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Welcome to Newbreed Christian Community!Our TIMES OF REFRESHING teaching series continues with a sobering exploration of the biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah and the fires of divine judgment. This message calls us to examine the realities of sin, the holiness of God, the urgency of repentance, and the importance of responding to God's dealings.This teaching is titled:“SODOM, GOMORRAH & THE FIRES”TIMES OF REFRESHINGThe account of Sodom and Gomorrah is more than a historical narrative; it is a reminder that God is holy, that human choices carry consequences, and that His warnings must not be treated lightly. In the midst of a world that can become desensitized to sin, Scripture calls us to discernment, reverence, and a genuine turning of the heart toward God.As we consider this account, we are reminded that the God who judges unrighteousness also calls people to repentance. His desire is that we respond to His truth, walk in righteousness, and remain attentive to His voice.In this message, you will discover:The biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah and the significance of their judgmentWhat Scripture reveals about the condition of these citiesThe relationship between sin, divine judgment, and accountabilityThe importance of taking God's warnings seriouslyWhat the account teaches us about holiness, righteousness, and repentanceThe significance of Lot's deliverance and the danger of looking backHow the fear of the Lord should shape our choices and devotion to GodGod's warnings demand attention.His holiness calls for reverence.His truth calls us to repentance.This message is a call to examine our hearts in the light of God's Word, turn away from unrighteousness, and pursue a life that honours Him. May the lessons of Sodom and Gomorrah awaken in us a deeper reverence for God and a renewed commitment to walk in His ways.Now Playing:“SODOM, GOMORRAH & THE FIRES”TIMES OF REFRESHINGBy Pastor David Oghenerobor

(This podcast was previously published on, November 9, 2021)   Jesus Ministries, Joan Boney  ...   The children of Israel wanted a king to rule over them as the other nations had.  God gave them a king who was Saul.  God even sent Samuel to anoint Saul as king.   Saul was given the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God (I Samuel 10:10), but Saul did not fully obey God, and Saul did not do what God said to do, and did not obey God, and became very twisted by devils in his thinking.   For devils twist the Word of God and try to justify disobedience to God.  

God led the Israelites through the wilderness using a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the cloud moved, they moved. When it stopped, they stopped. This was not a system built around human schedules or preferences. It was a daily, visible reminder that God provides direction, not a timetable, and that His people are called to trust Him with both. The cloud rose upward when it was time to move, not sideways or away, so that even the last person at the back of the camp could see it clearly. That detail matters. God does not lead only the people at the front. He leads everyone, including those who feel the furthest from Him.One of the most practical questions this raises is whether you are a natural stayer or a natural mover. Stayers can confuse comfort with God's will, settling into what is familiar and calling it faithfulness. Movers can confuse restlessness with calling, constantly chasing the next thing without ever putting down roots or finishing what they started. Both tendencies can pull us away from genuine obedience. The ancient Greeks understood this tension through two words for time: chronos, the measurable tick of the clock, and kairos, the appointed moment filled with divine purpose. We have become so obsessed with chronos that we miss the kairos moments happening right in front of us.Following God's leading today looks like four practical steps: getting still before Him without distraction, reading Scripture and letting His Word speak, listening for the peace that the Holy Spirit provides as a guide, and seeking wise counsel alongside prayer. When we do these things consistently, we put ourselves in a position to hear what Isaiah described as a voice behind us saying, this is the way, walk in it. And when we follow that voice, God provides. Not always everything we want, but always everything we need. The wilderness journey was not just about reaching a promised land. It was about being led to a promised Person, Jesus Christ, who meets us in every season and sustains us every step of the way.

Why did Jesus become human? In this message from Vima Church, Pastor Jon walks through one of the biggest foundations of Christian faith: Jesus is not just a teacher or prophet, but the eternal Son of God who came near in flesh.He traces the story through John 1, showing that Jesus was present at creation, full of glory before the world existed, and then willingly stepped into our darkness.The sermon unpacks why the incarnation matters so much. Humanity could never work its way up to God, so God came down to us in grace. John also shows how Jesus experienced real hunger, exhaustion, grief, rejection, and pain, which means He truly understands what we carry.Most importantly, this message reveals that when we look at Jesus, we see the heart of the Father: a God who is holy, near, compassionate, and present in suffering. If you've ever wondered whether God really sees you, knows you, or cares about your struggle, this sermon points you to Christ, the Son of God who came close to save and reveal the Father.

Friday, 25 September 2026   A summary of Matthew Chapter 22.    The individual chapters of Matthew have given a broad panorama of what is going on in redemptive history. In the recent chapters, we saw that Chapter 20 was filled with hints of the transition from the dispensation of the law to the dispensation of grace. It dealt with order and propriety concerning the redemptive process, ensuring that each step is completed as the plan progresses.   It also presented the truth that God has made faith in what He has done the necessary condition for man's salvation. Nothing more can be added to it, and without meeting that one condition, there is no chance of obtaining access.   Chapter 21 continued that thought, dealing specifically with the object of that faith, Jesus Christ. Chapter 21 ended with the parable of the wicked vinedressers. It clearly revealed that the vineyard would be taken away from Israel and given to other vinedressers.   That continued as Chapter 22 began, as seen in the parable of the wedding feast. The symbolism was that the Father was preparing Jesus as a bridegroom. The invitation was made to Israel, but they rejected the offer.   Because of this, they were destroyed and their city, Jerusalem, was burned, exactly what later occurred. Therefore, the message went throughout the world, inviting anyone to come and share in the banquet. At the end of the parable, it was seen that only those who had the appropriate garments, signifying the righteousness of Christ, were welcome. All others would be cast into outer darkness.   The rest of the chapter shows Israel what their true responsibilities are and where their proper doctrine should lie. What is said is directed to Israel. As such, even though the parable of the wedding feast showed that their people and city would be destroyed, it does not mean that it is the end of the line for Israel the nation.   Rather, the interactions show that any future for them must include a right understanding of what is expected of them and how to appropriate their right to be God's people once again.   The first note of this was the challenge of the Pharisees and Herodians concerning one's obligation to society. They attempted to trap Jesus into taking one side or another, but He gave a rightly centered third option. We live in the world and must interact with the world around us.   Israel under the law still has obligations to fulfill apart from the law. Using an earthly example of Caesar, the exchange demonstrates that what belonged to Caesar was to be rendered to Caesar. What can be inferred from this is that Caesar is being used as a type of Christ. If God has determined a new path for Israel, apart from the law, they must meet that obligation.   This was seen in the use of the word eikón when Jesus asked, “Whose, the ‘likeness, this'? And whose inscription?” That word is used in 2 Corinthians 4:4 and Colossians 3:14 when referring to Christ. Jesus is the image of God. The inscription that this is the case is seen in Luke 23 –   “And an inscription [epigraphé] also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew:                          THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Luke 23:38   Jesus is the image of God. The inscription at His crucifixion was a sign to Israel that He is their King. God gave the law to Israel, and they were obligated to it. But God also gave Jesus to Israel. Thus, they are obligated to Him. As Jesus fulfilled the law, Israel must come to Jesus (the fulfillment of the law), thus rendering to God what is God's, both under the law and under the Headship of Christ.   After that, Jesus was challenged by the Sadducees concerning the resurrection. The resurrection is the ultimate sign of Jesus' authority as the designated Messiah and representative of God. Therefore, if a resurrection was possible and to be expected based on the state of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then it was to be expected that when Jesus resurrected, they should have understood that He was the fulfillment of the messianic promises.   After that, the Pharisees had a lawyer, a man who was a specialist in the law, test Jesus concerning the greatest commandment. Jesus' response was a two-fold answer: total allegiance and devotion to God and love toward one's neighbor that matched one's love of himself. Jesus finished the exchange, saying, “In these, the two commandments, all the law and the prophets, they hang.”   As seen, the impossibility of meeting these two commandments was highlighted. It thus takes the reader's mind back to the previous two encounters: First, that there is an obligation to God through the law and a fulfillment of it in Christ, to which the people are obligated. Second, that there was an absolute need for Christ because only He could adequately satisfy the demands of the law.   The chapter finished with the final piece of the “need for Jesus” puzzle. Jesus asked the Pharisees, who had gathered, a question concerning the Sonship of the Christ. Their answer was that the Christ was the son of David, something exactingly seen in their Scriptures. However, they missed the important point from those Scriptures that David considered the Christ his “Lord.”   In citing the 110th Psalm, it is clear that this son of David, who is his Lord, would be given the full authority of God –   “He said, Lord, to the ‘Lord, Mine', ‘You sit from ‘rights, Me', Until if I should put the ‘enemies, Yours' – footstool, the ‘feet, Yours'.'” Matthew 22:44   As this is so, it is an implicit reference to the deity of Christ. This then solidifies the previous thought even further: the obligation to Israel under the law was to God, but because Jesus is the Lord incarnate, Israel has a full obligation to Him as well. Rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's can be seen in this dispensation as “rendering unto Christ what is Christ's.”   The law is not a means to an end. It is also not the final obligation for Israel. It is a part of God's redemptive plan that was fulfilled in Christ. To be obedient to the law, one must bow the knee to Christ, who is God incarnate.   Life application: The chapter continues the Bible's theme of the law versus grace. There is no way around a relationship with Jesus in order to be pleasing to God. As Jesus fulfilled the law, Israel's obligation is to accept Christ's fulfillment of the law and come to God through Him. In doing so, they will be rendering their total allegiance to God, because Jesus is God incarnate.   Nothing else will do. And more, for those who teach that people today must observe the Law of Moses, in part or in whole, there will be no salvation for them. If they were saved before heading down that unholy path, there will be no rewards credited to them from that day forward.   God is not in the business of sharing His glory with others. We can either come to Him as He has determined, or not at all. The absolutes of the Christian faith are not negotiable because God, who cannot lie, has set them forth.   “He says to him, the ‘Jesus', ‘I, I am the Road, and the Truth, and the Life. None, he comes to the Father if not through Me.'” John 14:6 (CG)   Lord God, today we lift up Israel, hoping they will get Jesus right so that many will be saved before the time of trouble comes. We also lift up those who are mired in law observance instead of resting in Christ Jesus. May they give up on their path and walk the road of Jesus alone. Amen. Matthew 22   22 And answering, the ‘Jesus', again, He said in parables to them, saying, 2“It resembled, the ‘kingdom the heavens,' man, king, who he made nuptials – the ‘son, his'. 3And he sent, the ‘servants, his' to call those having been called to the nuptials. And not they inclined to come. 4Again, he sent other servants, saying, ‘You say to those having been called, “You behold, the ‘brunch, mine' I prepared, the ‘oxen, mine', and the fatted have been sacrificed, and all – readied. You come to the nuptials!'” 5The ‘also having been uncaring', they departed, the – indeed – to the ‘his field', the also to the ‘emporium, his'. 6The ‘also rest', having seized the ‘servants, his', they mistreated, and they killed. 7Having heard, also, the king, he angered, and having sent the ‘troops, his' he destroyed the ‘murderers, those', and the ‘city, theirs' he burned. 8Then, he says to ‘servants, his', ‘The, indeed, nuptial, ready, it is. Those, also, having been invited, not they were worthy. 9You go, therefore, upon the ‘through-departures, the roads', and as many, if you should find, you call to the nuptials.' 10And having departed, the ‘servants, those' into the roads, they gathered all, as many as they found, evil, both, and good. And it filled, the nuptial – reclinings.   11Having entered, also, the king, to view those reclining, he beheld there – man, not ‘having been donned, apparel, nuptial'. 12And he says to him, ‘Shammer! How – you entered here, not having ‘apparel, nuptial'?' The ‘also', he muzzled. 13Then, the king, he said to the servants, ‘Having bound his feet and hands, you take him, and you cast into the ‘darkness, the outer'. There, it will be the weeping and the ‘gnash, the teeth'.'   14Many, also, they are invitees, and few, elect.”   15Then, having gone, the Pharisees, counsel, they took: how, Him, they might ensnare in word. 16And they send to Him, the ‘disciples, theirs' with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we have known that true, You are, and the ‘road, the God' in truth You teach, and not it concerns You about anyone. Not, also, You look to ‘appearance, men'. 17You tell, therefore, us what to You, it seems? It permits to give census to Caesar or not?” 18Having known, also, the ‘Jesus', the ‘depravity, theirs', He said, “Why, Me, you test, hypocrites? 19You display to me the ‘coin, the census'.”   They also offered to Him – denarius.   20And He says to them, “Whose, the ‘likeness, this'? And whose inscription?”   21They say to Him, “Caesar's.”   Then He says to them, “You render, therefore, those Caesar's to Caesar, and those the ‘God's' to God.” 22And having heard, they wondered, and having left Him, they departed.   23In that, the ‘day', they approached Him, Sadducees (saying not is ‘resurrection'), and they queried Him, 24saying, “Teacher, Moses, he said if anyone, he should die not having children, he will affinitize the ‘brother, his, the wife, his', and he will raise seed – the ‘brother, his'. 25They were, also, among us seven brothers, and the first, having married, he died, and not having seed, he left the ‘wife, his' to the ‘brother, his'. 26Similarly, also, the second, and the third, until the seventh. 27Afterward, also of all, she died, even the woman. 28In the resurrection, therefore, which of the seven, she will be – wife? All, for, they had her.”   29Answering, also, the ‘Jesus', He said to them, “You roam, not having known the Scriptures nor the ‘power, the God'. 30 In, indeed, the resurrection, neither they marry, nor they are espoused, but like ‘messengers, the God, in heaven', they are. 31Concerning, also, the ‘resurrection, the dead', not you read the ‘having been uttered to you by the God', saying, 32‘I, I am the ‘God, Abraham', and the ‘God, Isaac', and the ‘God, Jacob'?' Not, He is, the God – ‘God, dead', but living.” 33And having heard, the crowds, they were outstruck upon the ‘teaching, His'.   34The ‘also Pharisees', having heard that He muzzled the Sadducees, they gathered upon the same. 35And he queried, one from them – ‘jurisprudent, testing Him', and saying, 36“Teacher, which-such commandment – greatest in the law?” 37The ‘also Jesus', He said to him, “You will love – ‘Lord, the God, yours' in all the ‘heart, yours', and in all the ‘soul, yours', and in all the ‘cognition, yours'. 38This, it is – first and great commandment. 39Second, also, like it: You will love the ‘neighbor, yours' as yourself. 40In these, the two commandments, all the law and the prophets, they hang.”   41Having been gathered, also, the Pharisees, He queried them, the ‘Jesus', 42saying, “What – you, you think about the Christ? Whose Son, He is?”   They say to Him, “The ‘of David'.”   43He says to them, “How then, David – in Spirit, ‘Lord,' Him, he calls, saying:   44‘He said, Lord, to the ‘Lord, Mine', “You sit from ‘rights, Me', Until if I should put the ‘enemies, Yours' – footstool, the ‘feet, Yours'.”'   45If therefore, David, he calls Him ‘Lord,' how ‘Son, His' He is?” 46And none, He could Him answer – word, nor he ventured, any, from that, the day, to question Him longer.

