Podcasts about great i am

As we look to the burning bush and The Great I AM, we see that our confidence grows where our view of God grows. 

In DTWOL… Who Is My Neighbor?, this Godcast invites you to step onto the road Jesus describes in Luke 10 and confront the difference between merely existing and truly living. Moving beyond proximity, familiarity, and convenience. The episode reveals how neighbor is defined by compassion in motion and love that acts. Through Scripture and reflection, the Good Samaritan is shown not only as an example to imitate, but as a picture of Jesus Himself—the One who moved toward us when we were fallen, bore the full cost of our rescue, and promised to return. This episode calls disciples out of self-justification and into Spirit-led obedience, where interruptions become divine appointments and everyday roads become holy ground. I pray it blesses your time, and encourages you to imitate Jesus, amen? God's Word:  Key verses: Luke 10:25–37; James 1:22–24; Galatians 5:16; Matthew 22:34–40; Matthew 5:17; Ephesians 2:1; Romans 5:8. Colossians 1:13; Additional Scripture references are woven throughout the Godcast and can be gleaned from the full transcript. Amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

I occasionally get comments from people that the Gnosticism I’m sharing with you here at Gnostic Insights is different than the Gnosticism they’re accustomed to or the Gnosticism they see elsewhere on the internet. And that is very true, and that is why the Substack is called the Gnostic Reformation. This Gnosticism that I’m sharing with you—yes, it comes out of my own personal gnosis. It is a compilation of both Valentinian Gnosticism, primarily from the Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi, but also I’ve combined it with my own Theory of Everything called A Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything, the blog which has been up there at Blogspot for over 15 years by now. It is a true Theory of Everything that lets you examine any philosophical model or any social model or scientific model. A Simple Explanation blog It’s a way of examining model structures and how they fit together, particularly our universe and particularly psychology, sociology, and theology. So when I ran across the Nag Hammadi and began to study it many years later, I was able to interpret it through this lens of A Simple Explanation that I had already developed. For example, the Simple Golden Rule comes directly out of my model, and that is a reformulation of what all religions around the world talk about as an ethical model of behavior. The Simple Golden Rule And it’s this: It begins with the concept of units of consciousness—and I use the term units of consciousness because this applies not only to human beings, but to plants and animals and bacteria, cells in your body; in a way, it applies to the atoms and molecules and the elements as well–and in the Simple Explanation, I used to give them consciousness. But since coming to my gnosis, I believe that what the physical parts—the elemental parts—of our universe actually are, is the imitation of the way things go together in the Fullness. And it’s an imitation because it’s down here in this so-called material world. It’s the Demiurge’s best effort to reconstruct Paradise. So now I don’t think that the molecules and atoms and subatomic particles are actually conscious the way I used to. The consciousness resides in the Demiurge, and the Demiurge is controlling them because the Demiurge is the god of this universe, and he can control down to the smallest subatomic particle, all of the elemental parts of our universe. But when it comes up to the living parts of our universe, that is where the life, consciousness, love, wisdom, all of that comes in through the Father, through the Son, through the Aeons, through Logos, into our otherwise fallen and amnesiac universe. So the actual consciousness of the Aeons, and upstream from that, of course, the Son and the Father, that is where the consciousness comes into the living things in our universe. That’s what makes the difference between the hard and rocky places and the wet and meaty places, because there’s definitely a difference. Anyway, I was talking about the Simple Golden Rule, and that is where units of consciousness, so that could be anything from a cell in your body all the way up through all creatures, although, not the viruses—the viruses are not alive, they are molecular machines controlled by the Demiurge—but up through the bacteria, which are different than viruses, bacteria are little living creatures—on up through all the plants and the animals, and then into us. Those are the units of consciousness. I am a unit of consciousness. You are a unit of consciousness. We say units because consciousness actually is the ground state of our matrix. Consciousness is the mind of God, and we are units of that. So my Simple Golden Rule has always said, even before I came to the gnosis, the Simple Golden Rule says, Units of consciousness reach out to others like themselves at their own level of complexity. So cells reach out to other cells, people reach out to other people, etc. Units of consciousness reach out to others and hold hands to join together to build the next level up. They join on a project. So like your family, let’s say, the people in your family hold hands with one another and level up to the family structure. Each thing that is at the same level reaches up to the next level to build something together that none of them could do on their own. So if we take the cells in your body, your skin cells reach out to other skin cells and level up to the organ called skin. The other organs reach out in the same way. The heart cells reach out to other heart cells, make the heart. Lung cells reach out to other lung cells, make lungs, etc. And all of the organs reach out to each other to create an organism. Everything builds up in the same way at the molecular level. The Demiurge’s copy of this process is subatomic particles reaching out to other subatomic particles to make particles. Particles reach out to make atoms. Atoms reach out to make molecules. Molecules reach out to make elements. Elements reach out to make minerals. Minerals become the rocks and stones and the hard rocky places that we see. But it is not conscious, and that’s the difference, other than the nature of the consciousness of the Demiurge that controls it. Whereas each of the living parts of our universe, from the cells on up, is conscious, does have thoughts, is a direct part of the consciousness of God. That is different. You don’t see that in the Nag Hammadi. That’s because I have brought that part of it in from the Simple Explanation. I admit that my reading of the Nag Hammadi is filtered through my personal interpretive system, but that’s what we’re all called to do. You have your own personal interpretive systems, or it’s fine with me if you adapt mine. But you have to come to this understanding, this gnosis yourself. The bottom line of the gnosis, by the way, is this. It all boils down to one sentence: We come from above and we will return to above. That is the nugget of Gnosticism. All of the rest of it is explanations that people have offered of the system of how it goes together. How is it that we come from above? How is it that we return to above? And how do we interact with the above space, that is the pleroma of the Fullness of God, when we’re down here trapped in this material world? That was the query that actually kicked off most of my own personal gnosis, even before I read any of the Gnostic books. I used to wonder, as I played with my dogs down by the river and I stood barefoot in the mud of the river, how does the consciousness of God flow through me and the mud surrounding the river make up my body and how do they connect? That’s the beginning of the Simple Explanation. So I’ve been doing some research in this time off I’ve had and I can answer exactly now in a philosophical way how it is that this Gnosticism that I am sharing with you differs from what people who consider themselves to be Gnostic teachers generally teach. Most Gnostics, by the way, are thinking of themselves as what are called Sethians. They believe that they are offspring from the prototypical human Seth and there’s a lot of mythology built around that system. The Nag Hammadi books are mostly Sethian. That’s why you have so much mythology in there. That’s why you have the names of angels and the counting of positions. You have the laying out of the hierarchy and all of these elect systems within it and how they have to be. But keep in mind, the people that wrote those books are really no different than I am or than you are. They’re people writing their interpretations of the system of how God can inhabit matter and where we are in that process and do we belong here or do we belong somewhere else. And if we belong somewhere else, how do we get out of here? That’s where such words as the trap come from—that this material world is a trap. Some Sethians go so far as to believe that the way teachers have shared with us to escape the trap is itself a trap. Have you heard this? “Don’t go into the light. The tunnel and the light, they’re just the trap.” That is someone’s interpretation of the system. That’s all that it is. You need to commune in silence with the Father yourself to discover what is true and what is not true. You can’t believe teachers, even Gnostic teachers, especially out there on the internet, who claim to have the truth and want to share it with you as if they were prophets. They are not prophets any more than I am a prophet. Everyone filters truth and reality through their own lens of discrimination. And your background, including your past lives and the memes that you bring forward into this life, all influence what you interpret of what you see going on around you, the words you use, the structures you use to make it make sense. What I am sharing with you here goes beyond the ancient Valentinian systems that we find in the Nag Hammadi. This Gnosticism that I’m sharing, this Simple Gnosticism, or Reformed Gnosticism that I’m teaching, fits into the space between Sethian and Valentinian systems. It’s a bridge cosmology. Neither tradition fully says this, but both hint at it. And what I’ve done is tease out the structural possibility that the ancient systems didn’t quite say out loud. And by the way, this is where my Simple Explanation model helped me do that. And here is the Simple model: What we call the Son is the primal emanation that is the direct image of the Father. The Christ is a later composite restorative agent formed through the cooperation of the Aeons, the Son, and the Logos. So, the Son and Christ are not exactly the same character as taught in Christianity. They are not interchangeable names. The Christ came after the Son. The Son is the direct emanation of the Father, and we use those gendered terms simply because that is the traditional way to say them. We could instead call the Father the ground state of consciousness, or the Great I Am, and its emanation, instead of calling it the Son, we could simply call it the First Emanation. The Son stays plugged into the Father. It doesn’t branch off and float downstream like a spore. It is not that. It stays plugged into the Father at all times. So, the Son and the Father are co-existent in their knowledge, and their wisdom, and their love. But the Son, or the offspring, is a monad, whereas the Father is infinite and illimitable, uncontainable. That’s why we say it’s the ground state. It’s a force, a power. It’s not a person. Oh, that might upset the Christians there. But the Father only relates to the Son. The Son is the first person, and in Valentinian Gnosticism, the Son is often called, then, the Father, our Father. Our Father, who art in heaven, is actually the Son, because He is our Father, and we all emanate out of the Son directly. This is not an insult to the Great Father, the Great I Am. The Son was emanated for this purpose. So, it is a fulfillment of the Son’s role to say He is our Father of consciousness and love. He is the one we can relate to, whereas the Father is so illimitable, is so infinite and magnificent and great, we cannot wrap our heads around it. The Son represents everything that the Father is. Now, in Sethian Gnosticism, they call that first emanation Barbelo. Rather than the Son, they call it Barbelo. That’s its name. What they call the Son is the second emanation out of Barbelo. So, the Barbelo is the female figure, the mother, the womb, and the Son comes from Barbelo. The Son, in Sethianism, is also called Autogenes, genes, like our genetics. It’s the same root word. And then the Christ, in Sethianism, is a further emanation who brings restoration and reveals truth to us. That is Sethianism. Now, as I said, in Valentinian Gnosticism, the Son, also known as Nous, is the first emanation from the Father. And the Christ is a later figure who descends to heal the pleroma after Logos’s fall and deficiency. Most Valentinians and Valentinian books say that the Aeon who fell from the pleroma and created our material existence is called Sophia, and it’s a female figure. I don’t like that because it’s a mythological upstream version of Adam and Eve. Let’s blame the woman. Let’s say females are inferior. We don’t need to go there because it turns out that one of the most mysterious books, as they say, in the Nag Hammadi, names the Fallen Aeon Logos. And Logos is not a female, and Logos doesn't have a child named Yaldabaoth. When Logos falls out of the pleroma of the Fullness of God, he cracks open. He breaks. He is rent in two. And a shadow version of him spills out all over, like guts on the ground. That is not a child. That is a shadow of Logos. And we call that shadow, you got it, the Demiurge. And in the Tripartite Tractate, Logos looked around at the results of the Fall with horror. Horror! And he tried to get it all back together, like grabbing his guts and sticking them back in his abdomen kind of thing. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t grab it all together. And it spread out and would not listen to him. And it was disruptive and a disturbance and chaotic. So he abandoned the results of the Fall down below and hightailed it back up to the pleroma, to his “brothers”—the other Aeons in the pleroma—that we also call the Fullness of God. But Logos has never been fully cut off from the shadow down here, from what we call the Demiurge. And it is the knowledge that came from Logos that informed the Demiurge how to put the chaos in order. The Demiurge was left down here as part of the chaos, but it got itself together. It reconnected its mind with the mind of Logos, but it didn’t realize that. The Demiurge is called the amnesiac god, the god who does not remember, is because the Demiurge doesn’t remember that it came from the Father and that it will return to the Father. The Demiurge does not realize that it is part of Logos. And I have identified that part as the ego of Logos. The Tripartite Tractate says that the best part of Logos returned to the Self, his big S Self, which, in the case of Logos, was a fractal amalgamation of all of the other Aeons of the Fullness of God. What the Demiurge is, is the presenting face, the presenting part of Logos. He doesn’t remember Logos. He doesn’t know his true Self. He doesn’t remember the Father, or the Son, or the pleroma, or the Aeons. He doesn’t remember any of that. He woke up down here amidst chaos, separated from the Fullness of God, and surrounded by chaotic quantum foam, is my interpretation of this. And with the way that Logos knows how to order things, the Demiurge set about ordering the chaos of the Fall. And he was able to build it up through the particles, the atoms, the molecules, the elements, the minerals, up to the mud. But he couldn’t get any life into it. He couldn’t get his little mud figures to come to life. The Demiurge cannot bring life and consciousness to the mud. [illustration from Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth] He had the pattern, he had the blueprint, but he didn’t contain the life. And consciousness is life. Consciousness is love. The nature of the Father above, the nature of the pleroma, is love, consciousness, and life. And it’s all good. It’s all good. We’re going to pick this up next week, because I’m on a roll now. We’ll probably be following this train of thought for the next two, three weeks. So welcome to the Gnostic Reformation, where we’re going to infuse Gnosticism with love, consciousness, and life. God bless us all, and onward and upward. Buy now at amazon.com

