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Plug of the Day: God, Grace, & Faith“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him;”‭‭Psalms‬ ‭37‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬For more prayers, download the PrayerPlug mobile app --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/prayerplug/support

Judges 6 - 7—Stranger Things In The Bible God, Grace, And Gideon by Lettered Streets Covenant

Today two song na abat God Grace and na God Grace bi de beta korret life wen we get for hinside Jesus. De message of Hope dey tell us say as we give Jesus hawa life, we don bi God pikin and de Holy Spirit dey hawa life.

Reading from Psalm 62:1-8.

Part five of this mini-series on Submit Yourself Unto God. Part of the continuing series of sermons on the book of Ya'acov/Jacob/James. God is a jealous God (no other god's or idols), yet He gives grace to those who humble themselves and submit to Him. This sermon was given by Messianic Rabbi Frank Davis during our Saturday Shabbat Service on July 6, 2024.

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:17-18) It would be fair to say that the book of 2 Peter is a vaccine.  Vaccines are there to inform our immune system, catalogue new threats for it to respond to, and simply reinforce good, healthy immune responses.   As Peter describes his purposes for writing across the letter—it is for things like reminding, recalling, and now here he adds reasons like forewarning and raising a defensive guard against more harmful strains of teaching that float about in the church environment—whether they be spread maliciously or develop within us naturally when we're worn down and drowsy. Peter declares that the believers already are “looking forward,” already are standing firm in a “secure position.”  But given enough time of inactivity—our immune system, like our muscles will atrophy.  Given enough boredom and monotony from the day-in, day-out dailyness of life's routines, our eyes will begin to wander and we will get distracted from the path.   So Peter gives us a jab in the arm.  Wake up!  Remember what you already know!  Be on your guard against these “errors of the lawless,” even as you fix your eyes forward to the very thing they say isn't coming: Jesus' return to judge—to repair all wrongs and heal all hurts. But it would be wrong to think this letter is just a vaccine against threats and a reminder to stand firm where we are.  Peter also invites a movement forward.  “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” he says.  We're right back to the virtues of chapter 1.  Remember them?  Peter writes so that you will.  There's no better way to end our consideration of this letter, than by going back and hearing that beginning again for ourselves.  Starting in chapter 1, verse 2: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (2 Peter 1:2-8) As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:14-16) Our faculties of perception need to be trained.  I've been reminded of this over the past few years as I've attempted to teach our boys how to ride their bikes.  Sure enough, my own driving instructor back when I was 15 said the same thing I find myself saying now.  “Your hands will go where your head goes.”  In driving, of course, you need to learn to cut this connection so that you can check your blind spots without running someone off the road.  But for teaching kids to bike it is enough simply to say: “keep looking forward! Keep your eyes on the path!”   Peter used the word for this phrase “looking forward” twice in yesterday's passage and again in the beginning of today's.  From what Peter has earlier said about false teachers—it seems that not everyone was “looking forward” to Jesus coming again.  Instead, they were looking around with greed and lust at all the material satisfactions they could enjoy in this life.  Jesus didn't seem to be coming anytime soon, so they contented themselves with living in the moment, rather than keeping eyes fixed on the Christ who stood ever before them.   This remains an easy distraction for us all.  Jesus didn't come during our parent's lifetime, after all.  Nor in that of our grandparents nor any of the hundreds of years before them.  It is easy therefore to lose sight of the path—the direction that history flows.  It is easy to believe that the world we see is all there is.  And if that's the case—then we need to secure our own lives and resources, our own pleasures and purposes.  If there is nothing beyond this world then the meaning of this life has to be something we forge in the fires of our own authentic refinements.  Many people—Christian and otherwise—do exactly this.  But are they looking forward?  Are we? Peter has spent his letter addressing, accusing, and correcting this at times malicious diversion.  He has thumped the same theme over and over.  The scriptures are reliable.  Jesus is coming again.  And judgement comes with him: setting things right, making things whole, and ensuring justice and righteousness flow.  Remember, remember, remember and do not forget.  Keep looking forward!  Keep your eyes on the path! Finally here at the end now, Peter begins to assume that we've heard him.  “Since you are looking forward” he says, “peddle toward the prize.”  At the beginning of the letter, we heard about the “everything” gifts God had given to equip us for the journey of living out his calling.  We were told then to add virtues to our faith.  Now Peter wraps it up with the encouragement to reconcile the living of our lives with the one who stands before us.  That “author and perfector of our faith” that the writer of Hebrews tells us to “fix our eyes on.”  “Since you are looking forward,” Peter writes, “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him,” that is—with the one we're looking to.   So where are your eyes?  Where your eyes go, your hands and energies in this life will go too.  Keep looking forward, and let the vision of Jesus shape your living. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:11-13)   A few things about “the end” bear mention here: the surprise, the sanctification, and the steadfastness it calls us to. First, the surprise.  God may indeed be patiently waiting for his grace to have its impact before the day of Christ's appearing and the time of judgement arrives.  Yet when that day finally does arrive—it will come suddenly!  Throughout the Bible this theme is repeated—by Jesus particularly.  “Keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” he says in Matthew 25 (v.13). Secondly though, as I alluded to yesterday, we have this tendency to view judgement in a negative way.  As a cruel, angry god with poor emotional self-regulation coming to wreak vengeance over petty grievances.  That is never the Biblical picture though.  Firstly—God is a Spirit.  The Bible condescends to our comprehension when it makes emotional references to God, so we must understand that what we have in God is both a being beyond our comprehension, and also one who holds all things in perfection.  Aristotle once said: “Anybody can become angry—that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.”  Exactly.  But God can do those things.  In God—a perfect love, a perfect knowledge, a perfect justice, and a perfect intervention are all held together.   So what we ought rather expect in judgement is what marginalized and oppressed folks the world over have long longed for—like the widow of Jesus' parable facing down the unjust judge, day-in and day-out demanding justice—they want justice.  They want to be saved from those who have unjustly stolen, lied, cheated, and used violence, manipulation, and power against them, but also to see that those wrongs get righted.  Judgement may be distasteful for us who have grown up in peace and plenty.  But for those who have suffered under dictators and fled in fear of their lives—the notion that a God of justice might see their plight, save them from it, and see it redressed is a comfort and a grace. This second word then is “sanctification.”  God comes with fires of judgement not like a toddler toward an ant hill—to indiscriminately destroy—but to refine, to cleanse, to purify and burn off all impurities and burn away all chaff such that what remains is just, true, right, and beautiful.  The fires of judgement burn, not only so that justice might be done in human lives and communities, but also so that every trace of sin and evil might be done away with.  The “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” is the way Paul says it in Romans 8 (v.21). So, the third word: be steadfast.  Continue to live congruently with this promise God has given.  The false teachers understood God's delay in coming as God being late.  And if God didn't care to honour his commitments, why should we honour ours?  One could also imagine a less rebellious scenario.  God has forgotten about us and so slowly we drift off to sleep too, forgetting about him.  Either way—by rebellion or sleepy forgetfulness—the delay can lull us to a false sense of security that nothing's coming down the tracks.   Not so, says Peter.  He echoes again what the scriptures everywhere declare: God is coming suddenly to sanctify—so be steadfast!  Remember and do not forget!  More on what that means tomorrow.   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. (2 Peter 3:1-2) Remember what Peter said in chapter 1 about the importance of remembering?  Peter isn't so sure you do—so here come those memory words again!  Over the course of this chapter, more encouragements are given to shore up our memory and stave off our forgetfulness. In case you forgot you were reading 2 Peter—Peter is here to tell you.  And he doesn't only wish to tell you that he has written, but why.  These letters are “reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.”  He wants us to “recall” the scriptures—both Old and New Testaments such as they were in his day—and so be grounded again in a firm foundation from which a wholesome life in Christ can be imagined and lived.   The Christian life is a life of apprenticeship to Jesus as we come to know him more deeply through the Bible and conversations with him directly in prayer.  There is nothing new or fancy or complicated about it.  So Peter hammers home the same thing again and again.  “Recall the words” of the scriptures, he says. Of course, this reminder needs to be given, because it is so easy to take all that God has done for granted as we (again) talked about yesterday.  Precisely because we are “free in Christ,” there is no whip on our back driving our obedience or coercing our response.  Instead comes an invitation: “remember and believe.”  “Recall.”  “Let your mind be stimulated to the wholesome virtues that are the gifts of Christ” as you remember all God has given you through these letters. Remember, remember, remember.  Peter drums away at the theme.  A broken record that repeats the things we already know over and over is no sin, because knowing something in the deep ways of habit and muscle memory takes exactly this: time, attention, and repetition.  So today, if you've already forgotten the list of virtues to add to your faith—go back and read it again.  