Podcasts about hellenized

The Odyssey narrates Odysseus's ten-year journey as the king of Ithaca, during which he attempts to return home after the fall of Troy. Virgil's Aeneid chronicles the journey of Aeneas, a Trojan hero and son of the goddess Venus. Aeneas escapes the fallen city of Troy and embarks on a quest to start a settler-colonial project in Italy. Virgil wrote a work of total fiction, and then as if by witchcraft, Augustus traced his (and Rome's) historical origins back to Aeneas.In Jewish Antiquities, Josephus Flavius followed the line of Augustus, adulterating the Bible to appease the ego of his settler-colonial abuser, adopting the same Greco-Roman “literary-historicizing” framework. This may not have resonated with the Jews of the time, but man, would-be Christian imperial colonizers loved his historicizing of epic literature to “build” their apotheosis.What good is Star Wars if lightsabers are not real, if you are not the heir of Luke Skywalker,  and the Republic is not rightfully yours to “possess?”So, thanks to Josephus Flavius, the (sellout, Uncle Tom) closet Hasmonean, and his oversized case of Bible-wrecking Stockholm Syndrome, by now, we've had to deal with two millennia of Hellenized theologians who really believe that Jesus picked up where Venus and Augustus left off. If you want to understand the socio-political consequences of this approach, consider watching independent news media on YouTube.If you want to be set free from the tyranny of Augustus and Josephus, hear the Gospel of Luke. This week, I discuss Luke 7:17-19.Show Notes ἔρχομαι (erchomai) ب-و-ء (bā-wāw-hamza)/ ב-ו-א (bet-waw-alef)The Hebrew verb בוא (bo) and the Arabic verb بَاءَ (bā'a) “he returned” are cognates that trace back to a common Semitic root related to movement toward a point—be it coming or returning. This root corresponds to ἐρχόμενος (erchomoenos) in Luke 7:19, the one who is expected.“‘Behold, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come (יָבוֹא, yāḇôʾ) to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, he is coming,' says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1)“The Lord God has sworn by his holiness, ‘Behold, the days are coming (בָּאִ֣ים, bā'îm) upon you when they will take you away with meat hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.'” (Amos 4:2)Related functions in Arabic:بَاءَ (bā'a) To return, to incur, to be burdened with, to bring upon oneself.بَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ (bā'ū bi-ghaḍabin mina allāh)“They have incurred wrath from God.”(Surah Al-Baqarah 2:61) بَوَّأَ (bawwa'a) To settle someone, to provide lodging, to assign a place.مُتَبَوَّأ (mutabawa'a) A dwelling place. Arabic Lexicon, Hawramani, https://arabiclexicon.hawramani.com/?p=1617&book=50#9b0b27وَلَقَدْ بَوَّأْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مُبَوَّأَ صِدْقٍ (wa laqad bawwa'nā banī isrā'īla mubawwa'a ṣidqin)“And we settled the Children of Israel in a good dwelling-place.”(Surah Yunus 10:93)تَبَاوَأَ (tabāwa'a) Used in literature to describe competition and contention between characters. The verb carries a negative connotation that implies equality. To be equal with each other. Equality in sin or punishment: state of being equally guilty. القتيلان فِي الْقصاص تعادلا (al-qatīlāni fī al-qiṣāsi ta‘ādalā) “Two dead, in retribution, were tied.” “بَوَاءٌ” Arabic Lexicon, Hawramani, https://arabiclexicon.hawramani.com/?p=63888#dbd19f ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Send us a Text Message.We continue our examination of Jewish-Christian relations in the early Church by reviewing one teaching and one writing:#1: The teaching of MarcionMarcion of Sinope (AD 85-160) is a historical figure who embodied the sort of potent anti-Jewish sentiment many believe was prevalent in the ante-Nicene era. A great deal is known about Marcion through early writings, making him an excellent case study for us. He taught that the Bible refers to two different gods; the benevolent God of love and mercy proclaimed by Jesus and the “finite, imperfect, angry Jehovah of the Jews.” In his work Antitheses (AD 144), Marcion outlined this contrast, describing the God of the Old Testament as a demiurge—a lesser god who created the physical universe. He considered this deity a harsh Jewish tribal god, as severe and unmerciful as his law. The Old Testament God commanded us to love our neighbor but hate our enemies. He taught vengeance, saying, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” By contrast, Marcion argued, the Supreme God of the New Testament commands us to love our enemy and “turn the other cheek.” #2: Justin Martyr's "Dialogue with Trypho"Born in the Roman colony of Neapolis in Samaria (he was neither a Samaritan nor a Jew), Justin Martyr was arguably the most influential Christian apologist of the second century. Dialogue with Trypho is an intellectually impressive and lengthy document. (The English translation runs more than 69,000 words.) Justin works through various theological issues by way of an ambitious dialogue between himself and a Hellenized rabbi named Trypho, famous as one of the most learned Jews in the East. Whether this work records an actual discussion is a matter of debate. However, Justin's remarkable knowledge of the Jews, their objections to Christianity, and their Scripture suggest the content of Dialogue is based on actual conversations with Jews.Defending the Biblical Roots of ChristianityOur websiteOur YouTube ChannelProf. Solberg's BlogSupport our Ministry (Thank you!)

Title: Different But the Same Text: Acts 8:14-25 FCF: We often struggle with assurance of our salvation. Prop: Although true believers are drawn from many backgrounds all believers are indwelled with God's Spirit and bear fruit, so we must seek confirmation of the Spirit's indwelling in all those who claim Christ. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts 8. In a moment I'll begin reading in verse 14 from the Legacy Standard Bible. You can follow along in the pew bible on page 1239 or in whatever version you prefer. Last week we saw how Saul's persecution of the church has led to the gospel call ringing out far and wide. We saw the gospel call given to Samaritans, which were a cult of Judaism and many Jews despised them for it. Nevertheless, the church took the gospel even to these undesirables. Within that story we saw a Samaritan by the name of Simon. A worker of magic, no doubt empowered by demonic forces. A man who claimed to be a man-god. Though Stephen merely claimed that Jesus was God, he was stoned to death. But the church did not follow the same paradigm for a man who actually claimed to be the Power of God. Instead, he was offered life in Christ. Our primary lesson revolved around the need for the church to continue offering the gospel in the widest scope. All men must hear. This week, we add another layer to this teaching. Although men from all backgrounds must hear the gospel, and although men from all backgrounds may receive the gospel, if they truly receive the gospel, they will receive the Holy Spirit and, in His power, they will bear fruit. Please stand with me out of respect for and to focus on the reading of the Word of God. Transition: Truthfully, this sermon could have been divided into two… But I think we'd lose something valuable by doing that. We need to see the whole idea from verse 14-25. In order to do that – we have to cover a lot of material. So let's get to it. I.) Though the gospel call goes to all kinds of people, all who respond to it, receive the Holy Spirit, so we must seek confirmation of the Spirit's indwelling in those who claim Christ. (14-17) a. [Slide 2] 14 – Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John. i. What is happening here? ii. Well, first, we see a little uncertainty. 1. So far in the book of Acts – who have been the ones receiving the gospel and being indwelled with the Holy Spirit? 2. The Jews, right? Jews from all over the place. But faithful Jews. Jews who have worshipped the Lord the way the scriptures said. At least mostly. 3. For the first 5ish years of church history – this is all they knew. Jews, particularly in Jerusalem, who were faithful Jews serving and worshipping Yahweh, are coming to faith in Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. 4. Now, there is a significant change. 5. They have been chased out of Jerusalem, except for the apostles. 6. And now Philip, long-time Deacon, trustworthy man, has gone to Samaria and preached the gospel to these cultish Samaritans… and they are receiving it. 7. So why do the apostles send an envoy to investigate? Because this is not normal. This whole situation is not common. It is… concerning. 8. It is concerning for a few reasons. a. Philip is a Hellenized Jew, and although he has been faithful for several years, he could be teaching a unique Hellenized gospel that could have been more acceptable to the Samaritan's ears. In short, Philip could have failed to teach the gospel accurately. b. The Samaritans could have misunderstood. With them so readily accepting this truth, they may have filtered Philip's words through their own beliefs and syncretized his preaching with what they already thought. c. These Samaritans are a Jewish cult… in many ways they have a lot of distance from receiving the truth of the gospel because they are not even worshipping Yahweh correctly. How can they receive His Son if they would not obey the Father? It seems like an awfully big short cut. 9. The primary objective is to answer the question… Is this from God? iii. Peter and John are two of the inner most circle of disciples along with James. Peter and John have featured heavily thus far in the narrative of the book of Acts. iv. In many ways, if Peter and John see that what has happened in Samaria is from the Lord, then the apostles as a whole can be sure that it is indeed from the Lord. b. [Slide 3] 15-17 – who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 – Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. i. Here we see a sneak peek into the heart of Peter and John. They are already coming down to Samaria earnestly seeking that the Lord would gift to the Samaritans the Holy Spirit. ii. They are not coming here anticipating God's rejection of the Samaritans, but simply wishing to confirm that this is indeed a work of the Lord. iii. But this section of scripture opens up one of our first very big interpretational problems in the book of Acts. iv. And it doesn't matter how good you are at the original language or how proficient you are with the culture. There really is no cheat code for this one. The only way to interpret this text accurately is to come from a whole bible, systematic, hermeneutical perspective. v. In other words – you must know what the bible teaches on this subject as a whole, in order to understand what it is teaching here. vi. Let me first define the problem clearly so we can begin addressing it. vii. What does Luke mean that the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of the Samaritans? 1. He could mean that the Holy Spirit had not endowed them with sign gifts. a. In the book of Acts so far it is difficult sometimes to know for certain what role or action the Holy Spirit is taking. b. But so far, we have seen that to be filled with the Spirit seems to mean some kind of empowering to perform sign gifts and prophesy or speak eloquently. c. Used interchangeably with these would be to be baptized with the Spirit and for the Spirit to come upon someone. d. Luke uses here the expression “fallen upon” which has not yet been used. e. He also mentions the Samaritans having not yet received the Holy Spirit. f. Up to this point we have not seen the idea of receiving the Spirit as a way to express a special empowering or enabling. This would be the first text in Acts to use this phrase in this way. g. That point alone already leads us to question this interpretation. h. Here's the problem… this interpretation poses the least difficulty from a theological point of view. i. If the Samaritans had not been filled with, baptized with, or had the Spirit come upon them for sign gifts and prophesying – it actually makes a good deal of sense to us that the apostles would lay hands on them and see to it that they receive this anointing from the Spirit. j. However, it is highly unlikely that Luke intends this kind of Spirit's work here. So, what else could it mean? 2. He could mean that the Holy Spirit had not yet indwelled them. a. Going back to the usage argument we find two items in this text that seem to almost confirm that this is exactly what is happening here. b. First, it says that they had not yet received the Holy Spirit and that they had merely been baptized in the name of Jesus. c. In Peter's Pentecost sermon, after the Jews asked him what they could do, being guilty of the Messiah's death, Peter said to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. (So everything that has happened in Samaria so far) And then he said, “And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” i. Although the Spirit of God works in the hearts of unbelievers before they are converted, He only indwells a believer after they receive faith in Christ. ii. Many Christians get this crossed up when they try to place regeneration after faith. iii. Regeneration is indeed a work of the Spirit of God, but it occurs prior to faith. And regeneration is never equated with the Spirit's indwelling in scripture. iv. The order must be, Regeneration, faith, and then indwelling. It is all God's work, we know that, but this is the necessary logical order of salvation. d. Later in this passage, Peter refers to the Spirit's being received by people as a gift from God. And in Acts 2 he refers to the same thing which follows repentance and baptism into the name of Jesus. e. Therefore, the most likely interpretation, is that the Samaritans had repented, believed, and been baptized… but the Spirit of God had not indwelled them yet. 3. But there are two significant difficulties if this is the case. a. Peter, the other New Testament writers, and church theologians down through the ages generally agree that the Spirit of God indwells those who believe the moment they believe. The moment they are baptized into Christ by true faith, they receive the Spirit of God. b. Our second problem with this interpretation is the lack of quantifiable evidence to prove definitively that the Spirit had or had not indwelled them. In other places in Acts, in the early church, and even today – we have no way of telling just by looking at someone that they have or have not been indwelled with the Holy Spirit. 4. So, what do we do with these problems? Is there a third option besides The Spirit's filling and the Spirit's indwelling. a. In short, no there isn't a third option. This is clearly saying that the Samaritans were not yet indwelled with the Holy Spirit, despite having believed and despite having been baptized in Jesus' name. b. This is validated by Luke taking an entire verse in verse 16 to explain the oddity of this event. c. Since this is the case, what do we do with the problems? i. Both problems share the same answer. Broadly speaking. 1. The book of Acts often records for us events that deviate from the normative experience. 2. Why? 3. Because the church and its expansion is anything but normal. ii. But getting to the problems specifically – what about the fact that this seems to violate how we understand the indwelling of the Spirit? 1. First, Luke knows it violates the norm. That is why he mentions it in verse 16 as something unexpected. 2. Second, look at all the other details of this event that are different than what the church might have expected at that time. a. The apostles are not present for the preaching and reception of the gospel. b. These aren't faithful Jews. c. The church isn't there to receive them and disciple them. 3. Third, in the book of Acts, this is not the only time that the order of repentance, faith, baptism and indwelling gets moved around. And in each event when the order deviates from the norm – it marks the gospel going to a unique people group. 4. In short, Luke highlights the fact that this is NOT normal. Why? 5. Its oddity marks a significant shift in the church movement. 6. One that even the apostles must observe and accept. iii. But what about the observability of the Spirit's indwelling? 1. Although Luke doesn't tell us specifically, we can reasonably assume that the reception of the Spirit by the Samaritans was marked by some of them inheriting sign gifts. 2. But I thought you said this wasn't talking about sign gifts. Well… it is actually talking about both. 3. In the New Testament outside of the book of Acts – no where is it even hinted that sign gifts accompany true conversion. 4. These gifts are from the Spirit, and those gifts are only manifested in the lives of true believers. But they are not THE sign of someone's conversion. 5. However, in Acts, after the gospel leaves Jerusalem, we will see that whenever new people groups come to faith in Christ in large numbers, their conversion is accompanied by sign gifts being displayed among some of them. 6. Why do you suppose that is? Well, what are sign gifts? Sign gifts exist as a sign to authenticate the Lord's hand in the events. They either authenticate the message of the one performing the signs (for the unbeliever listening) or they authenticate the Lord's movement in someone's life (for the church's confirmation that this is indeed from God). 7. In both cases the sign gifts prove the Lord is behind what is happening. 8. In this case, the apostles were looking for the Lord's signature on this new group of people receiving the gospel. The Lord sent His Spirit and they began to perform sign gifts. viii. And so, If you got lost in that whole discussion… come back! Let me summarize it all by saying this…what does it mean that the Spirit had not yet fallen upon the Samaritans? It means that God did not send the Spirit as He normally would immediately after faith in Christ is received. Why? Because God wanted to confirm to His followers that the gospel could and should now go forward to Samaritans. That even Jewish cultists could receive the true gospel and be made members of this one body called the church. c. [Slide 4] Summary of the Point: And so, resonating with the points we made last week, God has expanded the gospel call. And all who respond are part of His church. The true universal church of Christ is not divided by what you used to worship prior to coming to Christ. They are united in Christ. But along with this we advance beyond the point from last week to see that though the gospel call is open to all men, if someone responds to that call, they will receive the universal experience of the grace of God in receiving the Holy Spirit. All of God's true children receive His Spirit. So as His church, we should look for this confirmation in those who claim Christ. Transition: [Slide 5(blank)] But as we already said, today we don't see sign gifts displayed when someone receives the Spirit of God. So what should we be looking for as evidence that He has indwelled us or another believer? II.) All who truly receive the Holy Spirit will conform in faith and practice, so we must seek confirmation of the Spirit's indwelling in those who claim Christ. (18-24) a. [Slide 6] 18-19 – Now when Simon saw that the Spirit had been bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” i. Thanks to Luke, we know well the background of Simon. He used to perform grand magic arts and was highly respected and many thought he was some kind of demi-god. ii. But when Philip came with signs authenticating his message, many left Simon and adhered to the teaching of Philip. iii. But Simon believed too and was baptized. Having stopped there last week, I chose to let the validity of Simon's conversion remain uncertain to help us learn not to be hasty to accept or reject the profession of faith of prominent people. iv. What I did not say last week is that Luke did give us clues that something was amiss with Simon's profession. 1. There is no object of his faith and baptism. Unlike the people who believed in the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ and were baptized in this teaching– Simon simply believed and was baptized. 2. He followed Philip around everywhere. The word is that he “devoted himself”… to Philip. After Peter spoke at Pentecost, the church devoted themselves to (same Greek word) the apostles teaching, the Lord's Supper, the Community of Faith, and the Prayers. But Simon is drawn to the man that had more power than he had. 3. He is continually amazed by the signs and wonders Philip performs. Given his background, it is incredibly concerning that he continued to witness and be amazed by the sign gifts Philip performs. This subtly indicates that he is drawn to what he has always been drawn to. Power. v. And if that is not enough to convince us that Simon's conversion was false, in our text this morning, we see Simon revealing the true nature of his heart to us. vi. If you simply keep three words in your minds as we read over Simon's words – you see his heart's motivation, come to the surface. Power, Prestige, Prominence. vii. Give this authority to me, he says. Not gift, not blessing, not responsibility. Authority. viii. He tries to hide it well, by saying that he can give more people the Spirit of God… but he has overplayed his hand. ix. Do the apostles have authority to give the Spirit? Is that what is going on here? x. No. xi. In reality the apostles are seeking confirmation from the Lord. If they lay hands on them and nothing happened – they would not conclude that their power wasn't working. They would conclude that these people were not genuine in their faith. After praying and seeing the Lord gift His Spirit and prove that with sign gifts among them – they do not conclude THEY did this… but rather that the gospel was indeed received by Samaritans. xii. Simon is not merely confused. He is lost. xiii. But is this Peter's assessment too? Let's look. b. [Slide 7] 20 – But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you supposed you could obtain the gift of God with money! i. The word perish means to come to ruin, to be destroyed, or to be squandered. It is often used as an expression of hell or the realm of the dead. Doomed to decay forever. ii. One scholar translates Peter's words here in common vernacular. “To hell with you and your greed.” iii. Although we may bristle at these words – they are a fair rendering of the strength of what Peter says. In this Peter is not needlessly swearing or using strong language but is instead using strong language in the truest sense. iv. Peter says he is hell bound along with his greed for thinking that he could buy God's gift. c. [Slide 8] 21 – You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. i. Is Peter condemning him for desiring to purchase the office of the apostle or is there another matter to which Simon has no part? ii. The final statement in this verse gives us a clue. iii. Because his heart is not right or is opposed to God – he has no part or portion in this matter. iv. This tells us that the matter is not simply the ability to give the Spirit but even the receiving of the Spirit. v. Peter says that he doesn't belong in this entire discussion. He is not part of Christ's church. d. [Slide 9] 22 – Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray earnestly to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. i. You must repent! You must hope that the Lord, if he permits it, will allow you to be forgiven of your covetous intentions. ii. This does not sound like a man who is a believer that has simply gone astray. This sounds like a man who is a goat who has found himself among sheep. iii. Peter essentially tells him… you don't belong here. iv. Peter's uncertainty as to whether or not Simon can be forgiven turns on the exact level of how apostate his heart is. Has he reprobated himself, or is he still able to be saved. That is the issue here. And Peter doesn't know the answer. He leaves it to God. v. But Peter does see something… e. [Slide 10] 23 – For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of unrighteousness. “ i. Peter sees his heart of bitterness. His jealousy over losing his prominence, prestige and power. ii. And he is enslaved to unrighteousness. iii. Certainly, a true believer cannot be enslaved to unrighteousness. Not when Christ is said to set us free. iv. But Peter did tell Simon to repent. He told him to turn from these intentions and perhaps the Lord would forgive him. v. Does he repent? f. [Slide 11] 24 – But Simon answered and said, “Pray earnestly to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” i. While some prominent scholars have seen genuine repentance in Simon's answer… I do not agree. ii. He disobeys the clear instructions of Peter for him to repent. iii. Again, if we interpose Power, Prestige, and Prominence over what Simon says –we arrive at his heart. iv. Why does he ask for the apostles to pray for his forgiveness? v. Because Peter indicated that he may not be able to be forgiven. And the apostles obviously had more connections to God than he did… so if they pray – God will be more likely to hear them. vi. Furthermore, Simon completely disappears from the Scriptures entirely. We never hear his name again. vii. All this leads me to conclude that Simon's response is not repentance my friends. He still sees this in terms of who has the most power and who can tap into their power source better. viii. And so, we see the cycle repeat. ix. In Jerusalem, at Pentecost, signs authenticated the message, people believed and received the Spirit and grew in community with one another… but some, like Ananias and Saphira, were pretenders among them. x. In Samaria, at the Persecution, signs authenticated the message, people believed and received the Spirit and grew in community… but some, like Simon, were pretenders among them. g. [Slide 12] Summary of the Point: So just as we saw that all true believers are indwelled with the Spirit of God, we now see that evidence of that indwelling begins with doctrinal conformity and practical obedience. Not only was Simon incorrect in his understanding of the nature of the Spirit of God and God's sovereign freedom to give the Spirit to whom He wishes, but he was also unwilling or unable to produce fruit of repentance by shedding his former ways and following after Christ and Christ alone. Simon's false conversion is a warning to those who believe and are baptized simply to go along with the crowd, or with false pretenses for acceptance, influence, or power. It is also instruction to us to continue to seek confirmation of someone's calling and Spirit indwelling, even after they have professed faith and been baptized. How do we do this? By looking for the fruit which the Holy Spirit alone can produce in someone. Namely, conformity to primary doctrines and to Christ and His righteousness. Transition: [Slide 13(blank)] What other indicators can we look for when we are attempting to assure ourselves or confirm others as true believers? III.) All who true believers will submit to the authority and watch care of God's people., so we must seek confirmation of the Spirit's indwelling in those who claim Christ. (25) h. [Slide 14] 25 – So, when they had solemnly bore witness and spoken the word of the Lord, i. This last verse, in three parts, concludes the entire event of the gospel going to the Samaritans. ii. First, is that Peter and John bore witness and spoke the word of the Lord to them. iii. What are we to make of this? iv. Since the Spirit of the Lord did indeed fall upon the Samaritans, we can reasonably assume that this teaching was not corrective. It was instructive. v. The apostles took the time to establish the primary doctrines given to them directly from Jesus Himself. vi. We are not told the depth or breadth of this, nor are we told how long the apostles stayed in this particular city doing this. vii. But one thing we can reasonably conclude, is that the apostles considered these Samaritans… as their brothers and sisters in Christ. viii. Thus, the purpose of God in withholding the Spirit's indwelling from them has been fulfilled. ix. They were not the Samaritan wing of the church… they were simply the church. x. And the apostles submitted themselves to care for and disciple them just as they did with the Jews in Jerusalem. i. [Slide 15] They started back to Jerusalem i. There are a couple things happening here that are significant. ii. First, though the Samaritans are part of the church, the apostles are not going to stay in Samaria to micro-manage them. iii. Second, the apostles have more work to do in Jerusalem. There are still more there who need to hear the gospel and to be discipled. j. [Slide 16] And were proclaiming the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. i. The apostles did not believe that this was an isolated incident in one city in Samaria. ii. Instead, they now see that God has brought salvation to Jewish cultists.. iii. Therefore, they will be his witnesses also to Samaria. iv. Peter and John, on their way back to Jerusalem, preach the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. v. We are not told the specifics of this – but it is reasonable to assume that others received faith in Christ. vi. It is reasonable to assume that they continued in each city teaching and discipling the new believers. vii. It is also reasonable to assume that, although a little early for the establishment of Elders, certainly there was no doubt the appointment of leaders among the churches in each of these villages. viii. And so, it is official. The gospel has gone out from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria. k. [Slide 17] Summary of the Point: We've seen the uniform response of true believers. Though the gospel is a call given to all kinds of people, when received, we see common characteristics. First, the Spirit indwells all true believers. Second, The Spirit produces in those He indwells individuals who conform in doctrine and obedience. Third, and finally, those indwelled by the Spirit of God fall under the authority and watch care of those whom God has given to disciple them and care for their souls. We see the Samaritans here, who have received the Spirit of God, submit to the instruction and leadership of the apostles and we see the apostles take up the responsibility to lead and disciple them. And so, we too must look for a willingness from those who have claimed Christ to submit themselves to the discipleship of the word under the authority of their Spiritual leaders and the church as a whole. Conclusion: So, CBC, how can we boil down all this into one doctrinal takeaway. What have we learned and how then shall we live? Doctrinal Takeaway: [Slide 18] Although the gospel call has no bounds and is offered to all men without distinction, and although the effectual call of God will bring in men and women from various backgrounds and beliefs… those who truly receive the gospel call will have certain shared characteristics. All of which boil down to a God powered Holistic life change. The person who truly receives the gospel will never be the same as they were. They will believe what the scriptures teach on primary doctrines because they have received them directly from God and been illuminated to them by the Spirit who now indwells them. And they will live in conformity to Christ by repenting or turning from sinful and self-righteous lifestyles and living in progressing obedience to Christ and His commands, because the Spirit gives them the desire and power to do so. And they will submit to the instruction and leadership of their Spiritual leaders, because the Spirit binds us in unity and humility. Since all this is true, the church as a whole must seek to confirm that each confessing member of their fellowship are true believers by looking for the effect of the Spirit's indwelling. But let me improve on this in a few ways this morning. 1.) [Slide 19] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must believe that all who are indwelled by the Spirit will generally conform to the same faith and practice. a. We don't become the same person of course. b. We don't even agree on every single point of doctrine or practice. c. But God's true children look more the same than they do different. d. We confess the same primary doctrines concerning the Triune God, His work of redemption, and His general mission and plan for His church. e. We live uprightly, holding one another to the standard of Christ, giving liberty where the Lord allows us liberty, but compassionately correcting those who error, and expecting them to hear and repent. f. Why should we expect all God's people to do these things? g. Because the Holy Spirit lives in each of those who truly believe. He guides us into all truth and convicts us of sin. He also empowers us to live righteously. h. We expect it because it isn't wholly up to us. God is faithful to grow His children. 2.) [Slide 20] Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” We must deny that all who believe and are baptized are truly God's children. a. Certainly, belief or faith is the means that God uses to unite us to Christ. b. Certainly, baptism is the spiritual sign that signifies that we have been baptized into Christ, the Family of God. c. But as humans we don't see that side of faith and baptism do we? d. All we see is the observable signs of profession and water baptism. We observe that someone says they believe and they receive water baptism. e. But as convincing as someone can be, we see story after story in the New Testament of those who believed and were baptized, but they were not true children of God. f. The benchmark for true believers is not set so low as to be a day and date that you said some words and submerged yourself in water. g. The benchmark for true believers is ongoing conformity to Christ. h. So, we must stop pointing to dates in our bible or baptismal records to indicate whether someone is God's child. For these records are useless compared to the real tests of genuine faith. 3.) [Slide 21] De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must stop giving false assurance to those who do not conform to the same faith and practice. a. As difficult as it might be to have such a conversation with someone, we must not hand out assurances to people who should not have them. b. When a patient informs his physician that he has a terrible pain in his finger every time he presses a button – how egregious would it be for the same physician to prescribe heavy pain killers or perform surgery to block the nerves of the finger from reaching the brain? Certainly, the pain is gone. But has the physician… has this quack solved the problem? No. c. Do not be a spiritual quack of a counselor. d. When an individual doubts their salvation because they bear no or very few observable signs that the Spirit is renewing them, if you are not bold enough to challenge them on whether they are indeed of Christ, you can at least tell them to go to the scriptures and seek out whether or not they are His child. e. But telling them that “The fact that they are concerned, is a good sign that they are believers”, asking them if they remember walking an aisle or praying a prayer, telling them that it doesn't matter if they don't believe that Jesus died for sin or that He rose from the dead, as long as they ask Him to save them– all you've done is lay out a red carpet so that they may walk their path to hell without stubbing their toe. f. False conversions abound my friends. About 4% of our nation shapes their views and lifestyles around what the Word of God teaches. Out of an estimated 334 million people who live in this nation… that means around 13 million are genuine believers. g. But 68% of our nation claims to be Christians. That is just over 227 million people. That means that there could be more than 214 million Americans who have false conversions. h. My friends. We cannot afford to hand out false assurances. We must expect that God's true children conform to the same general faith and practice, and warn those who don't with the gospel of Christ and implore them as Peter did… to repent. 4.) [Slide 22] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don't naturally do or aren't currently doing?” We must test one another's confession of faith by offering the means of grace that will only be effective to those who have the Spirit of God. a. God has afforded to His people several means of grace. We've talked about these before. b. These means of grace are ways that God uses to grow the faith of his true people and mature them in Christ. c. These means include prayer, study of scripture, preaching of the Word, fellowship of the saints, the singing of psalms hymns and spiritual songs, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. d. When God's true children engage in and partake in these, God freely uses these to minister to His people and grow them. e. What does that mean for us? f. If we see men and women cold to spiritual things, steeped in sin, unable to obey the Lord, questioning primary doctrines, or generally stagnant in their faith, even when we give them these means of grace, it is not a leap to wonder or even question the validity of their confession. g. The church that is heavily infiltrated by false converts – is no church at all. It is a mission field for God's true church. h. So let us test one another's confession by ministering to each other and expecting growth. 5.) [Slide 23(end)] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” God secures all His dear children and provides ways they can be assured that they are His. a. God always gives His Spirit to His true people. b. His Spirit is the guarantee, the seal that ensures that we will be purified and made righteous one day in His presence. c. All God's children are His forever, and they will never be lost. But the other side of that coin is that we will see God growing us in our walk. d. Year after year, decade after decade, we will see the Lord kill off sin in us and grow our faith. e. What a glorious God that He has provided such gifts to assure us that we are His. Let me close with a prayer from the Puritan Isaac Ambrose. Lord, if you give us yourself, we will have every gift. If you give us your Spirit, we will have every good thing. Come, Holy Spirit, and dwell in our souls. We know you will make the place of your feet glorious. If only we have your presence, we will be all glorious within. Lord, we have heard that Christ is always praying for His people. May we feel the real result of His intercession. May we actually feel His prayers, and the warmth of that spiritual fire which is falling down from His prayers into our hearts. Lord warm our spirits, and let us feel your kiss, that we may now have communion with you, your Spirit upon us, and your protection over us. Seal our pardon, confirm your grace, and save our souls in the day of Jesus. For it is in His name we pray… Amen. From I Kings 8:56-58 May the Lord who has never failed in any of His good promises, Who does not leave or forsake His own, May He turn your hearts to Him, To walk in His ways And to keep His commands that He gave our fathers in the faith. Until we meet again… go in peace.

