter two kenosis that you might not win accolades from the world, but you will bring great joy to God and you will do much good in the world.So that's, that's my hope.Nathan: It is very backwards. Not just American culture, but church culture. I remember when I was teaching, I used to work with Brother Lawrence's book, Practice of the Presence of God. And, and I remember I had a student go, so wait, he was a dishwasher, right? Yeah, he's a dishwasher. Wait, wait, how come he didn't move up? Why did he stay a dishwasher? You know, he was like kind of a failure. This guy, why didn't he... And I thought it is so ingrained in us that this idea of downward mobility or that there's kind of a nobility in remaining a dishwasher that that was, um, a beautiful thing for him to stay with that.But it is very, very foreign to us.Marlena: Yeah. And it's not always easy because we have this message in the church, right? Like bigger, better numbers.  And it's the way of the world that's ingrained itself in the church, but you're right. That's not always the way of Jesus. I mean it might be for your life, but it's not always.Nathan: How have you reconciled with the church?Marlena: I write a little bit about how I've been hurt by the church. And I haven't been forthright about it, but how I've reconciled with it because I do see saints in everyday life. If I wouldn't have seen people that are like, Jesus, I don't know that I could be a Christian. Because people have asked me  why are you still Christian?I'm like, because I see people that live like Jesus. And so when the people that don't live like Jesus, I said, that's not God, I know Jesus. And I know what he's like, and that's not it. So, my hope and prayer is that I don't ever become the things I despise and that, you know, further down in Philippians two, that hopefully I will shine like one of the stars in the universe.So people give thanks to God, at least that's my prayer.Nathan: Marlena. Thank you so much for your time and your story.Marlena: Thank you so much. I'm glad to be here.

Erin helps us look at the lie, "It's not what I want." She takes us through Jesus' night of prayer in the garden of Gesthemane and how He found power in surrendering His will to God's. She shows how this lie can affect our life and gives three things that can be done in order to have victory over the lie. February 2, 2017 