How can God be loving and still judge sin? In this message from Vima Church, John tackles one of the biggest tensions people wrestle with in faith: how God can be full of mercy while still being perfectly just.Walking through Exodus 34, he shows that God does not leave this tension unresolved. John explains that wrath and love, judgment and forgiveness, are not opposing sides of God but part of His complete and holy character.Using powerful illustrations, Romans 3, and a personal story about guilt, consequence, and rescue, this sermon shows why sin must be judged and why Jesus had to step in as our justifier. If you've ever struggled to understand whether God is merciful, holy, loving, or severe, this message will help you see how justice and grace fully meet in Christ.

We look at the only psalm of Moses, seeing what Moses said as he neared his death, and how it still applies to us today

In Philippians 4:10–23, Paul closes his letter by pointing believers to the contentment, generosity, and provision we have in Christ. He reminds the church that true contentment is not based on circumstances, but on the strength Christ provides.This passage also highlights the generosity of the Philippian church, their partnership in gospel ministry, and the promise that God will supply every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Scripture: Philippians 4:10–23

Ons lewe binne tyd. Ons raak moeg, ons omstandighede verander en soms voel dit asof God te laat is. Maar God is ewig — Hy verander nie, Hy raak nie uitgeput nie en Hy verloor nooit beheer nie.In hierdie preek ontdek ons wat dit beteken om God as die Ewige God te ken. Ons kyk na Sy onveranderlike karakter, Sy oneindige krag en die waarheid dat Hy steeds aan die werk is, selfs wanneer ons geen uitweg kan sien nie.Deur onder andere die verhaal van Lasarus word ons herinner: wat vir ons hopeloos lyk, is nie hopeloos vir God nie.Mag hierdie boodskap jou help om opnuut te rus in wie God is, Hom te vertrou met dit wat jou moedeloos maak, en met verwondering na Sy grootheid te kyk.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Indien jy Jesus wil leer ken as jou Verlosser, dan is hierdie Bybelstudie 'n moet! Laai dit gerus hier af:https://www.bybelstudie.co.za/e-boekeWHATSAPP COMMUNITY GROEPhttps://chat.whatsapp.com/LaXQgdTHtrp2v3FZR4XJFnKONTAK VORMMaak gerus ook met ons kontak.Kontakvorm: https://gesinskerk.breezechms.com/form/fd3ed0KONTAK DIE KERKKANTOOR:info@gesinskerk.co.za087 2555 827VOLG ONS AANLYN BY:Facebook: www.facebook.com/gesinskerkInstagram: www.instagram.com/gesinskerkWebtuiste: www.gesinskerk.co.za

Man for God, God in Man Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 20 September 2026, 10:30 am Ilia Korchagin

Thank you for listening to this podcast. If you like what you hear, share it with your friends, and don't forget to subscribe and give the podcast a review on iTunes and Spotify.Visit our website to learn more about Mosaic Church https://www.mosaicchurchtlh.comYou can also find us on:FacebookInstagramYouTube

Have we made God too casual? In this message from Vima Church, John challenges our small, familiar view of God and calls us to recover a right awe of His holiness.Using stories of human greatness and the Old Testament tabernacle, he shows why God's presence was never meant to be treated lightly and why sin created a real gap between God and people.From Moses at the burning bush to Isaiah in the throne room, this sermon unpacks what it means to behold God, fear Him rightly, and worship with reverence instead of preference.Most importantly, it points to Jesus as the better way behind the veil—the One who makes unholy people holy and gives us access to God's presence through His own blood. If you've ever reduced God to something manageable, this message will lift your eyes, challenge your posture, and invite you to approach Him with holy fear and real confidence in Christ.