Heavenly Father, we come to You not on the basis of our righteousness. We come to You not on the basis of our uprightness or our morality. We come to You on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Jesus, we thank You that You made a way for us to have a loving relationship with God the Father, a meaning to experience this Person, to experience His presence and to experience His power. And we thank You, Jesus, because of Your work on the cross, because of Your death, burial, resurrection, Your ascension and You sent us the Holy Spirit. You offer the Spirit of God to each person who humbly asks. I pray, Lord, today, that You do unleash Your great power in our lives, in our homes, in our households, in our families, in our church and in our city. We do believe in You that You are a great God and You long for people to come to know You. You long to adopt many into Your household, to make those who are not Your children, Your beloved children in whom You delight.I pray, if anyone is far from You, far from the household of God today, give them the gift of repentance, give them the gift of faith and draw them to Yourself. And Lord, for the rest of us, I do pray that You embolden us to speak the gospel, give us opportunities to proclaim the gospel, unleash our tongues, to proclaim the gospel, the truth to the people around us. There's so many that don't know You and they haven't experienced Your presence and Your power and we believe on their behalf and we long to bring them to You, Lord. And I pray that You give us much grace in that. Lord, bless our time in the holy scriptures. Bless everyone who's here today. What a great way to start off the brand new year. And Lord, I pray that You prepare our hearts for holy communion, which we'll celebrate later. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.Well, good morning and welcome to Mosaic on this communion Sunday. We're continuing our sermon series through the incredible Gospel of Mark. We've called it Kingdom Come, the Gospel of Mark and the secret of God's kingdom. And in the gospel, Jesus is revealing, He's unveiling, He is regulating revelation. And those that do believe in Him, they take Him at His word. They begin to see that He really is who He is and His power is unleashed in their life. The title of the sermon today's Great Faith Unleashes Great Power. And what we've seen so far in the Gospel of Mark is that God, who created everything, the great God overall, He takes on flesh. The Son of God is sent by God the Father. He's anointed by God the Holy Spirit to establish the kingdom of God here on earth where God's presence and His peace reigns.And how does Jesus Christ, the Son of God, establish the kingdom of God? He does so with a message. And this is the good news, the gospel. It's the gospel that changes hearts because the kingdom of God is an inside out kingdom. God changes our hearts when we believe in the good news. He changes our desires. We begin to desire prayer. We begin to desire fellowship with God's people. We begin to desire to do the will of God, to live in submission to God out of love for Him and love for neighbor. And what was the gospel that Jesus preached? It was very short. His very first sermon is documented and it went like this.He says, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Repent and believe the good news that the King of the Universe has come to save us, save us from Satan, sin and death by laying down His life on a cross." And we are to repent and believe in Him, believe that He is God, believe that He is the King of the Universe. Now, how many people believed this message? During Jesus' three year ministry, how many people believed this message and how many people were saved? I think, statistically speaking, it was a very small percentage. If you look at First Corinthians 15, it says that the resurrected Christ appear to 500 people. 500 people, what a small percentage of all the people that He ministered to.And who believed? Well, those who were seemingly crazy enough to take Jesus at His word. He spoke, they believed, and all of a sudden, they were saved and God's power was unleashed in their life when they really believed that He was the Great I Am when they humbly believed. Those people experienced the power of God. His family, Jesus' family, we read, they thought He was out of His mind. The good folks back home and His hometown mocked Him as, "Oh, you're just a carpenter. You're just the Son of Mary." And the Pharisees we read that they joined forces with the Herodians to kill Jesus. Some thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. Herod Antipas believed that. Some thought He was Elijah even when He fed the 5,000 miraculously. They understood that He was presenting Himself as the Messianic King, but they didn't realize what kind of king He was, the king of people's hearts.The religious establishment said that Jesus was demon-possessed, a sorcerer, a false teacher. And even the disciples we read who saw His power over and over and over had said that they were hardened in their hearts and they had trouble believing. Amazingly, the only ones that truly recognize Jesus for who He is all of the time are the demons. The demons understood. But the few who took Jesus at His word, they experienced His power and they experienced His salvation. And today, we come to such a woman. We come to a woman who amazed Jesus Christ with her faith. To her, Jesus said, "Oh, woman, great is your faith." And her great faith released great power in her life. And great faith does release great power. Why? Because God honors bold faith because bold faith honors God.So that brings us to Mark 7:24-37. Would you look at the text with me? "And from there, He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth and she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But she answered Him, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' And He said to her, 'For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter.' And she went away and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure saying, 'He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.'This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First, great faith is humble chutzpah before God. Second, great faith is humble hunger for God. And third, great faith is humble bringing and begging. First, great faith is humble chutzpah before God. Chutzpah, it's from the Yiddish. It means nerve. It means courage. It means impudence. It means confidence in action. I like that word. And it definitely perfectly characterizes this woman's posture of heart. She comes boldly with confidence, yet it's humble confidence. So this is point one, the great faith is humble chutzpah before God.We saw the progression from chapter 7 verses 1 through 23 to this one, which is very logical where Jesus said, He called all food clean, meaning He removed the barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles, the barrier of the dietary laws that separated Jews socially from Gentiles. And now Jesus is positioned perfectly to enter Gentile territory, something a Jewish rabbi would have never done because they consider the Gentiles unclean. And Jesus said, "It's not what comes from the outside that makes you unclean. It's that which comes from the inside that makes you unclean and Jesus can cleanse all.So now He comes into Gentile territory. This is verse 24. From there, He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon and He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. The human, Jesus, God incarnate, He did grow tired at some points. He just had ministered to many people. He's exhausted and now He journeys into Gentile territory, tries to keep Himself hidden. He can't do it because His fame had already proceeded Him. Tyre had a long history of antagonism toward Israel. Josephus, the Jewish historian, he said, "The inhabitants of Tyre were notoriously our bitterest enemies." There was bad blood between these two groups of people, the Galileans and people from Tyre. So that's the context.So this woman who is from the other people, she's from the other religions, she's from the other socioeconomic status, she's from the other-other everything, she comes to Jesus and she comes to Jesus boldly. Verse 25, "But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet." The unclean spirit is a demon that's made clear in verses 29 and 30. So here, we meet a mother, a desperate mother. She comes to Christ. She's heard of His explosive power and she throws herself at His feet in an attitude, a posture of heart, of self-abasement and supplication. She prostrates herself before Him, which shows the level of her distress, her pain.The pain of her child had brought her to Jesus Christ. The pain of her child had brought her to her knees. And she's interceding for her child. A mother is praying for her child. And whenever I see texts like this, just a reminder that we are to intercede for our loved ones. We are to intercede in prayer for our children and for our siblings and for our families and for our neighbors, and for our city. We are to pray. And when we intercede, God hears those prayers, especially when they're prayed with this posture of heart. The mother prayed for her child because the child couldn't pray for herself and the mother persisted until her prayer was granted.We see that this woman is very similar to the woman that was suffering 12 years from a hemorrhage in chapter 5. The likeness has seen that they were both ritually impure. They both needed miraculous power from the Lord. And despite her impurity, the Syrophoenician, like the woman with the hemorrhage, comes boldly hoping for healing from Christ. Verse 26, "Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'" The Matthew parallel calls her a Canaanite woman. The word for Gentile here, it's a word that means that she was Greek speaking or Hellenized. So she's a Greek-speaking pagan Gentile from Tyre and the woman hopes that Jesus is going to heal her. She asks, she begs, she pleads. And it seems like He says no. It seems like Jesus' response dashes her hopes in a very hard way. And what is Jesus doing here? Jesus is showing that He ... First of all, there was an order to the salvation process. There was an order to the revelation that, first of all, He came to the children of Israel. Romans 1:16 says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, but it's for anyone who believes."Or 1 Corinthians 1:22, "For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." Why the Jews first? Because the Jews became the first rebellious children of God. He chose them as His people. They rebelled against Him. He sends His Son into this vineyard, so to speak, to then save them, save the elect from Israel. And Isaiah 1:2-3 explains or opens, reveals the Father's heart, "Hear, O heavens and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people do not understand."The word first is used in our text proton. It's always used in order to explain that in the eschatological timeline of God's revelation, there is progress. The coming of Elijah was supposed to come before the Messiah. The binding of Satan needs to happen before despoiling of His house. Jesus' ministry to His fellow Jews was first, but He's in Gentile territory, meaning He's there to bring home the elect as well. Jesus expands His gospel ministry beyond Israel even when He was here. Only after these events have occurred in their divinely ordered sequence can the end come. As Mark says in chapter 4, "First a shoot, then an ear, then full grain in the year." There's a pattern here.The word proton and the thought behind it are similar to those of Paul in Romans 1 and Romans 11. Jesus did come for the Jew first but also for the Gentile. And here, it seems very derogatory if you think about it. He's calling her a dog. He's like, "I'm going to feed the children first and then you don't feed the dogs before the children." And you read the commentaries and they're like, "Well, it's not that offensive. It's the diminutive. He's calling her a little dog." No, that's offensive. You call anyone a little dog in that ... In our context, we love dogs. Dogs are domesticated. I have a daughter that prays on just as persistently as a Syrophoenician woman for a dog and ... Long story.But in our context, we love the dogs. People even consider themselves dog parents. Back then, they didn't domesticate dogs. Dogs were wild. Dogs lived outside of cities. Dogs were considered unclean and the New Testament continues this negative attitude. St. Paul says, "Beware of the dogs." In Philippians, Jesus says, "Don't throw what is holy to the dogs or the pigs." In Revelation 22:15, "The dog is an outsider to the community of God's grace." So using the terminology dog, he's calling her a dog, is an insult. That's what's happening. He's insulting her so to speak.And the question really is, how is she going to respond? Is she going to say, "No, I reject your verdict. I reject your bad news. I don't want your good news because I reject your bad news about my current state"? She doesn't do any of that. She hears it and she desperately continues in her persistence. Despite Jesus' seeming cool indifference and silence, she got His no. And she's like, "Okay, great, but I still ask for Your yes." Matthew 15 in the parallel context, in Matthew 15:22, "And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.' But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and begged Him saying, 'Send her away, for she is crying out after us.' He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' But she came and knelt before Him saying, 'Lord, help me.' But He answered, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'"You'd expect her to get angry. You'd expect her to call Jesus all of the isms and call him all of the ist names, but she doesn't get all huffy. She's not too proud to accept the verdict. She doesn't say, "How dare You? How dare You mock me? How dare You belittle me?" She could have said, "I didn't choose to be a Gentile. I didn't choose to be born here. I didn't choose to have a daughter that suffers. I'm not even asking for myself, Jesus. Do You know how much we've suffered together? We deserve something from You." She doesn't do any of that. She realizes that she cannot stand before Jesus, before Christ, before the Son of God, before God Himself on her rights, on her moral record.Even on the basis of her own suffering, she understands that God owes her nothing. She understands who she is in relation to the God of the universe. She remains humble. Even when she hears really hard words from Jesus, she gets a really hard no, but she continues asking. She continues believing, humbly believing, humbly understanding that she has absolutely zero grounds upon which to claim His favor. She says, "Yes, I am a dog. In relation to God, I am a dog. I'm unfit for the Father's favor. I have transgressed commandments. I have lived as though God does not exist. I have broken the first commandment, it's because I've broken the first one, I've broken them all. The first commandment is, 'Thou shall have no other gods before me.' I haven't worshiped Yahweh. Yes, I am a dog. Yes, I'm outside, but, but I see Your house is big enough even for me, but I see that there's enough bread on Your table even for a dog like me." That's her posture of heart.And when we present the gospel, we say, "Look, it starts with the bad news." The bad news is we have broken God's sovereign law. Whenever you break any law, there are to be consequences for the breaking of the law, especially when it comes to God. Whoever transgresses even one law deserves death. The word of God says, "Deserves eternal damnation." The word of God says, "That's the bad news. Apart from God, we are not children. Apart from God, we are sinners." "And yes, Lord, I am a sinner. I am a filthy, wretched dog. I am a dog. Can I be Your dog? I hear You're a good master." That's what she's saying. That's why I use the word for chutzpah, it's nerve, it's brass, it's confidence and actions gall. It's audacity.And this brings us to point two, great faith is humble hunger for God. And you see this, you see what she's doing. She's not just asking for the miracle. She's relating to Jesus. She's conversing with Jesus. She wants more of God in her life. She's hungry for God. Verse 28, "But she answered Him, 'Yes Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'" The Syrophoenician woman, she's like, "Yes, I am a dog," but all of a sudden, she's so smart, she switches everything. She puts the dog in the house. I don't know if you notice this. She's like, "I am a dog, but I'm a dog in Your house under Your table." That's what she's doing.And this reminds us, this whole encounter with a Gentile woman, a Gentile woman's daughter, it reminds us of Elijah. Elijah the prophet was sent to the people of Israel, but the people of Israel didn't obey. They didn't believe in God. So then he goes to the Gentiles. And Jesus, when He started His ministry in His hometown, He goes to the synagogue and He reminded them of that story. He said, "Look, I've come here to the children of Israel, but the children of Israel refuse to believe. So I'm going to the Gentiles, just like Elijah was sent to the Gentiles," Luke 4:24, "And he said, 'Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heavens were shut up three years and six months and a great famine came over the land. And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath and the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elijah and none of them was cleansed, but only Namaan the Syrian.When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath and they rose up and drove Him out of the town and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, so that they could throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went away." And you say, "Why did they get so mad? Why do they get so angry?" They got so angry because He reminded them that God loves Gentiles as well. And it's not your birth, it's not your DNA, it's not your ethnicity that makes you right with God. It's your humility. It's your humble repentance where you say, "God, I don't deserve to be Your child. God, I don't deserve a relationship. God, I don't deserve cleansing in Your power, but I'm going to ask anyway."After His rejection at Nazareth, Jesus gives a clear warning of the coming mission to the Gentiles that He's going to the Gentiles. And it is in light of this background that we must read the initial response to this woman. He went to the children of Israel who said, "We don't want You. Jesus, we don't need You. We're children of Israel by birth." And Jesus said, "No one's a child of God by birth. You can't be born into the Family of God physically, only spiritually. You need to be born again." And they didn't want to hear that. They didn't want to hear that they needed to repent, that they needed to follow God.And yet this woman, she's told, "You're not a child of God. You're a dog," and she doesn't get huffy. She continues the conversation. She calls Him Lord, "Yes, Lord. Even the dogs on the table eat the children's crumbs." She says, "Yes, Lord, but there's plenty on that table even for me." She lays hold of Christ's word and bases her plea upon Him. The woman's response transforms the dog of Jesus metaphor into a domestic dog in the house. She, here in the stories, part of the household of faith. One translation says, "Since then, I am a dog. I'm not a stranger. I'm not outside." Another translation, she says, "Let me be a dog. I'll accept that I am, but even a dog has his day or her day. Yes, I'm a little dog, but can I still have some crumbs from the table? Yes, I'm a little dog, but I'm Your dog and You're my master."She calls him, "Lord, I am a humble part of the household. I don't deserve to be here, but I'm just asking for a crumb. I'm just asking for a little bit of your grace." And Jesus hears that. Jesus hears her plea and her plea is actually based on a promise from the Old Testament, a promise that God gave to Abraham. When He blesses Abraham, He says, "I'm going to extend the blessings I'm giving you to the rest of the world." Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. All of the families. All of the families shall be blessed. All of the families, all of the people that come to God and say, "God, I don't have any rights to assert, that I'm coming to You with a right less assertiveness. I'm not coming to You on the basis of my goodness. I'm coming to You on the basis of Your goodness and Your generosity."Thomas Cranmer, in The Book of Common Prayer, he says, "We do not presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table, but thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy." Jesus hears her and He likes her response. In verse 29, He said to her, "For this statement," another translation says, "Good answer. Good answer." I wish I was there to see the twinkle in His eye, "Good answer." "For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter," and she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.In response to the woman's audacity, her impudent faith, She wrestles a blessing from Christ. And in this, she reminds us of someone else's scripture. She reminds us of Jacob. Jacob, when he wrestled with God, when he took hold of God, and most likely, that was a Christophany because it says that he wrestled with God and it said that he wrestled with a Man. It was a Man God, the God Man, Jesus Christ. This woman is much like Jacob in her persistence, her refusal to take no for an answer. She's content to get the no, "Yes, I am a dog," but she still keeps asking for the yes.And Jacob did the same thing. Jacob in Genesis 32, he was a man in need. The next morning, he was going to meet his brother, Esau, his estranged brother, Esau, and he thought he was going to meet Esau with murderous intent, that Esau wanted to kill him. He feared for his own life, Jacob did. He feared for the lives of his wives and children. So he prays. He sends them ahead and he prays with God. And the Lord appears to him as a man and wrestled with him through the night. And of course, the Lord was play wrestling. He's not really wrestling with Jacob. Jacob thought He was wrestling. Jesus was playing.This is Genesis 32:24, "Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that He did not prevail against Jacob, He touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as He wrestled with him. Then he said, 'Let me go for, the day has broken.' But Jacob said, 'I will not let You go unless You bless me.' And He said to him, 'What is your name?' He said, 'Jacob.' Then He said, 'Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.' Then Jacob asked Him, 'Please tell me Your name.' And He said, 'Why is it that you asked My name?' And there, He blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, 'For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been delivered.'"And you say, "Why did Jesus tell a woman no in the beginning? What is He doing? Did she change His mind from a silent indifference to helping her?" I don't think that's what's happening. When He says for this statement, He's not saying, "Because you have said this or because you have changed My mind," He's saying, "Because you've passed the test." He was testing her. He said, "No," to test her. "Is she going to persist? Is she going to continue asking?" It was a ploy designed to evoke even greater levels of faith on her part. Martin Luther commenting on this text, he said, "Christians need to persist in trusting God even when He seems to turn His back on them. We must learn to see the yes hidden in His no."I think that's really powerful, especially if you meditate on or you apply it to your life. We must work to see His yes and His no. If He says no, now He has a better yes for us. So we keep asking, we keep asking, we keep asking, and obviously, in all the Lord's will. Matthew 15:28, "Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly." Her faith delighted Jesus Christ. My daughter, sometimes they come to me and they test me to see how strict I am regarding grades. And they're like, "Yeah, but if I get an A-, is that okay?" "Oh, yeah, that's fine.""What if I get a B+?" "You're pushing it. You're pushing it." "What if I get a B ..." And my conversation is, "Look, I don't care about your GPA honestly. I can't tell you that I just did, but I really don't care. I don't care. I do. Do your best in your sports. Do your best. I care about your soul above all else. I care about your faith. I care that you grow in your relationship with the Lord. I care about you growing in wisdom." And Jesus is in the same way. He's delighted by this woman's faith. May your faith and may my faith delight the Lord in the same way. She took Christ at His word, and when He said, "You're dog," and then He blesses her like a child.And this is really how God speaks of salvation, that when we repent of our sins and turn to Christ, we get regenerated, we get a new heart, but we also get a new identity. We become a child of God. God adopts us into His family. God says, "You are not My children, but I'm going to make you My children," and it's all because of His Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." He rewards those who seek Him. Do you seek Him with the same posture of heart persistently, "Lord, I want more of You. Lord, I want more of Your presence. Lord, I want more of Your power."And that's why Jesus is called the Bread of Life, and we are to hunger, our souls are to hunger for Jesus as the Bread of Life. "Lord, I'm starving. I am famished for You." What do you do when you're hungry? You can't stop thinking about food. You're just salivating. You're thinking about that next meal that's coming and this is ... What is humility? It's recognizing, "Lord, apart from You, I'm starving. My soul is starving. Lord, I seek you." And the word of God says, "Whoever seeks God will be found. He will be found by them." Her faith is dramatically contrasted with the heartened unbelief of the Pharisees who were Jewish. They consider themselves children of God, but they weren't because they had no faith in Christ. And her faith even outshines the understanding of the disciples whose hearts were hardened at times. And God loves persistent pursuit of Him and He rewards this lavishly.Matthew 11:12, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force." What does that mean? He's talking about John the Baptist. John the Baptist, he sacrificed everything to proclaim that Jesus Christ is God, to proclaim that, "Jesus Christ is here. He's willing to save people." John the Baptist sacrificed everything for the kingdom of God to expand. The violent, he took it by force. It took effort. It took work on his part and the same way, if you pursue God, if you sacrifice to pursue God. And yes, this does take sacrifice like, "Rain, snow, whatever, I'm going to church." That's who you are. I commend all of you. You're here at first service. Praise be to God.I had a phone call from a pastor and he's like, "Are you guys canceling church?" I was like, "This isn't public school. We don't believe in snow days. Forget that. We're going to church." Yeah, we'll get a little wet. That's fine. We do close church if the tea's not running. That's because of the temple situation. But what I'm saying is, yes, it does take effort. You want to experience more of God? It takes effort to wake up just to study the scriptures. It takes effort to pray. It takes effort to pursue the Lord. Like the paralytic friends, remember that the house is full, they couldn't get through to Christ. They climb into the roof. They break through 18 inches of sod and branches in the roof lowering the man and the man is healed and Jesus forgives him of his sins as well.Jesus delights in persistent faith like that of this woman. Another example is Luke 18 and Luke 18, there's a woman who keeps returning to a judge, pleading her case over and over and over. And verse 4 of Luke 18 says, "For a while, he refused, but afterward, he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And this is a comparison, opposites of course, that God, He wants to give us mercy, He wants to give us justice, He wants to pour out His power in our life, but do we keep coming to him persistently, doggedly, voraciously, yet humbly like this woman does?She depended on Christ's goodness, not her own, so she finally understood grace. She understood grace. "It's not because of anything in me, Lord. I plead Your mercy. I plead Your grace. And faith is such a picture. It's not this bloodless, flaccid, distracted, half-hearted acceptance of certain propositions or theorems of theology about God. No, you realize that God is a person and that God does bless those who pursue Him. Faith is driven. It's determined. It's an unyielding grip upon God Himself and that's why hunger is such a good metaphor. Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."Matthew 5:3-6, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." And we continue the text, point three is great faith, humble bringing and begging. And verse 31, "Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him." Who are these people that brought this man that needed healing to Jesus? We're not told. We just know that these people heard about Christ. They heard that Christ has power to help, so they bring their friend and they beg God on behalf. They beg Christ on behalf of their friend."Lord, just Your hand, one hand touch our friend. Heal him." Verse 33, "And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue." Why does Jesus do this? I think the simplest explanation is probably the best one. He's speaking with this man, communicating with this man in the only language the man can understand. He puts His finger in his ears as though He's saying, "I'm going to do something to your hearing. I'm going to do something with your tongue, with your speech." Jesus is entering the man's world, the Great King of heaven, the Great Creator of heavens and the earth. The Sinless Lamb of God is coming down. He's identifying with this man and his condition and all of its wretchedness and all of its agony and angst. Jesus is coming right down to where the man is.Verse 34, "Looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' which is an Aramaic, "that is, 'Be opened.'" He looks up to heaven, so he's invoking God's power. He sighs. Why does Jesus sigh? And this is a sign of His deep feeling, His compassion for the sufferer. If you remember when He comes to Lazarus' tomb, He knows He's about to resurrect Lazarus, but before He does, He reveals His emotion in John 11:33, "When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, 'Where have you laid him?' And they said to Him, 'Lord, come and see,' and Jesus swept." So the Jews said, "See how He loved him."The phrase for deeply moved or greatly troubled, that phrase is a word used in another context to describe a horse snorting. One translation says, "He gave way to such distress of spirit, has made His body tremble." One commentator says, "This great sigh came out of His wounded heart." So what's happening? Jesus is moved by Lazarus' condition. He's moved by this man's condition. It offends Him, "This is not the way the world was supposed to be. The world was created and it was perfect and we were supposed to live in perfect harmony, perfect shalom, but we rebelled against God and sin entered the world and the ravages of sin, the consequences of sin are felt by each one of us." And when Jesus dies, He knows, this isn't the way it's supposed to be and everyone knows this.If you ask even an unbeliever, someone that doesn't believe in God, you ask them, "Is the world the way it ought to be? Are you the way you ought to be?" And everyone says, "No, because everyone knows deep down inside there's something wrong, something wrong with us, something wrong with the world." Where does that knowledge come from? The knowledge of a perfect reality and knowledge of a perfect world. It's written on our hearts. This is not how creation was meant to be in all of its beauty and all of its glory and now it's marred with sin. This man was made to reflect the image of God, the glory of God, and here, he's a poor wretch of a man suffering and Jesus is moved by that. He sighs and he says, "Be opened," and this is called a divine passive. He says, "Be opened by whom? By God." That's what he's saying. He's invoking the power of God. In verse 35, "His ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly." The ears were opened. That's another divine passive. His tongue was released by whom? By God. His tongue was unshackled, so to speak. The bond of his tongue was released.Jesus is creating a new world. That's what bringing the kingdom of God into the world means, that He's recreating things from the inside out and it starts with the message of the good news and it transforms our hearts from the inside. And then everything in the world, little by little, becomes transformed. Verse 36, "And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. He has done all things well."And this echoes Genesis 1:31 where God creates, He sees everything He's made and he says, "It is good." They say, "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak," and that's an illusion to Isaiah 35, talking about the Messianic kingdom, verse 5 of Isaiah 35, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped and shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." Of course, Jesus' miracles weren't just miracles for miracle's sake. His miracles were always a sign, a sign of a deeper reality, a sign of who Jesus is, a sign of what Jesus has come to accomplish, which is to redeem people, to redeem the world, to save souls. And this motif of the opened ear is a symbol for revelation.Same people hear the same message and someone's ears are opened and they believe and they know that this is the truest truth in the universe. This is the truth beyond any truth, underneath every single truth. And some people, they hear the same message and they walk away and they're like, "That was nice. That was a good message. What's for lunch?" The opening of the man's ear is meant to be understood as a symbol of the way in which a person is made receptive. So this is the miracle, the greater miracle. It is a great miracle that the woman's child is freed from the demon. It is a miracle that this man is healed of his deafness and his muteness, but the greater miracle is the miracle that these are pointing to and that's the miracle of the ears being opened and you hear the good news, "Oh, yes, I am a sinner. Oh yes, I have transgressed the law of God. Yes, I am guilty as charge. Yes, I accept that verdict, and yes, Jesus Christ is the only one who could save me."The problem was that Jesus wasn't clear in His teaching. You say, "Why didn't more people get saved?" The problem wasn't that His message was confused or complicated. The problem was that these people's ears were not receptive to the message. That's why Jesus often said, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." He means that there was a kind of supernatural hearing or understanding that many people are incapable of. The unbeliever certainly hears the words physically spoken, certainly maybe even understands them to an extent. They're perfectly ordinary words. We have done wrong. A great deal of wrong. We do need forgiveness and God will forgive you for all of the sins that you have ever committed only if you believe in His Son who is sent into this world to die on a cross precisely to secure forgiveness for those who trust in Him. Those who are in Christ will go to heaven when they die and only those.Nothing in those English sentences is difficult to understand, but the unbeliever does not understand them not in a way that saves them. Why? Because the unbeliever doesn't understand that they cannot come to God whenever they want. They can't come to God on their own timetable. It happens as a miracle. When you hear the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart, when you hear the Holy Spirit saying, "Repent of your sin. Come to Christ," at that moment, do not stop up your ears. At that moment, say, "Yes, Lord, I believe. Yes, Lord, I repent. Yes, Lord, save me."Therefore, it's important for us, for those who have been given ears to hear to bring people to Christ. We're not the ones that can save. Just like the friends that brought the deaf person to Jesus, they brought Him, they begged Him, but it's Jesus that does the work, not them. Verse 32, "They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him." And that's our job as believers. We are to bring people to Christ. We are to have gospel conversations with people. Any opportunity I have to speak about the Lord, I am going to use, I'm going to take. That's our job, but I can't transform a heart. I can't give ears to hear. Only the Lord can do that.In the same way that this man's tongue was unshackled, in the same way that this man's ears were opened, that's what the Lord has done for believers. Some of you have had your ears opened. You understand the gospel, you love the gospel and you love sermons, you love church, but your tongue is still shackled when it comes to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. You've heard it, you understand it, but you can't really speak about it. And I'm telling you why, because you feel a little ashamed. There's just a shame like, "I don't want them to think I'm a believer Christian like those Christians."I pray that the Lord unshackle our ... You know how Jesus tells these people, they saw the miracle and he's like, "Don't tell anyone," and then they go and they tell the whole world? And now I'm like, "Jesus, why do You do it? Is it like reverse psychology?" It's like in the great commission, Jesus went to us and said, "Do not go and make disciples of all the nations. Do not do that. We'd be making so many more disciples." Whatever it takes, this is our job. We are to unshackle. We are to speak. We are to bring people to church. We are to bring people to community. We have to bring people to read scripture together. We are to bring people to have conversations about the Lord. We are to pray for people.If you have unbelievers in your life and they have needs, ask if you can pray for them. So easy. So easy. And pray to Lord and like, "Lord, can You please flex? Lord, reveal Yourself to these people." And in the same way that these friends, anonymous, they drag their friend to Christ, the friend gets the miracle. We are to do the same here. We're meant to see the Lord's power to heal the spiritually deaf and He can give the chief of sinners even, that was what Paul called himself, a hearing ear. He can save absolutely anybody. When Jesus pours forth His Spirit, nothing is impossible and we must never despair of others. We must never regard our own hearts as too bad to be changed.You are not too much of a sinner for Jesus. Every single one of us can receive grace, can receive the crumbs from the Lord's table. All we need to do is ask. All we need to do is what this woman did. Matthew 15:2, she comes to Jesus, gets on her knees and what does she say? "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." May that be the constant cry of our hearts, "Lord, have mercy on me." And if you pray that today, if you pray to Jesus Christ, "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me," the word of God says that you are saved, that you have received eternal life. Now, follow the Lord Jesus Christ the rest of your days.This woman asked for a crumb from the Lord's table and she received what she received. She received power of God in her life. For the power of God to be unleashed in our lives, for the crumbs to fall from the Lord's table, what did Jesus Christ have to do? The Bread of Life had to come into this world and that His body was broken. And that's what today we're celebrating in the holy communion, we are remembering the suffering of Christ. His body was broken, so that we could get the crumbs from the Lord's table to be saved. His blood was shed in order to cleanse us, to redeem us, to ransom us from our sins.With that said, I'm going to transition to holy communion. For whom is holy communion? It is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you've repented of your sin, you are welcome to partake, even if today for the first time you repented and believe in Christ. If you do not believe in Christ, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service, or if you are living in unrepentant sin, also please refrain. I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 11:23-32, and while I do that, if you would like to partake and you haven't received the elements, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring them to you.1 Corinthians 11:23, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way also, He took the cup after supper saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died, but if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world."Would you please pray with me over communion. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You, the Great God of the Universe did not leave us in our sins and trespasses and You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank You that You live that perfect life. You obeyed the Father's will perfectly from the heart at all times, every second of Your incarnate life. And Lord, You were sacrificed. You sacrificed Yourself on the cross. You gave Your life in order to save us. We thank You that on the cross, You took our sin upon Yourself. You became our sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.Lord Jesus, we thank You that You offer us mercy. You offer mercy to whoever would plead Your name, the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, have mercy on us and You extend it graciously, willingly. And I thank You, Holy Spirit, that You are with us and I pray that You help us meditate now in the suffering of Christ to remember that His body was broken and His blood was shed in order for us to be healed from the inside out and given new hearts in order for us to be cleansed from shame and guilt. Lord, bless our time in the holy communion now. We repent of any sins, known sins and unknown sins, and we come to You with complete contrition of heart, asking for mercy and grace as we remember Your sufferings in our behalf. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.If this is your first time taking communion with us, there's two lids. If you open the top one that opens the cup and then the bottom one opens the bread. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, He took the bread, and after breaking it, He said, "This is My body broken for you. Take, eat and do this in remembrance of Me." He then proceeded to take the cup and he said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of My blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink and do this in remembrance of Me."Lord Jesus, as we meditate on Your sufferings and we think of what a great miracle that was, the Son of God, Son of Man dying on our behalf, we also thank about the great miracle of the resurrection, incredible that You rose from the dead verifying everything that You taught to be true. And Lord, we think of our own conversions, our own regeneration, our own salvation. What a miracle that is, that we were given faith, we were given ears to hear. And we pray that we don't take that for granted, Lord, and we pray that You, in the same way that You've saved us, in the same way that You made the great miracle of our salvation, I pray that You save many around us. Save them miraculously. We believe in a great God. We believe in your great power.And with our faith, Lord, we believe, help our own belief, but we pray that you pour out Your Spirit upon our city and upon this region, upon New England. Pour out Your Spirit in a way that the world has never seen, that I pray save hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands and more. And Lord, as this woman pleaded with You, we plead, Lord. We plead for our neighbors. We plead the blood for our loved ones. We plead the blood of Jesus Christ for our city. Lord, we thank You in advance for the great revival that is coming and we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.

Heavenly Father, we come to You not on the basis of our righteousness. We come to You not on the basis of our uprightness or our morality. We come to You on the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Jesus, we thank You that You made a way for us to have a loving relationship with God the Father, a meaning to experience this Person, to experience His presence and to experience His power. And we thank You, Jesus, because of Your work on the cross, because of Your death, burial, resurrection, Your ascension and You sent us the Holy Spirit. You offer the Spirit of God to each person who humbly asks. I pray, Lord, today, that You do unleash Your great power in our lives, in our homes, in our households, in our families, in our church and in our city. We do believe in You that You are a great God and You long for people to come to know You. You long to adopt many into Your household, to make those who are not Your children, Your beloved children in whom You delight.I pray, if anyone is far from You, far from the household of God today, give them the gift of repentance, give them the gift of faith and draw them to Yourself. And Lord, for the rest of us, I do pray that You embolden us to speak the gospel, give us opportunities to proclaim the gospel, unleash our tongues, to proclaim the gospel, the truth to the people around us. There's so many that don't know You and they haven't experienced Your presence and Your power and we believe on their behalf and we long to bring them to You, Lord. And I pray that You give us much grace in that. Lord, bless our time in the holy scriptures. Bless everyone who's here today. What a great way to start off the brand new year. And Lord, I pray that You prepare our hearts for holy communion, which we'll celebrate later. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.Well, good morning and welcome to Mosaic on this communion Sunday. We're continuing our sermon series through the incredible Gospel of Mark. We've called it Kingdom Come, the Gospel of Mark and the secret of God's kingdom. And in the gospel, Jesus is revealing, He's unveiling, He is regulating revelation. And those that do believe in Him, they take Him at His word. They begin to see that He really is who He is and His power is unleashed in their life. The title of the sermon today's Great Faith Unleashes Great Power. And what we've seen so far in the Gospel of Mark is that God, who created everything, the great God overall, He takes on flesh. The Son of God is sent by God the Father. He's anointed by God the Holy Spirit to establish the kingdom of God here on earth where God's presence and His peace reigns.And how does Jesus Christ, the Son of God, establish the kingdom of God? He does so with a message. And this is the good news, the gospel. It's the gospel that changes hearts because the kingdom of God is an inside out kingdom. God changes our hearts when we believe in the good news. He changes our desires. We begin to desire prayer. We begin to desire fellowship with God's people. We begin to desire to do the will of God, to live in submission to God out of love for Him and love for neighbor. And what was the gospel that Jesus preached? It was very short. His very first sermon is documented and it went like this.He says, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Repent and believe the good news that the King of the Universe has come to save us, save us from Satan, sin and death by laying down His life on a cross." And we are to repent and believe in Him, believe that He is God, believe that He is the King of the Universe. Now, how many people believed this message? During Jesus' three year ministry, how many people believed this message and how many people were saved? I think, statistically speaking, it was a very small percentage. If you look at First Corinthians 15, it says that the resurrected Christ appear to 500 people. 500 people, what a small percentage of all the people that He ministered to.And who believed? Well, those who were seemingly crazy enough to take Jesus at His word. He spoke, they believed, and all of a sudden, they were saved and God's power was unleashed in their life when they really believed that He was the Great I Am when they humbly believed. Those people experienced the power of God. His family, Jesus' family, we read, they thought He was out of His mind. The good folks back home and His hometown mocked Him as, "Oh, you're just a carpenter. You're just the Son of Mary." And the Pharisees we read that they joined forces with the Herodians to kill Jesus. Some thought Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. Herod Antipas believed that. Some thought He was Elijah even when He fed the 5,000 miraculously. They understood that He was presenting Himself as the Messianic King, but they didn't realize what kind of king He was, the king of people's hearts.The religious establishment said that Jesus was demon-possessed, a sorcerer, a false teacher. And even the disciples we read who saw His power over and over and over had said that they were hardened in their hearts and they had trouble believing. Amazingly, the only ones that truly recognize Jesus for who He is all of the time are the demons. The demons understood. But the few who took Jesus at His word, they experienced His power and they experienced His salvation. And today, we come to such a woman. We come to a woman who amazed Jesus Christ with her faith. To her, Jesus said, "Oh, woman, great is your faith." And her great faith released great power in her life. And great faith does release great power. Why? Because God honors bold faith because bold faith honors God.So that brings us to Mark 7:24-37. Would you look at the text with me? "And from there, He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth and she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But she answered Him, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.' And He said to her, 'For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter.' And she went away and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.' And his ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure saying, 'He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.'This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First, great faith is humble chutzpah before God. Second, great faith is humble hunger for God. And third, great faith is humble bringing and begging. First, great faith is humble chutzpah before God. Chutzpah, it's from the Yiddish. It means nerve. It means courage. It means impudence. It means confidence in action. I like that word. And it definitely perfectly characterizes this woman's posture of heart. She comes boldly with confidence, yet it's humble confidence. So this is point one, the great faith is humble chutzpah before God.We saw the progression from chapter 7 verses 1 through 23 to this one, which is very logical where Jesus said, He called all food clean, meaning He removed the barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles, the barrier of the dietary laws that separated Jews socially from Gentiles. And now Jesus is positioned perfectly to enter Gentile territory, something a Jewish rabbi would have never done because they consider the Gentiles unclean. And Jesus said, "It's not what comes from the outside that makes you unclean. It's that which comes from the inside that makes you unclean and Jesus can cleanse all.So now He comes into Gentile territory. This is verse 24. From there, He arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon and He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet He could not be hidden. The human, Jesus, God incarnate, He did grow tired at some points. He just had ministered to many people. He's exhausted and now He journeys into Gentile territory, tries to keep Himself hidden. He can't do it because His fame had already proceeded Him. Tyre had a long history of antagonism toward Israel. Josephus, the Jewish historian, he said, "The inhabitants of Tyre were notoriously our bitterest enemies." There was bad blood between these two groups of people, the Galileans and people from Tyre. So that's the context.So this woman who is from the other people, she's from the other religions, she's from the other socioeconomic status, she's from the other-other everything, she comes to Jesus and she comes to Jesus boldly. Verse 25, "But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of Him and came and fell down at His feet." The unclean spirit is a demon that's made clear in verses 29 and 30. So here, we meet a mother, a desperate mother. She comes to Christ. She's heard of His explosive power and she throws herself at His feet in an attitude, a posture of heart, of self-abasement and supplication. She prostrates herself before Him, which shows the level of her distress, her pain.The pain of her child had brought her to Jesus Christ. The pain of her child had brought her to her knees. And she's interceding for her child. A mother is praying for her child. And whenever I see texts like this, just a reminder that we are to intercede for our loved ones. We are to intercede in prayer for our children and for our siblings and for our families and for our neighbors, and for our city. We are to pray. And when we intercede, God hears those prayers, especially when they're prayed with this posture of heart. The mother prayed for her child because the child couldn't pray for herself and the mother persisted until her prayer was granted.We see that this woman is very similar to the woman that was suffering 12 years from a hemorrhage in chapter 5. The likeness has seen that they were both ritually impure. They both needed miraculous power from the Lord. And despite her impurity, the Syrophoenician, like the woman with the hemorrhage, comes boldly hoping for healing from Christ. Verse 26, "Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He said to her, 'Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'" The Matthew parallel calls her a Canaanite woman. The word for Gentile here, it's a word that means that she was Greek speaking or Hellenized. So she's a Greek-speaking pagan Gentile from Tyre and the woman hopes that Jesus is going to heal her. She asks, she begs, she pleads. And it seems like He says no. It seems like Jesus' response dashes her hopes in a very hard way. And what is Jesus doing here? Jesus is showing that He ... First of all, there was an order to the salvation process. There was an order to the revelation that, first of all, He came to the children of Israel. Romans 1:16 says, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, but it's for anyone who believes."Or 1 Corinthians 1:22, "For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." Why the Jews first? Because the Jews became the first rebellious children of God. He chose them as His people. They rebelled against Him. He sends His Son into this vineyard, so to speak, to then save them, save the elect from Israel. And Isaiah 1:2-3 explains or opens, reveals the Father's heart, "Hear, O heavens and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people do not understand."The word first is used in our text proton. It's always used in order to explain that in the eschatological timeline of God's revelation, there is progress. The coming of Elijah was supposed to come before the Messiah. The binding of Satan needs to happen before despoiling of His house. Jesus' ministry to His fellow Jews was first, but He's in Gentile territory, meaning He's there to bring home the elect as well. Jesus expands His gospel ministry beyond Israel even when He was here. Only after these events have occurred in their divinely ordered sequence can the end come. As Mark says in chapter 4, "First a shoot, then an ear, then full grain in the year." There's a pattern here.The word proton and the thought behind it are similar to those of Paul in Romans 1 and Romans 11. Jesus did come for the Jew first but also for the Gentile. And here, it seems very derogatory if you think about it. He's calling her a dog. He's like, "I'm going to feed the children first and then you don't feed the dogs before the children." And you read the commentaries and they're like, "Well, it's not that offensive. It's the diminutive. He's calling her a little dog." No, that's offensive. You call anyone a little dog in that ... In our context, we love dogs. Dogs are domesticated. I have a daughter that prays on just as persistently as a Syrophoenician woman for a dog and ... Long story.But in our context, we love the dogs. People even consider themselves dog parents. Back then, they didn't domesticate dogs. Dogs were wild. Dogs lived outside of cities. Dogs were considered unclean and the New Testament continues this negative attitude. St. Paul says, "Beware of the dogs." In Philippians, Jesus says, "Don't throw what is holy to the dogs or the pigs." In Revelation 22:15, "The dog is an outsider to the community of God's grace." So using the terminology dog, he's calling her a dog, is an insult. That's what's happening. He's insulting her so to speak.And the question really is, how is she going to respond? Is she going to say, "No, I reject your verdict. I reject your bad news. I don't want your good news because I reject your bad news about my current state"? She doesn't do any of that. She hears it and she desperately continues in her persistence. Despite Jesus' seeming cool indifference and silence, she got His no. And she's like, "Okay, great, but I still ask for Your yes." Matthew 15 in the parallel context, in Matthew 15:22, "And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.' But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and begged Him saying, 'Send her away, for she is crying out after us.' He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' But she came and knelt before Him saying, 'Lord, help me.' But He answered, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'"You'd expect her to get angry. You'd expect her to call Jesus all of the isms and call him all of the ist names, but she doesn't get all huffy. She's not too proud to accept the verdict. She doesn't say, "How dare You? How dare You mock me? How dare You belittle me?" She could have said, "I didn't choose to be a Gentile. I didn't choose to be born here. I didn't choose to have a daughter that suffers. I'm not even asking for myself, Jesus. Do You know how much we've suffered together? We deserve something from You." She doesn't do any of that. She realizes that she cannot stand before Jesus, before Christ, before the Son of God, before God Himself on her rights, on her moral record.Even on the basis of her own suffering, she understands that God owes her nothing. She understands who she is in relation to the God of the universe. She remains humble. Even when she hears really hard words from Jesus, she gets a really hard no, but she continues asking. She continues believing, humbly believing, humbly understanding that she has absolutely zero grounds upon which to claim His favor. She says, "Yes, I am a dog. In relation to God, I am a dog. I'm unfit for the Father's favor. I have transgressed commandments. I have lived as though God does not exist. I have broken the first commandment, it's because I've broken the first one, I've broken them all. The first commandment is, 'Thou shall have no other gods before me.' I haven't worshiped Yahweh. Yes, I am a dog. Yes, I'm outside, but, but I see Your house is big enough even for me, but I see that there's enough bread on Your table even for a dog like me." That's her posture of heart.And when we present the gospel, we say, "Look, it starts with the bad news." The bad news is we have broken God's sovereign law. Whenever you break any law, there are to be consequences for the breaking of the law, especially when it comes to God. Whoever transgresses even one law deserves death. The word of God says, "Deserves eternal damnation." The word of God says, "That's the bad news. Apart from God, we are not children. Apart from God, we are sinners." "And yes, Lord, I am a sinner. I am a filthy, wretched dog. I am a dog. Can I be Your dog? I hear You're a good master." That's what she's saying. That's why I use the word for chutzpah, it's nerve, it's brass, it's confidence and actions gall. It's audacity.And this brings us to point two, great faith is humble hunger for God. And you see this, you see what she's doing. She's not just asking for the miracle. She's relating to Jesus. She's conversing with Jesus. She wants more of God in her life. She's hungry for God. Verse 28, "But she answered Him, 'Yes Lord, yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.'" The Syrophoenician woman, she's like, "Yes, I am a dog," but all of a sudden, she's so smart, she switches everything. She puts the dog in the house. I don't know if you notice this. She's like, "I am a dog, but I'm a dog in Your house under Your table." That's what she's doing.And this reminds us, this whole encounter with a Gentile woman, a Gentile woman's daughter, it reminds us of Elijah. Elijah the prophet was sent to the people of Israel, but the people of Israel didn't obey. They didn't believe in God. So then he goes to the Gentiles. And Jesus, when He started His ministry in His hometown, He goes to the synagogue and He reminded them of that story. He said, "Look, I've come here to the children of Israel, but the children of Israel refuse to believe. So I'm going to the Gentiles, just like Elijah was sent to the Gentiles," Luke 4:24, "And he said, 'Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heavens were shut up three years and six months and a great famine came over the land. And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath and the land of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elijah and none of them was cleansed, but only Namaan the Syrian.When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath and they rose up and drove Him out of the town and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, so that they could throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went away." And you say, "Why did they get so mad? Why do they get so angry?" They got so angry because He reminded them that God loves Gentiles as well. And it's not your birth, it's not your DNA, it's not your ethnicity that makes you right with God. It's your humility. It's your humble repentance where you say, "God, I don't deserve to be Your child. God, I don't deserve a relationship. God, I don't deserve cleansing in Your power, but I'm going to ask anyway."After His rejection at Nazareth, Jesus gives a clear warning of the coming mission to the Gentiles that He's going to the Gentiles. And it is in light of this background that we must read the initial response to this woman. He went to the children of Israel who said, "We don't want You. Jesus, we don't need You. We're children of Israel by birth." And Jesus said, "No one's a child of God by birth. You can't be born into the Family of God physically, only spiritually. You need to be born again." And they didn't want to hear that. They didn't want to hear that they needed to repent, that they needed to follow God.And yet this woman, she's told, "You're not a child of God. You're a dog," and she doesn't get huffy. She continues the conversation. She calls Him Lord, "Yes, Lord. Even the dogs on the table eat the children's crumbs." She says, "Yes, Lord, but there's plenty on that table even for me." She lays hold of Christ's word and bases her plea upon Him. The woman's response transforms the dog of Jesus metaphor into a domestic dog in the house. She, here in the stories, part of the household of faith. One translation says, "Since then, I am a dog. I'm not a stranger. I'm not outside." Another translation, she says, "Let me be a dog. I'll accept that I am, but even a dog has his day or her day. Yes, I'm a little dog, but can I still have some crumbs from the table? Yes, I'm a little dog, but I'm Your dog and You're my master."She calls him, "Lord, I am a humble part of the household. I don't deserve to be here, but I'm just asking for a crumb. I'm just asking for a little bit of your grace." And Jesus hears that. Jesus hears her plea and her plea is actually based on a promise from the Old Testament, a promise that God gave to Abraham. When He blesses Abraham, He says, "I'm going to extend the blessings I'm giving you to the rest of the world." Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. All of the families. All of the families shall be blessed. All of the families, all of the people that come to God and say, "God, I don't have any rights to assert, that I'm coming to You with a right less assertiveness. I'm not coming to You on the basis of my goodness. I'm coming to You on the basis of Your goodness and Your generosity."Thomas Cranmer, in The Book of Common Prayer, he says, "We do not presume to come to this thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table, but thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy." Jesus hears her and He likes her response. In verse 29, He said to her, "For this statement," another translation says, "Good answer. Good answer." I wish I was there to see the twinkle in His eye, "Good answer." "For this statement, you may go your way. The demon has left your daughter," and she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.In response to the woman's audacity, her impudent faith, She wrestles a blessing from Christ. And in this, she reminds us of someone else's scripture. She reminds us of Jacob. Jacob, when he wrestled with God, when he took hold of God, and most likely, that was a Christophany because it says that he wrestled with God and it said that he wrestled with a Man. It was a Man God, the God Man, Jesus Christ. This woman is much like Jacob in her persistence, her refusal to take no for an answer. She's content to get the no, "Yes, I am a dog," but she still keeps asking for the yes.And Jacob did the same thing. Jacob in Genesis 32, he was a man in need. The next morning, he was going to meet his brother, Esau, his estranged brother, Esau, and he thought he was going to meet Esau with murderous intent, that Esau wanted to kill him. He feared for his own life, Jacob did. He feared for the lives of his wives and children. So he prays. He sends them ahead and he prays with God. And the Lord appears to him as a man and wrestled with him through the night. And of course, the Lord was play wrestling. He's not really wrestling with Jacob. Jacob thought He was wrestling. Jesus was playing.This is Genesis 32:24, "Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. And when the man saw that He did not prevail against Jacob, He touched his hip socket and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as He wrestled with him. Then he said, 'Let me go for, the day has broken.' But Jacob said, 'I will not let You go unless You bless me.' And He said to him, 'What is your name?' He said, 'Jacob.' Then He said, 'Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.' Then Jacob asked Him, 'Please tell me Your name.' And He said, 'Why is it that you asked My name?' And there, He blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, 'For I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been delivered.'"And you say, "Why did Jesus tell a woman no in the beginning? What is He doing? Did she change His mind from a silent indifference to helping her?" I don't think that's what's happening. When He says for this statement, He's not saying, "Because you have said this or because you have changed My mind," He's saying, "Because you've passed the test." He was testing her. He said, "No," to test her. "Is she going to persist? Is she going to continue asking?" It was a ploy designed to evoke even greater levels of faith on her part. Martin Luther commenting on this text, he said, "Christians need to persist in trusting God even when He seems to turn His back on them. We must learn to see the yes hidden in His no."I think that's really powerful, especially if you meditate on or you apply it to your life. We must work to see His yes and His no. If He says no, now He has a better yes for us. So we keep asking, we keep asking, we keep asking, and obviously, in all the Lord's will. Matthew 15:28, "Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly." Her faith delighted Jesus Christ. My daughter, sometimes they come to me and they test me to see how strict I am regarding grades. And they're like, "Yeah, but if I get an A-, is that okay?" "Oh, yeah, that's fine.""What if I get a B+?" "You're pushing it. You're pushing it." "What if I get a B ..." And my conversation is, "Look, I don't care about your GPA honestly. I can't tell you that I just did, but I really don't care. I don't care. I do. Do your best in your sports. Do your best. I care about your soul above all else. I care about your faith. I care that you grow in your relationship with the Lord. I care about you growing in wisdom." And Jesus is in the same way. He's delighted by this woman's faith. May your faith and may my faith delight the Lord in the same way. She took Christ at His word, and when He said, "You're dog," and then He blesses her like a child.And this is really how God speaks of salvation, that when we repent of our sins and turn to Christ, we get regenerated, we get a new heart, but we also get a new identity. We become a child of God. God adopts us into His family. God says, "You are not My children, but I'm going to make you My children," and it's all because of His Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." He rewards those who seek Him. Do you seek Him with the same posture of heart persistently, "Lord, I want more of You. Lord, I want more of Your presence. Lord, I want more of Your power."And that's why Jesus is called the Bread of Life, and we are to hunger, our souls are to hunger for Jesus as the Bread of Life. "Lord, I'm starving. I am famished for You." What do you do when you're hungry? You can't stop thinking about food. You're just salivating. You're thinking about that next meal that's coming and this is ... What is humility? It's recognizing, "Lord, apart from You, I'm starving. My soul is starving. Lord, I seek you." And the word of God says, "Whoever seeks God will be found. He will be found by them." Her faith is dramatically contrasted with the heartened unbelief of the Pharisees who were Jewish. They consider themselves children of God, but they weren't because they had no faith in Christ. And her faith even outshines the understanding of the disciples whose hearts were hardened at times. And God loves persistent pursuit of Him and He rewards this lavishly.Matthew 11:12, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force." What does that mean? He's talking about John the Baptist. John the Baptist, he sacrificed everything to proclaim that Jesus Christ is God, to proclaim that, "Jesus Christ is here. He's willing to save people." John the Baptist sacrificed everything for the kingdom of God to expand. The violent, he took it by force. It took effort. It took work on his part and the same way, if you pursue God, if you sacrifice to pursue God. And yes, this does take sacrifice like, "Rain, snow, whatever, I'm going to church." That's who you are. I commend all of you. You're here at first service. Praise be to God.I had a phone call from a pastor and he's like, "Are you guys canceling church?" I was like, "This isn't public school. We don't believe in snow days. Forget that. We're going to church." Yeah, we'll get a little wet. That's fine. We do close church if the tea's not running. That's because of the temple situation. But what I'm saying is, yes, it does take effort. You want to experience more of God? It takes effort to wake up just to study the scriptures. It takes effort to pray. It takes effort to pursue the Lord. Like the paralytic friends, remember that the house is full, they couldn't get through to Christ. They climb into the roof. They break through 18 inches of sod and branches in the roof lowering the man and the man is healed and Jesus forgives him of his sins as well.Jesus delights in persistent faith like that of this woman. Another example is Luke 18 and Luke 18, there's a woman who keeps returning to a judge, pleading her case over and over and over. And verse 4 of Luke 18 says, "For a while, he refused, but afterward, he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And this is a comparison, opposites of course, that God, He wants to give us mercy, He wants to give us justice, He wants to pour out His power in our life, but do we keep coming to him persistently, doggedly, voraciously, yet humbly like this woman does?She depended on Christ's goodness, not her own, so she finally understood grace. She understood grace. "It's not because of anything in me, Lord. I plead Your mercy. I plead Your grace. And faith is such a picture. It's not this bloodless, flaccid, distracted, half-hearted acceptance of certain propositions or theorems of theology about God. No, you realize that God is a person and that God does bless those who pursue Him. Faith is driven. It's determined. It's an unyielding grip upon God Himself and that's why hunger is such a good metaphor. Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise."Matthew 5:3-6, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." And we continue the text, point three is great faith, humble bringing and begging. And verse 31, "Then He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him." Who are these people that brought this man that needed healing to Jesus? We're not told. We just know that these people heard about Christ. They heard that Christ has power to help, so they bring their friend and they beg God on behalf. They beg Christ on behalf of their friend."Lord, just Your hand, one hand touch our friend. Heal him." Verse 33, "And taking him aside from the crowd privately, He put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, touched his tongue." Why does Jesus do this? I think the simplest explanation is probably the best one. He's speaking with this man, communicating with this man in the only language the man can understand. He puts His finger in his ears as though He's saying, "I'm going to do something to your hearing. I'm going to do something with your tongue, with your speech." Jesus is entering the man's world, the Great King of heaven, the Great Creator of heavens and the earth. The Sinless Lamb of God is coming down. He's identifying with this man and his condition and all of its wretchedness and all of its agony and angst. Jesus is coming right down to where the man is.Verse 34, "Looking up to heaven, He sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' which is an Aramaic, "that is, 'Be opened.'" He looks up to heaven, so he's invoking God's power. He sighs. Why does Jesus sigh? And this is a sign of His deep feeling, His compassion for the sufferer. If you remember when He comes to Lazarus' tomb, He knows He's about to resurrect Lazarus, but before He does, He reveals His emotion in John 11:33, "When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, 'Where have you laid him?' And they said to Him, 'Lord, come and see,' and Jesus swept." So the Jews said, "See how He loved him."The phrase for deeply moved or greatly troubled, that phrase is a word used in another context to describe a horse snorting. One translation says, "He gave way to such distress of spirit, has made His body tremble." One commentator says, "This great sigh came out of His wounded heart." So what's happening? Jesus is moved by Lazarus' condition. He's moved by this man's condition. It offends Him, "This is not the way the world was supposed to be. The world was created and it was perfect and we were supposed to live in perfect harmony, perfect shalom, but we rebelled against God and sin entered the world and the ravages of sin, the consequences of sin are felt by each one of us." And when Jesus dies, He knows, this isn't the way it's supposed to be and everyone knows this.If you ask even an unbeliever, someone that doesn't believe in God, you ask them, "Is the world the way it ought to be? Are you the way you ought to be?" And everyone says, "No, because everyone knows deep down inside there's something wrong, something wrong with us, something wrong with the world." Where does that knowledge come from? The knowledge of a perfect reality and knowledge of a perfect world. It's written on our hearts. This is not how creation was meant to be in all of its beauty and all of its glory and now it's marred with sin. This man was made to reflect the image of God, the glory of God, and here, he's a poor wretch of a man suffering and Jesus is moved by that. He sighs and he says, "Be opened," and this is called a divine passive. He says, "Be opened by whom? By God." That's what he's saying. He's invoking the power of God. In verse 35, "His ears were opened, his tongue was released and he spoke plainly." The ears were opened. That's another divine passive. His tongue was released by whom? By God. His tongue was unshackled, so to speak. The bond of his tongue was released.Jesus is creating a new world. That's what bringing the kingdom of God into the world means, that He's recreating things from the inside out and it starts with the message of the good news and it transforms our hearts from the inside. And then everything in the world, little by little, becomes transformed. Verse 36, "And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more He charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. He has done all things well."And this echoes Genesis 1:31 where God creates, He sees everything He's made and he says, "It is good." They say, "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak," and that's an illusion to Isaiah 35, talking about the Messianic kingdom, verse 5 of Isaiah 35, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped and shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert." Of course, Jesus' miracles weren't just miracles for miracle's sake. His miracles were always a sign, a sign of a deeper reality, a sign of who Jesus is, a sign of what Jesus has come to accomplish, which is to redeem people, to redeem the world, to save souls. And this motif of the opened ear is a symbol for revelation.Same people hear the same message and someone's ears are opened and they believe and they know that this is the truest truth in the universe. This is the truth beyond any truth, underneath every single truth. And some people, they hear the same message and they walk away and they're like, "That was nice. That was a good message. What's for lunch?" The opening of the man's ear is meant to be understood as a symbol of the way in which a person is made receptive. So this is the miracle, the greater miracle. It is a great miracle that the woman's child is freed from the demon. It is a miracle that this man is healed of his deafness and his muteness, but the greater miracle is the miracle that these are pointing to and that's the miracle of the ears being opened and you hear the good news, "Oh, yes, I am a sinner. Oh yes, I have transgressed the law of God. Yes, I am guilty as charge. Yes, I accept that verdict, and yes, Jesus Christ is the only one who could save me."The problem was that Jesus wasn't clear in His teaching. You say, "Why didn't more people get saved?" The problem wasn't that His message was confused or complicated. The problem was that these people's ears were not receptive to the message. That's why Jesus often said, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." He means that there was a kind of supernatural hearing or understanding that many people are incapable of. The unbeliever certainly hears the words physically spoken, certainly maybe even understands them to an extent. They're perfectly ordinary words. We have done wrong. A great deal of wrong. We do need forgiveness and God will forgive you for all of the sins that you have ever committed only if you believe in His Son who is sent into this world to die on a cross precisely to secure forgiveness for those who trust in Him. Those who are in Christ will go to heaven when they die and only those.Nothing in those English sentences is difficult to understand, but the unbeliever does not understand them not in a way that saves them. Why? Because the unbeliever doesn't understand that they cannot come to God whenever they want. They can't come to God on their own timetable. It happens as a miracle. When you hear the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart, when you hear the Holy Spirit saying, "Repent of your sin. Come to Christ," at that moment, do not stop up your ears. At that moment, say, "Yes, Lord, I believe. Yes, Lord, I repent. Yes, Lord, save me."Therefore, it's important for us, for those who have been given ears to hear to bring people to Christ. We're not the ones that can save. Just like the friends that brought the deaf person to Jesus, they brought Him, they begged Him, but it's Jesus that does the work, not them. Verse 32, "They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment and they begged Him to lay His hand on him." And that's our job as believers. We are to bring people to Christ. We are to have gospel conversations with people. Any opportunity I have to speak about the Lord, I am going to use, I'm going to take. That's our job, but I can't transform a heart. I can't give ears to hear. Only the Lord can do that.In the same way that this man's tongue was unshackled, in the same way that this man's ears were opened, that's what the Lord has done for believers. Some of you have had your ears opened. You understand the gospel, you love the gospel and you love sermons, you love church, but your tongue is still shackled when it comes to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. You've heard it, you understand it, but you can't really speak about it. And I'm telling you why, because you feel a little ashamed. There's just a shame like, "I don't want them to think I'm a believer Christian like those Christians."I pray that the Lord unshackle our ... You know how Jesus tells these people, they saw the miracle and he's like, "Don't tell anyone," and then they go and they tell the whole world? And now I'm like, "Jesus, why do You do it? Is it like reverse psychology?" It's like in the great commission, Jesus went to us and said, "Do not go and make disciples of all the nations. Do not do that. We'd be making so many more disciples." Whatever it takes, this is our job. We are to unshackle. We are to speak. We are to bring people to church. We are to bring people to community. We have to bring people to read scripture together. We are to bring people to have conversations about the Lord. We are to pray for people.If you have unbelievers in your life and they have needs, ask if you can pray for them. So easy. So easy. And pray to Lord and like, "Lord, can You please flex? Lord, reveal Yourself to these people." And in the same way that these friends, anonymous, they drag their friend to Christ, the friend gets the miracle. We are to do the same here. We're meant to see the Lord's power to heal the spiritually deaf and He can give the chief of sinners even, that was what Paul called himself, a hearing ear. He can save absolutely anybody. When Jesus pours forth His Spirit, nothing is impossible and we must never despair of others. We must never regard our own hearts as too bad to be changed.You are not too much of a sinner for Jesus. Every single one of us can receive grace, can receive the crumbs from the Lord's table. All we need to do is ask. All we need to do is what this woman did. Matthew 15:2, she comes to Jesus, gets on her knees and what does she say? "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." May that be the constant cry of our hearts, "Lord, have mercy on me." And if you pray that today, if you pray to Jesus Christ, "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me," the word of God says that you are saved, that you have received eternal life. Now, follow the Lord Jesus Christ the rest of your days.This woman asked for a crumb from the Lord's table and she received what she received. She received power of God in her life. For the power of God to be unleashed in our lives, for the crumbs to fall from the Lord's table, what did Jesus Christ have to do? The Bread of Life had to come into this world and that His body was broken. And that's what today we're celebrating in the holy communion, we are remembering the suffering of Christ. His body was broken, so that we could get the crumbs from the Lord's table to be saved. His blood was shed in order to cleanse us, to redeem us, to ransom us from our sins.With that said, I'm going to transition to holy communion. For whom is holy communion? It is for repentant believers in Jesus Christ. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you've repented of your sin, you are welcome to partake, even if today for the first time you repented and believe in Christ. If you do not believe in Christ, we ask that you refrain from this part of the service, or if you are living in unrepentant sin, also please refrain. I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 11:23-32, and while I do that, if you would like to partake and you haven't received the elements, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will bring them to you.1 Corinthians 11:23, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way also, He took the cup after supper saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup, for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died, but if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world."Would you please pray with me over communion. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You, the Great God of the Universe did not leave us in our sins and trespasses and You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank You that You live that perfect life. You obeyed the Father's will perfectly from the heart at all times, every second of Your incarnate life. And Lord, You were sacrificed. You sacrificed Yourself on the cross. You gave Your life in order to save us. We thank You that on the cross, You took our sin upon Yourself. You became our sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.Lord Jesus, we thank You that You offer us mercy. You offer mercy to whoever would plead Your name, the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, have mercy on us and You extend it graciously, willingly. And I thank You, Holy Spirit, that You are with us and I pray that You help us meditate now in the suffering of Christ to remember that His body was broken and His blood was shed in order for us to be healed from the inside out and given new hearts in order for us to be cleansed from shame and guilt. Lord, bless our time in the holy communion now. We repent of any sins, known sins and unknown sins, and we come to You with complete contrition of heart, asking for mercy and grace as we remember Your sufferings in our behalf. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.If this is your first time taking communion with us, there's two lids. If you open the top one that opens the cup and then the bottom one opens the bread. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, He took the bread, and after breaking it, He said, "This is My body broken for you. Take, eat and do this in remembrance of Me." He then proceeded to take the cup and he said, "This cup is the cup of the new covenant of My blood, which is poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink and do this in remembrance of Me."Lord Jesus, as we meditate on Your sufferings and we think of what a great miracle that was, the Son of God, Son of Man dying on our behalf, we also thank about the great miracle of the resurrection, incredible that You rose from the dead verifying everything that You taught to be true. And Lord, we think of our own conversions, our own regeneration, our own salvation. What a miracle that is, that we were given faith, we were given ears to hear. And we pray that we don't take that for granted, Lord, and we pray that You, in the same way that You've saved us, in the same way that You made the great miracle of our salvation, I pray that You save many around us. Save them miraculously. We believe in a great God. We believe in your great power.And with our faith, Lord, we believe, help our own belief, but we pray that you pour out Your Spirit upon our city and upon this region, upon New England. Pour out Your Spirit in a way that the world has never seen, that I pray save hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands and more. And Lord, as this woman pleaded with You, we plead, Lord. We plead for our neighbors. We plead the blood for our loved ones. We plead the blood of Jesus Christ for our city. Lord, we thank You in advance for the great revival that is coming and we pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.