Start right at chapter 1, verse 1 and recall again what you already know: the “everything” that God has given us to make his calling in our lives sure. Against the false teaching we heard about in the previous chapter, ultimately what Peter offers here in these reminders is the ability to come back to ourselves—to remember what we have known, to return to our first love, and think again on what we have first believed.  The world is full of distractions that put us to sleepy forgetfulness.  This letter comes to us as the whisper that awakens prodigal daughters and sons from their sleepwalking to recall the home of the Father with its lavish gifts and place of belonging.  It is the invitation to come home. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. (2 Peter 2:12-16) Yesterday, Pastor Michael covered Peter's defence of God's judgement.  Now Peters turns to speak of the deeds done by the false teachers for which that judgement comes. I skipped a few verses (10b-11) here which speak of how these false teachers slander celestial beings—like demons or the devil, perhaps.  Then Peter condemns them for speaking boastfully and blasphemously about things they don't understand.  He condemns them for adultery, greed, and seductions—all while joining in the regular Christian feasts and fellowship.   There is a deceitfulness underneath all of this which Peter is attempting to reveal.  Something which places spot and blemish on the church which, through the Spirit, is supposed to be cleansed from its spots and blemishes.  So Peter makes a distinction between this group of false teachers and the rest of the community who their behaviour tempts.  A distinction as clear as that between animals and humans. The main principle used is that of “harm for harm.”  Even as yesterday's theme was that God's justice demands a judgement that separates the righteous from sinners, today's theme suggests that God's justice is just—that it is fitting, reciprocal in such a way that the punishment fits the crime.   These false teachers have done harm, and so will be paid back for the harm they have done.  They act as unreasoning creatures of instinct, no better than animals—worse even, because even the unreasoning creature that was Balaam's donkey knew better than to do what these people do!  Balaam too was one who loved “the wages of wickedness,” which in Greek is exactly the same phrase as used earlier in the phrase “paid back for the harm they have done.” The picture is of those who follow their most base desires and influence others to do the same, rather than receive the far better “wages” of God's everything-we-need gifts that conform us to the likeness of Christ.  Instead of following animal instincts that make us less than human, the invitation is to become ever more fully human in Christ. What base behaviours do we condone by going along with them in our own community?  Greed and alcohol abuse, for instance, have long been overlooked or tolerated as relatively harmless sins.  From Christian high school onward—a silent agreement of “we're all good Christians here” has allowed us to collude with one another in parties and shrewd, anything-to-get-ahead practices of greed.  Do we count the cost of the harms this behaviour does across a lifetime to those swallowed up by substance abuse (and their loved ones)?  Or the impact to our witness to Christ when Christians are more ruthless and rude in their workplace practices than non-Christians? Peter invites us to rise up to the fullness of the stature of Christ, rather than collude with others under the influence of costly base animal desires like these.  If even a donkey knows better—we should too.  To put Peter's point bluntly: don't be an ass (donkey!).  Grow up and live like a human, fully alive in Christ! As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. (2 Peter 2:1-3) As we turn to chapter 2, we find Peter switching from defence to offence.  Previously he was defending the Apostolic witness to Jesus and the inspired prophecies of scripture as reliable.  Now he is speaking of false teachers who are unreliable, and seeking to show why they ought not be trusted. In the days in which the Old Testament was written—there were not just Spirit-inspired prophets around, but also false prophets.  Jeremiah often had skirmishes with the false prophets of his day who prophesied peace and restoration as he prophesied exile (e.g. Jeremiah 28).  Elsewhere, false prophets prophesied victory where the Lord's prophets spoke of defeat (e.g. 1 Kings 22:1-40). Interestingly though, Peter does not dignify the people he is speaking about with the term “prophet.”  Instead he calls them “false teachers.”  Perhaps they were not claiming to speak in the name of the Lord  or hold inspiration from God.  Perhaps they were merely deviating in what they believed and taught about the Lord.  This may not have seemed so bad, but Peter would like to show how destructive this really is. It seems that these false teachers denied any need to live a moral life that was distinct from the pagan world around.  But if there was no difference between the Christians and the pagan world around them—what positive witness to Christ could they bring?  They may as well deny their master even as they “bring the way of truth into disrepute.” In this regard, the letter of Peter still brings a pretty stiff challenge into our lives today.  The first chapter speaks of virtues we must add to our faith.  Chapter two flips the coin over.  For those whose lives don't change at all in light of the faith and love given by God in Christ—and especially for any who teach that that's OK—“swift destruction” is in store, says Peter. Much of the hottest internal church fights we have as Christians are drawn up on this battle line.  Where must we become a “contrast community,” rejecting cultural norms for the sake of Christian virtue and where does the grace and transformation of Christ redeem cultural forms and norms such that they can be used?   There are no easy answers.  But in the very least, we must know that the problem cannot be solved to one absolute extreme or the other.  We cannot live in such radical contrast that we become cut off from our culture entirely, for then we cannot witness within that culture to Christ (e.g. John 17:15), nor can we totally and unquestioningly embrace everything that our culture provides—an extreme that Peter defends against—because then we no longer witness to anything distinctive about Christ. Tending to this balance takes wisdom cultivated within the community of Christ through much Bible reading and prayer.  In fact, already in that action of prayer and scripture we begin to faithfully hold the tension as we do something Christianly distinct from the world around us.   As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. (2 Peter 1:9-15) Pastor Michael noted the dissonance between our assumptions and reality.  We assume the Christian life is built on what we do.  But in fact, it is built instead on the “everything” from God we have received.   Verses like the one from today's text about “making your calling and election sure,” says exactly what we often think.  We've got to put in the effort or else we won't get into the eternal kingdom of our Lord!  But that's not quite what Peter says, nor how our Reformed tradition has understood it.   In Q&A 86 of the Heidelberg Catechism, the question is asked why we still have to do good works if Jesus has already done everything necessary for salvation for us.  One of the four answers to that question refers to this passage and says “so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits,” which is part of Christ “restoring us by his Spirit into his image.”  In other words, as the Canons later make clear: we can indeed lose our assurance of salvation when there's no good fruit in our lives to show for it, but we cannot lose the thing itself.  God's sovereign choosing in his calling and his election are sure. That said—the Catechism and the Canons say right along with Peter that we must still do good works.  Or said better—that we get to do good works because of all the good Jesus has done for us.  This is the whole thrust of the Gospel, that the power of God is at work transforming us to become like Jesus in all the virtues we've discussed.  God has acted, and we get to respond!  God has given, and we get to receive!  But precisely because none of it is “required” in order to finish up our salvation—we have to be continually reminded of what we've received, lest we take the inheritance for granted and forget to act on it. Remember, remember, remember.  Peter drums away at the theme.  Do not be one who becomes blind, “forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins” (v.9).  “So I will always remind you of these things even though you know them…” “I think it right to refresh your memory….” “And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things” (vv. 12, 13, 15). I am often struck by how much of our journey of following Jesus and becoming like him boils down to remembering.  Rarely in the Old Testament are people defiantly idolatrous or disobedient.  More often, they've just forgotten their God and wandered off someplace else.  Forgetfulness is the biggest problem.  Like in Judges when generations keep rising up who “knew not” the things of old.  Likewise remembering is the biggest gift—like when the book of the law was found under the reign of Josiah, or when the law was read again after the exiles returned under Ezra.   Peter knows his scriptures.  So he not only preaches his message in the opening verses of this letter—but he tells it again, and promises to keep on doing it.  A broken record that repeats the things we already know over and over is no sin, because knowing something in the deep ways of habit and muscle memory takes exactly this: time, attention, and repetition.  So today, if you've already forgotten the list of virtues to add to your faith—go back and read it again.  Start right at verse 1 and recall again what you already know: the “everything” that God has given us to make his calling in our lives sure. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. (2 Peter 1:5-7) Here we come to the end of the list of virtues that Peter puts out to us.  Yesterday's word was “Philadelphia,” the word for “brotherly/sisterly love” or “mutual affection” in our translation.  Today's word steps that up a notch by using the word for the highest form of love—that particularly Christian form of “unconditional love” that we call “agape” (ah-gah-pay). This is the word that describes the whole of the good-news Gospel of Christianity in a nutshell.  God so loved (agape) the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.     Agape love is God's love.  It is unconditional love—a love that sets no pre-requisite conditions.  But is more than that.  As Mark Buchanan suggests in his book on Peter, it's more like “unprovoked love.”  We are loved this way by God (and sometimes our parents too) out of the blue at times, and for no good reason based in our activity at all.   Agape then is not just a love that sets no prior conditions—it is a love that actively commits to pursuing those who never could have deserved it and who might even actively resist it.  Even when our actions anger God—his commitment to love us in Jesus Christ stands firm.  Even when our actions disappoint, disregard, or demean God—God's commitment to love us in Jesus Christ stands firm.  