Thursday, 10 September 2026   ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 22:32   “‘I, I am the ‘God, Abraham', and the ‘God, Isaac', and the ‘God, Jacob'.' Not, He is, the God – ‘God, dead', but living.” (CG)   In the previous verse, Jesus continued His words to the Sadducees, bringing up the subject of the resurrection and preparing to quote Scripture to support His words. He now cites words from Exodus 3:6 and 3:15, which say –   “And He said, ‘I myself ‘God, your father', ‘God, Abraham', ‘God, Isaac', and ‘God, Jacob'.' And he caused to hide, Moses, his faces. For he feared from ‘causing to scan' unto the God.” Exodus 3:6 (CG)   “And He said, yet, God unto Moses, ‘Thus you will say unto ‘sons, Israel', “Yehovah, ‘God, your fathers', ‘God, Abraham', ‘God, Isaac', and ‘God, Jacob', He sent me unto you. ‘This, My name to vanishment, and this my memorial to generation, generation.'”'” Exodus 3:15 (CG)   Jesus cites the portion of these verses that He deems relevant to His line of reasoning, beginning with, “I, I am the ‘God, Abraham', and the ‘God, Isaac', and the ‘God, Jacob'.”   As can be seen, in the Greek, there is an article before God when connected to the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the Hebrew, that same closeness is summed up in Exodus 3:6 by calling Him “the God” at the end of the verse.   In Hebrew, the use of the article before “God” is expressive. It signifies those who are in a right relationship with Him or to contrast those who are not. There is an intimate union even at the time of Moses that existed between “the God” and Moses' ancestors.   The emphatic “I, I” in the Greek is reflected in the Hebrew word anokhi, translated as I myself. The Lord God emphatically declared to Moses that He is the God of these men. He doesn't say He was their God but that He is, speaking of the three of them conjointly and by omitting any verb in the Hebrew. In the Greek, Jesus cites it with a present-tense verb in the active voice. With this stated, Jesus continues, saying, “Not, He is, the God – ‘God, dead', but living.”   Jesus' point is that because of this intimate union, reflected in the proclamation made by God, they must still be alive to God. As Cambridge says, “God is a God of the living only, but He is the God of Abraham. Therefore, Abraham is living.”   The matter of the resurrection is not proven by this formula. However, it is to be inferred from it. If these men are alive to God, but are physically dead, there must be a place where they are alive to God. That place in the Old Testament is called Sheol. In the New Testament, it is called Hades.   If these men are there, that disproves the Sadducees' argument that at the time of physical death, there is nothing further. As there is a state of existence after death, it implies that they are awaiting a resurrection.   Life application: It would be a sad excuse for a life if the Sadducees' idea of living were true and yet they spent their time worrying about what God thought. If God created man with no intention of restoring him to Himself, it would be equivalent to the atheists' belief that there is no God as far as judgment is concerned.   If there is nothing awaiting man after this life, what would be the point of being moral, saving for the future, or even considering God in one's daily life? There would be none. And this is just the attitude that communists and atheists have. They say that religion is a trap to keep the masses under control and to subjugate them.   But this is just what atheism leading to communism does. Because they claim there is no God, there is no need to treat humanity with care. Subjugating the masses without any thought of accountability for their actions is their main idea in life.   It is an ideology that has led to hundreds of millions of human lives being exterminated. Religious wars have indeed taken place over the millennia, something communists cite to demonstrate how bad religion is for humanity, but the losses experienced in such wars are negligible in comparison to the losses experienced at the hands of communist ideology.   Further, if there is a true religious expression from God, it by default means that the other religious expressions are false. Therefore, it should be obvious that there will be strife between religions. Wars are an attempt to elevate ideologies to a place of supremacy.   Islam's very existence is established on submission, forced or not, upon others. In this regard, it has a similar goal to atheism. Thus, a bond has developed in the US between atheist ideology and Islam. If their goal of eradicating Christianity is realized, the next step in their evolutionary model will be to turn on one another, exterminating those who refuse to submit to whichever ideology prevails.   True adherents to Christianity do not need to follow this path. If the truth of God is found in what they believe, there is no need to force it on others. The gospel itself frees humanity from such things. We do not need to elevate the true God through force and subjugation. If He is God, His outcome is assured. Our job is to share the gospel with those who so desperately need to hear it.   Lord God, help us to be shining examples of faithful service, telling others about what You have done in the giving of Jesus. It is a message that frees humanity from the bonds of sin, hopelessness, and misery. Give us hearts willing to share it with the world. Amen.

Will you stand like Daniel and let God make you 10 times better? In this Words From The Word devotion, Pastor Roderick Webster draws from Daniel chapter 1 verses 17 through 21 (KJV) to show us the kind of God Daniel served — a God who gives knowledge, grants favor, sustains through a lifetime of faithfulness, and honors those who honor Him.You might be asking: Can God really make a difference in my career, my relationships, my future? What does it mean to purpose in your heart to serve God? Is it possible to stay faithful when everything around me is uncertain? How do I trust God when the road gets rough?Key points from this devotion:- God gave Daniel knowledge, skill, and favor — and He will do the same for you- 1 Samuel 2:30 reminds us that God honors those who honor Him- Daniel was faithful for over 70 years — consistency matters to God- God is looking for young men and women willing to stand like Daniel- Whatever you need — provision, a spouse, a career — stay with GodIf this devotion encouraged you, please like, leave a comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear it today. Subscribe so you never miss a daily word from the Word.#WordsFromTheWord #KJV #BibleDevotion #ChristianLiving #GoodNewsBaptistChurchStay connected with GNBC:

God is an amazing God. A loving God. But there's a side to Him that we don't like to think too much about.  It's the angry God.  The God of judgement and wrath.  But if we don't get our mind around that side of Him, then the good news of Jesus – well there's nothing good about the news.   Why Sin is a Four Letter Word Now, something that strikes me as I look around the world in which we live, is that we live in a world where just about anything goes. Even in my short life time – just on half a century, which, in the overall scheme of history, is like a drop in the ocean – things have changed radically. Let me give you just one example. When I was a young man, a woman falling pregnant outside marriage was a great matter of shame. Today it's a life style choice that many women make. Many, many couples choose to live together without making the commitment of marriage. And just in case you think I am plucking that out of the air, the statistics tells us that, in Australia at least, co-habitation before marriage has increased – wait for this – from eighteen percent of couples in 1975 to almost sixty percent today. It's gone from being the exception, to being more the norm. Just the way things are these days. You know, sometimes you hear people thumping the table, telling us how bad things are these days, "Now like the good old days when I was young." The implication is that this younger generation is, well, you know, they have no discipline or standards and if only things were like they were back in the "good old days". The problem is, the "good old days" weren't really that good. Husbands still beat their wives back in the "good old days". Children were still abused back in the "good old days". Bad things still happened back in the "good old days" too – let's be honest. So the last thing under the sun that I want to be doing is suggesting that we somehow turn the clock back, so that things will be fine again – just like they were in the "good old days" - because we can't turn the clock back and even if we could, things weren't necessarily so grand back in the "good old days". And there is a reason for that because from the moment that Adam and Eve took their first bite of that "apple" from that one tree … the "one" tree in that beautiful, abundant, peaceful garden, of which God said, "Don't eat the fruit of that tree," from that moment there has been this thing in the world called "sin". Let's go to the story – Genesis chapter 3, beginning at verse 1 – if you have a Bible: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.' But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." Now, you see things have changed in this world. We live in a world where anything goes, right? Well, just about anything! Many a moral standard of yesteryear seems old fashioned and irrelevant and, to many, downright offensive. We are a whole bunch more relaxed about things these days, compared with the rigid old rules of the past century. So this notion of sin; this rebelling against God; this Adam and Eve thing, well, it seems like an outdated throwback from the 1950s. It feels, well, completely irrelevant in the enlightened age in which we live, doesn't it? And there are some things from the past, the way women were treated like chattels almost, for instance, that were terrible. Still happens in places around the world today. Or treating people differently because of their skin colour or their nationality. So many flaws and faults in these rigid rules from the past, to be sure and that … that's why the short, three letter word, "sin" is something of a four letter word these days – a dirty word, a nasty word, a word that implies moral judgement against the standards of the rigid and flawed rules of our childhood. But I'm not so much talking about that; about man-made rules. The thing … the thing that ushered pain and suffering into this world was our rebellion against God, starting with Adam and Eve in the garden. Read on to chapter 3 of that Book of Genesis and we find that there were some serious consequences to their actions, beyond what we just read. So whilst "sin" is a word that seems to carry, well, a lot of baggage around with it, it speaks of our rebellion against God and that word 'sin' as it's used in the Bible, means literally "to miss the mark; to miss the whole point; to miss out on your share". And that's the consequence of our rebellion against God. It's not this thing that there are a whole bunch of rigid religious rules that you and I have to follow in order to make it into heaven. That's not it at all. The point is that God is a God who loves us. He loves you, He loves me beyond anything we can imagine love to be. Writes the Apostle Paul to his friends, in Ephesians chapter 3, beginning at verse 18: I pray that you may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. He loves you so much, more than words can ever say – beyond understanding – and when we turn our backs on Him; when you and I decide to live our lives our way; when we adopt this "anything goes" attitude; when we decide we can eat the fruit off any tree, there are consequences. I mean these: eat too much of the wrong thing and it will ruin your health; work too hard for too long, without rest and it will ruin your life; play too hard; drink too hard, it will ruin your health and your relationships. Cause and effect! Come on! It's not rocket science – it's as plain as the nose on your face and mine. And with Adam and Eve, there was cause and effect – there are consequences. As much as we try and kid ourselves; as much as we try to tell ourselves that we can have anything and be anything and do anything – "It'll be okay" – we know it's a lie and we know there are always consequences. You and I, we've been duped into thinking that "sin" is some old fashioned, irrelevant, religious word from the past, when all along it's the greatest malady of our lives. When all along that rebellion is robbing us of the fruit of a good and healthy relationship with God; a God who loves us so much that He sent us His only Son that whoever believes in Him wouldn't perish but instead, would have eternal life.   Sowing and Reaping Now, this word "righteousness", well, it's not a word that we use so much these days, in common, day to day language. Self-righteousness maybe, is the only time that we really hear the word. So what is it, why does it matter and why does it produce a harvest? Well, it turns out that this whole "righteousness" thing is a matter of cause and effect. I guess we pretty much understand the word "right", telling right from wrong. At least, we think we do. If it's right, it's right; if it's wrong, it's wrong. Not so much black and white these days; lots of shades of grey there between what people consider to be right and wrong, particularly the wealthier nations and their peoples become, the more focused we become on ourselves rather than on other people around us, that line between right and wrong, well, it's a bit like the shifting sands. Nevertheless, I guess we all have a sense of right and wrong. But the word "righteousness" is something of a legal term – it has to do with the law and in the sense of God's righteousness, it has to do with God's law, which we find in the Old Testament. Best way I have found to understand it is in terms of our law today. Let's say someone does something wrong, whether it's a minor traffic infringement or a murder. Once we have done that and it's proven, we stand condemned by the law. By and large, so long as justice is done, we don't have a problem with that – we understand that we have to stop people from speeding their cars, right through to murdering other people. So, we do something wrong and as the saying goes, we find ourselves on "the wrong side of the law". And then there is a debt to be paid – whether it's a hundred dollar speeding fine or twenty five years in prison for murdering. The law demands justice. That justice acts both as a penalty and, hopefully, as a deterrent but it also gives society justice. If a loved one of ours is killed by a drunk driver, let's say, and that drunk driver is tried and convicted and given a fifty dollar fine, then we don't experience a sense of justice. On the other hand, if that drunk driver is locked up for some number of years - whilst that doesn't bring our loved one back - our sense of justice is satisfied. But here's the thing: once the penalty or the debt has been paid by the transgressor, whatever you and I may think of them, they are free because they now have a right standing according to the law. A murderer, after serving that term in prison, walks out of that gate a free man or a free woman with precisely the same standing according to the law that you and I have. They have served their time; they have paid their debt to society and they are now back on the right side of the law. In a legal sense, they stand justified and here it is; here's the word "righteousness" – they are back in a right standing with the law that makes them "righteousness". That's what righteousness means – to be in the right standing with the law. So, if we do something wrong, it causes us pain, let alone the pain it causes other people because we find ourselves on the wrong side of the law. Once we take our punishment and serve our dues, we are then righteous again in the eyes of the law. Cause and effect. And it's like that with our relationship with God and in life generally. And it's something that the Apostle Paul talks about with his friends at the church in Galatia, back in the First Century AD. Have a look with me at Galatians chapter 6, beginning at verse 7. He says this: Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you will reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we do not give up. In other words, stop kidding yourself; stop trying to get around God. Whatever you sow, you are going to reap. Cause and effect! Sow rubbish, you will reap rubbish; sow goodness, you will reap goodness. So even though things can be tough; even though sometimes if feels as though the world is against us; even though it feels sometimes that nothing … absolutely nothing is going our way – sow goodness; don't grow tired in doing that – sow goodness. Sow in God's direction; sow in God's way and just at the right time, you will reap a harvest; the harvest of righteousness. Sowing and reaping. Now there is more to this whole "righteousness" thing than what we do. There is some bad news about righteousness and some good news; great news; fantastic news and we are going to be checking those out next week on the programme. But right now I guess, in a world where the maxim of our day is that pretty much anything goes, I just felt today that we need to debunk that lie; it's a patent lie. "Do what feels good! Anything goes, it'll be fine!" No it won't, because there's cause and effect. Get drunk, hop in your car, knock over a pedestrian – there are consequences – cause and effect. "And as you sow, so shall you reap". Sow goodness and will reap the harvest; the abundant blessing of righteousness; the right standing with God – a God who loves us beyond anything that we can say in words – a God who wants to bless our socks off. The thing that I want to encourage you with today is this: that doing "good" doesn't always feel good. Let me say that again, it's important: doing "good" doesn't always feel good; loving the unlovable, turning the other cheek, putting others before ourselves. In fact, often it's tough and it hurts and we want to give up – it's all too hard. But we reap what we sow: that the universal, godly principle. As you sow, so shall you reap. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right for we will reap at harvest-time if we do not give up. And that harvest is the abundant harvest of righteousness – a blessing from God that is absolutely, beyond anything we can imagine right now.   The Wrath of God Now, in the coming weeks we are going to be talking quite a bit about the harvest that Paul is talking about and we have been talking about today – the harvest of righteousness. But today there is something else that we need to chat about first: it's the alternative to this wonderful harvest of righteousness. It's one hell of a subject, but if I didn't talk about it, then I wouldn't be doing my job. The word "wrath" appears through the Bible some 266 times and most of the times it is used, it's talking about the wrath of God. Now, I know that pretty much, we don't want to hear about God's anger and God's wrath towards those who have rebelled against Him. I know that and I know that first instincts are to reach for the dial and turn this guy off or change stations – I know that too. But I want to encourage you not to do that because this short bit about the wrath of God may be the most important thing that you will ever, ever hear. So stick with me, even though it feels a little bit uncomfortable right now. God is really, really clear about His impending wrath and that word "wrath" means this: anger which will manifest itself in the form of punishment. And He is also really clear about what things kindle His wrath. Come with me to Colossians chapter 3, beginning a verse 5: Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, vengeance, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Here's the amazing thing: I used to think that God was just one big long list of religious rules – do this, don't do that. And to be sure, I grew up in a religious tradition that was very much rule based. But the more I read of what God has to say in His Word; the more I go to the source and find exactly what He has to say, the thing I discover is that there are actually very, very few things that God says to us, "Don't do." Very few! Look at the list that Paul gives us here: You must get rid of such things - anger, vengeance, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another … There are a few others too but actually not many and they are all things that are blatantly wrong. And they are all things that obviously have painful consequences in our lives – right? Why is it we kid ourselves and say, "Well, you know, being a Christian is hard – all these things I'm not allowed to do and I'm not allowed to have any fun?" That's not what it says! The only things about which God says, "Don't do them", are the ones that are going to hurt us and hurt others. And – listen to this – if you and I persist in doing them, then eventually - even though God is slow to anger; even though He is merciful; even though He is a God of grace - eventually His wrath is going to fall on us. It's a simple message and it's a message I feel God wants us to hear today. Galatians chapter 5, beginning at verse 19: Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. These are blindingly, glimpsingly obvious! Hello!! Do you get it? Keep doing these things in stiff necked opposition to what I am telling you and you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It's that simple! And this alternative to the harvest of righteousness; this not inheriting the Kingdom of God is a frightening prospect because the alternative is living the rest of eternity in the wrath of God – God's anger and God's punishment. Listen to the contrast … the sharp, stark contrast between the eternities reserved for those who worship - in effect – the devil, or the beast, as he is called in this passage I am about to read to you, through their rebellion against God, verses those who worship God, through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's written in kind of picture language, so let God's Word paint for you the picture. Revelation chapter 14, verses 9 to 13: Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, "Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands, they will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name." Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labours, for their deeds will follow them." John Lennon in his famous song "Imagine" sang these words: Imagine there's no Heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, above us only sky, Imagine all the people, living for today … Well, there are many people imagining that. There are many people living just for today. But one day … one day they will be greatly disappointed – Jesus made that abundantly clear: Matthew chapter 10, verse 28: Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Friend, God is a wonderful God, He has a fantastic plan for your life. It's a plan for us to live in His blessing from this point on and for all eternity. That's why He sent Jesus, His Son, to pay for our sin so that when we put our trust in Him, we can be forgiven and have this new life; this eternal life. But listen to me; please listen carefully: if we reject Jesus; if we reject God; if we reject the One whom He sent to suffer for you and me, that our sin would be paid for in full – if we reject Him, there is an alternative. That alternative is an eternal separation from God; it is an eternal torment. It goes on for ever and ever. I can't state it anymore plainly than that. I implore you, don't reject Jesus. God sent Him in His great love to save you and to save me.