Marcellus - Rome's Sword Against HannibalParallel - PelopidasImportant PeopleArchimedes (sections 15-17; 19)Important PlacesNola - A small settlement near Naples.Tarentum -The Greek colony that had called Pyrrhus over to help them fight the Romans about eighty years before this Second Punic War. They switch sides several times, but their location on the spur of the calf of Italy makes them strategically important for either side. Naples - Originally a Greek colony, Syracuse - An even wealthier Syracuse than we last saw in the Live of Timoleon and Dion, but one which has a tyrant again. The tyrant, however, seems more humane the the ones we read about in the past. For one, he is friends with and funds a great many of Archimedes's most clever and ingenious engineering devices. Hiero is particularly glad of Archimedes's friendship as the Roman besiege Syracuse to bring it over to their side. Key Vices and VirtuesWar-loving (φιλοπόλεμος) - Some might say virtue, but Plutarch likely wants to make the point that this is a vice. Marcellus is talented in many types of war as well, from sieges to guerilla skirmishes to pitched battles. He loves everything about the troop movement, exercise, motivation, and implementation. Haughty (γαῦρος) - We saw this was a bad thing for Coriolanus, but Marcellus handles it much better. It does cause some strange choices, though, as he will defend himself in person twice against his detractors. Politics is still so very personal in Rome that his personal presence shames his litigious foes both times. ἀγέρωχος - high minded; arrogant (noble or lordly in Homer, later takes on pejorative tone) - It's hard to see if this is a gloss on haughty or a throwback to these older Homeric heroes. His love of one-on-one combat certainly has a Homeric flavor that Plutarch highlights (along with his parallel, Pelopidas), but it's hard to know if a leader should be high-minded or not, particularly because the dictionaries also provide us with definition like arrogant, which is universally bad. The context is key, and so pay close attention to how your translator uses these words. σώφρων - Practically wise. The tension between this virtue, which normally helps him so much against the wiliness of Hannibal, also seems to be temporarily paralyzed when he falls into the trap Hannibal sets for him. In what ways are the prideful sometimes prevented from seeing the best course of action? Philanthropic (φιλάνθρωπος) - Probably better translated as humane, this is Plutarch's highest compliment. Ultimately, anyone who learns this learned it from the Greeks. Plutarch is just fine being ruled by Hellenized Romans, but they must be Hellenized otherwise they'll run to the extremes of someone like Coriolanus. cf. Section 10 - naturally humane - τῷ φύσει φιλανθρώπῳA lover of Greek Education and Thought - (ἐραστής Ἑλληνικῆς παιδείας καὶ λόγων) - a lover of Greek education and wisdomSupport the show

Title: Our Shepherd Text: Acts 6:8-15 FCF: We often struggle enduring in obedience. Prop: Because God shepherds us through His purposes, we must faithfully obey the Lord. Scripture Intro: LSB [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 6. In a moment I'll read from the LSB starting in verse 8. You can follow along in the pew bible on page 1236 or in whatever version you prefer. Last week, we saw how the church faced an internal problem that could have shattered it in its infancy. Instead, the Lord called and equipped leaders to wisely delegate responsibility in order to serve the body in multiple capacities. Luke shows that God is continuing to provide for and guide His church through the many perils it will face. And we saw that God continues to do that for us as well. Today, we'll only just start to see another showdown that the early church will have with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. We've seen Peter and John and the rest of the apostles stand before the Sanhedrin to preach the gospel. So far, the Jewish leaders were in the minority for viewing the church as a danger to the rest of Judaism. The church viewed itself as the next step in the Redemptive plan of God for His people. And the people of Jerusalem looked on the church with favor. But today, the tide will begin to turn. In this, we will see our God continue to guide and shepherd His church. Please stand with me out of respect for and to focus on the reading of the Word of God. Transition: [Slide 2] 1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. [1] Why did I just read Psalm 23? Today, we will see the Lord be this Shepherd to a man named Stephen. He will do all He promised in this psalm. And He will do the same for His church. Let's look. I.) God equips His people to do what He has called them to do, so we must faithfully obey the Lord. (8-10) a. [Slide 3] 8 – And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. i. Chronology in the book of Acts is a difficult thing to nail down at times. ii. We know that Jesus was probably crucified around AD 29-30. 40 days later he ascended and 10 days after that was the celebration of Pentecost in which the apostles were filled with the Spirit. iii. Since that event, we haven't had any real chronological markers. iv. We assume that things are happening in fairly quick succession. v. But the nearest marker we have is that we know the persecutions of Saul probably occurred somewhere between AD 33 and AD 35. That means that from the ascension of Christ to Acts chapter 8, it spans around 5 years. vi. It is difficult to know where to insert a large portion of time like this in what we've seen thus far, given the fact that every narrative chunk seems to flow from the previous. vii. To me, it seems like we could have a significant amount of time between verse 6 and verse 8. viii. In verse 7, the church grows again. This is not necessarily an indicator of time elapsing nor is many priests coming to Christ. ix. But when we arrive in verse 8 we see Stephen, who was appointed as a Deacon, now inheriting gifts that were formerly only associated with the apostles. x. Up to this point in the book of Acts, the only people who have done signs and wonders have been the apostles. It would be natural for us to assume or conclude that Stephen is no longer solely caring for the daily provision of food for widows. His role has expanded or even, perhaps, changed altogether. xi. Not that he has become an apostle. No where do we see him referred to as such, nor do we see much evidence in the book of Acts for an expansion or succession of the apostolic office. But perhaps he has moved on to a prophetic or Elder office in the church. xii. This leads us to conclude that some time has elapsed since the appointment of the first Deacons and this narrative concerning Stephen. xiii. Notice also the source of Stephen's doing great signs and wonders. Grace and power filled him. xiv. Grace especially is not something that can be earned, bought, achieved or won. Grace must be given by God specifically. Power too is something that must be gifted. Indeed, all things are gifts from God. We have nothing that He has not given us. xv. Stephen is not performing these signs and wonders because he can in and of himself. He is doing so by the power and grace of God. b. [Slide 4] 9 – But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, i. So, let's pause and ask… what is the Synagogue of the Freedmen? ii. Synagogues are places of teaching and worship that continued to be used even after the temple was rebuilt and later refurbished by Herod. They allowed Jews dispersed around the world to continue to learn and worship God and practice their Jewish faith. iii. Freedmen, would have been former slaves who had either earned or been granted their freedom. iv. Given the specialization here of a synagogue of Freedmen, it probably denotes a group of people who ither were not welcomed at other synagogues around Jerusalem. v. What follows gives us a clue as why these folks might not be welcome in other Synagogues around Jerusalem. c. [Slide 5] including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and were arguing with Stephen. i. Cyrene and Alexandria are areas in Northern Africa on the coast of the Mediterranean. Cilicia is located in Modern Turkey on the coast of the Mediterranean just North East of the island of Cyprus. Asia in the scriptures always refers to the Roman province of Asia, which comprises the western third of modern-day Turkey. ii. But how many people groups were represented in this Synagogue? The argument could be made that all four are part of this synagogue of the freedmen, or none of them are, or some combination. The LSB favors the Cyrenians and Alexandrians being part of the Synagogue of the Freedmen, but the other two are simply other people groups that join the argument against Stephen. I personally see all these groups as part of this Synagogue. iii. But , no matter what we conclude the irony is inescapable. iv. These men who argue with Stephen, are either Hellenized Jews, or Jewish proselytes. v. Why is that ironic? vi. Stephen, himself, was a Hellenized Jew. He was a man who had lost his Hebrew heritage and could not speak Aramaic or Hebrew. He only spoke Greek. vii. The unity of the church between Hebraic and Hellenistic Jews is now superseding even the unity among matching racial factions. Stephen has greater unity and acceptance among Hebraic Jewish Christians than he does with Hellenistic Jews. viii. But what led to the altercation between them? There are no doubt two factors here that we can point to. 1. Jews who were dispersed from Israel, born in a foreign land, Hellenized, but have chosen to return to Jerusalem to live, would have been Jews particularly zealous for the law. a. They no doubt would have been quite motivated to return to their roots. b. Perhaps they were trying to learn Hebrew and Aramaic. Perhaps they were attempting to un Hellenize themselves. c. This certainly would have caused a rift to form between Stephen and these Jews, since Stephen remains a Hellenized Jew and a part of the Nazarian sect too. 2. Second, because Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew, he would go to these kinds of synagogues to teach and expound the scriptures to these folks. This would explain how this altercation came about and it would explain the ferocious extent of their attempt to destroy Stephen, more on that as we go along. ix. At first, these men merely attempt to refute Stephen's beliefs… d. [Slide 6] 10 - But they were unable to oppose the wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. i. Once again, the power and wisdom of Stephen is not what is on display here. ii. God is at work in this entire situation. iii. Jesus said, “Now when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Luke 12:11-12 and in Luke 21:15 He said, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.” iv. Here we see Stephen, a man full of faith and the Spirit, a man full of wisdom, a man full of grace and power, a man supernaturally prepared… v. He is able to leave them absolutely speechless. vi. They couldn't refute his teaching. No matter how devoted to the law and the teachings of the scribes they were… his explanation of the scriptures was without flaw. e. [Slide 7] Summary of the Point: God always supernaturally equips and prepares His people to do what He has called them to do. Here we see a man, who was already full of faith, with a strong testimony of the Spirit's indwelling, and filled with godly wisdom, expend himself in the operation of the spread of the gospel in Jerusalem. While the apostles continued their work in the temple, Stephen goes forward with compassion and mercy to share the gospel to those who were not Hebraic Jews. But as well as Stephen does to stand firm in the truth, Luke makes it abundantly clear that God is the one who had equipped Him for this work. God always does this for His people. We can trust that no matter what God is calling us to do for Him… He will supply what we need to do what He has commissioned us to do. Transition: [Slide 8(blank)] So, if God has equipped Stephen to take the gospel to these people and refute their arguments, that must mean that we are about to see another Pentecost experience, right? II.) God will vindicate His people but not necessarily in this life, so we must faithfully obey the Lord. (11-15) a. [Slide 9] 11 – Then they secretly induced men to say, i. What do you do when you can't beat your opponent? ii. Cheat. iii. They began to induce, instigate, or persuade men… but not openly. Not overtly. iv. Through whispers and back alley deals they gathered men who would oppose Stephen. v. What might they convince these thugs to say that would defeat Stephen? b. [Slide 10] “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” i. It is important for us to note the progression in the story here. ii. There are really only two crimes of which these men have been persuaded to accuse Stephen. iii. And they are summarized in this brief statement. But as we go forward, we will see them testify before the Sanhedrin. What we must understand is that these are not additional charges but rather further expressions of these same crimes mentioned right here in verse 11. iv. Blasphemy against Moses or against the law of Moses would be treated as blasphemy. To attack what God had given as His law would be to blaspheme God indirectly. v. But they also accuse Stephen of blaspheming God directly too. We'll see how specifically in a few moments. vi. Blasphemy is a crime punishable by stoning. It is a very serious crime if proven true. vii. In other words, these men were persuaded secretly to spread a lie that could see the man they were to lie about… put to death. viii. Knowing that these men were particularly zealous to return to the Jewish roots, their hatred for Stephen and the Nazarian sect was no doubt a development of and a response to the Sanhedrin's dealings with the apostles. This group wants to appear to the Sanhedrin, that although they are Hellenized, they desire not to be. ix. But this was not all they did. It wasn't enough to have men lie about him, saying he was blaspheming. c. [Slide 11] 12 – And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, i. They also incited a mob. ii. No doubt using the testimony of these men persuaded secretly, they encouraged the people, the elders, and the experts in the law, to come out against Stephen. iii. This is another reason that this narrative portion seems later in time than what we have covered thus far. The people seemed to be generally in favor of the apostles and the teaching of the Nazarian sect up to this point. All of a sudden, things are beginning to change. iv. There are a lot of layers to this that Luke does not provide for us. So, we must pay close attention to the details he has provided. They are the key. v. Remember, Jewish priests were beginning to convert to this new sect. vi. Hellenized Jews and Hebraic Jews are allowing their differences to coexist while they love each other. vii. We might see these people's actions as extreme, and indeed they are, but when we realize that the perception of this Jesus movement is shifting, we recognize that even the people are starting to believe that this Nazarian sect may not be a sect at all… but rather… a schism. viii. That instead of this being another party or denomination of Judaism – this may actually be a dangerous and false teaching. ix. It would be the difference between comparing a Baptist Church to a Wesleyan church and comparing a Baptist Church to the Mormon Church. In the first comparison, we see a Wesleyan church as generally our brothers but not agreeing on enough points to be part of the same local body. But in the second comparison, Mormons teach a heretical doctrine and do not conform to the foundational creeds of the Christian church. Therefore, they are not even Christians. x. Up to this point the Jews in Jerusalem and even the Jewish Christians themselves saw this Jesus movement to be like the Baptist/Wesleyan comparison. But the tide is turning. Perception is changing. xi. My friends, the lies these Hellenistic Jews drew up about Stephen, were hitting a little too close to home. It played upon the growing fears of the Jews in Jerusalem. xii. The growing sentiment in Jerusalem was that the Sanhedrin was right. This WAS a dangerous teaching. And the name of Jesus WAS something quite different than Judaism. xiii. Even though the church enjoyed the relative favor of the people for a time… Luke shows us that such favor was never guaranteed to continue. d. [Slide 12] And they came up to him, dragged him away, and brought him to the Sanhedrin. i. Since these were serious fears and serious charges, the only place they could take him would be to the Sanhedrin. ii. They could not take him to the Roman authorities, for they would care very little about the crime of blasphemy. iii. But since this is a trial before a Jewish court, there must be 2 or three witnesses to accuse someone of a crime that would result in the death penalty. iv. Not to worry, our very zealous Hellenistic Jews are at it again. e. [Slide 13] 13-14 – And they put forward false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases speaking words against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.” i. We must pay particular attention to the nature of their charges against Stephen. They will help us to understand Stephen's response next week. ii. The governing accusation they submitted was blasphemy against Moses and God. iii. Specifically, he would not stop speaking against the holy place and the law. So, the blasphemy against God is against His dwelling place, ie the temple. Blasphemy against Moses is against the law of Moses. iv. But this narrows still further. 1. Blasphemy against God – speaking against the temple – is attributed to Stephen saying that Jesus would destroy the temple. 2. Blasphemy against Moses – speaking against the law – is attributed to altering customs which were handed down from Moses. v. Already we are starting to see that calling this blasphemy is a bit of a stretch. It is the final two accusations to which Stephen will reply. vi. But isn't there a kernel of truth in what they said? vii. It is difficult to know why exactly these witnesses were “false.” viii. Jesus Himself said, tear this temple down and in three days I will rebuild it. Of course, He did not say that HE would tear it down, and he was talking about His body and His resurrection. ix. And Jesus had also prophesied about the future destruction of the temple in AD 70. An event still future even to Luke as he penned this book. x. And we know that Christians did eventually begin to alter the customs handed down from Moses, especially for gentile believers. xi. We see Gentiles and Jews not being obligated to maintain dietary laws. And gentiles are not obligated to bear the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. xii. We know that Jesus Himself said that He had come to fulfill the law. xiii. Jesus also told the Samaritan woman that there would come a day where people would worship God not on their mountain or in Jerusalem but in Spirit and truth. They will worship God through His Messiah. Him. xiv. Meaning that even the temple would lose its significance as the center of the worship of Yahweh. xv. All this, of course, does not mean that the law was null and void or that the temple should be burned. Rather it meant that Jesus perfectly obeyed the whole law and became a new representative for His people. Giving them His righteousness. And in that, the sacrifices, which never truly took away sin, and which only pictured the final sacrifice of Christ, would eventually become unnecessary. xvi. So, we see that what these men testified about what Stephen had said, could have some truth to it. xvii. If so, why would Luke call them false witnesses? xviii. Most likely because they are misrepresenting the meaning of what Stephen said. As we already mentioned, Jesus never said HE would destroy the temple, but merely that it would be destroyed or if it was destroyed, He would raise it again. Jesus does not alter the law of Moses, but He does fulfill it, rendering portions of it complete and therefore expired. xix. So as an act of Jewish zealousness these men persuaded people to accuse Stephen of blasphemy, gathered a mob to drag him to a trial, and found false witnesses to twist his words to paint him in the worst light – all to charge him with a crime that requires his execution. xx. Wow. That is some cold-hearted hatred there. xxi. It appears that the Jews whom Isaiah prophesied about in Isaiah 59, are still the same. There he said “Their feet run to evil, and they are quick to shed innocent blood;” Indeed, two sins the Lord hates in Proverbs 6:17 is a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood. Here, these Jews have both. f. [Slide 14] 15 – And fixing their gaze on him, all who were seated in the Sanhedrin saw his face like the face of an angel. i. It is difficult to know what to make of this comment by Luke. ii. What we struggle to understand is why they were gazing at him and what it means that he had the face of an angel. iii. If his face shown like an angelic being then we might know why they were gazing at him. However, it seems that they were gazing at him first. iv. Perhaps they were looking for some body language or facial feedback from him as the testimony against him mounted? v. As for the face of an angel, it seems best to understand this in the mystical way. vi. Some have tried to say that his face was innocent looking or that he was young or handsome or powerful… but it seems best to conclude that his face was glowing – much like Moses' face. vii. Such a tie to Moses could subtly suggest that rather than blaspheming the law of Moses, he was the only faithful interpreter of the law in the room that day. viii. It is God's testimony in the case against Stephen, that he was innocent and his judges were guilty. g. [Slide 15] Summary of the Point: As a contrasting point to our previous point, although God does equip His dear children to face all that He has called them to do on this earth, that does not mean that men will favor us. No, the second truth we see is that God will ultimately vindicate His children, even if or when they are criminalized, ostracized, villainized, or demonized by men. God will clothe the bride of His Son with white robes which are their righteous deeds. One day all the world will know the righteousness of His people. Not a righteousness they have of their own, but one that has been gifted to them by the merits of Christ. Though men call us guilty – For the sake of Christ, God has declared us innocent. Though men shame us – For the sake of Christ, God has exalted us. Though men strip us of power – For the sake of Christ, God will glorify us to reign with His Son. Transition: Conclusion: So, CBC, what have we learned today and how shall we live? What doctrinal takeaway can we arrive at today? Doctrinal Takeaway: [Slide 16] God is a shepherd who looks after His people. He walks with them to still water. He guides them with His staff. He sets out a table before their enemies. God is a God who leads His children through the valley of the shadow of death. No matter what God has called us to do, no matter what command He has given, and no matter what danger He leads us into, He is there with us for every single step. Even when everyone else abandons us. Even when others hate us. God will deliver us safely into His Kingdom where we will be honored and rewarded for our obedience. What does this mean for us? It means, Christian, that we have no excuse for not obeying our Lord, wherever He may lead us. We must faithfully obey the Lord in all that He has commanded, and follow Him wherever He may lead. But let us improve on this point with more specific applications for our daily life. 1.) [Slide 17] Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” I actually have two of these this week. First, we must deny that Stephen was some sort of special super-Christian naturally capable of this task. a. In this text we see Stephen performing signs and wonders. We see his teachings of Christ holding up against the strictest scrutiny. We see him accused of blasphemy, dragged to court, and falsely accused. b. In all of this we might be tempted to look at Stephen with deep admiration. We might be tempted to see Stephen as a special person in the history of the church. A super-Christian worthy of our applause. c. But my friends, Luke bends over backward here to make sure we don't do such things. d. I'd like to think that Stephen, if we were able to talk to him today, would rebuke us for thinking such things. e. My friends, Stephen was filled with grace and power. He was indwelled by the Spirit. He was full of faith. He was full of wisdom. And He was given an angelic face. f. What is the common thread of all of these traits? g. Is it not that God had gifted them to Him? h. My friends, the hero of this story is not Stephen. Stephen is just a man. A follower of Christ. Just like you and I. i. He was a man called to bear witness to Christ. Like you and I. j. He was a man called to have an answer for the faith in Him. Just like you and I. k. Stephen isn't special. Stephen isn't significant. l. Stephen's Savior… is. 2.) [Slide 18] Refutation: Secondly, we must deny that God giving us grace and power means that we will be spared from deep pain and tribulation on this earth. a. Although God gave Stephen grace and power, and although God transfigured Stephen's face to shine like Moses' face. b. God did not spare Stephen the hardship of being falsely accused, dragged to court, and slandered before many witnesses. c. If we truly confess that God is sovereign, even over the wills of men, then we must also believe that Stephen being treated unjustly was part of God's plan for his life. d. To the extent that when we read that Stephen was full of grace and power, one of the reasons he was filled with these was to ensure that he could hold up under this injustice. e. God's favor on us does not mean that we will never experience heartache, mistreatment, abuse, misfortune, or deep anguish. My friends, some of the most graced and faith filled people through the church age, have suffered deeper wounds than any of us will ever face. f. God's favor oftentimes is not to spare us pain… but rather to see us through it. 3.) [Slide 19] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don't naturally do or aren't currently doing?” We must give an answer for the hope we have in us. a. Stephen goes to those whom he has much in common. b. He goes to those who are Hellenized Jews, and speaks to the truth of Jesus the Messiah of God. c. He teaches them about Jesus' death and resurrection. He teaches them about the fulfillment of the law of Moses in the life and death of Christ. He teaches them about the sacrifices never taking away sin but how Christ did with His sacrifice. d. And he stood strong against their rebuttals. He knew the scriptures well and left them without an answer. e. We too must do this. f. We too must go to those to whom we are closest. Our neighbors, co-workers, friends, family, those who do not know the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must do so to the best of our ability, giving an answer to those who might dispute the truth of the gospel. g. Some of you may be squirming here. How am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to be ready to give an answer to those who try to refute the gospel? h. That brings us to our next application. 4.) [Slide 20] De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must stop worrying about what we will say or do when we face resistance or rejection. a. There are certainly things we can do to prepare ourselves. We can study and know the gospel well. We can know God's Word well. b. We can use others in the church as iron to sharpen us. c. But going back to our first point – we must first and primarily ask the Lord for grace and help in these times. d. We have a responsibility to be ready – but God also will equip us for this work too. e. God equips His people to do mighty works. Stephen is just another in a long line before and after him who were equipped by God by grace and power to do mighty deeds for His glory. f. The author of Hebrews invites us to boldly approach God's throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace for help in a time of need. g. James tells us that if we lack wisdom we should ask. h. Jesus tells us that if we have faith as big as a mustard seed, we can command mountains. i. My friends, the common thread is that we as God's people live and die, succeed and fail, on the provision of our great and mighty God. j. Nothing Stephen did is beyond what you and I are able to do in the grace and power of God. k. Indeed, we may soon be called to do exactly as Stephen did. l. And we may not feel equipped for such a task now… but those who trust the Lord, and seek Him for wisdom and grace… will be equipped for all He calls us to do for His name. m. And that includes answering those who dispute the gospel message. 5.) [Slide 21] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” God will deliver us safely to His Kingdom where we will be made to be like His Son… forever. a. Although we may have great difficulty in this life, and face much opposition… we know that this life is not the end. b. This world is not our home. c. One day we will open our eyes and behold the beauty and majesty of our Loving Lord. d. One day we will stand before His throne declared a good and faithful servant of the Lord Most High. e. One day our good deeds will be revealed for all to see. f. One day we will wear the white robes of Christ's righteousness and all who opposed us and our God will be ashamed and silenced. g. It will be worth it all… my friends… when we see Jesus. [Slide 22(end)] Let me close with a Prayer by the Puritan Robert Hawker. Grant, dearest Lord, that though we still live in this world, yet never, never may we forget our relationship to You. Though we are outcasts, yet we are Jesus' outcasts. Lord, be our hiding place, so that You are all we need, like “streams of water in a dry place; like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.” Oh, for a word, a whisper of Jesus. We cannot live without it. We dare not let You go, unless You bless us. None of all the past enjoyments or experiences will do us any good, until You again shine upon our souls. Come then, Lord Jesus! We fly to You as our God, our Savior, our Portion, our All! We see our daily, hourly, continual need of You. You are our hope and Savior! Keep us, Lord, near You, for without You we are nothing. Precious Jesus, help us to see our clear part in You, from our union with You. And dear Lord, make us so strong in Your strength, that during the whole period of our present warfare, we may be “awesome as an army with banners” to all who would oppose our way to You, and in You. Yes, Lord! Let sin, and Satan, and the world, be united against us; yet put on us the whole armor of God, that we may “fight the good fight of faith, take hold of the eternal life,” and be made “more than conquerors through the One who loved us” In Jesus name we pray… Amen! [1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 23:1–6.