I occasionally get comments from people that the Gnosticism I’m sharing with you here at Gnostic Insights is different than the Gnosticism they’re accustomed to or the Gnosticism they see elsewhere on the internet. And that is very true, and that is why the Substack is called the Gnostic Reformation. This Gnosticism that I’m sharing with you—yes, it comes out of my own personal gnosis. It is a compilation of both Valentinian Gnosticism, primarily from the Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi, but also I’ve combined it with my own Theory of Everything called A Simple Explanation of Absolutely Everything, the blog which has been up there at Blogspot for over 15 years by now. It is a true Theory of Everything that lets you examine any philosophical model or any social model or scientific model. A Simple Explanation blog It’s a way of examining model structures and how they fit together, particularly our universe and particularly psychology, sociology, and theology. So when I ran across the Nag Hammadi and began to study it many years later, I was able to interpret it through this lens of A Simple Explanation that I had already developed. For example, the Simple Golden Rule comes directly out of my model, and that is a reformulation of what all religions around the world talk about as an ethical model of behavior. The Simple Golden Rule And it’s this: It begins with the concept of units of consciousness—and I use the term units of consciousness because this applies not only to human beings, but to plants and animals and bacteria, cells in your body; in a way, it applies to the atoms and molecules and the elements as well–and in the Simple Explanation, I used to give them consciousness. But since coming to my gnosis, I believe that what the physical parts—the elemental parts—of our universe actually are, is the imitation of the way things go together in the Fullness. And it’s an imitation because it’s down here in this so-called material world. It’s the Demiurge’s best effort to reconstruct Paradise. So now I don’t think that the molecules and atoms and subatomic particles are actually conscious the way I used to. The consciousness resides in the Demiurge, and the Demiurge is controlling them because the Demiurge is the god of this universe, and he can control down to the smallest subatomic particle, all of the elemental parts of our universe. But when it comes up to the living parts of our universe, that is where the life, consciousness, love, wisdom, all of that comes in through the Father, through the Son, through the Aeons, through Logos, into our otherwise fallen and amnesiac universe. So the actual consciousness of the Aeons, and upstream from that, of course, the Son and the Father, that is where the consciousness comes into the living things in our universe. That’s what makes the difference between the hard and rocky places and the wet and meaty places, because there’s definitely a difference. Anyway, I was talking about the Simple Golden Rule, and that is where units of consciousness, so that could be anything from a cell in your body all the way up through all creatures, although, not the viruses—the viruses are not alive, they are molecular machines controlled by the Demiurge—but up through the bacteria, which are different than viruses, bacteria are little living creatures—on up through all the plants and the animals, and then into us. Those are the units of consciousness. I am a unit of consciousness. You are a unit of consciousness. We say units because consciousness actually is the ground state of our matrix. Consciousness is the mind of God, and we are units of that. So my Simple Golden Rule has always said, even before I came to the gnosis, the Simple Golden Rule says, Units of consciousness reach out to others like themselves at their own level of complexity. So cells reach out to other cells, people reach out to other people, etc. Units of consciousness reach out to others and hold hands to join together to build the next level up. They join on a project. So like your family, let’s say, the people in your family hold hands with one another and level up to the family structure. Each thing that is at the same level reaches up to the next level to build something together that none of them could do on their own. So if we take the cells in your body, your skin cells reach out to other skin cells and level up to the organ called skin. The other organs reach out in the same way. The heart cells reach out to other heart cells, make the heart. Lung cells reach out to other lung cells, make lungs, etc. And all of the organs reach out to each other to create an organism. Everything builds up in the same way at the molecular level. The Demiurge’s copy of this process is subatomic particles reaching out to other subatomic particles to make particles. Particles reach out to make atoms. Atoms reach out to make molecules. Molecules reach out to make elements. Elements reach out to make minerals. Minerals become the rocks and stones and the hard rocky places that we see. But it is not conscious, and that’s the difference, other than the nature of the consciousness of the Demiurge that controls it. Whereas each of the living parts of our universe, from the cells on up, is conscious, does have thoughts, is a direct part of the consciousness of God. That is different. You don’t see that in the Nag Hammadi. That’s because I have brought that part of it in from the Simple Explanation. I admit that my reading of the Nag Hammadi is filtered through my personal interpretive system, but that’s what we’re all called to do. You have your own personal interpretive systems, or it’s fine with me if you adapt mine. But you have to come to this understanding, this gnosis yourself. The bottom line of the gnosis, by the way, is this. It all boils down to one sentence: We come from above and we will return to above. That is the nugget of Gnosticism. All of the rest of it is explanations that people have offered of the system of how it goes together. How is it that we come from above? How is it that we return to above? And how do we interact with the above space, that is the pleroma of the Fullness of God, when we’re down here trapped in this material world? That was the query that actually kicked off most of my own personal gnosis, even before I read any of the Gnostic books. I used to wonder, as I played with my dogs down by the river and I stood barefoot in the mud of the river, how does the consciousness of God flow through me and the mud surrounding the river make up my body and how do they connect? That’s the beginning of the Simple Explanation. So I’ve been doing some research in this time off I’ve had and I can answer exactly now in a philosophical way how it is that this Gnosticism that I am sharing with you differs from what people who consider themselves to be Gnostic teachers generally teach. Most Gnostics, by the way, are thinking of themselves as what are called Sethians. They believe that they are offspring from the prototypical human Seth and there’s a lot of mythology built around that system. The Nag Hammadi books are mostly Sethian. That’s why you have so much mythology in there. That’s why you have the names of angels and the counting of positions. You have the laying out of the hierarchy and all of these elect systems within it and how they have to be. But keep in mind, the people that wrote those books are really no different than I am or than you are. They’re people writing their interpretations of the system of how God can inhabit matter and where we are in that process and do we belong here or do we belong somewhere else. And if we belong somewhere else, how do we get out of here? That’s where such words as the trap come from—that this material world is a trap. Some Sethians go so far as to believe that the way teachers have shared with us to escape the trap is itself a trap. Have you heard this? “Don’t go into the light. The tunnel and the light, they’re just the trap.” That is someone’s interpretation of the system. That’s all that it is. You need to commune in silence with the Father yourself to discover what is true and what is not true. You can’t believe teachers, even Gnostic teachers, especially out there on the internet, who claim to have the truth and want to share it with you as if they were prophets. They are not prophets any more than I am a prophet. Everyone filters truth and reality through their own lens of discrimination. And your background, including your past lives and the memes that you bring forward into this life, all influence what you interpret of what you see going on around you, the words you use, the structures you use to make it make sense. What I am sharing with you here goes beyond the ancient Valentinian systems that we find in the Nag Hammadi. This Gnosticism that I’m sharing, this Simple Gnosticism, or Reformed Gnosticism that I’m teaching, fits into the space between Sethian and Valentinian systems. It’s a bridge cosmology. Neither tradition fully says this, but both hint at it. And what I’ve done is tease out the structural possibility that the ancient systems didn’t quite say out loud. And by the way, this is where my Simple Explanation model helped me do that. And here is the Simple model: What we call the Son is the primal emanation that is the direct image of the Father. The Christ is a later composite restorative agent formed through the cooperation of the Aeons, the Son, and the Logos. So, the Son and Christ are not exactly the same character as taught in Christianity. They are not interchangeable names. The Christ came after the Son. The Son is the direct emanation of the Father, and we use those gendered terms simply because that is the traditional way to say them. We could instead call the Father the ground state of consciousness, or the Great I Am, and its emanation, instead of calling it the Son, we could simply call it the First Emanation. The Son stays plugged into the Father. It doesn’t branch off and float downstream like a spore. It is not that. It stays plugged into the Father at all times. So, the Son and the Father are co-existent in their knowledge, and their wisdom, and their love. But the Son, or the offspring, is a monad, whereas the Father is infinite and illimitable, uncontainable. That’s why we say it’s the ground state. It’s a force, a power. It’s not a person. Oh, that might upset the Christians there. But the Father only relates to the Son. The Son is the first person, and in Valentinian Gnosticism, the Son is often called, then, the Father, our Father. Our Father, who art in heaven, is actually the Son, because He is our Father, and we all emanate out of the Son directly. This is not an insult to the Great Father, the Great I Am. The Son was emanated for this purpose. So, it is a fulfillment of the Son’s role to say He is our Father of consciousness and love. He is the one we can relate to, whereas the Father is so illimitable, is so infinite and magnificent and great, we cannot wrap our heads around it. The Son represents everything that the Father is. Now, in Sethian Gnosticism, they call that first emanation Barbelo. Rather than the Son, they call it Barbelo. That’s its name. What they call the Son is the second emanation out of Barbelo. So, the Barbelo is the female figure, the mother, the womb, and the Son comes from Barbelo. The Son, in Sethianism, is also called Autogenes, genes, like our genetics. It’s the same root word. And then the Christ, in Sethianism, is a further emanation who brings restoration and reveals truth to us. That is Sethianism. Now, as I said, in Valentinian Gnosticism, the Son, also known as Nous, is the first emanation from the Father. And the Christ is a later figure who descends to heal the pleroma after Logos’s fall and deficiency. Most Valentinians and Valentinian books say that the Aeon who fell from the pleroma and created our material existence is called Sophia, and it’s a female figure. I don’t like that because it’s a mythological upstream version of Adam and Eve. Let’s blame the woman. Let’s say females are inferior. We don’t need to go there because it turns out that one of the most mysterious books, as they say, in the Nag Hammadi, names the Fallen Aeon Logos. And Logos is not a female, and Logos doesn't have a child named Yaldabaoth. When Logos falls out of the pleroma of the Fullness of God, he cracks open. He breaks. He is rent in two. And a shadow version of him spills out all over, like guts on the ground. That is not a child. That is a shadow of Logos. And we call that shadow, you got it, the Demiurge. And in the Tripartite Tractate, Logos looked around at the results of the Fall with horror. Horror! And he tried to get it all back together, like grabbing his guts and sticking them back in his abdomen kind of thing. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t grab it all together. And it spread out and would not listen to him. And it was disruptive and a disturbance and chaotic. So he abandoned the results of the Fall down below and hightailed it back up to the pleroma, to his “brothers”—the other Aeons in the pleroma—that we also call the Fullness of God. But Logos has never been fully cut off from the shadow down here, from what we call the Demiurge. And it is the knowledge that came from Logos that informed the Demiurge how to put the chaos in order. The Demiurge was left down here as part of the chaos, but it got itself together. It reconnected its mind with the mind of Logos, but it didn’t realize that. The Demiurge is called the amnesiac god, the god who does not remember, is because the Demiurge doesn’t remember that it came from the Father and that it will return to the Father. The Demiurge does not realize that it is part of Logos. And I have identified that part as the ego of Logos. The Tripartite Tractate says that the best part of Logos returned to the Self, his big S Self, which, in the case of Logos, was a fractal amalgamation of all of the other Aeons of the Fullness of God. What the Demiurge is, is the presenting face, the presenting part of Logos. He doesn’t remember Logos. He doesn’t know his true Self. He doesn’t remember the Father, or the Son, or the pleroma, or the Aeons. He doesn’t remember any of that. He woke up down here amidst chaos, separated from the Fullness of God, and surrounded by chaotic quantum foam, is my interpretation of this. And with the way that Logos knows how to order things, the Demiurge set about ordering the chaos of the Fall. And he was able to build it up through the particles, the atoms, the molecules, the elements, the minerals, up to the mud. But he couldn’t get any life into it. He couldn’t get his little mud figures to come to life. The Demiurge cannot bring life and consciousness to the mud. [illustration from Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth] He had the pattern, he had the blueprint, but he didn’t contain the life. And consciousness is life. Consciousness is love. The nature of the Father above, the nature of the pleroma, is love, consciousness, and life. And it’s all good. It’s all good. We’re going to pick this up next week, because I’m on a roll now. We’ll probably be following this train of thought for the next two, three weeks. So welcome to the Gnostic Reformation, where we’re going to infuse Gnosticism with love, consciousness, and life. God bless us all, and onward and upward. Buy now at amazon.com