It is Agape love—a commitment to love that overcomes and continues to love despite absolutely everything that comes against it.     It is only because of this Agape love of God for us that any of us can come even close to displaying this kind of counter-cultural love-commitment toward anyone else.  But it is this form of love, more so than any other virtue, that displays what it means to “be like Jesus.”   This is why Paul says the greatest of the virtues is love in 1 Corinthians 13, and why this virtue gains such a central place in that letter as the linchpin of all Christian community and action.  It is, says Paul, one of only three things that remain into eternity of all our earthly works and virtues, and of those three, it is the greatest. Of course—there's a good reason that this virtue comes at the end of the list.  It is the hardest of them all to live out.  Yet it is also the clearest and most oft-repeated command given to us—by Jesus in the Gospels, and by most every New Testament author throughout the letters.  “They will know we are Christians by our love.” There are two sides to the coin of learning to live this kind of Agape love, I think.  First—each day we must remember and believe that this is the way that God loves us—we must be grounded in the Agape love of God.  Then, second, we must seek to “go and do likewise.”  Step by step, interaction by interaction, conversation by conversation we must practice this Agape love day by day in the power of the Pentecost Spirit.   Can we take one step further toward loving someone else in an unconditional, unprovoked way today—especially those that frustrate or disgust us?  This is the call if we are to love as God has first loved us, remembering always that when we fail, God's own Agape love continues to hold us fast: forgiving us, setting us back on our feet, and sending us out to try it again.  As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness… (2 Peter 1:5-6) Today's word is “godliness,” and it takes us right back to yesterday's word of “perseverance.”  In particular, it takes us back to the later section of this letter that Pastor Michael quoted yesterday, where Peter writes: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (2 Peter 3:11b-12a).   We have a hope in Christ that keeps our eyes fixed on him, looking forward to his coming again when he will set all things right and make all things new.  In anticipation of that day, we are called to persevere—to hang on to our hope and faith through all the trials, sufferings, and everyday burdens of life.  That was what we talked about yesterday. But now Peter says we must do more than just hang on and endure until Jesus returns—we must also live.  Not just surviving by living out a life that sources the basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, and work mind you, but living a life that seeks to embody the faith and hope we claim in Christ.  We “ought to live holy and godly lives as [we] look forward,” ever straining to become who God has made us to be. For this, Peter uses the word “godliness.”  It's a word that refers to good deeds that arise from the root of faith and the motivation of love.  It's a word that also refers to spiritual disciplines like prayer and worship.  It also refers to a respect for the Creational boundaries and proportions that God has set for our creaturely lives in relationship to self, to others, and to him.  Most simply—it is a word that suggest we ought to become like Christ, our God.   To become godly is to really live out that whole “What Would Jesus Do” line.  It is to respect the boundaries and fittingness of life and interactions, as Jesus did.  It is to tend our relationship with God through practices of prayer, as Jesus did.  It is to do good in this world, as Jesus did.  To do all this, not only “as” Jesus did, but “because” Jesus did.  We seek to become godly as an all-of-life act of devotion to him.  Or, as Paul puts it in Romans 12, it is offering our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is,” he says, “your true and proper worship.”   Seeking to live a godly life is not something that we do from guilt nor something that we attempt to conjure up out of nothing by sheer force of will.  No, as Peter already told us in verse 3: God's “divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life,” and he has done so “through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” It is God's desire and design that we should become like Christ.  He is the one who called us to be godly.  He is the one who provides, through the Spirit, all that we need to do it.  He is the one who brings this Christlike godliness to life within us when we join with him.  Finally, he is the one who gives us the hope to lead us on and to assure us that all of this will finally be accomplished: on that day when Christ comes again.   Until then, let us “live holy and godly lives as [we] look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”  As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control… (2 Peter 1:5-6a) Self-Control is one of the few virtues in Peter's list that lines up with Paul's Fruit of the Spirit.  It is undoubtably a good gift of God, but it can be a double-edged sword.  Much like our discussion of “knowledge” yesterday, the danger is that self-control can “puff up” our pride and self-righteousness rather than “build up” others in love.  If this is the case, then we've gone wrong somewhere.  This list of virtues demands a grounding in faith that moves toward love, not self-righteousness.   There is a self-control which is the achievement of our own control and there is a self-control that arises from surrender to God's control.  When self-control is our own achievement, we might find ourselves looking down on lesser Christians or people in society who can't seem to get it together.  Having learned to master our own desires and impulses, we can grow impatient and grace-less with those who continue to stumble.  We view ourselves as “strong Christians” who have figured out the discipline of a moral and productive life—a vantage point from which others look weak and in need of improvement.  This prideful sense of control can spread from control of self to a desire to either control others, or to remove them from the well-controlled space of our church or community. As Paul reminds us, self-control is not an achievement.  It is a gift of the Spirit.  A fruit born in the Christian life that is produced in us by the Spirit.  The list that Peter gives brings even more definition.  The self-control he speaks of arises from the ground of faith in Jesus who has given us every good gift, calling, and promise.  This kind of self-control that submits to the gifts and Lordship of Christ culminates in a life of love.  Self-control as a gift of God that rests on faith and arrives at love cannot be the sort that produces pride or a controlling or diminishing attitude toward others.  Now, the word for “self-control” that Peter uses does speak of a sort of lordship or dominion over something.  In the Greek philosophers of the day—including Aristotle—this virtue of self-mastery was one of the most important.  Yet, it only shows up rarely in the New Testament.  The reasons?  There is only one “Lord” who holds “dominion” over our lives, and it isn't us.  Self-control as a Christian virtue is not an exercise of our own lordship over our lives, it is a submission of our lives to the Lordship and mastery of Christ.   Furthermore, whereas in the Greek philosophers self-control often entailed a rejection of the material creation and all desire for it—the Christian exercise of self-control is different.  The Lord of our lives asks not that we reject his Creation or the desires he created us with, but instead that we submit these desires and our use of the Creation to him.   Self-control then, is submission to the Lordship of Christ.  It is a steadfast keeping of the Creational boundaries he, the King, has given such that we can fully enjoy, work, and play as creatures within his Creation and enable others to do the same.  This kind of self-control is self-surrendering, self-giving, and as an act of love for God, his Creation, and our fellow image-bearers—it is also an act that continually points back—not to our own control or achievements—but to the gracious rule and gifts of the true King: Jesus Christ, Master of our lives. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:  Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. (2 Peter 1:5-9) At this start of this new week, an overview to get us back into 2 Peter.  We started into the list of virtues that Peter gives last Friday with goodness, but before we go further, perhaps it's helpful to see the whole and the reasons given for “adding” these things “to your faith.” This list Peter makes can seem rather random.  Could there be more items in this list?  Probably.  Do each flow directly from the others?  Not quite as tightly perhaps as in Romans 5:3-5.   The point is not to have a complete, logical check-list to mark off so that we know if we're winning the game or not though.  The point is to illustrate that being “cleansed from [one's] past sins” in Baptism and belief ought to mean something in our lives!  Knowing Jesus yields a transformed life.  And if it doesn't—what do you really know?  If your faith isn't starting to add up to a life of virtue, you must have forgotten all the “everything you need” that God gave you back in those first few verses of the letter! There is, in fact, not much special about this list.  Similar virtues can be found all over the ancient world in such virtue lists—both in pagan and Christian writings.  What sets this list off is the context and the reasons.  Pastor Michael alluded to some of it last week already.  In essence, Peter says: cultivate common virtue just like the rest of the society around you.  But do it for a different reason!  Do it because of “your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!”  He doesn't specifically say it that way—but his list does.  In Peter's list, there are two elements that are not common to the virtue lists of the ancient world: Faith and love.  Faith is where the list begins.  Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which this new life of virtue is built.  And not just faith in Jesus—but faith in the Jesus who has given us “everything we need” and who has “called us” and “given us… promises” (v. 3-4).  Christians enter into the practice of virtue with faith reasons and faith resources that no one else in society has. Love is where the list ends—unconditional, agape love.  God's own love in Jesus.  Every one of these otherwise generic virtues is built on a foundation of faith and culminates in Christlike love.   If these are the two slices of bread between which Peter's virtue sandwich is made—faith and love—then everything in the middle likewise changes its flavour.  That brings us back to goodness.  It's not just generic goodness anymore—it's goodness as seen through the eyes of faith that strains toward love.  So we look at God's own goodness and glory (v. 3), just as Pastor Michael did Friday, to understand our own pursuit of it.   With our pumps primed for the transformation springing from the Baptized life of faith in Jesus, we're ready to return to the list.  Tomorrow.     As you journey on today, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).  