Title: Called and Equipped Text: Acts 6:1-7 FCF: We often struggle submitting to leadership. Prop: Because God has established and equipped leaders to unify His church toward His will, we must submit to godly leadership. Scripture Intro: ESV [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to Acts chapter 6. In a moment we will read starting in verse 1 from the English Standard Version. You can follow in the pew bible on page 1236 or in your preferred version. We are right on the cusp of transitioning to the expansion of the church. Very soon we will see the church burst out from the walls of Jerusalem. But before we get to that, both chronologically and thematically, Luke needs to show us how the church handled a problem that truly came from within. We've seen issues arise from the church's interaction with the Jewish leadership. That isn't done yet, but the Lord has preserved them. We've also seen fake Christians attempt to lie to the Spirit of God in order to profit. In this also, the Lord guarded His church. Today, we will see a problem arise truly from within the church and we will see God deal with the issue in a subtly supernatural way. Please stand with me both out of respect for and to focus on the reading of God's Word. Transition: We have a lot to get to today. So, let's waste no time. I.) God has established and equipped officers of His church to guide it, so we must submit to godly leadership. (1-4) a. [Slide 2] 1 - Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, i. The opening statement in this section “now in these days” seems to bind it more closely to the events we completed in Acts 5. ii. Despite the Jewish leadership's antagonism and even their certainty that the Nazarian sect will die out… the opposite is proving true. They continue to grow. iii. But the more people you have, the easier it is for some to fall through the cracks. b. [Slide 3] A complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews i. We need to understand exactly what is happening here and in order to do so we need to know a little about Hebrew culture in the 1st century. ii. When Alexander the Great conquered the known world around 330 BC, he also spread Greek culture throughout the empire. Greek religion, philosophy, language, values, art and literature flourished in places that it never had before. iii. But what happens when you fill a glass half full of clear water with red Kool-Aid? Do the contents of the cup remain clear or does it start turning red? It turns doesn't it. iv. As Greek influence filled and stayed in these places, it began replacing and even superseding the culture of the native people groups. v. In Jerusalem and the surrounding area, there was a movement to prevent this and keep Hebrew culture thriving. But some Jews succumbed to the influence of Greek culture and lost their ability to speak Hebrew and Aramaic. vi. They spoke only Greek. They became… Hellenized. vii. This caused a lot of bigotry and preferential treatment among Jews. Jews that could not speak Hebrew or at least Aramaic were treated as less than Hebrew. They weren't quite Jewish. viii. Even a cursory reading through the gospels reveals a Jewish nation who prides themselves in a pure bloodline. They disdained the Samaritans for having mixed with non-Jews. Hellenized Jews were treated similarly. ix. And now it seems that this prejudice is seeping into the church. x. How specifically? c. [Slide 4] Because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. i. So, we need to understand what the daily distribution is and why widows were included in this. ii. Widows and orphans were among the neediest in their day. Women could not own property or be the sole proprietor of a business. Therefore, when their husband died their possessions would be distributed among their male family members first. iii. It would be the responsibility of the family to care for widows – but as it is today, many found ways to neglect their duties. Still others had no family to care for them. iv. The church took the initiative to care for widows among them by taking food to them each day. v. In this process, the Greek speaking Jewish Christians were not being taken meals. vi. This escalated into a complaint. Luke does not say whether or not the people brought this complaint to the apostles or if the apostles just heard about it through the grapevine. vii. In one way or another the apostles become aware of this problem. d. [Slide 5] 2 – And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, i. The apostles spring to action. They deem this compliant important enough to act on without delay. ii. They summon the full number of the disciples. iii. It is difficult to know exactly what this may mean. iv. It stretches believability to think that there would be a place in Jerusalem they would be able to gather around 7-15 thousand people together to address this issue. v. The words “full number” means a large number or a group large enough to distribute information quickly to the whole or a number able to reach some sort of decision with. vi. When we see this word in this context it has the sense of a quorum or meeting the number of people needed to do business. vii. This suggests that the church had representatives. Perhaps we see the makings here of the local assemblies and their respective Elders gathered under the direction of the apostles. viii. This seems to make the most sense. That the disciples gathered were those who were the spiritual heads and representatives of smaller bodies throughout the city of Jerusalem. ix. Notice Luke does not record any sort of discussion here. There is no debate or brainstorming session. x. The apostles speak and the representatives listen. e. [Slide 6] “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. i. The apostles establish the proper priorities of their office. ii. The thought of them giving up preaching the Word of God to make this problem go away is completely unacceptable. iii. Preaching God's Word is of absolute priority. Both teaching in homes and preaching in the temple. This must continue and they must focus on this. iv. Waiting tables or serving tables does not take our modern connotation of being a waiter or waitress. Instead, we can easily derive the meaning from the context – that they are providing food for widows. v. As noble as a task as it is to provide food to widows… the apostles recognize that preaching the Word is a greater priority. One that they cannot sacrifice. vi. THEY must preach the Word of God. vii. But rather than seeking the advice of the gathering, the apostles have already arrived at a wise solution to the problem. f. [Slide 7] 3 – Therefore brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. i. Again, the apostles tell these men how to go forward. We are not told of any discussion or voting. They simply told these representatives to do this. ii. They must choose seven men. The word used here is not Anthropos which would be more ambiguous on gender, meaning mankind. iii. The word used here is Aner, which can mean man or husband. iv. A ministry to widows seems to be a great opportunity to employ the managerial skills of women, yet the apostles chose to hand this to men. This is not a definitive proof that the office of Deacon should only be men – but it is an argument in favor of that interpretation. v. These men must be of good repute. They must have a good reputation. vi. They must be full of the Spirit – meaning they have a marked life that is easy to see the Spirit's indwelling influence in their life. vii. They must be full of wisdom too, knowing God's perspective of the world and acting in that same perspective. viii. We notice that these men's ability to carry large sacks of food or run long distances is not listed as a qualification. ix. This is most likely because these men were not the ones that were going to be delivering the food. x. In fact, the food was already being delivered. xi. They were simply bringing organization and order to an already functioning ministry that needed to be better managed and organized. g. [Slide 8] 4 – But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” i. The apostles reaffirm their devotion to the priorities that mattered most. ii. They were going to devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. iii. These take the highest priority for the apostles. And for every church following this, we should fight to preserve these as our highest priorities. iv. One final point before we summarize what we've learned. v. Scholars disagree over whether the neglect of the Hellenistic Jewish Christian widows was intentional prejudice or accidental. 1. After weighing the evidence, it seems best to conclude that this was accidental. 2. Not that such prejudice was impossible among God's people. We saw warnings against prejudice when we studied James. 3. I conclude that it was accidental for several reasons in this text, the first of which we have already seen. 4. If this was indeed a purposeful neglect out of prejudice and bigotry, why did the apostles attempt to put a band-aid on the problem? 5. Outsourcing this issue to 7 men to deal with for them seems like a big-time cop out. 6. Furthermore, they identify the issue as waiting on tables. Serving food is the issue. But if this was intentional neglect – serving tables isn't really the issue any more, is it? 7. There is another big reason to conclude this was accidental but we'll get to that in a bit. h. [Slide 9] Summary of the Point: God has always equipped members of His Covenant community with what is necessary to lead and manage the community toward godliness and holiness. God supplied Moses, priests, the Levites, military leaders, Judges, Kings, Prophets and apostles. And God continues to supply Evangelists, Elders, and Deacons to grow, lead, and manage His people. He has not left a vacuum of leadership, nor has He refused to gift those in these positions with wisdom, compassion, mercy, humility, knowledge and holiness. The church must continue to look to godly leaders to guide and manage them toward becoming a holy community. Transition: [Slide 10 (blank)] But God not only appointed and equipped these leaders to wisely lead His church. He also equipped them through that wisdom to unify His church in the love of Christ. II.) God equips godly leaders to unify His church in the love of Christ, so we must submit to godly leadership. (5-7) a. [Slide 11] 5 – And what they said pleased the whole gathering i. The apostles' direction and leadership on this issue was recognized by the whole gathered assembly of representatives. ii. We ought not infer from this that there was some kind of vote here to accept what the apostles said as the direction they needed to go. As if the church could override the decision of the apostles. iii. Instead, the purpose of this statement speaks more to the wisdom of the apostles and the trust the rest of the church had for their leadership. In a word, this statement is about the unity of the church. iv. The church trusted her leaders and her leaders were trustworthy. v. This is the point of this comment. vi. And we should recognize the wisdom of the apostles too. vii. Out of all the things that they could have done to solve this problem, from telling the Hellenistic Jews to get over it and stop being so needy, to meeting with everyone who supplied food to find who was really to blame so they could be punished, to eliminating the ministry altogether… viii. This seems like a very, VERY wise answer to the need. b. [Slide 12] And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, i. Stephen is very obviously singled out here. ii. He is the only person in the list who has any character comments attached to him. iii. The easiest explanation for this is simple foreshadowing by Luke. He intends to relate the story of Stephen's sermon to the Sanhedrin and his subsequent martyrdom in a few short verses. iv. We can also probably assume that Stephen was something of a leader among the seven. That would not be too great a leap for us. v. Stephen appearing at the head of the list here links both the previous section of problems in the church with the next section of expansion of the church from Jerusalem. vi. When we get to Stephen's sermon in chapter 7, we'll notice quickly how he is truly a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He speaks as eloquently as Peter. And he speaks with passion, truth, and mercy. vii. More on Stephen next week. c. [Slide 13] And Phillip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, i. The next 5 names in the list are given without details concerning them. ii. Each name has a meaning but it is unlikely that we can derive any description of the man from the meaning of their name. iii. These 5 are all thought to be men of good reputation, who are full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. d. [Slide 14] and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. i. The last name is the only name given any details besides Stephen. ii. The description of Nicolaus is that he is a proselyte from Antioch. iii. By Antioch, Luke no doubt refers to Antioch of Syria. It would be the closest Antioch to Jerusalem, northwest up the coast of the Mediterranean, close to present day Turkey. iv. But what is a proselyte? v. A proselyte is a general term to refer to someone who left a former life and began a new one. vi. We could replace the word with “convert”. vii. But to what was Nicolaus converted? It would not be Christianity or even the Nazarian sect of Judaism. Because that would be true of everyone in this list. viii. What Luke is showing us is… that Nicolaus was a gentile, a former pagan, who converted to Judaism. After converting to Judaism, he received Christ to continue and complete his pursuit of the Jewish faith. ix. This is an important detail for Luke to mention to us. Nicolaus is the first non-ethnic-Jew that we have seen among the members of the church. x. So far, we've seen the gospel call go to Jews in Jerusalem, Jews from all parts of the world, and now… we see the gospel call go to Jews who were not ethnically Jewish but who were religiously Jewish. Like Nicolaus. xi. Although it is not as dramatic as pagans converting straight to Christ, it is more foreshadowing that the gospel call is expanding beyond the Jews. xii. This complete list of seven men is another point in the argument that the neglect of the Greek Speaking Jewish Christian widows was accidental. 1. All seven names… are Greek names. One of them isn't even ethnically a Jew. 2. The church took seven Hellenistic Jews and put them in charge of making sure that the distribution went out to every single widow in need. 3. The Hebraic Jewish widows' needs were already being met. They needed to make sure the others were met too. 4. This is a sign that the church recognized their accidental error and sought to make sure it never happened again. e. [Slide 15] 6 – These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid hands on them. i. Even though the church was given the opportunity to choose from among themselves men to do this task, the apostles maintained the exclusive authority to approve or disapprove of their choices. ii. But the men set before them were men who had stood out among the early church as men full of wisdom and the Spirit. Men who had a good reputation. iii. So, the apostles laid their hands on them, praying over them, blessing them and commissioning them into service in their role. iv. And what was the result of this? f. [Slide 16] 7 – And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, i. The problem was resolved without the need for the apostles to stop preaching and teaching. ii. The apostles kept holding their primary duties as primary. iii. They kept teaching and preaching God's Word and men and women continued to come to Christ. iv. But also, the integrity of the church shined forth for all to see. v. Two groups of people who notoriously held prejudices against one another, were now harmoniously dwelling and caring for one another. g. [Slide 17] And a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. i. Let's take the back end of the verse first. ii. What does it mean to be obedient to the faith? iii. There are other expressions in the scriptures such as “obey the gospel” which sound similar to this. iv. The gospel is summarized by Paul when he states that he preached Christ crucified for sinners. v. Therefore, to obey the gospel is to live as though all that is true. 1. This must first include repentance, since we must first recognize we are sinners and forsake our sin. 2. This must then include desperate dependance on Christ who died to both take our penalty for sinning and to give us His righteous standing before God. vi. And so, what Luke means when he says they became obedient to the gospel is that many priests were converting to Christ. vii. But another question we must ask about this strange ending comment is, what is its significance? viii. It is difficult to know what Luke intends for us to see from this comment. ix. Many commentators point out that beyond Jerusalem and the aristocratic priestly line, most priests tended to be less dogmatic on the divide between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. With some commentators even speculating that many more rural priests would have favored the Pharisaical party's position. A position that seems to be easier to reconcile with the doctrines the apostles were preaching. x. They also would point out that most of these priests would be quite poor, working in some trade to earn a living waiting for their 2 weeks of service a year in the temple. xi. Thus, the comment about many priests coming to Christ is remarkable mainly because the church was a charitable organization ministering to the poor which drew the attention of the poor priests. xii. What I found dissatisfying about most commentators' understanding of this point was that they were all quite quick to leave Jerusalem to find and focus on these priests. xiii. Luke does not tell us that these priests were from outside the city. And he just got done saying that disciples continued to multiply in… JERUSALEM. xiv. Everything Luke has said about the priests up to this point has indicated a strong resistance to the teachings of the early church. And certainly, everything that follows shows a persisting resistance to its teachings. xv. I find the concept of poor priests drawn to the church because of their charity – somewhat hollow and fairly earth bound in a book that has so far focused on supernatural means to the success of the church. xvi. Therefore, I have an alternate idea of why this final comment of Luke's is significant. xvii. We remarked before that the priests were predominantly Sadducean in their outlook. xviii. I would suggest that Luke intends us to see that many of that persuasion were now converting to Christ. xix. The natural question we have is… why? Certainly, by the power of God. But why now? xx. This little comment by Luke I believe speaks to the testimony of the apostles, the Elders, the newly established Deacons, and the church as a whole. xxi. Despite the doctrinal differences between the church and the priests, the priests could find no natural reason that such a group of people could so easily set aside decades of racial prejudice to live in love with one another. xxii. No other group of Jews had ever been able or even desired to live in such love and harmony so as to solve the differences between Hebraic Jews clinging to their heritage and Hellenistic Jews who had lost or abandoned their heritage. xxiii. And now… this new sect of Judaism. This rapidly growing, miracle powered, explosive movement, has somehow solved this issue. xxiv. Such change requires supernatural intervention. Gamaliel said that if this plan or undertaking is of God, then nothing could stop it. As if he were a prophet, he foreshadows a difficulty sure to shatter the fledgling movement… and instead of racial prejudice breaking the church… it flourishes instead. xxv. Now all of a sudden, these Sadducean leaning priests are saying… “it must be of God then.” xxvi. But if Sadducean priests are coming to Christ now, how do you think that is going to go with the Sanhedrin? xxvii. More on that next week. h. [Slide 18] Summary of the Point: The second point builds on the first. Not only has God supplied and equipped His church with individuals who can lead and manage them toward holiness. But also, through wise and godly leadership, God unifies His church around the bond of the blood of Christ. Old hatreds and prejudices die. From the leadership of the church all the way down to Hellenistic Jewish widows, the love of Christ reigns. God used the unity of this diverse group of people to humble many priests and call them to Himself. And He can do the same today with you and I. Through wise and Christlike leadership, the Lord can stir up the bond of love and peace among His people. Conclusion: So, CBC, what have we learned today and how then shall we live? Let's break all this down to a doctrinal takeaway this morning. Doctrinal takeaway: [Slide 19] God appoints and equips leaders of His church to wisely guide and unify them in the love of Christ. No other organization, group, club, nation, or gathering of any kind functions this way, for no other gathering is headed up by The Lord of all Creation. His servants, though they be mere men, are graced with wisdom and calling to do His will. Elders and Deacons alike are qualified by God to provide spiritual guidance and manage potential roadblocks to ministry. This produces love and peace among the body. Which in turn, creates an entity that the world cannot ignore. An entity that even the most stubborn of hearts cannot help but marvel at. God uses such an entity to call more of His people out from the darkness into His light. We are a city on a hill shining forth into the darkness. In response to this, it is incumbent upon the church to submit to and follow their godly leadership, trusting that the Lord is equipping them to guide them into truth, eliminate issues that would prevent God's people from ministering to one another, and stir up love and peace among the body. Let me improve this doctrinal takeaway by looking at a few ways this truth impacts us today. 1.) [Slide 20] Mind Transformation: “What truth must we believe from this text?” or “What might we not naturally believe that we must believe because of what this text has said?” We must believe that prayer and preaching and teaching God's Word is our church's highest priority. a. The church through the course of history and certainly included in that would be the church of America, has committed themselves to do and be a great many things. b. In the state of Michigan churches are classified as charitable organizations. They do not need to apply for this status. All they must do is prove that they are an ecclesiastical organization and they are granted that status. c. Why is that? d. Simply put, the church has had a long history of solving social ills and charitably giving to those in need. e. This is a beautiful and necessary function of the church. Especially toward one another. f. We see it on full display here with the church caring for widows who are unable to care for themselves. g. But the apostles were not willing to set aside prayer and the preaching and teaching of God's Word in order to devote themselves to making sure widows were being fed. h. This reveals two things to us. i. First, it reveals that the apostles believed that they were specifically called by Christ to pass on His teachings to the church and preach the gospel to the lost. i. They were not willing to be distracted from their calling, no matter how noble a purpose it may have been. ii. They recognized the priority in their own lives that Christ had placed on them to preach and teach His commands. iii. Although they no doubt have been passing on these teaching responsibilities to others (as we will see with Stephen next week), it did not free them to do other things… for prayer and preaching and teaching God's Word was their calling. j. Second, it reveals the necessary priority of the preaching and teaching of the word of God in the church. i. As noble as a work as it was to care for widows. Pure and undefiled religion as James says. ii. Such charitable acts cannot overtake a ministry to be the sum total of their identity. iii. Churches are not primarily charitable organizations. They are centers of worship and discipleship. iv. Any church that does not place prayer and the teaching and preaching of God's Word as the highest priority– runs the risk of losing what it is to be a church. v. God's people gather to commune with Him. They do this by hearing from Him and speaking to Him. These are ordinary means by which God ministers to and grows His children. vi. That is, primarily, and necessarily, why we exist. vii. To focus our efforts, CBC, on any other task, no matter how noble, is to miss the point of what it means to be His church. 2.) [Slide 21] Refutation: “What lies must we cast down” or “What do we naturally believe, or have been taught to believe, that this passage shows is false?” I actually have two of these this morning. First, we must deny that the most qualified men to be deacons are the ones who are gifted in physical strengths and skills. a. The job set before Stephen and the rest, was one of a physical care problem. They were not teaching the scriptures to these widows. They were not going house to house raising a bible study or administering the Lord's Supper. b. Instead, their job included organizing people, their schedules, the food collection, food storage, the routes for food distribution, adding names to the list, taking names off, gathering new volunteers, volunteer training, volunteer improvement and correction, budget management for purchasing more food, and perhaps many other duties. c. If you and I were setting up qualifications for such a person, we might be tempted to establish a VERY different list of qualifications for such men. d. First, we might look exclusively for women, since many women excel at such tasks. Second, we might be looking for managerial skills, people skills, financial skills. We might look for someone who knows the city well, the back roads, the alleyways. We might look for someone who is a good business man and can get discount prices on food. e. But the apostles set the qualifications. Seven men, full of faith, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit. f. My friends, although the office of the Deacon is predominantly related to earthly matters… there is a resoundingly spiritual component to their role. g. And the fact of the matter is, no matter how well someone can do plumbing, electrical, or landscaping… they will be ill equipped to manage God's people toward love and unity if they are not godly people. h. We must forever dismiss this idea from our minds, that Deacons must be equipped with physical earth-bound skills. For that is simply not true. They must be godly. That is their qualifications. i. As we seek the Lord for the reception of more Deacons in the future, we must focus on their spiritual strength and not their physical skills. 3.) [Slide 22] Refutation: Secondly, we must deny that the best way to arrive at the right answer is by consensus. a. We notice in this text that consensus follows the solution. It does not precede it. b. The apostles stated the problem, their inability to meet it, and their instructions for solving the problem. c. And when the church leaders put forward 7 men to serve in the capacity which the apostles directed, the apostles ultimately approved and appointed the men to do the work laid out before them. d. Because of our American heritage, we naturally assume that the best way to arrive at the best solution to a problem is to come to some kind of consensus. To get in a room and discuss all our options until the best one emerges. We verify it is the best by the number of people that support it. e. How shocking to discover that the early church did not function this way. f. Some suggest that is because their society was not ready for a system of government where all have a vote to determine policy and direction. g. The problem with that is that both a democracy and a republic had existed before Jesus was born. To say that the 1st century church was unaware of these forms of government is to ignore the fact that Rome and Greece before it operated this way. h. If God desired to establish a democracy to operate His church, he needed only to point to the Greeks. If it were to operate like Republic, He needed only to point to the early days of Rome. i. Instead, the apostles, based on the wisdom and love of God, make the decisions and leave it to the church leaders to implement them. j. In this God has made it abundantly clear that it is not raw consensus that leads us to the best solutions. Instead, it is consensus among men who are qualified and called of God to lead His people. This is what leads us to the best solutions. k. That is not to say that there is no place for consensus among the people. Certainly, after the apostles put forward their solution, it pleased the community leaders. But this speaks less of the power and authority of the consensus and more of the wisdom and direction of the apostles. l. The bottom line is this… God has not given us instruction to govern our churches where the majority wins. Instead, God has called and qualified godly men to lead His people, earning trust while being trusted. m. This leads us naturally to our next application. 4.) [Slide 23] Exhortation: “What actions should we take?” or “What is this passage specifically commanding us to do that we don't naturally do or aren't currently doing?” We must trust and submit to our godly leaders. a. The commands to submit to Elders make absolutely no sense if God has designed His church to operate as a democracy. Just as it would make no sense for a wife to submit to her husband but have an equal vote in the decision making, nor a slave to submit to his master but have an equal vote in his employment. b. This is why God has given us the qualifications for who a person must be if he is qualified to be an Elder. c. Although every man must strive for each characteristic, it is only some whom God graces to have those characteristics. God ultimately calls and equips those whom He desires to lead His church. d. It is the church's responsibility to receive, trust, and submit to their godly leaders. e. Much like a relationship of a husband to a wife – this is not without mutual trust and mutual submission. f. The apostles could have appointed the men themselves, yet they delegated and entrusted this task with the individual community leaders. g. This shows a give and take relationship between church leaders and those they lead. h. But we cannot allow the pendulum to swing too far. For it is the churches' responsibility to pray for and submit to their Leaders. i. This does not mean that they are never to be questioned or investigated. It doesn't mean that they will never be wrong. But generally speaking, the Lord will make His will known by the consensus of godly men He has called to lead. j. The church must bring complaints, issues, problems, disagreement, and concerns to the leadership… but trust God to work in and through them to arrive at the best answer for the community. k. Elders too must submit to one another. Even when they are outvoted. l. Submission is not easy… but it is a highly biblical concept. m. I can state this application not as a corrective… for I think generally speaking, despite having only had Elders leading for a year and a half, you are a fairly submissive church. n. But this application goes out for all of us. We must submit to those whom God has called and qualified to lead. 5.) [Slide 24] De-Exhortation: “What actions should we stop doing” or “What behaviors do we naturally practice that this passage tells us to stop doing?” We must not give in to knee jerk reactions when things go wrong. a. Elders, I speak to us specifically with this one. And to myself especially. i. We must resist the urge to respond impetuously on matters of difficulty within the church. ii. It is easy to see how the apostles could have over or under reacted to this issue. iii. I can see myself brow beating the Hellenists for being too soft. I can see myself desiring to find out who messed up and chew them out. I can see myself ending the ministry and counting it as lost. iv. The apostles took a path of great compassion and mercy. One that we must tread if we are to lead these wonderful saints whose souls we are caring for. v. The apostles creatively came up with a solution without dismissing or exacerbating the problem. vi. Brothers, we should aim for such a mark. vii. Let us move forward, relying on God's grace, to be as wise as they were in addressing issues that arise among our people. b. But CBC, I'll address you in this too. i. Notice the church complained. ii. The difference between a godly complaint and an ungodly complaint has to do with both the audience of your complaining and your willingness to find contentment no matter the outcome of your complaining. iii. When church members bring a complaint to other church members, family members, friends, neighbors, members of other churches, or church leaders of other churches… they complain in sin. Why? iv. Because the one to whom they complain is neither called or equipped to solve their problem. v. When church members complain even to God or their Elders but do so demanding their own way or expecting to get what they want. They complain in sin. Why? vi. Because godliness with contentment is great gain. You cannot be thankful and lacking contentment at the same time. vii. So, complain well CBC. 1. Complain only to those who can do something about it. 2. And complain with sincere, humble, and gentle hearts, not needing to have your fears and pains alleviated but desiring only to make it known to those who care for you. 6.) [Slide 25] Comfort: “What comfort can we find here?” or “What peace does the Lord promise us in light of this passage of scripture?” God is faithful to bless His church with growth when they strive for unity under their godly leadership. a. We see a wonderful correlation between trusting and submitting to church leadership, love, unity, and God growing His church numerically. b. While we can't break it down to a formula that is always true. We can see the correlation between a unified, submissive, love filled church and a desire from the outsider to be a part of such a community. c. What a testimony, especially in our culture, to willingly submit to and trust godly leaders. Are you telling me that won't confound the world? d. “You mean you just do what your church Elders tell you to.” e. “Yeah. I trust them. They are some of the godliest people I know.” f. “What if they screw up?” g. “They have. They admitted it and we forgave them.” h. And what a comfort to see God bless a unified church. i. It encourages and motivates us to follow suit. Let me close with a Puritan's prayer. This prayer is specifically offered on behalf of the Elders of CBC. [Slide 26 (end)] O our Lord, Let not our ministry be approved only by men, or merely win the esteem and affections of people; But do the work of grace in their hearts, call in your elect, seal and edify the regenerate ones, and command eternal blessings on their souls. Save us from self-opinion and self-seeking; Water the hearts of those who hear your Word, that seed sown in weakness may be raised in power; Cause us and those that hear us to behold you here in the light of special faith, and hereafter in the blaze of endless glory; Make our every sermon and teaching a means of grace to ourselves, and help us to experience the power of your dying love, for your blood is balm, your presence bliss, your smile heaven, your cross the place where truth and mercy meet. Look upon the doubts and discouragements of our ministry and keep us from self-importance; We beg pardon for our many sins, omissions, infirmities, as men, as ministers; Command your blessing on our weak, unworthy labours, and on the message of salvation given; Stay with your people, and may your presence be their portion and ours. When we preach and teach to others let not our words be merely elegant and masterly, our reasoning polished and refined, our performance powerful and tasteful, but may we exalt you and humble sinners. O Lord of power and grace, all hearts are in your hands, all events at your disposal, set the seal of your almighty will upon our ministry. In Jesus Name we pray… Amen.

In Romans 12, Paul exhorts us not to be conformed to this world. That is what Hanukkah is all about. It expresses the refusal of the Jewish people to be converted into something that was against the will of God and against the teachings of God. We as believers in Yeshua (Jesus) should have the same resistance to the culture that is set to move us away from the Scriptures, away from our Christian values, and convert us to a different way of life. Hanukkah is not a substitute for Christmas. It is an observance very applicable to Christianity today.   Show Notes: Many people think that Hanukkah is just a celebration for Jewish people to compete with Christmas during December. That is not true. Hanukkah existed before the celebration of Christmas. It is a historically based and scripturally based event that was observed by Yeshua (Jesus). Biblically, Hanukkah is referred to as the Feast of Dedication because it celebrates the rededication of the Temple after the Maccabean revolt when the Jews recaptured Jerusalem, recaptured the Temple, and purified it from its defilement.   At a time when Israel was under the suppression of the Seleucid Empire, Antiochus IV (known as Epiphanes) determined to wipe out all the practices and beliefs of the Jewish people and replace them with the paganism of the Greek people. A small band of Jewish men and women who refused to be Hellenized and converted into pagans rose up and fought against the armies of the Greeks and won, taking Jerusalem, and cleansing and rededicating the Temple. This spirit is what Hanukkah celebrates.   That is why I think it is important for Christians to celebrate Hanukkah. To celebrate Hanukkah is to follow after those who refused to be converted to the paganism of the Greek culture. We likewise should refuse the demands of today's culture and the pressures of society that would force us to deny our faith and convert us to the paganism of today's world, which is quickly abandoning the Scriptures, abandoning morals, abandoning pure thought, and the right ways of life. We, as believers in Christ, along with the Jewish people, should shine as a light on a hill, as those who hold forth the Word of God and the promises of God and the prophecies to come.   Key Verses:   John 10:22-23. “At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple.” Romans 12:1-2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Matthew 5:11-16. “You are the light of the world. … Let your light shine before men.” Matthew 24:22. “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved.”   Quotes:   “We are the salt of the earth. We are to be the light. And that is what you can say about those who participated in the Maccabean Revolt, that refused to be removed off of their faith.” “We are believers, and we are not to be conformed to this world. We are not to be conformed to its cultures, its beliefs, and its ways of life when they are contrary to God and to His Word.” “Let us rededicate and purify everything that has been touched and destroyed during these days under the attempts of satan to bring about his purpose.”   Takeaways:   Hanukkah reminds us that as believers, we are not to be conformed to this world. We are not to be conformed to its cultures, its beliefs, and its ways of life when they are contrary to God and to His Word. Hanukkah reminds us that we are to be a light to this world—we should shine brightly as a light on a hill. We cannot let our light go out, and we certainly cannot live in fear and intimidation and hide our light under a bushel basket. Hanukkah reminds us that we are the salt of the earth. What we are to do today is preserve the culture of the Kingdom of God. We are to preserve the ways of God. We are to preserve the love and the Word of God in this day and age. Hanukkah reminds us that we must put our faith into service. Like the ancient Maccabees, we must go in and cleanse the Temple—to rededicate and purify everything that has been touched and destroyed as satan has attempted to bring about his purposes in our world.

The Silk Road, or roads more appropriately, has been in use for thousands of years. Horses, jade, gold, and of course silk flowed across the trade routes. As did spices - and knowledge. The term Silk Road was coined by a German geographer named Ferdinand van Richthofen in 1870 to describe a network of routes that was somewhat formalized in the second century that some theorize date back 3000 years, given that silk has been found on Egyptian mummies from that time - or further. The use of silk itself in China in fact dates back perhaps 8,500 years. Chinese silk has been found in Scythian graves, ancient Germanic graves, and along mountain ranges and waterways around modern India gold and silk flowed between east and west. These gave way to empires along the Carpathian Mountains or Kansu Corridor. There were Assyrian outposts in modern Iran and the Sogdia built cities around modern Samarkand in Uzbekistan, an area that has been inhabited since the 4th millennium BCE. The Sogdians developed trading networks that spanned over 1,500 miles - into ancient China. The road expanded with he Persian Royal Road from the 5th century BCE across Turkey and with the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 300s BCE, the Macedonian Empire pushed into Central Asia into modern Uzbekistan. The satrap Diodotus I claimed independence of one of those areas between the Hindu Kush, Pamirs, and Tengri Tagh mountains, which became known as the Hellenized name Bactria and called the Greco-Bactrian and then Into-Greek Kingdoms by history. Their culture also dates back thousands of years further.  The Bactrians became powerful enough to push into the Indus Valley, west along the Caspian Sea, and north to the Syr Darya river, known as the Jaxartes at the time and to the Aral Sea. They also pushed south into modern Pakistan and Afghanistan, and east to modern Kyrgyzstan. To cross the Silk Road was to cross through Bactria, and they were considered a Greek empire in the east. The Han Chinese called them Daxia in the third century BCE. They grew so wealthy from the trade that they became the target of conquest by neighboring peoples once the thirst for silk could not be unquenched in the Roman Empire. The Romans consumed so much silk that silver reserves were worn thin and they regulated how silk could be used - something some of the Muslim's would do over the next generations.  Meanwhile, the Chinese hadn't known where their silk was destined, but had been astute enough to limit who knew how silk was produced. The Chinese general Pan Chao in the first century AD and attempted to make contact with the Roman's only to be thwarted by Parthians, who acted as the middlemen on many a trade route. It wasn't until the Romans pushed East enough to control the Persian Gulf that an envoy was sent by Marcus Aurelius that made direct contact with China in 166 AD and from there, spread throughout the kingdom. Justinian even sent monks to bring home silkworm eggs but they were never able to reproduce silk, in part because they didn't have mulberry trees. Yet, the west had perpetrated industrial espionage on the east, a practice that would be repeated in 1712 when a Jesuit priest found how the Chinese created porcelain.  The Silk Road was a place where great fortunes could be found or lost. The Dread Pirate Roberts was a character from a movie called the Princess Bride, who had left home to make his fortune, so he could spend his life with his love, Buttercup. The Silk Road had made many a fortune, so Ross Ulbricht used that name on a site he created called the Silk Road, along with Frosty and Attoid. He'd gotten his Bachelors at the University of Texas and Masters at Penn State University before he got the idea to start a website he called the Silk Road in 2011. Most people connected to the site via ToR and paid for items in bitcoins. After he graduated from Penn State, he'd started a couple of companies that didn't do that well. Given the success of Amazon, he and a friend started a site to sell used books, but Ulbricht realized it was more profitable to be the middle man, as the Parthians had thousands of years earlier. The new site would be Underground Brokers and later changed to The Silk Road. Cryptocurrencies allowed for anonymous transactions. He got some help from others, including two that went by the pseudonyms Smedley (later suspected to be Mike Wattier) and Variety Jones (later suspected to be Thomas Clark). They started to facilitate transactions in 2011. Business was good almost from the beginning. Then Gawker published an article about the site and more and more attention was paid to what was sold through this new darknet portal. The United States Department of Justice and other law enforcement agencies got involved. When bitcoins traded at less than $80 each, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) seized 11 bitcoins, but couldn't take the site down for good. It was actually an IRS investigator named Gary Alford who broke the case when he found the link between the Dread Pirate Roberts and Attoid and then a post that included Ulbricht's name and phone number. Ulbricht was picked up in San Francisco and 26,000 bitcoins were seized, along with another 144,000 from Ulbricht's personal wallets. Two federal agents were arrested when it was found they traded information about the investigation to Ulbricht. Ulbricht was also accused of murder for hire, but those charges never led to much. Ulbricht now servers a life sentence. The Silk Road of the darknet didn't sell silk. 70% of the 10,000 things sold were drugs. There were also fake identities, child pornography, and through a second site, firearms. There were scammers. Tens of millions of dollars flowed over this new Silk Road. But the secrets weren't guarded well enough and a Silk Road 2 was created in 2013, which only lasted a year. Others come and go. It's kinda' like playing whack-a-mole. The world is a big place and the reach of law enforcement agencies limited, thus the harsh sentence for Ulbricht.

Scripture Reading: John 11:1-57 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” 4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, but to God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.)6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days. 7 Then after this, he said to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death! Are you going there again?” 9 Jesus replied, “Are there not 12 hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.”11 After he said this, he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to awaken him.” 12 Then the disciples replied, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 (Now Jesus had been talking about his death, but they thought he had been talking about real sleep.)14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas (called Didymus) said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.”17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. 18 (Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother.) 20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you.”23 Jesus replied, “Your brother will come back to life again.” 24 Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, 26 and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.”28 And when she had said this, Martha went and called her sister Mary, saying privately, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29 So when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 (Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him.) 31 Then the people who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw her get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep there.32 Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed. 34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They replied, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Thus the people who had come to mourn said, “Look how much he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “This is the man who caused the blind man to see! Couldn't he have done something to keep Lazarus from dying?”38 Jesus, intensely moved again, came to the tomb. (Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed across it.) 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, “Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell because he has been buried four days.” 40 Jesus responded, “Didn't I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me. 42 I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”45 Then many of the people, who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and reported to them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs. 48 If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation.”49 Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” 51 (Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered.) 53 So from that day they planned together to kill him.54 Thus Jesus no longer went around publicly among the Judeans, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples. 55 Now the Jewish Feast of Passover was near, and many people went up to Jerusalem from the rural areas before the Passover to cleanse themselves ritually. 56 Thus they were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple courts, “What do you think? That he won't come to the feast?” 57 (Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should report it, so that they could arrest him.)Main ThemesWhy is Lazarus not in the SynopticsThe other three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are called the Synoptic Gospels or simply the Synoptics. They are called so because “they are so similar in structure, content, and wording that they can easily be set side by side to provide a synoptic comparison of their content.” John is the only non-Synoptic Gospel. It leaves out stories that are included in all three of the other gospels, and it includes stories that are not found in any of the other three gospels. The raising of Lazarus is one of those stories.In the Synoptics, Jesus' last great act of defiance against the religious (and political) elite is cleansing the temple followed by an incendiary discourse. In John's Gospel, Jesus' last act of defiance is raising Lazarus. There is no contradiction between the two accounts—that's not the issue (if there is any). The question is an editorial one. What are the odds that the climactic event (other than the cross, of course) in John's telling of the story does not feature at all in the other narrations of the same story?I will briefly present two ideas that should be considered. First, each gospel writer has a different angle. This is not a criticism of the gospels. It is simply a fact. Each gospel highlights different themes by means of what material it includes and excludes and how that material is organized and presented. We do this every day. Consider how you could retell the Kyle Rittenhouse saga in different ways—using completely true facts—to show Kyle as a dutiful servant of his community or as a protector of his community. The former telling may spend a great deal of time describing his efforts to clean unwanted graffiti and briefly mention that he was unsuccessfully attacked. The latter telling of the story may not even mention the graffiti cleaning and describe the attack in extravagant detail. But notice that if both narratives are true (that is, they present true information), they are complementary. By reading both stories we get a better picture of who Kyle is and what happened.The Gospel of Matthew, for example, is aimed at a Jewish audience. It emphasizes the fact that Jesus is the Messianic Davidic King who fulfills the Old Covenant prophesies. The Gospel of Luke, instead, is aimed at a Hellenized audience and emphasizes that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah who came to save people of all nations. Mark had a Roman audience in mind and emphasized Jesus as the true ruler. The Gospel of John—our main concern in this study—is more interested in showing Jesus as truly divine, who brings true life through his willing sacrifice. Which gospel is right? All of them. These are complementary accounts.With the above idea in mind, consider whether we should expect the story of Lazarus in all gospels. All gospels agree that Jesus brought people back to life. Jesus brought Jairus' daughter back to life (Matthew 9:23-26, Mark 5:35-43, and Luke 8:40-56), as well as the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:12-15). John doesn't mention either of these miracles! So Jesus' ability to raise people from the dead is not the issue at all. In John's Gospel, Lazarus is a prefigurement of what Jesus would go through (physically, i.e., death and resurrection) and what the believer will go through (spiritually and eschatologically). It connects all the dots. Perhaps the other gospel writers preferred to end on a religious and political dispute (the temple cleansing) to show Jesus as the true prophet, the true king, and the true priest, while John wants to end on a scene that shows Jesus as the true life.There is another reason the Synoptics may have deliberately excluded the story of Lazarus. This is called the protective anonymity theory. As one website explains:There may be a good reason Mark, Matthew and Luke failed to mention Lazarus' resurrection, even though they described similar miracles. When Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus, “many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother” (John 11:18). Martha even went out to meet Jesus prior to his arrival, seemingly aware of the disciple's concern that “these Jews were just now seeking to stone [Jesus]” (John 11:8). Jesus performed the miracle in the presence of these Jewish witnesses and “many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him” (John 11:45). As a result, the chief priests and Pharisees convened a council and “from that day on they planned together to kill [Jesus]” (John 11:53). The raising of Lazarus had an impact on the Jewish opposition that was unique amongst those who had been raised by Jesus. Early chroniclers may simply have wanted to minimize Lazarus' presence in the gospel accounts to protect him and his sisters earlier in the first century. By the time John penned his version of the ministry of Jesus (much later than Mark, Matthew or Luke), this concern may have rightfully waned.The MiracleThe CallThe chapter opens with Jesus being needed by his dying friend in Bethany. Bethany was a small town in Judea about 2 miles from Jerusalem. Remember that Judea (and Jerusalem in particular) was the part of the country that strongly opposed Jesus. In Chapter 10, Jesus' life was threatened several times. Jesus' decision to travel to Bethany was effectively a decision to turn himself in. The apostles understood this all too well when they argued with him, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death! Are you going there again?”Two women call for Jesus, Mary and Martha. Mary, the text explains, is the one who anointed Jesus with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. This refers to a story found in all four gospels. In the Gospel of John, however, the story won't be told until Chapter 12. You could consider this a proleptic reference for those already familiar with the entire Gospel of John. The much more likely explanation is that John was writing to an audience that was already familiar with at least some of the other three, earlier gospels. This could be the very reason that John's Gospel is not a synoptic gospel. John wrote his gospel to supplement what had already been written, not merely to confirm it.The ResponseJesus will go to Judea, but not immediately. Jesus intentionally waits for Lazarus to be dead and buried before he goes. Why? “So that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” What does this mean? Consider the following verses from Chapter 12 (23-28):Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the solemn truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards it for eternal life. If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow me, and where I am, my servant will be too. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.“Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me from this hour'? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”From a very practical perspective, to say that Jesus will be glorified by the Lazarus miracle is to say that it will lead to his death at the cross. But what does glory mean beyond that? Glory is a difficult term with great depth of meaning. What the current passage emphasizes is the idea of revealing (or proving) who one really is. Jesus is not praised at the cross. He is not treated like a king at the cross. But, he is revealed at the cross.Jesus gives a cryptic response to the disciples' attempt to dissuade him from traveling to Judea. “Are there not 12 hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.” I will do my best to explain this. First, we need to know that the Jews divided the day into twelve hours. With that in mind, consider the following conversation:Disciples: Jesus, it's too late in the day to be traveling. (This is rhetorically implied by Jesus' response to the disciples.)Jesus: The day is not over yet. As long as there's light, traveling is still acceptable. (“Are there not twelve hours in a day?”)Jesus: It would only be unwise to travel if it were already dark. (“[I]f anyone walks around at night, he stumbles . . . .”) Now remember that Jesus is the light of the world. In short, Jesus says that the disciples should trust him. He knows exactly what he is doing. If he were gone, then that would be a different story. (Jesus' comment regarding “the light is not in him” may simply be part of the analogy while assuming an extramission theory of sight. Or it may have theological significance. I leave that part up to you.)The ApostlesJesus refers to Lazarus as being asleep. The disciples are confused when they take Jesus too literally. Jesus means the same thing he meant a few verses prior when he said that “this sickness will not lead to death.” This is a condition from which Lazarus will awake. It is not permanent. But he is dead.Jesus then emphasizes a second purpose for the Lazarus miracle: that the disciples may believe. This miracle will be irrefutable proof of Jesus' identity and claims.Thomas is on board. Fine, he says, they are gonna kill us but let's go. He is right except regarding his own bravery. He will let Jesus die alone.The ArrivalJesus arrives while many are visiting Mary and Martha due to their loss. In their culture, there was an intense mourning period for seven days (called shiva). First-century Jews buried the deceased on the day of death followed by six days of mourning (for the total of seven). The family would stay home and others came to supply food and express sympathy. Visiting the family was an important aspect of piety. A sizable proportion of Bethany probably visited Mary and Martha.Because funerals were such public events and Jesus was a “wanted man,” we can understand why “when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him.” If Jesus had made it to the house, he would have run into half the town—colloquially speaking. At the same time, we should remember that Martha was supposed to stay home. By going out to meet Jesus, she shows Jesus great respect.The conversation with Martha can be interpreted in different ways. She obviously demonstrates great faith. She acknowledges that Jesus could have healed Lazarus. Then she adds, “even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you.” What does she mean? Most commentators explain this comment as being similar to Mary's (the mother of Jesus) implied request during the wedding at Cana. Remember that passage (John 2:1-5):Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Jesus' mother said to him, “They have no wine left.” Jesus replied, “Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come.” His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” [emphasis added]Notice that Mary did not request that Jesus turn the water into wine. She presented the problem and then told the servants to do whatever Jesus requests. Martha seems to follow an identical pattern. She presents the problem: Lazarus is dead. She then adds, God the father will do whatever Jesus requests.Martha's belief that Jesus could and would raise Lazarus from the dead appears warranted if she was aware that Jesus had raised people from the dead before (Jairus' daughter in Matthew 9:23-26, Mark 5:35-43, and Luke 8:40-56, as well as the son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7:12-15), and if Jesus words that “this sickness will not lead to death” had been reported to Martha.As far as I can tell, the interpretation above is the majority opinion among scholars. As a personal note, it seems to me that Martha may mean something different. Her brother has just died, she is in great agony, and her teacher and Messiah failed to save her brother although Jesus certainly could have done so. In that moment of grief, her words “even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you” could mean, “yet I have not lost faith in you.” Notice that this would still be a great demonstration of faith and loyalty. I think my interpretation makes more sense of the dialogue that follows:Jesus replied, “Your brother will come back to life again.” Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day.”Martha does not seem to expect an immediate bodily resurrection. However, to give credit to the majority opinion, she could just be making her request clear. “I know he will be raised in the last day, but I humbly request he be revived today.”Regardless of which interpretation of Martha's words is the correct one, two facts are indisputable. She is a great example of faith. Also, she is certain of the resurrection of the dead in the last day. We have discussed this in the past, but recall the last lines of the Apostles' Creed:I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.A core belief of the Christian faith is bodily resurrection. We believe in eternal life in a very real way. Eternal life will be good and plentiful in a way we can hardly imagine. And it will come through belief in Christ:“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.”Mary the Sister of MarthaMartha calls Mary. Mary heads to the rendezvous point. The mourners, however, assume that Mary is headed to the tomb outside the boundaries of Bethany proper. They follow her such that they might mourn with her at the tomb. This would have been proper and expected. The ending to the scene, though, certainly would have been a surprise: the crowds find Jesus instead—the famous rabbi and miracle worker, despised by the authorities.Mary falls at Jesus' feet. This might seem odd to us. Feet are strangely significant in Jewish and other oriental cultures. Consider this excerpt from the Jewish EncyclopediaSince the Israelites, like all other Oriental peoples, wore sandals instead of shoes, and as they usually went barefoot in the house, frequent washing of the feet was a necessity. Hence among the Israelites it was the first duty of the host to give his guest water for the washing of his feet (Gen. xviii. 4, xix. 2, xxiv. 32, xliii. 24; Judges xix. 21); to omit this was a sign of marked unfriendliness. It was also customary to wash the feet before meals and before going to bed (comp. Cant. v. 3); to abstain for a long time from washing them was a sign of deep mourning (II Sam. xix. 24). Though there are no extant laws for laymen in regard to washing the feet, such laws for priests are given in Ex. xxx. 19-21. There mention is made of brazen vessels, placed between the Tabernacle and the altar of burnt offering, in which the priests had to wash their hands and feet on entering the Tabernacle or before approaching the altar of burnt offerings: hence at all their priestly functions. Just as no one is allowed to approach a king or prince without due preparation, which includes the washing of the hands and feet, so the Israelite, and especially the priest, is forbidden in his unclean condition to approach Yhwh, for he who comes defiled will surely die.In short, feet were dirty in a literal sense and in a ceremonial sense. To come close to someone's feet was a dramatic demonstration of humility.Mary expresses faith much like her sister. She knows that Jesus could have healed her brother.Jesus is MovedAt the sight of Mary and the crowds, Jesus is “intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed.” Depending on which translation you are using, those words are sure to range from great distress to anger. What does the Greek actually mean? That's a tough question. I will quote Craig Keener at length from his The Gospel of John: A Commentary:[H]e was "moved" (ἐμβριμáομaι, 11:33, 38), an unusually strong term, usually denoting anger, agitation, and typically some physical expression accompanying it (cf. Mark 1:43; 14:5). Scholars debate whether he is angry with Mary and Martha for lack of faith (11:32, 40), at the crowds for their unbelief (11:37), or at death itself. On the one hand, the term might be qualified by a parallel expression in 13:21 (cf. 12:27; 14:1), suggesting that John figuratively stretches the sense to include emotional disturbance without anger per se; it may stem from observing Mary's grief and wailing (11:33). Some think that "anger" overstates the case, though "troubled" is too weak.Keener adds, “If Jesus is angry, one may think he is angry at sin, Satan, or death as a consequence of sin. While that proposal may be good theology . . . , it lacks direct support in this text. More likely, he is angry at the lack of faith on the part of those who should be exercising it . . . .”Again, I want to make sure I present what is the majority position (as far as I know). Personally, I think that commentators fall in the either/or trap. Think about the situation. Everything is wrong about it. Death has broken a family. That was never the plan. We were made for eternal joy and life—not for sorrow. Martha has to meet Jesus in secret because God's own chosen people wish to kill the Son of God. Despite the prophesies. Despite the miracles. Martha, Mary, and the crowds mourn and wail as they have God himself next to them. He can do anything. Anything. Yet the people choose to mourn instead. The people who have seen Jesus do incredible miracles—including raising people from the dead—think it is too late for Jesus to fix this problem. I think this scene is the encapsulation of sin and fallenness. So Jesus weeps in distress and anger. I am reminded of his words in Matthew 23:O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! Look, your house is left to you desolate!The MiracleThroughout the miracle scene, the main idea we must keep in mind is the comparison with Jesus' own revival. I will highlight the points of comparison as we go along.At the time of Jesus, many private burials used vertical shaft tombs. This burial was in a cave, though. It was probably oriented horizontally with a stone across the cave entrance to keep out the animals. This is a similar “setup” to how Jesus was buried. Lazarus had been buried for four days! His stench would have been strong. Sure, the spices used to anoint the body would help at first, but not for this long. Martha is well aware of this fact.Jesus asks that the stone be moved. When Jesus is raised from the dead no human has to move the stone; the stone is moved by an angel. Jesus looks up to heaven an prays. Lifting one's face to heaven was a known posture for prayer. (We normally put our hands together, bow our heads, and close our eyes. That is a cultural difference.) Notice that Jesus does not pray before his other miracles (with the possible exception of giving thanks for the loaves of bread that were then multiplied). This lack of prayer emphasizes Jesus' deity. For the raising of Lazarus, however, Jesus prays for the benefit of the audience. He wants everyone to understand that his miracles come from God the Father. Jesus is not some kind of sorcerer acting out on his own.Presumably Jesus calls Lazarus loudly for the benefit of the crowds as well. Lazarus comes forth in his graveclothes. Notice that when Jesus is raised from the dead, he is able to simply leave his wrappings behind. Lazarus has been revivified—into his old body. Jesus was raised into something else entirely.Jewish sources frequently mention such shrouds for wrapping the dead. They wrapped the decedent tightly, especially around the face to prevent distortion of the tissue. Lazarus, fully healed and energized, would have struggled greatly to “untie” himself. He probably could hardly move and not even speak. This scene is climactic. To put it in a modern context, imagine someone being brought back to life while they are locked in their coffin. You hear them knocking from the inside and screaming, “Let me out!”The ResponseThe CouncilAfter Lazarus struggles out of the tomb, bound in his graveclothes, after being dead for four days, many believe. Not all though. Some report him. Forgive my sense of humor, but I find this quite funny. I picture a biblical Karen calling the police about a man raising people from the dead at the skate park. Despite the humor, and I doubt any was intended, the situation is dire. The authorities finally decide to act:“What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation.”We have several historical records that indicate “plotting” was quite typical of Jewish and Roman aristocracies. We also know from the historian Josephus, that Jerusalem's leaders were desperate to prevent actions that could provoke the Romans. Romans did not take kindly to insurrection, and the Jews had a history of it. The most prominent example was the Maccabean Rebellion in 166 BC.We must also keep in mind that the Roman legal system depended on “accusers” or delatores. For local aristocracies to bring persons to trial before the Romans was typical.Caiaphas the High PriestCaiaphas, “the high priest that year,” makes an appearance. Caiaphas held power for nineteen years. His long tenure and other contemporary sources lead scholars to suspect that he was a ruthless politician. He had the impossible job of appeasing both an anti-Roman religious populace and Rome. (I am not claiming that was the true, God-intended job of the high priest. I only mean that is how a politician would have understood it.) Somehow (wink, wink) Caiaphas accomplished this. We also have reasons to believe that Caiaphas was well-to-do and highly Hellenized.Notice how John refers to Caiaphas: “the high priest that year.” In the Old Testament, the office of high priest was hereditary and for life, like royalty. Greeks usually changed priests annually. In Jesus time, the office of high priest was no longer held for life. John's description could be merely to inform his audience of who was the high priest during Jesus' crucifixion, in what time period was Jesus killed (e.g., the “reign” of Caiaphas), or perhaps John is subtly critiquing the office of high priest as no longer divinely appointed but little more than a Roman political appointment.Caiaphas speaks more than he knows, and in so doing he utters the most ironic words perhaps ever uttered. “It is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people.” Insert “Chad Yes” meme here. Caiaphas meant that the death of one man would prevent a rebellion and Roman retaliation. Just kill him. It will save the political nation of Israel. God meant this statement quite differently. Jesus goes to the cross willingly. Kill him that he may atone for the sins of all people and save whosoever believes in him. God is a good history writer—I'm just sayin'.We could point to other ironies, like Caiaphas exclaiming, “You know nothing at all!” Caiaphas was in dire need of a mirror.One question bears asking: are Caiaphas' ethics in line with Jewish beliefs? Should a man be murdered to save a nation? The principle of expediency was certainly a staple of Greek and Roman thought. We also find it expressed by Jewish elite, like Josephus. Perhaps this was a popular view among the Jewish people. But does the Old Testament support such a principle? No. Remember, for example, Exodus 23:7:Keep your distance from a false charge—do not kill the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify the wicked.After this point, Jesus ends his public ministry and withdraws to “a town called Ephraim.” Ephraim was the name of the northern kingdom, known as Samaria in Jesus' day. Perhaps this means that Jesus withdrew to Samaria until he returns for “the feast.”

