Podcasts about golgotha

John 17–19 John 17–19 (Listen) The High Priestly Prayer 17 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.1 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them2 in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself,3 that they also may be sanctified4 in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus 18 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.”5 Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus6 said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant7 and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” Jesus Faces Annas and Caiaphas 12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews8 arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Peter Denies Jesus 15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” 18 Now the servants9 and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. The High Priest Questions Jesus 19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” 22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” 24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Peter Denies Jesus Again 25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. Jesus Before Pilate 28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.10 It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. My Kingdom Is Not of This World 33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.11 Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified 19 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews12 answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic13 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.14 He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. The Crucifixion So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,' but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.'” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.15 But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,   “They divided my garments among them,    and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. The Death of Jesus 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Jesus' Side Is Pierced 31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” Jesus Is Buried 38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus16 by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds17 in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. Footnotes [1] 17:15 Or from evil [2] 17:17 Greek Set them apart (for holy service to God) [3] 17:19 Or I sanctify myself; or I set myself apart (for holy service to God) [4] 17:19 Greek may be set apart (for holy service to God) [5] 18:5 Greek I am; also verses 6, 8 [6] 18:6 Greek he [7] 18:10 Or bondservant; twice in this verse [8] 18:12 Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 14, 31, 36, 38 [9] 18:18 Or bondservants; also verse 26 [10] 18:28 Greek the praetorium [11] 18:40 Or an insurrectionist [12] 19:7 Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 12, 14, 31, 38 [13] 19:13 Or Hebrew; also verses 17, 20 [14] 19:14 That is, about noon [15] 19:23 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [16] 19:39 Greek him [17] 19:39 Greek one hundred litras; a litra (or Roman pound) was equal to about 11 1/2 ounces or 327 grams (ESV)

I have spent the past week thinking about things that don't make sense. And, when I say "things that don't make sense," I mean questions that don't have easy answers and trials with no apparent ending. I mean wrestling with counsel from prophets that does not seem to fit with our interpretation of following Jesus. I mean physical, mental, and emotional challenges from which we have yet to find rest. I mean paths the Lord inspires us to walk or even chooses for us that feel much too steep and well beyond our ability. I mean roadblocks we encounter as we follow Him that seem to halt our progress again and again. My thoughts have led me to the powerful lessons of Gethsemane and Golgotha. I believe understanding these events can forever change how we view our challenges and the suffering they sometimes create. This Week's Shine Challenge: Read Luke 22-23, which recounts the events of Gethsemane and Golgotha, and Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, "Lifted Up Upon the Cross." Imagine yourself as a character in the story. What would it have been like to witness those events? Would you have the faith to follow Him forever had you witnessed His sacrifice firsthand? Write your thoughts in your journal. References: 1. Lifted Up upon the Cross: Jeffrey R. Holland 2. None Were With Him: Jeffrey R. Holland P.S. Are you ready to STAND and start putting your faith into ACTION so you can have greater access to God's power? I have compiled a list of every invitation issued by our leaders during October 2022 General Conference, and it is now available for download. As you study and apply these invitations, you will reap the spiritual blessings attached to them. (Don't worry...I will show you how to do this without getting overwhelmed!) You can grab your free copy right here.

Big Idea: His pain was far beyond physical. John 19: 1-16 His pain was far beyond physical. John 19: 17-24 Then they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Don't write, ‘The king of the Jews,' but that he said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.' ” Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.” This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did. 1. The spectacle. 2. The society. 3. The suffering. 4. The shame. 5. The soldiers. Next Steps: I believe Jesus give his life for me, today I give my life to him. I will focus on the love of God this week.

This sermon was preached by Justin Rogers on October 24, 2022 and is part of YALA's series The Deep End. Most of us have read about Jesus on the cross, but right after he dies, something strange happens. Within eyesight of Golgotha, the Holy of Holies stood at the top of the temple in the temple mount, and as Jesus dies, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies is torn from top to bottom. Cool story, right? But this is supposed to tell us something. It is supposed to connect us back to something. Want to know what it is? Jump in to The Deep End of The Crucifixion. 

John 17–19 John 17–19 (Listen) The High Priestly Prayer 17 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.1 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them2 in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself,3 that they also may be sanctified4 in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus 18 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.”5 Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus6 said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.” 10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant7 and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” Jesus Faces Annas and Caiaphas 12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews8 arrested Jesus and bound him. 13 First they led him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. Peter Denies Jesus 15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter stood outside at the door. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door, and brought Peter in. 17 The servant girl at the door said to Peter, “You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” 18 Now the servants9 and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself. The High Priest Questions Jesus 19 The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” 22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” 24 Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Peter Denies Jesus Again 25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. Jesus Before Pilate 28 Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.10 It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die. My Kingdom Is Not of This World 33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.11 Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified 19 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews12 answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic13 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.14 He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. The Crucifixion So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,' but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.'” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.15 But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,   “They divided my garments among them,    and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. The Death of Jesus 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Jesus' Side Is Pierced 31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” Jesus Is Buried 38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus16 by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds17 in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. Footnotes [1] 17:15 Or from evil [2] 17:17 Greek Set them apart (for holy service to God) [3] 17:19 Or I sanctify myself; or I set myself apart (for holy service to God) [4] 17:19 Greek may be set apart (for holy service to God) [5] 18:5 Greek I am; also verses 6, 8 [6] 18:6 Greek he [7] 18:10 Or bondservant; twice in this verse [8] 18:12 Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 14, 31, 36, 38 [9] 18:18 Or bondservants; also verse 26 [10] 18:28 Greek the praetorium [11] 18:40 Or an insurrectionist [12] 19:7 Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 12, 14, 31, 38 [13] 19:13 Or Hebrew; also verses 17, 20 [14] 19:14 That is, about noon [15] 19:23 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [16] 19:39 Greek him [17] 19:39 Greek one hundred litras; a litra (or Roman pound) was equal to about 11 1/2 ounces or 327 grams (ESV)

On this episode of Rightly Dividing, we take you outside the Temple and to a place on the other side called the Praetorium, here we will see Pontius Pilate sit in judgment of the One who made him. Here we are shown steps, what the Bible calls ‘the Pavement', and the judgment seat of Pilate. When this sham trial is done, Jesus is ordered to carry His cross from Gabbatha to Golgotha, and here we are introduced to Simon of Cyrene. Roman Catholic myth says that Jesus ‘drops His cross' in the home stretch, and Simon must pick it up and carry it for Him. Now, does that sound right to you? I didn't think so. On this episode of Rightly Dividing, we journey back in time and become an eyewitness to the sham trial of Jesus of Nazareth! Did you know that recent archaeological expeditions in Jerusalem have actually found the exact spot where Jesus was put on trial at a place called the pavement in Greek, and Gabbatha in Hebrew? It's a fascinating video and you can see it here. Your King James Bible has a lot to say about not only the trial of Jesus, but also of a man called Simon of Cyrene, about whom much myth has been built up. Want to know the true story of what happened?

Mark 15–16 Mark 15–16 (Listen) Jesus Delivered to Pilate 15 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified 6 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged1 Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Jesus Is Mocked 16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters),2 and they called together the whole battalion.3 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. The Crucifixion 21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour4 when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.5 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. The Death of Jesus 33 And when the sixth hour6 had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.7 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he8 breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son9 of God!” 40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. Jesus Is Buried 42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.10 And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph11 bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. The Resurrection 16 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]12 Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 9 [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. Jesus Appears to Two Disciples 12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. The Great Commission 14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]] Footnotes [1] 15:15 A Roman judicial penalty, consisting of a severe beating with a multi-lashed whip containing embedded pieces of bone and metal [2] 15:16 Greek the praetorium [3] 15:16 Greek cohort; a tenth of a Roman legion, usually about 600 men [4] 15:25 That is, 9 a.m. [5] 15:27 Some manuscripts insert verse 28: And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “He was numbered with the transgressors” [6] 15:33 That is, noon [7] 15:33 That is, 3 p.m. [8] 15:39 Some manuscripts insert cried out and [9] 15:39 Or a son [10] 15:44 Or Pilate wondered whether he had already died [11] 15:46 Greek he [12] 16:9 Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9–20 immediately after verse 8. At least one manuscript inserts additional material after verse 14; some manuscripts include after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. These manuscripts then continue with verses 9–20 (ESV)

Mark 15–16 Mark 15–16 (Listen) Jesus Delivered to Pilate 15 And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified 6 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged1 Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Jesus Is Mocked 16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters),2 and they called together the whole battalion.3 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. The Crucifixion 21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour4 when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.5 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. The Death of Jesus 33 And when the sixth hour6 had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.7 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he8 breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son9 of God!” 40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. Jesus Is Buried 42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.10 And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph11 bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. The Resurrection 16 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. [Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.]12 Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 9 [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. 11 But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. Jesus Appears to Two Disciples 12 After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. 13 And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. The Great Commission 14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]] Footnotes [1] 15:15 A Roman judicial penalty, consisting of a severe beating with a multi-lashed whip containing embedded pieces of bone and metal [2] 15:16 Greek the praetorium [3] 15:16 Greek cohort; a tenth of a Roman legion, usually about 600 men [4] 15:25 That is, 9 a.m. [5] 15:27 Some manuscripts insert verse 28: And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “He was numbered with the transgressors” [6] 15:33 That is, noon [7] 15:33 That is, 3 p.m. [8] 15:39 Some manuscripts insert cried out and [9] 15:39 Or a son [10] 15:44 Or Pilate wondered whether he had already died [11] 15:46 Greek he [12] 16:9 Some manuscripts end the book with 16:8; others include verses 9–20 immediately after verse 8. At least one manuscript inserts additional material after verse 14; some manuscripts include after verse 8 the following: But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. These manuscripts then continue with verses 9–20 (ESV)

In our first episode of the series "Heritage Hunters" we discuss the history of my ancestors and the illogical persecution of the Jewish community by Christian anti-Semites in Latin America and Europe."...I'm like a wandering Jew looking for your love." This phrase is part of a Mexican folk song performed by Dueto America. Recently, La Ettnia, a Colombian Rap group, created a less anti-Semitic song also called Wandering Jew."I have seen you in many momentsThere's really no time for regretsOnly one is your willRunning to the beat of the wandering Jew"There is even a Catholic prayer for the wandering Jew:"Oh poor Wandering Jewthat by denying water to Our Lordyou were condemned to wander the earthfor the whole eternity!Wandering Jew who by offending Our Lordyou will travel forever around the world."Who was the wandering Jew?“The Wandering Jew is a Christian myth, a legend that recounts that during the arduous road to crucifixion with his cross on his back, under the whipping of the Roman soldiers, amid the jeers of the people, Jesus feels thirsty and stops before a trough. An old Jew refuses him water, gives him a push and tells him to keep going. "I will continue", Jesus replies, "but you will wait until I return", and he continues his march towards Golgotha. Jesus condemned him to wander the earth until his second coming, until the Parousia."http://trianguloequidlatere.blogspot.com/2010/11/quien-era-el-judio-errante.html

Contre quoi luttez-vous et vous débattez-vous aujourd'hui ? Que le découragement et la fatalité ne dominent point vos pensées car la victoire à la croix de Golgotha est complète en Jésus-Christ. Soyez puissamment édifié(e) par ce temps d'échange authentique entre Yannis et Nadine. Envoyez-nous votre témoignage à l'adresse suivante : https://emcitv.com/temoignage

195. John 19:17 The Crucifixion of Jesus-Part 1 Pastor Phil Ballmaier Calvary Chapel Elk Grove 10-16-22 Join Pastor Phil Ballmaier of Calvary Chapel Elk Grove as he works his way through the Gospel of John on Sunday Mornings. Today we continue in John, Chapter 19. THE HOUR HAS COME... We've seen Jesus stand trial in a religious court, and in civil court, He was beaten and wounded, just as the scriptures said... But today, Pastor Phil takes a closer look at Simon, likely a Jewish man on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. His day would end far differently then what he may have planned as the Roman soldiers gave him the task of carrying the Cross for Jesus to Golgotha. Let's join Pastor Phil now for The Crucifixion of Jesus-Part 1. Have questions? If you would like to know what it means to be a Jesus follower reach out to us at: http://www.ccelkgrove.org/next-steps We’d love to speak with you. Calvary Chapel Elk Grove is a non-denominational fellowship located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago in Illinois. Pastor Phil's E-Study Guides are posted here: https://www.ccelkgrove.org/sermon-notes This weeks' video: https://vimeo.com/761095872 Join us each Sunday at 10:30 via livestream on our Vimeo page, Facebook page, on our website at www.ccelkgrove.org, or on our mobile app. We livestream every Sunday Morning at 10:30 AM and Wednesdays at 7 PM at: Sunday Livestream | https://vimeo.com/event/2418452 Wednesday Livestream | https://vimeo.com/event/2421071 https://www.facebook.com/CCEGVillage AND https://www.youtube.com/c/ccelkgrove Pastor Phil can be heard on AM1160 Chicago Mon-Fri at 6:00 PM & 4:30 AM, and the Calvary Radio Network, Mon-Fri at 9:00 AM. May God bless and guide you, may His face shine upon you and give you peace as you seek to know Him more fully, and walk with Him, day by day. www.ccelkgrove.org www.daybydayradio.org 847-895-3545 CCLI #143368 - Song License CSPL #091182 - Livestreaming License

195. John 19:17 The Crucifixion of Jesus-Part 1 Pastor Phil Ballmaier Calvary Chapel Elk Grove 10-16-22 Join Pastor Phil Ballmaier of Calvary Chapel Elk Grove as he works his way through the Gospel of John on Sunday Mornings. Today we continue in John, Chapter 19. THE HOUR HAS COME... We've seen Jesus stand trial in a religious court, and in civil court, He was beaten and wounded, just as the scriptures said... But today, Pastor Phil takes a closer look at Simon, likely a Jewish man on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. His day would end far differently then what he may have planned as the Roman soldiers gave him the task of carrying the Cross for Jesus to Golgotha. Let's join Pastor Phil now for The Crucifixion of Jesus-Part 1. Have questions? If you would like to know what it means to be a Jesus follower reach out to us at: http://www.ccelkgrove.org/next-steps We’d love to speak with you. Calvary Chapel Elk Grove is a non-denominational fellowship located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago in Illinois. Pastor Phil's E-Study Guides are posted here: https://www.ccelkgrove.org/sermon-notes This weeks' video: https://vimeo.com/761095872 Join us each Sunday at 10:30 via livestream on our Vimeo page, Facebook page, on our website at www.ccelkgrove.org, or on our mobile app. We livestream every Sunday Morning at 10:30 AM and Wednesdays at 7 PM at: Sunday Livestream | https://vimeo.com/event/2418452 Wednesday Livestream | https://vimeo.com/event/2421071 https://www.facebook.com/CCEGVillage AND https://www.youtube.com/c/ccelkgrove Pastor Phil can be heard on AM1160 Chicago Mon-Fri at 6:00 PM & 4:30 AM, and the Calvary Radio Network, Mon-Fri at 9:00 AM. May God bless and guide you, may His face shine upon you and give you peace as you seek to know Him more fully, and walk with Him, day by day. www.ccelkgrove.org www.daybydayradio.org 847-895-3545 CCLI #143368 - Song License CSPL #091182 - Livestreaming License