In today's devotional, Pastor Kerrick shares the encouraging news that the Great I Am is with you and backing you. Stream today's devotional to learn more!----Order your copy of the Rhythm of Rest today:https://www2.fccga.com/storeSubscribe to the Faith in the Morning Newsletter:https://www.kerrickbutler.com/subscribe

Daily Dose of Hope February 19, 2026   Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4   Prayer:  Holy God, Almighty Father, the Great I AM, Throughout all time, You are good.  Your ways are perfect.  Teach us your ways, Lord.  Help us to know you better, to know you more.  Lord, on our own, we are powerless.  We are desperate for your wisdom, love, and mercy.  More of you and less of me, Jesus.  Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that goes along with the New Hope Bible reading plan.  We have been on a journey through the letters of Paul, working through them chronologically.   We started with Galatians, then we walked through I and 2 Thessalonians.  We recently finished I Corinthians and now we are in 2 Corinthians.  It's been a great journey thus far.   Today's reading is 2 Corinthians 4.  Paul wants the Corinthians to know that his ministry is not about letters of judgment.  Yes, he is sending them a letter of rebuke but that is different from judgment.  He disapproves of their actions, but he loves them.  Paul wants them to know that his is a ministry of the Holy Spirit.  And where the Spirit is, there is freedom that comes from knowing and being transformed by Jesus.   The message of Jesus is an amazing treasure that we have been given, but we keep it in jars of clay, our frail, broken bodies.  Jars of clay would have been a normal sight in Paul's day. They were basic, earthenware vessels, used for everything from cooking utensils to toilets. They were inexpensive but breakable and could easily be knocked over and damaged.   And we, as Christ-followers, get to be the vessels that hold the Good News of Jesus. God chooses to store his greatest treasure in our own weak and flawed human bodies. They aren't too unlike the clay jars, common and fragile. Yet, God chooses us. In all our brokenness, God chooses us. In the mess of the world, God chooses us. In the midst of hardship and oppression, God still chooses us. We get to be the bearers of the greatest news in the history of all humanity. God chooses us.   Just let that sink in a bit.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki

In today's devotional, Pastor Kerrick shares the encouraging news that the Great I Am is with you and backing you. Stream today's devotional to learn more!----Order your copy of the Rhythm of Rest today:https://www2.fccga.com/storeSubscribe to the Faith in the Morning Newsletter:https://www.kerrickbutler.com/subscribe

“The strength of I AM is in the center of all you face.” — Liz WrightIn this powerful solo episode of Live Your Best Life, Liz Wright invites listeners into a profound encounter with Jesus as the resurrected King of Glory, the Great I AM. Sharing a recent experience in the spirit realm, Liz opens Revelation 1 and leads listeners into a deeper revelation of Jesus' sovereignty, authority, and restoring power that is actively shaping our present and future.Through Scripture, vision, and Spirit‑led activation, Liz reveals how Jesus longs to be seen afresh, not as a distant figure, but as the One who stands at the center of every circumstance, holding all things together from within us. As she reflects on encounters throughout the Bible that reveal Jesus as I AM, listeners are invited to gaze upon Him through the Word and receive renewed strength, clarity, and faith.This episode becomes a sacred space of reset and restoration, where fear, unbelief, and distortion are washed away by the living water of His presence. Liz leads listeners through heart‑language and prayer, helping them open every chamber of their hearts to receive Jesus as the scepter of fire. the authority of God that recreates lives, restores vision, and establishes hope.If you are longing for renewed confidence in who Jesus is, clarity for the future, or a fresh encounter that realigns your heart with heaven's truth, this episode will draw you into deeper trust and deeper rest. This is not just a message, it is an invitation to see Him, receive Him, and step forward into the future He is creating.

In DTWOL… TIME challenges the belief that time heals, fixes, or saves, and points us instead to the only true God who sovereignly appoints every moment of time. While we live within time, God works above it—using waiting, seasons, and delay as intentional discipleship workmanship to form Christlikeness in us. Scripture reveals that God saves instantly but sanctifies purposefully, cultivating patience, renewing the mind, and producing fruit by the energeia of the Holy Spirit over time. This episode calls disciples to live alertly, trust God's timing, and respond faithfully while time is still given. God's Word: Galatians 4:4; Ecclesiastes 3:1; 2 Peter 3:8–9; Philippians 2:13; Romans 12:2; Matthew 28:19–20; Additional Scripture references are woven throughout the Godcast and can be gleaned from the full transcript. Amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

Embrace God's Call On Your Life | Habakkuk 1:5“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” — Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV)In Part 2 of our vision series looking ahead to what God has for Riverview Christian in 2026, we're reminded that God is always at work—often in ways bigger than we can imagine. The question isn't if God is calling… it's whether we will embrace it.Every Christian is called. Every believer is gifted. And like Moses in Exodus 3, we often respond with, “Who am I?” But God's answer is the same today as it was then: “I will be with you.” Our calling isn't built on our confidence—it's built on His presence.As we look forward together, this sermon challenges each of us to move from hesitation to faith—and to trust that the Great “I AM” still sends, equips, and walks with His people.If this message encouraged you, share it with someone who needs the reminder that God has called them too.#RiverviewChristian #Habakkuk1 #EmbraceTheCall #FaithInAction #ChurchVision #IAm #TrustGodThis week's message is from our Lead Pastor, John Letterman.Let's Connect: http://bit.ly/3XbRE9TFree Access To RightNow Media:https://app.rightnowmedia.org/join/rccreadingSocial Media:@riverviewchristian on Facebook and InstagramWebsite:riverviewchristian.churchSupport the show

This Sunday, we have a snow day devotional. This message comes from Exodus 3 and Moses' encounter with God in the burning bush. We are reminded that God often speaks when we “turn aside” from distraction and draw near to listen. In this passage, the Lord reveals Himself as the Great I AM—holy, eternal, and fully present with His people. God not only sees our suffering, but He comes down to deliver and lead us into something better, pointing us forward to the gospel through Jesus Christ. Just as Moses was called to trust God's presence, we are invited to live as “burning bushes” today—lights that draw others toward the voice of God. May this be a week to slow down, pay attention, and respond in obedience as God leads us onward.

In DTWOL… WOUNDS, we explore the unseen injuries carried by every human heart and reveal why no amount of self-effort can bring true healing. Through Scripture and lived testimony, this episode points you to Jesus—the only One who understands suffering, bore its full cost, and offers real restoration from within your innermost being outward. It confronts the reality of sin, shame, and brokenness while extending Jesus' open invitation to forgiveness, renewal, and hope. You are encouraged to trust the healing work of the only true God and discover that your wounds do not disqualify you but can become testimonies of the only true God's amazing grace. This Godcast ultimately calls the weary—believer and unbeliever alike—to come to Jesus and begin a new life marked by healing, purpose, and truth. Do you need healing?  If so… come dive in!God's Word: Key verses: Matthew 11:28; Isaiah 53:5; Psalm 103:2–4; Ezekiel 36:26; John 20:24–29; Galatians 6:2; John 17; Additional Scripture references are woven throughout the Godcast and can be gleaned from the full transcript. Amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

Susan Bouterse  leads us in an exploration of Jesus' staggering claim to be the Great I Am and what that means for our own sense of identity.