The Book Of Baruch, by Justin - Ancient Gnostic and Apocryphal Text - Full Audiobook. The Book of Baruch, by Justin, is a Jewish gnostic myth, set in Eden, that exists today in a lightly Christianized and Hellenized form. A sizable fragment of a lost larger scripture, Baruch is preserved only as a paraphrase in Hippolytus of Rome's Refutation of All Heresies. Who the author of the Book of Baruch is we cannot know. Hippolytus tells us little other than that he is a gnostic named Justin. Please consider supporting my work and download this audio as part of the ESOTERIC AND OCCULT WISDOM - MASTER COLLECTION (an ongoing collection of Gnostic, alchemical, Hermetic, and related occult/spiritual audio projects that span dozens of hours) at https://altrusiangrace.bandcamp.com/ *JOIN MY PATREON at https://www.patreon.com/altrusiangracemedia *BECOME A YOUTUBE CHANNEL MEMBER at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMzRTOugvDLwhSwJdoSWBZA/join *JOIN THE CULT OF STARRY WISDOM at https://altrusiangrace.bandcamp.com/starry-wisdom-cult *FOLLOW THE AGM PODCAST at https://altrusiangracemedia.podbean.com *MY TSHIRTS AND DESIGNS ON AMAZON at https://amzn.to/3peS9j3 *MY NEW 2022 MERCH LINE "OCCULT NOUVEAU" at https://amzn.to/3OeUHZL *MY TSHIRTS AND DESIGNS ON TEEPUBLIC at https://teepublic.sjv.io/XxvPDX *LICENSE MY MUSIC FOR YOUR PROJECT at https://www.pond5.com/artist/altrusiangracemedia *MY BOOKS ON AMAZON at https://amzn.to/3oQGh6A As an Amazon Associate I earn a small amount from qualifying purchases and it helps to support my channel. Please consider LIKING the video, SUBSCRIBING to the channel, and SHARING the links! These simple actions go a long way in supporting AGM and is truly appreciated!  ~~Places to follow and support Altrusian Grace Media~~ Website ► https://altrusiangrace.blogspot.com/ Bandcamp ► https://altrusiangrace.bandcamp.com Teepublic Store ► https://teepublic.sjv.io/XxvPDX Twitter ► https://twitter.com/AltrusianGrace Rumble ► https://rumble.com/c/c-375437 YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/AltrusianGraceMedia Odessy ► https://odysee.com/@altrusiangracemedia:1 Bitchute ► https://www.bitchute.com/channel/altrusiangracemedia/ To kindly donate directly to my channel: www.paypal.me/altrusiangrace For inquiries regarding voice-over work or licensing for my work (including music) please contact altrusiangracemedia ((at)) gmail.com AGM BACKUP CONTENT ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO0nCG5aqB1CHyU3Xf0TUbg #Gnosticism #Alchemy #Hermeticism #Occult #Esoteric #Audiobook #Mysticism #Gnostic #Egyptian #Christianity #NagHammadi #Spirituality #Jung  

Episode 102 How do we mark the passage of time, and how do we encounter the divine within it? From Shabbat to the Eucharist, our religious rituals play with time in unexpected ways. Take some time with us and explore the many ways that you can create sacred time wherever and whenever you are.    Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast   More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/   produced by Zack Jackson music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis    Transcript  This transcript was automatically generated by www.otter.ai, and as such contains errors (especially when multiple people are talking). As the AI learns our voices, the transcripts will improve. We hope it is helpful even with the errors.   Zack Jackson 00:05 You are listening to the down the wormhole podcast exploring the strange and fascinating relationship between science and religion. This week our hosts are   Kendra Holt-Moore 00:15 Kendra Holt, more assistant professor of religion at Bethany college and my favorite TV show all time is Avatar The Last Airbender   Zack Jackson 00:25 Zack Jackson, UCC pastor and Reading Pennsylvania and my favorite TV show of all time is Dr. Joe   Ian Binns 00:31 Ian Binns Associate Professor of elementary science education at UNC Charlotte. And I got a lot of TV shows that kept popping up, but the one that just keeps coming to mind right now, I would say is probably Ted LA. So   Rachael Jackson 00:45 Rachel Jackson, Rabbi Agoudas, Israel, congregation Hendersonville, North Carolina and favorite TV show of all time is the Big Bang Theory. Yeah, that's a good one is a good one. And this question is sort of a, you know, a little bit of an in and an intro to what we're talking about today, because it's our favorite TV show of all time. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. Thanks, like,   Zack Jackson 01:15 I segue. I like that even smoother.   Rachael Jackson 01:23 So we are talking about time. And unlike the the last two episodes, where we actually I think at this point, we'll have three episodes where we've talked about time, I wanted to talk about more of a corporeal human time and the experience and really just add the Jewish lens to this. We are saying before we really started recording that. Wow, I love being Jewish, and I have no problems talking about it and sharing it. I don't use that and present that as the lens. But that's really where my focus is going to be today. Because that's how I really understand time and its meaning. And so I'm going to give several examples of what that's going to look like. But I want to start with sort of a poetic read. This comes from reformed judaism.org. They have a blog series, and this comes from almost 10 years ago, but time doesn't matter. And words like this, get held thanks to social media and the internet. We can listen to them 10 years from now or 10 years from when it was written till now. So, but just giving it a little bit of a frame, this was written by Stacy's does Robinson, Zoho Nam live Aha. So she died. Not too not too long ago, and she died of COVID, unfortunately. But she's an incredible author and incredible poet. And so this is what she tells us. When my son was born, I cradled him against my heart, arms wrapped to gently get surely around his small and fragile body, I would stand holding him. Our breaths mingles our hearts beating in an elegant call and response, one beat to the next. And I would sway a slow and gentle side to side rock that lasted for the eternity, that exists between heartbeats, I could feel his body relax into the motion, like oceans, like drifting, like peace, above the simplicity of that rhythm, the warmth of him the smell of his newness and his infinite possibilities. As he drifted as he gem told my own body would react in kind, and I followed him, these moments became our own Fibonacci sequence, the delicate curve of our bodies in motion at rest, in motion again, twined in an eternal spiral, more intimate than a lover's kiss repeated again and again. And again. There's so much time that passes. Now, this is me, that is the end of what I'm going to share of hers for now at least verbatim. But I'll reference a little bit that too. There's so much time that passes in a heartbeat. If you ask someone, how long does this take? There cannot possibly be a single answer. It depends. But what were you how are you getting there? How old were you? How long has COVID lasted Technically speaking, technically, I can remember March of 2020. March 9, we did Perot, I, this is how I'm wound in Jewish time right now. So we did Param. And we had these Inklings. And there was something happening to the west to the east of us and something in a different country. And we weren't quite sure what was happening. And we did Param. And then we didn't come back to the sanctuary for 15 months, but in open the building for 15 months. And that's still been, that was still nine months ago. And here we are. My son, seven years old, finally got vaccinated in December. And there's still people here on this podcast and here who are listening, whose children have not yet been able to be vaccinated. So how long is this pandemic is still going on param for us is in three weeks. We'll be back in our sanctuary together. And we'll be wearing our masks, because that's what perm is about wearing masks. The problem is we'll be wearing two masks, the ones over our nose in our mouth and the one over our eyes, the ones that is a custom and the one that is for protection. So how long is COVID My son was in kindergarten when he got sent home. And he was at home in first grade. And he did virtual in second grade. And when I went and saw him this morning for STEM week show Intel he was in his classroom, five feet away from all the other students still wearing his mask, just like they all did. Not having any playdates. Because it's COVID. So how long is COVID for him? His whole life. He doesn't know times before COVID existed. That wasn't part of his memory. How long is COVID for me? A very, very long time. But something that I can see a life before and a life after. Because time, while quantifiable is meaningless. If we only use a clock, we have to use a relative understanding of time and how we relate to it. And in Judaism, it's I find it so beautiful. That we create time. So let me ask you, the three of you. When is Hanukkah   Ian Binns 07:49 right before Christmas.   Rachael Jackson 07:51 Right before Christmas.   Ian Binns 07:55 The winter season?   Rachael Jackson 07:57 Winter season.   Ian Binns 07:59 Typically when What's the date?   Kendra Holt-Moore 08:02 Is this a trick question?   Zack Jackson 08:03 No. It's never the same day all the time. What if we lived every day like it was   Rachael Jackson 08:15 a miracle. Clean up your stuff, rededicate yourself to your people and your God   Zack Jackson 08:22 and slaughter some solutions and   Rachael Jackson 08:25 don't forget to pick up the pig guts. Like that's just messy. Could we not? That's right. Yeah. So what is Hanukkah?   Ian Binns 08:33 December actual real   Rachael Jackson 08:35 true. When   Zack Jackson 08:36 I mean, it's different every year, right? It's the lunar calendar.   Rachael Jackson 08:40 The 25th of Kislev. You're giving me What's this? 25th of Kislev? Ah, that's the same every year the 25th of Kislev. It doesn't change. I know exactly when it is. But   Zack Jackson 08:54 does it change according it only changes from my perspective,   Rachael Jackson 08:57 right? It only changes from our calendar because the majority of our calendar is the Gregorian calendar, not the Jewish calendar. So when is Hanukkah in December, ish this last year, it was in November this coming year, it's going to overlap with Christmas and if we thought it was bad last year where there was nothing Hanukkah, nothing's gonna happen this year because Christmas will win out. There will be not even inkling of Hanukkah wrapping paper. That is what it is. Yeah. So when is it? Well, it depends whose perspective you're asking. And it depends how excited you are. I don't really care that much about Hanukkah. It's kind of a tiny little nothing holiday I only get excited because I have a child. We have the same question of when is Passover? When is Purim when is Rosh Hashanah, I have an exact date for when those things are. But that's not how I live my life. When is Shabbat? The Israeli calendar is marvelous. I love it. So Jews are terrible at naming things like absolutely terrible. Imagine if all of our holidays in America were named similar to July 4. Like if you didn't know, and you came into America and everyone's like, Whoa, it's July 4. And you have no idea what that means. It is just a date on the calendar. Right? It doesn't tell you Oh, it's independence day. It's Memorial Day. It's Veterans Day. It's Presidents Day. You know what the day is? Almost all of the Jewish holidays are to Shabbat of the ninth of have to have the 15th of have to be Shabbat, the 15th of the month of Shabbat like this is not helpful. Except for some biblical holidays. Where, you know, Rosh Hashanah isn't actually called Rosh Hashanah. Yom true on the day of the sounding it's the day you get to go make noise with the kazoo marvelous. So when we name the days of the week, we don't use Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, right? Those are Greek and Roman gods. Those are not the days of the week. It's yom, Yom Sheni, Yom slushy, Yom obra, day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six and Shabbat. We don't say Yom seven, we don't say the seventh day we say Shabbat. It is different in and of itself. Because our frame of reference is not that it's Saturday, our frame of reference is that this day is completely set apart from all other days. When we look on our calendars as Americans, we look on the calendar and go okay, Monday through Friday, those days are particular and then oh, Saturday, Sunday. That's what we're gearing for. we frame our mind differently because of our response to time. One other sort of piece that I want to add for how we then mix time, so I've only been talking about my time, right? I, in this day and age, I'm looking forward to you know, this next upcoming poram Or this upcoming PESA or this upcoming Shabbat, right like we're recording this on a Friday, and I'm going home, oh boy. I have to lead services and five hours and I haven't written my sermon. Oh, boy. Right. That's so exciting. So how do I? How do I understand that time, like not just freaking out that it's five hours from now, and I haven't finished my sermon or started it. Tell people. But when I think about Passover, which is the story of the Jews leaving Exodus, or leaving Egypt in the Exodus, and we can talk in chat, we can check on chat on our Facebook groups about how literal we might take that. Right, we can that's not the conversation that we're gonna have at this moment, though, did did the Exodus actually happen? So that's not going to be part of my conversation. But there is the question of not the question. I shouldn't frame it that way. When we celebrate Passover and commemorate the Exodus, there are four children. The wise child's this simple child's, the child's who is so simple, they do not even know how to ask, and then the wicked child. Okay. So if the why the y's child says, Tell me all about this and what is the purpose of these greens? And what is the purpose of this and ask all these questions? What do you think the wicked child is? Non rhetorical? There's no wrong answers.   Zack Jackson 14:32 I feel like there's a few wrong it's   Rachael Jackson 14:35 a right answer, but there's no wrong answers.   Zack Jackson 14:37 Okay, cuz I'm thinking an Egyptian child would be pretty bad. But that's probably not the answer here.   Kendra Holt-Moore 14:45 Kendra, ah, I'm trying to remember because I've been to   Rachael Jackson 14:50 a few. Save right because you've been to a few supreme   Kendra Holt-Moore 14:53 Yeah. And the wicked child when we go around the table. There's always like handful of people that are like, I think I'm the wicked child. So, I'm trying to remember because I think there's a couple that I get confused, but isn't the way your child, the one who, like asks too many questions or just is like a little bit. Like, out of the status quo of how they, like, think and problem solve. And so they're more disruptive, which is not, you know, I mean, it's like the wicked child, but in different contexts. It's not necessarily about like being good or bad. It's just different.   Rachael Jackson 15:31 Okay? It's kind of you're kind of mixing several of them in together. I, there's   Kendra Holt-Moore 15:35 two that I'm always like. So the   Rachael Jackson 15:37 wise one is the one who's always asking the questions. This is what we want, right? Yay. Asking questions. The wicked one asks, but a single question. And he says, What does this have to do with me?   Zack Jackson 15:54 Huh? Okay.   Rachael Jackson 15:57 Yeah. Whoa. And when we read the text, when we go through the Haggadah, and we we read, we asked, we say my father was a wandering Aramean. Okay, spoiler alert. My dad wasn't my dad was born in Australia. Like, he was not a wandering Aramean. But we say it in the present tense. God took me out of Egypt with an outstretched hand, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, right? I was there. I wasn't, I was there. I am there. I am going through this. And when we sing the same song, who is like you, Oh, mighty when Myka mocha by alien. I don't know who is like you're among the gods who? Who was this? Who took me out of this place? Who is taking me through redemption? Not going through the theology piece here today, just looking at time. Well, that exists in the Bible that exists in the Torah. That was theoretically, you know, 3300 years ago, I wasn't there. I'm only 41. But I was there. This is my story. This is my understanding of how time works, that it's now so even though it happened at one point, I was there and I am now and it is now. So that there's a meshing of while I might be looking at particular days in particular ways as how am I going to write my sermon? And when am I going to have for dinner? And who am I going to dress up as for Purim? Right. Am I going to be varsity this year? Or am I going to be I'm always a good character, by the way, always. I'm never the evil one.   Ian Binns 17:48 I think that's fitting.   Rachael Jackson 17:49 Thank you. I think so. Yeah.   Ian Binns 17:52 No, I thought him were here. He was he Yeah,   Rachael Jackson 17:54 he'd be Haman. Okay. Yeah, without a doubt he'd be or he'd be the guys. That's moto. Hi, spies. eavesdrops, on, where he's kind of there. But he's not really there. But he's totally a bystander. Now, I love Adam. He's much more of an upstander than any of those characters. He's just, he's easy to pick on. So time is not just what am I doing? It's about how do I go back and forth. And so my final thing, as I'm just like rambling at all, is, I understand time, Jewish type specifically, and my my life living a Jewish life as a slinky. So imagine your slinky, and I hope you've had the chance to play with a slinky recently because they're awesome. And it's closed. So imagine a closed slinky. And you're at the very start, and just go down one rung, it doesn't feel like anything has changed. It's the same time as last year, you're the same person that you were last year, not a whole lot. It's been different. But now imagine you're a slinky on a stair, and how far the distance is between one rung and the next rung. When it's opened like that. It's so much different, but it's the same time. So it allows us to come back together and allows us to check in with ourselves and say, Okay, I've been here before, but I'm completely different, or I'm not so different. It just asked us questions. So that's my sort of brief, very long sort of Drush on what time looks like and how we understand it quarterly.   Kendra Holt-Moore 19:56 The, the thing that I I keep thinking of As you're talking about, I mean, it wasn't really like the central piece of what you're saying, but totally like thinking about time in Judaism. I'm blanking on the name of the, the, the book or like the essay that Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote about, like time was like the, the tabernacle of time, where like in Judaism, what is you can think of architecture as marking something off that is holy, in like, if you go to like a cathedral, like a Catholic Cathedral or something, there's way of using materiality to mark off space as designated, like holy locations. But I Abraham Joshua Heschel published a collection of like essays talking about how in Judaism, we have these really beautiful examples of, you know, not not so much like architecture, marking off holy space, but Shabbat as like a marker of holy time. And it's like, you know, he's like, using the metaphor of, like, the tabernacle of time, I think, is what he calls it. And so that's what I kept thinking about, because it's such a, like, the, the rhythm of Shabbat, being, you know, it's not just this, you know, it's more than just like something you take for granted, every week as a celebration, or like a time of rest. But Hashem just talks about it in this really beautiful way as being, like a marker to orient you to time itself as this special, special thing that is, it's, it's part of our rhythm of, you know, our bodies and our communities and our calendars. And I just love that metaphor of like, a tabernacle of time, in addition to or as a different thing from, like, a tabernacle in space.   Rachael Jackson 22:11 I so glad that you brought that up. So I think the essays that you're referring to are contained in a book called The Sabbath.   Kendra Holt-Moore 22:20 Yeah, yeah.   Rachael Jackson 22:22 It's straightforward, straightforward. Again, we don't really, you know, mince our title is very much. You want to talk about time, the Sabbath. So one of the things that Heschel talks about and is actually in pretty much all Jewish books that talk about the tabernacle, or let's just use English, the sanctuary, a church, a synagogue, the place that you go, it doesn't matter. And that's, I know, we talked a little bit about this a year ago, maybe two years ago, when we're really talking about COVID. And not being in our spaces, and how that really isn't as challenging for Jews, as it is for other cultures and other religions. Because while we like our space, we don't define holiness, by the space our holiness is divided is defined solely by time, which means it can happen anywhere, it can be in the wilderness, it can be with ice cream, it can be with your child's it can be in a sanctuary, it can literally be anywhere. And that sacredness of time as opposed to sacredness of place is something you know that I love about Judaism, I'm not gonna say it doesn't exist in other religions a because I don't know all other religions be because I think that's a little too narcissistic, as, as a culture to say that we're the only ones to do it. But it does feel that it really doesn't matter where we are. It's about when we are so much so. I'm gonna poke fun of us for just a second. There are these rules that you there are things you can't do on Shabbat, right? Like you can't turn on light switches and you can't create a fire and you can't drive and you can't cook and you can't ride an elevator and I could keep going on and on about the sorry juice. Some of the extremely ridiculous things that we do in the name of Jewish law haha. But one of them that's been around for a long time is fire because we've had fire for a very long time. And so we're not supposed to light the Shabbat lights like fire is not fire is prohibited. You can't do that on Shabbat. But you have to light Shabbat candles. So how do you do that? Like how do you light Shabbat candles on Shabbat? We fool ourselves. We fool ourselves. It's beautiful. So what we do is we strike the match. We light the lights, we then cover our eyes, say the blessing. Open our eyes and go, Oh, look at that. candles are lit and now it's Shabbat. It's amazing.   Zack Jackson 25:26 Whatever. Right? Okay, so   Rachael Jackson 25:30 if you ever see somebody, right, I'm sure when you've seen Fiddler on the Roof, there's two sections when they're doing the Sabbath prayer, right? May the Lord protect and defend you that whole thing? Seriously, nothing. I'm looking at the three of you, and there's no recognition there. It's amazing. Well, but   Zack Jackson 25:49 it's been a long time ago. Sorry.   Rachael Jackson 25:52 Oh, Kendra, that's your homework. That is your homework. So anyway, so she's their blessing their family, and they like, do this whole, like waving the candle flames, and then they cover their eyes, and they say this beautiful blessing. It's because we're fooling ourselves of when that happened. Which leads me to sort of another question for you all, if we're looking at what time is, who decides? Who decides? So let's use a Shabbat as an example. In modern America, secular America, most Jews are not politically religious, in the sense of okay, Shabbat is when the sun goes down, and I have to be home and I'm not doing like etc, etc. Most Jews in America are not that way. And so, when is Shabbat at our particular synagogue, right now, we're having services at 530 on Friday night. And in three weeks, when we go through a time change, it's still going to be bright outside when we leave, and we're done with our service. Right? So we then have to say, well, when is Shabbat? So when is something actually happening? When we say it's happening? When we engage in activity? When the culture says it's happening, like when is or if we take also the majority of Jews. Question seven already, many Jews? Never. They don't observe Shabbat. So is Shabbat Shabbat because we observe it is or is it just a Saturday? So I'd ask the same question Quantum. Yeah. So I'm asking that question, again, using Shabbat as the example or the Sabbath as the example. But for anything, is it your birthday? Right? Again, we're all adults here. My birthday is technically March 2, because that's the day that I was born. I have four meetings on March 2, and it's a Wednesday. I'm celebrating my birthday on March 1. So when is my birthday? When should somebody say to me happy birthday, when do I open my cards   Ian Binns 28:17 all of March. That's what I do. Like my, my birthday is on April 3, and this year, it's a it's a Sunday, so I'm good. But even like when my birthday is on the day that I have class. Oh, I tell my students, I let them know what y'all know. It's my birthday. Just Just saying. The class goes.   Zack Jackson 28:46 So at the time of recording, and this obviously is going to go out in a couple of weeks. There's something similar going around in Christian circles. You may have seen in your Facebook feeds, that this one priest had been baptizing children incorrectly. One word wrong. He had, instead of saying, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit, he had been saying, we now baptize you, in the name of the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit. We instead of I, we instead of I. And through a number of higher ups, having councils and discussing whether or not this actually changed the intent of the baptism itself, they decided that enough had been changed in the intent behind that word change that invalidated every baptism he had done for 20 years. Because the congregation present does not do the baptism. So their affirmation of it is irrelevant. Of course, according to the Catholic theology, God is the one that does the act, the actual, like sanctifying grace disposing act on dispensing not just those. No disposing of children, please. We go into that theology and the priest is the conduit by which that happens. And so the I in that sentence is the priest speaking through God. And so by saying, We, then you're just, it muddies the waters a little bit, and the priest has resigned and he has offered to re baptize anyone who's feels that their baptism is no longer valid, because technically, it's not valid anymore. And in all of the circles that I run in, between all Protestant circles, we were all people who were like, hey, nothing magical happens here. Our act of baptism is that it is not something that is happening in that moment. Nothing changes about that person in that moment. What is happening is it is a an A outward affirmation of an inward and invisible reality that a child is born. Beloved, already, a child is born already a part of the family of God, a child is born already having been awash in God's grace, and mercy and goodness. And the act of baptism is an act in which the community gathers together to affirm that truth that already existed time immemorial. And so whether that child is baptized on the day they're born, or when they're 99 years old, whether it is done using the right magic words, or some other totally different vernacular a bad thing? This is a good thing for me. I made something of the way goes, giant. I can't wait to see you're trying to Okay. Could you hear it? I want to   Ian Binns 31:59 see his giant castle.   Kendra Holt-Moore 32:00 Did he say the banjo is not a bad thing. It's a good thing.   Zack Jackson 32:04 He says this is not a bad emergency. This is a good emergency. I made a giant Castle that's important. And I'll be up in a few minutes to come see it. Okay,   Kendra Holt-Moore 32:14 got to work on your definition of emergency.   Zack Jackson 32:19 Timing. I say one thing and that's when he descends into the basement and comes and plays the banjo in the back of this little studio.   Rachael Jackson 32:28 And you were done such a   Zack Jackson 32:29 train of thought was? Well. So you know, it's almost ironic, though, that my child were to come in here when talking about during the time in which I'm talking about in which God has granted God's blessing on to children before they were born. And before they had a chance to identify it, or have it be given to them from an exterior source because, man oh man, we need to be reminded of that sometimes when you are in the middle of something like recording a podcast and your four year old decides to play a banjo in the room you're recording it in, because that child has already been a Washington grace and goodness and forgiveness. And I too, have been a Washington that very same spirit and me to learn how to honor and forgive and appreciate the toddler's giant Lego Castle he wants me to see. But the point being in their theology, there was a particular moment in which Grace was dispensed in a special way from God on to that child, it can happen one time, you cannot be baptized again. In fact, they they murdered quite a bit of Anabaptists in the Reformation because of that, there's one time only that it can be done. And when you believe that there's one time only that this can be done then there's a whole lot of now stricter rules that have   Ian Binns 33:59 to come with it. And the ramifications for this like I saw the headline and read a little bit about the situation with this you know the Catholic priests making an error with the use of the word we instead of I and you know I didn't spend too much time Reading an article about it but it just seemed like that there was there's some speculation I guess that this could have bigger impacts depending on how the whoever the powers that be decided on the rules, right? Like um, like, if you're not baptized, considered baptized, can you get married in the church? The Catholic Church are there certain rules that you cannot like you have to be baptized Catholic will do certain things in Catholic churches I thought or something along   Zack Jackson 34:48 not to be married. No, at least one of you has to be Catholic but you can be baptized Protestant and still be married in a Catholic church as long as one of the other ones Catholic you can take promise to raise your children me Catholic You can't take communion? No. Okay. But if you promised to raise your child as a Catholic, then they will let you be married in a church.   Ian Binns 35:08 Yeah. But anyway, I just remember seeing that and just being amazed by it.   Rachael Jackson 35:13 Right. And I appreciate that you brought that that piece in Zach, because it's really talking about when does something happen? Right, when? Yeah, when does it happen? And there are a few, there are a few moments in life that give us those very definite, this is when it happened. When are you born? Well, let's, let's just go with the medical piece there. When you exit the womb, right, that's, that's when you're born   Zack Jackson 35:48 when. But when the head exits? Well, because some children   Rachael Jackson 35:51 are not born head first. Right? So, you know, but when someone puts on their birth certificate, What time were you born? Right? It's when you scream. Right? That's what time you're born when you scream. So your heads got to be out whether or not that was first or not. But you have to scream. And that's when you're born. Now modern medicine that feels modern medicine   Zack Jackson 36:16 when you are first alive.   Rachael Jackson 36:19 Yeah, that all happens within a minute, right? Even with even with babies or especially with babies that are not born headfirst. Right? They're just out.   Zack Jackson 36:28 Rachel, I have a question for you about religious time. So as we're as we're talking, I'm remembering a concept. From I think I'd first read it in something written by Mircea Eliade, I'm sure I'm butchering the pronunciation of his name, about the importance of an axis mundi in religion, the center of the world, as it were, and that in the same older Israelite religions, that was the temple on mountain Zion, that was the, the place that connected the underworld with the heavens, that, that sort of central location to the world and every religion has that, right. That's, that's Mount Olympus, that's, you know, all the holy mountains, usually in the ancient world. And then the temples gone in 70 ad, and people are scattered, both Christian and Jewish people scattered to the winds. And the Christians later do find other centers at that point right in Rome especially becomes our center forever, and what becomes the Vatican and all of that the Jews don't get a center for arguably, even now don't really have a center, at least religiously. Christians seem to have then gone back to their being physical spaces, physical centers, as opposed to the temporal centers. As but what from what I hear you talking about? The Sabbath kind of becomes the temple. It does that does that track with kind of the the history of the development of the two religions?   Rachael Jackson 38:26 I think so. And you're, I think from a point of interest you very much like second temple times, right? That's that's where that's where you thrive? First, yes, yes. Like you, like that's just sort of you, you really gravitate toward that time period. That is my least favorite time period in Judaism.   Ian Binns 38:49 Why? And remind myself and those of us who are not familiar with the time frame, your calendar time frame, yearly time frame, what   Rachael Jackson 39:01 Thank you. First Temple first Temple was destroyed 586 BCE. The Jews were then allowed to come back 60 years later reconstruction it reconstructed the tempo plus or minus 520 BCE. It was then destroyed 70 C. And so second temple is considered, you know, 520 BCE to 70. C, by the way, I'm using C as common era or Before Common Era, Zack used ad, which translates to a year of our Lord, which is pretty common, or BC, you know, typically understood as before Christ. And so, for those that do not use Christ as a center point in time, but we still need to communicate that this is the year 2022. We just have communicated as BCE and see.   Zack Jackson 39:57 It also is a little problematic that Jesus was likely born between three or four BC, so Jesus was born before   Ian Binns 40:04 I use, but   Rachael Jackson 40:05 that makes a lot of sense. You know, I was born before I became something too, so.   Zack Jackson 40:10 So why don't you like that period of time.   Rachael Jackson 40:13 Um, so just generally speaking, I find that there's just, it's uncomfortable for me, because it feels very inviting. And that's to reminiscent of today. As far as Jews are concerned, I think that there's a lot of us and them within the Jewish world nowadays, just like, and I see that as an us and them when we look at Second Temple times. It's great Hanukkah started as a Jewish civil war. And I just don't, I don't like that. It just, it just makes me too sad. Frankly. That's why I don't like it. It makes me too sad. The   Ian Binns 40:48 split with the northern kingdom,   Rachael Jackson 40:50 the what split? Oh, that was. So the United Kingdom. Again, if we look at this, from a literal standpoint, the United Kingdom was 1000 BCE. And it was only united for three kings. So really not very long. And then the 10 tribes were theoretically lost, also known as probably the leaders got taken away and they got split up because, you know, bigger, better competitors came along, and that was 722 BC. Yeah, very, very different time period   Zack Jackson 41:27 of sort of civil wars, totally different. There's the influence of the Greeks after Alexander comes through which there's a whole Hellenized wing aspect of, of that region, and then you've got the Jews and Alexandria and the Jews and Babylon and the Jews in Judea, not to mention the Samaritans and the rise of Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes zealots, a whole Christians, the whole gamut of splintering, and it's very traumatic, which might be why I like it.   Rachael Jackson 41:58 And that's why I don't Yeah, it's too much. It's like, are you reform or conservative? Well, I'm Reconstructionist. And I'm humanistic. And I'm Orthodox, but modern Orthodox, but open Orthodox, but just regular Orthodox, just ultra orthodox, and you're not even Jewish to me. And it's just, it's just to   Ian Binns 42:15 all connected to this god.   Rachael Jackson 42:20 Right. So it's just talking to somebody theoretically, I was just talking to somebody about you know, the prayer, the Shema, which comes from Deuteronomy, here, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One, etc. I like it better in the Hebrew, right Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai. God. I said, Well, kind of person who's not Jewish say that. So Well, sure. Right. It's, it's in the Bible. Lots of people say it. It's just sort of what your intent is. So what does it mean for God? I said, well, it it's a statement of if you believe in up to one god up to one god yeah, so yes, and Ian. But to go back to Zacks to go back to Zags, a whole point of where and when, and does that track? Yes, I think that totally tracks for it's not a when, and frankly, let's look at Judaism from the scriptures itself. Were like where, where was Judaism in the Torah? Nowhere, which means everywhere. So the Torah was given in the wilderness, the Torah wasn't given in Jerusalem, the Torah was given in Israel, the Torah was given in the wilderness, they were just wandering. They didn't know who or where they were. And that's when we get the tour. That's quite literally what's happening in this week's post shocky Tisa, like this week, we're Reading about when Moses goes up onto the mountain and God's like, Here have some stones that I carved and Moses is like, sweet, and then God's like, he should go back down there because they made an idol out of gold, and it turned into a calf and perhaps you should control that better. And Moses comes down and she's like, Are you kidding me? And pearls, the tablets and all that stuff? Like that's literally what we're Reading this week. So now y'all at home can check when we recorded this. So there is no place in Judaism. It's all about time. And in this exact same portion, it talks about the Sabbath. Like this is what you should do. And let me just also clarify one other piece when I'm talking about Sabbath and we talk about rest. We're not resting because oh my god, the other six days are so hard. That's Saturday. I that's what a Saturday is. It's a whole boy, I had so many meetings and so many emails and these kids are driving me nuts. Like, I just need a day like that Saturday, that's a day of rest. Mazel Tov, we all 100% need that Shabbat is, I am not resting to recover or prepare for I am resting simply to acknowledge that I exist now in this time, not for what I was or what I will be for right now. That's why Jews also still need a two day week right? We still are Americans. We still need a Sunday. We need a day that does not do. Right. That's our Sunday but that's not Shabbat. Shabbat rest is not weekend rest. It's a it's a complete wholeness of right now. And being connected to the text that was 3000 years ago and 3000 years from now. But really, it's just this moment. And we don't, we don't need a place for that. So our centrality? Yeah, wherever you want to be. Which is why a shout out to Rabbi Jaime Korngold who was the rabbi who had my did my bat mitzvah with her. She's the adventurer, Rabbi, I've talked about her a couple of times, right? She has Shabbat on the ski slopes, right? Shabbat on the slopes, they keep talking about mountains, Zach, great, go skiing and then have a Shabbat together. Right 15 minutes and the Shema say a few other prayers and go back skin. That's amazing. It was good enough for Israelite ancestors is good enough for us.   Ian Binns 47:10 One, so some of the readings you sent. Yeah, it makes me like I want to get the whole book. First of all, you know, like, the rejoice in your festivals, the Jewish year, sacred time in the Jewish calendar, just Reading some of that, but you know, the whole it is the when and not aware of prayer that counts the most in Judaism. Judaism is a religion. Indeed, the first religion and by and large the only religion that sanctifies time over space. And I just, I just find that really interesting. So it's not it's not the where you do it. It's the the time that you stopped to pray, is that right?   Rachael Jackson 47:59 It's not even stopping to pray, necessarily. It's a time of connection, whether that's connection. And so this is why I say up to one God, because when you pray, there's this idea that you're praying to God. Right? That's a very Christian.   Ian Binns 48:17 Yeah, please. So I guess what, I just keep thinking back to the, what we continue to find ourselves in with this pandemic. Right, and how, you know, we, you know, the whole world obviously went, has gone through time periods, some still going through it, and around the world have not been able to do like, go into places of worship, they want to people, you know, places around the world where people don't worship at all, they have no faith at all, in any kind of deity that we consider. Right? But that they're still limited on where they can go. How about that. So places, you know, that's still occurring around the world, and in some spaces in the US as well. And so, you know, but I remember when this first started, you know, and, and everything happened and people initially came together when everything was shut down. But then finally, it was, especially in our state, Rachel, in North Carolina, the you cannot shut down our churches, you cannot shut down our churches, like if we cannot be in our church, then we are not able to worship and I did not instill do not hold to that view. You know, I? Yes, when I go into the sanctuary of our church, it is a very, it has a very profound and powerful impact on me. It becomes very inspirational. I mean, there are many times where I start I'll take my phone out, start writing notes, and just things because it just inspires me every time I'm there, because I feel that connection, right. But I was I still felt to me it was like, I think especially with me, as one of the The lay leaders of the church of trying to help, you know, offer up worships at worship service every week on faith on Facebook for almost a year. I took it as like, almost like a, not a test of my faith, but as they making sure I understand, at least to me, the true meaning of all this and the faith is that it's not necessarily in that building. That's, that's not where it should occur for me. Right? It needs to be within me my time I, wherever I am. Right? It does not matter, I guess. And so that's why Reading that just really has such a profound impact on me, because it's just like, to me that's beautiful, of recognizing that it's more than the bricks and mortar that we find ourselves in. That should be bigger than that. Right? And that's, again, goes back to the whole limiting thing, I think back to our first episode in this miniseries on time, and we talked about how do we think of God? And how if we think of God as within the human concept of time, how that limits the power of God. And, you know, what God can or cannot do, is greatly limited by our our understanding of how time flows, right? Or at least the way we think about it, I think   Rachael Jackson 51:16 our connection? Yeah, and I think our connection, not again, I'm trying to keep this, I love that you keep bringing it back to God, I'm like, Nah, leave God out of the conversation. Bringing it back to community, and culture and connection, that it's not, right. I think the building can be beautiful. And I think that there can be holiness in the building. But were for those of us that may not have an interventionalist God concept. What was missing is that we weren't next to pitfalls, that the issue wasn't, Oh, I missed seeing the BMR. And then there to me, the eternal light, and I missed being physically in the presence of the Taurus. It was that I didn't hear the other people singing. I didn't, I didn't watch their faces as they prayed and cried, and that was hugged.   Ian Binns 52:11 And, yeah, that was a struggle for me with the way we did the Facebook worship, and the way Facebook Live works. Because I cannot see the people, right, you don't see the other people, but then also to one of the struggles that I dealt with. And again, it wasn't the space, it was that, as you said, a community of being together and worshiping as one, right. And so I started really struggling when people would, when it was just me and one other person live, knowing that, you know, people would then tell me, but even you so many people watch the video later, you know, and they take time later, which is something to be appreciative of, but at the same time to it, it was like, right, but I don't feel that community. Like, and there was a it wasn't just about offering it to other people it was also offering it's myself. Right, and so I needed that community, and I at times didn't feel it. And that's nothing against anyone of any of the my fellow church members go, you know, listen, that's nothing against anybody. It was just a recognition of, you know,   Zack Jackson 53:17 you know, Rachel, you say that nobody in your context said that they miss seeing the tour miss seeing that. But in my context, in which we are much more concerned with sacred space than sacred time, we, I was recording the services in my dining room for the first six months. And then after Nicole and I kind of parted ways as it were. I started recording services in the sanctuary. And I had dozens and dozens of people tell me how comforting it was, for them to see the stained glass to see the cross to hear the Oregon to, like, see the things in the sanctuary they weren't allowed to be in. And I think about the people who were really excited to be able to just go to the sanctuary, like open sanctuary hours, you can come in and just sit there in the space at any time. And like that was really important for them to connect spiritually, more so than it being on a Sunday morning. Like the time was just like that was just almost accidental. It was like a habit that it was going to be at that time. But the space is what mattered. People found it very hard to worship from their hallway. And   Ian Binns 54:31 so I want to make, you know, I want to clarify, sorry to interrupt, I want to clarify something that, you know, I still highly value that space. Right? And so I feel exactly what you're talking about Zach but the very first time that Father Greg, led a service from our church and our sanctuary. Shout out to one of our huge supporters that when the very first time he got one from there during the pandemic, it was a very powerful moment. I remember being very emotional because I could see it again, right? So yes, I have that deep connection to that space. But for me, what I found fascinating, were those who would advocate that the only way they felt they could worship was in that space. Like that was it. And it wasn't about the words, the connection outside of that space at a different time. That was they had to be in that space where they were not actually worshiping. And I struggled with that. Because to me, that seems limiting.   Zack Jackson 55:30 The only bit of our worship that is connected to time, specifically to time and not to space is the act of communion, or the Eucharist. It is, by its, by its elements in the way it's constructed in the words that you say, of institution around it. It is a a recreation of an event that happened 2000 Some years ago, that you're bringing into the present, and that you are looking into the future of a final reconciliation, we say the words and communion, all together as one people Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. And in that way, the act of communion acts as a sort of temporal Axis Mundi to us, you know, big old fancy words. But just like it stakes us in eternity, in that moment, reaching to the past, being in the present, pulling the future towards us. But aside from the act of communion, we are all about space. And we all care about time. So I am, I have learned so much from you, Rachel, today, and I've gleaned so much wisdom from you in this time. As you all didn't struggle the same way we did during the beginning of the pandemic, you struggle in the different ways, but not in the way that we struggled.   Rachael Jackson 56:49 Yes, so true. I love I love talking about this stuff. I love our ability to share and find appreciation in our differences and find commonalities. And that we all are seeking to find something sacred, whether that's time or space, whether that's now or eternity. So I appreciate my dialogue.   Zack Jackson 57:19 So welcome to a bonus edition of the dead Christian story hour. I think we're going out of order a little bit, but I have one prepared today. And we're not going to ask Rachel to talk more about about something and Ian has something but it's going to save it until the next time because and you'll see why then it's going to be great. So I'm going to go out of order because I have a fun story to share with you today about a dead Christian that I think is great. So our story today takes place in the little community that St. Francis had put together sometime in the early 1200s, late 1100s. Somewhere in there in Assisi in Italy. They were a wild and crazy group of people who left society because they thought it was getting too. Too rich, too wealthy, too disconnected. They were they ran away from their their family's prosperity from all of the wars and all of that stuff that was happening and they went out and they made their own communes out in the middle of the of the woods in the fields. And they lived this peaceful, happy sort of a life and they had some wild stories that are contained in a book called the little flowers of St. Francis. And now like all good hagiography, this takes this you take this with a grain of salt. Because all of our stories about our heroes of faith, a little bit of a comic book, sort of a bend to them. So this story, there was a there was a good fellow named Brother Rufino i Brother affino was in the woods and he was praying fervently. And suddenly, Jesus Christ appears in front of him. He's got the holes in his hands and all that stuff. He's like, look, it's me. It's JC. I'm here to talk to you. And brother finos. Like, wow, what is the great, this is great is the guy this is the guy rose talking about and he's right here. And he's got something to say to me. And so Jesus opens his mouth and says to him, Oh, brother Rufino. Why do you afflict yourself with penance and prayer? Since you are not among those predestined to eternal life, believe me, because I know who might have chosen and predestined and don't believe in that son of Pietro that St. Francis, if he should say the opposite. You know what, don't even ask him about this matter? Because neither he nor others know it, but only I know, because I'm the son of God. Therefore, believe me, you are certainly among the number of the Damned. And the son of Pietro This again is St. Francis As your father, and also his father, they're all damned as well. And whoever follows him as being deceived. Brother Ruffino at this point, he just met Jesus. And Jesus just told him, he's damned to hell. And sorry, dude, that's just the way it goes. And don't tell anyone about this, by the way. So kids, if you're listening out there and a grown up tells you don't tell anyone about this. That's a red flag. So he, he goes off and he's so sad and he's so despondent, and he says, I knew it. I knew it all along. I am an imposter. I really, I don't belong here. Everyone else is so much more righteous than me. And I am damned from the start. But God's like, I saw that. I saw that sneaky thing there. And tell St. Francis, hey, the devil just showed up. It was wearing my clothing, and is pretending to be me. I need you to go talk to brother Rufino. So St. Francis goes to Brother Rufino and he says hey, look, I know what you just saw. That's not Jesus. You can always tell it's Jesus because of the sorts of things he says that's the kind of words that the devil would say, Brother finos, like, wow, really? All right, if you say so. I'm just Dude, you're you're St. Francis. So San Francis says to him, go back out to the woods. And when this imposter Jesus shows up to you again, I want you to say these words to him verbatim. You say, Hey, open your mouth again. And I'm gonna take a minute. And I'm gonna bleep that out. But that is your King James II and translations may say, I shall expel dung upon thee or something like that. But there's a four letter word. So, brother afina, goes out into the woods again. And then, you know, Jesus, the fake Jesus shows up to him again. And because I thought I told you to go home. You are a damned soul. You have no place being here. What on earth are you even doing trying to pray? Stop wasting your time. And brother fino goes, Look, I'm gonna let you finish. But first, open your mouth again. And I'm gonna take a kid in it. And the devil at that point, you just bust out of his Jesus costume. And he's like, wow, you found me. How dare you speak to me like that. And he basically explodes and flies off into the distance and knocks the top of a mountain off. And there's this massive earthquake in like all of the region that everyone reported hearing, and seeing and a huge landslide that came down off of that mountain that other people saw and can attest to and totally definitely happened and was because the devil was so offended by brother Ruffino because he caught him in his in his traps. And that is the story of how brother Ruffino caused an earthquake in a landslide and destroyed the top of a mountain because he talked back to the devil. That's amazing. Okay, very good.   1:03:06 That's it.