Holy Week , that week during which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey while crowds called out Hosanna, was also the week where he turned over the tables of the money changers, the week of the Last supper, the week where he was betrayed and where he agonised in the Garden of Gesthemane,. He was denied by Peter, put on trial, and crucified. That week was preceded by a build up of momentum over many weeks particularly as he began to appear more publicly in open conflict and debate with the Scribes and Pharisees, and where he was questioned by the many that followed him, wanting to know if he was indeed the Christ. But there was a certain particular activity that was significant to Jesus, and that was to do with the temple. In the last months of his ministry Jesus placed an intense focus on the Temple. He made three visits to the temple from the month of November through to March the next year. The first visit was to the feast of Tabernacles, the second to the feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), and the third was to confront the money changers before the Feast of Passover when he was crucified. The temple was the place where God had ordained in the OT that he would meet with his people – this was his habitation. This was paramount for Jesus, who was in fact the living breathing walking temple who knew that his death and resurrection would mean that the material temple, called in Scripture the temple made with hands would no longer be where God met with his people. His temple would be us as the temple of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus had become this habitation of God in his own body while he was on the earth. Jesus is quoted in the New Testament as saying a Body you have prepared for me. So each temple visit was not just a visit to church as a good religious Jew – no – Jesus had a distinct purpose for each visit because they were about what was happening to him, and about what would be happening to us – the new temple to be. The first Temple visit was a secret visit when he attended the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast celebrated the miracle of the living water that flowed from out of the rock in the wilderness – the rock that Moses struck with his rod (Exodus 17:34). In the NT the Bible says ‘That rock was Christ). His visit to the Feast of Tabernacles was when Jesus stood and invited everyone to come to him to receive the Living Water, thus prophetically declaring the mystery of his being that Rock, and that after he suffered for us on the Cross he would send the living water of the Holy Spirit to flow out of us. John 7:37 On that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink, he who believes in Me.” As the Scripture has said, “Out of His heart will flow rivers of living water.” (The Temple Ezek 47, and the Rock Exodus 17, Zech 14). He was speaking of the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive (embrace) The story behind the story. You can read it all in John ch 7. It starts off with Jesus staying in Galilee with his family and they were all preparing to go to the Feast of Tabernacles, and Jesus' brothers urged him to go to the temple for the feast."Go where more people can see your miracles!" they were mocking him. "You can't be famous when you hide like this! If you're so great, prove it to the world!" - even his brothers didn't believe in him.Jesus just said "It is not the right time for me to go now. But you can go anytime and it will make no difference, for the world can't hate you; but it does hate me, because I accuse it of sin and evil. You go on, and I'll come later when it is the right time." So he remained in Galilee.But after his brothers had left for the feast, then he went too, secretly, staying out of the public eye, and avoiding the crowds. He ended up taking the back roads to Jerusalem, and on his way to the temple he would have passed many hundreds of tents camped upon the hillsides because thousands of people gathered on these hills for the week of the feast. The feast had a closing ceremony on the 7th day and the main feature was the drawing of the living water commemorating the living water that God had provided for them at the Rock in their wilderness travels. He arrived in Jerusalem on the fourth day of the feast and went to the temple and began teaching and discussing Scripture and answering questions from the people, who were amazed and raved about his teaching (verses 14-30). They asked one another how he could have unfolded the Scriptures to them the way he did when he had not been formally taught. People danced and sang as the water drawing ceremonies and rituals were acted out each morning. Women would get water from the surrounding springs and wells in their water pitchers and take them up to the temple singing with the men and the children from Isa 12:13 ‘Therefore with joy you SHALL DRAW WATER FROM THE WELLS OF SALVATION.On the seventh day of the feast, the GREAT DAY of the feast, as the huge golden water bowl was carried by the people up the temple steps, the huge crowd stood around watching and cheering, amidst the trumpet blasts sounding out. This was the consecration ceremony of the sacred water, the high point of the feast. At the top of the temple steps was a special altar with a priest selected by the Sadducees, waiting for the big moment to arrive. When the bowl was presented to him he would raise his hand to indicate that the call was about to be made for people to ‘Come, you who thirst, drink of the water’. This would have been the moment, when the priest raised his hand, that Jesus would have stood in front of the crowd and called out in a strong loud voice; If anyone thirsts and believes in me let him come and drink. Those words that Jesus said this at that particular time in front of all the Jewish pilgrims from all over the Middle East, Asia Minor and Greece would have hit their ears like a thunderclap. Everybody would have known whose cry it was, and many would have seen its significance, namely that Jesus had come to embody all that past experience in the wilderness. The Scriptures tell us (verses 40-44) that division and argument broke out amongst the crowd. Many in the crowd said ‘This is The Prophet’ while others said ‘This is The Christ’, while others said ‘Would The Christ ever come out of Galilee?’ The temple police officers said ‘no one has ever spoken like this man. Jesus had turned their historic feast into a proclamation of their (and our) salvation, our present faith, and our future hope, an astounding fulfillment of prophecy. The Pharisees and Sadducees were furious – calling on the temple police to stop him and arrest him but they couldn’t take hold of him. Nicodemus defended Jesus saying the Law couldn’t judge unless people have heard what the man has to say (vs.50). The officers came back and said ‘we couldn’t arrest him, and ‘besides, no man has ever spoken like this before.’ The problem for Israel in the wilderness was their thinking God was not with them, but God kept showing up for them time after time. It can be the same with us. That is why Jesus was so emphatic that he was the one always with us, like the Rock that was always with them, following them in the wilderness. The second Temple visit was an open visit when he attended the Feast of Hanukkah. Hanukkah is the feast of the re-dedication of the Temple at Jerusalem. This feast is not mentioned in the Old Testament as it occurred between the time of the last book (Malachi), and before the time of Jesus. However it is mentioned in the New Testament. It came in November/December just after the Feast of Tabernacles, and before the Feast of Passover in March/April of the next year.John 10:22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the Temple, in Solomon's porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” The Feast of Hanukkah, or Feast of Dedication was instituted in 165 BC when Israel defeated the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes who had violated and blasphemously desecrated the Temple ten years earlier. The yrevived it and restored it – they resurrected it.The enemy violated and blasphemously struck down Jesus as the living Temple but Father resurrected him. The enemy has attacked and violated the living temple of God’s people over the years and left it spoiled and weakened but God has visited his people and revived and restored them. Today’s church is in great need of the revival and restoration through a work of The Holy Spirit in these days so that we can celebrate the grace and power of an outpouring of his Holy Spirit. The feats of PassoverJesus entered Jerusalem early in the week and rode through the main street of Jerusalem in an extravagant procession. He was riding in royal style seated on a donkey and its colt while cheering crowds of people laid palm leaves on the ground before him and hailed him as their king. This posed an enormous threat not only to Herod who was the legal king over the Jews but it signalled a threat to the Empire. The people were urging him to establish his kingdom. The Jewish leaders also feared that Jesus would decides to rule over Jerusalem and keep on working miracles like feeding hungry multitudes and raising people from the dead. They feared He would be invincible and topple their own religious power base.Jesus had made clear to his disciples that the procession was to be a fulfillment of a prophecy that came from Zechariah 9:9 cry aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king is coming to you; he is righteous and able to deliver, he is humble and riding on a donkey and a colt, the foal of a donkey. Jesus had also told everyone that he was not interested in an earthly kingdom, but that his kingdom is a spiritual one, but even many of his followers did not want to believe this.Jesus threw the tables over in the temple that the money changers use and he chased them from the outer court area when he visited the temple that day. It was into this area where Jews from other regions came, who didn’t have the temple currency and they had to exchange their money. It was not just the money changing tables that were the problem for Jesus, because these people needed to buy turtle doves, lambs, and such things to offer sacrifices, but it was the greed and corruption. The money changers charged from twenty to three hundred percent interest. It was actually criminal. But Jesus said that the temple was his Father’s house, and that instead of being used for prayer and wordship it was being merchandised and corrupted. His actions were not so much aggressive as they were protective. God’s wrath is most notably displayed in the earth as an act of fierce protection over what he holds as precious. After the procession and the incident with the money changers in the temple Jesus stayed in the city and in the areas round about, teaching the crowds that followed him. This was the busiest time of the year in Jerusalem when crowds of Jews from all over the Empire were gathering for the Passover feast. Jesus came under fiercer and more intense scrutiny from the temple leaders than ever before. Questions were hurled at him to entice him into confrontation regarding moral and legal issues of their temple religion. But Jesus was not about to be baited like an animal of prey. He fielded their questions with a calm authority and it was the tormentors who became enraged by the superior wisdom and integrity of their prey to be. Crowds of Jews looked on in expectation. Many wanted a show of strength and might to come from Jesus after these thrusts and parries, for surely this was the time for him to start his kingdom. But they were to be disappointed. Jesus was on a path that would lead to a far greater demonstration of such might that the whole cosmos would be shaken by it, and he knew that even though the time was short, it was still not yet. His trial was yet to come, The cross was yet to come, and then the resurrection. And it was his prophetic statement about the Temple being destroyed and raised up again in three days that was used as blasphemy against him to condemn him at his trial.  