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, that you have not left us in the darkness of our sin. But you spoke a word to us, and your ultimate word, the final word, is that of your Son, Jesus Christ, the living Word of God. Jesus, we thank you that you came, that you lived a perfect life, that you fulfilled all of the requirements of God's holy law. You love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and you love neighbor as self. So much so that you gave yourself as a substitute in our place, in our stead you went to a cross to bear the penalty for our sin, bear the wrath of God. Your word tells us that the penalty for sin is death. Either our death, eternally speaking, or the death of your Son, Jesus Christ on the cross. So Jesus, I pray if there's anyone who's not yet a Christian today, make yourself alive to them, draw them to yourself, give them the gift of repentance. And Lord, for all of us who are yours, who have been predestined before the foundation of the world to be yours, you've written our name in the Book of Life before anything was even created. Lord, I pray in view of that great mercy, I pray, give us the grace to give our bodies as a living sacrifice holy, committed to you. Makers of people who on a daily basis seek the renewal of the mind, the cleansing, the washing of water with the holy scriptures, so that we may know you, so that we may think your thoughts along with you so that we may think like Christians, and live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for this blessing and gather as your people. Holy Spirit, we love you, we welcome you. Today, speak to us, minister to us, compel us, move us, appeal to us, to make us a glorious people who reflect your glory and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We're continuing our sermon series through Romans today when Romans 12:1-2. We've spent significant amount of time in Romans, nine through 11 in particular because we believe that Romans nine through 11 sets the context, the foundation for the practical living of life. Growing up, I did not hear many sermons on Romans one through 11. I've heard a lot of sermons on Romans 12 through 15 because Romans 12 through 15 is very easy to preach. It's just I'm telling you what to do. And with Christians, we love those kinds of sermons. "Just tell me what to do. Tell me how to live my life." And St. Paul says, "No, no, no. You do not have the power, the motivation to live the life that God has called you unless you understand His great mercy." So Paul spends 11 chapters elucidating the mercy of God so that we can then be propelled, motivated to live in light of that mercy. First doctrine, then practice. First theology, then ethics. First belief, then behavior. Paul wants us to know what God has done for us before He tells us what we are to do for God. And the title of this sermon today is one word, it's the word therefore. It's here in verse one, and the connection between, it is the hinge between the two sections of Romans one through 11, 12 through 15. It's a post positive in the Greek language, which means it's one of those small words that is never in the front of the sentence, but here in thought it is the primary word connecting the Romans one through 11 with 12. He's saying because of everything that I have explained, because of the fact that we with our debased mind have been rejected by God because we didn't thank Him, but thanks me to God that when we were still at enemies of God, that He's sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for us. So in light of this great salvation, because of the grace and mercy, God has lavished on you, because of the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ to secure our eternal life because of His sacrifice. In view of all that, this is how we ought to live. So God doesn't just give us truth in doctrine for its own sake. He doesn't want us just to be full of knowledge, and do nothing with it. No, He gives us this truth to produce a response. What should that response be? Well, it's very simple, love and gratitude to God that seeks to express itself out in obedience to Him, and service to His cause. This is what Jesus told His disciples in the upper room before He was betrayed by Judas. He said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." It's love for God that motivates us to be faithful to Him. And the reason why I explain all that is because it gives incredible freedom where you understand the proper perspective of our ethics. The Christian life is the daily working out of the righteousness that Jesus gave us. He who knew no sin, Jesus Christ, became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. By grace through faith, His righteousness is given to us, it's counted to us, imputed to us, and then we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. How do we do that? Well, Romans 12, one through two is the first step. Would you look at the text with me? Romans 12:1. "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant and fallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First, the motivation for transformation. Second, true spiritual worship is self-sacrifice. And third, be not conformed, be transformed. First, the motivation for transformation. Romans 12:1, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers or brethren, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God." Whenever you see in scripture the word therefore you got to ask, "What's it there for?" Because it's always there for a reason and we find this technique, he gives us theology, and then gives us the therefore, and He tells us this is how to live. He uses that same technique in most of his epistles. First, the theological section, and then the ethical section. For example, Ephesians the epistle in Ephesians is one of the most glorious theological treatises of our salvation. Chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, gets the chapter four, and he says, "I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called." He just spent half the book talking about that great calling and he says, "Now, live the in manner worthy of it." Colossians, he does something very similar. Colossians 3:1-4, first two chapters, just doctrine, one of the most glorious doctrines about Christ. He gets to chapter three and he says, "If then you've been raised with Christ." His assumption is you have been raised with Christ. Therefore, "If then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." So he places the Christian life in a relationship with complete dependence upon the grace of God, and redemption of Jesus Christ. We find the same thought in other places, express in other ways. For example, Philippians 1:27, "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ so that whether I come and see you or I am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." He says the whole sum of the Christian life should be lived in response to the fact that God saved me, He's forgiven me my sins. He's given me mercy, He's given me grace. Praise be to God. The apostle Peter does the same thing, exhorts Christians in the same exact way. 1 Peter 1-12, he explains our great salvation. And then verse 13 of chapter one, he continues and says, "Therefore, therefore preparing your minds for action, and being sober minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy." Once again, theology, doctrine, belief first, then practice, ethics, and behavior. One of my favorite Catechisms, the Catechisms are just a way of teaching the doctrines of Christianity to young believers is the Heidelberg Catechism. You can find online in PDF form for free since it was published in 1563. Well, the catechism is divided and set up like this. After two questions of introduction, we see that the next nine sections are entitled The Misery of Man. He just explains the fact that we're all sinners, we're all depraved, we are degenerates, we are dead in our sins and trespasses, we need grace. The next section has 72 questions and it's entitled The Redemption of Man. And here we see teaching of God's salvation, and how He communicates His grace to His people. The last 43 questions, those concerning the Christian life, and how it is to be lived. You know what that section is called? It's just called Thankfulness. This is a God thank you. God thank you for saving me. And, of course, it makes sense that you call me to live righteous life because of your great grace on me. In other words, the Christian life is the grateful, and the loving response of those who have received the salvation of God. Once again, the order is really important. First, the indicative. This is what God has done, then the imperative, this is what we are to do for God. And this is important because especially in a place like Boston, it's a hard place to be a Christian. It's temptation everywhere. Most of the people you know probably aren't believers. Most of the people that we spend time with, their worldview is not shaped by scripture, not shaped by grace, not shaped by mercy. And when your own zeal, your own enthusiasm, excitement for God, when it begins to wane, where do you get the power to remain faithful? And I submit to you, you will never worship God with a zealous, sincere, passionate heart, seeking to obey Him and everything unless you understand just how indebted you are to Him. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. And in this, this is really important, Christianity stands alone, utterly unique. And I'm not saying that other religions, and other people don't teach similar things that we teach. We do believe that people should be honest, and kind, and faithful, and humble, et cetera. Lots of non-Christians believe all of this. Lots of ethical instruction in other religions is very similar that of Christian. There's a lot of overlap to that of Christianity, which shouldn't come as a surprise at all. Why? Because God has written His law upon our hearts even as unbelievers. But the Bible places the ethical teaching in a particular context, in particular order. And if you switch that order around, you don't have Christianity, you just have a works-based religion, and that's how most religions work, it's all works-based salvation. Order is crucial to understanding salvation. For example, when you read the Old Testament and you read about the sacrificial rituals in the tabernacle, and the temple, there's an order given, and that order conveys meaning. In Leviticus, it tells us that an animal was to be brought as a sacrifice to take away guilt of sin because when you sin, the penalty for sin is death. It's always been like that. And in the Old Testament, before the sacrificial animal was killed, the person, the worshiper would lay his hands on the animal's head as a sign that there is a transfer of guilt from the person to the animal. And then the animal is slaughtered with blood gushing out, and then the animal is torched, and then the incense goes to heaven. But it's always laying of hands on the animal, and then second is killing of the animal. And this is immensely important, and it does ultimately show, and point to the sacrifice of the Son of God. The punishment for the sacrificial worshiper sins is born by the animal. The animal pays the penalty for the person's sin, it's identified as a substitute by the laying of hands. Now, if the animal were killed before the hands are laid, well, we would have a completely different religion, one in which we appease and placate God by our presence as if we do this thing for God, and then He gives us grace. As if we do this thing to God and He gives us mercy. As if this is how we earn our relationship with God. Well, that's what pagans thought. Pagans thought, "Well, the god's out there, we need to appease them somehow, and we're going to give them a sacrifice." They had no understanding of the substitutionary part that the animal is dying on behalf of my sin. God dying in our place, bearing the punishment for our sins, that's the heart of the gospel. Same two acts, only different order, and it changes everything. Take another example about the importance of order. If a man sleeps with a woman and then later marries her, well, according to the Bible, that's the order of death. If however, the man marries the woman and then sleeps with her, that's the order of life. And the world will look at that and say, "What makes the difference? There's no difference." Well, it makes all the difference in the world from God's perspective. The order in which things are done makes a huge difference. Sex outside of the place God made it, becomes an act of rebellion. And as we've seen in life outside's proper place, sex corrupts, and destroys rather than joining two hearts and two lives. But placed in proper order after marriage, sex becomes life-giving and love-completing, the act that God made it to be. The order's important. If you preach Romans 12 through 15 apart from Romans one through 11, you get a workspace salvation. You can't cut the Christian off from the source, and the source is Jesus Christ, the source is grace. So Christian, do you keep the commandments? Do you obey God? Do you seek to obey God, and please Him in order to be saved, or because you're saved? And it makes all the difference in the world. It makes a difference in any relationship. Is it a grace-based relationship or is it works-based relationship? You can parent with a works-based understanding like an iron fist. "Child, if you don't obey me, there are consequences." Or you'll appeal to the child and you say, "Because I love you, because I have loved you all of your life, because I fund your whole operation, your lodging, and I pay for you to live in Boston, Massachusetts, and I feed you, and I love you, I love you so go clean your room. Not because I'm going to stop loving you. No, no, no, I love you and I want my love to motivate you to do the things that are best for you." That's what God wants for us. God's grace always comes first. Christ's sacrifice always comes first. The Holy Spirit's renewing ministry comes first. And only then can men and women, boys and girls live a truly good life, the life that God calls us to live. Empowered by what? By God's love. He first loved us, that's the one reason, one reason only that we serve Him. Our power to live a truly good life, our motive to do so no matter the sacrifice required, and our pleasure in doing it where you serve God not begrudgingly, but because you want to. Where do you get that? You get that from the gospels. Theology first, salvation first, then the Christian life, then obedience, then purity, then love, and then service. Why is this true? Because if you have truly understood the gospel that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, what does that mean? Well, just imagine yourself in Golgotha, Calvary, Jesus Christ that's just been carrying His cross in the Via Dolorosa He's going all the way to Golgotha, and then He's scourged, He's bleeding, He's got the crown of thorns, they put Him down on the cross, and they start nailing His hands and His feet to the cross, excruciating pain. And at that moment, He is the Lamb of God sent to take away the sin of the world. And at that moment, you approach the cross of Christ, and you put your hands on His head. And what happens? Like by faith, your guilt is transferred to Him. He is dying in our place. If it wasn't for Him, you would be dead for all of eternity separated from God in a place called hell. When you understand that Jesus did that for you, He's dying instead of me, substitutionary atonement, well, that changes you. It can't not change you. Once you know what God has done, what Christ suffered for you, what the Holy Spirit has done in you, love, gratitude and honor compel you to live in a way that pleases God. And what's that way? Well, God says this is how you live in a manner worthy of Him. This is how you live in a manner worthy of the gospel. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. So this is point two, true spiritual worship is self-sacrifice. Look at verse one. "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers." Now, this is the apostle Paul. He could have as an apostle said, "I'm an apostle. Just do what I said." That's not what He does because he understands that begrudging obedience does not honor God. Now he says, "I appeal to you. I appeal to your heart." By what does he appeal to them? By the mercies of God, he's been explaining the mercies of God for 11 chapters. By these great mercies, I appeal to you, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. The operating verb here is present your bodies, present your bodies as a sacrifice, as if you're putting your body on the altar before God and say, "God, my body is yours. All of me is yours." Paul has used the same language in Romans 6:12-14. He says, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for unrighteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." So in chapter six, Paul in general says, "Do not present your body to sin, present your body to Christ. Live like the children of God should live. And here Paul begins to explain in chapter 12 what that looks like. What does it mean to present your body to Christ? He gives us the thought here. And then he explains it later. But what he's saying is same thing Christ taught. Jesus Christ on the Sermon of the Mount, He said, "Look, I haven't come to abolish the law I've come to fulfill it." And then he gives us the ethics, the law of Christ, if you will. Paul uses the same phrase to talk about the Christian life in Galatians 6:2, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Or 1 Corinthians 9:21, "To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law." Present your body as he's saying, He's saying not just. Not only your bodies, he's saying your whole self. Present all of yourself to God as a living sacrifice. We will never be completely worthy of God, of course, but we are to strive to live in a manner worthy of God. Present your body as a living sacrifice. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't hit us, that language doesn't hit us as it did the original audience 2000 years ago. They understood what it meant to sacrifice, sacrifice an animal. 