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4) This set of verses picks up right where we left off yesterday.  Gifts, gifts, and more gifts.  We are totally overrun by God's gifts in these opening verses. We are given “everything we need for a godly life.”  We are given a calling sheerly based upon Jesus' own “glory and goodness.”  We are given his “very great and precious promises” which springs us free from the corruption of our evil desires and permits us to participate with God himself instead in this journey of being conformed to Christ. Pastor Michael alluded to it yesterday, but it's worth underscoring a couple times here again.  Nothing in our world works this way that God works.  In the world we live in—nothing is for free.  Everything comes at a cost, and so every interaction implies a transaction.  We give of our work only so that our employer or customers will give of their money in return.  When we give of our money, we always expect a return—a product, a service, or something similar.  Even our generosity goes this way—we give in order to help someone.  If those we help do not respond to our help with gratitude and/or a changed life that gives us a sense of “impact,” we tend to re-evaluate the nature of our giving. So when it comes to faith—we expect God to operate the same way.  This can manifest in a couple different ways.  Firstly—it can show up in our guilt.  If we find that our own response to God is lacking, we feel sheepish or even ashamed to come back to his presence asking again for forgiveness.  We assume God will treat us like everyone else does, or like we tend to treat others.  When we don't shape up, we assume God will ship us out.  We cannot be worthy or deserving of such continual gifts of grace and forgiveness as he intends to offer. It's true: we aren't worthy nor deserving.  God gives us these gifts not because of who we are, but because of who he is.  He has called us “by his own glory and goodness,” not our own.   It can happen the other way too, though.  If we find that we aren't being terribly “impacted” by church, by worship, or by the community of church people—we can quickly assume that we must not be “getting much out of it.”  In other words, we're paying more time, attention, and obedience than we're being paid back in rewards. In this case, we've lost sight of the larger movements of God's economy.  Our own narrow sense of microeconomics has missed the macroeconomic reality of God's “everything.”  This is indeed the danger of our modern world.  It's flat.  No “divine power,” “nature,” or “givens” remain visible to our perception, and therefore also not to our ledgers.  That, and the lifetime of growing into a “godly life” takes place over such a long time frame such that it seems immaterial to our day to day lives.   Only with time and the wisdom that comes from the hardships and sorrows of broken promises, failed callings, and corrupt desires do we begin to discover that the gifts of God that lead us onward toward a life that smells like Jesus is the most material asset we might ever hold.  Wouldn't you know it—whether it takes us a long time or a little to clue in to the value of this asset—the cost is just the same.  Free.  Its' free.  A gift of God that was always ours for the receiving.  No time like the present.  Are you in? As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18).