We begin our journey into Holy Week. We start with a celebration of Palm Sunday, remembering Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. We then hear the story of Jesus through Holy Week, as he turns over the tables of the money changers, is anointed by a generous woman, shares the Last Supper with his disciples, and prays in the Garden of Gesthemane. We listen for what these stories mean for us today.

LIFE ON BOARD THE ARKThis is really part two of last week’s Make yourself an Ark. We saw then that the ark had three levels, which we saw represented the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit. That means being in relationship with God in faith and and prayer through a time of global life changing crisis. I want to look at more of the detail of the structure and design of the Ark.Genesis 6:9 Make yourself an ark … The length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above (a hatch), and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. So the structure of the Ark has lower, second and upper decks and the dimensions of those levels, 300 cubits long, and 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. These dimensions speak to us of the divine nature of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their provision for us in these earth shattering times. But first let us look at modern research into the extraordinary nature of the design of the Ark. Noah’s Ark was the focus of a major 1993 scientific study at the world-class ship research centre KRISO, in Daejeon, South Korea. They compared twelve hulls of different proportions to discover which design was most practical. No hull shape was found to significantly outperform the biblical design. The research team found that the proportions of Noah’s Ark carefully balanced what are called the conflicting demands of; stability (resistance to capsizing), core strength, and seakeeping (a comfortable ride). In fact, the Ark has the same proportions as a modern cargo ship. The study also confirmed that the Ark could handle waves as high as 30 metres. So the details of the design for function and materials for the building of the Ark are remarkable in their spiritual application for our lives in our relationship to God as seen in the symbolism of the dimensions of the ark and even the three aspects of balance – Stability, the 300 base of the Father, the centre core strength speaking of Jesus the 30 (the age of maturity for Jesus when he began his ministry). And the comfortable ride because of the wind catching trim on the upper deck – the 50 of Holy Spirit (the word for 50 in the Bible is Pente, as in Pentecost)-The researchers deduced that the top deck had a trim blade that could catch and hold the prevailing winds that allowed glide to occur. The Bible says that the Ark moved upon the waters and that God caused a wind to blow (Genesis 8:2) For God to ascribe such precise measurements to achieve such an elegant and functional design of naval architecture and then for those measurements to match the defining characteristics of each of the three persons of the Trinity is an extravagant truth that can only reflect God’s divine purpose and meaning in our lives. They highlight how Father, Son and Holy Spirit protect and nurture our lives through times of crisis and prepare us for a new emerging life of spiritual growth and stature, and they speak of divine protection against all odds when we are battling against uncertainty and the unknown. I’m now going to start with the work of the Father, 300, and then Jesus, 30, and finally the Holy Spirit, 50. The number three hundred defines the work and person of the Father. That 300 code speaks of our defence against impossible odds. there is the account of Enoch in Genesis 5 where it tells us that Enoch walked with God for 300 years and he ‘was not’ because God took him – he did not see death. That is some kind of overcoming – against the odds - the overcoming of death itself through a close walk with God. The next application of the number 300 as our defence against impossible odds is when God commands a man called Gideon, an ordinary man in a very ordinary family without military rank or reputation, to lead Israel in battle against the feared Midianites who were coming to attack them with an army of 135,000 soldiers. God made Gideon shrink his army from 32,000 to 300 to demonstrate that he was their supernatural defence against those impossible odds. (Judges chapter 7)God had to do a lot of convincing with Gideon that it was all about God’s grace and power and not Gideon’s impoverished estimation of his own stature or strength. And also concerning Israel that it was not their own prowess or power that would defeat the enemy. So, Gideon was hiding from the approaching Midianite armies and told to lead Israel into battle to defeat them.Judges 6:11 Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours (just previously proclaimed), and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”And then the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”God devised a radical process of drastically winnowing down Gideon’s army of 32,000. First, God said;“The people who are with you are too many, for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, otherwise Israel will claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me. So then twenty-two thousand of the people had to go home, and ten thousand remained. That was still too many so the 10,000 was then reduced to 300. That is a special number – not quite invincible but definitely unshakable and unconquerable. This 300 number is the basis of your life in the Ark experience. It might take a lot of winnowing out of things within us like doubt and despair or even pride to get us into a 300 kind of unshakeable attitude of trust in God, but Father is saying ‘Surely I will be with you’. What attitudes is God winnowing out of us as humanity in this crisis? God is committed to doing the impossible to have us respond to his mercy and love and forgiveness – to overcome the contradiction of our indifference and ignorance of who he is. He enters into the pain and fear and alienation this world