1st century people were familiar with the offering of sacrifices, perhaps we're not. And they stood by their altar. They watched their animal that they identified as their own. It was slain in the ritual manner, blood gushing out, the whole animal burned on the altar. And he's saying that striking imagery should somehow characterize our walk with the Lord sacrifice. And it's noteworthy. Paul uses the word body here. He doesn't just use sarx, which is flesh uses soma, which is the physical body. Other places, 1 Corinthians 6, he says that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are to take care of our bodies in order to live righteously in the physical world. This is important because some Christians find it very easy to love God with their mind, or love God with their heart, and bifurcate living and loving God in the physical body. And this, of course, this teaching flies in the face of what Paul is saying here. No, it's not gnostic, dualistic schemes. No. God wants you to worship Him with your soul, and with your body. It's an embodied spirituality. What we do with our bodies matters. 1 Corinthians 6:20, "For you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body." Other places he says, "Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it to the glory of God. As a living sacrifice he says. It's true that animals sacrifices were living when they were brought to the temple, but then they died. They were offered as a dead sacrifice. Now, Paul says, you are to be a living sacrifice. Your whole life, all of your life energy is to be lived out for God. This motivation is very different than what perhaps they teach in the Russian Orthodox Church or the Greek Orthodox Church or the Catholic Church. The motivation to live righteously is not just fear of punishment, and it's not just the reward that we get in heaven. And I agree with both of those. I believe in Hebrews 12, Hebrews 12 says that, "God, the good Father does discipline His loving children when they go wayward." He chastises us. So that should be a category that I don't want to disobey God because He will chastise me. And on the other hand, I want to be motivated by the rewards in heaven. I want as many rewards in heaven as possible. That's literally why I became a pastor and a church planter. I want the biggest mansion in heaven. I believe every single time I preach a sermon here, my spiritual Venmo is going cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching. I am just racking up spiritual points. But even that can't be the ultimate motivation for why we obey God. Why? Because both of those if they're put in the primary part of our heart that motivates us, they become self-centered. Because I don't want punishment, I want to protect self, that's why I obey God. If that's the primary motivation, then you don't understand grace. And the same thing with rewards. If that's the primary motivation, then you're trying to earn something from God. No, he says the ultimate motivation has to be thanksgiving, that we are so thankful to God because Christ has sacrificed Him. I am going to be a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God. Friend, do you live for God? Do you live for God? If I looked at your calendar this week, if I looked at the way you spend your time, this the way you spend your best energy, the way you spend your finances, what you think about when you don't have to think about anything, about your affection, could a case be made that you live for God, that you love God? What can I do in my life today that shows I'm presenting myself as a sacrifice that is living for God? The Christian cannot live primarily for self. The Christian is defined by the fact that he or she lives for God, and that's what it means to be holy, a holy sacrifice, holy set apart for God. And he says that this is your spiritual worship. And it sums up the whole point of the verse that our lives are to be worshiped and serviced to God at all times in every way. The phrase spiritual worship, and if you are in the ESV there's a footnote, and at the bottom it says rational service. So is it spiritual worship or is it rational service? Well, what's fascinating is it could be both. And it is both because the word for spiritual here is [foreign language 00:26:08] in the Greek, logical, reasonable, rational. And the word for worship is the same word as for service. So spiritual worship is reasonable service. What do I mean? It's really important to understand that to be a Christian does not mean you turn your mind off because that's what a lot of people think that intellectuals are not Christians. And if you're a Christian, then you're not an intellectual. Or you have to turn off your brain in order to believe, but that's not how scripture talks about true faith. No, no, no. We don't need to turn our brains off. We need our minds renewed. And then when our minds are renewed, we begin to understand the world from God's perspective. We begin to understand that everything in God's Word is incredibly reasonable. And only things in God's Word make sense of God's world. So what are we calling you to? We're calling you to a reasonable life of service to God. The first step to becoming a Christian is to repent. If you're not a believer, you're not sure what it means to be a Christian, the first step to becoming Christians to repent. What is repentance? It's a change of mind. A change of mind about what? About the most important truths in the universe. Repentance is an acknowledgement that you have not been living a reasonable life. It's not reasonable to believe that everything came from nothing. It's not reasonable to believe that God doesn't care how you live. It's not reasonable to believe that God will not judge you for your sins. It's not reasonable to believe that the Bible is not God's Word in particular when you've never read it. And I met so many people that say, "No, no, no, I'm not a Christian. I don't need God's Word and I don't need the Bible." My question is, "Have you ever read it? Have you ever read it? You're very educated, you're very intellectual, you're very smart. Have you ever read the most influential book in the history of the universe, the book that has impacted humanity for the good and for the positive more than any other book?" Christianity is the most reasonable faith because it makes the most sense of reality. It makes the most sense of us. If you're honest, you know how wicked you are inside, you know how much of a sinner you are. We live in a world of sinners all around us, and we live in a world of brokenness, and pain, and injustice, and suffering. And the only thing that really makes sense of the whole world around us is the fact that God created everything. We rebelled against Him, bringing in evil, and sin into the world, and we need a salvation that comes from outside of us, and that's Jesus Christ, the incarnation. He breaks in and He lives that perfect life, goes to the cross for my sin. And in light of the fact that the Son of God died in my place for my sins. What's the most reasonable and spiritual thing I could do? Is to present my body today as a living sacrifice to God. And He continues the thought. This is point three. Do not be conformed but be transformed. Verse two, do not be conformed to what? "To this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern, what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." So offering ourselves as a living sacrifice stands in direct opposition to being conformed to the pattern of this world, to follow the human race into sin darkens our minds. And that darkening of the mind, it happens to everybody, and it takes God breaking in to transform us from that corruption. The pattern of the world he says is this age is an evil age, so we need a renewing of the mind, and this is a synonym for regeneration. The tense of the word of the verb renew your mind indicates that the renewal has to happen continually. It's a process of learning to think about the world from the perspective of God revealed in His word, seeing the world through the eyes of God. Do you look at the world through the eyes of holy scripture? It's like the lenses that you put on, and you see everything through it. And the scripture talks about the fact that Jesus is the Word of God and that scripture is the Word of God. And in Ephesians 5, it tells us, "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her." And later on it says, "With the washing of water with the word, He cleanses His bride." So this is why we love scripture at Mosaic, this is why our sermons are chock-full of scripture. This is why in community groups we focus on holy scripture because we need Jesus, and His blood to cleanse us from our guilt, but then we also need God's Word to cleanse us from the gunk of the world. And I'll give you an illustration, and you've been waiting for this I know, the illustration about my Suburban. So I recently purchased a Suburban family vehicle. My wife and I, we have four daughters, and as they're growing, we want them. We love family trips. So I bought a Suburban, but I bought a Suburban like immigrants do. My family are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. And for the longest time, I just wondered, "Why do immigrants, why do they all drive awesome vehicles?" Well, I'll tell you why. They buy their vehicles salvaged in an auction. Do you know how this works? So my friend sent me a link, he's like, "You like this Suburban?" I was like, "Yeah, it's great." All I saw was one picture, it looked nice, tremendous. And then he's like, "All right, you got a bid on it." And I was like, "What's wrong with it?" He said, "We'll find out when you win the bid." So you have no idea. And then I'm like, "You know what? I live by faith, not by sight. Let's do it. Let's do a Lord Jesus, please help me." I got the Suburban, I take it to the mechanic, and he looks at it and he's like, "This thing's been flooded." Oh no. I was like, "Where did it get flooded?" He said, "In New Jersey." And for some reason that just made it worse. I don't know. And so he was fixing it up, He fixed the seats. He had taken out the seats because the computer in the seats broken, and he fixed that bunch of stuff and he's like, "The vehicle's ready, come pick it up." So I go and pick it up, I drive it back home, and something's wrong with the transmission, and then I turn on the AC and it's kind of not working and kind of working. And then I turn on the music and one of the speakers goes off. So I go home, I take it a mechanic here when stuff is really just started ... Oh, I got the key and I bring it home. My wife's like, "Oh, tremendous. I got a wonderful key chain for you." I was like, "Oh, wonderful." She gives me the key with the key chain and it's a lemon. Like, "No, no, what did you do? You just jinxed the whole vehicle." She's like, "But we're not superstitious." I was like, "I'm a little stitious." No, no, no, no. So I got this lemon of a vehicle, a lemon on my key chain. So I take it to the mechanic, the mechanic's working on it and then he's like, "I think I fixed it, and I got it and the stuff's still break, the stuff's still break." And I finally take it, I was like, "Dude, keep it for as long as you need, just fix everything please." And then he calls me back, he's like, "You got to come." He dug deep into the engine, takes out the computer. The computer is what decides everything. This is like if the computer's not working, nothing's working. He takes out the computer and it's all covered in gunk, just New Jersey whatever, I don't know, just covered in gunk. He's like, "Do you see this is your vehicle? The computer doesn't work, obviously nothing else is going to work, you need a renewing of the computer mind." Yeah, he didn't say that, I said that. So he cleans out the whole thing. He's got before and after pictures and he gives me the vehicle. He's like, "I hope I won't see you for 48 hours. And praise be to God, I haven't been back since because my Suburban through the renewing of the computer, it was transformed. And he's like, "That's what we need to do.: I'm telling you, live in Boston and you don't even notice how the computer of your mind just get gunked up. And then after a while, Christianity doesn't seem as plausible. Your faith doesn't seem as strong. Your desire to follow the Lord wanes. And after a while you realize, "Ah, I have conformed to the world, the world that does not submit to the Lord." So he says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" and part of that is the washing of water with the word. So dear Saint, Are you committed to holy scripture, to love scripture, read scripture, meditate on scripture? Yes, there is an intellectual part of Christianity. The intellectual part must lead to the devotional part, but the devotional part doesn't exist apart from the intellectual part. He says, "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Learn to think as a Christian, learn to think God's thoughts after Him. Practically, how are we to do this? He says, "Do not be conformed, but be transformed." It's an imperative, but it's a passive imperative. It's just like an Ephesians where Paul says, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit," and you say, "How do I do that?" You can't do it yourself, it's passive, it has to be done to you. But there is a part that you have to do, there's an imperative. And what our part is, you have to place yourself in a position where the streams of God's grace can bless you. You place yourself in a position where you study God's Word, and as you study God's Word and you meditate upon God's Word, there is a transformation that happens by the renewal of your mind. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul says, "We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." So we study God's Word in order to meet with the Word of God, and that's Jesus Christ. And as we do, we behold His glory and His glory is what transforms us. We must teach ourselves to think like Christians. Parents, we must teach our children to think like Christians. We can't outsource the spiritual formation of your child or the intellectual formation of your child to the school system, or to the government. We have to do this at home to teach our children to view the world as God tells us to view it. And here I also want to mention the following. We need to be careful to define worldliness biblically. Do not be conformed to this world. A lot of fundamentalists coming in right here into this verse, and they tell us exactly where you shouldn't be conforming to the world. And most of the time it's always outward, like confirmation of the world it has to do with alcohol, or smoking, or dancing, et cetera, et cetera. No, that's not what he's talking about at all. What he's talking about is the world, the evil age. They don't want to submit to God or even if they think of God, they think that it's works that saves us, or that good people go to heaven, and bad people go to hell. And we add man-made rules to keep us from sin and religious ceremony, external righteousness, et cetera, et cetera. Paul says, "Hold on, you don't get to define what worlds is, only God does. And anything outside of God's Word is just man-made." So we need to be careful there. So he exhorts us to renew our minds by learning God's will as it is revealed in God's Word. In conclusion, if you are not a Christian today, if you have not received the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I wonder what you're counting on. I wonder what you're hoping and what you're trusting in that when you die, and you will stand before the throne of God, and God will say, "Why should I let you in?" I wonder what your answer is. I wonder what your fallback plan is." Well, I was a good person, or I did a few good things. I went to church every once in a while." If your answer begins with I, then that's works-based salvation, and that's not going to save you. No, the only answer that we can give is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins as a substitute for my sins. So if you're not a Christian today, we appeal to you, we appeal to do the most reasonable, rational things to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. And if you do today, and you'd like to talk about the next steps in your walk with the Lord, I'll be up here right after the service, and I'd love to chat with you. For the Christian, are there areas of your life that you have been reluctant to put on the altar before God? And saying, "God, I know you're calling me to sacrifice this part of my life for you, and I just can't do it. I just can't do it." Today, I pray that you accept the grace of God and do it, sacrifice completely all of your life to the Lord. Where do you get the motivation to do that? From God's grace. There are many reasons to do the right thing, but nothing in human life can begin to compel a man or a woman to do the right thing from the heart. Religion can force you to do the right thing outwardly, but it's only the gospel that can transform your mind, and your heart, and the affections of your heart so that your actions are actually motivated by the great love of God. Where do you get the power to resist the most powerful of temptations? Where do you get the power to sacrifice time and the energy to live as you know the Lord would have you live? Where do you get the energy to love people selflessly from the heart? Where do you get the power to be humble before others to forgive and ask for forgiveness? Where do you get the power to set your mind on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth? Well, you get it from God's love, and all of that is given to us in one word therefore. God has loved you. He's poured out His mercy on you. He's you grace. Therefore, I appeal to you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this word, and we thank you for our time in it. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you take this word and you apply it to our hearts, that you transform, renew our minds, and that you transform us to be a glorious people, men and women reflecting the glory of our God. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS of Abraham, Joshua, David, and Jesus. Literally. That's the short version of this week's program. Our 2019 tour of Israel took us from Joshua's altar, site of the recent discovery of an ancient curse tablet written in archaic Hebrew at a time when the Israelites weren't supposed to be in the land of Canaan, to the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount. Messianic Rabbi Zev Porat showed us the historic locations of the crucifixion and burial tomb of Jesus on the Mount of Olives, and he explained why “Golgotha” on the Mount of Olives doesn't just mean “place of a skull”—it's where David buried Goliath's skull! And you can see those places with us next spring! For details on our Israel Tour March 19-30, 2023, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel. Our new dates for our tour of Turkey: Due to the political situation in Eastern Europe, we've moved our tour back to October of 2023. Exact dates will be finalized by January. For more information, visit www.gilberthouse.org/travel. Please subscribe and share our new YouTube channel: www.YouTube.com/scifridaytv!