SermonRomans 11: 1-10February 18, 2024

You are listening to the messages from Pastor Scott Tewell who is the Lead Pastor at Rosedale Baptist Church in Rosedale, MD. Each week we provide these messages to help you grow in your faith and find encouragement through God's Word.

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When Jesus explained the parable of the sower, he didn't explain why the sower in the parable throws the seed everywhere rather than just on the good soil.John Newton understood why.This week's Bible passages: Hosea 10:9-12 and Matthew 13:1-9Podcast resource: 52 Weeks of Strength for Men (ebook, paperback, study guide)Other resources:Chris Bolinger's other devotional: Daily Strength for MenMike Hatch's book: Manhood: Empowered by the Light of the GospelRelational men's discipleship programs: CLC

This week on The Gospel Jubilee Chip and Denny will be featuring music by Brenda Denny Rhoades, Peach Goldman, Ben Speer, The Gospel Plowboys, and a special interview with Alicia Eidson (Beach Baby), Ocean Waves station manager. Here are all of the ways you can listen to the Gospel Jubilee On your Echo device say, Alexa, play the Gospel Jubilee on Apple podcast. For a direct download go to: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/58266100/download.mp3 Ocean Waves Radio ... every Wednesday at 5:00 PM Eastern time., www.OceanWavesRadio.com Thursday afternoons at 4:00 PM and Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM EST on Southern Branch Bluegrass Radio, www.sbbradio.org Saturday evenings at 7:00 and Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 CST on Radio For Life, www.RadioForLife.org Legend Oldies Radio. Our broadcast will be aired every Sunday morning at 9:00 AM CDT. https://www.legendoldies.com Playlist: Artists |Song Title | Album 01. Gold City - Help is on the way - "Help Is On The Way - Single" 02. The Guardians - Havin' a good time - "The Legacy Lives On" 03. Brenda Denny Rhoades - We need a move of God - "Grace" 04. The Torchmen Quartet - That's what I've been talking about - "In Him We Trust" 05. The New Horizons - Windows of Heaven - "The Gift" 06. Tribute Quartet - My nonstop flight to gloryland - "Tribute Quartet - Quartet - Volume 3" 07. Georgia - Ain't that what it's all about - "I'm Getting Restless" 08. Peach Goldman - Grace will lead you home acoustic - "Grace Will Lead You Home - Single" 09. Ronnie Booth - Where no one stands alone - "The Best Hymn Songs Ever" 10. Interview with Alicia Eidson (Beach Baby), Ocean Waves station manager 11. The Erwins - Back to the garden - "Back To The Garden - Single" 12. Evidence Quartet - Walk right out of that valley - "5th Anniversary" 13. The Booth Brothers, Greater Vision, and Legacy Five - He pilots my ship - "Jubilee" 14. Ben Speer - Singing in my soul - "Heritage" 15. Mystery artist of the week (Wanda Jackson) - The world didn't give it to me - "Closer To Jesus" 16. Mystery artist of the week (Pat Boone) - A wonderful time up there 1958 - - "A Wonderful Time Up There - Single" 17. The Inspirations - I get happy - "Just Call It Southern - Volume 2" 18. The Primitive Quartet - If I could telephone Heaven - "Just Call It Southern - Volume 3" 19. The Gospel Plowboys - When I wake to sleep no more - "When The Crops Are Laid By" 20. Aaron Wilburn - He's her punishment - "Red Neck Boy In The Hood" 21. Music City Quartet - I wanna be somebody - "I Wanna Be Somebody - Single" Outro – When We All Get To Heaven - Heavenbound

It's now 2024! Make any New Year's Resolutions? I didn't either. We can always make goals - now and later this month/year. How do we make them stick? Why do we want to improve, physically and/or spiritually? I have some expert analysis on going after your dreams, big and small, with some important tools. Hear what grit is and several steps on how to have more of it in your life. Being gritty will help you bypass excuses and push past the tough times. One blogger also says, instead of chasing self-improvement, we should pursue faithfulness. What does that look like in your life and the things you do on a daily basis? And God also wants to be with us, giving Himself away which is grace. As we start this new year, I dig a little deeper into the verse "Grace to you and peace be multiplied" (1 Peter 1:2). Thanks for listening to the #RunTheRace podcast, which I hope you'll subscribe to! Share it with your friends. Also, write a quick review about it, on Apple podcasts. For more info and listen to any previous episodes, go to www.wtvm.com/podcast/.

Common misconceptions about grace make us think it's a magic pill or elixir that we can use while in the depths of sin to be saved. However, getting right with God isn't solely dependent on us… but it does require the powerful and transformative grace of God in our lives. churchofthelakes.org

In the heart of New Thought principles, "By the Grace of God" unveils the power of Divine Grace in unlocking our boundless Potential. This Sunday, Rev. Jean-Marie will emphasize the role of Grace in our thinking and feeling process as it applies to our perceptions we have and the actions we take.  This Sunday's message serves as a beacon, reminding us that by harmonizing our thoughts, feelings, and actions with God Grace, we awaken to a reality where our aspirations manifest to walk the path of Fulfillment and Joy.  Join us on this transformative journey toward awakening our infinite Potential through the Grace of the Divine, sprinkled with inspiring music and deeply connecting fellowship. Website: https://unityfortworth.org Facebook: https://facebook.com/unityfw YouTube: https://youtube.com/unityfortworth

We tend to create God in our own image. In today's Gospel, Jesus talks about what happens when we do not know who God is.  Jesus tells the parable of the talents to show the transformative impact of shaping our lives by embracing a God of boundless grace, joy, and abundance, rather than succumbing to fear and self-imposed limitations.  