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Study session scripture: Romans 14:1-12As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.Study session topics:Mutual acceptance between strong and weak, part 1 A call for the “strong” in faith to accept those “weak” in faith (v. 1) Dietary differences (vv. 2-4) 4 principles to keep us from scorning fellow believers Other Christians answer to God God has accepted other Christians as they are Other Christians stand by the grace of God just as you do You too are accountable to God Differences in special days (vv. 5-6) 3 principles for how Christians should conduct themselves in disputable matters Be convinced in your own mind Serve the Lord Give thanks Further calls to unity (vv. 7-12) Paul's reason for speaking as he does: unity Modern-day disputable mattersStudy session audio: S4 E33: Romans 14:1-12 Download

Send us Fan MailEvening Prayers - Will God Hear Our Prayer? (Prayer is God's Plan for Man - not man's plan for God; God spoke first; God is the best listener ever; God is on the mainline, tell Him what you want)Thank you for listening, our heart's prayer is for you and I to walk daily with Jesus, our joy and peaceaimingforjesus.comYouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@aimingforjesus5346Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aiming_for_jesus/Threads https://www.threads.com/@aiming_for_jesusX https://x.com/AimingForJesusTik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@aiming.for.jesus

Call/WhatsApp: +91 9480585039 Email: info@febaonline.org

Call/WhatsApp: +91 9480585039 Email: info@febaonline.org

The imprisoned John the Baptist doesn't get release from his earthly bad circumstances.  That doesn't mean he didn't receive the blessings and the promises of God.  He got:Good news of the gospel, access to God Himself, that is preached and available to the poor in spirit everywhereThe resurrection power of GodGod didn't abandon the greatest man to ever live. Yes, I know he literally got his head cut off, but the Lord gave him precious things: 1. Himself and 2. Resurrection from this life to the eternal. https://youtu.be/3iPHRMK8HBs

We're surrounded by surveys.Rate your phone call.Rate your church experience.Rate your doctor's visit.John even got asked to rate his experience giving a urine sample.

What can the final words of Moses teach Christians about God, His Torah, covenant faithfulness, and following Yeshua? In Episode 15 of Christians Follow Torah Too? — Part 7 of our Deuteronomy series, Sabbath Lounge continues our verse-by-verse journey through Deuteronomy 32–34, the final chapters of Moses' life and the conclusion of the book of Deuteronomy. These chapters contain some of the most powerful and prophetic words in the Torah—including the Song of Moses, God's warnings about Israel's future, Moses' final blessing, the commissioning of Joshua, and the death of Moses. But there's an important question behind these chapters: If Moses' final instructions came from God, what do they mean for people who follow Yeshua today? Could Deuteronomy 32–34 help us better understand the relationship between Torah, covenant, obedience, faith, and Christianity? In this Bible study, we examine the text carefully and compare what we find in Deuteronomy with the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus) and the rest of Scripture.  

Camping in Alaska is always a fun adventure. We finally got to go a few weeks ago and it always takes some work to gather your camping supplies and pack them up just to hit the road. The excitement builds as we hit the road and find our spot and set up camp. Now the fun begins! Fires, time in the woods, getting wet in an ocean or river, and then fire pit desserts, all under a seemingly never setting sun which makes sleep optional, or at least the kids think so. At some point the magic of camping fades and we begin to long for our home, our bed, the roof that doesn't drip with dew and for me a back that doesn't ache. Living in a tent is always a little underwhelming. So why would God do it? In this message, we examine the most boring part of Exodus, the instructions for God's tent, the Tabernacle. This is arguably the greatest tent in the history of man, not because of its design, but its purpose. The God of all creation had a plan to make Himself known to His people and to give them a better understanding of what we were truly created for!Pastor Matt McCarter

Pathfinder Church | August 30, 2026 | Dion GarrettWhen good things happen to us, is it just luck of the draw? Or just something we deserve because of all our hard work? What role does God have in our good fortune?Website | https://pathfinderstl.orgOnline Giving | https://pathfinderstl.org/givePodcasts | https://pathfinderstl.org/podcastsFacebook | https://facebook.com/pathfinderstlInstagram |  https://instagram.com/pathfinderstlSt. John School | https://stjls.orgContact Us | churchinfo@pathfinderstl.org

Where do we turn when life feels uncertain and we need security? In 1 Samuel 22, David finds himself in a cave, but God meets him there. In Part 2 of God Has a Plan, discover how God delivers, provides, and guides us when we feel uncertain, reminding us that our deepest need for security is ultimately met in Him. 