Classic Thrash, as well as some timely Doom here on this weeks show, with some old school and new school rock and metal from Triskelyon, Sodom, Golgotha (pictured), Lybica, Flamebearer and more. Triskelyon – Balance of Terror 0:00 Sodom – After The Deluge 6:22 Golgotha – Our Trust Betrayed 11:22 The Effigy – The Game … Continue reading "DC1100 Balance Taken"

Matthew 27–28 Matthew 27–28 (Listen) Jesus Delivered to Pilate 27 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. Judas Hangs Himself 3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus1 was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.” Jesus Before Pilate 11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. The Crowd Chooses Barabbas 15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified 24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood;2 see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged3 Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Jesus Is Mocked 27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters,4 and they gathered the whole battalion5 before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. The Crucifixion 32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. The Death of Jesus 45 Now from the sixth hour6 there was darkness over all the land7 until the ninth hour.8 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son9 of God!” 55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Jesus Is Buried 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The Guard at the Tomb 62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.' 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard10 of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. The Resurrection 28 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he11 lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” The Report of the Guard 11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. The Great Commission 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in12 the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Footnotes [1] 27:3 Greek he [2] 27:24 Some manuscripts this righteous blood, or this righteous man's blood [3] 27:26 A Roman judicial penalty, consisting of a severe beating with a multi-lashed whip containing embedded pieces of bone and metal [4] 27:27 Greek the praetorium [5] 27:27 Greek cohort; a tenth of a Roman legion, usually about 600 men [6] 27:45 That is, noon [7] 27:45 Or earth [8] 27:45 That is, 3 p.m. [9] 27:54 Or a son [10] 27:65 Or Take a guard [11] 28:6 Some manuscripts the Lord [12] 28:19 Or into (ESV)

Matthew 27–28 Matthew 27–28 (Listen) Jesus Delivered to Pilate 27 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor. Judas Hangs Himself 3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus1 was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.” Jesus Before Pilate 11 Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You have said so.” 12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” 14 But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed. The Crowd Chooses Barabbas 15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. 19 Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.” 20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” 22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” 23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified 24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood;2 see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged3 Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Jesus Is Mocked 27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters,4 and they gathered the whole battalion5 before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. The Crucifixion 32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. The Death of Jesus 45 Now from the sixth hour6 there was darkness over all the land7 until the ninth hour.8 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son9 of God!” 55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Jesus Is Buried 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The Guard at the Tomb 62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.' 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard10 of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. The Resurrection 28 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he11 lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” The Report of the Guard 11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. The Great Commission 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in12 the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Footnotes [1] 27:3 Greek he [2] 27:24 Some manuscripts this righteous blood, or this righteous man's blood [3] 27:26 A Roman judicial penalty, consisting of a severe beating with a multi-lashed whip containing embedded pieces of bone and metal [4] 27:27 Greek the praetorium [5] 27:27 Greek cohort; a tenth of a Roman legion, usually about 600 men [6] 27:45 That is, noon [7] 27:45 Or earth [8] 27:45 That is, 3 p.m. [9] 27:54 Or a son [10] 27:65 Or Take a guard [11] 28:6 Some manuscripts the Lord [12] 28:19 Or into (ESV)

Adventure The Long Walk: AfterChrist by Joseph N. PadillaHave you found Christ yet? After you read my novel you will see how many things one young man went through with so many tribulations unknown to him; but those years of agonizing have passed; and now it is up to you to follow the path after Christ. Your path has been open without limits; this story shows you the way. Your path is no farther than the New Testament of the bible; for Jesus has cleared the way for you. This venture will take you there and as you read the word; know this; you also have gone, "AFTERCHRIST."Joseph N. Padilla was born in the small coal-mining town of Madrid, New Mexico where he lived till the age of 10. In 1941 he and his family relocated to Richmond, California. After graduating high school he fell in love with and married his late wife Alta of 52 years. After serving in the army overseas during the Korean War, he returned to his wife to start a family with three wonderful children. Joseph had many jobs till working and retiring as a mechanic of 25 years for the bay area rapid transit system. Joseph enjoys many artistic hobbies including oil painting, playing steel guitar and storytelling. With all his blessings and inspiration from the Lord, Joseph hopes you enjoy "Afterchrist."https://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Long-Walk-Joseph-Padilla/dp/B0B5KVD7T6https://proislepublishing.com/http://www.bluefunkbroadcasting.com/root/twia/101322padilla.mp3  THE NAIL by Joseph PadillaHello, my name is Joseph N. Padilla. Author of the novel, "Adventure the Long Walk, Afterchrist", now comes "The Nail." The Nail is my effort to recreate some of the mystery and awe that must have surrounded those souls fortunate enough to have encountered the massage of our savior either during his lifetime or soon after. As the story begins, Joshua Saul is about as low in the social scale as anyone can be. A beggar at the gate called Beautiful in Jerusalem of 48 A.D. He is penniless, homeless, illiterate and, for all practical purposes, without faith. Yet, in the story's final scene, Saul stands preaching to an arena filled with scoffers of God, and in an act of divine inspiration, calls on the Holy Spirit to act so clearly that all within sight are made to believe in the power of Jesus Christ - All through the symbolic power of a simple nine-inch nail. Joshua Saul's life begins it's ascent toward spiritual fulfillment on Golgotha - literally. While resting against an old crucifixion log after burying his mother, he finds embedded in the ground an old nail. Strangely soothed by the. nail, he tucks it away in his girdle. Little does he know the profound changes this simple act will bring. Soon enough miracles of rebirth, healing, and spiritual redemption sprout around Saul. With an open heart and a willing soul, this simple young man is transformed into a vessel for the message of salvation brought to earth by Jesus Christ, and so doing fulfills his destiny. A tail of spiritual growth, adventure, and romance. The Nail opens a new window on the story of Christ and the transformation of his holy presence enacted on even the physical objects that he's come in tough with.https://www.amazon.com/Nail-Joseph-N-Padilla-ebook/dp/B0BF9YX6X5/ref=sr_1_2?qid=1665605139&refinements=p_27%3AJoseph+N+Padilla&s=books&sr=1-2&text=Joseph+N+Padillahttps://proislepublishing.com/ 

Question Timestamps: Laura-Lee, YouTube (2:26) - Why did Jesus have Simon the Cyrene carry his cross to Golgotha? Carl, UT (6:42) - How are Christ and The Father one? Are they two separate people or the same person? Bryan, MA (12:36) - Are Bible codes in the first five books of the Bible real? Pablo, NY (18:47) - If God is against abortion, why did he kill so many babies during the flood? Does the same situation apply for the rapture? Anonymous, email (25:44, continued after the break at 33:41) - I attend a Christian school, I don't read my Bible or go to church, will I still be saved? Joshua, FL (40:33) - Is it a requirement for ministers to go to seminary? Pete, NJ (47:03) - What day of the week is the Sabbath?  Maxim, FL (54:50) - Who was Jesus referring to when tells his disciples to “let no man deceive you?”   Questions? 88-712-7434 Questions@bbtlive.org

Bible verse for today's show: 1 John 1:9“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Read the poem "Kiss the Son" on my blog, shirahchante.com.Love healing hearts,Shirah ChanteRelationship Artist

We all experience trials and hardships in our life, but how do we best use these trials to learn and to trust God? Pastor Heath uses the passage in Matthew 26:36-46 to show Jesus' anticipation of His trials and how to trust God in them.

Khatungmani Khorang

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him on the face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no case against him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the police saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him; I find no case against him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has claimed to be the Son of God.”Here Pilate's cruel streak comes out. Odd as this sounds, the scourging (v.1ff) appears to be a fresh strategy to set Jesus free (see v.12).Note: Jesus' crown (vv.2-3) may well have been made from the thorns of the date palm. These were up to 12 inches long. The radiate crown would have made Jesus look like a sun-god. This feature is common to Greco-Roman coinage.The Romans had three degrees of corporal punishment:Fustigatio (beating) -- the lightest punishment.Flagellatio (flogging) -- more severe.Verberatio (scourging) -- the most severe, often leading to death. This was the punishment Christ endured.The crown of thorns is painfully placed on his head, and a purple robe draped over him -- a mockery of his kingship (v.2).Further, he is slapped in the face.Jesus suffers grievous bodily injury. For a medical account of what Jesus was going through, click here. (Note: this account is easy to read, and eliminates embellishments like the "bloody sweat."Again Pilate pronounces Jesus innocent (v.4), uttering the famous words, "Behold the man!"This translates to Ecce homo, in the once popular Latin Vulgate translation.Moreover, "Behold the man" indicated Jesus' humanity. As Beasley-Murray and others have commented, the word has truly become flesh -- torn, bleeding, beaten -- with worse to come.Knowing that it is illegal for the Jews to crucify Christ, Pilate seems to rub it in (v.6): "Take him yourselves and crucify him!"Note: With the crown on his head and the words the governor uttered, is the situation allusive of Zechariah 6:1-12?8 Now when Pilate heard this, he was more afraid than ever. 9 He entered his headquarters again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Pilate therefore said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of the emperor. Everyone who claims to be a king sets himself against the emperor.”The words "Son of God" (v.7) seem to resonate with Pilate, and frighten him (v.8).Pilate takes Jesus back into the Praetorium (probably the Fortress Antonia). Pilate resumes his interrogation of Jesus, who does not reply.Pilate reminds Jesus who is in charge (v.10-11), and yet Jesus counters that there is a higher authority.Who is the one guilty of "greater sin"? Caiaphas, the high priest, seems the most likely candidate.From here on, Pilate even more earnestly desires to free Jesus (v.12).13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” 16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.The Jews push back.Since Jesus pretends to be the King of Israel, he is a political threat to Rome.If Pilate frees Jesus, he is not a "friend of Caesar."This is a technical term. To be a "friend of Caesar" -- an accolade Pilate may already have received -- is an honor.The emperor, Tiberius (14-37 AD) had become suspicious. One did not want to lose his trust.To lose the status of "Friend of Caesar" could be not only shameful, but dangerous. The Jews are threatening the governor.Here is supreme irony! The highest Roman official in the land is accused of lack of loyalty to Rome by a people who detest Rome, and can't wait to be free of its control (v.12).Pilate sits on his judgment seat (v.13) at Gabbatha, or Lithostrotos. For a picture, click here.Pilate's attitude is not quite the same as in verses 4-6. There is no hint of ridicule. The Jews would have been awaiting the pronouncement of the sentence against Jesus. Instead...Pilate, pronounces, "Behold, your king!" He knows this will gall the priests.And yet it seems Jesus is the one sitting in the judgment seat, while Pilate is in the hot seat!It is the sixth hour -- very early in the morning.In a few hours the slaughter of the Passover lambs will begin.The Jews will stop working.All leaven (yeast) will be taken out of the houses and burned.Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29,36). For the Passover background, read Exodus 12.The response, "We have no king but Caesar" (v.15) is an implicit abandonment of the messianic hope.Once again, the irony is biting."[The threat] broke down Pilate's resistance. His fear of the sinister and suspicious emperor was even greater than his awe of the mysterious personality of the Accused; his own safety appeared to him more important than a passing triumph over the accusers who were unsympathetic to him" (Blinzler, Der Prozess Jesus, 338).And so Pilate finally turns Jesus over to be crucified (v.16).From verse 16 onward, many elements of the synoptic tradition are absent: the mocking; the darkness; the cry of dereliction (Mark 15:34); the tearing of the temple curtain; the opening of the graves (Matthew 27:52); and the centurion's confession.At the same time, John includes details not in Matthew, Mark, or Luke: the inscription; the quotations in 19:24,28-29,36-37; the address to his mother; and the piercing of Jesus' side.So they took Jesus; 17 and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Jesus carries his own cross and is crucified at Golgotha, the Place of the Skull (v.17).Plutarch records, "Each criminal as part of his punishment carries his cross on his back" (The Divine Vengeance, 554 A-B).There is also a pertinent Jewish saying: "As one bears the cross on one's shoulders," Isaac carried the wood (Gen. Rab. 56.4, on Genesis 22:6). The symbolism of the sacrifice of Isaac is in the background."There they crucified him" (v.18).The 2nd century Gnostic Basilides said Simon died on cross instead of Jesus (Nag Hammadi documents).This idea (the substitute) seems to have influenced Muhammad.The inscription above states his crime, though the wording is remarkable (v.19). What brevity! No macabre or sombre obsession with the gory details of the passion. The paucity of detail is striking.He is crucified between two criminals. See Isaiah 53:12.20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,' but, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.'” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” The Jewish leaders ask Pilate to change the placard so that it read "... I am Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews."Pilate refuses. "What I have written, I have written," responds Pilate (v.22).The inscription could have easily been altered (v.21) by adding a single word: eimí  (Greek), sum (Latin), or 'aní (Hebrew).This is his last act of revenge on the chief priests.The inscription in Latin would have read Iesous Nazarenos Rex Iudaeorum, which in Anglican/ Catholic churches is often abbreviated to INRI.And yet this is supreme irony: the two men most responsible for the death of Jesus publicly proclaim his Messiahship!Caiaphas unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was the means of redemption for Israel and the nation (11:49-50).Pilate proclaimed that Jesus was the King of Israel.Thought questions:Have I ever sacrificed principle for expedience? Is there a little of Pilate in me?Was there another way? Why do I think Jesus had to die -- as opposed to God simply forgiving every sincere person?The Christian God became flesh. How is this different from the capricious gods of Hinduism, the aloof Allah of the Muslims, or the serenely detached Buddha?Am I still moved by the Crucifixion?Reading over Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, can I find the verses that would have been especially meaningful to the early disciples?