In DTWOL… Something for EVERYONE!, we'll be diving into how Jesus invites every heart—seeker, skeptic, and disciple alike—into a life that is rightly ordered under the Kingdom of God. Through Scripture, everyday imagery, and the truth of God's Word, this Godcast will reveal how discipleship is not something you just "add" to your already busy life, but it's the very center and motion of your life! We'll discover how misplaced priorities create chaos, while seeking God first brings peace, clarity, and produces a true abundant life. And no matter where you are on the journey, this episode points you to Jesus—"... the Way, and the Truth, and the Life"—and invites you to walk with Him and other disciples, amen? God's Word: John 14:6; Galatians 5:16–17; Luke 10:1; Ecclesiastes 4:9–10; Philippians 3:13–14; Colossians 1:28–29; Isaiah 55:11; Additional Scripture references are woven throughout the Godcast and can be gleaned from the full transcript. Amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

In DTWOL… A Fresh Set of Eyes confronts the difference between physical eyesight and spiritual vision. This Godcast reveals that perception is not reality—revelation is solely given by the only true God. Through Scripture you'll see God's workmanship in Lydia. This Godcast will expose how sincere worship and religious devotion can exist without relationship; and why only the only true God must open one's heart. Listeners are invited to move beyond admiration into obedience, learning to see what Jesus sees and step into the harvest He's already prepared for His disciple's workmanship. This episode calls every disciple to fix their eyes on Jesus, walk in His Light, and live out a faith that's in motion in spiritual worship, mission by commission, and transformed sight and lives to produce fruit, amen? God's word:Genesis 3:6; 1 Samuel 16:7; Acts 16:14; Ezekiel 36:26–27; Ephesians 1:18; John 4; Matthew 20:29–34; Additional Scripture references are woven throughout the Godcast and can be gleaned from the full transcript. Amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

Part four of the "Who Is JESUS?" series. Pastor Richard finishes the series showing that JESUS is MORE than just a carpenter. He is the ANSWER to EVERY PROBLEM, He is THE GREAT I AM! He is EVERYTHING YOU NEED HIM TO BE, EXACTLY WHEN YOU NEED HIM.

  By Mary Lindow AS I PREPARE THIS PODCAST OUR HOME HAS THE AROMA OF BANANA BREAD FILLING THE AIR WITH A COZY WARMTH. Soft Carols are playing in the background. My dear Steve has gone bed for now. He's been working on a carpentry project for my Christmas present.   AS I SIT HERE, MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE MOVED WITH TENDERNESS FOR THOSE WHO ARE GRIEVING over the recent miscarriage of a 22 week old baby, a friend who has had a sudden death of a family member, those friends of mine tending to the sick and fragile, and for the widows I know, who ache for the arms of the one they loved so well for so long. My heart is saddened by the weariness of knowing single friends of Steve and I are longing for rest and still have hopes of meeting another godly person who might be the one to nurture and live them. ALL OF THE KINDNESSES AND BEAUTIFUL THINGS OF CHRISTMAS, truly, when wrapped up in compassion, outreach to those who are hurting, personal sacrifice so that others may thrive, and with discernment to know when these things are God nudging you, this is what makes the true value of Christmas shine.   CHRIST CAME TO GIVE. He came to give all. To tend to all those that were held captive, to set them free, to open the eyes of the blinded and the cerebral intellectuals who refuse to hear the truth. But yet, HE came! And HE is still speaking today, still pursuing those who run from him.   WHEN GOD BREATHED THE BREATH OF LIFE INTO EVERY HUMAN BEING... ...IT WAS HIS BREATH   As long as there is breath in a human, it is the breath of God. God will pursue every human being, regardless of how they feel towards him. This is the love that came down at Christmas. And this is the love that stays. People can run. But they cannot hide from the light of God.   AS I SHARE THIS BRIEF BUT WARM AND HEARTFELT PODCAST WITH YOU, I wanted to share something so profoundly, beautiful and so well spoken. I've read over and meditated/ pondered it many times during this Christmas season because there have been disappointments! There have has been betrayals, harsh words, indifference, people pushing you away because they can't receive the love you offer them. These are the things Jesus experienced on a regular basis, and yet in his perfection, he continued to pursue the will of God in his life, and eventually, it COST him his life!   THAT LITTLE, WEE BABE IN THE MANGER TROUGH, He was filled with the fullness of God and was God, but chose to walk out in human flesh, incarnate, the life of everyday human beings, in order to prove that he was aware of the suffering and the sorrows of this human life in a fallen world.   AS I SHARE THIS BEAUTIFUL EXPRESSION FROM ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL BY THE NAME OF JESSICA JECKER, (who is an influencer on another social media site), I hope that you will allow it to saturate any part of you that is suffering or that is resisting love, or, is perhaps angry at God, questioning why life is so hard, or where you may have become bitter and hardened to the tenderness that is available to each of us.   LISTEN CLOSELY TO THE CRY OF MALACHI AND WHAT GOD‘S WORD SPOKE. Listen to the words of one pondering the beauty and the fierce sacrifice that Jesus so humbly and willingly yielded to so that we might truly celebrate a Savior. HERE IT IS: “This week, I lingered in the final breath of Malachi's words and I felt the unbearable weight of what followed. When the prophet finished speaking, heaven did not answer. The echo of his voice faded...and then... nothing. Four hundred years of silence. No open vision. No burning word. No prophet rising with fire in his bones. No “Thus says the Lord” breaking the darkness. Four hundred years of waiting. Of longing. Of groaning. Of hearts lifted toward heaven that seemed sealed shut. Generation after generation was born into the quiet. They lived. They died. And still—no voice. Until one night. On a dirt floor in a forgotten place... in a stable that did not look holy... in the shadows of obscurity and insignificance... a sound was released. After four hundred years, heaven spoke again— Not with thunder, not with fire, not from a mountain- but from the lungs of a newborn. A cry pierced the silence. A cry that split history in two. A cry that carried eternity within it. In that moment, the King of Glory stepped down into the dust of His own creation. The Eternal wrapped Himself in skin. The Word became flesh—and cried. The Son laid aside His throne and chose a manger. Heaven's highest treasure placed in a feeding trough. He came low. He came meek. He came breakable. Wrapped in swaddling cloths, laid where animals ate, born beneath the looming shadow of a cross. A Lamb born to be slain. The Hope of a hopeless world breathed His first breath in the dark. A weary world rejoiced as a young virgin labored and delivered its redemption. In that manger, the Great I AM made Himself vulnerable. Touchable. Killable. And with one holy cry, the silence was shattered. The separation was broken. The way was opened. Then, suddenly, heaven could not remain quiet. The skies erupted with angelic voices declaring, “Glory to God in the highest!” Wonderful. Counselor. Mighty God! Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. With the cry of an infant, heaven invaded earth. Behold—our Redeemer. Behold—our King. Behold—the fulfillment of every promise. Behold—the sound that broke four hundred years of silence. Not the roar of an army. Not the shout of a king claiming His crown. But the fragile cry of God-with-us. He did not arrive with a sword in His hand, but with nails already written into His future. He did not enter wrapped in royalty, but in cloths that foretold a burial. The silence was not just broken, it was answered. Every unanswered prayer. Every tear cried into the dark. Every generation that waited without seeing. Every promise that seemed delayed but not denied. All of it converged in that single cry. That night, heaven did not just speak- heaven gave. God did not send another prophet. He did not send another sign. He sent Himself. And in that stable, eternity took its first shallow breath. Omnipotence learned weakness. Glory learned humility. Love made itself small. The cry that shattered the silence would one day be echoed again- not from a manger, but from a cross. The first cry said, “He has come.” The final cry would say, “It is finished.” From swaddling cloths to grave clothes, from a feeding trough to a borrowed tomb, He came to be broken so we could be made whole. And even now, that sound still reverberates. It calls the weary. It awakens the forgotten. It reaches into the places where heaven has felt silent again. If God could speak through the cry of a baby, He can still break silence in our darkest night. So behold Him. Not distant. Not untouchable. Not unmoved.   But Emmanuel. God.  With. Us."   SUCH TREMENDOUS AND EXPRESSIVE WORDS!   DEAR PERSON, WHO MAY BE LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST OR READING IT IN PRINTED FORM. Talk to Jesus. Cry. Ask Him to show you his love, his true self, his kindness. His merciful forgiveness. He's listening.   LET'S PRAY BEFORE I END THIS PODCAST. "Heavenly Father, For Those Who Are Lonely This Christmas, I Pray That You Would Surround Them With Your Presence. Let Them Feel Your Nearness. Bring People Into Their Lives Who Can Offer Companionship and Comfort. Help Them To Know That Even When They Feel Alone, Abandoned or Weary That They Are Never Truly Alone Because You Are Always With Them. Heal the Wounds That the Holidays Have Opened. Replace Sorrow With Your Joy, Despair With Your Hope, and Loneliness With the Knowledge That You Will Never Leave Us or Forsake Us. Thank You That Jesus Came To Heal the Brokenhearted and to Bind up our Deep Wounds From Life on Planet Earth. I Trust You To Do That Work in my Life and in the Lives of all Who Are Hurting This Christmas. Father, This Christmas I Celebrate the Birth of my Savior With a Grateful Heart. Help Me To Never Get Over the Wonder of the Gospel, Never Stop Being Amazed That You Loved Me Enough To Send Jesus. May my Life Be a Living Thank-You Note for the Gift You Gave at Christmas—the Gift of Your Son, my Savior and my King. In the Comforting Name of Jesus, Amen."   I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS PODCAST! I know that we are fast approaching that day we celebrate and give gifts and just sit back and enjoy the beauty of the season, but, I know many people suffer during this time and, Jesus is there with you. He's understands you're suffering and he understands where you're stuck. I encourage you to not hold onto those things that you want to manage or control or that you think, “This is just the way it's going to, be it's always been this way.” That is fatalistic thinking and it's really actually ungodly. It's an attitude that says, “I will control my destiny, and... I have control over my life because nobody else can help me.”   I ENCOURAGE YOU TO SOFTEN, TO TENDERIZE YOUR HEART BEFORE THE LORD IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, and as you listen to Christmas carols and hear the words of “Joy to the World, the Lord Has Come, Let Earth Receive her King and Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room.” That means it's up to us to “prepare room” in our hearts to receive what the king has for us. All the things the King has for us. Some of it is discipline. Some of it is change. Some of it is repenting for just being angry , and some of it is walking in fear. Know this, that if we will prepare a room for him to come in and live and dwell, we can enjoy His presence in a greater way with us during this season and into the next year.   I'M GOING TO CLOSE OUT FOR NOW AND I WANT TO THANK YOU AGAIN FOR LISTENING! I want to thank those of you who have been so kind to support and assist me. Honestly, I am just so grateful because I just don't know how I would really do these without those that are touched and moved by God to assist is publishing this podcast and also to assist me in helping others with counseling who have a lower incomes, or, who are going through difficulties where their income is so tight, and they need that counseling, they need that help. WHEN YOU HELP BLESS AND SUPPORT WHAT THE LORD HAS ASKED ME TO DO OFTEN I'M ABLE TO DO A LOT OF PRO BONO WORK because I know there's a little bit more in that bank account for ministry that I can then draw on. Steve and I live very frugally. We don't have big mansions and we certainly aren't driving any Rolls-Royce's, yet God seems to always come through and provide in ways that truly humble us. Part of that is those that God moves on, and those that listen to him and do support what God has called us to do in these days. I thank you again, and I asked that he pours out a blessing upon you in grace and in kindness and in peace for your kindness and grace back to me. I WISH YOU ALL THE VERY MOST PEACEFUL AND BLESSED AND JOYFUL CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY SEASON!   I will close this podcast out now and send my love and blessing to each one you! Merry Christmas!   Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed As long as the complete message, website and podcast  information for Mary Lindow is included. Thank You! Copyright © 2025   " THE MESSENGER "  - "The Advocate of Hope"  Mary Lindow www.marylindow.com PODCAST   If you would be so kind and assist Mary helping her to meet other administrative needs such as website and podcast costs,  or  desire to bless her service in ministry with Spirit-led Love gifts or regular support: Please JOYFULLY send your gift in the form of:  ► Personal Checks ► Business Checks ► Money Orders ► Cashiers Checks To:  His Beloved Ministries Inc.  PO Box 1253 Denver, Colorado 80614  USA    Or feel free to use our send a tax-deductible gift with Pay Pal   paypal.me/mlindow  Under the name of - Mary Lindow His Beloved Ministries Inc.    ALL gifts are tax-deductible under His Beloved Ministries 5013c non-profit status.   We are financially accountable and have been in full compliance since 1985.  THANK YOU!      