Philo of Alexandria, (20 BCE – c.  50 CE), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Many of his works are survived to us through the Church, such as his writings on the Trinity, the Logos, and other Hellenistic Jewish ideas that influenced early Christianity. Jim Majors, Ph.D Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheJimMajorsJim Majors on Youtube: @Jim Majors #JimMajors #Philo #Logos #Gnostic #GnosticInformant --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gnosticinformant/message

DESCRIPTION Episode 119 – Perfectly Quiet – The Intertestamental Period 5 Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error. “ The Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, verses 18 and 26 and 27, New Living Translation ******** VK: Hello. I’m Victoria K. Welcome to another episode of Anchored by Truth. Today we are continuing our look at “The Intertestamental Period” - the 400-plus year period between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. I’m in the studio today with RD Fierro, author and Founder Crystal Sea Books. RD, today we’re going into our 5th episode in this series. Last time we talked a bit about the conflict between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids for the control of Palestine during the intertestamental period. So, to set the stage for today’s discussion how about giving us a bit of a review of what we’ve been discussing. RD: Hello to all the Anchored by Truth listeners. We really appreciate you taking some time to be with us for this episode. The intertestamental period is probably the period of Biblical history that receives the least attention today. Most people are very familiar with the accounts of Jesus’ birth, life, and resurrection. Most are pretty familiar with some of the most popular episodes from the Old Testament such as Noah and the ark, Daniel in the lions’ den, or Elijah battling the prophets on Mt. Carmel. But even people who are regular Bible readers often pay little attention to the hundreds of years that elapsed between Malachi and Matthew. But we should because there were a great number of events that occurred during that period that are very important to us having a well-developed understanding of both the Old and New Testaments. And those events include the protracted conflict between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids that occurred between around 300 B.C. and 160 B. C. VK: And, as a refresher Ptolemy and Seleucus had both been generals in Alexander the Great’s army. After Alexander’s death his empire was carved into four territories. Ptolemy became the king of the Egyptian portion and Seleucus became the king of the Syrian portion. Israel, obviously, was between those two. So, when conflicts occurred between these two dynasties – which was pretty much all the time – Israel was always caught in the conflict. One of the most important prophetic chapters in the Old Testament has got to be chapter 11 of the book of Daniel. The entire chapter is devoted to the conflict between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. It’s so detailed that it could almost read like a historical report of the conflict but it was written over 200 years before the first events of the struggle. RD: Right. And that’s a very good reason for looking at the intertestamental period. In the intertestamental period we see the fulfillment of a large number of prophecies contained in the Old Testament such as those in Daniel, chapter 11. See those prophecies fulfilled in such fine granularity cannot do anything but enhance our confidence in the Bible. Fulfilled prophecy is one of the strongest lines of evidence of the Bible’s supernatural inspiration. But beyond just seeing the prophetic fulfillment that occurred during the intertestamental period we also see the foundation for many of the events that we read about in the New Testament. For instance, there is no mention of the Sadducees or Pharisees at all in the Old Testament. But both groups were prominent in Israel in the first century A.D. VK: And since our contemporary calendar is dated according to Jesus’ life this is the period during which Jesus lived and performed his earthly ministry. Jesus frequently encountered both the Sadducees and the Pharisees during that ministry – though unfortunately most references to them are not positive ones. RD: Unfortunately, they are not. At any rate, both the Sadducees and Pharisees arose sometime during the intertestamental period though scholars are not exactly sure when. But it can be helpful to our understanding of Israel during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry to try to understand some of the forces that gave rise to them. VK: So, what is some of the thinking behind what gave rise to these two groups and why they became so prominent? RD: Well, as we have already mentioned after Alexander the Great died his empire was divided among four of his generals. Initially Palestine came under the rule of Ptolemy who also ruled Egypt. Under Ptolemy the Jews seemed to have retained a large measure of self-rule and were able to have their own high priest. Traditionally, the high priest had just a religious function but in the absence of a Jewish king the high priest also became a major source of political influence. Under the Ptolemies the Jews also flourished in Egypt and as we’ve noted the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint was eventually produced by the Jewish colony in Alexandria. The Ptolemies controlled Palestine from about 300 B.C. to 198 B.C. VK: But in 198 B.C. the Seleucids were finally able to get control of Palestine. There had been frequent conflicts between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids but this was the first time the Seleucids actually were able to directly rule Palestine. The Seleucid rulers normally went by the title of Antiochus. In 175 B.C. Antiochus IV (the 4th) came to power. This turned out to be a very bad thing for the Jews. RD: Correct. Antiochus IV also was known as Antiochus Epiphanes (god manifest). Well, Antiochus Epiphanes began to feel pressure from the Romans who were already beginning their expansion to the east. Macedonia, which is the northern part of the Greek peninsula actually fell to Rome in 146 B.C. but even before that Rome’s expanding territorial ambitions were becoming obvious. Antiochus Epiphanes saw this so in an attempt to strengthen his control Antiochus stepped up the process of Hellenizing his empire. VK: Hellenization referred to the process of importing the Greek language and culture into the territories Alexander had conquered. It had always occurred at some pace within the territories the Greeks controlled but not at the same rate everywhere. Evidently, Antiochus felt that if his empire were thoroughly Hellenized the people would be more resistant to the Romans. So, part of what Epiphanes did was to try to get the Jews to change their culture and even give up their religion. This produced a terrible period of persecution for the Jews. Not unpredictably it spawned a revolt. RD: Right. In 167 B.C. Antiochus set up a statue of Zeus in the temple and slaughtered pigs as a sacrifice to it. Many of the Jews thought that this event was what the prophet Daniel had referred to when he spoke of the “abomination of desolation.” It’s hard to imagine doing anything that would inflame faithful Jews more. Right after this desecration the Maccabean Revolt broke out. The revolt was led by Judas Maccabeus or Judas the “Hammer.” VK: And the revolt was successful. In 164 B.C. the Jews were able to regain control of Jerusalem and they cleansed the temple. This event is still celebrated among the Jews as Hannukah. All this history was recorded and is part of the book known as 1 (first) Maccabees. RD: And the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees are part of the group of books known as the Apocrypha which we talked about in the first episode of this series. The Apocrypha are thought by Roman Catholics and the Orthodox branches of Christianity to be part of a second canon or “deuterocanonical.” VK: So, after the Ptolemies lost control of Palestine there was a lot going on during the next 4 decades. How did all this lead to the formation of the Sadducees and Pharisees? RD: Let’s remember that both the Ptolemies and the Seleucids were Greek. They may have been fighting for control of territory but they were both part of the original Greek empire. So, Hellenization was present under both. It’s just that Antiochus Epiphanes had taken it to a whole new level. Well, after the Jews regained their religious freedom they also wanted political freedom. It took another 2 decades but in 142 B.C. the Jews finally regained their independence. VK: And this is hard for us to grasp but when the Jews regained their independence it was the first time in over 400 years. The first Babylonian deportation of the Jews to Babylon had taken place around 600 B.C. Even after the Jews returned to Palestine around 70 years later they still weren’t independent. They were just a vassal state of the Persian Empire and then part of the Greek Empire. That must have been an amazing period for the Jews – to finally have their freedom after over 450 years of foreign rule. RD: Undoubtedly. But of course even at that point the Jews had been subject to Greek influence for over 150 years. So, the process of Hellenization had been going on a long time. And as with any large cultural movement some Jews had welcomed the changes the Greeks had brought with them. But many did not. Even after the Jews under the Maccabeans gained their political independence they did not return to their traditional priestly line of governance. Instead, the Maccabees founded the Hasmonean Dynasty – named for one of their ancestors, Hashmon – and continued their control of the country. This was fine with some Jews but not with others. The Hasmonean rulers dominated the priesthood, even though they weren’t from the priestly line of Aaron, and continued to adopt Greek ways of life. VK: And the Sadducees appear to have been a group that supported them in this plan. The Sadducees were an aristocratic group that seemed to have prized political stability above everything else. I suppose we could think of them as being the “establishment” of their day? RD: Yes. Religiously, the Sadducees only recognized the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, as being canonical. They saw the rest of the books of the Old Testament as having lesser authority. This is one of the reasons they rejected the doctrine of the resurrection which Jesus confronted them about. VK: We heard that in our opening scripture today from Mark, chapter 12. There’s a parallel account of the same confrontation in Matthew, chapter 22, verses 22 through 33. So, it’s fair to say that the Sadducees had embraced the process of Hellenization far more than some other groups within Israel at the time. RD: Yes. VK: Then where do the Pharisees fit in? RD: The Pharisees seemed to have arisen as one of the groups that opposed the loss of the traditional Jewish culture and laws. They were not primarily a political group but they seemed to have begun to function as a cultural, religious, and political counterweight to the Sadducees and the Hellenizing intentions of the Hasmoneans. The Pharisees did accept the entire body of scripture we call the Old Testament so the Pharisees did accept the doctrine of resurrection and life after death. VK: And the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee. He famously invoked this religious difference when he was arrested in Jerusalem in Acts, chapter 23. This was a bit of clever lawyering on Paul’s part wasn’t it. RD: Yes. Paul’s trial before the Sanhedrin was around 60 A.D. So, it was about 200 years later than the events we’ve been describing. As we mentioned, we’re not sure exactly when the Sadducees and Pharisees formed as identifiable groups but they are first mentioned by the historian Josephus in connection with a Hasmonean ruler named John Hyrcanus I who ruled from 134 to 104 B.C. VK: So, sometime between the latter part of the 2nd century B.C. and the opening of the New Testament period the Sadducees and the Pharisees had become so well established and prominent that together they became the ruling group within Israel. Both groups had longevity. They persisted for well over 150 years. And we know that both groups had influence and power in Jesus’ day. RD: Yes. While we don’t know the exact origin of either group we do know that both groups have their roots in the intertestamental period and I think we can see how the Greek control of Palestine was a significant factor in shaping the Israel in which Jesus appeared. VK: What are you thinking about? RD: The Roman general Pompey occupied Jerusalem in 63 B.C. VK: Which put an end to the Jews’ independence. So, they were independent for less than 100 years? RD: Yes. So, let’s think about this. Between 300 B.C. and 142 B.C. the Jews were subject to Greek rule by either the Ptolemies or the Seleucids. And even after they became politically independent there were still factions within Israel that had supported the increasing Hellenization of their culture. The Greeks actively sought to transmit and spread their ideas. The Greeks were replaced by the Romans but the Romans did not make a corresponding effort to change the cultures, languages, or religious practices of the people they conquered. VK: The Romans were a very practical people. They were interested in stability within their far flung empire. They wanted control over economies, taxes, the military, and what we might term “infrastructure.” But the Romans didn’t have any particular interest in the religions or worship practices of their subject provinces provided those practices didn’t disrupt the Roman governance or the peace and stability of their empire. In fact the Romans afforded the Jews a fair amount of self-rule even during Jesus’ day didn’t they? The Jews had their own ruling council comprised of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The high council was permitted to make judgments about civil and criminal matters, although only the Romans could pronounce a death sentence. The Jews selected their own high priest. They were permitted to regulate the activities of the temples and synagogues. And even some of the high ranking Jews became friends with very senior Romans including members of Caesar’s family. RD: Right. As you mentioned, the Romans were very practical and this made them very capable builders and administrators. While it’s painting with a very broad brush you might say that Romans were builders while the Greeks had been thinkers. Alexander took an entire contingent of Greek scientists and philosophers along with his Army. The Greeks not only sought knowledge but they actively spread their knowledge and culture. During Jesus’ time, even after the Roman Empire had displaced the Greek Empire, Greek was the most common language used in international commerce and affairs. Even today the names of Greek philosophers are household names. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are still well known in our day and time. VK: So, there are Greek philosophers that are well known in our day and time - but there are still Roman public facilities in use in our day and time. Aqueducts and roads built by the Romans have survived and some are still functioning after 2,000 years. The Romans were masters at construction including pouring and curing concrete under water to build very sophisticated ports and harbors. Naturally, the Roman military prowess is legendary because they were masters of metallurgy and military design. So, what you’re saying is that the differences in these two empires was significant in God’s preparation of the world for the arrival of Jesus. RD: Exactly. While we’ll talk more about this in a future episode the Romans made it safe for the first evangelists to travel throughout the Roman Empire and spread the gospel. But the Greeks had made it possible for the evangelists to speak with the people wherever they went. VK: But you are also saying that the impact of the Greek and Roman Empires on the preparation for Jesus’ arrival wasn’t just limited to the world outside Palestine. There were also impacts within Palestine. This was especially true of the Greeks whose had been present in Palestine in one form or another for 300 years. And part of that impact was reflected in the presence and differences between the Sadducees and Pharisees. RD: Yes. The Sadducees seem to have followed the Hasmonean practice of embracing the Hellenization that had been brought to Israel. The Pharisees did not. In fact, the Pharisees seem to have actively resisted attempts to change their culture. This meant that the Sanhedrin, the Jews’ ruling council at the time of Jesus was split religiously and philosophically. The one thing they did agree on, though, was on a desire to maintain their own power and influence. VK: Well just about anyone who has read the Gospels or listened to a sermon on Jesus’ life has heard about the Sadducees and Pharisees. But what are you thinking about when you talk about their presence being important insofar as the arrival of Jesus in the world is concerned. RD: As you said just anyone who has ever read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John – or heard a sermon about them – has heard of the Sadducees and Pharisees. Part of the reason we’ve all heard about them is because it was often encounters between Jesus and a Sadducee or Pharisee that provided us with some of the clearest statements we have on major issues that pertain to salvation. VK: Such as? RD: Let’s look at the encounter we heard about in our opening scripture. This same encounter is described in Matthew and Mark. A group of the Sadducees were trying to trip Jesus up by asking, what was to them, a standard question they used in their debates with the Pharisees about whether there would be a physical resurrection. Remember the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection but the Pharisees did. So the Sadducees posed the famous married-to-seven-different-brothers question. VK: Let’s listen to the question from Matthew, chapter 22, verses 25 through 28. The Sadducees said, “Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children, so his brother married the widow. But the second brother also died, and the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them. Last of all, the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her.” RD: Right. The basis for the question was the Levirate requirement for a younger brother to marry the widow of an older brother. Then the first son of that union would be reckoned as the son of the older brother. At any rate, it was a trick question. VK: Like the philosophy professor who asks the Christian student “If God is all powerful can God make a rock so big God can’t lift it?” RD: Exactly like that. It was a trick question but of course it couldn’t trick Jesus. Jesus quickly pointed out that even the part of the Old Testament that the Sadducees did accept, the Pentateuch, stated clearly that there was life after death. Jesus quoted from Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush. That encounter is described in Exodus, the 2nd book of the Bible. Jesus pointed out that God had used the present tense when he was speaking with Moses indicating clearly that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still alive with God even though all 3 had died physically decades before the encounter. So, we can see from this exchange with the Sadducees that Jesus often used his contact with either the Sadducees or Pharisees, or both, to clarify much of the confusion that existed at that time about major issues that pertained to faith and salvation. VK: So, you’re saying that the presence of the Sadducees and Pharisees in Israel during Jesus’ lifetime was actually helpful in Jesus getting out His message. The Sadducees and Pharisees were the leaders of society in their day. People listened to them just as they listen to various kinds of leaders and celebrities in our day. People would follow what the Sadducees and Pharisees said and did. And people would have been particularly interested if anyone confronted them. So, when Jesus had a debate or exchange with one the report would spread far more widely and quickly than it would otherwise. And, of course, we need to know something about the intertestamental period to know why that was true. If we don’t know anything about the intertestamental period the Sadducees and Pharisees appear in the Bible just like Dorothy dropping in from Kansas. RD: I like that visual. Next time we’ll take a little more about how some of Jesus’ exchanges with the Sadducees and Pharisees produced some of the clearest and most important teaching we have in the Bible. This is particularly important because so many of the things we learn pertain directly to our salvation and eternal life. Just as we heard in the scripture today Jesus Himself has affirmed that the resurrection is real. And since all things were made for Him and through Him when it comes to knowing how things work He is the most trustworthy voice possible. Now, I’m not saying that God or Jesus couldn’t have made these important revelations if the Sadducees and Pharisees didn’t exist. But I am saying that God chose to use the Sadducees and Pharisees as part of His plan of revelation. As such I think we need to take some time and understand how their arrival on the scene is part of the grand saga of redemption. VK: Amen. This sounds like a great time for a prayer. Jesus’ ministry while He was on this earth was all about saving those who are lost spiritually. The need for doing that continues today. So, today let’s listen to a prayer for the spiritually lost – knowing that God has promised that as we diligently and faithfully present our petitions He will respond with grace and mercy: ---- PRAYER FOR THE SPIRITUALLY LOST (JERRY). We hope you’ll be with us next time and we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show. If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!” (Bible Quote from the New International Version) Daniel, chapter 8, verses 5 through 8 and 20 and 21, New International Version

HypocrisyA hypocrite is somebody who playacts, who wants to appear to besomebody he or she is not. The term is used seven times in Matthew 23 ina discourse in which Jesus publicly shames the scribes and Pharisees, thevery center of Jewish religious leadership (Matt. 23:13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 27,29). The Gospels show us Jesus offering grace and forgiveness to adulter-ers, tax collectors, prostitutes, and even murderers, but He demonstratedlittle tolerance for hypocrites (see the many additional references in Matt.6:2, 5, 16; Matt. 7:5; Matt. 15:7–9; Matt. 22:18).Read Matthew 23:1–13 and list four main characteristics of a hypo-crite mentioned by Jesus.__________________________________________________________________________________________________________Jesus associates four characteristics with the scribes and Pharisees.In the spectrum of Judaism in the first century a.d., the Pharisees repre-sented the conservative religious right. They were interested in the writ-ten and oral law and emphasized ritual purity. On the other side of thespectrum were the Sadducees, a group of mostly wealthy leaders, oftenassociated with the elite priestly class. They were highly Hellenized(i.e., they spoke Greek and were at home in Greek philosophy) and didnot believe in a judgment or an afterlife. We would describe them asliberals. Both groups were guilty of hypocrisy.According to Jesus, we are hypocrites if we don't do what we say,when we make religion harder for others without applying the samestandards to ourselves, when we want others to applaud our religiousfervor, and when we require honor and recognition that belongs only toour heavenly Father.No matter how sharp and to the point His words, Jesus' engagementwith those He called hypocrites was nevertheless full of love and con-cern, even for these hypocrites.“Divine pity marked the countenance of the Son of God as He castone lingering look upon the temple and then upon His hearers. In avoice choked by deep anguish of heart and bitter tears He exclaimed, ‘OJerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest themwhich are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy childrentogether, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and yewould not!' ”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 620.Why do you not need to be a religious leader to be guilty of thekind of hypocrisy that Jesus so soundly condemns here? How canwe learn to see any such hypocrisy in ourselves, if it exists, andhow can we get rid of it?

Photo: The crypto of the ancient kingdom of Commagene, a Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Iranian Orontid dynast. Cryptocurrency Bandits.  Simon Constable, WSJ, Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonconstable/2021/06/29/us-saw-more-than-80000-cryptocurrency-frauds-in-2020-report/   https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/bitcoin-price-live-crypto-recovery-feels-very-2013-leading-analyst-says/ar-AALx5gZ

No ruler of any nation comes to power unless God ordains it. If the thrust of God's plan is to ensure the world stays on track to execute His plan, that means the current leaders in each nation - especially the USA - are placed there only to facilitate keeping God's plan on track and on schedule. In this lesson, we continue to examine the four kings and their kingdoms that Abraham battled and their run-up to fulfill the four gentile world powers summarized in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue. We focus on king Elas, the progenitor of the Grecian kingdom that Hellenized the world and the king of Elam who's kingdom included ancient Persia - modern day Iran. Let's continue to track how God's plan is rolling out and nail down where WE are in it. We examine what has been accomplished as well as what is yet to be accomplished. You and I need to know these things so that we will be ready for what is coming next upon those who are alive to experience the very end of the Age - us! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/michael-mendola/message

Taking a deeper look at Jordanus Maximus, The Naked Truth, Mythinfo Agents, & Astrotheology This is a show i've been wanting to do for years. Long before I started this podcast, I was reading Jordan Maxwell, & that eventually led me into investigating the truth of his claims. This episode will not be for everyone especially if you're a fan of Jordan Maxwell, & his Astrotheology disciples. If so, you'll hate it, but at least be honest enough to ask yourselves why? One thing to consider about his works: Yes, he was right about some things, especially concerning governments, banking, & new world order agendas, but those things had already been exposed years earlier by people like, William Guy Carr, Myron C. Fagan, Eustace Mullins, Gary Allen, Carroll Quigley, Anthony C. Sutton, Ralph Epperson, & even, Abbe Barruel, & John Robison decades earlier. The main question i have to ask: If Astrotheology is true, why would Maxwell, & the others have to lie about so many different things? Why the false connection to word origins from different languages formed in different time periods that have absolutely no relation? Why make up such silly stories about biblical texts, & ancient history that the world of secular scholars easily debunks? The people from the Bible lived in agrarian societies where they survived off the land. Of course, you would find fish, cows, & other animals that are included in the modern Zodiac. After all, it has some of those basic animals in it. As Albert Mcilhenny points out, Jesus is also called the Lion of The Tribe of Judah so, why not equate him w/ Leo? Why not divulge that many of your claims came straight from occultists like, Massey, & Higgins? Why would Jordan, lie, & act as if he isn't a big Blavatsky fan? He's openly claimed to have been a protege of late Rosicrucian/Freemason philosopher Manly P. Hall. BTW, Hall's estate has denied the fact. Why would the rest not admit that they are coming from a Theosophy/New Age standpoint? Jordan Maxwell, & his emissaries know full well that most people are ignorant of modern history, let alone, ancient history. They know most won't understand that much of the info they represent came from various occultists, & that modern research, & evidence has proven many of those claims to be incorrect. They counted on most to not understand how many of the stories from later antiquity were Hellenized to fit the narratives of the time. They also understood, those who are new to realizing things aren't quite the way they've been led to believe are easily thrown into pure nihilism. This makes them easy targets because they tend to grab onto others who are professing a knowledge of alternative facts, & they aren't yet equipped to discern truth from lies. Another interesting aspect to keep in mind, Blavatsky tried her hand at several different things before hooking up with Alcott, & getting the Theosophical Society going. She herself, was a Co-Mason, although like Jordan Maxwell, she took many shots at the higher degrees of Freemasonry. Perhaps, it's because, Theosophy, & Freemasonry were competing tribes, & initiates equaled money. Perhaps, it's just another way to create chaos through words, & throw the truth seekers off the the path. In any case, they were planning on their audience not investigating the truth about their claims. Many of which are easily refuted. I could go on, & on, but let's look further into it. Chris White points out that the idea that Jesus never existed didn't come about until the 17th century. Why would the Jews create a mythos around a god they didn't believe in, & who stood against many of their traditional, & overly legalistic values, & why would the Romans create a god that clearly posed a threat to them, & their leadership? Where did Maxwell get his name? “There are three Trinities in the Nazarene system as well as in the Hindu philosophy… The third is Lord Jordan (Jordanus Maximus), the Water of Life. He is the one through whom alone we can be saved; and thus he answers to the Holy Ghost (the feminine principle) and to the Shekinah (veil), or spiritual garment of En-Soph.” Helena Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled ll. Jordan Maxwell, I have all of Blavatsky's Works- https://youtu.be/yf8VteSWyBE “Lord Ferho-the life which is no life-the Supreme God. The cause which produces the Light, or the Logos in abscondito. The water of “JORDANUS MAXIMUS” - the water of Life, or Ajar, the feminine principle.” HelenA Blavatsky- Unity in a trinity, enclosed within the ISH Amon.” Page 295 Two Cosmogonies Compared “Theosophy has become an integral part of the Zeitgeist—“the spirit of our time” John Alger -Theosophical Society Australia “Zeitgeist takes its name from the German word which means “time spirit” and means “the spirit of the age,” which ironically sum up the very “spirit of the antichrist” that is prophesied would to delude the world at the end of the age” (1 John 4:1-4). I highly urge you to look into the works of the people I play sound bites from on this episode. They spent a lot of time investigating these things with little, to no compensation. Chris White of Nowhere To Run- Zeitgeist Refuted https://youtu.be/Dha9MZugXqI Zeitgeist Addendum: Toward a Technocratic, Communitarian, Cybernated Society https://www.conspiracyarchive.com/2013/11/28/zeitgeist-addendum-toward-a-technocratic-communitarian-cybernated-society/ Jordan Maxwell Refuted By Ben Stanhope• https://youtu.be/jYYzL6m-4UM Zeitgeist Refuted By Elliot Nesch https://youtu.be/7FwsnN4rm40 Zeitgeist Exposed By Keith Thompson https://youtu.be/h47hh-pfQKY Albert Mcilhenny-Prophet of Zeitgeist, A Critique of Jordan Maxwell https://youtu.be/7lI-dwDMhtc Keith Thompson- Aquarius, The Age of Evil https://archive.org/details/AquariusTheAgeOfEvil Albert Mcilhenny-Zeitgeist, & Comparative Solar Religions https://youtu.be/azE5baeWTMk Steve Bancarz (Ex- New Age Teacher) Zeitgeist Debunked https://youtu.be/30AunYXtYDg Zeitgeist Exposed Pt.1 https://youtu.be/JuyIxKrw2Yk Chris White Answers Zeitgeist Documentary Makers Claims• https://conspiracyclothes.com/nowheretorun/ntr-the-real-zeitgeist-challenge-debunked/ As Per Chris White: Gerald Massey was cited 31 times in Zeitgeist. Massey was a chief of the Ancient Order of Druids for 26 years!• Plutarch, who was used as a source on Horus, was a priest of Delphi. A religion that worshiped Horus! Interestingly enough, the Rand Corp created something called The Delphi Technique in which they use specific wording in front of crowds to trick them into thinking the ideas they want to implement are actually the people's ideas.• Fabian Socialist, Edward Carpenter was one of Acharya's Inspirations For Zeitgeist, & her book as well.• Acharya S. & Peter Joesph explain, Virgin when it came to Isis, & other gods didn't mean the same thing in ancient times as today. As in, a female who'd never had sex. (Virgin Mary) They also changed their stories from Horus, & other gods being crucified on crosses well, they sometimes were depicted in cruciform, or essentially pictured with outstretched arms. Godfrey Higgins, who is considered one of the first Jesus Mythicists was a noted Freemason author. Look it up yourselves• The Fraud of Modern Theosophy PDF Book https://archive.org/details/1912MaskelyneFraudOfModernTheosophy Saga City-Jesus Was Horus Myth Debunked https://youtu.be/fk_gXe08zl8 Stop The NWO-Blavatsky, Zeitgeist, United Nations https://youtu.be/rZywYayLFwQ Chris Rosebrough of Fighting For The Faith-Debunking Zeitgeist• https://youtu.be/1NSlJETQDFU Amun-Ra was the chief of the Egyptian gods. In the early days of the Egyptian civilization, he was worshipped as two separate gods. Amun was the god who created the universe. Ra was the god of the sun and light, who traveled across the sky every day in a burning boat. Chris White Zeitgeist Addendum https://youtu.be/J09UVTZG01U Astrotheology Debunked• https://youtu.be/GqFbfTuie4s Chris White On Michael Tsarion https://youtu.be/Hb0i2nlku1o Archarya Ripped off Blavatsky https://youtu.be/LbmIwgNQKmo Ben Stanhope Refutes Jaclyn Glenn https://youtu.be/XxQ2Cyx4QbQ Externalization of The Hierarchy Pt. 2 https://youtu.be/LbmIwgNQKmo Jordan Maxwell Praises Socialist, Manly P. Hall https://youtu.be/3VwHy5TT7Co Jordan says the word “Cannibal” was derived the two words “Cana” as in, Canaan in the Bible, & Baal as a generic name for a pagan god they at one time worshiped. Another lie. This world didn't come about until the 1550's. Just one example of the many fallacies he proclaims. Again why? cannibal (n.) "human that eats human flesh," 1550s, from Spanish canibal, caribal "a savage, cannibal," from Caniba, Christopher Columbus' rendition of the Caribs' name for themselves (often given in modern transliterations as kalino or karina; s https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/zeitgeist-refuted/ https://crossexamined.org/whats-wrong-with-the-zeitgeist-movie/ Jordan Maxwell-Scam Master• https://youtu.be/n-sVaeDwG7A Jordan Maxwell Busted For International Driving Permits Scam https://freemandelusion.com/2018/07/20/winston-shrout-jordan-maxwell/ Jordan Maxwell-Consumer Fraud• https://youtu.be/-ua_ZS7J048 Jordan Maxwell Explains The Scam• https://youtu.be/HwENONDZuZQ Jordan Maxwell A Freemason?• https://youtu.be/RfTprfkDztI Jordan Maxwell, Russell J. Pine https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/maxwell-jordan-et-al Jordan Maxwell Master Defrauder (text)• https://archive.is/6BWcO   Jordan Maxwell False Teacher• https://therealtemple.blogspot.com/2008/10/debunking-jordan-maxwell.html?m=1 Who Is Jordan Maxwell?• https://www.reality-choice.org/42/who-is-jordan-maxwell Jordan Maxwell 'master defrauder' http://www.esotericonline.net/m/discussion?id=3204576%3ATopic%3A604489 Jordan Maxwell Court Cases https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cases/2004/06/040617defaultjudgment.pdf Who Is Jordan Maxwell?• https://ppjg.me/2010/03/04/who-is-jordan-maxwell/ Jordan Maxwell Exposed https://chaukeedaar.wordpress.com/tag/jordan-maxwell/ “Is it true that astrology played a large part in the formation of Christianity as Ms. Murdock asserts? Noel Swerdlow is Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. He has specialized in the study of the practice of astronomy in antiquity through the 17th century. I emailed Dr. Swerdlow on this matter. Here is what he had to say on Ms. Murdock's view: In antiquity, constellations were just groups of stars, and there were no borders separating the region of one from the region of another. In astrology, for computational purposes the zodiacal signs were taken as twelve arcs of 30 degrees measured from the vernal equinox. Because of the slow westward motion of the equinoxes and solstices, what we call the precession of the equinoxes, these did not correspond to the constellations with the same names. But . . . within which group of stars the vernal equinox was located, was of no astrological significance at all. The modern ideas about the Age of Pisces or the Age of Aquarius are based upon the location of the vernal equinox in the regions of the stars of those constellations. But the regions, the borders between, those constellations are a completely modern convention of the International Astronomical Union for the purpose of mapping . . . and never had any astrological significance. I hope this is helpful although in truth what this woman is claiming is so wacky that it is hardly worth answering.(5) So when this woman says that the Christian fish was a symbol of the ‘coming age of Pisces', she is saying something that no one would have thought of in antiquity because in which constellation of the fixed stars the vernal equinox was located, was of no significance and is entirely an idea of modern, I believe twentieth-century, astrology.” https://www.risenjesus.com/a-refutation-of-acharya-ss-book-the-christ-conspiracy Disinformation Agents of the New World Order – David Icke, Alex Jones, Zeitgeist, etc. https://www.jamesjpn.net/conspiracy/disinformation-agents-of-the-new-worldly-order-david-icke-alex-jones-zeitgeist-etc/ Another claim In Zeitgeist was that Horus like Jesus, had 12 disciples.- According to most Egyptologists, Horus had four semi-gods that were followers.  There is a legend that says Horus had 16 human followers and an unspecified number of blacksmiths that went into war with him. Nothing credible about 12 followers, or disciples.• Jesus Compared To Dionysus• http://www.stephenjbedard.com/2010/01/01/the-bacchae/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost Yet Another Jordan Maxwell UFO Encounter• https://youtu.be/ZIStjTu443Y Jordan Maxwell Out of Body Experience https://youtu.be/-nTwQjjL-ic Jordan Maxwell's Role In The New World Order http://redefininggod.com/2014/12/what-is-jordan-maxwells-role-in-the-new-world-order-rollout/ Manuscript Evidence For Jesus https://youtu.be/Uo70h_gGN8o Origins of The Cap, & Gown. (Nothing To Do With Saturn) The gowns were traditionally other colors, & they wore them because they were often in buildings without heat. https://www.graduationsource.com/blog/graduation-cap-and-gown-history/ Astrology Doesn't Work, & Never Did• https://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/astrology-doesnt-work-and-never-worked-heres-why/ Astrology and Horoscopes Uncloaked https://www.relativelyinteresting.com/astrology-and-horoscopes-debunked/?utm_source=org Debunking Astrology – The Planets Just Aren't That Into You https://ascienceenthusiast.com/the-planets-are-not-that-much-into-you/ A Complete Refutation of Astrology https://archive.org/details/acompleterefuta00moodgoog History of The Engagement Ring, or (Band) https://www.weddingbee.com/rings/the-history-of-engagement-rings-from-many-cultures/ History of Crowns - Origin and Symbolism of Crown (Nothing To Do With Rings of Saturn) The ancients obviously couldn't see the rings of Saturn from earth, & what were married couples going to do, wear square, or triangular rings on their fingers? A circle is an ancient sign of eternity. http://www.historyofhats.net/headgear-history/history-of-crowns/ Ben Stanhope https://independent.academia.edu/BenStanhope Chris White/Nowhere To Run Podcast (Please check out, & support his work) https://conspiracyclothes.com/nowheretorun/ Book of Jasher says Abraham did not worship the sun, moon, & stars• Battling B.S. - Jesus is not Krishna, and he isn't Mithra, and he isn't Horus,…etc https://theicidalmaniac.wordpress.com/tag/debunking-zeitgeist/ Is The Movie Zeitgeist Accurate? http://www.truefreethinker.com/articles/movie-%E2%80%9Czeitgeist%E2%80%9D-accurate Bill Cooper Exposes Jordan Maxwell https://youtu.be/mp1IbAt2r8Q Kersey Graves Druid, Spiritualist, & The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors-The Secular Web- Source For Zeitgeist (Problems With His Claims) https://infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/graves.html The Non-Crucified Non-Saviors of the World http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?article=973   Edward Carpenter, Fabian Socialist, One of DM Murdoch's Sources for Zeiteist• Dr. Michael Heiser Website Dedicated To Refuting Claims of Zecharia Sitchin http://www.sitchiniswrong.com/ No Evidence For The Resurrection of Tammuz https://academic.oup.com/jss/article-abstract/XI/1/10/1728816 Jesus, No Relation To Esus http://www.chronarchy.com/esus/aboutesus.html The Freed Thinker | Interview with Albert McIlhenny on Podbean, check it out! https://www.podbean.com/ei/pb-wg2ca-57e493 Deeper Waters with Nick Peters | Against Jesus Mythicism on Podbean https://www.podbean.com/ei/dir-wc9s4-160f56c Mythicists Trying To Refute Nazareth https://jamesbishopblog.com/2020/10/11/jesus-mythicists-trying-to-refute-nazareth-the-case-of-rene-salm/ Zeitgeist Movement Exposed• https://zeitgeistmovementsbak.wordpress.com/category/the-zeitgeist-movie/page/2/ Madame Blavatsky's Baboon http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/blavatsky.htm Dr. Michael Heiser On Zecharia Sitchin, & Nibiru Hoax https://youtu.be/avivgDOAwA8 The Naked Truth claimed the word Amen, originated from the Greco-Roman Version of the Egyptian god Ammon, & in Egyptian Amun Ra, sometimes spelled Amen Ra. amen (interj.) Old English, from Late Latin amen, from Ecclesiastical Greek amen, from Hebrew amen "truth," used adverbially as an expression of agreement (as in Deuteronomy xxvii.26, I Kings i.36), from Semitic root a-m-n "to be trustworthy, confirm, support. 13th Century modern English Elliot Nesch Facebook• https://m.facebook.com/elliott.nesch Debunking Theosophy http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/jesus_myth.htm https://strangenotions.com/exploding-mithras-myth/ What is Jordan Maxwell's Role In the NWO? Do a recap of the many falsities• • I, the Odd Man Out am in no way affiliated with any of the researchers, & individuals from the sound clips of this episode. Anything i may have said does not reflect upon their character, or positions. I do implore you to watch their documentaries, listen to their podcasts, & read the information they have provided in response to the Zeitgeist films, & the Jordan Maxwell crew. We are very lucky to have intelligent researchers who have taken the time from their very busy lives to unearth critical responses to the Theosophical, & New Age points of view. Albert Mcilhenny-Profit of Zeitgeist, Critique of The Jesus Mythicism of Jordan Maxwell https://www.amazon.com/Prophet-Zeitgeist-Critique-Mythicism-Christian-ebook/dp/B008AV29OQ Albert Mcilhenny-Zeitgeist The Farce https://www.amazon.com/ZEITGEIST-Mythicist-Phenomenon-Christian-Mythicism-ebook/dp/B0125U2YRE Steve Bancarz-The Second Coming of The New Age. https://www.amazon.com/Second-Coming-New-Age-Spirituality/dp/1948014114 Chris White-Mystery Babylon https://www.amazon.com/Mystery-Babylon-Antichrist-Exposition-Revelation/dp/0615886523 Thank you for listening. God bless, & remember, “Their Order Is Not Our Order.”

Leukon was the tyrant, then king, of the Cimmerian Bosporus, a territory on the Crimean Peninsula, at the very edge of the Greek world. He took the territory, capitalized on its relationship to the rest of the Greek world to create an important Hellenized kingdom that would last for centuries.

What difference might it make to our relationship to the Septuagint if we saw it not only as a translation of the Hebrew OT into Greek and as a translation often used in the NT, but also as the first true commentary on the Hebrew Old Testament? How might this approach to the Septuagint illuminate our understanding of biblical hermeneutics and the nature of Holy Scripture?In the exilic or early post-exilic period, Hebrew gave way to Aramaic as the lingua franca and classical Hebrew started to fade from use. Then, when the Jews became Hellenized on account of the diaspora provoked by the rise of Alexander the Great and of the Greek empires, Greek became the primary language for Jews. This combination of historical developments helps explain why the Septuagint became the Old Testament for many Jews leading up to and into the New Testament era, especially those living in Ptolemaic Egypt and other deeply Hellenized areas.The Septuagint is primarily a translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek--this much is common knowledge. But what is less known and appreciated is that the Septuagint may also be viewed as the first commentary on the Hebrew Old Testament. To be sure, this is true along the lines of what translation necessarily is: not simply a wooden replacement of one word in one language with the allegedly equivalent word in another language. Rather, all translations involve a measure of commentary, of explanation and sense-making, given the way languages work. And yet the ways that the Septuagint provides explanations of the Hebrew Scriptures disclose not only ancient views of how the biblical text works as text but also valuable insights into how the Scriptures read and interpret themselves, including the long-standing curiosity of how the New Testament writers read the Old Testament. Given that the month of December has just begun, this is an excellent opportunity for us to think a bit about the Septuagint since an interesting example of its importance comes to us in Matthew 1:23 as a citation of Isaiah 7:14--those famous words of the Prophecy of Isaiah that he spoke to Ahaz, which in Hebrew says "behold the young woman shall conceive," but in the Septuagint reads, "Behold the virgin shall conceive." Matthew is citing the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew Old Testament. This suggests that the language of the "virgin birth"--the virgin birth of Jesus of Nazareth--is not only a faithful rendering of the meaning of the Hebrew word for a young woman but, in what is often overlooked even by the most enthusiastic defenders of the virgin birth among evangelicals, the very notion--which is to say the very vocabulary--of the "virgin" birth of Jesus is something we owe specifically to the Septuagint which uses the word virgin to clarify the nature of Mary's state when she brings us the Messiah. Despite this rather key role in reading Scripture, the Septuagint has strangely enjoyed precious little serious attention among seminary students and writers in biblical and theological studies. With this in mind, today's Greystone Conversations episode is a conversation on this very subject with Matthew Albanese. This conversation will be a two-part series, with today's episode introducing the subject. Now in his final stage of finalizing his Doctorate of Philosophy at Oxford University, in which he worked on Septuagint Isaiah, Matthew Albanese is also one of Greystone's recently appointed Associate Fellows focusing his Greystone activity in the large area of what has long been termed "Oriental Studies." In the months and years to come, our Lord willing, we can look forward to Matthew teaching series and modules for Greystone in Christian Syriac, Aramaic, the Septuagint, and various portions of the canon of Christian Scripture.