No walk matches the pathos and power of that footpath from Pilate's kangaroo court to Golgotha. The Via Delarosa—the way of the cross—is the ultimate walk of love. This is the love we are to imitate: dying to self to live for God, and in doing so, knowing the fullness of joy in Christ. - Dr. Michael A. MiltonSUBSCRIBE to our sister podcasts:Your Daily Prayer: https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-prayer/Your Daily Bible Verse: https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-bible-verse/

Old Testament: Ecclesiastes 4–6 Ecclesiastes 4–6 (Listen) Evil Under the Sun 4 Again I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun. 4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity1 and a striving after wind. 5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. 6 Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. 7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business. 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. 13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. 14 For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that2 youth who was to stand in the king's3 place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind. 4 Fear God 5 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 5 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. 4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Let not your mouth lead you6 into sin, and do not say before the messenger7 that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity;8 but9 God is the one you must fear. The Vanity of Wealth and Honor 8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.10 10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. 13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger. 18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment11 in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart. 6 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;12 it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy13 no good—do not all go to the one place? 7 All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.14 8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. 10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain15 life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? Footnotes [1] 4:4 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 7, 8, 16 (see note on 1:2) [2] 4:15 Hebrew the second [3] 4:15 Hebrew his [4] 4:16 Ch 4:17 in Hebrew [5] 5:2 Ch 5:1 in Hebrew [6] 5:6 Hebrew your flesh [7] 5:6 Or angel [8] 5:7 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verse 10 (see note on 1:2) [9] 5:7 Or For when dreams and vanities increase, words also grow many; but [10] 5:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain [11] 5:18 Or and see good [12] 6:2 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 4, 9, 11 (see note on 1:2) [13] 6:6 Or see [14] 6:7 Hebrew filled [15] 6:12 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2) (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 77 Psalm 77 (Listen) In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. 77   I cry aloud to God,    aloud to God, and he will hear me.2   In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;    my soul refuses to be comforted.3   When I remember God, I moan;    when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah 4   You hold my eyelids open;    I am so troubled that I cannot speak.5   I consider the days of old,    the years long ago.6   I said,1 “Let me remember my song in the night;    let me meditate in my heart.”    Then my spirit made a diligent search:7   “Will the Lord spurn forever,    and never again be favorable?8   Has his steadfast love forever ceased?    Are his promises at an end for all time?9   Has God forgotten to be gracious?    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah 10   Then I said, “I will appeal to this,    to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”2 11   I will remember the deeds of the LORD;    yes, I will remember your wonders of old.12   I will ponder all your work,    and meditate on your mighty deeds.13   Your way, O God, is holy.    What god is great like our God?14   You are the God who works wonders;    you have made known your might among the peoples.15   You with your arm redeemed your people,    the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah 16   When the waters saw you, O God,    when the waters saw you, they were afraid;    indeed, the deep trembled.17   The clouds poured out water;    the skies gave forth thunder;    your arrows flashed on every side.18   The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;    your lightnings lighted up the world;    the earth trembled and shook.19   Your way was through the sea,    your path through the great waters;    yet your footprints were unseen.320   You led your people like a flock    by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Footnotes [1] 77:6 Hebrew lacks I said [2] 77:10 Or This is my grief: that the right hand of the Most High has changed [3] 77:19 Hebrew unknown (ESV) New Testament: John 19 John 19 (Listen) Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified 19 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews1 answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” 12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic2 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.3 He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. The Crucifixion So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,' but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.'” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.4 But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,   “They divided my garments among them,    and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. The Death of Jesus 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Jesus' Side Is Pierced 31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. 36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” Jesus Is Buried 38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus5 by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds6 in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there. Footnotes [1] 19:7 Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 12, 14, 31, 38 [2] 19:13 Or Hebrew; also verses 17, 20 [3] 19:14 That is, about noon [4] 19:23 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [5] 19:39 Greek him [6] 19:39 Greek one hundred litras; a litra (or Roman pound) was equal to about 11 1/2 ounces or 327 grams (ESV)

One of the most visited sites in the old city of Jerusalem is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is where Christians venerate the place where Jesus was crucified and where he was buried in a tomb. Pilgrims that visit Jerusalem will follow the 'way of the cross' or in Latin the 'Via Dolorosa', the way of his suffering. On the route there are 14 stations where the pilgrims stop to remember something that happened to Jesus on his way to the Golgotha (in Aramaic) or the Calvary (in Latin). This translates as the place of the Skull. The location, on the cliff overlooking a stone quarry, where Jesus was nailed to the cross. The last 5 stations of the Via Dolorosa are inside the church.In this episode you can learn more about the crucifixion and why emperor Constantine and his mother Helena decided to build the first Church commemorating this event on this exact location.In the following episode I will take you into the Church for a guided audio tour.To connect to Stories from Palestine podcast on social media or to sign up for the weekly newsletter click : https://linktr.ee/StoriesfrompalestineIf you enjoy listening to Stories from Palestine then you should also check out the podcast Jerusalem Unplugged. You can find it on most podcast players and on social media.

Sermon Notes Genesis 15:4-6 NIV "Then the word of the Lord came to him: 'This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.' He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:12 NIV "As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him." Genesis 15:17 NIV "When the sun had set, and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces." Genesis 15:18a NIV "On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants, I give this land...'" Genesis 17:4-6 NIV "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you." Genesis 22:1-5 NIV "Some time later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' 'Here I am,' he replied. Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.' Early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, 'Stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you.'" Genesis 22:9-13 NIV "When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, 'Abraham! Abraham!' 'Here I am,' he replied. 'Do not lay a hand on the boy,' he said. 'Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.' Abraham looked up, and there in a thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son." Genesis 22:15-18 NIV "The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, 'I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.'" Hebrews 11:17-19 NIV "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death." Are you ALL IN? "The Old Testament is like a fully furnished room that is very poorly lit..." - St. Augustine 1. Both Isaac and Jesus are long-awaited "beloved sons" who are born in miraculous circumstances. Matthew 3:17 NIV "And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.'" 2. Both sons carry the wood that is to be the instrument of death on their backs. John 19:17 NIV "Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha)." 3. In both stories, the father leads the son up a mountain, and the son follows obediently toward his own death. Matthew 26:39 NIV "Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'" 4. In both stories, God provides the sacrificial substitute. John 1:29 NIV "The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" "What is faith? Simply put, it's trusting in the work of another." - The Gospel-Centered Parent

"Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the Cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and cover with oblivion the place where the saving Passion had been suffered. The venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and three crosses. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of our Lord, the other two of the thieves crucified with Him; but Saint Helen was at a loss which one might be the Wood of our salvation. At the inspiration of Saint Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, a lady of Jerusalem, who was already at the point of death from a certain disease, was brought to touch the crosses, and as soon as she came near to the Cross of our Lord, she was made perfectly whole. Consequently, the precious Cross was lifed on high by Archbishop Macarius of Jerusalem; as he stood on the ambo, and when the people beheld it, they cried out, "Lord, have mercy." It should be noted that after its discovery, a portion of the venerable Cross was taken to Constantinople as a blessing. The rest was left in Jerusalem in the magnificent church built by Saint Helen, until the year 614. At that time, the Persians plundered Palestine and took the Cross to their own country (See Jan. 22, Saint Anastasius the Persian). Later, in the year 628, Emperor Heraclius set out on a military campaign, retrieved the Cross, and after bringing it to Constantinople, himself escorted it back to Jerusalem, where he restored it to its place." (Great Horologion) A fast is kept today, whatever the day of the week.

In the previous episodes of the Breaking the Chains series on the epistles to the Galatians. Pastor Harris makes a rather revolutionary claim.  He suggested that the Abrahamic covenant, the great agreement described in Genesis 15, is really the New Testament covenant. In other words, he believed that the Abrahamic Covenant was an initiation of the new covenant.  This covenant was established on a dark starry night sometime around 1750 BC. But that covenant was not fully finalized until 30AD on a lonely hill outside of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha. When a young man named Jesus of Nazarath whispered the words, “It is finished.” and everything that began with Abraham was fully accomplished.  The problem had been this: from the initiation of God's covenant with Abraham until Christ breathed his last breath, people had to look forward to a savior who was yet to come. However when Christ died, he became the ultimate sacrifice for sin and now we, that are under the new covenant, can look back to a completed work.Pastor Harris knew that this concept would be shocking to some people but he felt he had based everything that he has taught us so far on solid scriptural evidence. He has shown us in God's word that Christ was personally present when Abraham's covenant was initiated in Genesis 15. He has shown us how the father and son interacted in the midst of five sacrificial animals. He has also shown us how a comatose Abraham could contribute nothing to this.Galatians 3:17-25 proves the accuracy of what Pastor Harris has been sharing.  The apostle demonstrates to us how God and his son had initiated the Abrahamic covenant some 430 years prior to the giving of the law to Moses on Mt. Sinea. Granted the text of Galatians does not specifically say that God and his son established that covenant, but I would ask this… what covenant could it have been that God established 430 years prior to the exodus if it was not the Abrahamic covenant?Here is our text, the Apostle Paul will state specifically that no other covenant, not even the Law of Moses replaced or superseded the covenant of Abraham.  This is where Pastor Harris will begin his teaching in this episode.

Mark 15:1-41   Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders, scribes, and the entire Council immediately held a consultation; and they bound Jesus and led Him away, and turned Him over to Pilate.2 Pilate questioned Him: “So You are the King of the Jews?” And He answered him, “It is as you say.” 3 And the chief priests startedaccusing Him of many things. 4 But Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You offer nothing in answer? See how many charges they are bringing against You!” 5 But Jesus said nothing further in answer, so Pilate was amazed. 6 Now at the Passover Feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. 7 And the one named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the revolt. 8 And the crowd went up and began asking Pilate to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. 9 Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”10 For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. 12 And responding again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” 13 They shouted back, “Crucify Him!” 14 But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!” 15 Intent on satisfying the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus flogged, he handed Him over to be crucified. 16 Now the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they *called together the whole Roman cohort.17 And they *dressed Him in purple, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; 18 and they began saluting Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they repeatedly beat His head with a reed and spit on Him, and kneeling, they bowed down before Him.20 And after they had mocked Him, they took the purple cloak off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they *led Him out to crucify Him. 21 And they *compelled a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to carry His cross. 22 Then they *brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 And they tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. 24 And they *crucified Him, and *divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man would take. 25 Now it was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 27 And they *crucified two rebels with Him, one on His right and one on His left. 29 Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save Yourself by coming down from the cross!” 31 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself! 32 Let thisChrist, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. 33 When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabaktanei?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 35 And when some of the bystanders heard Him, they began saying, “Look! He is calling for Elijah!” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.” 37 But Jesus let out a loud cry, and died.38 And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.39 And when the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw that He died in this way, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” 40 Now there were also some women watching from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome. 41 When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and serve Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.   GIVE -  The Listener's Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give      STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up   FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com     MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net  