Have you been wrestling with who you are … and who God is? Today on BOLD STEPS, Mark Jobe tackles three crucial questions: Who am I? Who is God? Can I trust His plan? Moses’ encounter with God shows us where to find confidence—not in ourselves but in the Great I AM. Bold Step Gift: Bread and Bibles - Dr. Gregg QuiggleBecome a Bold Partner: https://www.moodyradio.org/donateto/boldstepsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daily Dose of Hope December 15, 2025   Scripture - Acts 17   Prayer:  Holy God, Almighty Father, the Great I AM, throughout all time, you are good.  Your ways are perfect.  Teach us your ways, Lord.  Help us to know you better, to know you more.  Lord, on our own, we are powerless.  We are desperate for your wisdom, love, and mercy.  More of you and less of me, Jesus.  Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church Bible reading plan.  We have now walked through the Gospels and we are in the second half of the book of Acts.  Today, we will discuss Acts 17.   In this chapter, Paul preaches in Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens.  At each place, he tailors his message to his audience but it's still clearly the Gospel.  The reception he receives at each location is different too.  In Thessalonica and Berea, he starts at the synagogue, which has been his pattern.  He preaches the Gospel to the Jews first.  Some Jews believe in Jesus, as did a number of prominent Greek men and women.  But things turn south pretty quickly.  A number of Jews in Thessalonica are jealous at Paul's success and they raise up a mob to stop him.  They actually go to home in which they are staying and drag out Jason and other believers, arresting them and forcing them to post bond.  Paul and Silas were being helped by other believers, who were aiding their travel to Berea.   In Berea, they were accepted warming at first.  People believe.  But the troublemakers from Thessalonica find out that Paul and Silas are there and they try to get hold of them there.  But Paul and Silas are helped once again by believers who help them get to the coast.   In Athens, things are different still.  The philosophers are interested in what Paul has to say and he shares the Gospel and there are varied reactions – belief, sneering, and wanting more information.  But they aren't beaten up or thrown in jail, so that is quite a relief.   In each city, as different as they are, there are some people who take to the Gospel message right away and others who have more questions.  I think this is such a great model for us.  We share as God leads us and we tailor the message to those who are listening.  If we are telling the Jesus story to Jews, then we will focus on the Old Testament and the various prophecies about Jesus.  If we are telling the Jesus story to Gentiles, then the story will be spoken in a way that makes sense to them.  Paul appealed to what they knew – think about his use of the altar to an unknown God in Athens.    In our world, I present the Gospel to someone who grew up in the church differently than I do to someone who has never heard of Jesus.  I guess the theme here is know your audience and listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

In ⬇️Dive Here! Part 2, we'll leave the surface behind again and follow the Great I AM into the deeper depths of discipleship—where identity is formed, the mind is renewed, and God's energeia (His active, living power) comes alive within every disciple of Jesus. This is where faith moves beyond awareness into obedience, beyond belief into witness, and beyond comfort into calling. You'll hear the truth of God's eternal love in John 3:16, the personal entry point of salvation in Romans 10, the renewing work of Romans 12, the revealed glory of Jesus in the Gospels, and the sending force of the Great Commission. Whether you're seeking truth, newly awakened in Christ, growing deeper in faith, or discipling others—this episode calls you deeper, steadier, rooted, and closer to the heart of God. Go grab your tanks… and let's dive in! God's Word:Key Passages: John 3:16; Romans 10:8–10; Romans 12:2; Psalm 139:16–18; Philippians 2:13; John 16:13; Matthew 28:18–20. Additional Scripture references are woven throughout the Godcast and can be gleaned from the full transcript. Amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

Today we watched a video about Paul's journey to Malta and had table discussions about the chapter. Today's Music: Joy To The World, What A Beautiful Name, Great I Am

The Great I AM Is With You Scripture: Matthew 28:20 The Rob Skinner Podcast | The 10X Christian In today's episode, Rob Skinner shares an encouraging message about courage, calling, and the powerful promise Jesus gave His disciples: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." — Matthew 28:20 If you've ever felt nervous, inadequate, or afraid while stepping out in faith, this episode will strengthen your confidence and remind you that you never walk alone.

Send us a textThe Might God Senior Pastor Keith StewartDecember 7, 2025When life feels overwhelming and the world seems increasingly unstable, you need more than a sentimental Christmas story—you need a God who is strong enough to fight for you. In this message, Mighty God, you'll discover that the Child in the cradle is the God of the universe in human flesh—able to break the chains you can't break, face the battles you can't win, and stand with you against every fear. If you've ever wondered whether Jesus is really enough, this message will help you see His power, His nearness, and His unmatched ability to carry you through.DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Names that define us. Which “old name badge” do you most tend to wear (unwanted, unworthy, abandoned, etc.)?Which name God gives you is hardest to believe—and why? 2. Jesus as Warrior. If “Mighty God” means God is a valiant warrior who fights on our behalf, what battle in your life right now feels bigger than your own strength? What might it look like, practically and specifically, to let Jesus fight that battle instead of you trying to manage it alone? 3. The Great I AM in the storm. In the storm on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus walks on the water and says, “I AM. Don't be afraid.”Where does fear most show up in your life right now (finances, family, health, calling, the future)? How does it change things to imagine the Great I AM standing in that place saying, “Don't be afraid”? 4. If Jesus isn't God, He isn't safe. How have you seen people (or maybe even yourself at times) try to keep Jesus in the “good teacher” category without surrendering to Him as Mighty God? What part of your life most resists treating Him as God rather than adviser? 5. Christmas as a crisis point of decision. If someone close to you asked, “Who is Jesus to you—really?” How would you honestly answer today? What next step (trust, obedience, repentance, public declaration, baptism, etc.) would move your answer closer to “He is my Mighty God”? 6. Letting the Mighty God rename your story. Where do you see yourself slipping into self-focus, self-pity, or old identities this season?What is one specific “new name” or truth about Jesus as Mighty God that you want to hold onto this week—and how can you build a simple reminder into your day (a verse on your phone, a note on your mirror, a daily prayer, etc.)?

Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people.  Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah.  Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf.  In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives.  Each name describes the nature of the One True God!  Each is Jehovah!  Together, they are the J-Team!To protect Baby Jesus by keeping his location a secret from King Herod, Jehovah Rohi, The Lord God Almighty Our Shepherd, leads the wise men to return home on a different route.#kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahrohi, #thelordgodalmightyourshepherd, #protection, #guidance, #jesusourgoodshepherd, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebbImage by Freepik

J-Team 7: Jehovah Rohi 12/4/25 Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people.  Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah.  Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf.  In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives.  Each name describes the nature of the One True God!  Each is Jehovah!  Together, they are the J-Team! To protect Baby Jesus by keeping his location a secret from King Herod, Jehovah Rohi, The Lord God Almighty Our Shepherd, leads the wise men to return home on a different route. #kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahrohi, #thelordgodalmightyourshepherd, #protection, #guidance, #jesusourgoodshepherd, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

This Godcast is a compass for everyone who is walking toward the narrow gate. When the only true God transfers you from darkness into His marvelous Light, EVERYTHING changes! And the life you now live is a Spirit-powered, Word-rooted, community-shaped, mission-driven walk of obedience in love. You will see where to step, how to move, and how to sink deeper into the depths of the only true God's living and active Word. You will hear the truth of the Spirit's workmanship that shapes you from within, and Jesus' Great Commission calling you forward into the disciple-making life He designed for you to live. This is The Way He set before you, the power His Spirit supplies within you, and the purpose every disciple of Jesus possesses, amen?God's word:Key Passages: Ezekiel 36:26-27; 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 14:23-24; Colossians 1:12-14; Philippians 2:13; Acts 1:8; Hebrews 4:12, and more. You will be able to glean the rest of them from the transcript, amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