Fuller written summary to this episode, click here. 1. In this podcast we consider how to best understand what or who John meant in by the word “word” in the phrase: “In the beginning was the W/word”. The Greek word for “word” is logos. We will often refer to the word, “word” using this Greek term, logos. 2. As with the phrase “in the beginning” the meaning of logos, “word” in John’s prologue is best understood and defined first and foremost by other uses of the same word in John’s Gospel. We shouldn’t ignore or dismiss how the author himself uses logos and go looking for its meaning in other extra-biblical literature. Logos and in its various forms occur nearly 40 times in the Gospel of John, and in the vast majority of occurrences logos means: a word, a verbal expression, a statement, a teaching, a saying, something spoken. 3. Jesus is the Logos in John’s Prologue because through and in Jesus, God is speaking. Jesus said more than once “And the word (logos) that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me”. John 1:18 states that no one has seen God, but the unique son who is in the bosom of the Father has explained Him”. Likewise, the author of Hebrews says that in these last days God has spoken by a son”, and Revelation 19:13 says the name by which Jesus is called is “the Word of God”. 4. Rivers places a bit of a different emphasis on how Jesus is the logos, stating that in the Gospel of John, logos is primarily the verbal utterance or teaching of Jesus, that is, things that Jesus said during his public ministry, and that it is difficult to separate the verbal utterance from the speaker Jesus. 5. We address the question: “If Jesus is the Logos of John’s Prologue, why isn’t he called the Logos again in John’s Gospel outside of the Prologue? 6. We analyze how both deity of Christ theologians and One God believers who see John’s prologue as commentary on the Genesis creation have gone outside the Gospel of John to define what John’s logos means. Rivers outlines the steps that One God believers (so-called Biblical Unitarians) have taken in an attempt to make logos of John’s Gospel synonymous with personified wisdom of Proverbs 8 and other extra-biblical literature. It’s a fairly twisted path that Biblical Unitarians of this persuasion have had to take. 9. The same kind of thing happened with “deity of Christ” interpretations of John 1:1, but from a different direction. “Deity of Christ” interpretations of logos in John 1 adapted into Christianity non-biblical, Greek philosophical ideas of what or who logos was. To some Greek philosophers the logos was some kind of a secondary or intermediary divine being. 2nd century Gentile church fathers, influenced heavily by Greek philosophy, jumped on these Hellenistic concepts of logos, and imposed these ideas on to their interpretation of John 1 by stating that the logos was a pre-existent divine figure who then “took on flesh” as Jesus. 11. The adaptions of the Greek logos ideas into Christianity in the centuries following Jesus did not originate in Jerusalem. The prophets say, “For out of Zion shall go the teaching, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” Rather, these church fathers’ ideas about the logos originated and developed in places like Athens Greece, Alexandria Egypt, and Cappadocia and Constantinople in modern Turkey. 12. Contrary to claims that John’s definition of logos can be informed by Hellenized conceptions of the word, John have used logos as a polemic, that is, as a direct attack or contrast to Greek ideas.

 As we continue this series that follow the Christian story as it developed in Jewish context and then spreads to a gentile context before severing itself from its original roots, we leave the land of the Bible to broaden our horizon line and explore how the apostle Paul translated the gospel message into the wider Hellenized society of the Roman empire.My guest this week is Dr Nijay Gupta. We discuss the intriguing  aspect of reading ancient letters, along with the challenges and misunderstanding that happen when you eavesdrop on an ancient conversation. From understanding Paul as a Jew in the diaspora with Roman citizenship to realizing that he was the scholar the early leaders of the Jewish church trusted with taking the gospel to the gentiles, the person and mission of Paul is fascinating. Join me for Part 1 of the conversation with Dr. Gupta. For the rich resources Dr. Gupta posts, follow his blog HEREAnd his newest book is coming out! Click to get a glimpse into the Beginner's Guide to New Testament Studies 

Ever since I came to understand from the Bible that God (Yehovah, YHVH) is one, and that Jesus is God’s human Messiah (Christ) whom God raised from the dead, people say to me: “What about John 1:1?”. For my friends who believe in the “deity of Christ”, John 1:1 is biblical evidence that Jesus is God. But is it? In this podcast we begin to take a look at the Gospel of John and see that the Trinitarian or "deity of Christ" interpretation of John 1:1 is found wanting. We show four "broader view" observations about the Gospel of John to see there is something wrong with the Trinitarian interpretation: 1. The purpose for writing The author of the Gospel of John tells us the purpose he wrote his book, or at least why he recorded the signs that Jesus did. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are recorded so that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). The Trinitarian "deity of Christ" interpretation of John 1:1 is contradictory to the author's own purpose statement. We present what it means to be the "Son of God", describing biblical examples and characteristics, rejecting the definition of the Hellenized "church fathers" of later centuries. - 2. No Trinity in John’s Gospel In the Gospel of John, “God” is never the Trinity. Trinitarians should at least acknowledge that there is no Trinity described in John 1:1 (or anywhere else in John’s Gospel). Try replacing the word "Trinity" for the word "God" in the Gospel of John, and see if that makes sense. For instance, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the Trinity, and the Word was the Trinity" How about John 3:16: "For the Trinity so loved the word, that he (it?) sent his (its) unique Son...." It is strange that for the biblical book that is supposedly the main book that presents Jesus as God and that God is a Trinity, nowhere in the book does "God" mean "the Trinity. More details here: https://landandbible.blogspot.com/2019/10/did-trinity-so-love-world-in-gospel-of.html - 3. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is the Messiah, not God The question that the Gospel of John addresses and answers is: "Is Jesus the Messiah", not "Is Jesus God" or "Is the Messiah God". We see being "the Messiah" is the question from the beginning of the book to the end: John 1:17, 1:20, 1:41, 4:25-26, 7:26, 7:41, 9:22, 10:24, 17:3, 20:31. - 4. Jesus in the Gospel of John distinguishes himself from God In John 8:40 Jesus says he is a "man who heard the truth from God". Jesus distinguished himself from God, from all of God, not just from "one person of the Godhead". Likewise Jesus distinguishes himself from God in John 17:1-3 when he says that the Father is the "only true God" and that he, Jesus, is the Messiah sent by God. - Finally, we ask the question, and leave open for later examination, what beginning is intended by the words of John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word..." Is this beginning a direct reference to the Genesis creation, or does the author of the Gospel of John have in mind a new beginning? How is "the beginning" used in other places in John's Gospel, in John's Epistles, and in the Book of Revelation?

Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Heavenly father, we thank you that you are God of love, and you have proven your love to us by giving the greatest gift that anyone has ever given to anyone else, it's your son, Jesus Christ. God the son, we thank you so much for the incarnation. That's what we're celebrating today, that you took on flesh, that you veiled yourself in flesh in order to tear down the veil that stood between us and you, you a holy God, and us an unholy people, and Jesus, you came to reconcile that breach, and thank you for the life that you lived, a perfect life. You lived perfectly, you died shamefully, and you rose victoriously, and now you reign supremely. We thank you Jesus, that even now you're at the right hand of God, interceding for each one of us and Lord, we need that intercession, we need an advocate, because we have an enemy who wants to pull us away from the living God, and Lord keep us in your hand. We thank you for the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, come now and fill us, every single one of us, and continue to transform us into the image of God the son, and allow us to image forth the God of the universe to the people around us.Jesus, we thank you that you're the great high priest, and just sacrifice an animal, you sacrificed yourself, the all sufficient supreme sacrifice. Bless our time, the holy word today, and we pray this in Jesus name, amen. Did you get a Christmas tree? Anyone a real Christmas tree? Anyone? For the past nine years, we have a family tradition. There's a parking lot right across from The Draft bar in Allston on Harvard Ave next to ACE Hardware, and every single year I've taken my daughters, and we go, we pick out a tree, and I snap a picture with them next to the tree, and I've got a whole collection of these pictures that I'm going to put together into a slide show, and I'm going to show it at their weddings, or graduate, or whatever in the future, and this year, I was away last week, and I was visiting some family in Estonia and Finland, and my wife texts me, and she says, "Can we go get the tree without you?"I was like, "Sure, go to the same place that I go to, but you got to know they haggle, you've got to haggle, or they inflate the prices." And she said, "Well, how much do you usually pay?" I was like, "They usually say 65. I bring it down to 55, because I'm a hard negotiator." She texted me with a picture of a beautiful tree in our living room, all decorated, and I said, "How much did you pay?" She said, "$35." I said, "How'd you pull that off?" She said, "I showed up and I told them I'm only spending $35." It's the Ukrainian way. She knows, that's the way you got to do it. We like the Christmas tree in our household, and we like the gifts. We do that, and the symbolism behind it is that God has given the greatest gift, and that's his son, but also, there's a symbolic nature in giving gifts to the Lord.We see in the very beginning of the Christmas narrative that the Magi, or the wise man, they came to Jesus, and they came with gifts, and they came with gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and that those are incredibly symbolic gifts. Why? Because the Magi understood that Jesus Christ was the embodiment of the three great offices in the Old Testament, the prophet, the priest, and the King. The king, the priest, and the prophet, so they bring gold, which was a gift given to majesty, precious metal given to kings, and Jesus is the king above all kings. Frankincense, they brought frankincense, incense is in that same word, that it was symbolic of the incense that was burned in the Holy of Holies in the temple as a sign that we're bringing our prayers to the Lord, and Jesus was the ultimate priest. He's the king, he's the priest, and he's the prophet. That's what the myrrh symbolize.Myrrh was the anointing oil with which prophets were anointed, and prophets would then anoint both priests and kings. Jesus is all three. How do the Magi know this? They knew this from the prophetic passage of the Old Testament. Moses promised, he said, "God will raise up from amongst you a prophet greater than I am. Listen to everything that he says." The Magi knew that text from Deuteronomy 18. They also knew the text where David says in Psalm 104, "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." They knew that, Daniel promised a king above all kings is coming. King David promised an eternal king is coming, and that's Jesus Christ. He's the King above all king. The Magi knew this. That's why they brought the gold, the frankincense, the myrrh, and that's why this advent season, that's what we're focusing on. The offices of Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate prophet, the ultimate priest, the ultimate King.Last week we talked about Jesus as the ultimate prophet who tells us the way, he tells us the way that we have gone away from the Lord, that we are sinners, and the king comes to tell us that our lives are disordered, that we are to reorder our lives, but the message of the prophet is not good news, and the message of the king is not good news until we have the message of the priest. The prophet tells us we're sinners, the king tells us how to live righteously, but it's not until the priest comes, and says, there is atonement for your sin. There is someone who takes your guilt away, who takes away the corruption from your heart, and that's what we're focusing on today. The heart of the sermon is that Jesus Christ is the ultimate priest, the high priest, and to focus our time in the word we're going to look at Matthew 1:18-25, this is the beginning of the Christmas narrative. Would you look at the text with me?Now, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit, and her husband, Joseph being a just man, and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly, but as he considered these things, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep he did as the angel of the Lord commanded, he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus." This is the reading of God's holy and infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts.We're going to focus on the passage where the angel says, "His name shall be Jesus. His name in the Hebrews Yeshua. Jesus is the Hellenized or Greekinized version. It comes from two words. Ye means Lord, and shua means save. Jesus saves. This is his identity. What does he do? He's with us. He's Jesus and he's Emmanuel, so that's what we'll focus on. His name, Jesus, and Emmanuel, God with us. How is he with us? Today, we're focusing on the role of Jesus Christ as the high priest, and as the high priest Jesus does four things, and this is our outline for today. Jesus saves, Jesus knows, Jesus prays, and Jesus sends. Jesus saves, knows, prays, and sends. First of all, Jesus, the great high priest he saves. What made Israel different from all the other peoples on earth was not that there was something special in, and of themselves. It's that God had chosen them, and specifically, chosen to be with them.He allowed his presence in a very palpable, tangible way to manifest itself amongst them, so when he leads them out of Egypt into the wilderness, he tells him them to build a tabernacle. In the middle of the tabernacle was the Holy Place, and God's presence descended like a cloud, encouraging that God is with us, that God was with them, but also, terrifying. They knew who God was, that he was a Holy God. God had a given him them a law by which to live, and they understood they could not by themselves keep even the basic laws, so if they're guilty, and God's presence is with them, it's terrifying, how do they live with God in his presence? Well, God made provision. The sacrificial system as administered by the priests, and for the Jewish people the high priest was central to their worship. The high priest would offer gifts and sacrifices on behalf of the people at the temple and in the tabernacle. Why? Because this is how they mediated between a holy God, and unholy people.Why? Because our God is a holy God, and our God because he's a holy God he opposes evil. He cannot be in the presence of evil. This is why he's worthy of worship. There's nothing wrong in him. He's never sinned, he's never done anything unrighteous, and the priest would stand in the place of the people satisfying God's judgment through an animal sacrifice, simultaneously demonstrating both God's mercy and God's judgment. The judgment that we deserve for our sin. When the temple came, this is how the priests brought the sacrifice once a year on the day of atonement Yom Kippur. The high priest would enter the Holy of Holies, only he could enter. If anyone else entered they died right on the spot, and he entered after a very meticulous preparation process through special washings and ablutions. He would put on special clothing, and bring burning incense in order to cover his own eyes from the presence of God, and he would bring a sacrifice of animal blood to sprinkle it on the judgment seat of mercy.What's important is the Holy of Holies was square-shaped. Why is that important? Because the book of Revelation tells us that new Jerusalem when it comes down onto earth, is also square shaped, so the Holy of Holies was a foretaste of heaven that is to come, and symbolically that no one can enter heaven unless there is a blood sacrifice, unless there is preparation, and the Holy of Holies was separated from the people through a thick curtain, and the curtain was made out of fine linen, blue, purple, scarlet yarn, and embroidered on it was a cherubim, which is an angel ,and the veil was 60 feet high, 30 feet wide and four inches thick. Why? Because it shielded God's people, a sinful people from a holy God. There's a picture that you can't just trifle with God's holiness, that we can't enter God's presence carelessly or irreverently, and this is why Christmas is such good news, that Jesus is Emmanuel. Jesus is God with us.Jesus comes to be with us, and to save us as the great high priest, to mediate between us and God. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man because of his ransom for our sins. Jesus Christ enters the Holy Place on the cross. He enters the Holy Place, and doesn't just bring a sacrifice of an animal, he brings the sacrifice of himself, the all sufficient sacrifice. If Jesus were just a prophet he would come and say, "All of you are sinful." If Jesus were just king he would come and say, "You need to reorder your lives." We're ignorant, we need a prophet to tell us the way. We are corrupt, we need a king to tell us how to order our lives. If that's all that Christmas was a prophet and a king, it would not be good news. What we need is someone to come, and not just tell us that we're sinners, and we need someone to come and say that your guilt has been dealt with. Your shame has been dealt with. Your sin has been dealt with. The God of the universe has borne in himself.We don't just need instruction, we don't just need consulting of how to live better a life. What we need is someone to come and take our sin from us. What is sin? Sin is cosmic treason against the supreme sovereign of the universe. It's the act of ultimate ingratitude to the one to whom we owe everything. It's saying, I'm better at being God than God. God has no jurisdiction over me, and Jesus Christ comes and he says, "I'm not just telling that you're unholy. I'm not just telling you that you're a sinner. I'm not just telling you how to make yourself righteous. I've come in order to be the high priest and the ultimate sacrifice to reconcile you with God." Jesus comes and he does something that no other religion can do. Other religions come, and they tell us this is how you can make your way to God. This is how you can be righteous before God, be accepted before God, be justified before God, every other religion. This is the path, this is the way. These are the steps.And, it can do one of two things. If you follow the steps, and you do all the prayers, and you do all the traditions and the rituals, you get really proud. I'm a much better person than anyone else, or if you don't, if you can't do it, you get really despondent and despair and Jesus Christ comes in and says, "No, Christianity doesn't make you either proud or it doesn't lead you into despair. Christianity comes and says to be righteous before God you got to fulfill the whole law." No one can do that, not one of us can do that. That automatically humbles you, and then, Jesus Christ comes, and says, "I fulfilled the whole law." And, brings us out of despair. How? Because Jesus Christ took flesh, lived a perfect life, died shamefully on a cross, and he's risen victoriously. Lived the life that we should have lived, couldn't, wouldn't, and he dies the death that we deserve to die.Where did Jesus die? On the tree? On the tree, and that's what the cross is called in 1st Peter, it's called the tree. 1st Peter 2:24, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin, and live to righteousness by his wounds you have been healed." The cross is the ultimate tree of Christmas. It's the ultimate Christmas tree that Jesus Christ, the ultimate gift of the universe is hanging on that tree in order to give us gifts. What gifts? As soon as you believe in him, as soon as you repent of your sin, as soon as you follow him, he gives you the gift of justification that you are acquitted. All of your sins of forgiven, all of your guilt, all of your shame is removed. You have peace with God. This is what the angel said, "Glory, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace." There's no more enmity between us and God.He also gives us access to God. What do I mean? The very moment that Jesus Christ died on the cross it says that he said his final words, "It is finished." What's finished? The process of salvation is finished. You don't have to add anything else to your salvation. It is finished, it is completed, it is efficacious, and at the very moment that he said it is finished, the veil that separated us from the Holy of Holies was torn, and it wasn't just torn from the bottom up. It was torn from the top to bottom. This incredible veil, 60 feet wide, 30 feet high, four inches thick. This is like a dictionary thick, this is a phone book thick torn from the top down. Who could do this? Who would do this? Only God himself, and what does he do at that very moment? He's saying now because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we have access into the very presence of the Holy of Holies. We have access into the presence of God. We have access to the ultimate source of love, of hope, of joy, and of peace.Jesus Christ made the ultimate offering for us as the great high priest. He literally went through hell absorbing the wrath of God for our sin so that we could enter the Holy of Holies, so that we could enter heaven. Jesus comes to the great high priest to save, but Jesus also knows... what do I mean here? Here I'm going to look at his name, Emmanuel, that God is with us, and isn't this strange? God is with us. I thought God is always with us. I ask my daughters all the time. I'm like, "Where's God?" My youngest always say, "He's in heaven." Like, that's nice, but MiniMo needs to add a little more theology, a little depth. Yes, he's in heaven, obviously. Jesus in our hearts by grace through faith, but also Jesus is everywhere. The transcendent God of the universe, he's omnipresent, so what does it mean that Jesus is Emmanuel, that Jesus is with us? Something changes when Jesus was born, the God in the form of humanity choosing to be with us is with us entirely different ways, so much so the change is so dramatic that Jesus needed another name.In Israel, God was with them in the Holy of Holies. He was present with them, but he was not necessarily with them. He wasn't with them relationally, he wasn't with them intimately. They knew he was there. They knew he was holy, but they navigated his presence. They walked around him as we would navigate a nuclear plant. We understand the power, but we need a few buffers of protection between us and until the issue of sin was completely dealt with, God was quarantined from us so that his presence wouldn't kill us. More specifically, we were quarantined from him. When Jesus came, he was literally with us, no longer separation from us, though he was completely separate from sin. Hebrews 4:14-16, "Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the son of God. Let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who was unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need."Though he was transcended, he's passed through the heavens, he's imminent. He is with us, he's no longer removed from us. He's a sympathetic high priest and the word for sympathy here is deeper than just the English word, sympathy. In English you have two words that are almost synonymous, sympathy and empathy. Sympathy, when you know that someone's going through a hard time, it's a feeling of pity, or of sorrow for them. I feel bad for you. I'm sorry for you. Please accept my condolences. We simplify and sympathize with those with whom we do not share a history. Empathy is deeper. Empathy is a shared experience. Empathy isn't just, I'm sorry for you, I'm sad for you, but I'm sad with you. I'm despondent with you, I feel what you feel. I share your feelings. It's the nod of a veteran when they see another veteran. It's the same feeling that siblings feel when they've lost a parent. It's when a mother who has miscarried meets another mother who's miscarried. I'm not sad for you, I'm sad with you.Scripture says that Jesus isn't just a sympathetic God, that he's above and beyond our pain, and our sorrow, and our agony, our temptation. Jesus is with us in that, he is empathetic. He's gone through it. He didn't just feel sorry for our play, he came and became part of our plight. He wove himself to the fabric of the story of humanity, he too was tempted, he too was weak, and feeble, and hungry, and thirsty, alone and rejected. He slept, he learned, he was glad, sad, angry, grieved, troubled, disappointed, he prayed, he sighed with an aching heart, he felt the full spectrum of human desires and emotions. Why is Christmas good news? It's good news, because God knows whatever it is that you're going through, and he knows that at the same level that you do, if not more. He's been lonely, he had family that didn't support him, he had friends that turned their back on him. Lies and rumors were spread about him. He had a close person to him die and he mourned. Jesus knows exactly what you're going through.The weakness here isn't just physical weakness. He's with us in our moral weakness, and temptation. He's overcome it. Therefore, he can overcome it. The other way, and this is really important, he had to be with us in order to bear the weight of our sin. 2nd Corinthians 5 says that he actually became our sin, meaning that whenever we sin, whenever we follow the darkness that's in our hearts, whenever we hurt ourselves, and we hurt others by sinning that Jesus is with us, he's right there at that moment, and because of his death, his burial, his resurrection, he can forgive us of all that guilt. He could forgive us of all that shame. In the Old Testament, God's presence was in the Holy of Holies. After the veil was torn, God's presence is still with us, because Jesus is with us, but now it's with us by the power of the Holy Spirit where the very moment that you repent of sin and you turn to Christ, God is in your heart. Your heart becomes the Holy of Holies in order to do what?It's not enough that God just knows what we're going through. The fact that he knows what we're going through gives us power to be transformed. This is the theology of the image of God, we're created in the image of God. His image in us is marred. Jesus Christ comes as the perfect image of God, and at that moment, when we believe in him, he begins to transform us, re-transform us into the image of God. Let me give you an illustration. I'm sure that you've heard of Grace from Boston. Grace from Boston, her husband got her a Peloton and there was a whole brouhaha, like that's the most terrible gift ever. I think he just got it for himself, and he had to justify it. The whole thing with Pelotons, I don't have a Peloton. I've watched the commercials. I've been really intrigued with Pelotons, because you got to pay $2, 500, then you've got to pay another 40 bucks a month, just whatever. It's a stationary bike with a TV. It's a 22 inch screen television, and on the screen you can have live spinning classes piped in for your workout.So, you're working out in the comfort of your mansion, and as you're working out you have this person on the screen. The person is part motivational speaker, part DJ, part mentor, part drill sergeant, and they're right there, they're screaming at you, and they're getting you pumped to be enthused. As you're working out, you look down on the screen and the screens is designed so much so that you barely see your reflection, but what you see is that person, and after a while you begin to emulate this person, and the more that you follow this person, the more that you will prentice this person, the more that you obey this person you become like this person hopefully, or else it was a waste of $2, 500. That's the, perhaps, the illustration. It does it for you? Perhaps not. This is kind of what happens when we follow Jesus. It's not enough that Jesus knows our plight, Jesus also knows how to get us out of our plight, because he's been through it. The more you believe in Jesus, the more you stare into the gospel, the more that you worship him, you become like him, so Jesus saves, and Jesus knows, and also Jesus prays. Jesus makes continual intercession for us.Perhaps you don't know this. Romans 8:34 says, "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." Right now at this very moment, Jesus Christ is praying for you, he's interceding for you if you are a Christian. 1st John 2:1, "My little children I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one." The risen, and ascended, the divine, and the human great high priest, Jesus Christ at this very moment is praying for you dear Christian, 24/7, 365 and because he's eternal, he never has to renew this office. He never has to take a break. He never falls asleep. Death will never prevent him from executing his duties. He's a great high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, is a royal priest king whose priestly reign never ends.How does Jesus intercede for us? I think it's similar to how he interceded for Peter. Jesus tells Peter, "Peter, you are going to deny me. Not once, not twice, three times. You are going to deny me." Peter says, "Never, even if I go to the death, never." That's how sure he was of his faith. That's how resolute he was in following Christ, and Jesus tells him at that moment, Luke 22:31,32, "Simon, Simon, behold Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again strengthen your brothers." Satan demands to have every single one of us, and the great high priest is interceding for us. He's praying for us. I'm not sure of my faith. I'm not sure of your faith, but I'm sure in the sacrifice, and the prayers of Jesus Christ, he's praying for us.I love being prayed for. There's something really special about someone praying over you, someone laying a hand on you, praying for you. My wife and I, we pray with, and for our daughters every night, and we pray for them by name, and I change up the order every time. I don't just pray for one, two, three, four. I mix it up so that they feel special, and the other night I was praying, and I started with my youngest. I started with Milana, "Lord bless Milana." All of a sudden, huge smile on her face, and she has massive cheeks, so it's not that easy to smile. It takes a lot of effort. She's cheezin' and just staring at me, and I'm like peeking at her, and I'm praying for her to start obeying. She's like, "I will." I'm praying for her to go to sleep. She's like, "Yeah." I'm praying for her to stop being a drama queen, she's like, "No." There's something special about someone praying for us, and I don't know about you, but the more spiritual person is, the closer they are to God, it feels like the prayers are stronger.James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person availeth much. It's got more power. I remember one time was at a pastors conference, and at this conference there's like thousands of pastors. This is early on in my ministry, and I'm by the door, and Rick Warren comes in, the patron saint of the Evangelical Church. Rick Warren walks in, comes right up to me, and says, "Hi, my name is Rick. What's yours?" I was like, "I know it's Rick." He's like, "No, what's your name?" I was like, "Oh, it's Jan." He's like, "What are you doing?" "I'm planting a church in Boston?" He's like, "Can I pray for you?" "Yeah." And, he's like, "Lord, I pray that you fill Jan with the spirit, and that you give him a double of the anointing that you've given me." Wow, praise God. At that moment I felt fire come down from him. I don't know.And then, I was like, "Thank you Pastor Rick." I took a selfie with him of course, and then, I see him walk up to another pastor, and he's like, "Hi, my name is Rick. Can I pray for you?" I was like, "Come on pastor Rick, you can't cheat on me." He prayed the same thing, "May you give a double anointing." I know God has all the anointings in the world, but still I look at that moment, I'm like that that was special. Imagine how much more special is that the God of the universe is praying for you. Jesus Christ our great high priest, and what is he praying? We get a glimpse of it in John 17:20-24. He's praying that we have unity with God, and that we have unity with one another. The words of Christ, "I do not ask for these only..." His disciples, "... but also for those who will believe in me through their word..." That's us, "... that they may all be one just as you father are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one, I in them.And, you in me that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me maybe with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world." Practically, what does it mean that Jesus prays? It means that you can come, and take all of your prayers to Jesus, and Jesus intercedes for you, confess your sins to Jesus primarily. Jesus is our great high priest. We don't need to go to a priest to confess our sins. We can go directly to Jesus Christ. It's a great hope of Christmas. You don't need to go to a priest for spiritual direction. Go to Jesus, take your sin, your guilt, your shame, everything that you've done, take it to him, and look, we all feel guilt. Every single one of us, Christian or non-Christian, we all at some point, maybe even daily feel guilt.We have these rules that we have set up for ourselves, or the culture has set up for us and when we don't meet that law, meet those standards, we feel guilt. Perhaps it's for try things like being late. I always feel a little guilty when I'm even like a minute late, oh, I lied. Apparently, you feel guilty when you've forgotten your kid's birthday, that's bad. Perhaps you feel guilty when you forget your marriage first anniversary, that's bad too. Don't do that. Perhaps you feel guilty about being impatient with children, with people. Perhaps you feel guilty for not recycling correctly, for procrastinating, for eating your kid's chocolate. I don't feel guilty about that. If we feel guilt for not meeting our own standards for our lives, how much more guilt is there when we don't even take into account God's standards for us? God's law, morality is written on our hearts, every single one of us, and it's not subjective. It's objective. It's an objective law.God's given it to us through the 10 commandments. Jesus, summarized the 10 commandments like this, love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Who's done that? Nobody, so this is our sin. We take it to Jesus, our great high priest. Hebrews 3:1, "Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession." Focus on him, focus on Christ. His prayer is efficacious. It helps, it comes to our aid. Hebrews 2:14-18 says, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death..." That is the devil, "... and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it's not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful, and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered, when tempted he is able to help those who are being tempted."Jesus saves, Jesus knows, Jesus prays, and finally, Jesus sends. Jesus the great high priest, when he forgives us of our sins, he gives us a new calling. He gives us a new name, a new identity, we're now his, we are a kingdom of holy priests proclaiming the excellencies of Christ, kings, prophets and priests. In the Old Testament, the priests had two jobs, and we see the jobs in the Old Testament. The first job was they could actually come to the presence of God, pray to him, worship him, and know him. It was a great privilege and responsibility. The second of which was to represent God to others. They could know God, and they can make him known. 1st Peter 2:5 says, "You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a royal priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." We're a holy priesthood. That's what we are dear Christians, this is our job to know God, and to make him known, and when Jesus Christ comes, he separates, he takes away the separation between us and God. We can know him, we can make him known.But, the way that we do this effectively, dear Christian, is by continuing to pursue holiness. A lot of people think of grace as a cheap grace. I come, I get my sins forgiven so that I can go and sin more. Scripture says no. When God forgives you of your sins you're given a new identity. You are now a holy priesthood, by holy scripture means that you are set apart, that you now are to be a counterculture, that you are to be distinct, completely different, separated from the world, and when we're separated from sin, from folly, separated from following the enemy of the world, we can be useful to God. Here's an illustration. What's the most holy thing that you own? It's your Bible, of course. That's always the first answer. The second, what's the second most holy thing that you own? For me personally, I think it's my phone. If separated from everyone else, don't touch it. That's mine. It's always with me. It's there.I think the third for me, it could be second for you, the third most holy, distinct, separated from anything else thing that I own, the object in my life is my toothbrush. It's holy. It's used only for one purpose. If it's ever used for another purpose, cleaning sneakers, cleaning grout, used to clean my kids' teeth. I love you, but no, it's getting tossed. Now, it's become unholy. It's no longer useful, desecrated, it's an abomination in my eyes. When we're saved God gives us a purpose. We're to be a holy priesthood proclaiming the excellencies of Christ, and the reason why we are not fulfilling, perhaps our full purpose that God has for us is because we have taken ourselves a holy object, and we're using it for unholy things. We don't lose our salvation. Well, we no longer fulfill our purpose. We become vessels for dishonorable use as 2nd Timothy says, therefore the priest of Jesus Christ is such a gift.We can come to him every day on a daily basis. Repent and believe, Lord, forgive me, Lord, I trust you that your sacrifice is effication that you've forgiven me, and I pray Lord, redirect me, fulfill the purpose that you have for me, and that purpose is to minister to one another. Yes, Jesus is our only priest. We only need to come to him, but at this point a lot of people might say, "I don't need the church." This is where we need to minister to one another. We need the church, we need Christians in our lives to pray for, to minister, to use our time, talent and treasure, and we need unbelievers in our life to minister to them. Whenever people hear the word evangelism, a lot of times people would just get frightened at the challenge that evangelism is. Here's a great definition for evangelism by J. I. Packer, evangelism is a Christian living as a Christian in the world. I love that. It's a Christian living as a Christian in the world that we image forth God, reflect God, show the world God, help the world know God by loving, and serving, and sacrifice, and speaking because we are distinct, separated, we're a counter culture.You're holy, we're to live holy lives not perfectly, but separated, so live out your identity. In conclusion, Christmas is full of joy because the world often isn't. Jesus came to live here in this world where we do, where everything breaks, where everything beautiful at some point turns ugly, where nothing lasts, where everything precious dies and Jesus knows what it's like, because he, the most beautiful person to have ever lived, he too died, and God took the ugliest act in the history of the universe, the death of Christ on the cross, his death, he resurrected him and turned it into beauty and this is the beauty of Christmas. That God is with us, that Jesus, the great high priest he saves, he knows, he prays, he sends. Everything else passes, all of our gifts that we buy one another it'll all pass, and only Jesus Christ can meet our greatest need.He can fill our doubtful hearts with hope. He can fill our lonely hearts with love, he can fill our restless hearts with peace, and he can fill our saddened hearts with hope, love, joy, and peace. The gifts of Christmas. Let's pray. Holy God, we thank you that you made a provision for us an unholy people to be reconciled with you, that you have made a way for us to enter heaven, the Holy of Holies, where you are, that we can approach the throne of grace boldly to receive mercy and grace. I pray if anyone has not done that, has not received mercy and grace, I pray, Lord, give them a gift today of repentance, and fill their hearts with your presence, your hope, love, joy, and peace. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

The Interview: Laura Harris Hales of LDS Perspectives Podcast recently interviewed Jared Ludlow on Exploring the Apocrypha from a Latter-day Saint Perspective, a new book that introduces to an LDS audience what the Apocrypha is and how it was treated in the early church by Joseph Smith and others. It also gives a book-by-book overview of the contents of the Apocrypha, and what a Latter-day Saint reader might glean from it. While the Apocrypha is mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 91 when Joseph Smith asked whether he should translate it as part of his Bible translation project (the JST), it is usually not read by LDS members because Joseph Smith received a “no” answer, and subsequently it never became part of the scriptural canon. The Apocrypha is a collection of texts that were included in the Greek translation (Septuagint) of the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament), but were not found in the original Hebrew Bible. These additional books and stories are related to biblical figures, or discuss some of the history of the time period between the Old and New Testaments (about a 400-year gap). They were likely written during this later period since they show strong influence from Greek culture (Hellenism), which intensified among the Jews after Alexander the Great in 333 BC. In fact, a common feature found among the texts of the Apocrypha is the struggle Jews increasingly faced in a dominant polytheistic culture, and a shared thread woven throughout the Apocrypha is the exhortation to remain faithful despite these challenges. The books of the Maccabees most directly address the issue of Hellenism as some more traditional Jews literally fought to maintain their traditional beliefs and practices, fighting against not only their Greek overlords, but against some of their own Hellenized, Jewish brethren. The books of the Apocrypha can be categorized into three major areas: biblical expansions, heroic tales, and wisdom literature. Among the biblical expansions are additional stories about Daniel (tales that read like early courtroom dramas and detective stories as Daniel outwits his opponents and repeatedly saves the day), letters from Baruch (Jeremiah’s scribe), and texts related to King Manasseh and Ezra. There is also a very different version of the story of Esther that gives a different perspective on Esther’s challenges of being a Jew in a foreign, gentile king’s harem, and emphasizes God’s role throughout the events, which is left more in the background of the Old Testament version. The heroic stories include the books of the Maccabees mentioned above as well as the story of Tobit, which interweaves danger, adventure, and romance in a delightful tale set in the Assyrian exile. The book of Judith recounts how a strong, beautiful Jewish woman single-handedly held off an advancing army to save her people and Jerusalem. The wisdom books include the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of ben-Sira, which are full of wise sayings remarkably insightful and often still relevant today. Like the book of Proverbs, they cover many topics including obedience to God, raising families, friendship, living a good life, avoiding evil, and, of course, gaining wisdom. Because D&C 91 does not specify which parts of the Apocrypha are “true” and which are interpolations by the hands of men, it leaves the Apocrypha as an open invitation to explore on our own, through the guidance of the Spirit, to see what truth we find in it. Even an introductory exploration of its contents will help one benefit from its many treasures. About Our Guest: Jared Ludlow has taught in the Ancient Scripture Department at BYU since 2006. Before that, he taught at BYU-Hawaii.  Jared received his bachelor's degree from BYU in Near Eastern Studies, his master's degree from University of California at Berkeley in Biblical Hebrew, and his PhD in Near Eastern Religions from UC-Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union. His primary research interests are in Ancient Judaism and...

LDS Perspectives Podcast recently interviewed Jared Ludlow on Exploring the Apocrypha from a Latter-day Saint Perspective, a new book that introduces to an LDS audience what the Apocrypha is and how it was treated in the early church by Joseph Smith and others. It also gives a book-by-book overview of the contents of the Apocrypha, and what a Latter-day Saint reader might glean from it. While the Apocrypha is mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 91 when Joseph Smith asked whether he should translate it as part of his Bible translation project (the JST), it is usually not read by LDS members because Joseph Smith received a “no” answer, and subsequently it never became part of the scriptural canon. The Apocrypha is a collection of texts that were included in the Greek translation (Septuagint) of the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament), but were not found in the original Hebrew Bible. These additional books and stories are related to biblical figures, or discuss some of the history of the time period between the Old and New Testaments (about a 400-year gap). They were likely written during this later period since they show strong influence from Greek culture (Hellenism), which intensified among the Jews after Alexander the Great in 333 BC. In fact, a common feature found among the texts of the Apocrypha is the struggle Jews increasingly faced in a dominant polytheistic culture, and a shared thread woven throughout the Apocrypha is the exhortation to remain faithful despite these challenges. The books of the Maccabees most directly address the issue of Hellenism as some more traditional Jews literally fought to maintain their traditional beliefs and practices, fighting against not only their Greek overlords, but against some of their own Hellenized, Jewish brethren. The books of the Apocrypha can be categorized into three major areas: biblical expansions, heroic tales, and wisdom literature. Among the biblical expansions are additional stories about Daniel (tales that read like early courtroom dramas and detective stories as Daniel outwits his opponents and repeatedly saves the day), letters from Baruch (Jeremiah’s scribe), and texts related to King Manasseh and Ezra. There is also a very different version of the story of Esther that gives a different perspective on Esther’s challenges of being a Jew in a foreign, gentile king’s harem, and emphasizes God’s role throughout the events, which is left more in the background of the Old Testament version. The heroic stories include the books of the Maccabees mentioned above as well as the story of Tobit, which interweaves danger, adventure, and romance in a delightful tale set in the Assyrian exile. The book of Judith recounts how a strong, beautiful Jewish woman single-handedly held off an advancing army to save her people and Jerusalem. The wisdom books include the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of ben-Sira, which are full of wise sayings remarkably insightful and often still relevant today. Like the book of Proverbs, they cover many topics including obedience to God, raising families, friendship, living a good life, avoiding evil, and, of course, gaining wisdom. Because D&C 91 does not specify which parts of the Apocrypha are “true” and which are interpolations by the hands of men, it leaves the Apocrypha as an open invitation to explore on our own, through the guidance of the Spirit, to see what truth we find in it. Even an introductory exploration of its contents will help one benefit from its many treasures. About Our Guest: Jared Ludlow has taught in the Ancient Scripture Department at BYU since 2006. Before that, he taught at BYU-Hawaii.  Jared received his bachelor's degree from BYU in Near Eastern Studies, his master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley in Biblical Hebrew, and his PhD in Near Eastern Religions from UC-Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union. His primary research interests are in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity.

Greetings 9MIND Sacred Sisterhood Clan. Peace, protection, prosperity and most of all wisdom to we all and those we love. I have always felt that Black people have focused way to much on RELIGION and have viewed politics as a uneccassry evil that should not concern us. Bible passages in John quoted to we ad nauseam like; "We Are In The World But Not Of It, bla bla bla has creted in the MINDS of the Black religious masses that politcs is not something we should involve ourseves in let alone take serious. WHAT??? Last I checked Sunday Church going is strictly a individual voluntary activity while voting, politics and running for appointed seats and offices are not only necessary but the foundation of our Republic rule of law in opposition to a MONARCHY which is rulership by KING or QUEEN.   Until we called Black, Brown, Conscious Community, Pan Africanist, Muurs, Indigenous ...whatever  see that without organized BLACK POLITICS all that other stuff we run our mouths about every day MEANS NOTHING.  All this white Aryan supremacy retoric agent ass NEGROES on social media keep programming into our HEARING is not helping us. Isis nothing but FEAR programming and we must stop listening to it. There is no such thing as W/Supremacy if they must PAY Black and Brown coons and coontessas, Sambos and Sallys to help them maintain CONTROL over the rest of us.  Now it should be clear by now that the Black Christians of (all) denominations are nothing more than Hellenized and Hellafied BLACK GREEKS whether they have pledged a sorority or fraternity or not. The Democratic Party hin the US all swear they are ALL CHRISTIANS and we SEE what they stand for. https://twitter.com/El_shiloh9      

Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade (John 10:22-23). It was about 200 years before this that the aged priest Mattathias (died soon after the beginning of the revolt) and his sons joined by the orthodox Jews revolted against Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-163 B.C.E) king of Syrian who forced the Jews to be Hellenized not only culturally, but also religiously—forbidding them to keep the commandments of the Torah like circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, and observing various festivals. After the death of Mattathias, his third son, Judas (called "the Maccabee" meaning "the hammer") took the leadership, and his followers came to called "the Maccabees." They continued combatting the Syrian forces and finally liberated Jerusalem, and went up to Mount Zion to see the Temple, which had been abandoned for three years: they found the altar profaned, the gates burned, and bushes growing in the courts. They tore their clothes, spread ashes upon them, brew trumpets, and cried to God. Tearing down the profaned altar, they built a new one, and consecrated the interior of the temple: they brought in the lampstand, the incense altar, and the table, and lit the lamps. Then, beginning with the 25th day of Kislev (Dec. 14, 164 B.C.), they celebrated the Feast of Dedication (also called "Hanukkah," and "the Festival of Lights.") for eight days. The story of John 10:22ff. took place on Dec. 16, 32 A.D. (Tuesday), and the Feast of Dedication had begun probably the evening before that day. It could be that the morning prayer (shacharit) was just given, and the smoke of the newly offered sacrifice was going up into the sky from the altar, and people were leaving the temple that time. According to their custom, they gave prayers along with a particular psalm (shir shel yom) which was assigned to each day of the week, and on that Tuesday, they recited Psalm 82. Jesus was there among the crowd, and some patriotic Jews found him walking in Solomon's Colonnade, which was probably located on the eastern side of the Temple Court looking down the Kidron Valley. They asked: How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly (v. 24).. Just north of the temple rose the large walls and the high towers of the Fortress of Antonia, from which some Roman guards were always watching over the Temple Courts. To the question the Jews asked, Jesus answered by repeating what he taught two days before with the parables of the shepherd and his sheep (10:1-18). He began answering by saying, "I did tell you, but you do not believe." The teaching was given with Ps 24 in the background: Jesus is "the King of glory" who comes in through the gates. He will bring his flock out from the sheep pen, and those who know his voice will follow him. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one (vv. 29-31). In these words, Jesus made two incredible statements that stunned either the Jews or the Christians in the past: while his last statement upset the Jews of his time, the statement about the sheep puzzled the Christians. The NIV's translation, "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all," comes from the emended text, not the original one. It was apparently emended because they considered it far excessive to say that the sheep is "greater than all." But Jesus did say, "What my Father has given me is greater than all." He even went on to explain that those to whom God's word came are "gods" on the basis of Ps 82. These gods attend the heavenly council, and they are those who carry out the will of God according to the words and order given to them. We humans were created, in fact, as such beings from the beginning. But when sin came in, we stopped being gods, and began dying as mere men. So, the Father sent his Son to us to bring us out of the bondage of death, and made us gods again in Christ.