The bust went bust. (part 13)- A Spring Break 13-part Novel. By FinalStand. The player above contains the intro section. Listen to the complete episode by clicking here, at Steamy Stories. “Let me go,” Doctor Bass said with some alarm as she rocked her hips down on me.“Give me five kisses and I'll let you up,” I challenged her. She scowled fiercely and made one more terrific effort. It was interesting that she would rather put up with personal degradation rather than public Humiliation. Finally, she stopped moving and gazed down on me fiercely.“Get it over with,” she ground out. I had no doubt I was looking absolutely predatory at her at that moment.“First off, lips with tongue,” I directed quietly. She was clearly resistant but I figured all she had to do was say no and call for help. I moved one hand to the back of her head and pulled her down into face-to-face contact.I kissed her; she didn't open her mouth but I kept steady, gentle pressure until my tongue made contact and tagged playfully with her tongue. She tried to recoil yet failed to pull away successfully. For over a minute I wore her down until there was a tiny flicker of lust burning behind her fury and anger.“Neck,” I instructed her on what I wanted to kiss next.“You disgust me,” she snapped viciously. I cupped her ass and pulled her a little further up until I could pick my spot. I nuzzled her first, rubbing my nose, lips, and chin along the front and side of her throat.This time it took no urging for her to keep contact as I sucked and nibbled on her flesh until I'd drawn forth a blush of blood on her skin.“Left nipple,” I whispered to Doctor Basss.“What? No, it isn't happening,” she snarled. She wiggled against me and tried to push off my body but I held her tight.“Should I cry for help?” I taunted her. For a second I thought she'd bite me, she was so pissed. She ground her teeth and arched her back, then started to work loose her blouse buttons with one hand. Her bra turned out to be deep blue with satin on the bottom half and the upper cut made of flimsy lace. Melrose held her shirt open, maybe hoping I'd kiss her through the bra.I reached up with one hand and worked her breast out of the cup and rolled the hardening nipple between the knuckles of my fore and ring finger until it was screaming for attention. She had her head raised, looking forward, with her breath coming in stronger gulps.“Lower,” I suggested, not ordered, and Melrose slowly lowered her tit to my lips.Her breast was somewhat soft with a thickness to it that felt good to the lips. I sucked in a good deal of the tit but can't take the whole D-cup inside. I rolled from tongue-tip to the thickest part of the thing so that my taste buds could run roughly over her aroused areola. Melrose began pressing down on me and groaned like a slut when I teased her tit with my teeth.“Oh, God,” she moaned. Her hips began rotating against my cock. “You are a total bastard,” she whispered as she tried to feed more of her breast to me. I eventually pulled away but gave her red, engorged nipple one last flick of the tongue, which earned me another gasp. While she was distracted I rolled us over so that I was now on top.“What?” she hissed once more. “Get off of me.”“You owe me two more kisses,” I reminded her.“Gurr,” she snarled. “Get on with it. What is next?”“Your ass; I want to kiss your ass,” I informed her with a smile. Basss's nostrils flared.“How are we going to do this?” she seethed through clenched teeth in response.“Roll over onto your stomach,” I ordered her. She did it with alacrity. I slid down her body, using my knees to force the Chancellor's legs apart as I did so. I knew I was taking a chance by getting off of her but I risked it to grab the hem of her skirt and pull it up and up until it was bunched around her waist.Now I had her torso on the bed with her hips and legs dangling off the side so that she was on the tips of her high-heel shoes keeping balance. Her panties were a full design but silky blue as well. Her black garter was also visible with her straps keeping her black sheer hose up around her strong, thick thighs. Her ass, though, was a thing of mature teacher-young student fantasy.Her butt was big but not too large with an expansiveness that made for one hell of a cushion.“Fuck, Doctor Mel,” I muttered, “you clearly take care of yourself.”“Just get this over with,” she bit back. I spanked her right ass cheek in response, then the left, and began alternating back and forth several times. Dr. Basss bit down on my blanket to stop from crying out.Instead of ripping her panties off, I elected for a slow, deliberate strip down.“What are you doing?” she moaned from the bed. “I didn't agree to this,” referring to her imminent loss of clothing. I waited for her to do something besides look over her shoulder and glare at me. I winked back, she gasped in outrage, and I finish pulling her underwear down.“I'm going to get you for this, Zane,” she promised hatefully. ‘Not before I get you,' I thought. I knelt down between her spread legs, resting my hands on the small of her back. They roamed down to her hips, to her upper thighs and around, then over her butt cheeks. I'd argue that Mrs. Wellington has a better posterior, but only in a matter of incremental appreciation.I spread her cheeks apart, picked a spot just over her anus, and gave her a kiss, letting my face roam right and left, not up and down. I finished but remained squatted down behind her, waiting. Melrose looked rearward once more.“Well?”“On the lips,” I smiled. She started to rise up but I put a hand on the small of her back, holding her down on her stomach. “The other lips,” I teased her. There was no response this time, just a baleful acceptance of the situation. Of course, there was no situation for her to resolve by this time; she could easily shrug me off and leave sans panties, but she appeared more than willing to accept me and my actions; horny evil bitch.Positioning myself behind her ass, I kneeled down and propped her hips up so I could get my mouth to her pussy. Melrose simmered with outrage right up until my lips sucked on the folds of her labia and my tongue parted them. Her response was to thrust back with her hips and press her face harder into the bed to stifle her guttural responses.In the first few seconds, beyond being incredibly wet, I got no bodily reaction to the intrusion of my tongue upon her sex. When I snaked my hand between her legs and began massaging her upper pussy lips and clit, she gave off a grunt of arousal. I couldn't help but grin; I had her. I redoubled my efforts and soon the Chancellor was panting into the sheets.I marked her reactions until my tongue felt the first tremors quake through the walls of her cunt.“All done,” I informed her. I leaned back on my heels so I could observe her response. She kept fighting for breath for several seconds before looking back at me.“I won't beg,” she growled.“I don't expect you to,” I remarked. “In fact, I believe you are going to take your panties back and walk out of here. After all, you clearly do the fucking instead of getting fucked. It must be an awfully empty feeling by now.”“I hate you,” she seethed. I stuck two fingers into her cunt and wiggled them around until her love juice rolled down my fingers and her vaginal walls started gripping me tightly.“I can see that you do, Melrose,” I lied. “I tell you what, I am going to put two fingers back in you unless you say ‘Stop'. How does that sound?”“Don't you dare,” she said bitterly. I placed my hand on her fleshy buttocks and gradually migrated it down to her thigh. Doctor Basss hated me with her eyes but not with her physical instincts.I used all four fingers this time. My first and pinky peeled back her pussy lips and rubbed them roughly. My middle finger went to her clit and my ring finger probed her depths.“Ugh,” the Chancellor responded. She was pressing her ass back, grinding her cunt against my hand. To steady my movements, I rested my thumb on her ass crack, which only incited her further.Positioning myself beside her, I reached under and began massaging her breast. My hand picked up its rhythm, making a wet, meaty slapping sound which was driving Melrose crazy with lust. When I kissed her shoulder, she moaned wantonly. My lips worked up her neck, jaw, and ear until she tilted her head so that we could kiss.“That's right,” I whispered to her, “Give it up. I know you want to.” She tried to articulate some sort of vicious reply but my kiss on her lips stole that away. I doubled my speed on her pussy while twisting and yanking her nipple.“Oh, God!” she growled violently into the bedspread. “Ugh, ugh, ugh, yes,” she finally exhaled excitedly.As she struggled to focus her senses, I freed up one of her hands clenching the sheets and wrapped her grip around my cock. She was stroking my penis in a warm, steady way without really thinking about it. When the enormity of what she was doing dawned on her, Doctor Basss rolled her head over and confirmed what she was holding.She kept staring but couldn't decide what direction she would take, punish me or succumb to her lusts. I began stroking her kitty once more, making a moist, sloppy noise but clearly arousing her as well. I lowered my body beside her.“Where do you want it?” I asked softly.Mel appeared to be unable to understand the question so I prodded her.“Do you want to taste it on your lips and tongue? Do you want me to put it in your cunt to see if you can take it? Maybe you want me to pump it into your ass because you miss the heat going up inside you,” I added. I wasn't sure about the anal sex thing but I felt like taking the risk.The look the Chancellor gave me was filled with hate alright, but it was awash in a desperate sexual hunger too.“You goddamn bastard,” she huffed through clenched teeth. My response was to switch finger slamming her, instead rolling her rather large clit between my forefinger and thumb gently.“Gak,” she choked out.“You can get on top and ride me,” I promised her softly. “You an even tie my hands up with the sash of my robe.”“On your back, damn you,” Melrose snarled ferociously. As I fell back, she ripped my bathrobe sash off so fast it yanked me off the bed.My butt had no sooner hit the bed again when Basss pulled my robe open and straddled me. She pulled my arms together and bound my wrists with frightening proficiency.“Not your first time at the rodeo?” I joked. She slapped me across the face; not so hard to break my skin but enough to make me have to rework my jaw to get it set again.“Shut up, Braxton,” she gloated over me, “I'm going to treat you like the piece of trash that you are. You are going to regret ever thinking you belonged here.” Mel rose up on her knees, maneuvered her hand onto my cock, and aimed it at her pussy lips.“Oh,” she gasped as her sex blossomed and let my cockhead in. She slowly began shifting down my cock with ecstatic pleasure written all over her face.“It feels pretty good,” I started to say. I was going to finish with 'doesn't it?' but she cut me off.“Shut up!” she seethed. “You exist solely for my pleasure. I don't need to hear your juvenile stumbling at sexual banter.” This wasn't the time to start a fight; that would come later. Doctor Bass kept wiggling her ass down my shaft.She was so lost in her own fulfillment that she almost forgot about me. I grunted when she planted herself down particularly hard as she was Humping me. Melrose looked down at me. With one hand she struck snake-like at my throat, squeezing my windpipe shut.“You are just a child,” she taunted me wickedly, but then her whole tone changed to a creepy, appreciative voice, “a pretty, pretty child.”Okay, I want a psychopath. I want a selfish bitch with no issues beyond insensitivity. I do not want a woman in her forties telling me I'm “a pretty, pretty child.” That's just wrong, and that's coming from a guy who screws just about anything that moves.“Is this how you screw those sluts?” she moaned. “Is this how you pack Heaven's tight little ass? Does she scream for you?” Wait; did she call Heaven a 'she'? That's progress!I choked out a non-response. I was getting enough air to breath but not enough vocal freedom to talk, and I had a feeling this was on purpose.“You don't need to answer that,” she chuckled eerily. “I've heard reports of their sad little cries as they squirted all over you. You love it when you break their wills to you and this, oh, God, big cock, don't you?”The Chancellor leaned forward, her bra-covered breasts dangling tantalizingly close to my mouth, and rolled her hips so that her clit rubbed against my cock.“You hammer them, hammer them, and hammer them some more until their tight little bodies can't even crawl out of your bed. And you wanted to hammer me with this huge cock of yours; you wanted to make me sweat, make me cry out your name, you wanted to wreck me,” she sneered.I reached up with my bound hands and lifted her grip off my throat.“Actually, I'm done. I want you out of my room,” I growled back. Melrose's breast heaved and she glared down at me, angry but uncertain.“I was hoping there would be something intriguing about you but seriously, you are just, mediocre. Hell, Heaven is more of a woman than you are and that's kind of pathetic.I wasn't denigrating Heaven, who I cared about, but was using Doctor Basss's prejudice against the bitch.“How dare you?” she muttered. She hadn't stopped Humping me yet.“Get some plastic, a broom handle, I don't care, but get the hell off of me, you evil witch,” I insisted. As a counterpoint to that, I began to thrust my penis deeper into her womb.“Ugh, ugh, no,” she gasped. “You don't, tell me what, to do.” Mel had now positioned her clit so that it received maximum impact with my pelvic bone. I flipped us over; even with her resistance, I was too strong for her. I pushed my bound hands down on her sternum, the fear of sexual frustration written large over her face and burning forth from her eyes.“I want Heaven back,” I demanded.“Never,” she growled. I began to withdraw my cock from her cunt. She whimpered and tried to hold me to her body by grabbing my shoulders in each hand.“Get off me,” I insisted. “Get off of me. If you want some piece of meat between your thighs, go to an over-forties bar and pick up some Momma's Boy who will pop in less than fifteen seconds, then grovel at your feet for an hour like a worm."It would be better than an immature punk like you,” she struggled to insult me and my performance. I took three long strokes inside her, flexing my cock when it was at its deepest, thumping her G-spot each time. I could see tears of pleasure in her eyes. I tried to pull out the fourth time but she hooked her legs behind me and held my shoulders tight.“No,” she persisted. “I am going to use you until I'm satisfied.”Instead of wrestling with her, I pulled her up so that my hands cupped her ass, her arms remained around my shoulders, letting her kiss me, and her thighs and calves were wrapped around my waist. I bounced her up and down quickly, quickening her passion as each drop onto the fullness of my rod brought her closer to orgasm.“What?” she gasped, “Where are we, ”“Outside, so that your security can see us,” I explained evilly.“No!” she squeaked.“Heaven,” I stated. She shook her head so I took two more steps to the cutback exit in the screens.“No, no,” she insisted then as I took the next step. “Fine,” she said in defeat, but hating me for it.“You can have her back for the short time she's still here,” she seethed. “The Board will support my decision and that will be it for her, and probably the rest of you too.”“Don't be bitter, Mel,” I teased. “You've been good to me so I'm going to be good to you. How do you want it?”She glared at me so I continued talking as I walked us back to the bed.“You want to be slammed from behind, don't you? It is hard to get those girls you break down to do a convincing job of it, yet you miss being treated like a slut,” I verbally prodded her. She'd gone over too fast to face down and ass sticking out for someone who didn't crave it.I gently lowered us down to the bed while keeping eye contact.“Take off your bra, then roll over on your hands and knees right here on the edge of the bed. She was torn; she had hold of me at the moment, but she really wanted to give me my grudge fuck. As she opened her shirt, I dove into her cleavage, kissing and licking.She purred hungrily even as she worked her shirt off and then her bra. While keeping up my torture of her breasts, I hooked her thighs with my hand and hiked up her legs until I had her splayed out, her knees pushed halfway to her breasts. I dove down to her muff and ravaged her clitoris and lips. Doctor Bass squealed with surprise and pleasure.Right as my vaginal attention got to be too much for her, I yanked her ass over the edge, bent her farther over, and returned to chewing on her nipples. If she was upset that I wasn't immediately fucking her, she was doing a good job of hiding it. The next time I dove on her pussy, I kept my fingers on her engorged nipples, teasing to the point pleasure and pain collided.I tore up her pussy with a total disregard to patience and sensitivity. The Chancellor squealed, squirmed, and thrust against me without inhibition until she growled loud enough to bring any guards, had they been close enough. She hit her second spasm when I rushed one hand down to her twat and began to jackhammer two fingers inside her cunt, unrelentingly driving her eruption from crest to crest.When her eyes rolled back in her head, I released her, but only to move to my next stage. I'd promised her a good hard fucking after all. I took Melrose's hips and repositioned her so that she was face down, her knees on the edge of the bed and her legs dangling over. I knelt between her thighs and began licking her from clit to anus.A few passes into it, I sucked several of my fingers on one hand until they were really slick while working her pussy over with my other hand. I think she was a bit surprised when I pressed my first finger against her anus. As her sphincter gave way, Doctor Bass finally spoke up."Don't you dare,” she moaned sensually.“Don't do this?” I teased her, as I sunk another half-inch into her rectum.“Oh, God, yes,” she groaned like a wanton whore. I wiggled in a little farther; Melrose gasped and shook her big ass in my face. I pulled the finger, she whimpered in need, and I went back to assaulting her cunt with my tongue and teeth.