has created between humanity and him and makes himself known, to draw us to himself. The number thirty defines the work and person of Jesus. The Bible says ‘when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age’…(Luke). Jesus came into the midst of our limitations. He did not come to remove them but to give us his unlimited risen self in the midst of them. He endured the cross resisting the fear that made him sweat drops of blood. The Bible tells us that Jesus was made perfect (mature) by willingly going through suffering. He went through the affliction of life and took the cup of suffering in the Garden of Gesthemane from his Father. In other word he accepted the buffeting of life - didn’t demand special privilege like our culture trains us to do (even some aspects of our Christian culture). He gave thanks to his father. He made himself of no reputation and let go of all human entitlements. As we learn to live consciously with him we can ‘lose’ our me-self, and gain our true self. We learn to live for something higher than our own privilages we live for God’ entitlement over us.Being made intensely aware of our human limitations brings about a reaction - Our reaction to a crisis of losing our entitlement to certain things is the human experience of inner suffering ,a disorientating sense of loss. The degree to which we can accept and endure the reality of this loss is the degree to which true character is formed – the number 30 - that marks the person who is a living Yes to God, and who now begins to make courageous decisions . So then by faith we can endure by meeting these limitations with acceptance and not resistance. This brings hope – an expectation of God’s goodness and we can give thanks to God. We begin to know who we are and to live in the potential of who we were designed to be in Christ. And finally the number 50 defines The Holy Spirit – Always at work in the world of the unseen in everyone on earth. The Holy Spirit is God in action in the earth at this critical moment in time, continuing the work of Jesus from when he was God in action in the earth 2000 years ago. So lets look at the sending of the dove out from the Ark into the world in the time of the flood. The dove went out from the Ark twice! The first time the dove was sent out by Noah he came back with the olive branch of peace, the anointing of peace, and the second time the dove was sent out it stayed out in the world. That was those timesIn our times Holy Spirit has also been sent out twice into the world. The first time he was sent into the world as the Spirit of indwelling for Jesus to be born into the earth. Then Jesus went back to the Father with the indwelling Spirit. Then Holy Spirit was sent from Heaven the second time at Pentecost out into the world and like Noah’s dove he is still out here NOW with us. The Bible says ‘He will convince THE WORLD about sin and righteousness and judgment’ … What does that mean and how are we convinced of sin? Sin means ‘missing the mark’ not just a list of bad behaviours, and there are endless lists which people like to categorize - but it means much more than that – It is missing the goal and aim and purpose of life itself, which is to come to know God and share life together with him in oneness of Spirit – the Bible is very clear about this as the aim of God for our lives. Paul tells us we are to be joined to The Lord in one Spirit. If we don’t have a great goal we will never achieve a great goal. If we have great goal and don’t know how to aim at it we will miss the mark and fail the goal. The good news (gospel) is that The father has set the great goal and Jesus has achieved it for us and Holy Spirit is making it real for us in our everyday lives. We need to be made aware (convinced) that we are missing the mark of life itself (The Holy Spirit convincing the world of sin)so that we can experience a major change of mind about the meaning of life itself (that is what the bible means when it says repentance) and we can then align our minds and hearts with the mind and heart and will of God (that is what the bible means when it says righteousness) and then we can live with a sense of accountability and responsibility regarding the consequences of hitting or missing the mark (that is what the bible means by judgment). Many people are not even aware that they have a spirit. Our spirit is our essential ‘I am’ created by God, but most people think of their I am’ as being what is going on in their minds at the time, I am this because I’m good at doing that (The enlightenment revelation of who we are - I think therefore I am – the motto of humanistic philosophy in the 1700’s) but the problem with that is that what you think and more important who do you think you are depends on your own imagination and is mostly based on what other people have made you believe who and what you should be and should do. Everybody tries tried to work that one out, sorting out all the labels they’ve been given, or given themselves (which you cant do – you miss the mark on that all the time). That is because only God knows who you are because he created you and he wants to tell you. That is the ongoing lifelong work of The Holy Spirit. He is there to reveal who Jesus is and what he has done for you and to guide you and lead you through life and to make you know that you are at peace (at one) with him.Holy Spirit is doing that now in everyone on the planet. It is always NOW, in fact that is all the world has at the moment.. We need to learn to live in that now activity of the Holy Spirit’s now - otherwise we live in the yesterdays of our past regrets or the tomorrows of our future uncertainties. Those things attach themselves emotionally to our mind as imaginations. So we move away from the mind’s imaginations and bring our thoughts into who God says we are. That is entering into our rest of faith, where we hear God. So know that his presence is with you always and that your life can be lived in his strength. Your life is unique to God and he has aimed you like an arrow in his bow and sent you forth to hit the mark of being the you he designed for you to be from eternity.  