Basic Bible Study | Philemon, Colossians & Ephesians In today's podcast, join Chris and Robyn as they continue their discussion. Here is a breakdown of what was discussed: - a little chit-chat -Chris & Robyn chat for a little bit - recap of last episode - Paul wrote Philemon from prison in Rome 60 A.D. - Paul wrote to the Colossians to refute heretical teachings that was causing confusion among the Christians there - knowing Christ is knowing God - Christian's love comes from the Holy Spirit - Christ is the visible image of the invisible God - God is the creator & sustainer of the world - press toward wisdom & pray for understanding - Christ wants to guide you & help you with your daily problems - Christian growth is a lifelong process - let God worry about the wrongs you've suffered - real spiritual leadership involves service - God is always listening & always answering - Christ alone is the source of our spiritual life - God's purpose for sending Christ was to unite Jews & Gentiles to one body with Christ as the head - because of Christ, and our faith in Him, we can now come boldly & confidently into God's presence - God will give you opportunities to tell others about Christ - when we see faults in fellow believers, we should be patient & gentle - each believer has God given abilities that can strengthen the whole body - speak the truth in love - if we nurse our anger we will give the devil an opportunity to divide us - God forgives us because of His great mercy - live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ - Satan is constantly battling against all who are on the Lord's side - God can use us in any circumstance to do His will. We should pray that God would accomplish His plan through us right where we are, knowing God's eternal purpose for us will help us through the difficult times. - what to read for next time “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT Opening a Bible for the first time can be intimidating. Join Amy & Robyn in an easy-to-follow discussion. This Basic Bible Study is perfect for beginners & those who have never read the Bible. Look for new podcasts every Tuesday & Friday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BIBLE RESOURCES https://biblehub.com/ https://www.bible.com/ http://betterdaysarecoming.com/bible/pronunciation.html https://biblespeak.org/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/mybasicbiblestudy WEBSITE http://www.mybasicbiblestudy.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can contact us via e-mail or regular old snail-mail: Basic Bible Study 7797 N. 1st St. #34 Fresno, CA 93720 basicbiblestudy19@gmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pathfinder Church | August 23, 2026 | Doug MaussIf bad things happen in our lives, is it because we deserved it in some way? Are negative events a sign of God's judgment? How can we tell if God is behind some tragic circumstance, or if we're just under spiritual attack?Website | https://pathfinderstl.orgOnline Giving | https://pathfinderstl.org/givePodcasts | https://pathfinderstl.org/podcastsFacebook | https://facebook.com/pathfinderstlInstagram |  https://instagram.com/pathfinderstlSt. John School | https://stjls.orgContact Us | churchinfo@pathfinderstl.org

A Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity 2 Corinthians 3:4-9 by William Klock Imagine you're an Israelite at the time of the Exodus.  Moses shows up and announces that the God of your ancestors—a God no one's heard from in four hundred years—is going to deliver you from Pharoah's slavery.  Sounds pretty sketchy.  But then God begins to act.  He sends ten plagues on the Egyptians.  He turns the Nile to blood.  Wow!  But then Pharoah's magicians do the same thing.  Okay…maybe not as impressive as it seemed at first.  But as the plagues go on, they get more and more impressive and Pharaoh's magicians can't keep up.  By the tenth plague you know without a doubt that this God of your fathers is something.  He's even more powerful than Pharoah and his gods.  And then the Red Sea.  Pharaoh chased you down.  Your people are stuck between the sea and Pharaoh's army.  All is lost.  And then the God of your fathers parts the sea itself in an amazing display of power and authority.  Imagine what it was like to walk through the sea on dry ground.  And then to watch as, just as miraculously, the God of your fathers causes the waters to come crashing back into place just at the right time to drown Pharaoh's army.  And you join with your people as, for the first time, you sing praise to this God of your fathers—a God whom you're now starting to think of as your God.  But God isn't finished.  He appears as a magnificent pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night and he leads your people into the wilderness.  When there's nothing to drink, he causes water to pour forth from a rock.  When there's nothing to eat, he miraculously provides an abundance of manna and quail.  At Mount Sinai he meets your people in cloud and lightning on the mountaintop.  He establishes a covenant with you.  He will be your God and you will be his people.  He sends Moses down the mountain with the torah and with instructions for the tabernacle.  And having been in God's presence, Moses' face shines so brightly with God's glory that he has to wear a veil.  And when your people have finished assembling the tabernacle, you see God's glory—like a cloud—descend to fill it.  It's astounding.  It's the sort of thing the Egyptians could only dream about their gods doing and the God of Israel does it for real.  And, eventually, just as he promised, God leads your people into Canaan—the promised land—and he conquers the people for you and gives you their cities.  And you know it's him, not you.  There's no doubting it.  He had you march on Jericho, not with swords, but carrying his ark and blowing trumpets as you marched in circles around the city.  Not to attack it.  Not to put siege to it.  But simply to announce that the Lord, the God of Israel had come.  And when that announcement was clear and when everyone could see that you and your people had done nothing but announce the Lord's presence, he caused the walls to come crashing down.  He defeated the city.  And neither you nor anyone else could possibly think of taking credit for it.  Neither you nor anyone else took the Lord for granted.  Neither you nor anyone else could dream of giving your faith, your loyalty, your allegiance to any other god.  Because you had seen with your own eyes the glory of the Lord. Even as the generations passed, the people remembered the Lord.  They lived in those cities, they drew from those wells, they harvested crops from those fields that the Lord had taken from the Canaanites and given to their fathers and grandfathers.  They bore in their flesh the sign of God's covenant—that statement, “I will be your God and you will be my people”—they bore that sign in their circumcision.  And every year they celebrated the Passover and not only recalled the events of the Exodus in which the Lord had saved their fathers; they participated, themselves, in those events—they owned them as if they'd happened to them.  And the covenant was renewed. And if you read the Old Testament no further you might think it would be like that forever.  How could a people who had so experienced the glory of God ever take him for granted, let alone turn their backs on him?  How could a people who had so experienced the glory of God ever look for confidence and hope in anyone or anything else?  But it happened.  They took their status as his people for granted.  They began to take those cities and wells and vineyards and fields he'd given them for granted.  They stopped celebrating the Passover and remembering what he'd done for them.  They started worshiping other gods.  They lost faith in the Lord and started putting their trust in kings and in armies and in politics.  And when the prophets came to rebuke the people and to call them back to faithfulness, they refused to listen and abused those prophets.  Eventually, because they took it all for granted, because they were unfaithful, the Lord took away the land and the cities and fields and vineyards—and finally even his presence—and sent the people into exile in a foreign land.  But not before he promised them renewal.  One day he would restore them and make them new and fill them with his own Spirit, he would turn their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, so that they would be forever faithful. And, in Jesus, the Lord fulfilled that promise to his people.  In Jesus he was born as one of them, but rejected and crucified as a false Messiah.  God raised Jesus from death and overturned the verdict against him, declaring that he really was the Messiah and creation's true Lord.  In rising from the grave Jesus conquered death.  And then, to those who were baptised and received the sign of God's new covenant, he gave God's Spirit.  The old Israel had a temple.  This new Israel is the temple.  And as we read in last week's Epistle, Paul stressed that the risen Jesus appeared to the twelve, and to the other disciples, and even at one point to five hundred, and lastly to him.  And Jesus changed everything for them.  In his death and resurrection he led his people in a new exodus, not this time from physical bondage under Pharaoh, but from bondage to sin and death themselves.  And in baptism, Jesus leads his people like Moses through the waters of redemption to meet the Lord on the far side.  And the Spirit leads us, not as a pillar of cloud or fire, but as God's very presence within us, as we embark on a world- and humanity-saving trek through the wilderness of the old evil age into the age to come, towards the New Jerusalem, to that day when gospel and Spirit have done their work and Jesus does away with sin and death and evil once and for all and forever, and creation is set to rights and we enjoy the presence of our God eternally.  Those first eyewitnesses took this astounding gospel story to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the world and amazing things happened.  It was more than just a story of the glory of God.  The story of the old exodus was that, but this was more.  The story of the Messiah and this new exodus has power unlike any story that has been told before or since.  This is a story backed by the life-giving and life-changing power of Jesus and the Spirit and the people who heard it and believed it and came to trust in the death and, most importantly, the resurrection of Jesus, they were changed.  Forgiven by the redeeming death of Jesus and then given a foretaste of the life of God's new world by the Spirit whom he poured into them.  It was a change that no one could ignore.  Some were captivated by it and came to hear and to believe the gospel story for themselves and they shared in this new life too.  And others got angry as the gospel story and God's new world challenged the gods and the kings and the systems in which they were already invested.  But to those who believed, the gospel, the good news about Jesus was life itself.  And they gathered together as often as they could and when they did, they not only shared the community the gospel had given them, they shared in the meal Jesus had given them.  In the Lord's Supper they ate bread and drank wine—and just as in the Passover—they didn't just remember what Jesus had done to deliver them from sin and death, they appropriated that death and resurrection, they participated in that saving event themselves.  They owned this new exodus just as the Israelites owned the events of the first exodus.  And each time it was as if the Lord was renewing his covenant with them: through Jesus and the Spirit, I will be your God and you will be my people. And you might think that their faithfulness to the Lord would be unending.  You would think that their trust and loyalty—their confidence—would always and only be in Jesus the Messiah.  But it wasn't.  If we're honest about our struggles, we know that it's easy to become distracted by other things.  There's a reason we gather every Sunday to hear the good news again and to come to the Lord's Table to be reminded and to renew the covenant.  There's a reason why we daily immerse ourselves in the scriptures and in the story there of God and his people.  Because when we don't, even as glorious as that story is, even as it once captivated us so thoroughly, somehow—and to our shame—we forget.  And Jesus is still there, but we start focusing on other things and we start looking for other things and we start putting our confidence and our hope in other things. It even happened in the early church with that first generation of believers.  Paul had arrived in Corinth in about a.d. 50 or 51.  He proclaimed the good news about Jesus and both Jews and gentiles there were captivated by the story.  They believed.  They were baptised.  And Paul stayed with them for about a year and half, helping them to set up a church.  And everyone knew that it wasn't Paul who had done it.  He was just an unassuming little man.  Funny looking, maybe with a speech impediment.  (Remember in last week's Epistle he owned that insult about being a monster, prematurely born.)  What happened in Corinth wasn't about Paul.  Brothers and Sisters, it was about the power of the gospel and the Spirit.  And yet just a few years later, it all started to fall apart.  The amazing story about the death and resurrection of Jesus that had once so spoken to them about the glory of God started to fade, and with it their motivation to holiness.  Sin—gross, truly wicked sin—started to creep into the church and they found ways to justify it.  Their worship became chaotic as people began using the gifts the Spirit had given to bring attention to themselves instead of to build up the body.  They abused the Lord's Supper and twisted and undermined its covenant meaning.  And when Paul, their brother, the one who had not only brought the gospel to them, but who could speak with authority about it because he, himself, had met the risen Jesus, when he wrote to them they brushed him off.  They told him they didn't want to hear from him anymore.  He'd been displaced by other preachers who were flashier, who were more handsome, who were better spoken then he was. And so, at the end of 2 Corinthians 2 he appeals to them.  He talks about himself as “we” instead of “I” and I think he does that to emphasise that he stands with the other apostles whose authority came from being eyewitness of the risen Messiah.  The same could not be said of others who have come to them and led them astray.  He writes to them, saying, “We aren't mere peddlers of God's word, as so many preachers are.  We speak with sincerity.  We speak from God.  We speak in God's presence.  We speak in the Messiah.”  The Messiah: that's who this is really about.  Paul has no authority of his own.  He simply speaks what he heard from Jesus himself.  And his point here is that they had once been captivated by that gospel of the Messiah that Paul had proclaimed to them, but now they've been captivated by the words of mere men.  “Do you want a letter of recommendation before you'll listen to me?” Paul asks.  “Do I need to give you a sheaf of reference letters so you'll know I'm legit?” “No,” says Paul, going on in 3:2: “You are our official reference!  It's written on our hearts.  Everyone can know and read it.  It's plain that you are a letter from the Messiah, with us the messengers.  A letter not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.  Not on tablets of stone, but on the tablets of fleshly hearts.” In other words, despite all their problems, despite their backsliding into worldly ways, they are not the people they once were.  Paul had proclaimed the good new—the story about Jesus and his death and resurrection and ascension—and through that preaching the Spirit had captivated them and filled their hearts with faith.  They believed.  They gave their trust, their loyalty, their allegiance, their obedience to Jesus and they were transformed.  And Paul could see it even through all their problems.  No, Paul doesn't need to give them references.  “You are my reference,” he says to them.  I know you've kicked me to the curb, but it was the message I received from Jesus that I preached to you that transformed you—not the merely human words of the other preachers who came along.  It was the word of God that did it. And they really, really need to hear this.  Because in the years since Paul left, as they've listened to teachers who led them astray, as the glory of the pure gospel has faded from their vision, they've begun to put their confidence in other things.  They no longer associate Paul with the gospel.  They're thinking of him as that funny-looking little man with the speech impediment.  And following someone like that in Greek culture, well, that wasn't going to get you anywhere.  And so they associated with the handsome preachers with eloquent rhetoric who could impress the Greeks.  They've forgotten that the gifts the Spirit gave them were gifts of grace to build up the body, and now they're abusing them and putting their confidence in them.  They've forgotten that the gospel puts them all on an equal footing before the throne of grace, and they're letting their old class and cultural divisions divide them up.  They were growing their church—as we'd say it today—but they weren't growing it on the gospel. We do the same thing today.  We may do it even more than the Corinthians, because commercialism is the cultural water we swim in and we don't even realise how much it impacts how we think about church and we don't realise how it so easily displaces the gospel and gospel growth and gospel ministry.  We build our churches around personalities.  We build our churches around programmes.  We build our churches around demographics.  We build our churches by advertising that we're better than or that we're not like our neighbouring churches.  We treat the church as if it's a business or a social club instead of a family—the covenant people of God, transformed and shaped by the gospel and the Spirit.  The Spirit has transformed our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh through the power of the gospel, but we forget the centrality of the gospel and allow our hearts to petrify back into stone.  It might not seem like that's what's happening at first.  Our churches may even have the appearance of success, but it's because we're appealing to stony hearts of worldly people with what they value, not with the power of the transforming gospel they need.   It's that simple gospel that needs to be at the centre of everything.  The risen Jesus always before us.  The risen Jesus at the centre of every decision we make.  The risen Jesus at the heart of everything we do.  Just Jesus, crucified and risen.  The simple gospel.  So Paul goes on in verse 4: “That is the kind of confidence we have toward God, through the Messiah.”  Stop putting your confidence in other things.  Just put it in Jesus.  He and only he can bring us before God.  So Paul says, “It isn't as though we are qualified in ourselves to reckon that we have anything to offer on our own account.  Our qualification comes from God: God has qualified us to be stewards of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit.  The letter kills, you see, but the Spirit gives life.”  The gospel was his only qualification and the only one that mattered.  The same goes for us. Now, think again of the glory that God put on display in the Exodus and in the story of Israel that followed.  That's what Paul gets at in verse 7 when he writes: “But just think about it: when death was being ministered, carved in letter of stone,”—he's talking about Mt. Sinai and the giving of the law”—“it was a glorious thing, so glorious in fact that the children of Israel couldn't look at Moses' face because of the glory of his face, a glory that was to be abolished.”  The glory God displayed in those days was astounding.  It moved the people to faith and trust and worship. But now Paul's talking about the new covenant and what God has done in Jesus and the Spirit.  “Will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?” he asks them.  “If ministering condemnation is glorious, you see, how much more glorious is the ministry of vindication—of righteousness, of justice?  In fact, what used to be glorious has come, by comparison, to have no glory at all, because of the new glory which goes so far beyond it! O, Brothers and Sisters, would that we would also be so captivated by the glory of the simple gospel of Jesus the Messiah.  There is no other glory that can compare and if we will keep it always before us—this good new of Jesus, crucified, risen, and Lord—if we would keep our eyes always focused on it, if we let it shape our lives, if we let it shape our decision, if we let it be the basis for everything we do as the church.  If the glory of the gospel were our sole source of confidence and hope, it would transform our churches and make us the people God intends for us to be.  God's promise is that one day the knowledge of his glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, but, Brothers and Sisters, remember that he has made us the stewards of that glory.  He has entrusted his gospel of life to us and he's filled us with his Spirit.  It is our calling to make his glory known by taking the good news of Jesus to Courtenay and Comox, to Vancouver Island, to Canada, and even to the ends of the earth.  You may have placed a veil over God's glory.  This morning let the scriptures lift that veil.  Let the bread and the wine here at his Table lift that veil.  Look on the glory of the Lord revealed in Jesus the Messiah and be refreshed and renewed for the gospel ministry to which you have been called. Let's pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve:  Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Saviour; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Exodus 33:3-6; 33:15-23; 34:5-8Rev. JT Hoover11am Service