The Melchizedek Teachings in the Occident (1077.1) 98:0.1 THE Melchizedek teachings entered Europe along many routes, but chiefly they came by way of Egypt and were embodied in Occidental philosophy after being thoroughly Hellenized and later Christianized. The ideals of the Western world were basically Socratic, and its later religious philosophy became that of Jesus as it was modified and compromised through contact with evolving Occidental philosophy and religion, all of which culminated in the Christian church. (1077.2) 98:0.2 For a long time in Europe the Salem missionaries carried on their activities, becoming gradually absorbed into many of the cults and ritual groups which periodically arose. Among those who maintained the Salem teachings in the purest form must be mentioned the Cynics. These preachers of faith and trust in God were still functioning in Roman Europe in the first century after Christ, being later incorporated into the newly forming Christian religion. (1077.3) 98:0.3 Much of the Salem doctrine was spread in Europe by the Jewish mercenary soldiers who fought in so many of the Occidental military struggles. In ancient times the Jews were famed as much for military valor as for theologic peculiarities. (1077.4) 98:0.4 The basic doctrines of Greek philosophy, Jewish theology, and Christian ethics were fundamentally repercussions of the earlier Melchizedek teachings. 1. The Salem Religion Among the Greeks (1077.5) 98:1.1 The Salem missionaries might have built up a great religious structure among the Greeks had it not been for their strict interpretation of their oath of ordination, a pledge imposed by Machiventa which forbade the organization of exclusive congregations for worship, and which exacted the promise of each teacher never to function as a priest, never to receive fees for religious service, only food, clothing, and shelter. When the Melchizedek teachers penetrated to pre-Hellenic Greece, they found a people who still fostered the traditions of Adamson and the days of the Andites, but these teachings had become greatly adulterated with the notions and beliefs of the hordes of inferior slaves that had been brought to the Greek shores in increasing numbers. This adulteration produced a reversion to a crude animism with bloody rites, the lower classes even making ceremonial out of the execution of condemned criminals. (1077.6) 98:1.2 The early influence of the Salem teachers was nearly destroyed by the so-called Aryan invasion from southern Europe and the East. These Hellenic invaders brought along with them anthropomorphic God concepts similar to those which their Aryan fellows had carried to India. This importation inaugurated the evolution of the Greek family of gods and goddesses. This new religion was partly based on the cults of the incoming Hellenic barbarians, but it also shared in the myths of the older inhabitants of Greece. (1078.1) 98:1.3 The Hellenic Greeks found the Mediterranean world largely dominated by the mother cult, and they imposed upon these peoples their man-god, Dyaus-Zeus, who had already become, like Yahweh among the henotheistic Semites, head of the whole Greek pantheon of subordinate gods. And the Greeks would have eventually achieved a true monotheism in the concept of Zeus except for their retention of the overcontrol of Fate. A God of final value must, himself, be the arbiter of fate and the creator of destiny. (1078.2) 98:1.4 As a consequence of these factors in religious evolution, there presently developed the popular belief in the happy-go-lucky gods of Mount Olympus, gods more human than divine, and gods which the intelligent Greeks never did regard very seriously. They neither greatly loved nor greatly feared these divinities of their own creation. They had a patriotic and racial feeling for Zeus and his family of half men and half gods, but they hardly reverenced or worshiped them. (1078.3) 98:1.5 The Hellenes became so impregnated with the antipriestcraft doctrines of the earlier Salem teachers that no priesthood of any importance ever arose in Greece. Even the making of images to the gods became more of a work in art than a matter of worship. (1078.4) 98:1.6 The Olympian gods illustrate man’s typical anthropomorphism. But the Greek mythology was more aesthetic than ethic. The Greek religion was helpful in that it portrayed a universe governed by a deity group. But Greek morals, ethics, and philosophy presently advanced far beyond the god concept, and this imbalance between intellectual and spiritual growth was as hazardous to Greece as it had proved to be in India. 2. Greek Philosophic Thought (1078.5) 98:2.1 A lightly regarded and superficial religion cannot endure, especially when it has no priesthood to foster its forms and to fill the hearts of the devotees with fear and awe. The Olympian religion did not promise salvation, nor did it quench the spiritual thirst of its believers; therefore was it doomed to perish. Within a millennium of its inception it had nearly vanished, and the Greeks were without a national religion, the gods of Olympus having lost their hold upon the better minds. (1078.6) 98:2.2 This was the situation when, during the sixth century before Christ, the Orient and the Levant experienced a revival of spiritual consciousness and a new awakening to the recognition of monotheism. But the West did not share in this new development; neither Europe nor northern Africa extensively participated in this religious renaissance. The Greeks, however, did engage in a magnificent intellectual advancement. They had begun to master fear and no longer sought religion as an antidote therefor, but they did not perceive that true religion is the cure for soul hunger, spiritual disquiet, and moral despair. They sought for the solace of the soul in deep thinking — philosophy and metaphysics. They turned from the contemplation of self-preservation — salvation — to self-realization and self-understanding. (1078.7) 98:2.3 By rigorous thought the Greeks attempted to attain that consciousness of security which would serve as a substitute for the belief in survival, but they utterly failed. Only the more intelligent among the higher classes of the Hellenic peoples could grasp this new teaching; the rank and file of the progeny of the slaves of former generations had no capacity for the reception of this new substitute for religion. (1079.1) 98:2.4 The philosophers disdained all forms of worship, notwithstanding that they practically all held loosely to the background of a belief in the Salem doctrine of “the Intelligence of the universe,” “the idea of God,” and “the Great Source.” In so far as the Greek philosophers gave recognition to the divine and the superfinite, they were frankly monotheistic; they gave scant recognition to the whole galaxy of Olympian gods and goddesses. (1079.2) 98:2.5 The Greek poets of the fifth and sixth centuries, notably Pindar, attempted the reformation of Greek religion. They elevated its ideals, but they were more artists than religionists. They failed to develop a technique for fostering and conserving supreme values. (1079.3) 98:2.6 Xenophanes taught one God, but his deity concept was too pantheistic to be a personal Father to mortal man. Anaxagoras was a mechanist except that he did recognize a First Cause, an Initial Mind. Socrates and his successors, Plato and Aristotle, taught that virtue is knowledge; goodness, health of the soul; that it is better to suffer injustice than to be guilty of it, that it is wrong to return evil for evil, and that the gods are wise and good. Their cardinal virtues were: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. (1079.4) 98:2.7 The evolution of religious philosophy among the Hellenic and Hebrew peoples affords a contrastive illustration of the function of the church as an institution in the shaping of cultural progress. In Palestine, human thought was so priest-controlled and scripture-directed that philosophy and aesthetics were entirely submerged in religion and morality. In Greece, the almost complete absence of priests and “sacred scriptures” left the human mind free and unfettered, resulting in a startling development in depth of thought. But religion as a personal experience failed to keep pace with the intellectual probings into the nature and reality of the cosmos. (1079.5) 98:2.8 In Greece, believing was subordinated to thinking; in Palestine, thinking was held subject to believing. Much of the strength of Christianity is due to its having borrowed heavily from both Hebrew morality and Greek thought. (1079.6) 98:2.9 In Palestine, religious dogma became so crystallized as to jeopardize further growth; in Greece, human thought became so abstract that the concept of God resolved itself into a misty vapor of pantheistic speculation not at all unlike the impersonal Infinity of the Brahman philosophers. (1079.7) 98:2.10 But the average men of these times could not grasp, nor were they much interested in, the Greek philosophy of self-realization and an abstract Deity; they rather craved promises of salvation, coupled with a personal God who could hear their prayers. They exiled the philosophers, persecuted the remnants of the Salem cult, both doctrines having become much blended, and made ready for that terrible orgiastic plunge into the follies of the mystery cults which were then overspreading the Mediterranean lands. The Eleusinian mysteries grew up within the Olympian pantheon, a Greek version of the worship of fertility; Dionysus nature worship flourished; the best of the cults was the Orphic brotherhood, whose moral preachments and promises of salvation made a great appeal to many. (1080.1) 98:2.11 All Greece became involved in these new methods of attaining salvation, these emotional and fiery ceremonials. No nation ever attained such heights of artistic philosophy in so short a time; none ever created such an advanced system of ethics practically without Deity and entirely devoid of the promise of human salvation; no nation ever plunged so quickly, deeply, and violently into such depths of intellectual stagnation, moral depravity, and spiritual poverty as these same Greek peoples when they flung themselves into the mad whirl of the mystery cults. (1080.2) 98:2.12 Religions have long endured without philosophical support, but few philosophies, as such, have long persisted without some identification with religion. Philosophy is to religion as conception is to action. But the ideal human estate is that in which philosophy, religion, and science are welded into a meaningful unity by the conjoined action of wisdom, faith, and experience. 3. The Melchizedek Teachings in Rome (1080.3) 98:3.1 Having grown out of the earlier religious forms of worship of the family gods into the tribal reverence for Mars, the god of war, it was natural that the later religion of the Latins was more of a political observance than were the intellectual systems of the Greeks and Brahmans or the more spiritual religions of several other peoples. (1080.4) 98:3.2 In the great monotheistic renaissance of Melchizedek’s gospel during the sixth century before Christ, too few of the Salem missionaries penetrated Italy, and those who did were unable to overcome the influence of the rapidly spreading Etruscan priesthood with its new galaxy of gods and temples, all of which became organized into the Roman state religion. This religion of the Latin tribes was not trivial and venal like that of the Greeks, neither was it austere and tyrannical like that of the Hebrews; it consisted for the most part in the observance of mere forms, vows, and taboos. (1080.5) 98:3.3 Roman religion was greatly influenced by extensive cultural importations from Greece. Eventually most of the Olympian gods were transplanted and incorporated into the Latin pantheon. The Greeks long worshiped the fire of the family hearth — Hestia was the virgin goddess of the hearth; Vesta was the Roman goddess of the home. Zeus became Jupiter; Aphrodite, Venus; and so on down through the many Olympian deities. (1080.6) 98:3.4 The religious initiation of Roman youths was the occasion of their solemn consecration to the service of the state. Oaths and admissions to citizenship were in reality religious ceremonies. The Latin peoples maintained temples, altars, and shrines and, in a crisis, would consult the oracles. They preserved the bones of heroes and later on those of the Christian saints. (1080.7) 98:3.5 This formal and unemotional form of pseudoreligious patriotism was doomed to collapse, even as the highly intellectual and artistic worship of the Greeks had gone down before the fervid and deeply emotional worship of the mystery cults. The greatest of these devastating cults was the mystery religion of the Mother of God sect, which had its headquarters, in those days, on the exact site of the present church of St. Peter’s in Rome. (1080.8) 98:3.6 The emerging Roman state conquered politically but was in turn conquered by the cults, rituals, mysteries, and god concepts of Egypt, Greece, and the Levant. These imported cults continued to flourish throughout the Roman state up to the time of Augustus, who, purely for political and civic reasons, made a heroic and somewhat successful effort to destroy the mysteries and revive the older political religion. (1081.1) 98:3.7 One of the priests of the state religion told Augustus of the earlier attempts of the Salem teachers to spread the doctrine of one God, a final Deity presiding over all supernatural beings; and this idea took such a firm hold on the emperor that he built many temples, stocked them well with beautiful images, reorganized the state priesthood, re-established the state religion, appointed himself acting high priest of all, and as emperor did not hesitate to proclaim himself the supreme god. (1081.2) 98:3.8 This new religion of Augustus worship flourished and was observed throughout the empire during his lifetime except in Palestine, the home of the Jews. And this era of the human gods continued until the official Roman cult had a roster of more than twoscore self-elevated human deities, all claiming miraculous births and other superhuman attributes. (1081.3) 98:3.9 The last stand of the dwindling band of Salem believers was made by an earnest group of preachers, the Cynics, who exhorted the Romans to abandon their wild and senseless religious rituals and return to a form of worship embodying Melchizedek’s gospel as it had been modified and contaminated through contact with the philosophy of the Greeks. But the people at large rejected the Cynics; they preferred to plunge into the rituals of the mysteries, which not only offered hopes of personal salvation but also gratified the desire for diversion, excitement, and entertainment. 4. The Mystery Cults (1081.4) 98:4.1 The majority of people in the Greco-Roman world, having lost their primitive family and state religions and being unable or unwilling to grasp the meaning of Greek philosophy, turned their attention to the spectacular and emotional mystery cults from Egypt and the Levant. The common people craved promises of salvation — religious consolation for today and assurances of hope for immortality after death.* (1081.5) 98:4.2 The three mystery cults which became most popular were: (1081.6) 98:4.3 1. The Phrygian cult of Cybele and her son Attis. (1081.7) 98:4.4 2. The Egyptian cult of Osiris and his mother Isis. (1081.8) 98:4.5 3. The Iranian cult of the worship of Mithras as the savior and redeemer of sinful mankind. (1081.9) 98:4.6 The Phrygian and Egyptian mysteries taught that the divine son (respectively Attis and Osiris) had experienced death and had been resurrected by divine power, and further that all who were properly initiated into the mystery, and who reverently celebrated the anniversary of the god’s death and resurrection, would thereby become partakers of his divine nature and his immortality. (1081.10) 98:4.7 The Phrygian ceremonies were imposing but degrading; their bloody festivals indicate how degraded and primitive these Levantine mysteries became. The most holy day was Black Friday, the “day of blood,” commemorating the self-inflicted death of Attis. After three days of the celebration of the sacrifice and death of Attis the festival was turned to joy in honor of his resurrection. (1082.1) 98:4.8 The rituals of the worship of Isis and Osiris were more refined and impressive than were those of the Phrygian cult. This Egyptian ritual was built around the legend of the Nile god of old, a god who died and was resurrected, which concept was derived from the observation of the annually recurring stoppage of vegetation growth followed by the springtime restoration of all living plants. The frenzy of the observance of these mystery cults and the orgies of their ceremonials, which were supposed to lead up to the “enthusiasm” of the realization of divinity, were sometimes most revolting. 5. The Cult of Mithras (1082.2) 98:5.1 The Phrygian and Egyptian mysteries eventually gave way before the greatest of all the mystery cults, the worship of Mithras. The Mithraic cult made its appeal to a wide range of human nature and gradually supplanted both of its predecessors. Mithraism spread over the Roman Empire through the propagandizing of Roman legions recruited in the Levant, where this religion was the vogue, for they carried this belief wherever they went. And this new religious ritual was a great improvement over the earlier mystery cults. (1082.3) 98:5.2 The cult of Mithras arose in Iran and long persisted in its homeland despite the militant opposition of the followers of Zoroaster. But by the time Mithraism reached Rome, it had become greatly improved by the absorption of many of Zoroaster’s teachings. It was chiefly through the Mithraic cult that Zoroaster’s religion exerted an influence upon later appearing Christianity. (1082.4) 98:5.3 The Mithraic cult portrayed a militant god taking origin in a great rock, engaging in valiant exploits, and causing water to gush forth from a rock struck with his arrows. There was a flood from which one man escaped in a specially built boat and a last supper which Mithras celebrated with the sun-god before he ascended into the heavens. This sun-god, or Sol Invictus, was a degeneration of the Ahura-Mazda deity concept of Zoroastrianism. Mithras was conceived as the surviving champion of the sun-god in his struggle with the god of darkness. And in recognition of his slaying the mythical sacred bull, Mithras was made immortal, being exalted to the station of intercessor for the human race among the gods on high. (1082.5) 98:5.4 The adherents of this cult worshiped in caves and other secret places, chanting hymns, mumbling magic, eating the flesh of the sacrificial animals, and drinking the blood. Three times a day they worshiped, with special weekly ceremonials on the day of the sun-god and with the most elaborate observance of all on the annual festival of Mithras, December twenty-fifth. It was believed that the partaking of the sacrament ensured eternal life, the immediate passing, after death, to the bosom of Mithras, there to tarry in bliss until the judgment day. On the judgment day the Mithraic keys of heaven would unlock the gates of Paradise for the reception of the faithful; whereupon all the unbaptized of the living and the dead would be annihilated upon the return of Mithras to earth. It was taught that, when a man died, he went before Mithras for judgment, and that at the end of the world Mithras would summon all the dead from their graves to face the last judgment. The wicked would be destroyed by fire, and the righteous would reign with Mithras forever. (1082.6) 98:5.5 At first it was a religion only for men, and there were seven different orders into which believers could be successively initiated. Later on, the wives and daughters of believers were admitted to the temples of the Great Mother, which adjoined the Mithraic temples. The women’s cult was a mixture of Mithraic ritual and the ceremonies of the Phrygian cult of Cybele, the mother of Attis. 6. Mithraism and Christianity (1083.1) 98:6.1 Prior to the coming of the mystery cults and Christianity, personal religion hardly developed as an independent institution in the civilized lands of North Africa and Europe; it was more of a family, city-state, political, and imperial affair. The Hellenic Greeks never evolved a centralized worship system; the ritual was local; they had no priesthood and no “sacred book.” Much as the Romans, their religious institutions lacked a powerful driving agency for the preservation of higher moral and spiritual values. While it is true that the institutionalization of religion has usually detracted from its spiritual quality, it is also a fact that no religion has thus far succeeded in surviving without the aid of institutional organization of some degree, greater or lesser. (1083.2) 98:6.2 Occidental religion thus languished until the days of the Skeptics, Cynics, Epicureans, and Stoics, but most important of all, until the times of the great contest between Mithraism and Paul’s new religion of Christianity. (1083.3) 98:6.3 During the third century after Christ, Mithraic and Christian churches were very similar both in appearance and in the character of their ritual. A majority of such places of worship were underground, and both contained altars whose backgrounds variously depicted the sufferings of the savior who had brought salvation to a sin-cursed human race. (1083.4) 98:6.4 Always had it been the practice of Mithraic worshipers, on entering the temple, to dip their fingers in holy water. And since in some districts there were those who at one time belonged to both religions, they introduced this custom into the majority of the Christian churches in the vicinity of Rome. Both religions employed baptism and partook of the sacrament of bread and wine. The one great difference between Mithraism and Christianity, aside from the characters of Mithras and Jesus, was that the one encouraged militarism while the other was ultrapacific. Mithraism’s tolerance for other religions (except later Christianity) led to its final undoing. But the deciding factor in the struggle between the two was the admission of women into the full fellowship of the Christian faith. (1083.5) 98:6.5 In the end the nominal Christian faith dominated the Occident. Greek philosophy supplied the concepts of ethical value; Mithraism, the ritual of worship observance; and Christianity, as such, the technique for the conservation of moral and social values. 7. The Christian Religion (1083.6) 98:7.1 A Creator Son did not incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh and bestow himself upon the humanity of Urantia to reconcile an angry God but rather to win all mankind to the recognition of the Father’s love and to the realization of their sonship with God. After all, even the great advocate of the atonement doctrine realized something of this truth, for he declared that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” (1084.1) 98:7.2 It is not the province of this paper to deal with the origin and dissemination of the Christian religion. Suffice it to say that it is built around the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the humanly incarnate Michael Son of Nebadon, known to Urantia as the Christ, the anointed one. Christianity was spread throughout the Levant and Occident by the followers of this Galilean, and their missionary zeal equaled that of their illustrious predecessors, the Sethites and Salemites, as well as that of their earnest Asiatic contemporaries, the Buddhist teachers. (1084.2) 98:7.3 The Christian religion, as a Urantian system of belief, arose through the compounding of the following teachings, influences, beliefs, cults, and personal individual attitudes: (1084.3) 98:7.4 1. The Melchizedek teachings, which are a basic factor in all the religions of Occident and Orient that have arisen in the last four thousand years. (1084.4) 98:7.5 2. The Hebraic system of morality, ethics, theology, and belief in both Providence and the supreme Yahweh. (1084.5) 98:7.6 3. The Zoroastrian conception of the struggle between cosmic good and evil, which had already left its imprint on both Judaism and Mithraism. Through prolonged contact attendant upon the struggles between Mithraism and Christianity, the doctrines of the Iranian prophet became a potent factor in determining the theologic and philosophic cast and structure of the dogmas, tenets, and cosmology of the Hellenized and Latinized versions of the teachings of Jesus. (1084.6) 98:7.7 4. The mystery cults, especially Mithraism but also the worship of the Great Mother in the Phrygian cult. Even the legends of the birth of Jesus on Urantia became tainted with the Roman version of the miraculous birth of the Iranian savior-hero, Mithras, whose advent on earth was supposed to have been witnessed by only a handful of gift-bearing shepherds who had been informed of this impending event by angels. (1084.7) 98:7.8 5. The historic fact of the human life of Joshua ben Joseph, the reality of Jesus of Nazareth as the glorified Christ, the Son of God. (1084.8) 98:7.9 6. The personal viewpoint of Paul of Tarsus. And it should be recorded that Mithraism was the dominant religion of Tarsus during his adolescence. Paul little dreamed that his well-intentioned letters to his converts would someday be regarded by still later Christians as the “word of God.” Such well-meaning teachers must not be held accountable for the use made of their writings by later-day successors. (1084.9) 98:7.10 7. The philosophic thought of the Hellenistic peoples, from Alexandria and Antioch through Greece to Syracuse and Rome. The philosophy of the Greeks was more in harmony with Paul’s version of Christianity than with any other current religious system and became an important factor in the success of Christianity in the Occident. Greek philosophy, coupled with Paul’s theology, still forms the basis of European ethics. (1084.10) 98:7.11 As the original teachings of Jesus penetrated the Occident, they became Occidentalized, and as they became Occidentalized, they began to lose their potentially universal appeal to all races and kinds of men. Christianity, today, has become a religion well adapted to the social, economic, and political mores of the white races. It has long since ceased to be the religion of Jesus, although it still valiantly portrays a beautiful religion about Jesus to such individuals as sincerely seek to follow in the way of its teaching. It has glorified Jesus as the Christ, the Messianic anointed one from God, but has largely forgotten the Master’s personal gospel: the Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of all men. (1085.1) 98:7.12 And this is the long story of the teachings of Machiventa Melchizedek on Urantia. It is nearly four thousand years since this emergency Son of Nebadon bestowed himself on Urantia, and in that time the teachings of the “priest of El Elyon, the Most High God,” have penetrated to all races and peoples. And Machiventa was successful in achieving the purpose of his unusual bestowal; when Michael made ready to appear on Urantia, the God concept was existent in the hearts of men and women, the same God concept that still flames anew in the living spiritual experience of the manifold children of the Universal Father as they live their intriguing temporal lives on the whirling planets of space. (1085.2) 98:7.13 [Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.]

Well, this morning, we're beginning our study in the book of Hebrews. And as we begin our study, of the book of Hebrews, some intriguing questions will come immediately to mind. Questions that are unique to this book, and that are different than any set of questions that we address in any other book in the New Testament. There are peculiarities about the book of Hebrews that immediately come to our mind when we ask some basic questions about: for whom it was written, who were the first readers, who wrote it, when exactly was it written, and what was the context of its writing? When you read the letters of the apostle Paul, for example, there's a unique context. There's a discerned audience. There is a clear understanding of how this letter came to be in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul.When we read the gospels, similarly, there is a context. There are Authorial issues. There is the issue of the original audience. We understand this, in the book of Acts, similarly. Certainly, the book of Revelation is used in such a powerful way by John, the apostle, and the vision that he received on the island of Patmos. But in the book of Hebrews, we encounter a book that is so rich with necessary theological biblical data for us, a book that gives us so much of our understanding of the gospel. And we know very little about the book, we know very little about who wrote it or to whom it was first written, or the context of its writing in order to get into those questions. I want us actually to read from the text. This morning, as we begin our study in the book of Hebrews, we're going to do something a bit unusual, and that is we're going to begin and end it in the compress of just a few moments.Actually, I'm sure there are many Sundays out before us in the book of Hebrews. But I want us both to look at the beginning and the end of this book together. So, we'll begin in Hebrews 1:1-4. “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”Those of course are just the first four verses of chapter one of the book of Hebrews. And what we notice immediately is that in the book of Hebrews, we dove right into the deep end of the doctrinal pool. Whereas with Paul's letters we have, in general, as the norm, a greeting, a salutation, some words of encouragement and exhortation, perhaps even an early word of correction. But in the book of Hebrews, we have this immediacy of going into the deepest issues of the Christian faith.As a matter of fact, we are given a clue about the importance of the book of Hebrews in terms of how it begins. We read, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers.” There's an immediate recognition here that the church has fathers. There is a patrimony here. There is ancestry to the Christian faith. That ancestry is Jewish.We have to look back to Israel and we look back to the Old Testament in order to understand the necessary context for the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And yet one of the greatest difficulties for the church, one of the greatest difficulties for Christians throughout the ages has been to look to the entirety of scripture. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, Christians look to discover an adequate and faithful understanding of how they are to read and understand the Old Testament.Now, the book is entitled Hebrews, or to the Hebrews. It is identified as a letter in the subscript to the title as is found in the most ancient documents. So, it is an epistle or a letter. It's a letter much like what we would find from the apostle Paul. Although, as we said, it doesn't have the same kind of structure.Well, at least it doesn't have the same kind of structure at the beginning. It does have a very similar structure as we shall see at the end. But at the beginning, there is this dive into the deep, into the pool. When I read the opening verses to the book of Hebrews, my mind immediately goes to two very different books. The first of these is Genesis. We have a chronological reference in Hebrews, “Long ago and many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers.” It's the kind of declaration we find in the very first verse of scripture. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Did you ever notice that the Bible doesn't have a lengthy preface or introduction? That in the book of Genesis we're right into it immediately? Here's the entirety of the truth claim of theism, right here at the very beginning, Genesis 1:1 establishes the truth claims. And the very first few words of the scriptures, that there is a God and that He has created all. That idea is similar to the Prologue of John's Gospel. My mind goes there immediately. John is in many ways, the New Testament twin verse to Genesis 1:1. When we come to John 1:1, we are told, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”We are also told that he was the Creator, the agent of creation. “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”Now we come to Hebrews 1:1. “Long ago, at many times. And in many ways, God spoke to our fathers.” What are we to do with the Old Testament? Christians have struggled with this. We know that there are at least two disastrously wrong ways of understanding how Christians are to read the Old Testament.The first, disastrously wrong way for Christians to read the Old Testament, is to read it as if it's someone else's book. There is the temptation that comes to the church. And as a matter of fact, it sometimes reflects the way we describe ourselves when we describe a Baptist church. When we say, “What are you?” We seek to be a New Testament church. What we mean by that of course, is that we are grounded upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as is revealed in the New Testament. It also means that we're seeking to be a church that is ordered in accordance with the pattern for the church, for our ecclesiology that is set forth in the New Testament. But there's a danger. Anytime we say, “We're a new Testament church,” that can insinuate, that our Bible is the New Testament. It begins with Matthew. But our Bible is not just the New Testament. It begins with Genesis.At the end of the book of Romans in the final chapters, Paul tells us that the Old Testament was given to the church for our encouragement. In our knowledge, there is no way you can understand the gospel of Jesus Christ if you don't understand the Old Testament. There is no way we can come to understand the new covenant unless we understand the old covenant. The first disastrously wrong way, the church has looked at the Old Testament is to dismiss it. To say, “It's not for us. It's not to us. It's not binding upon us. This is a book, a collection of books that is Jewish.”Marcian, one of the most famous heretics of the church said that the God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament. Very early on in the Christian Church, there arose the heresy that the Old Testament isn't addressed to us. That is, it's not our story. And the suggestion is even that there is a severe theological distinction in the presentation of God between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The early church very quickly came to smell the sniff of heresy. This is the aroma of deadly error. But that very idea has come back.You will find theologians today, routinely on the liberal side, dismiss the Old Testament as presenting a crude and rudimentary understanding of God and theology. That's disastrous. Equally disastrous, although less ideological, as the approach taken by many Christians who simply say, “I don't understand the Old Testament. It seems alien to me. I don't know what to do with the old Testament. So, I'll just lean into the New Testament.” That is the first disastrous way Christians look to the Old Testament.There is a Second disastrous way that Christians look to the Old Testament and it's equal and opposite. That is, we assume that we find our primary grounding in the Old Testament. And that is not. So that is the sense in which it's healthy to say, we're a new Testament church. We are New Testament people. We are a new covenant people, but when we look back to the covenant of old, we do not look back with resentment or with a dismissive attitude, but rather we are to look back with gratitude to the realization that the old covenant was a necessary context for the new. As Jesus himself made very clear, our Lord did not repudiate the Old Testament nor the old covenant. Rather he, by his perfect obedience, perfectly fulfilled the old covenant. He perfectly fulfilled the Old Testament and it still speaks to us.So, who were the original recipients of this letter? It's addressed to Hebrews. So, our first thought is it'd be addressed to Jewish people. That doesn't exactly fit the letter. This assumption doesn't exactly fit for a couple of reasons that I will demonstrate as we'll go verse by verse through the book.Early in the church, the suggestion that this might be a letter addressed to those who formerly had been Jewish priests. The audience may have converted as priests from Judaism to Christianity. There were those who were of the tribe of Levi. They were priests. They had their identity and their function in the time of the old covenant as the priests of Israel. So how are they to understand the gospel? Well, what we have in the book of Hebrew is a massive, symphonic display of the fulfillment of the Levitical priesthood in and by Christ. But, you know, as tempting as it is to think, maybe in terms of some of the technicalities, what we have here is a letter to Jewish priests who have now become believers. That's just too unique, and particularly for the audience to fit the totality of this book.There are some interesting clues in this book. It's written obviously to people who have a knowledge of the Old Testament. Not just a little bit of knowledge, but a great deal of knowledge of the Old Testament. These persons have a knowledge of what is called “Hellenistic Judaism”. The references within the book of Hebrews are to the Septuagint, rather than to the Hebrew Old Testament. So, it's likely that this was written to a cosmopolitan audience made up, at least in part, of Jews who were Hellenized, when they were Hellenized. That meant that they had become a part of their Greco-Roman empire. Indeed, Greek was their primary language. And there are only two cities that fit that category. Those two cities are Alexandria in Egypt and Rome.From the very beginning, the church's encounter with the book of Hebrews, the suggestions have come that this was written to Christians living in Alexandria, or in Rome. And one of the clues internally to Alexandria, is that the most famous Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, was a man by the name of Philo. There are unsighted references to Philo within the book of Hebrews. But there are equally valid arguments for why it may well be this addressed to Hellenized Jews who were part of the Christian Church in Rome. The bottom line, however, is that it's given to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's addressed to all of us.It's not just written in order that those who had been Jewish priests can now find their understanding of how the political priesthood is fulfilled, in Christ and by Christ. It's not even just to early Christians who may have had the background of Hellenistic Judaism. Hebrews is given to all of us because it is incumbent upon all of us as Christians to come to an understanding of how we are to read the Old Testament; To understand the Old Testament and the old covenant, and who wrote it.Well, we don't know biblical author. The inerrancy of scripture requires that we affirm the authorship of every book as is attributed within the scriptures. So, we're right to contend for the fact that, for instance, Peter wrote second Peter. The claim is made within the text itself. Similarly, evidence we find in the epistles of the apostle Paul. We see him as the author. Or we find very good reason to understand from the text that it was Luke who wrote both Luke and Acts. We could go book by book. The only book that would lead us to this particular quandary in the entire New Testament, the book of Hebrews, because there is absolutely no claim of authorship.Now, when I am teaching and preaching the book of Hebrews, that there is an inclination, it's kind of just right there. It happened to me before. I know it, I will often accidentally say, “As Paul says here,” but there is no reference to Paul being the author of this letter. As a matter of fact, the Greek structure of grammar and syntax and the expression that's found in the book of Hebrews is not really characteristic of Paul. And I'll tell you, what is characteristic of Paul? Every time Paul wrote something, he made it clear that he wrote it. I is because he was writing on apostolic authority. There's another reason to believe that, almost certainly, Paul is not the writer of the book of Hebrews. That is because the writer of the book of Hebrews assumes second-hand knowledge.In other words, this is what was revealed to the church that the author of Hebrews now affirms as true. The apostle Paul spoke of direct revelation, something very different. The apostle Paul spoke of his apostolic authority. He cites his apostolic authority. He bases his authority to instruct the church on that apostolic authority, which is completely missing here.Other suggestions as to who wrote the book and the history of the church have included Apollos or Barnabas. Now those two men are interesting proposals. Luke also has been offered as a potential author of the books of Hebrews and Luke. However, he comes from a Gentile background. That's a key to understanding both the Gospel of Luke and the book of acts. And so, it doesn't seem natural that Luke would be the author of Hebrews. At the end of the book, there is a reference to Timothy. Which could well be that Luke was one of the reasons why we often, in the history of the church, see references, if not to Paul, then to Barnabas or Apollos or Luke.So clearly, there are links to the Pauline circle, and whoever wrote this knew Timothy intimately and makes reference to him. But, you know, this is where we need to limit our imagination and trust that the Holy Spirit has given us all that we need.Let me give you, a contrasting example. It's important to understand that Paul wrote the book of Romans. It's key to understanding some passages in the book of Romans because it is tied so closely to Paul's spiritual autobiography. If you take Paul out of the book of Romans, it's far more difficult to understand some of what the Holy spirit has revealed to us in the book. Since the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write that letter to the church in Rome, and Paul wrote it with references to his own experience, his authorship provides necessary background.It follows a certain chronology. Paul refers in the opening chapter of the book of Romans that he has been delayed. He has been prevented from arriving in Rome, even though he intended to go there. This explains the reference to the Macedonian vision in the book of Acts. It all fits together. We understand the context that helps us to understand the book of Romans. We do not have that here. We do not know the original date, although it's clear we believe before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD since there is no reference to it.We don't know the author. We don't know specifically, or for sure, the original recipients, evidently because we are not meant to know. We are not given that data in this book, because if we had that data, presumably we might read the book differently than the Holy Spirit intends for us to read it. The Holy Spirit intends for us to read this book as written to the church. As written to all of us with no general reference to any specific time, any specific author, or any specific context. And that's how we are to read the book of Hebrews; understanding that it is our responsibility to come to terms and to come to a knowledge of how we as Christians are to read the Old Testament.The affirmation we find here at the very beginning of the introduction is poetic. It's beautiful. It's soaring. It gets right to the incredibly high Christology the book of Hebrews contains. We encounter what we do not find in this form elsewhere in the New Testament. This is the symphonic, comprehensive presentation of what it means for Jesus to be the mediator of a new covenant. For Jesus to be our great high priest. Earlier this summer, in the hottest place— I'll say on the record, I think I have ever been to— Palm Springs, California, I spoke to a large Resolved conference. This conference of college students, several thousand of them. It was so hot; my eyeballs were hot.And these college students that come from all over the country to be here for hours and hours and hours of expository preaching, that defies the wisdom of the age. I preached one of my messages on Jesus, the great high priest. I began by saying it to these college students. “I know what you think and what you're thinking is partly right, but it's also very wrong. You think you don't need a priest. When, if we do not have a priest, we are not saved. The reality is we do not believe in an ongoing human priesthood. But, if Jesus is not our great high priest, we have not been cleansed of our sins. The Old Testament has not been fulfilled. The old covenant has not been fulfilled and our sin is still upon us. Oh, we need a priest. And we need a priest, not only because of what Christ did on the cross, but we also need a priest who intercedes for us, right now; who intercedes for us at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. We need, we are desperately dependent at every single moment in our lives on Jesus. Our great high priest, who is for us, right now. The mediator of a new and better covenant as the writer of the book of Hebrews will make very clear. This is our priest who in the incarnation became so much like us, that he understands us. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet, without sin. The writer of the Hebrews will make clear. This is a priest. Yes, a priest who fulfilled the Levitical priesthood because he entered a tabernacle, not made with human hands. But rather, on the cross he entered the heavenly tabernacle. And when our great high priest performed atonement for us, he did atone as the priests of old, with the blood of a heifer or a lamb. Rather, he shed his blood.”Thus, he has become for us the mediator of a new covenant. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers,” right here at the beginning of Hebrews. We had this absolute affirmation that God did speak through the Old Testament. That was his revelation that he spoke through the prophets that he spoke through the entirety of the Old Testament that he spoke through the sacrifices of old. That he spoke through the priestly ritual of Israel. That he spoke in the tabernacle. That he spoke in the temple. He did speak. He spoke it many times. He spoke in many ways, even a passing familiarity. The Old Testament reminds us of many times and many ways that God spoke.My book on preaching is entitled He is not silent, a title I borrowed from Francis Schaeffer. That is the crucial fact for us; God is, and he speaks. Schaeffer's book was entitled He is there, and He is Not Silent, and it had a such a massive impact on my life, back in the 1970s. I was a teenager. He said, “You see, if there were a God, a silent God, we wouldn't know him. We have no ability to seek him out. We have no ability to come to terms with him. The only way we can know God is because he speaks to us. And this is grace and mercy.” Carl Henry, in so many ways, my theological mentor, a man not given to expression, was an absolute poet when it came to defining revelation. When he defined it this way, he said “That revelation is God's gracious act whereby he forfeits his personal privacy so that his sinful creatures might know him.” Time and time again, various times, and in various ways, the one true and living God forfeited his privacy, that his sinful creatures might know him.He spoke through a bush that burned. It was not consumed. He spoke through prophets. He spoke on a mountain that shook with fire. He spoke through tablets of stone inscribed with these 10 words. He spoke through the graphe, through the writings, the scriptures of the Old Testament. At one point he spoke through Balaam's donkey. He's a speaking God. He spoke to him many times and in many ways, “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”So the writer of the book of Hebrews, at the very beginning tells, us that the definitive revelation of the speaking God is in his Son. Now, again, we go immediately back to John 1:1. “In the beginning, was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, Logos. Then, the Son is the Logos who created the world. And through the Logos, whom we come to know. Now we are told that God, having spoken to our fathers by the prophets many times, and in many ways in these last days, here's the conclusion. In other words, there is not something else that is coming. That will become very clear through the book of Hebrews, as it lays out symphonically and comprehensively, the deep truths of the gospel. This is it. It is finished.There is no mediation in terms of atonement for sin that is left to be done. There is no sacrifice to be repeated. This is conclusive in these last days; he's spoken to us of whom he appointed him heir of all things.The next time we are together, we'll be following through these verses and looking at the Christology of the book of Hebrews. At the very beginning, we'll come to understand what it means for him to be the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature.God did not send the son in order to show us what he's like. God sent the son in order to show us himself. Jesus isn't like God, he is God. He isn't merely a picture of what God is like. He is the exact representation of his nature. Hebrews chapter one is so rich with Christology. And we will see, verse by verse, word by word, what the writer of the book of Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is telling us that we are to know about Christ, before he actually goes back to the Old Testament. Which is another reminder to us that we have to get our Christology right before we can get our Old Testament theology right. And, obviously, it has to be in the conversation because much of what we come to know of who Christ is and what Christ has done for us is revealed against the backdrop of the Old Testament. Christ's fulfillment of the Old Testament. But we come to understand that we now read the Old Testament as Christians. But, we do not read the Old Testament as if we do not have the New Testament. We're not reading the Old Testament as if we do not know how Christ has fulfilled these things. We are reading the Old Testament as believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ. And without apology, we have a Christological interpretation of the scriptures.That's why it's so appropriate that we are now in Hebrews. After having concluded Matthew, of the four gospels, it is Matthew's Gospel, that makes much this same point: placing the life ministry of Jesus within the context of Old Testament prophecy. Matthew writes, “These things happened in order that the scriptures might be fulfilled,” over and over again. We have in the gospel of Matthew, pointed reminders and very clear displays of how Christ has fulfilled the law, the Old Testament, and the prophets. Now we find the same in the book of Hebrews. But as we begin our study, of the book of Hebrews, I want us to look not only at the first four verses but also to look at the last chapter.The book of Hebrews begins with this incredible Christology. This testimony to who Christ is, as we've said. It begins by diving into the deep end of the pool. We're completely wet. There's no introduction to get us ready for the deep stuff. We're in it. But notice how it ends. In particular, look at verses 20 and 21, the benediction to the letter. Thirteen chapters later reads, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”If that doesn't stir your soul, you're untirable. We have the testimony to God who brought from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep.So, we go from Christ, being the exact representation of the nature of God, to Christ being the great Shepherd of the sheep. We have a reference here to the blood of the eternal covenant by which we've been saved. But the prayer is that God through Christ will equip believers with everything good. Why? That we may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.I think it's important to begin at the beginning and then to move very quickly to the end. Remember, as we are beginning our study of the book of Hebrews, to be recognize that we are studying the book of Hebrews not merely that we would come to a deeper understanding of the things of God. Not merely so that we can have in our minds a better intellectual doctrinal and theological framework for understanding the New Testament and the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Christ. Not merely so that we would be better armed, better equipped to understand the gospel. But, our study book of Hebrews should be in the background of the prayer that God will use this study in order that we may be equipped for every good thing. To do his will, which is pleasing in his sight.This is rich theological material; incredible biblical material. It's exhilarating. The study of the book of Hebrews is like looking through lenses, a set of binoculars, and realize when you put it into focus, things are a lot clearer.But the ultimate reason we study not only the book of Hebrews, but scripture is in order that the Holy Spirit will work within us. That which is pleasing to the Father, and to the great shepherd of the sheep. in order that we would work his will.Let's pray together. Our Father, we are so thankful that you have given us this book. We're thankful that you have given it to us just as you've given it to us without reference to place, without reference to context, without reference to the author, without reference to date. Father, may the absence of those things remind us emphatically that this is for your whole church throughout all the ages. It is to be read as addressed to all of us from the beginning until now. And Father, we pray that by our study of this book, we will indeed be able in a way we otherwise would not be able, by your grace and to your glory, to do your will. That which is pleasing in your sight. And we pray this as we begin this study in the name of the great Shepherd of the sheep, even Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.You can find Dr. Mohler's other Line by Line sermons here.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.

Professor Kleiner discusses domestic architecture at Pompeii from its beginnings in the fourth and third centuries B.C. to the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79. She describes the plan of the ideal domus italica and features two residences that conform to that layout. She then presents the so-called Hellenized domus that incorporates elements of Greek domestic architecture, especially the peristyle court with columns. The primary example is the famous House of the Faun with its tetrastyle atrium, double peristyles, and floor mosaic of the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia at Issus, a Roman copy of an original Greek painting. She concludes by highlighting the suburban Villa of the Mysteries and notes the distinction between plans of Roman houses and those of Roman villas.

Professor Kleiner discusses domestic architecture at Pompeii from its beginnings in the fourth and third centuries B.C. to the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79. She describes the plan of the ideal domus italica and features two residences that conform to that layout. She then presents the so-called Hellenized domus that incorporates elements of Greek domestic architecture, especially the peristyle court with columns. The primary example is the famous House of the Faun with its tetrastyle atrium, double peristyles, and floor mosaic of the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius of Persia at Issus, a Roman copy of an original Greek painting. She concludes by highlighting the suburban Villa of the Mysteries and notes the distinction between plans of Roman houses and those of Roman villas.

Hello, Friends Early believers were known as followers of the Way. The scripture is clear that they saw themselves as a part of Judaism following the Way that Yeshua taught. Today, we live in a religious environment that has been Hellenized to the point that many people have no idea that the Scriptures were given to us by Hebrews and written in and through a Hebraic perspective. We invite you to look at the Triumphal Entry in a manner rarely considered by Westerners but entirely consistent with the Way that Jesus original followers would have seen it. Shalom, The LCMF Staff

Hello, Friends Early believers were known as followers of the Way. The scripture is clear that they saw themselves as a part of Judaism following the Way that Yeshua taught. Today, we live in a religious environment that has been Hellenized to the point that many people have no idea that the Scriptures were given to us by Hebrews and written in and through a Hebraic perspective. We invite you to look at the Triumphal Entry in a manner rarely considered by Westerners but entirely consistent with the Way that Jesus original followers would have seen it. Shalom, The LCMF Staff

Hello, Friends Early believers were known as followers of the Way. The scripture is clear that they saw themselves as a part of Judaism following the Way that Yeshua taught. Today, we live in a religious environment that has been Hellenized to the point that many people have no idea that the Scriptures were given to us by Hebrews and written in and through a Hebraic perspective. We invite you to look at the Triumphal Entry in a manner rarely considered by Westerners but entirely consistent with the Way that Jesus original followers would have seen it. Shalom, The LCMF Staff

The Letter to the Hebrews is a work included in the New Testament, in which the profile and mission of Jesus are outlined through comparison with the figure of the high priest in the Old Testament.Its literary genre is much discussed. Much more than a letter or a homily, the text turns out to be a "treatise for Christians of Jewish and ethnic origin now Hellenized."(From Italian Wikipedia)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Letter to the Hebrews is a work included in the New Testament, in which the profile and mission of Jesus are outlined through comparison with the figure of the high priest in the Old Testament.Its literary genre is much discussed. Much more than a letter or a homily, the text turns out to be a "treatise for Christians of Jewish and ethnic origin now Hellenized."(From Italian Wikipedia)