Podcasts about hiddenness

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God contained in Jesus' humanity? The Hiddenness of God? Kindness that kills? Join us for Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders.

Nazareth and the Hidden Life Retreat Reflection III The Silence of Nazareth and the False Self Epigraph “He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.” — Isaiah 42:2 “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” — Abba Moses the Black ⸻ One of the most frightening things about silence is that eventually it begins to tell the truth. At first silence feels peaceful to us because we imagine it as relief from noise, pressure, and obligation. We dream of quiet places, slower days, hidden monasteries, cabins in the woods, empty churches, long evenings without interruption. We imagine silence as rest. And sometimes it is. But if a person remains within silence long enough, another dimension begins to emerge. The distractions weaken. The constant stimulation subsides. The usual methods of self-maintenance no longer function in the same way. And gradually hidden things begin to surface: anxiety, fantasy, anger, loneliness, grief, resentment, compulsions, memories, self-hatred, and the deep fear of being nobody. This is why so many people flee silence almost immediately. 1 Not because they hate peace. But because silence exposes the instability of the self we have constructed. The fathers understood this profoundly. When the Desert Fathers speak about entering the cell, they are not romanticizing solitude. The cell is not merely a room. It is the place where illusions begin to collapse. A man enters silence expecting holiness and instead encounters himself. The hidden passions rise into consciousness. The noise within becomes audible. One begins to discover how fragmented the heart truly is. And yet the fathers insist: remain there. Do not flee. Do not panic. Do not construct a new image of yourself. Do not despair. Remain. Modern humanity finds this extraordinarily difficult because we live in an age almost entirely organized around avoiding interior exposure. Noise surrounds us constantly. Even solitude has become saturated with stimulation. A person can sit alone for hours without ever truly entering silence because the mind remains flooded with images, conversations, music, scrolling, distraction, fantasy, and self-construction. The modern self is rarely still enough to encounter itself honestly. And this has profound spiritual consequences because much of what we call “identity” is actually performance. We learn gradually to create versions of ourselves for different audiences: competent selves, religious selves, intellectual selves, desirable selves, successful selves, helpful selves, wounded selves, 2 special selves. Some of these identities become so deeply ingrained that we no longer recognize them as constructions. We experience them instead as who we are. But silence threatens these structures. This is one reason hidden life feels so unsettling. The ego survives partly through reflection from others. We know ourselves through response, recognition, affirmation, usefulness, accomplishment, attention, and comparison. Hiddenness interrupts these reinforcements. The false self begins to weaken because fewer mirrors remain available to sustain it. And this weakening often feels initially like death. A person may enter a quieter life expecting peace and instead encounter profound restlessness: the urge continually to check, to speak, to explain oneself, to seek affirmation, to fantasize, to escape, to become visible again somehow. The fathers would not be surprised by this. They knew that much human activity functions defensively. We remain busy not only because life requires labor, but because movement protects us from encountering our deeper poverty. Constant activity allows the ego to preserve itself through usefulness and distraction. Nazareth dismantles this slowly. The hidden Christ remains almost entirely outside visibility. He does not announce Himself continually. He does not seek recognition. He does not construct identity through public affirmation. The silence of Nazareth becomes a revelation of divine humility itself. This is deeply threatening to the ego because the ego wants to secure existence through visibility. To be unseen feels almost like annihilation. 3 This is especially true in modern technological culture where visibility itself has become a form of psychological survival. Many people now experience themselves largely through presentation. Identity becomes increasingly externalized: how one appears, how one is perceived, how one performs, how one is received. And thus silence becomes terrifying because it removes the external reinforcement through which the self remains stabilized. The fathers call us into something radically different. Not the destruction of personality. Not emotional emptiness. Not passivity. But the gradual surrender of the false self built upon performance, fantasy, comparison, and self-construction. This surrender is painful because the false self often develops precisely to protect vulnerability. Human beings construct identities partly to avoid shame, helplessness, rejection, and dependency. The ego creates structures through which the person feels more secure, more admirable, more protected from exposure. But these structures also isolate us. One cannot truly love