Pathfinder Church | August 16, 2026 | Dion GarrettSometimes life settles into an ordinary routine. There are neither big victories nor painful tragedies—no roller coasters! If nothing major is happening in our lives, doesn't that mean that God is not involved either?Website | https://pathfinderstl.orgOnline Giving | https://pathfinderstl.org/givePodcasts | https://pathfinderstl.org/podcastsFacebook | https://facebook.com/pathfinderstlInstagram |  https://instagram.com/pathfinderstlSt. John School | https://stjls.orgContact Us | churchinfo@pathfinderstl.org

What does it mean that God is faithful? In Hebrews 10:15–23, we are reminded that because of Jesus, we can draw near to God with confidence and hold firmly to the hope we profess—because He who promised is faithful. Faithfulness means being stable, steady, firm, and true. People may change. Circumstances may shift. The world may constantly chase what is new. But God does not change, abandon His promises, or walk away from His people. In this sermon, we explore what Scripture reveals about the faithfulness of God: • God is Stable — He is our Rock, and His ways are trustworthy. • God is Steady — He does not change with circumstances or emotions. • God is Firm — He is completely committed to His promises and to His people. • God is True — His Word and His ways conform to reality and lead us toward life. • God is Faithful — His steadfast love never ceases, and His mercies are new every morning. When we know what God has promised, we can live differently in the present. Faith is knowing what God has promised and taking the next step based on that knowledge. The world may change, but God remains the same. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” — Hebrews 10:23 NIV Be encouraged today: God is faithful. You can trust Him. You can stand on His promises. And you can move forward in faith because He already knows the future. If this message encouraged you, like this video, subscribe to the channel, and share it with someone who needs to be reminded of God's faithfulness. #GodIsFaithful #Faith #Jesus #ChristianSermon #Hebrews10 #FaithfulnessOfGod #TrustGod #Christianity #HopeInJesus #GodsPromises #Sermon #BibleTeaching

Send us Fan MailEvening Prayer (Thanks be to God; God help us defeat spirits of this world; Lord, help us)Thank you for listening, our heart's prayer is for you and I to walk daily with Jesus, our joy and peaceaimingforjesus.comYouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@aimingforjesus5346Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aiming_for_jesus/Threads https://www.threads.com/@aiming_for_jesusX https://x.com/AimingForJesusTik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@aiming.for.jesus

Luke 2:27-33 MSGAs the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God: God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised. With my own eyes I've seen your salvation; it's now out in the open for everyone to see: A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations, and of glory for your people Israel. Jesus' father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words.Imagine for a moment taking your child to what we would think of today as a baby dedication and having a total stranger walk up and tell you more about your child than you know—all because God had told him. Simeon explained Jesus' entire life mission while holding a baby. Now, that is faith.In our final day of this series, I want you to know, while of course there was and will only be one Jesus, because of His life, each of your children have a distinct and unique plan, purpose, and mission in their lives. God has their life mapped out.You don't have to see it today, just like Jesus' parents couldn't, but God does … and God can ... and God will.Read once again: Jesus' father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words.Imagine one day being “speechless with surprise” at watching what God does in the life of your child, with the life of your child. That kind of vision is available to you as a parent through a relationship with Christ. Will you trust there is a plan greater than you can imagine for your child that is already mapped out? Now, can you embrace that God thought you would be the perfect parent for that plan He has for your child? How does it feel to know your are right where you are suppose to be as the parent of your child according to God's Plan?Let's pray: “Father, thank You that You have a plan for my child and you even know where they will work with You and where they will fight You, just like I did. Please draw them close to You, guide them, lead them, protect them to be all You want them to be. And I'll just be grateful to get to watch. As above, so below. Amen”