Inspired by this Sunday's Absolute Word, Rev. Jean-Marie will dive into the meaning of God Grace in our lives and how we are not only able to but also responsible for invoking such Grace in our lives and that of everyone else. Based on the idea that our daily spiritual practice is based on self-reliance and self-responsibility, we learn to embrace a reality inspired by our humanity and our spirituality. Join us for a wonderful Sunday morning with an inspiring message, beautiful music, and time spent with friends. Website: https://unityfortworth.org Facebook: https://facebook.com/unityfw YouTube: https://youtube.com/unityfortworth

Ephesians 2:7 says, "so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2 goes on to tell us that by God's grace is how we are saved from eternal death. But God's grace doesn't just save us; it permeates every aspect of our lives. 

THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICEGOD, GRACE & THE CHILDREN Last week we asked the question “What is better: uncomfortable truth or comfortable lies?  In this week's show, We will continue to step outside of our comfort zone and bring the uncomfortable truths into the light so that we the people can take our power back!!! "Take Your Power Back Show” Peak Performance Master Coach and Salem Radio Show Host, Kim Yeater, speaks with Freedom Loving Patriots Scott Schara Deprogramming with Grace's Dad, Johnathon Alexander-Live Border News, and Bible Prepper Everett Triplett. This is a must listen-to!!! WE GO LIVE ON SATURDAYLISTEN IN HERE:11 AM PST 1 PM CST, 2 PM EST on Salem Radio KCBQ The Answer, San Diego AM 1170 and FM 96.1 or VIA-STREAMING: https://theanswersandiego.com/radioshow/take-your-power-back BE A SPONSOR & KEEP FREEDOM ALIVE: www.TAKEYOURPOWERBACKSHOW.COM SEE ALL PODCASTS ON:https://rumble.com/c/c-1458424 

Enjoy this latest message from Grace Dickow at Life Changers City Campus. Sunday | July 9, 2023 | City Campus NEXT STEPS Have you made a decision to follow Jesus? We would love to help you with your next steps, starting with a free devotional: https://lifechangerschurch.com/newlife ABOUT LIFE CHANGERS Every Sunday, at every small group, and every gathering of our church, we are singing about, talking about, and learning about the radical acceptance of God that we have because of Jesus. We hope you can join us as we grow to know God and discover our true worth in Him. Join us in person or online at https://www.lifechangerschurch.com. SUPPORT You can tithe or donate to help us reach more lives around the world here: https://www.lifechangerschurch.com/give FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lifechangerschurch Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/lifechangers TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechangers YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lifechangerschurch CONNECT WITH PASTOR GREGORY DICKOW YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gregorydickow Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gregorydickow Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/gregorydickow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gregorydickow

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me Child of God Grace makes a man or a woman function without struggle,grace GIVES you sweatless labour. Grace means favour minus labour. Grace makes a man receive without asking When Grace speaks, protocols are suspended,overruled and nolified. grace is a working miracle,dynamic ability to make things happen regardless of limitations and impossibilities Therefore, I without doubt declare the grace of Almighty God is sufficient for you to make all things successful for you.

I knew a pastor who used to say, “God's in a good mood.” To his dying day, he'd chuckle- in a serious way- when he said it. He was convinced that God was absolutely happy. Somehow, I was totally uncomfortable with what he said— but I WAS (super-strangely enough) NOT uncomfortable with the opposite… Why would I be more cozy with the notion that… ❌ God was angry, ❌ God had a “short fuse,” and ❌ God was ready to pour out His wrath on His children?

Enjoy this latest message from Grace Dickow at Life Changers City Campus. Sunday | April 16, 2023 | City Campus NEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? We would love to help you with your next steps, starting with a free devotional: https://lifechangerschurch.com/newlife ABOUT LIFE CHANGERSEvery Sunday, at every small group, and every gathering of our church, we are singing about, talking about, and learning about the radical acceptance of God that we have because of Jesus. We hope you can join us as we grow to know God and discover our true worth in Him. Join us in person or online at https://www.lifechangerschurch.com. SUPPORTYou can tithe or donate to help us reach more lives around the world here: https://www.lifechangerschurch.com/give FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/lifechangerschurchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/lifechangersTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechangersYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lifechangerschurch CONNECT WITH PASTOR GREGORY DICKOWYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gregorydickowFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/gregorydickowInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/gregorydickowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gregorydickow

Today on the Daily Nugget, Mike continues to talk about the grace of God. He shares a silly mistake he made in the podcast last week and describes our condition before God and why grace means so much to believers in Jesus Christ and how that can impact our lives.

Acts 20:24 - But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.Grace, by definition, is undeserved favor (approval, kindness, forgiveness), which is exactly what God has done for us in sending Jesus to die on the cross as payment for our sins. We do deserve to be punished for our sins, but God knew the price was just too steep for us to pay, so He and Jesus paid it for us.Support the show

Today's Devotional 1/19/22 “The Favor (Grace) of God On It” Join us today for Coffee and Conversations and community! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/justbeinglmj/support

 One of the hardest things for us to grasp is the greatness of God's glory, and the greatness of his grace. Isaiah 6 helps us to see a picture of both glory and grace, which is good news for us. 

Welcome to Hope City Church! NEW If you are new to Hope City text “Welcome” to 502-754-3212 CONNECT Connect with us! Visit the Hope City Church website at https://realhopenow.com/ , connect through the Hope City Church Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/realhopenow or download the Hope City Church Louisville app from the android or apple app store. CARE If you or a loved one is in need of prayer or care, we would love to help! Simply open the Hope City Church Louisville app, click on "Pastoral Care" or "Prayer Request" and fill out the form so that we can know how we can help. Or go to https://app.textinchurch.com/groups/webform/MjYxMDg4 and send us your prayer request. GIVE Our heart is to share as much hope with as many people as possible, and you make that happen because of your generosity. Click the link below to give. http://www.realhopenow.com/give/ Thank you for tuning in to today's service. We'll see you soon!