while continually performing. Nor can one encounter God deeply while remaining hidden behind spiritual self- constructions. This is why the saints become so simple. Not simplistic. Simple. The fragmentation gradually diminishes. The inner divisions weaken. One no longer needs continually to present oneself, justify oneself, or maintain identity 4 through performance. There emerges instead a quieter, poorer, more transparent way of existing before God. The path toward this simplicity is rarely dramatic. Usually it unfolds through hidden humiliations. The failure that exposes our weakness. The years that dismantle our fantasies. The obscurity that wounds vanity. The prayer that feels empty. The relationships that reveal our selfishness. The repetitive duties that strip away grandiosity. The hidden life that slowly confronts us with ourselves. This is why Nazareth matters so profoundly. Christ enters fully into hidden existence without resistance. He consents to ordinariness. He consents to gradualness. He consents to years that appear outwardly uneventful. The eternal Logos lives within silence, labor, family life, repetition, and obscurity. And in doing so, He sanctifies the very places where the ego most resists dying. Many people secretly believe holiness should feel emotionally elevated or spiritually impressive. But often the deeper work of God feels instead like simplification. One becomes less dramatic internally. Less fascinated with oneself. Less dependent upon emotional intensity. Less driven by comparison. Less hungry to secure identity through being exceptional. This can feel disappointing initially because the ego experiences simplification as diminishment. But in reality it is liberation. The soul slowly discovers the freedom of no longer needing to construct itself continually before others. This is why the fathers speak so highly of hiddenness. Not because hiddenness itself is magical, but because hiddenness deprives the ego of many of its usual methods of self-preservation. The soul gradually learns to exist more directly before God rather than through performance. 5 And perhaps this is one reason modern people find ordinary hidden life so difficult: it confronts us with the terrifying possibility that we are loved not because we are impressive, visible, productive, or extraordinary, but simply because God is merciful. That kind of love dismantles the false self completely. For if I do not need to earn existence through performance, if I do not need to secure myself continually through recognition, if I do not need to become extraordinary in order to matter, then I can begin at last simply to remain before God truthfully. This is the silence of Nazareth. Not emptiness. Not absence. Communion without spectacle. And perhaps the hidden years of Christ reveal that the deepest transformation often occurs not when we become extraordinary, but when we finally stop trying to save ourselves through the images we construct.

Nazareth and the Hidden Life Retreat Reflection IV The Hidden Life and the Healing of Desire Epigraph “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” — St. Matthew 5:8 “Paradise is the love of God.” — Saint Isaac the Syrian ⸻ At the center of every human life there is desire. Not simply desire for pleasure, though pleasure is part of it. Not simply desire for comfort, recognition, intimacy, or meaning. Deeper still there is a longing for communion. The human person was created not merely to exist, but to participate in divine life. We are beings fashioned for relationship, for love, for beauty, for self- offering, for union with God. The fathers understand this with tremendous seriousness. Human desire is not treated by them as something shameful in itself. Desire belongs to our creation in the image of God. The tragedy is not that we desire. The tragedy is that desire has become fragmented. This fragmentation lies beneath so much of modern suffering. People hunger endlessly yet do not know for what they hunger. They seek intimacy yet fear vulnerability. They seek pleasure yet remain restless afterward. They seek visibility yet feel unseen. They seek stimulation yet become emotionally numb. They seek escape yet remain inwardly trapped. 1 The modern world intensifies this confusion constantly because it trains desire outward continually. We are surrounded by invitations to consume: images, experiences, identities, bodies, possessions, attention, recognition. The soul gradually becomes dispersed among countless impulses and fantasies. Desire loses depth because it no longer knows how to remain still long enough to encounter its true object. And thus many people experience life as a continual cycle of longing and disappointment. The fathers would say that the heart has forgotten where it belongs. This is why purity of heart is so important in the Christian tradition. Purity does not mean emotional sterility or repression. It means the gradual healing and reunification of desire. The pure heart becomes capable once more of seeing rightly because it is no longer divided continually among competing passions. Christ reveals this purity perfectly. And astonishingly, He reveals it first not through miracles or preaching, but through the hidden life of Nazareth. This matters deeply. The hidden years reveal desire completely at rest within the will of the Father. Christ does not grasp at visibility. He does not seek identity through