Loneliness does not always look like isolation. Sometimes it looks like being surrounded by people and still feeling profoundly unseen. Psalm 68:6 arrived in the middle of a night of crying out to God: God sets the lonely in families. In its original context, this verse speaks of God as Father and Rescuer of Israel — but it reveals something unchanging about His character. He is a faithful Father who cares for His children, who longs for them to experience the joy and love of genuine community and belonging. If you are burdened with loneliness today, cry out to Him. He is your ever-present, faithful Heavenly Father — and He has a family full of brothers and sisters in Christ who are waiting for you. Today's Bible Verse "God sets the lonely in families; he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land."— Psalm 68:6, NIV Ponder Today God is a faithful Father who sees the lonely and moves on their behalf. Psalm 68:6 reveals something deep about His character: He does not leave His children isolated. He actively sets the lonely in families, in community, in belonging. Loneliness does not always look like being alone. It can look like being in a room full of people and still feeling profoundly unseen and misunderstood. Bring that specific ache to God — He hears and understands it. Those who have found community are called to seek out those who haven't. If God has blessed you with a family of believers, look around for those who are isolated and suffering. Enlarging your heart toward them is part of what it means to be the family of God. A Prayer for You Today Heavenly Father, I am so grateful that You have given me a new heart to love You and love others. Yet my heart is heavy and burdened with loneliness. Sometimes it feels so difficult to find others who understand me, and I am tempted to isolate when I am hurting. Help me to become vulnerable with others and share my burdens with them. I trust that You have a special family awaiting me who love You as I do, and I long to find that kind of community to be knit together with. Thank You for Your faithfulness and nearness in my life. I lean upon You and know You hear every cry of loneliness, and I trust that it will be turned into a song of joy and celebration with my family in Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen. Don't Miss an Episode If today's prayer spoke to a loneliness you have been carrying quietly, we'd love to stay connected. Subscribe to the LifeAudio newsletter at LifeAudio.com for daily prayers, devotionals, and more content to remind you that you are never alone and that God is always making a way toward belonging. If you like this podcast, be sure to check out our sister podcast, Your Nightly Prayer - an evening Christian prayer podcast to help you end your day in conversation with God. https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-nightly-prayer/ Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Pathfinder Church | August 9, 2026 | AJ MasticWhen we don't get what we want in life, is that a sign of God's neglect or lack of care? Disappointments are inevitable, but we always have a choice—how we interpret them and fit them into our story. When major pieces of our story don't go right, derailing our future plans, how can we make sense of it?Website | https://pathfinderstl.orgOnline Giving | https://pathfinderstl.org/givePodcasts | https://pathfinderstl.org/podcastsFacebook | https://facebook.com/pathfinderstlInstagram |  https://instagram.com/pathfinderstlSt. John School | https://stjls.orgContact Us | churchinfo@pathfinderstl.org

There are many directions we can go with the readings this Sunday. Finding God in the silence is the one that stands out most to me. Elijah experienced God's presence on Mount Horeb in a “tiny whispering voice.” When Jesus dismissed the crowds that he had just fed with bread and fish and sent his disciples away in their boat, he stayed behind on the mountain, alone with God in the silence. When Peter had his attention on Jesus, the waves and wind receded into the background, and he was able to step out in faith onto the water. And when Jesus calmed the seas and joined his disciples in the boat, those twelve men, experiencing the sudden silence, realized who Jesus really was and “did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” God waits for us in the silence. God knows exactly what we need at this moment and desires to give it to us. When we shift our attention from the many distractions that surround us, God's gentle voice speaks to our hearts. Poets understand this better than most. I think the Carmelite nun, Jessica Powers, says it best: The Garments of GodGod sits on a chair of darkness in my soul. He is God alone, supreme in His majesty. I sit at His feet, a child in the dark beside Him; my joy is aware of His glance and my sorrow is tempted to nest on the thought that His face is turned from me. He is clothed in the robes of His mercy, voluminous garments– not velvet or silk and affable to the touch, but fabric strong for a frantic hand to clutch, and I hold to it fast with the fingers of my will. Here is my cry of faith, my deep avowal to the Divinity that I am but dust. Here is the loud profession of my trust. I need not go abroad to the hills of speech or the hinterlands of music for a crier to walk in my soul where all is still. I have this potent prayer through good or ill: here in the dark I clutch the garments of God.                 Jessica Powers

Behold Your GodGod's Secret ServiceBrian Peterson08/09/26Matthew 6:1-18

Send us Fan MailEvening Prayer (Everlasting, Unchanging, All Knowing, All Holy, All Powerful God; God So Loved You; God Be With You Till We Meet Again)Thank you for listening, our heart's prayer is for you and I to walk daily with Jesus, our joy and peaceaimingforjesus.comYouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@aimingforjesus5346Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aiming_for_jesus/Threads https://www.threads.com/@aiming_for_jesusX https://x.com/AimingForJesusTik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@aiming.for.jesus

Pathfinder Church | August 2, 2026 | Doug MaussMost of us weren't abandoned as orphans, nor did we spend years in rehab. We've lived run-of-the-mill lives, which don't seem to require divine intervention from God. If we don't need to be rescued from anything, then what do I need God and/or the church for?Website | https://pathfinderstl.orgOnline Giving | https://pathfinderstl.org/givePodcasts | https://pathfinderstl.org/podcastsFacebook | https://facebook.com/pathfinderstlInstagram |  https://instagram.com/pathfinderstlSt. John School | https://stjls.orgContact Us | churchinfo@pathfinderstl.org

The God Who Is AbleJude 24-25 The God Who is Able: Jude 24-25 Ken Wilson For the bulletin in PDF form, click here. Message SlidesEternal Security - RyriePerseverance - J.I. PackerEternal Security as a Motivation for Holiness - WilsonDoxology - Doug MooIntroduction: The Confidence and Motivation of Eternal SecuritySecurity: The Powerful Ability of God(God is able to keep us safe and secure.)• Steady: God is able to keep us from stumbling (24a).• Standing: God is able to present us blameless with great joy (24b).Worship: The Glorious Work of God(God alone is worthy of all glory, majesty, power, and authority.)• Unique: Remember the salvation of God through Jesus Christ (25a).• Savior: Experience the worship of God by praising His character (25b). - Glory: God's radiant splendor that emanates from His being (25c). - Majesty: God's transcendent grandeur in creation & redemption (25d). - Dominion: God's inherent power and ability to rule (25e). - Authority: God's absolute sovereign right and jurisdiction (25f). - Eternal: God's worthiness now and for all eternity (25g).Praise God, the Savior, for His preeminence in person, power,majesty, and authority, because He will keep believers fromstumbling and bring them safely into His presence with great joy.Praise the only God, our Saviorwho is able to keep us from stumbling andpresent us faultless in His presence with great joy!UPG FOCUS: The Kapu in India are a Hindu community in southern India, historically known as farmers and protectors, with many still engaged in agriculture today. While some have moved into business, education, and leadership, many remain in rural areas with limited access to resources. Though gospel tools are available, only a small percentage follow Christ. Pray for a growing movement of disciples among them, forhearts to be open to the gospel.FinancesWeekly Budget 35,915Giving For 07/19 25,392Giving For 07/26 25,452YTD Budget 143,660Giving 104,013 OVER/(UNDER) (39,647) Back-to-School Cookout Outreach – August 13Join us as we partner with Theodore Jones Elementary to welcome students and families at their “Meet the Teacher” event! We're looking for volunteers to help grill, serve, greet families, and clean up. It's a great opportunity to share the love of Christ and make a meaningful impact in our community. For more information and to sign up, go to fellowshipconway.org/register.New to Fellowship?We are so glad that you chose to worship with our Fellowship Family this morning. If you are joining us for the first time or have been checking us out for a few weeks, we are excited you are here and would love to meet you. Please fill out the “Connect Card” and bring it to the Connection Center in the Atrium, we would love to say “hi” and give you a gift. Home ChurchHome Church is where a large church begins to feel like home. It's where relationships are formed, faith is strengthened, and people walk through life together. We believe God designed us to grow in community—not alone—and our Home Churches are the primary place where that happens at Fellowship. If you're ready to build meaningful relationships, grow in your faith, and become part of a community that encourages and challenges you, we'd love to help you find the right Home Church. We encourage you to go to fellowshipconway.org/homechurch complete the form, and our team will connect with you to find a group that's a great fit. We look forward to helping you get connected in time for our Fall Home Church launch! There's a place for you in Fellowship Kids!We still have few slots to fill as we for our fall kickoff on August 16. Whether you enjoy serving behind the scenes, helping in a classroom, being a special needs buddy, sharing Bible stories, or leading kids in worship, there's a role that fits your gifts and availability. We have a place for you! Contact Ashley at Aoverstreet@fellowshipconway.org. International Friendship Outreach - IFOHelp welcome international students to Central Arkansas by serving with airport pickups, temporary housing (1–3 nights through August 9), or as an American Friendship Partner. To volunteer, contact Miseon Seong at 501-205-9207 or mseong11@gmail.com.Women's ministry Bible Studies • Galatians: True Freedom - Tuesdays, starting September 8, 11:3o AM or 6:30 PM • Joshua: Precept Study - Starting Mondays, September 14, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. For more information on either study, or to register go to fellowshipconway.org/register. Child care available for both studies by texting Shanna at 501-336-0332.Widows LuncheonJoin us for a time of visting, relaxing, and enjoying GirlTIME around the table with Ambra, Tara, and Meg. Thursday, September 3rd, noon, at 3680 Gresham Drive. RSVP to Ambra at 501-730-6795 by August 20.Fellowship 101We invite you to join us on Sunday, September 13, at 9:00 a.m. To learn more about Fellowship. This is a great opportunity to hear about our mission, values, and our ministries. If you're new to Fellowship, join us in the conference room (first floor) to hear what God is doing and where He is taking us. During this time, you will meet some of our ministry leaders and get to ask questions. Register at fellowshipconway.org/register.

In this final message of our Attributes of God series, we look at Exodus 34:5-7 and the story of the woman caught in adultery to see how justice and mercy meet perfectly at the cross.

Everything that exists depends on something else, except God. Drawing from John 5, this message looks at what it means to depend on Him for life itself, and invites us to ask where we're trying to find that life apart from Jesus.