Praise Series - Praise Is The Way Out Of The DarknessPsalm 150 “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his exceeding greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud, clashing symbols! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”There is so much power in praising God, and the enemy knows that.  One day, I was talking with some of the ladies in my Encounter class about dryness in prayer and when we feel we are in the darkness.  Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever felt like you are doing your part, praying to God, and yet you can't feel Him, you can't seem to find Him?  Have you ever felt like He has abandoned you?  You are not alone; this happens to everyone at some point.  We had a speaker at our conference who said that when we feel like God is pulling away, that is not a bad thing; it is actually a good thing.  Damian Stayne said during his talk that when we feel like God is pulling away from us, He is actually just stretching our heart muscle.  If we want to grow in our faith, in our trust, in our love of God, our heart muscles must grow too.  God is helping it to do that by gently pulling away at times and then coming closer.  During a discussion with my friends and classmates, we talked about what we do in the dark times.  One woman said she just had a few days where she felt alone.  In the previous days, she had felt very close to the Lord, and it felt amazing.  Then she entered a few days where she couldn't feel the Lord.  She felt alone.  She said she remembered hearing somewhere that when you are in the darkness, you should praise the Lord.  She decided, even though she didn't feel like it, she would praise the Lord, and in a few days, she came out of the darkness.I may have mentioned this before, but in case you haven't heard it, Mother Teresa was known for her love of Jesus.  She had a very personal, intimate encounter with Jesus on a train once, and it fortified her faith beyond words.  She loved Him.  When others met her, just by being around her, they came to love Jesus too.  Her love for Jesus was overflowing.  Mother Teresa also went through a dark time.  She would go into prayer time, and she couldn't pray; she didn't feel God anywhere.  There were times when she questioned if He existed.  She knew He did, because she had seen Him, yet she didn't feel as if He existed.  This dark period for her wasn't just a year or two; I believe it was more like 50 years.  I saw one place online that said, “For nearly 50 years, Mother Teresa endured what the church calls a 'dark night of the soul' — a period of spiritual doubt, despair, and loneliness that many of the great mystics experienced, her namesake St. Therese of Lisieux included.”Can you imagine that?  Fifty years of spiritual doubt, despair, and loneliness, and those around her did not know.  She did share this information with her spiritual director, but most of those around her would have said she was a happy person, so full of the Light of God.  She smiled often and spread God's joy to many others.  It makes me sad to think she didn't have that joy inside of her.  I pray that none of you listening to this podcast have to endure 50 years of suffering as she did.  You will probably have to endure some times of darkness, times when you feel lonely, you think God has abandoned you, and so on.  When this happens, remember this episode and praise God through it.I believe that praising God more is the answer to so many questions. It is the solution to so many of our problems.  I was praying one time while I was out for a run, and I asked God to tell me what I was doing that was different than others.  I asked Him to tell me why I was able to have such a deep trust in Him, and I really felt like He said it is because I praise Him so much.  I love to listen to praise and worship music.  Ever since I discovered Christian music, I have been in love with it and listen to it whenever I get the chance. Spending all this time praising God has definitely increased my faith. I have also had a practice of daily (or as close to daily as I can get) gratitude.  This has really made a difference, too.  I think both of these help train my mind and keep it focused on the things that are important.  They keep pointing me back to Jesus.If you find yourself enduring what the church calls the “Dark night of the soul,” try praising God through it.  I don't know a lot about the “Dark Night of the Soul,” but I don't think it is typical for it to last as long as it did for Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  I believe Damian said his lasted about 10 years.  However, you can also have dark periods of isolation that last just a few days, as my friend had a few weeks ago.  The timing of it all is up to God.  God has a purpose for this period of isolation, and only He knows when it has done its job.  I don't know that praising God while you are in the Darkness will get you out of the darkness any faster because God has His own timing.  I do believe that it will help you endure the darkness better.  I believe praising God is a great way to step outside your thoughts and focus on Him and all He has done for you.  I am going to read Psalm 150 to you again so you can hear the intensity with which the author of Psalm believes in praising the Lord.  I think the words of the Psalm are the best words to leave you with today.“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his exceeding greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud, clashing symbols! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to praise you and love you forever.  Lord, we ask that you be with everyone, even those going through that dark night of the soul.  I pray that you give them the strength they need to make it through to the other side.  We know that on the other side of that darkness is light.  We know it is not just light, but also growth and new treasures that you have for us on the other side.  We thank you, Lord, you are truly remarkable.  We know you never abandon us, and we love you for it!  We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in July 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Resting is the word, from your worries, from your thoughts, from your concerns. Rest. All is well. Trust. Know that I am the Great I Am of all things. So rest.”  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Daily Dose of Hope November 17, 2025   Scripture – Acts 1   Prayer: Holy God, Almighty Father, the Great I AM, Throughout all time, You are good.  Your ways are perfect.  Teach us your ways, Lord.  Help us to know you better, to know you more.  Lord, on our own, we are powerless.  We are desperate for your wisdom, love, and mercy.  More of you and less of me, Jesus.  Amen.   Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan.  We are currently doing a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.   Today, we are starting the book of Acts, one of my favorite books of the Bible.  This is the second volume of the two-part work of Luke-Acts, written by Luke, a co-worker of Paul.  The original title of the book was The Acts of the Apostles.  Certainly, different apostles appear throughout the stories, but the only single character who unifies the book is Jesus, appearing in the beginning of the book in human form and then acting through the Holy Spirit throughout the book.    As we work our way through the text, it's going to be incredible to see how the Holy Spirit transforms, leads, directs, and shapes the new Christians and the young church.  Chapter 1 opens with Jesus ready to ascend into heaven.  Even though this is post-resurrection, the disciples still didn't understand everything.  We find them asking Jesus when he is going to restore the kingdom to Israel.  Their understanding of God's Kingdom is still a bit misguided, but Jesus redirects them.  He says only God knows the time and place for that.    But there is something even better ahead.  And Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit is coming.  The Spirit of the living God is coming and when it does, they will receive a power like no other.  This is the same truth for us:  When God's Spirit comes upon us, we have the ability to  witness, to bear testimony, to all the things of Jesus.  It really isn't about us but about God's Spirit in us!   And then, Jesus ascends into heaven.  They don't quite get it yet, but now it's a waiting game.  The Holy Spirit is coming and they have no idea what they are in for.  Tomorrow, we get to talk about Pentecost and the birthday of the church.    Blessings, Pastor Vicki

A Dallas, Texas intersection turned into my holy ground! It was the Light cutting through fog, life breaking into death. In this episode, I share how a near-collision at Midway & Alpha became the moment God moved me from religion to relationship—and how your testimony can do the same in someone else's life. This Godcast moves from story to Scripture to Savior, showing testimony isn't self-spotlight, but God speaking through redeemed lives. Grace doesn't quiet us... it sends us. Not with tales of our Egypt, but with Exodus steps. Not eloquence, but “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Not culture's noise and confusion... but with the living Word, sharp and tender. Now, GO! Testify where He placed your feet on dry ground; not the bondage you left behind, but the freedom He gave you to live in. Then invite someone to that same Deliverer. Today! God's Word: Key passages: John 9; Acts 9; 1 John 5:9–11; Revelation 12:11; plus, Genesis 1, Exodus 25, Psalm 118, Ezekiel 37, Ephesians 2 & 6, Hebrews 4 & 13, and more. You will be able to glean the rest of them from the transcript, amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

In a powerful exploration of hope amid despair, the sermon centers on Jesus' encounter with Martha and Mary following Lazarus's death, emphasizing that Christ alone is the resurrection and the life. Drawing from John 11:17–27, it highlights the direness of the situation—Lazarus buried for four days, beyond human hope—yet reveals Jesus as the living hope who transcends death through His divine authority. The passage unfolds a hopeful encounter, a transformative promise, and a definitive assurance: belief in Christ guarantees eternal life, both spiritually now and physically in the resurrection, rooted in Old Testament prophecies and confirmed by Christ's own identity as the Great I Am. The sermon calls all listeners to confess faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and to trust in His power even when understanding falters, offering comfort to the grieving and strength to the weak in faith.

TOPIC The Revelation of “I AM” PREACHER Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Okronipa SCRIPTURES Exodus 3:13–14 Philippians 4:19 Psalm 23:1 Numbers 23:19 Acts 1:8 Malachi 3:6 John 8:58 KEY POINTS 1. The Meaning of “I AM” “I AM” reveals God's eternal, self-existent nature — He has no beginning and no end. God is unchanging, constant in His nature, and dependable in all situations. The name “I AM” expresses God's limitless sufficiency — He is everything His people will ever need. When God said, “I AM THAT I AM,” He declared Himself as the ever-present One who is always enough. 2. The Revelation of “I AM” The revelation of “I AM” is a revelation of identity and relationship. It reminds believers that God is not distant or abstract — He is personally involved in the lives of His children. “I AM” means: Whatever you need, I will be that to you. This revelation calls believers to walk in faith, confidence, and intimacy with God. 3. What “I AM” Represents God's Divine Provision “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1) God provides for every need — physical, spiritual, emotional, and material. Philippians 4:19: “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God's Divine Power God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). His power enables believers to live victoriously and witness boldly (Acts 1:8). The name “I AM” carries authority and power over every circumstance. God's Divine Purpose Everything God does flows from His divine purpose. His identity as “I AM” aligns His people with destiny and direction. Understanding “I AM” helps believers to trust God's process and timing. 4. The Impact of the Revelation The revelation of “I AM” stirs true worship and strengthens the believer's faith. It brings peace and confidence, knowing that God is sufficient in every situation. It deepens intimacy with God, reminding us that He is present, powerful, and personal. There is no reason for fear or discouragement when “I AM” is with you. CONCLUSION The revelation of “I AM” is a call to know God beyond religion — to know Him as the All-Sufficient One. He is your provider, your power, and your purpose. Whatever life demands, God declares: “I AM that I AM.” Therefore, live in confidence, rest in His sufficiency, and walk in unshakable faith — for the Great I AM is always enough!   