recognition. He does not consume experience in order to feel alive. He remains rooted entirely within communion. This is why the silence of Nazareth possesses such healing power. Modern humanity suffers from exhaustion partly because desire has become detached from communion. We seek endlessly yet remain inwardly unsatisfied because the heart cannot be nourished by consumption alone. Human beings were created not for endless stimulation but for participation in divine love. 2 And yet the modern person often no longer knows how to receive love except through fantasy, control, performance, or emotional intensity. This distortion affects every dimension of life: relationships, sexuality, prayer, work, friendship, even the way we imagine God. Many people secretly approach God Himself through the logic of performance. We imagine we must construct a spiritual identity worthy of love. We attempt to secure ourselves through achievement, moral success, productivity, usefulness, or emotional experiences. Even repentance can become subtly performative. But Nazareth dismantles these illusions slowly. The hidden Christ reveals a form of existence rooted not in self-construction but in communion. He does not need to prove Himself continually because His identity rests entirely in the Father. And this freedom allows Him to remain hidden peacefully. This exposes something painful within ourselves. Much of our restlessness comes from trying continually to establish ourselves apart from communion with God. The ego seeks to secure existence through: recognition, desire, admiration, sexual validation, success, spiritual intensity, or being needed by others. But none of these finally heal the heart because the deepest human longing is not for self-expansion but for union. This is why the saints become increasingly peaceful. Not because desire disappears. But because desire becomes purified. 3 The fragmented heart slowly becomes whole. This purification usually unfolds through hidden struggle rather than dramatic experiences. The fathers speak continually about watchfulness because they understand that the battle occurs largely within attention and desire itself. Thoughts arise. Fantasies emerge. Memories awaken passions. The imagination drifts continually toward self-protection, possession, resentment, vanity, lust, and fear. And the person slowly learns: not hatred of desire, but discernment. The ascetical life is therefore not rejection of humanity. It is the healing of humanity. Fasting teaches desire not to rule tyrannically. Silence teaches desire to listen. Prayer teaches desire to remain before God. Hiddenness weakens the craving for recognition. Repentance heals the fragmentation caused by shame. Love slowly restores communion. All of this unfolds gradually. Modern people often become discouraged because they expect immediate transformation. We want healing quickly. We want prayer to become easy. We want temptation to disappear. We want certainty. But the fathers describe purification as long, hidden, patient work. And much of this work occurs precisely within ordinary life. This is another revelation of Nazareth. Christ heals human existence not only through dramatic moments but through daily hidden fidelity. The years of ordinary labor are not spiritually empty. The hidden life itself becomes salvific because Christ fills ordinary existence with divine presence. And perhaps this is where many souls begin finally to breathe again. When they realize that holiness is not primarily the construction of an extraordinary spiritual identity. 4 It is communion. The mother caring for an aging parent. The monk remaining faithfully in dryness. The husband learning patience slowly. The woman enduring hidden loneliness without bitterness. The person returning quietly to prayer after failure. The exhausted soul continuing simply to offer small acts of love. All of this belongs to the hidden life of Christ. This does not romanticize suffering or ordinary life. Nazareth was not sentimental. Hiddenness can feel humiliating. Repetition can feel empty. Desire does not become purified without struggle. The false self resists relinquishment continually. And yet beneath this struggle something beautiful slowly emerges: the heart begins to simplify. One no longer needs constant stimulation. One no longer seeks identity through performance so desperately. One becomes more capable of silence, presence, attention, gratitude, and tenderness. The soul begins slowly to recover the capacity to behold. This is profoundly important because modern life trains us primarily to consume. We look quickly, use quickly, discard quickly. The gaze itself becomes restless and acquisitive. But the pure heart learns another way of seeing: reverently, patiently, eucharistically. Persons cease to become objects. Ordinary moments cease to feel disposable. Even suffering becomes capable of communion. And perhaps this is ultimately what Nazareth reveals: 5 that salvation is not escape from human life but the transfiguration of human life from within. Christ enters ordinary existence fully in order to heal desire at its roots. Not by destroying longing, but by leading longing home. For the deepest hunger of the human heart is not finally for pleasure, recognition, intensity, or even relief from suffering. It is for God. And every fragmented desire is ultimately healed only when the soul begins once more to rest in Him.