We're talking about where God's grace meets us in our anger. Anger is one of those dirty, little secrets no good Christian woman wants to talk about. We don't like to admit that we can be so easily swayed into an emotion that triggers behavior that is so incredibly ugly.   And yet… we all get angry. Some of us give full vent to our anger, and some of us stuff it down, so it leaks out in weird ways in unrelated moments. Amber and I talk through The two types of anger Whether it's wrong to get angry And what to do with guilt when you reacted in anger. Key Quotes “God has allowed me to use my emotions to serve me, not enslave me.” - Author Amber Lia “We are to hate evil and sin and everything it stands for.” - Author Amber Lia “If we can start to see triggers as opportunities, instead of something for us to get mad and angry and reactionary about, then it changes everything.” - Author Amber Lia “I got tired of operating in the aftermath of chaos.” - Author Amber Lia “How does God draw us to repentance? Oh, it's with His lovingkindness.” - Author Amber Lia “Conviction that is loving will catapult us toward love.” - Author Amber Lia“If you're just stuffing them down, you're not allowing your emotions to serve you. Those emotions are still enslaving you.” - Author Amber Lia “Whatever our emotions are, there should be a healthy outlet for them.” - Author Amber Lia “We have to become advocates for our own lives and our own emotional health and well-being.” - Author Amber Lia “Anger is not your enemy, but you need to direct it toward your enemy.” - Author Amber Lia “Don't heap shame on yourself if you struggle with anger.” - Author Amber Lia As Mentioned in the Podcast The FCC requires that I tell you that I'm an Amazon Affiliate, which means I earn a bit of commission on each sale. But don't worry, there's no added cost to you! Gentle Parenting with Amber and Wendy Facebook Group Find a counselor here Triggers by Amber Lia and Wendy Speake Parenting Scripts by Amber Lia and Wendy Speake Food Triggers by Amber Lia #123: God, Grace + Emotions: Sustaining grace in grief with Lisa Appelo #124: God, Grace + Emotions: Giving grace in anxiety and depression with J.S. (Joon) Park #125: God, grace + emotions: Combatting shame with grace with Becky Leach #126: God, grace + emotions: Overcoming guilt with grace with Sara Peters #127: God, grace + emotions: Practical grace when you feel not enough with Richella Parham #128: God, grace + emotions: The grace of joy with Kimberly Davis #129: God, grace + emotions: Radical grace for your distracted, swirling brain with Jeanne Stevens About Amber Lia To help us in today's conversation, certified independent health coach, author, and boy-mom Amber Lia joins the show. Amber is a work-at-home mom of four boys, ages 5 to 15. She and her husband, Guy, own Storehouse Media Group, a faith and family-friendly TV and Film production company in Chattanooga, TN.  Amber offers insight for all things health and wellness for anyone looking to live life to the full! When she's not building sand castles with her boys on the beach or searching for Nerf darts all over her house, you can find Amber writing to encourage families. Here's how to connect with Amber  Website Instagram Facebook Amber and Wendy's website Here's how to connect with Jill Website  GraceInRealLifePodcast.com  Instagram  Facebook group  Facebook page Subscribe to Jill's weekly “the good + the grace” email 

I know that you are a woman who wants to live with intentionality and presence. You want to show up for your people, and you don't want to miss the good that God offers you right this very minute.  And yet… we can't focus on where we are now because we're thinking about that hard conversation we need to have next week, OR we are thinking about how unkind and mean to our mother we were our senior year of high school. So how can we stay present? How do we leave distracted living behind? Jeanne and I talk through How to know you're living a distracted life Whether you can trust your emotions And what it means to be present in your real life. Key Quotes “God is like, ‘I made you the air traffic controller of your mind. You do not need to clear every thought for landing.'” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “A thought is harmless until we believe it.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “I'm learning to work from love instead of for love.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “‘No' is a complete sentence.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “Resentment in a relationship is a fast destroyer.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “It is delightful to be in integrity in the ‘yes's' we give to one another because we can really live out of that radical grace.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “It's impossible to actually love people well if you haven't learned how to love yourself.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “Learning how to pay attention to ourselves is what's going to give us the ability to know how to pay attention well to others.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “You deny an emotion, you stuff an emotion, it's going to come out, and it usually comes out sideways.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “Denial is the worst kind of lie; it's the lie you tell yourself.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “Your body is actually a really faithful vessel to communicate what emotions are really going on inside you.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “Worry is just living in a not-yet that's worse than your now.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “The ZIP code of God is the present.” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens “What are you sensing in your body? What are you feeling in your heart? What are you thinking in your mind?” - Pastor and author Jeanne Stevens As Mentioned in the Podcast The FCC requires that I tell you that I'm an Amazon Affiliate, which means I earn a bit of commission on each sale. But don't worry, there's no added cost to you! Jeanne Stevens's What's Here Now? Mind Jogger app About Jeanne Stevens To help us in today's conversation, pastor, speaker, and author Jeanne Stevens joins the show. Jeanne is the founding and co-lead pastor of Soul City Church in Chicago, one of America's fastest-growing urban churches. Before starting Soul City Church, she was on the pastoral staff at Willow Creek Community Church and North Point Community Church.  Jeanne's passion is to help people wake up to their purpose as they pursue a life of wholehearted freedom. Jeanne is the author of the newly-released best-selling book, What's Here Now? She lives in Chicago with her husband, Jarrett, and their two children. Here's how to connect with Jeanne  Website Instagram Here's how to connect with Jill Website  GraceInRealLifePodcast.com  Instagram  Facebook group  Facebook page Subscribe to Jill's weekly “the good + the grace” email 

How can we experience more joy in our real lives? Our world seems bent on stressing us out, inducing anxiety, and making us worry. Kimberly and I talk through What may be blocking your joy, Two lies you may believe about joy, And two easy ways to automatically increase your joy.  Key Quotes “When I'm looking up, that's when I experience God's joy.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “Joy is a natural reaction to spending time with God in His presence.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “God's influence on your life is grounded totally in spending time in His presence.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “We have every right and authority – biblical authority – to have joy because it is ours for the taking.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “You were bought with a price. You are chosen. And joy is definitely your birthright.”  - Speaker Kimberly Davis “I believe when God says He forgives us, He forgives us.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “Give yourself that grace: Joy is yours for the taking.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “When we work to protect ourselves and block ourselves from joy or people or experiences because we've been hurt in the past, we end up hurting ourselves even more.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “When you read the Bible, your life changes for the better.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis “Life be lifen.” - Speaker Kimberly Davis As Mentioned in the Podcast The FCC requires that I tell you that I'm an Amazon Affiliate, which means I earn a bit of commission on each sale. But don't worry, there's no added cost to you! #127: God, grace + emotions: Practical grace when you feel not enough with Richella Parham Day Well Freebie by Kimberly Davis About Kimberly Davis To help us in today's conversation, speaker, writer, and host of The Wonderfully Marvelous Life Podcast, Kimberly N. Davis joins the show. While she wears many hats, her love for sharing the gospel with women is paramount.  Kimberly has served in women's ministry for over nine years. She reaches a vast audience by speaking at conferences and virtual spaces through podcasting and social media. With guidance from the Holy Spirit, she creates safe places for women to uncover the complexities of who they are in Christ. Kimberly is married to Clarence S. Davis, and they have one son.  Here's how to connect with Kimberly Website Instagram Facebook Podcast Here's how to connect with Jill Website  GraceInRealLifePodcast.com  Instagram  Facebook group  Facebook page Subscribe to Jill's weekly “the good + the grace” email 