“Put it back,” she panted.“If I put it back, I'll have to use two fingers,” I informed her. Mel coughed in response. I obliged her quiet acquiescence by teasing her anus once more.“Ugh, bastard,” she grunted. It started out angry but transformed to sexual in mid-vocalization.I worked my two fingers in slowly, I didn't want her to scream and I'm basically not a sadist. I also ameliorated the pain by slipping my cock back into her pussy seconds later. I developed a slow rhythm, picking up the pace incrementally until she was really taken aback the moment I bottomed out in her womb, tickled her cervix, and twisted my two fingers 180 degrees in her anus.“Oh, God,” she moaned. I began fishing through a list of affections until I found the one that bit - 'Gorgeous'. That word bit into her psyche and I decided to use it.“Oh, fuck, Gorgeous, you are so damn sexy,” I whispered to her. Melrose coughed, then growled. I took the moment to lean on her back and cruelly grab a breast and begin to aggressively maul it.“Oh, God, yes!” she exulted heavily. “You are a filthy-minded, little, huge damn delinquent.”“And you finally got me to ream you good, didn't you?” I responded.“Play, play all you like,” she groaned, “but I know how to break you, now.”'Yes', I thought back, 'but I know you want something too.'About this time I was pretty sure there was no possible way I was getting away with this. I had fucking silk screen walls, for pity's sake. Chancellor Bass was equally sobbing and cursing into my sheets. One second she was encouraging me to pound her harder, I obliged, and the next second she was telling me how good it felt.I will give her this much; the old bird had a lot of sexual frustration to work out and I was her instrument. Having this game go on and on certainly wasn't going to work so I had to figure out what I could do that I wasn't already doing and what would turn her on. I didn't like my answer. I reached down and took Melrose by the back of her head and pushed her face deeper into the bed.First she moaned louder and then her body started to tremble as she thrust back harder. When the suffocation set in, she struggled to rise but I was too strong and pressing her down with too much force. The Chancellor reached back from her vulnerable position and tried to push me off and remove my hand holding her head down.She became more and more frantic, undoubtedly fuelled by her own sense of rage upon the world and mirroring my own hatred of her as my motivation. Her last explosion of air was a scream into the bed. A fear-fueled orgasm overwhelmed her with her whole body going rigid, then lurching about.Now that I'd gotten her off, I let go of her neck, going so far as to grabbing her shoulder and pull her up for a desperate breath. I withdrew my fingers from her ass and my cock from her flooded vagina. Melrose lay boneless on the bed, dazed and incoherent. I put my fists on either side of her shoulders and leaned over my tormentor and victim.“You damn near killed me, you bastard,” she moaned heatedly.“Was the orgasm worth it, knowing this might be the last thing you feel in this life?” I whispered to her. “Don't answer because your body told the story already. As much as you hate me, you loved putting everything on the line like that.”“Shut up,” she wheezed. “You know nothing, Child.”“I know you are lying face-first, mostly naked, on my bed, freshly fucked, covered in sweat, my cock resting on your open, inviting ass with your legs spread wide for me, Doctor Bass. I know I said that the next time we met I was going to fuck you like I owned you, and I think I've done that.”“I am, going to, break, all of your girl, friends,” Melrose ground out. “We will see who owns who when this is over, Mr. Braxton,” she gasped once she'd finally calmed down and she could take an unlabored breath. As I slowly got off of her, she gave out one last sigh.“Remember your promise, Chancellor,” I cautioned her.“I remember all kinds of things,” she snapped back. Doctor Bass resumed a standing position but was polite enough not to kick me when I helped her get her panties back on.“Let's not do this again,” I cautioned the Chancellor. “If we do, I'm going to have to tie you up and abuse all three of your holes all weekend long.”“The only 'next time' will be my last time using you,” she growled.“You didn't let me finish, Mel. Next time, after I've got you warmed up, I'm handing you over to Rio who, trust me, will be a lot less compassionate than I am. Like you, she's got some anger issues to work through,” I grinned.“Thank you for putting her back on my radar,” she sneered back sweetly.“I'm not too worried, Mel,” I replied. “You are a pretty smart woman. You know that with Rio, the pain and risk of permanent harm isn't just play. She'll be looking forward to making you beg for your life.”The expectant smile she shot my way chilled the soul. God, can't you give me some not-so-crazy women to deal with? For once, he gave me a reply by way of a sudden insight: try not to solve every problem with my dick and appreciate the sane women who do spend time with me. Doctor Bass moved past me so I gently stroked her ass.“Done?” she snarled while looking straight ahead. Her anger was betrayed by her hardening nipples.“Yes. And I apologize, Chancellor. I was only thinking about your arms bound behind your back while I pounded your cunt at the same time as Rio slammed you from behind,” I said softly.She rotated her gaze to me, lust and hate warring across her countenance.“Every time we are alone together, Melrose,” I breathed into the side of her face as I rubbed a hand down from her stomach to her crotch, “I am going to have to check out how wet you are.” Her hand flashed down and stopped my progress.“Or would you rather I check you from behind?” I added as I ran a hand down her rump.“Fuck you,” she sighed.“Is that an invitation?” I teased. This was killing me inside. “Just remember that next time, you are getting that dildo rammed up your ass.”“Damn you,” she seethed once more. “I have to go before security suspects something.” Like they didn't all know precisely what had been going on? How dumb did she think they were?Without another word she strode out of my bedroom into the main area. “What have you found?” she questioned the guards.Of course they had found nothing damning. They had to be suspicious of all the TVs and computer stations without internet hook-ups but no one mentioned a thing.“This was a colossal waste of time,” Melrose said in an exaggerated display. “Let's go.” Doctor Bass led the way down the stairs but stumbled on the first step.The last guard in line smirked at me.“Do you miss Dana much?” I inquired quietly.“And how,” she rolled her eyes. “Tonight was a total bust. Anyone with half a brain knew you expected a raid tonight and would have everything stashed somewhere else. All this overtime is good for my paycheck but I'd kill for a good night's sleep.”“Oh, you are preaching to the choir, Mam,” I chuckled, “preaching to the choir.”I went back to my room and lay down. Sleep did not come easy. I knew that the Science Club's cameras had recorded the events of the past half hour; I just had to figure out what to do with them, besides get Heaven back. Rolling off the bottom*If you make one person happy, you save the World. Make a million people happy and you become a politician*I had grabbed a shower around 2:00 so I wasn't really surprised that a dozen feet came running up my steps at 6:15. I was barely able to prop myself up in the bed when Rio came storming in.“What's up, dude?” she said as she plopped down. “Planning to forgo cleanliness?”“I showered earlier,” I told them. Valerie, Iona, Opal, Brandi and Barbie Lynn all came in and sat around me. Barbie Lynn was the first to clue in that something was off.“What's wrong, Honey?” she asked with concern.“My room was raided last night,” I answered. It wasn't the total truth but I wasn't sure how I felt about my actions with the Chancellor the night before, much less how my friends would take it.“Well, you are still here so they didn't find anything, so what is it?” Opal prodded.“Ladies, can I keep this plan to myself?” I requested.“Of course,” Iona responded. Sadly, she seemed to be the only one who appeared ready to let the situation lie.“Don't make us get all CSI on your ass,” Rio teased. “You know we'll eventually figure it out so you might as well tell us.” I studied her for a few seconds.“I ass-raped the Chancellor in order to get Heaven back,” I told her in a dead-even tone. It was an empty joy to see that most of them realized too late they really didn't want to know after all.“What did she say?” Barbie Lynn came to my rescue. “Are we getting Heaven back?”“She promised me, and I have reason to believe she'll actually honor it,” I replied.“Well, ” Rio finally kicked in, “How was she?”“Why do you think I took a shower earlier?” I pointed out. “I've never used sex that way and I pray it never happens again.”“Don't beat yourself up over this,” Brandi consoled me. “You did say that being young means you get to do stupid shit?” I don't recall using those exact words but still,“I think we can agree to not talk about this outside of this room,” Opal added.“So do you know of any Thai Sexual Cleansing ritual that will help you get over last night?” Brandi grinned mischievously. I chuckled.“We'd love to help,” Barbie Lynn chimed in.“Thank you, ladies,” I smiled, “but I think I need to get my head on straight before diving back into the pleasurable side of this school. I need to know if I did the right thing or not.”On that cheery note we all began to move toward the stairs and out into the world. In the stairwell Valerie cornered me, put a hand on my chest to impede my progress, and motioned to me that she had something to say.“From the discussion in the Chancellor's office Monday I get the feeling that Heaven is a girl-guy, shemale, what have you; right?” she started off. I nodded.“You clearly like girls but you are real close to Heaven; right?” Val continued.“Yes,” I replied.“So you risked something you love, namely, the pleasure you derive from sex, to save her; right?” she prodded.“Yes,” I sounded curious.“Then you did the right thing,” she concluded. “Zane, I'd kill for the people I love and I imagine you would too. What's death compared to a little rough sex with an evil controlling bitch to get her to release someone as close to you as Heaven appears to be?”“Thanks, Valerie,” I grinned. “My heart knows you are right but it is going to take my mind a while to accept that. I guess I'm over-thinking things.”“Happens to the best of us,” Valerie joked, then punched me in the arm. “Let's catch up with the others before Rio does something stupid, okay, does something more stupid than normal.”ReinstatementWe were halfway through breakfast when I noted a diminishing of noise from the south entrance of the hall. Being taller than the average female student, I was able to make out the cause of the disturbance. I catapulted out of my seat and raced for the lady at the door; I had the vague impression I wasn't alone.I rushed up within a few feet of Heaven, who had dropped her bags and looked at me with fear and expectation. I didn't want to overwhelm or embarrass her so I pulled up short to make sure the moment was special. I'm an idiot!! Rio slipped past me, grabbed Heaven's cheeks, and planted a deep kiss full of longing on MY GIRL's lips!!“Oh, Babycakes, I've missed you so much,” Rio panted passionately to Heaven.“Ah, thanks, Rio,” Heaven said, “but if you don't let go of me right now, I'm going to strangle you with your own intestines.” Heaven untangled herself from Rio, shot a look my way, then rushed into Christina's arms. Rio smirked at me.The rest of Christina's crew swarmed around Heaven and rejoiced at her return. I took a step back to give them some room. I did note Chancellor Bass glaring at me from the head table. I looked back to catch sight of Dana Gorman giving me a lopsided grin from the door Heaven had come through, a McDonald's bag in hand.I missed Heaven's arm slipping through her knot of friends and pulling me in. She pressed her body against me and looked up into my eyes.“I want you inside of me so bad,” she whispered. Why can't a woman look at me and say “I've missed gazing into your eyes” or something romantic like that?“How about we get Heaven squared away in our room before Assembly?” Christina suggested.“We'll get her bags,” Hope volunteered.“I'll come too,” I joined in, but Chastity quickly put a hand up.“No, you don't,” she smiled. “We'd like Heaven to actually get to Assembly.”“There is no Assembly today,” Iona pointed out.“Great, I can go straight to Zane's room,” Heaven beamed.“I don't think we'll mind the company,” Paige announced. I was suddenly left trying to figure out how she'd appeared next to me in this crowd, as well as how my arm ended up around her waist.“Holy Hell, Paige,” I hissed. “You are going to give me a heart attack if you keep that up.”“It isn't worth it unless you pay the price,” she teased me. What the hell did that mean, 'pay the price'? Heaven balled up her fists and I was sure blood was about to be spilled.“Paige, we need to figure out what you are wearing to the party this weekend,” Valerie intervened.“Party?” Paige sounded intrigued. Valerie edged Paige away and the situation defused.“Heaven, unpack,” I began. “Iona, round up the Coach and get her to our place.”“Barbie Lynn, could you and Alice watch over the door to make sure we aren't overwhelmed by non-freshmen?”Alice had been standing on the periphery and was clearly stunned that I was addressing her in this manner, but still rapidly nodded and looked to Barbie Lynn to gauge her perception of the request. Barbie Lynn gave her 'replacement' a smile and motioned Alice away from the group as well.“Alright, everyone,” Doctor Larson spoke up, “finish breakfast and then back to your rooms. We are still under twenty-four hours of restricted travel so I do not expect to see any of you again until lunch. Please get about your business. Lastly, I expect some of you will be called before the Board of Directors to give testimony or receive a verdict on your status here; make yourself ready and presentable.”“Mr. Braxton,” Doctor Topaz Larson fixed me with a deadly eye, “that will require you to remain fully clothed most of the time. Do you understand?”“Of course, Doctor Larson; I'll do my best,” I swore.“Sweet! That means I get to run around naked!” Rio exalted.“Ms. Talon, are you taking your anti-psychotic drugs?” Doctor Larson said deadpan.“Nope; I've been slipping them into the Chancellor's tea,” Rio grinned all crazy-like. “Do you think anyone has noticed?”“If you want to take credit for the past two weeks, by all means do so,” Topaz allowed.“I was looking for a cheap and sleazy way to be despised by everybody, ” she began, but I headed her off.“She'll stay in clothes and we'll make sure that all her pills are changed to suppositories. I know she won't miss any of those,” I taunted my friend.“That may be for the best,” Doctor Larson snorted disdainfully, but ruined it with a grin. She turned and strode back to the table. I wasn't sure which one of us the Chancellor hated more; Doctor Larson for keeping order or the rest of us for obeying.“Okay, I'm going to the bathroom. Heaven, can I hope to see you once you are squared away in your room?” I asked as I hugged her once more and headed away. I knew the questions would come soon enough.One aspect of a women's college that guys might not appreciate is that there are only stalls in girl's bathrooms, and since FFU has a grand total of two men's rooms on the entire campus (Administration and Athletics), I was always using a female facility. I was about to finish business, the standing-up kind, when my door rattled as someone tried to get in.“Excuse me?” I inquired.“Let me in,” hissed my visitor. Since I clearly knew the voice, I zipped up and unlatched the door. She pushed in and latched the door behind her before pushing me down and straddling my lap.“You did, ” Heaven kissed me “, something.” Kiss, kiss. “Christina says it had to be you who got me back.” She went back to kissing me.“You are my girlfriend, Heaven. I don't know what I wouldn't do for you, Babe,” I told her. She nestled into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.“You make me feel so alive, Zane,” Heaven related in a soft vulnerable tone.“Don't get all romantic on me,” I teased her between light kisses on her lips. “I've got a whole bottle of Viagra showing up at noon and I need someone to work all that sexual energy out on,  and, okay, I missed you.” She wiggled into a more snug fit in my lap.“Did you miss me more than Barbie Lynn, or Paige?” she teased.“They aren't you,” I countered. I ran my right hand between us, worked up her skirt, and began rubbing her package, which was clearly straining against the strap-down. Heaven began moaning, then slowly rolling her body against mine.“Come on,” she panted, “let's have a quickie.”“Can't happen,” I whispered. To prove my dedication to my statement, I ran my left hand around her hip, under her skirt, and to her covered butt. I pressed a finger between her butt cheeks until I pressed against her anus. Now I was massaging her front and back.“Oh, God, you bastard,” she sobbed while she rocked back and forth.“We really need to get going, though,” I sighed. “Bass will send someone after us soon enough.”“I, Gurr, I owe you, Zane,” Heaven groaned. “You stood by me. Damn, you fought Gorman by yourself for me and somehow you got me back. I know I can be a horrible person but you've always looked past that and saw who I could be.”“I could continue being a jack-ass and say that I looked past your horrible personality to that luscious ass but I think I'd rather remind you that I chose you to be my lover and no one else,” I smiled at Heaven.“Your lover, ” she murmured happily. “And you are my bitch,” she tacked on that bit from our sexual encounter in the Kappa Sigma closet hardly one week back. We still managed to stand up and get the door open before Ms. Marlowe came in quietly. She frowned at us while we grinned at her, cleaned our hands, and walked past her back to the Dining Hall.RESTRUCTURINGWe sat outside in the hall opposite the main Administrative conference room. There weren't a ton of us; the individual class presidents plus Heaven, Rio and myself. Christina and Rhaine shared the Senior Class spot.