GOD MOVES FIRST! And no one, not one, will be able to deny it!Before breath, before belief, before obedience — His love initiates, His Spirit awakens, and His workmanship forms a disciple who doesn't just learn truth but lives it. In every season — wilderness, joy, trial, abundance — His movement produces our motion: worship translated into action, fruit becoming seed, testimony turning into disciple-making. This isn't self-powered striving but Spirit-led transformation — the Vine's life flowing through branches that bear divine eternal fruit. And when His disciples “GO,” they don't go alone; they ride the current of the same divine love that parted seas, causes deliverance, and walked out of that tomb. He moves first; and we move with Him together!God's Word:Genesis 1; Genesis 2:21; Exodus 14:21; Matthew 5:45; Romans 8:28; Genesis 50:20; John 1:12–13; John 6:28–29; Colossians 1:13; Psalm 139:13; 1 John 4:19; John 3:16; John 6:44; Romans 5:8; Luke 19:10; Genesis 1:3; Genesis 2:7; Matthew 4:4; Philippians 4:6–7; 1 Peter 1:6–7; Revelation 12:11; James 1:2–4; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Galatians 6:1; James 1:5; Colossians 3:23–24; Acts 16:25–34; Acts 8:26–39; Matthew 14:29; 1 Peter 3:15; John 9:3; 2 Corinthians 3:3; John 1:14; Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13–14; 1 John 4:8; Galatians 5:22–23; John 15:1–8; Romans 8:29; Luke 9:23; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 28:19; Romans 12:21; Hebrews 4:12; John 8:11; Luke 17:14; Mark 10:52; John 4:16; Mark 5:19; Luke 7:50; Matthew 9:13; Matthew 28:7; John 15:4–5; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; James 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Mark 16:15 Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

11-2-25 Sermon by Pastor Kehl Hudson.-----Part 15 of our Made For More series.-----Worship songs from this service:--------------------Like what you hear? --- Join us this Sunday at 8:45am or 10:45am @ 6979 West Oak Highway, Westminster, SC. --- Come a few minutes early and grab some free coffee and snacks - we'd love to have you! --- You can also find all of our sermons on our website: www.lifelinecc.com/podcast

Steadfast reminders of the Great I AM amidst facing evil and trials around us.

When I think of my level of commitment to Trying things that seem impossible, I realize that it’s not very high. I find myself functioning from a realist mindset based in what I have determined is most likely to happen. While it’s not wrong to have a realistic view of things, there are definitely moments that God calls us to walk by faith and trust him to be the God who can do impossible things! When Moses saw a bush burning on the side of a mountain and went over to check out what was happening I don’t think he was expecting God to speak to him. I don’t think that was even on his radar as a possibility! His reactions to what God had called him to showed a struggle of identity in self, and also in God‘s identity. The Great I AM was ready to answer Moses’s doubts, and walk Moses to faith filled obedience. Moses was not ready. Sometimes God calls, and we want Him to call someone else. But when He calls, He equips, and He goes with and before us. Radical trust in Him leads to incredible things! Join us this Sunday for one of our worship services as we look at what it takes to live radical faith! -Pastor Ben Key Verse: Exodus 3:14 - God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” For this week's Scripture and notes: http://bible.com/events/49496618

In this Godcast, we'll dive into how the Great I AM set discipleship in motion—through love that walks, listens, serves, and gives. From the mountaintop prayers of Jesus to His tears at Lazarus' tomb, this episode shows that true love is never still; it's life carried forward by the Spirit's energeia! Every word, step, and breath of Jesus models the cadence of obedience we're called to follow. Tune in and hear what it means to move with the only true God—same life, same love, same Spirit, just flowing through different vessels, amen?God's word:Romans 12:2; Acts 17:28; Galatians 5:25; Deuteronomy 6; John 13:34–35; Romans 12:10; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; 1 John 2:6; 1 Corinthians 13:7; James 1:19; Colossians 3:13; Hebrews 3:13; Galatians 6:1; Proverbs 27:6; Matthew 28:19–20; Genesis 1:3; John 11:43; Matthew 7:28–29; John 6:63; Luke 4:32; Mark 1:27; John 8:31–32; Hebrews 7:25; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12; Matthew 26:39; John 17:1; Romans 8:26; Isaiah 53:4; John 16:33; Galatians 6:2; Romans 12:15; Psalm 34:18; John 6:44; Mark 2:17; 1 Corinthians 1:9; John 10:27; Romans 8:30; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Matthew 11:28; Matthew 4:19; John 15:16; Luke 9:23; Psalm 29:4–5; Ezekiel 37; John 11:43; John 18:6; Revelation 1:15; Romans 10:17; Luke 6:47–48; Matthew 20:28; Philippians 2:8; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Luke 6:12; Mark 1:35; John 17:1; John 17:13; John 17:15; John 17:17; John 17:20–21; Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 2:13; Mark 2:1–12; John 9:1–12; Mark 5; Luke 8; John 11:1–44. Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

In this powerful sermon, Dr. Roger Patterson dives into the biblical concept of the "crisis of belief"—the pivotal moment when what we know about God is challenged by what we feel about ourselves or our circumstances. Using the life of Moses as a primary example (Exodus 4:10-17), Dr. Patterson explores the excuses we use—"Not me, Lord," "Not now, Lord," or "Not this, Lord"—and how our inadequacy and fear can bind us, preventing us from stepping into God's will. Drawing on lessons from figures like Doubting Thomas, Abraham, and Peter, we are reminded that failure is not final, and true faith trusts God's character even when His command doesn't make sense. God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called. When faced with a fork in the road, the path forward is a two-step process: Remember "I AM" and Therefore "I Will." Dr. Patterson reminds us that God is the Great I AM—self-existent, present, and always available. When God prompts you, your availability is what He seeks, not your ability. Now is the day of obedience! Scripture References Psalm 46:1 Exodus 4:10-17, Exodus 3:13-14 Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 11:17 John 20:25 Genesis 22:9 Luke 22:60 Jonah 1:1-3 Jeremiah 1:4-8 Numbers 13:30-31 2 Corinthians 6:2 Luke 22:41-42 Key Takeaways The nature of God as the "I AM" (present tense help in trouble). Understanding the crisis of belief as a decision point between faith and fear. The four common phrases of unbelief: "No, Lord," "Not me, Lord," "Not now, Lord," and "Not this, Lord." How to move forward in faith by remembering God's character. The powerful reminder that failure isn't final and God is the God of the comeback.

Hello Beloved. In times of upheaval, we crave and become addicts of control - which is a survival mechanism rooted in fear—fear of uncertainty, rejection, or harm. It's the belief that predictability = safety.BUT, there is a

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day. Today's shout-out goes to John Hardin from Hemphill, TX. Thank you for your partnership with us through Project23. I love you, brother. This one's for you and your family. Our text today is Judges 7:12–15. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the East lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down, so that the tent lay flat.” And his comrade answered, “This is no other than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp.” As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped. And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.” — Judges 7:12–15. From a distance, the enemy looks unstoppable — countless soldiers, endless camels, the valley packed like a swarm of locusts. This is not a fight 300 men can win. But as Gideon sneaks into the camp with Purah, he overhears a soldier describing a dream: a humble loaf of barley bread crashing into a tent and flattening it. His comrade interprets it: “This is the sword of Gideon… God has given Midian into his hand.” The irony in these verses is thick. Barley bread was poor man's food — not a symbol of military might. But in the dream, it's the weapon God uses to topple Midian's strength. Gideon hears it, and the moment is electric. He falls into worship. Fear gives way to faith, and he races back to rally his men with the words, “Arise, for the LORD has given the host of Midian into your hand.” When God gives you a calling, he often follows it with a powerful confirmation. Gideon's confirmation came in the unlikeliest place — through the lips of his enemies. The detail that broke his fear wasn't a vision of a sword or a chariot but a loaf of bread. That's God's style: using the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary. In our lives, God's confirmations might not be as dramatic as this battlefield dream. It might be a Scripture that leaps off the page at the exact moment you need it, a conversation that seems divinely timed, or a provision that comes through right before the deadline. These are not random. They are reminders that: “The Great I Am is with you. He has gone ahead of you. The victory is His.” Fear dissolves when you realize God has already gone before you. And worship isn't just a response; it's the fuel for your obedience. Worship turns a hesitant heart into a ready soldier. So look for a godly confirmation in your present fears, and when you get one, turn to worship and let it fuel the fire of your obedience through those fears. ASK THIS: When has God confirmed His call in your life? What unexpected means has He used to reassure you? How has worship fueled your courage in the past? Is there something you need to stop worrying about and start worshiping over today? DO THIS: Take 5 minutes today to stop everything and worship God for a promise He's already confirmed — even if the battle hasn't been fought yet. PRAY THIS: Lord, thank You for confirming what You've called me to do. Turn my fear into worship and my hesitation into obedience. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Raise a Hallelujah."

In a world where headlines fade, the Great I AM still speaks the same—present, powerful, and eternal.This episode explores Jesus' “I AM” declarations—Bread, Light, Door, Shepherd, Resurrection, Way, Truth, Life, and Vine—and reveals how they meet today's hunger, confusion, fear, and drift. Discover how the Spirit moves His living Word from page to heart, cultivating real fruit—love, joy, and peace—and forming a bold, steady witness in the hearts of His disciples. Come reflect, be refined, and be renewed—the same Jesus who stood before the five hundred lives in you now, lighting your path and filling your life with His life. Equalize your ears, and dive in. God's Word:Luke 6:45; 1 Peter 1:23–25; Psalm 119:105; Matthew 24:35; John 14:26; Hebrews 13:8; 1 Corinthians 2:9–10; Psalm 90:2; Hebrews 13:8; John 17:20; Acts 2:39; 2 Timothy 2:2; Philippians 2:13; 1 John 3; Romans 8:1; Isaiah 43:2; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Psalm 23:4; Isaiah 40:31; Matthew 4:4; James 1:22; John 15:5; Ecclesiastes 3; John 15:1; Romans 10:15; 2 Corinthians 5:20; John 15:16; 1 Peter 2:11; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Exodus 3:14; John 8:58; John 15:5; Ephesians 2:4; 1 Peter 2:21; and 1 Peter 5:10;   Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com

This is message 2 in The Names of God Series Exodus 3:1-18 Jehovah is the eternal self-existent God who revealed His personal name to show that He is not only the Almighty but also near to His people. He is the great I Am, unchanging and sufficient, yet present and compassionate toward those who call upon Him. His name is holy and must be treated with reverence, for it represents His very nature. To know Him only by title is to miss the fullness of life, but to walk with Him personally is to find purpose, hope, and joy that cannot be found anywhere else. Don't forget to download our app for more from the Riverview Baptist Church. http://onelink.to/rbcapp Find more at https://riverviewbc.com/ Donate through Pushpay https://pushpay.com/pay/riverviewbc

Send us a textWhat matters more--what we say, or what we actually do? In this final message of the "I Am Called" series, we turn to a parable from Jesus that confronts the gap between words and obedience. If you have ever struggled with stalled-out faith, questioned your calling, or wondered if God can still use you after a "no", this episode is for you.Discover how the Great I AM calls us not just to speak--but to live--in obedience.Other Episodes in this series:Called to be with HimCalled and ConfirmedCalled to Obey Linkoln shares his story on why he started coming to Ravenna Church of the Nazarene and shares why you should consider doing the same.Ravenna Church of the Nazarene530 Main Street, Ravenna, KY 40472Support the showThe Dirt Path Sermon Podcast is a place for real sermons that speak to real life. Subscribe and walk the path with us every week. Consider visiting Ravenna Church of the Nazarene where Pastor Jason is the Senior Pastor. Have a prayer need? Want to share something with Pastor Jason? Email rav.naz.ky@gmail.com