Sermon Outline: "A Table in the Wilderness" Preacher: Pastor Rhonda Davis I. Introduction: The Accusation of Unbelief The Wilderness Setting: Written by King David's chief musician Asaph, Psalm 78 serves as a historical reminder of Israel's behavioral cycles in the desert. Fresh out of Egyptian deliverance—having witnessed the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and being physically guided by pillars of cloud and fire—the people began to bitterly complain against God a mere three days into their journey. An Honest Question vs. An Accusation: In Psalm 78:19, the people ask, "Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?" Pastor Rhonda noted that the word really transforms a seemingly innocent question into a toxic accusation dressed up as reason. It is the phrase used when a human heart has already decided the answer is "no," waiting around only to prove its own doubt correct. Covenant Over Anger: Despite their rebellion, God did not slam the door or cancel His covenant. Instead, He commanded the skies to open and rained down manna—the food of angels. God systematically spread a feast in front of the very people who were whispering against Him in their tents the night before. The Three Divine Tables Pastor Rhonda unpacked the three distinct tables God establishes throughout biblical history: 1. The Table for the Doubters (The Wilderness Table) The Purpose of the Table: The wilderness table is never a structural reward for individuals who possess perfect, unwavering faith. It is a table of pure grace, deliberately established right in the middle of your human doubting. The Goodness that Pulls: Relying on Romans 2:4, it is the unmerited goodness of God—not His anger—that gently leads broken, derailed, or disappointed individuals into true repentance. The Commitment of God: God remains infinitely more committed to your ultimate destiny than your lingering doubt is committed to keeping you away from His presence. As highlighted in Psalm 78:38-39, He stays full of compassion, frequently holds back His anger, and remembers that human beings are fragile, temporary flesh. 2. The Table for the Enemies (The Battlefield Table) The Blinded Army at Dothan: In 2 Kings 6, the King of Syria surrounded the prophet Elisha at Dothan with a massive host of horses and iron chariots. When Elisha's servant panicked, shouting, "What shall we do?", Elisha uttered the historic reality: "Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those with them." The Spiritual Sight Shift: Elisha did not pray for his servant's natural eyes, but for his spiritual eyes to be opened. Instantly, the young man saw the surrounding mountains packed with the fiery chariots of God's angelic hosts. A Feast Instead of a Sword: After praying for God to strike the Syrian army with blindness, Elisha boldly walked into their ranks and led them directly into the capital city of Samaria. When the King of Israel eagerly asked, "Shall I kill them?", Elisha commanded him to serve them a massive feast of comfort food and water instead. The Victory of Mercy: This exact battlefield feast provides the historical background for Psalm 23:5 ("Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies"). It was not the edge of a sword that permanently stopped the Syrian invasions—it was an overwhelming act of covenant mercy. Pastoral Application on Stiff-Arming: Pastor Rhonda paused the message to deliver a deep word on forgiveness and breaking internal chains (Psalm 44:21). True forgiveness does not excuse the offender; it releases the victim from an emotional prison. She shared a transparent personal testimony of a spiritual son and backup worship leader who left her ministry years prior. Though she smiled outwardly, she spent years "stiff-arming" him to protect her own heart from being hurt again. After her late husband confronted her behavior, she broke down at the altar, embraced the man, repented of her coldness, and unlocked a deep, ongoing fellowship that persists to this day. 3. The Ultimate Table (The Salvation Table) Crushing the Enemy's Head: The framework for the final table was established in Genesis 3, where God promised that the seed of the woman would eventually crush the head of the serpent. Because Satan acutely understands this legal decree, he target-attacks human families with desperation and fear. Spread While We Were Rebellious: Reading from Romans 5:6-8, Christ did not wait for humanity to surrender, perfect their theology, or clean up their lives. He set out the bread and wine of the ultimate table at Calvary while we were actively operating as His lifestyle enemies. The Table of Communion: At the Last Supper, Jesus willingly broke bread, dipped from the same cup, and washed the feet of Judas Iscariot—the very man orchestrating His betrayal. He fully established a table in the literal presence of His enemy. Conclusion: The Mandate of the Church Jesus Is Better: Moving into corporate communion, Pastor Rhonda echoed the foundational theme of the Book of Hebrews: Jesus is structurally better than legalism, religion, and all earthly material goods. He is the express image of the living God. Prophetic Prophecy Declared: During a prolonged moment of corporate worship, a prophetic word was delivered over the room: “I have not brought you this far to leave you, says the Lord. You are hidden in the hollow of My hands, and I am preparing you to move like an arrow shot from a bow at the right time. You are the ones called to set My tables of mercy in the wilderness of this world.” The River in the Desert: Standing across the sanctuary, the congregation applied Isaiah 43:18-19, commanding all spiritual squatters of doubt to leave, completely releasing old bitterness against parents, employers, or former spouses, and taking communion with a fresh, childlike awareness of Christ's healing power. Scripture Index Here are the primary scriptures read, cited, or expounded upon during the service: Psalm 78:19 > "Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish [prepare] a table in the wilderness?" Romans 5:6-8 > "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly... But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners [enemies], Christ died for us." Romans 2:4 (Referenced) – Knowing that the goodness of God leads human beings to repentance. Psalm 78:38-39 > "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away... For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again."   2 Kings 6:16-17 > "And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." Deuteronomy 31:6 (Referenced) – Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee. 2 Chronicles 32:7 (Referenced) – Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him. Psalm 23:5 > "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Psalm 44:21 (Referenced) – Shall not God search this out? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart. Revelation 3:20 > "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Isaiah 43:18-19 > "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." Numbers 6:24-26 (The Benediction) > "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." "Thanks for listening! For more information, visit churchoftheharvest.com. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and YouTube @cothcleveland.

Romans 12 marks a major turning point in Paul's letter. After explaining God's mercy, grace, and salvation through Christ, Paul answers the question: How should Christians live? His answer is simple yet life-changing: Become a living sacrifice. In this sermon, we dive deeply into Romans 12:1-2 and discover what it truly means to offer our lives to God every day.In this lesson you'll learn: Why God's mercy is the foundation for Christian living  What it means to present your body as a living sacrifice  How everyday life becomes an act of worship  The difference between conforming to the world and being transformed by Christ  How renewing your mind changes your life  Understanding God's will as daily sanctification—not just major life decisions  Practical ways to live a life that is holy, acceptable, and pleasing to God God doesn't simply call us to attend worship—He calls us to become worship by living every moment for Him. Every decision, conversation, relationship, and action becomes an opportunity to glorify Christ.Key Scriptures: Romans 12:1-2  Romans 5-11  Romans 6:13  Leviticus 1  1 Corinthians 6:19-20  Ephesians 4:20-32  1 Thessalonians 4:3 If this study encouraged you, be sure to Like, Subscribe, and Share this video with someone who wants to grow in their walk with Christ.Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:05 Romans 12: The Practical Turn in Romans 03:45 The Mercies of God 05:20 Present Your Body as a Living Sacrifice 09:15 Old Testament Sacrifice and New Testament Worship 12:20 What Is Spiritual Worship? 17:40 Do Not Be Conformed to This World 21:10 Be Transformed by Renewing Your Mind 24:30 Understanding God's Will 29:10 Living the Transformed Life 32:20 Invitation#Romans12 #LivingSacrifice #BibleStudy #ChristianSermon #Faith #Transformation #RenewYourMind #ChristianLiving #ChurchOfChrist #BibleTeaching #JesusChrist #Grace #Discipleship

This week in our Attributes of God series, we look at 1 John 4:7-12 to show that God doesn't just describe love, He is love, and His love sets the standard for our own.

Very excited about this episode ladies and gentlemen. We tread some deep waters. Enjoy. Email me at Godseyeviewbook@gmail.com

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CheckoutThe God Centered Concept Academy Training Community to learn what growth in Christ ishttps://api.tuvu.com/redirectGroup/6a2ac0e2c9f728027338244cCheck out this link to view Kingdom Cross Roads on TV.https://jesussaid.tv/?affiliate=tswright_gccTo get a copy of our new book "Embracing the Truth" or to have TS Wright speak at your event or conference or if you simply want spiritual or life coaching or just a consultation visit:www.tswrightspeaks.comVisit our website to learn more about The God Centered Concept. The God Centered Concept is designed to bring real discipleship and spreading the Gospel to help spark the Great Harvest, a revival in this generation.www.godcenteredconcept.comKingdom Cross Roads Podcast is a part of The God Centered Concept.In this episode of TS Wright Speaks, TS Wright teaches on “The Calling of Abraham and Moses” and how these two foundational biblical callings reveal the way God still calls His people today.Abraham was called out of the nations to become the father of a covenant people. Moses was called back into Egypt to deliver that covenant people from bondage. Abraham had to walk by faith into a promise he could not fully see, while Moses had to confront a power he could not overcome in his own strength.This episode highlights an essential truth: God does not call people merely for their own blessing. He calls them to become vessels through whom His purposes enter the earth. Abraham's calling required separation from country, kindred, and his father's house. Moses' calling required surrender before the holiness of God at the burning bush and obedience in the face of fear.TS Wright also explains how both callings point directly to Jesus Christ. Abraham reveals the promise of the Seed, fulfilled in Christ. Moses reveals deliverance through blood and power, foreshadowing Christ as the Passover Lamb and Redeemer.Key ThemesGod calls people into new seasons for His covenant purpose.Abraham's calling shows faith that moves.Moses' calling shows fear that must be overcome by God's presence.Delay does not cancel the calling; delay prepares the servant.Calling is not merely an invitation to significance, but an invitation to surrender.Obedience to God may affect generations, deliverance, and testimonies we cannot yet see.Scriptures ReferencedGenesis 12:1–4 Genesis 15 Genesis 17 Exodus 2 Exodus 3:2, 3:7–10, 3:14 Exodus 4:13 Hebrews 11 Galatians 3:16 Galatians 5 John 5:46 John 8:56Closing EncouragementWhether God is calling you away from what is familiar or sending you back to confront what once intimidated you, the issue is not whether the assignment is easy. The issue is whether God has spoken. If God has spoken, the right response is faith, obedience, patience, and total surrender to His will.KeywordsAbraham and Moses Calling of Abraham Calling of Moses Genesis 12 Exodus 3 Burning bush Biblical calling God's purpose Faith and obedience Christian podcast Bible teaching Covenant promise Moses and Pharaoh Abraham covenant Christian discipleship Trusting God God's presence God's promise Jesus Christ in the Old Testament Biblical faith Spiritual growth Surrender to God God's covenant plan Deliverance from bondage Faith journey Obedience to God Christian encouragement Hebrews 11 Passover Lamb Messianic prophecyTagsAbraham Moses Genesis Exodus Burning Bush Bible Teaching Christian Podcast Faith Obedience Calling Covenant Deliverance Jesus Christ Discipleship Surrender God's Purpose Old Testament Biblical History Christian Living Spiritual Growth