“Drink run,” I volunteered. “Who wants what?”“Zane, if they call for you and you're gone, it will be big trouble,” Christina pointed out.“If I stay here one more minute, I'll strip off my clothes, paint myself blue, and streak across campus,” I grinned piratically.“Sprite,” Heaven spoke up. A series of orders followed and I hurried off.Upon my return, I handed Rhaine (last in line) a Doctor Pepper, which caused her to give me an odd look.“I didn't ask for, ” she began muttering.“Nah, but I always see you drinking the stuff so I figured you could use one,” I told her.“Ah, thank you,” she responded with a cautious smile.“If it makes you horny then it was my idea too, Rhaine,” Rio leaned forward so Rhaine could see her and smiled.“Is she hormonal, dropped on the head as a child, or what?” Simone Brady asked the group of us. She was the Junior Class President and nominally a Rhaine supporter. She'd asked for and received a Sunkist.“Tie me up in your room and we'll find out,” Rio licked her lips at Simone.“Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?” Heaven quizzed Rio.“No; Simone looks like a slow learner and I don't want to scare her off on our first date,” Rio leered.“Now you know what I went through,” Rhaine explained to Simone, who sniffed in derision.“Hey, I don't know this crazy woman at all but even I can tell she's playing with you two,” Hannah Cartwright, Sophomore Class President, rolled her eyes.“How about we all try to remember we are all here to save our school?” Christina interrupted.The conversation had died down to nothing when Rio nudged me.“There's this old guy coming down the hallway and he looks like he knows you,” she whispered. I looked up and my heart nearly stopped. I'd fucked up even worse than I thought.“Uncle Josh,” I said weakly, as I stood and faced him.“Dude, I thought you said your family was dead,” Rio continued.“Technically, that would be true,” the old man rumbled, “and you would be Rio Talon. I'm Joshua Coppersmith, old family acquaintance and the Braxton family executor.”“The last time I saw you I was being placed on a plane to Thailand,” I stated somewhat bitterly.“It was part of your father's will, Zane. He was my boss and the son of a friend so I owed it to him to trust his judgment concerning his only child,” Uncle Josh explained.“I recall wanting to stay with you,” I reminded him. I recalled crying a river of tears, hoping to stay. I actually knew who Josh was, where Tim and Jill were virtual unknowns.“A normal life is not allowed for everyone,” Christina spoke up; “Past battles and all.” I hate being beaten with my own words.“That was one of your father's favorite sayings,” Uncle Josh said. “I am glad to see you living by it. Thank you, Ms. Buchanan.” She nodded politely.“Who is this old geezer again?” Rio interjected.“He was a close personal friend of my grandfather. They turned the company from a tired little mining concern to something a bit more. He mentored my father and they worked side-by-side when granddad died. Now he sort of runs thing until I inherit,” I outlined.“That is somewhat correct but not why I'm here. I could hardly miss the past week's activities here at Freedom Fellowship University. As the child of Victor and Jenna Braxton, I owed it to them both to let Zane sink or swim on his own. As the future head of the corporation I work for, I need to make sure he doesn't end up in prison,” Josh clarified.“Dude,” Rio scoffed, then came to my side, “your boy went to jail last week. Where were you then?”“Ms. Talon, I do not have spies watching his every move. By the time I became aware of the matter, it had been resolved,” my pseudo-Uncle responded.“I seriously suggest you get a 'minder' for Zane,” Hannah Cartwright weighed in. “He's a real nutjob.” That assessment would have angered me more had I not seen everyone nod in agreement. Instead, I went for the redirect.“You've been in contact with Aunt Jill?” As far as I knew, Jill despised every aspect of my Dad's life.“Zane, Jill has never handled more than two hundred dollars her entire life; of course I'm keeping an eye on her, and you,” Josh stared at me. “I carefully monitor both yours and her finances.”“Seriously?” Christina asked skeptically. “He bought a warehouse full of furniture and that didn't appear to you to be frivolous?”“Frivolous would be renting a private jet and a penthouse for a weekend in Las Vegas. Since Zane can't use eight sofas, I made the educated guess he was buying them to help out his dorm mates,” Josh countered.“It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. I'm Rhaine Ritchie, Senior Class President,” Rhaine jumped in. “I am curious as to your purpose here. Are you here to take Zane away or are you going to help him stay here?”“President Presumptive,” Heaven growled.“That's good to know,” Josh nodded, “and I'm here to represent the corporation's interests, in this case, avoiding embarrassment to the company's executive branch.”“If you want an embarrassment, you don't need to go any further than Heaven,” Rhaine insinuated.“She's my transgender girlfriend and we have rocking sex,” I blurted out to preempt Rhaine. Heaven's eyes flew open; Joshua looked totally nonplussed.“Did you buy her in a Manila slum?” Josh asked me dryly.“Ah, no?” I stammered.“Oh, that's alright, then,” Uncle Josh mused. “I mean, once I had to fly a fourteen-year-old Tanzanian princess back to her home and explain to her parents why she and Victor weren't really married.” He looked at Heaven, “Besides, she's clearly an adult and we could do far worse with photo opportunities.”“His father dated his share of actresses and models before he settled down and I have every reason to believe Zane will be just as much trouble before some woman steals his heart and reins him in,” Uncle Joshua related.“Too late,” Rio snickered, but I cut her off with a painful elbow to the ribs. “Ow!”“That would be me,” Christina stood and declared proudly. Josh looked her over.“Little lady, I hope you have patience, iron resolve, and the will to exert them both in equal measure,” he informed her.“I am not sure I want him yet,” Christina retorted.“Ah, then you are intelligent as well,” Josh smiled.“Please make sure that if you do marry, you don't murder him until you have a child. Otherwise, the inheritance will be a bear. I like Jill but she comes from a family of nitwits,” Josh continued.“That won't be a problem,” Rio grinned evilly. “Zane's adopted a daughter since coming to FFU.”“Iona is not my daughter,” I snarled at Rio, “but I could do worse than making her my heir.”Instead of being shocked, Josh rolled his shoulders. “I'll get the paperwork to you next week.”“Are you sure you want to do that to Ms. Beckett?” Christina asked me.“Who else would be saint enough to deal with Rio if I was gone?” I explained.“Just for that, you get to wear the ball-gag and restraints next time,” Rio warned me.“Mr. Coppersmith?” an attendant from the Board meeting asked when she poked her head out of the conference room. Her eyes flitted from me to my 'Uncle', locking on him. He nodded and followed her into the room.“Um, he looks like my first husband,” Rio mused.“I'm sure his wife, children, and grandchildren will take to that without protest,” I joked.“Fine; I'll settle for being his mistress,” Rio sulked.“Okay, I am missing something,” Rhaine spoke up. “What is going on, Zane? Now that you know Heaven is a guy, how can the two of you still be going out together? You are not gay.”“Rhaine, I already knew about Heaven before we actually had intercourse, though I admit to being attracted to her before then,” I responded.“But, he's a guy. What do you do?” Rhaine wondered out loud with a quizzical look on her face.“Rhaine,” Christina chimed in, “what kind of sex do you think Zane has been having with all the women he takes to bed? He's not taking their virginity, after all.”“Oh, that's sick!” Simone declared.“Simone, have you ever had anal sex?” Rio grumbled.“God, no, that's gross,” Simone said indignantly.“So what was it like when you walked the Dolorosa?” Rio queried. I was pretty stunned Rio even knew what the path that Jesus took to Golgotha was called.“What? I've never been to Israel,” Simone answered.“I bet you'd like to go and I'd bet you think you'd like it,” Rio grinned.“Yes, I would want to go, and I know it would be spiritual, but this has nothing to do with homosexuality being wrong,” Simone struck back.“Listen, you stuck up bitch,” Rio kept grinning, “Jesus was a pretty smart Son of God so we would assume if something was really important to him, he'd have brought it up before the Romans gakked him. Seriously, how long does it take to say 'homosexuality is wrong; no more butt-sex'?” Rio beamed vile unpleasantness at Simone.“You are an immoral soul,” Rhaine jumped in.“If that is how you want to describe someone who is honest, fearless, and who thinks for themselves, then I guess Rio and I are both immoral souls,” I defended my best buddy.“Count me in,” Christina raised her hand.“Me, too,” Hannah and Heaven joined in our little heresy.“Hannah, how can you go down the same way they are?” Rhaine complained. “Heaven is gay and Christina has lied for her since the beginning; Rio is a criminal; and Zane is, a boy.”“Listen, Rhaine, I don't claim to understand what is going on with Heaven and Zane but I figure if God is pissed, he'll let them know,” Hannah stated.“In the past two weeks, short of dodging you and your enforcers, I haven't known Rio to do anything wrong. She's served her time so we should forgive her and give her a chance. St Paul started out persecuting early Christians before he saw the light. What would have happened if Jesus hadn't given him a second chance?” Hannah sighed. “How could I do less?”“And Zane, face it, he's eye-candy, and I've got a list of ten different things I want to do with him when my time to have him for Handmaiden's Duty comes up,” she finished with a grin.“Just once I'd like to have a girl here tell me I'm smart, or funny, or that I have a nice personality,” I griped. “But No, it is always 'he's got a fifteen inch penis as thick as his forearm; he can screw for two hours straight; or that I have a prehensile tongue that can tickle the ovaries and bring a girl to multiple orgasms.”Simone and Hannah's eyes grew larger as my gross exaggerations persisted.“It's not fifteen inches long,” countered Rhaine decisively. Simone missed it.“How do you know how big it is?” Hannah clearly didn't.“I, ” Rhaine choked.“I was coming out of the shower when Rhaine, Joy Jefferson, and Mercy Chaplain intercepted me. My towel accidently fell off and she got a brief view,” I volunteered. Rhaine's look of surprise became one of veiled thanks.“Because it wasn't like Rhaine wanted that massive piece of meat rubbing between her legs until she cried out in ecstasy or anything like that,” Rio teased.“That's enough,” I cautioned Rio, and put an arm around her waist to pull her in. That calmed things down until we were all called into the meeting. Uncle Josh was sitting against the near wall. Against the North wall sat Ms. Lane and a dark-haired fortyish woman with reading glasses I didn't recognize. They both were taking notes.On the South Wall sat a different woman, early thirties with short black hair and what I could best describe as a casual lethality. Both new women looked over us newcomers but lingered on Christina, Heaven, and myself. Looking at the eight men on the Board of Directors was rather anticlimactic comparatively.“Ms. Ritchie and Buchanan, we have decided to uphold Chancellor Bass's decision to annul the last election of Senior Class President. The matter will be decided during Freshman elections in October. We find both of your behavior to date this semester to be deplorable and a sad example to your fellow seniors. Do you have any comments? Ms. Buchanan?”“Directors, what do we do if the Chancellor once again annuls the elections?” Christina asked.“You appeal the action to the new Vice-Chancellor, Doctor Victoria Scarlett,” the head of the board directed our attention to the woman sitting with Ms. Lane. As if my life wasn't hell already.“Oh, you would so do her,” Rio whispered to me with her insane grin.I was so busy praying that no one heard her that I missed Simone being read the riot act next. She'd be facing re-election in a few weeks too, a fact she was distinctly upset by. Hannah was given the same news but her reaction was to flick her hair over one shoulder and give a bored sigh.“What was that, Ms. Cartwright?” the Head Director grilled her.“Reverence, Purity, Integrity, this is what our school supposedly stands for,” Hannah faced the man down. “I can vote and fight for my country but you are treating us like children, Sir. The Chancellor was wrong and we fought back against her tyranny because that was the only choice our Christian moral code left us.”“It is hardly Christian to physically attack your fellow students, Ms. Cartwright,” he shot back.“I didn't tell any of my class to attack anyone but I admit that I punched two girls who I knew attacked other students,” she admitted. “I figured it was time for a little Old Testament 'Wrath of the Israelites' kind of thing.”“Your intransience is not encouraging,” a different man on the board stated.“I apologize, Sir. I was hoping my love of justice would not be misunderstood,” she sighed.“Hannah, I'm voting for you as my class president,” Rio leaned forward and addressed Hannah.“You can't, Rio; you are a freshman and I'm a sophomore,” Hannah grinned back at her. As far as I could tell, this was the most either had ever said to the other.“Obviously you've never heard of gerrymandering and ballot box stuffing,” Rio snickered.“This is neither the time to joke nor a subject to joke about, Ms. Talon,” the Chairman said crossly.“Sorry, Sir,” Rio beamed. “I wasn't trying to be frivolous; elections are a good thing. I'm all for seeing more of the girls here, to see them get excited and come together for their mutual enjoyment, I swear I do.”While that seemed to satisfy the Board, Hannah had to look down at her lap and Heaven developed a sudden coughing fit.“Um, um, Vickers, umm, you represent quite a quandary. We suspect you lied on your application to this school three years ago and you absolutely understood you would not have been admitted if you had been honest with us,” the Chairman of the Board declared.Heaven shivered so I took one of her hands while Christina took the other. Our motions were noted but I doubt the three of us cared.“Now, Vickers, we could deal with this matter if you would submit to a medical examination,” he continued.“Why?” Christina replied. “Is every other applicant to this school required to do the same?”“No other student has their gender called into question,” a third board member informed us.“She is not going to go along with this blatantly discriminatory policy,” Christina retorted.“If I may,” Doctor Scarlett raised her hand. After a moment the Chairman nodded. “Mr. Braxton, as a man and someone with a confessed familiarity with Heaven Vickers, would you assert that said person is a woman?”“She's more than woman enough for me,” I quickly answered.“Since it is clear that I have the lowest moral threshold in this room, it isn't going to make anyone think less of me if I attest that I've seen Heaven naked and she's got all the girlie parts I like,” Rio threw her soul into the struggle. Heaven virtually froze up at that declaration.“Are, are you saying that you've seen Um, Vickers naked?” the second director stuttered.“Dude,” Rio scoffed, “we have communal showers here. Seeing a girl naked is hardly a rare occurrence. Since you seem like a kindred kinky soul, I'll let you know that I've seen Heaven under the sheets and I can give that body my pseudo-lesbian seal of approval.”“Have you had homosexual relations?” the Chairman gasped.“With Heaven, definitely not,” Rio swore with an upraised hand. “As for anyone else, what does it matter?” she joked. “You already think I'm a whore.”“You should watch your language,” the third director warned Rio.I put my hand on her stomach to hold her back from saying something that would only make it worse for her.“To the bitter end,” she winked at me.“To the bitter end,” I smirked back. She was taking one for the team; drawing off the discussion about Heaven by shocking the Board. Unfortunately, I wasn't alone in seeing that.“Mr. Chairman,” Doctor Scarlett addressed the Head of the Board, “perhaps we could return to the agenda if you want to stay on schedule.”“Very well,” the man allowed. “Um, Vickers, this matter isn't over but since we do not have conclusive proof about your gender, your application will remain under review.”“Thank you,” Heaven replied softly.“Don't thank us,” the man spat. “Your deviancy will reveal itself soon enough. Evil can never hide from God's Truth.”“God is with us,” I glowered back. I wasn't winning any friends on the far side of the table.“Your time is coming, Mr. Braxton,” the Chairman retorted. “Ms. Talon, we find it miraculous that you haven't racked up more infractions in your short time here. Now, your parents and this board agreed, upon your admittance, that you would live with the strictest discipline and you've attempted every trick in the book to circumvent those intentions.”“They did this to me on purpose,” Rio moaned over the revelation of her parents' role in events. They'd given the Chancellor and Dana Gorman carte blanche in dealing with Rio.“Nothing has changed,” I whispered to Rio. She turned and looked at me with tear-brimmed eyes. She nodded once in understanding.“A special guardian will be assigned to see to your physical and spiritual security,” he continued.“Who?” Rio questioned quietly.“Administration will decide on who is most appropriate,” he responded snidely. “Now for Mr. Braxton.”“I would like to say how much we appreciate you ladies and gentlemen taking time out of your busy schedules to deal with matters here today,” I interrupted. I earned several glares for my effort.“Mr. Braxton, you are an unfortunate aberration that should never have been allowed to happen. All disruptions that have happened in the past few weeks can be laid at your feet,” he opened with.I raised my hand. The man opened his mouth to continue but seemed annoyed with my gesture.“Yes, Mr. Braxton?”“S