What you believe about someone shapes how you view them. So, how do you see God? Do you believe he has the power to deliver you? In today's episode, Jensen shares how 1 Kings 20:1-25 encourages us draw near to the Great I Am. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we're exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 20:1-25

Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people. Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah. Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf. In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives. Each name describes the nature of the One True God! Each is Jehovah! Together, they are the J-Team! God chose Gideon to lead Israel in a fight against the Midianites. The Lord told Gideon, “I have sent you… I will be with you!” Gideon wanted a sign from the Lord to be sure that God was truly on his side. When Gideon realized this messenger truly was the Lord, he feared for his life because he had seen the Lord face to face! “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die,'” Judges 6:23. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace! You can read more about this story in Judges 6:1-24. #kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahshalom, #thelordgodalmightyyourpeace, #thelordispeace, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people. Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah. Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf. In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives. Each name describes the nature of the One True God! Each is Jehovah! Together, they are the J-Team!God chose Gideon to lead Israel in a fight against the Midianites. The Lord told Gideon, “I have sent you… I will be with you!” Gideon wanted a sign from the Lord to be sure that God was truly on his side. When Gideon realized this messenger truly was the Lord, he feared for his life because he had seen the Lord face to face! “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die,'” Judges 6:23. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace! You can read more about this story in Judges 6:1-24.#kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahshalom, #thelordgodalmightyyourpeace, #thelordispeace, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebbImage by Freepik

Send us a messageIn a commentary written for “Endure” Ministries they write: “As believers, it is important that we learn and study the Names of God as revealed by His Word. In Psalm 9:10, it is written that: “And those who know your name, put their trust in You. For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.” And while “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” is the most common and important Name for God, there are hundreds more Names for Him in Scripture. Each one describes a particular characteristic or attribute of God. Therefore, they help us to understand more fully His power, wonder, and might. They describe Who He is,  what He does, and how He moves in our lives. But most of all, it brings us more fully into worship of Him – the Great I AM – the Mighty and Everlasting God – our Savior, Master, Lord and King!Support the showVisit our website: https://agapelightministries.com/

In this episode, Pastor Cindy dives into Exodus 33 to show us what it looks like to live for a higher call. In this passage of scripture, we read about Moses and his unprecedented access to the Lord. As he lived and served in the presence of God, he continued to have a heart that called out for more of Him. He wanted to know His ways. He wanted to see God's glory. Moses knew that in order to step in to his higher call, he was going to need the covering of the GREAT I AM.    Scripture reference: Exodus 33:11-18, Numbers 12:6-8,12-18, Exodus 3:1-9, Exodus 3:16-22, Exodus 4:1-9, Exodus 16:6-7, Proverbs 4:26-27, Isaiah 43:18-19.   Order your copy of Cindy's new book, NEW MOVES OF GOD Check out Cindy's TV show, CINDY STEWART LIVE. You can register for the 6-week, self paced e-course at COMPELLED TO CHANGE.  Please email Cindy with any questions or comments to cindy@cindy-stewart.com. She'd love to hear from you.  Pastor Cindy's Website  Pastor Cindy's Facebook  Pastor Cindy's Instagram Gathering Website  Gathering Facebook   Check out the other shows from KB PODCAST PRODUCTIONS: THE KINGDOM BRINGER PODCAST with Darin Eubanks Next Level Podcast with Michael McIntyre Super-Natural Living with Beth Packard KINGDOM MASTER MIND PODCAST with Ann McDonald   Podcast music from HOOKSOUNDS.COM    

There is a growing segment of our American society, this so-called new woke aspect, which seeks to redefine the meaning/definition of a man, a real man, a Biblical man.The definition of a man, by both Biblical and Societal definitions, was clear, not subject to debate or change. That man, created by the Great G-d Jehovah, the Great I Am, was created in His image and was to be like Him, ordained by God to be the ruler of the planet and to be head of all things. That man was biologically determined, and both sex and gender unchangeable. But, a man today, accordingly to the radical woke element of our society, can both decide and determine his sex/gender, and should he choose a different gender identity, he can do so, no matter any Biblical or biological determination.And, that changing definition is today a work-in-progress. A man today can now be gay, that is homosexual, bi-sexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ), or some different alternative with which the individual may identify.It is really a tragedy what is happening to God's first man, His creation. This new definition of man makes him not like HIM the Great Creator, but made in mans image and definition.But, let us review what the Bible says about a real man. He is called upon to be strong, not only in body, physically, but in mind, will, spirit, and soul. The real man is possessive of a God-made body, which is, as described by the Bible:THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.That physical body of a real man should be honored, respected, cared for, and kept in the best physical shape possible by that man, never forgetting that it is the housing of the spirit, The Holy Spirit of the Great Divine Triumvirate.That real man, like our Lord Jesus Christ, may enjoy the fruit of the grape, the wine which Jesus himself drank, if he so chooses, but should never, ever, be drunken. Drinking wine or alcohol to excess is the ruination of the temple of The Holy Spirit. No real man can function mentally or spiritually under the influence of drugs or alcohol. None.The real Biblical man respects his body and his sexuality, and will not be given to adultery, fornication, lascivious living, and always respects, protects, and honors marital intimacy. He is a man with strong fidelity and ultimate respect for:ONE WOMAN. ONE WIFE.The real man constantly strives to learn, educate himself, and in all things, asks for the wisdom for his life and decision making, which only God can give. The request for God given wisdom is constant, continuous, and totally sincere in all things, everything. God honors the sincere request of any real man for HIS wisdom.That real man is strong spiritually. Learn-ed in the Bible, and always learning. studying, sharing, witnessing, and teaching, always growing in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That is the only way that man can be a real father and train up his children in the way they should go, the way of the Lord.That real Biblical man is a protector of the Christian faith, and to that extent, politically active. He renders unto Caesar the things which rightly belong to Caesar, but demands morality, truth, respect, and honesty in all things political. The real man is a watch dog, a watchman on the wall, making certain that Caesar functions in the way that Caesar should, so that the things of God Almighty are never interfered with.The real man discharges his duties as HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD. That ethical principle has become more unpopular today. Far too many men abandon their responsibilities and any substitute for a real father is never enough, inadequate, and most importantly, not Biblical.If the real man is privileged to have a real family, then that man, husband, father, friend, and teacher spends time, quality time, consistent regular and respectful time, with every member of that household lovingly together as one family unit but also, lovingly and respectfully individually with each member. Only by implementing both, together and individual, can the individuals of that family thrive and grow.The real man is truthful. That Biblical man does not lie. He is known for telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, transparency in all things. Any in the family, even the youngest, can sense hypocrisy, and can even more easily ascertain the lie of any kind. Nothing sabotages the credibility and integrity of a man/father than the lie, nothing.The Biblical man/father never fails to discipline when necessary. That discipline is not physical, but lovingly confrontational. That real man, and the real woman of the household, must be living examples of any rules and regulations which are established for the operation of the family and the household.The real man, and of course the real woman, must spend quiet time, time and prayer, meditation, and thoughtful evaluation and in the study of Scripture. And so much to every family member.The Bible, Old and New Testaments, has so much more to say about a man, a real man. It is difficult, if not impossible, to be a real man without that Biblical knowledge, definition, and encouragement of what a real man is. Today, the challenges of this world make it far too easy to compromise, surrender, and succumb to the definitions, pleasures, and lusts of the modern society. It is our prayer, our revival prayer, that the Biblical man, the man God and our Lord Jesus Christ intended, reemerge, become the shining light for society and for any family, and once again, both do and become the man/person which God intended. That man is always humble before the Lord, ready to admit wrong, apologize, to shed a tear, and to show love and respect to everyone. If a man, a Biblical man, lives and loves like the Bible intended, there is nothing in life any better, no greater force than that of a:REAL BIOLOGICAL AND BIBLICAL MAN.

Read Online“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.”  Matthew 14:27–29Peter and the other disciples were frightened. They were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, the wind was strong, and the waves were crashing. This scene took place “during the fourth watch of the night,” which meant the time was early in the morning, between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m., when it was still dark. Jesus had been alone on a mountain praying during that night and now came walking on the water toward the disciples. When they saw our Lord, they cried out, “It is a ghost!” But then Jesus spoke the words quoted above to them, calming them and calling them to courage and trust.Imagine yourself being with the disciples as Jesus approached. How would you react? Would you, too, be filled with fear? Perhaps it is best to answer that question from two perspectives. One is from the perspective of our fallen human nature. The other comes from the perspective of Truth. First, from the perspective of our fallen human nature, there are many things in this life that tempt us to fear. Therefore, this Gospel passage should be seen as a prophetic action of our Lord by which He tells you that He wants to come to you and meet you in your fears. What is it that gives you the most fear in your life right now? Oftentimes fear has to do with the future and the unknown. What if this or that were to happen? Fear ultimately results from a lack of faith in God and His protective care.The second perspective from which we might see this passage is that of the full Truth. The truth is that the disciples not only had no need to fear, they actually had every reason to rejoice and be at peace. While on that boat, in the middle of the sea, in the middle of the night, during strong winds, it was God Himself, the Great I AM, Who was coming to protect them, care for them, and lead them safely to shore. Jesus' “it is I” could actually be translated more literally “I AM” in reference to Jesus' divinity.The last word in the passage quoted above is what Jesus speaks to all of us when we fall into fear and worry. Jesus says, “Come.” This word is a command and is a word spoken to you. It's a good word to prayerfully meditate upon and hear spoken to you during every struggle and fear you endure. Reflect, today, upon this Gospel passage and try to insert yourself into it. See the waves, wind, and darkness as symbols of whatever it is that troubles you the most. As you do, close your eyes and see Jesus, the Great I AM, coming to you. Gaze at Him and hear Him tell you to trust Him. Hear Him say to you, “Come.” Peter initially trusted and began to walk on water when he came to Jesus, but he quickly allowed his fear to set in and took his eyes off Jesus. As soon as he did, he began to sink. Turn your eyes to Jesus, keep them firmly fixed on Him, ignore the temptations in life that lead you to fear, and trust in God. He commands you to do so out of love. My saving Lord, You are God, the Great I AM, the Creator, Ruler and King of all. You and You alone are worthy of all my trust, dear Lord. When I struggle in life and allow fear to overwhelm me, please call to me and give me the wisdom and courage I need to fix my eyes firmly upon You and to come to You without faltering. Jesus, I trust in You.Image via Brooklyn MuseumSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.