Steve speaks out of Mark 14:32-42 "The Garden of Gesthemane"

Adam and Eve in the beginning of their lives on earth only spoke to God. He was the only person that they had in their minds. That was their life in paradise (which means ‘an enclosed and protected place’). He had told them that there was a tree in the garden that had fruit that they were not to eat of, or they would die. They knew He was greater than them and knew all things and had rule over their lives, so they listened to Him. Then one day they had a conversation with another person they had never met before, a shining serpent in the very tree they had been warned about. And in that day Adam and Eve let that person into their minds, and there he stayed. He also seemed to speak with great authority and he offered them an interesting and beguiling proposition. He told them they would not die, and that God knew that when they ate the fruit they would become like Him and have His knowledge to judge between good and evil. They listened to him and liked his lie and believed his lie and ate the fruit. That was the beginning of mankind’s confusing and distorted experience of incarceration in another kind of life in a new place, no longer Paradise, the enclosed place of protection. They were sent out of there into the province of deception, confined there along with the serpent and his allies, in the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where they would die. This has been mankind’s habitation to this day. There was also another tree in the garden called the Tree of life, which was to be kept, preserved and unspoiled until at an appointed time it would be energized by God Himself, to bring forth a new endless life upon the earth. This tree was guarded from that time on from Adam and Eve and all mankind until the appointed time for its introduction into the earth for mankind’s new and endless life. God had always planned for his sons and daughters in the earth, whom he loves, to enjoy that new dwelling place, the Tree of Life, better than Paradise, and not an enclosed place, but a place of openness and freedom where they would enjoy life on earth with the fulness of his life within them. But how could mankind escape the tyranny and deception of the tree of knowledge? For four thousand years it had become the only life they knew, and they had made the best of it and the worst of it. God had not abandoned his children and during that time he intervened again and again, calling out of them a people, Israel, to whom he gave his Commandments of wisdom and knowledge. He sovereignly showed himself supernaturally strong and powerful on their behalf. He also gave them Prophets who would tell of his Son, who would become one of them and live among them and die for them to give them access to the tree of his endless life. His Son came and few believed the truth about him because the Tree of knowledge held too tight a grip upon their minds. They had become too used to its voice. The Son Jesus has given us entrance into the tree of life, his risen life, available to all mankind through his act of obedience in his accepting the cup that his Father offered him at Gesthemane. Adam and Eve took the fruit of the tree of knowledge, and we take the cup of the tree of life. We receive his endless life and the authority of the Kingdom of God from Heaven into our lives when we voluntarily accept this cup of obedience to God. We cease to struggle to control the circumstances of the tree of knowledge and live in perfect hope and trust in his care for us in the tree of his life. We now bring the spiritual energy of his love and care of the tree of life into the tree of knowledge where we still also live and where we can bring order into disorder, joy into sorrow, wisdom into confusion, healing into pain. We can bring the transforming work of the tree of life over the world of the tree of knowledge that surrounds us. We can bring dead branches to life, set the crooked paths straight, and prepare the way of The Lord in our generation.            

Jim picks up where Pastor Beth left us, at the Garden of Gesthemane. Jesus tells us through his actions that He is God moving back to Jerusalem.

What might have caused our Lord to sweat blood at Gesthemane? And how can we console Him? Find out the answers to both compelling questions! The transcript for this podcast can be found at https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/the-agony-and-the-angels19.html

Speaker: John Terry

Witness the dramatic betrayal and arrest of the Son of God in the Garden of Gesthemane - and find some incredible paralells to another garden the Scriptures describe. 

For this bonus episode, we asked Time Out Chicago theater critic Kris Vire to tell us what was a-happenin' with NBC's excellent addition to the live televised musical canon, Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert. Kris and Allison get into what worked (hint: a lot!), what didn't, and how well Ben Daniels' Pontius Pilate would do on RuPaul's Drag Race. We also wax rhapsodic about Brandon Victor Dixon, Sara Bareilles, John Legend, John Legend's cheekbones, and the rest of this (mostly) excellent cast.Worried we might not have enough expertise musically? Everything's alright, yes, everything's fine, because the great Kate Kulzick joins us to discuss the orchestration in "Gesthemane," among other things. Thanks to Kris and Kate for joining us, and thanks to costume designer Paul Tazewell for all those deep v-necks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Gethsemane.  A place of profound significance to Christians.  In Gethsemane a mystery unfolded as the Son of God struggled with the will of God.  What did Jesus anticipate that filled him with such dread? What were the dark forces that assaulted him?  Join James as he continues his series in Mark’s Gospel by paying a visit to a place called Gethsemane.