Every area of my life is exposed to the toxic element of feeling less-than.  In my writing, I feel like others are more reflective and thoughtful. On staff at our church, I feel like everyone else in staff meeting is more spiritually mature. In volunteering, I believe the other leaders connect better with the students. So how can we handle feeling less-than in real life? Richella and I talk through The difference between insecurity and a lack of confidence and humility, Healthy and practical ways to quit striving, And how to embrace community when you feel less-than. Key Quotes “Insecurity is a feeling of a lack of assurance about my identity.” - Richella Parham “We want to avoid pride and arrogance, and we want to cultivate the Christian virtue of humility. And we think that self-deprecation and abasement is the way to get there.” - Richella Parham “If only we could think as highly of ourselves as God thinks of us.” - Richella Parham “Any plan to better ourselves based on distorted vision will not lead to the outcome we desire.” - Richella Parham “Our memories are present realities. They are things we're dealing with right now.” - Richella Parham “Vulnerability may lead to embarrassment. Embarrassment is a survivable event.” - Richella Parham “No one's demanding perfection from you today.” - Richella Parham As Mentioned in the Podcast The FCC requires that I tell you that I'm an Amazon Affiliate, which means I earn a bit of commission on each sale. But don't worry, there's no added cost to you! #123: God, Grace + Emotions: Sustaining grace in grief with Lisa Appelo #124: God, Grace + Emotions: Giving grace in anxiety and depression with J.S. (Joon) Park #125: God, grace + emotions: Combatting shame with grace with Becky Leach #126: God, grace + emotions: Overcoming guilt with grace with Sara Peters Find a counselor here Subscribe for a chance to win a copy of Richella's book Mythical Me About Richella Parham To help us in today's conversation, speaker and the author of the award-winning book Mythical Me: Finding Freedom from Constant Comparison Richella J. Parham joins the show.  She serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of Renovaré, a Christian spiritual formation ministry, and co-host of the Friends in Formation podcast.  With a birthmark covering more than a third of her body, Richella struggled from her earliest days with the feeling that she never measured up. She now applies her experience and training to help others break free from insecurity, clearing a path for struggling Christians to take hold of a life of confidence, compassion, and community. Here's how to connect with Richella Website Book Instagram Twitter Renovare Podcast Here's how to connect with Jill Website  GraceInRealLifePodcast.com  Instagram  Facebook group  Facebook page Subscribe to Jill's weekly “the good + the grace” email 

Ever felt bad because you said “no” to the cell phone or sleepover for your child, even when you knew it was the right choice? Ever felt like The Worst parent because you work, even if it's a financial necessity? Maybe you've been guilted into serving on the PTA Board or spending Christmas with your in-laws.  Guilt seems to stick close like a shadow. So how can we handle guilt in real life? Sara and I talk through The difference between guilt and shame, How to tease out if your guilt is warranted, And signs you're experiencing excessive guilt. Key Quotes “Guilt is produced when individuals evaluate their behavior as a failure.” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “Guilt often motivates us to seek restoration or repair in the relationship. Shame motivates the individual to hide and stay withdrawn.”- Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “Be open in feeling uncomfortable in asking yourself, ‘Where is this coming from?'” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “Guilt-tripping prevents healthy communication and conflict resolution.” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “Good boundaries are part of thriving relationships. Boundaries set in defensiveness, those can be harmful.” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “Are my actions or behaviors somehow justifying my goodness in the relationship?” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “We're all going to be guilty of missing the mark, but if it starts spiraling into this piece of shame, I would ask, ‘Where is that self-condemnation coming from, and who does Jesus say that I am?'” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “Put the thought on trial.” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters “Just because you think and feel things doesn't mean it's true.” - Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters As Mentioned in the Podcast The FCC requires that I tell you that I'm an Amazon Affiliate, which means I earn a bit of commission on each sale. But don't worry, there's no added cost to you! #101: Spiritual Health: Hearing from God for freedom with Jennifer Barnett About Sara Peters To help us in our conversation, Licensed Professional Counselor Sara Peters joins the show. Sara is a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and life-long maker who always has a project in mind.  She and her husband can be found most Saturdays walking the local trail system with their two rambunctious dogs, Hank and Lacy. When she's not wrangling dogs, spending time with family, or making something, Sara is a licensed professional counselor and board-certified art therapist in San Antonio, Texas.  She specializes in working with adolescent and young adult women who are bravely confronting life's obstacles and discovering confidence, capability, and connection in the process. Sara also teaches art classes focused on the intersection of faith and self-expressive art.  Here's how to connect with Jill Website  GraceInRealLifePodcast.com  Instagram  Facebook group  Facebook page Subscribe to Jill's weekly “the good + the grace” email 

Shame is both an emotion and a weapon our enemy likes to use to distance us from God, others, and ourselves. Friend, we all suffer from shame. Shame about what we've done – or haven't. What was done to us – or what we did to another. Becky and I talk through What shame is, When you feel like you're too much, And how to move God's love from your head to your heart. Friend, please know this is a sensitive and tender episode as we discuss sexual abuse.  Key Quotes “Saying this hard thing out loud didn't destroy me.” - Speaker and author Becky Leach “The way to combat shame is to stop focusing on ourselves and our situation, and to start focusing on the Lord instead.” - Speaker and author Becky Leach “The first thing we need to do is not choose joy. The first thing we're going to do is to choose belief.” - Speaker and author Becky Leach “Jesus does not get mad at the sinners sinning. He does not get mad at the broken-hearted.” - Speaker and author Becky Leach “In my darkest seasons, worship is what I want to bathe my soul in.” - Speaker and author Becky Leach “Letting someone else in brings it to the light.” - Speaker and author Becky Leach As Mentioned in the Podcast The FCC requires that I tell you that I'm an Amazon Affiliate, which means I earn a bit of commission on each sale. But don't worry, there's no added cost to you! National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 The best books and resources to promote emotional health Brene Brown The Pivot by Becky Leach About Becky Leach Artist, speaker, and first-time author Becky Leach joins the show. Becky lives in Texas with her high school sweetheart-now-husband, their three kids, and the newest addition to the bunch – Franklin – their beloved golden doodle.  Becky wants to use every chance she gets to testify to the freedom she's found by simply choosing to believe God. Becky was a victim of sexual assault as a child and teen, and hopes to advocate against abuse for the rest of her life.  Whether painting artwork for someone's home or writing a new chapter for her book, Becky's greatest prayer is that you don't see her but Jesus. Here's how to connect with Becky Instagram Website Here's how to connect with Jill Website  GraceInRealLifePodcast.com  Instagram  Facebook group  Facebook page Subscribe to Jill's weekly “the good + the grace” email 

Visit www.ElisabethElliot.org for more lectures and talks, devotionals, videos, Gateway to Joy programs, and other resources.