Hiddenness - Andrew Mook by

Nazareth and the Hidden Life Retreat Reflection I Nazareth and the Sanctification of the Ordinary Epigraph “And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.” — St. Luke 2:51 “The Lord loves the humble soul that has surrendered herself to the will of God.” — Saint Silouan the Athonite ⸻ There is something deeply unsettling about Nazareth. Not because it is dramatic, but because it is not. The Gospels pass over nearly thirty years of Christ's earthly life in almost complete silence. We are told of His birth, the flight into Egypt, the finding in the Temple, and then suddenly He is standing in the Jordan before John. Between those moments lies an immense hiddenness. Decades vanish into silence. And yet the Church has always understood that nothing in the life of Christ is accidental. The hidden years are revelation. This is difficult for us because we are formed by a world that equates meaning with visibility. We instinctively imagine that what matters must be seen, accomplished, recognized, effective, influential, or extraordinary. Even our spiritual life often becomes infected with this mentality. We want transformation to be dramatic. We want clarity quickly. We want our lives to feel significant. But Christ spends the overwhelming majority of His earthly existence in obscurity. Not preaching. Not healing publicly. 1 Not raising the dead. Not confronting empires. Working. Praying. Eating meals. Walking dusty roads. Living within the repetition and hiddenness of ordinary life. The Son of God sanctified not only suffering and death. He sanctified ordinary existence itself. This is one of the great forgotten truths of Christianity. Many people secretly endure their lives as though the “real” spiritual life were elsewhere. They imagine holiness occurring in monasteries, missions, dramatic sacrifices, or extraordinary mystical experiences, while their own existence feels painfully repetitive: the dishes, the caregiving, the exhaustion, the office, the commute, the sleepless nights, the aging body, the hidden grief, the years that seem to pass without visible transformation. But Nazareth stands before the world as a contradiction to all such thinking. God chose hiddenness. Not as punishment. Not as delay. But as revelation. The hidden years reveal something about the very manner in which God acts. Divine life does not move according to the logic of spectacle. God works silently, patiently, gradually, often beneath visibility itself. Seeds germinate underground. The child grows in the womb unseen. Bread rises quietly. Prayer deepens imperceptibly. The kingdom of God arrives almost secretly. 2 And so much of the spiritual life unfolds precisely where the ego feels most deprived: in repetition, in obscurity, in waiting, in relinquishment, in the slow erosion of self-importance. This is why Nazareth becomes painful for us. Not because it lacks God. But because it threatens the fantasies through which we preserve ourselves psychologically. Most human beings carry within themselves an imagined life. We construct inward narratives about who we will become, what our lives will look like, how others will perceive us, what spiritual maturity will feel like, how our vocation will unfold. Often we do this unconsciously. The ego survives partly through anticipation and self-construction. But ordinary life slowly dismantles these fantasies. The years pass. Weaknesses remain. Relationships become difficult. Bodies age. Opportunities disappear. Recognition fades. The extraordinary fails to arrive. And many people quietly become resentful at precisely this point. Not necessarily resentful toward God explicitly. More often there emerges a subtle disappointment with reality itself. The ordinary begins to feel like failure. Hiddenness feels like abandonment. Repetition feels meaningless. The soul becomes restless, searching continually for intensity, novelty, affirmation, or escape. But the hidden years of Christ reveal something radically different: salvation unfolds within ordinary time. This is profoundly important because modern culture has become nearly incapable of remaining within ordinary life. We seek constant stimulation 3 because silence exposes our inner poverty. We seek visibility because hiddenness feels like nonexistence. We seek intensity because ordinary faithfulness feels insufficient to the ego. And yet the saints repeatedly tell us that God is found precisely in this hidden endurance. Saint Isaac the Syrian says that the man who has learned to endure himself has already approached the borders of humility. That phrase is extraordinarily deep because one of the great difficulties of ordinary life is that we cannot escape ourselves within it. The repetitions of daily existence expose our impatience, vanity, fantasies, irritability, loneliness, and hidden hunger for recognition. The monastery reveals this. Marriage reveals this. Caregiving reveals this. Aging reveals this. Silence reveals this. And modern people often flee immediately from such revelation. This is one reason our culture is saturated with distraction. Endless stimulation protects us temporarily from encountering the deeper movements of the heart. Noise allows us to avoid self-knowledge. Busyness protects us from stillness. Constant comparison protects us from accepting our actual lives. Nazareth dismantles all of this. The Son of God accepts limitation. He accepts hiddenness. He accepts gradualness. He accepts ordinary labor. He accepts being unknown. And perhaps most astonishingly, He remains. This may be one of the hardest spiritual acts for modern people. To remain. To remain in prayer when prayer feels dry. To remain in marriage when emotional intensity fades. To remain in caregiving when exhaustion deepens. 4 To remain faithful within obscurity. To remain present within ordinary life without fleeing continually toward fantasy or self-construction. The hidden years reveal that salvation often unfolds precisely through such remaining. Not glamorous remaining. Not emotionally triumphant remaining. Simply the quiet fidelity of continuing to offer oneself to God within the actual conditions of one's life. This does not mean passivity or fatalism. Nazareth is not an excuse for fear or avoidance. Christ eventually leaves Nazareth and enters public ministry. But He does so only after decades hidden within ordinary existence. The hidden life was not wasted time before the “real mission.” It was itself part of the revelation. And perhaps this is what many souls most need to hear today: your hidden life is not invisible to God. The years that seem uneventful. The labor no one notices. The prayers said distractedly but faithfully. The meals prepared. The tears shed privately. The humiliations endured quietly. The long stretches where nothing seems to happen spiritually. None of this is outside salvation. Christ has entered all of it. Indeed, He chose to spend most of His earthly life there. The fathers understood this more deeply than we often realize. The desert was never merely geographical. It was existential. The monk enters hiddenness not to become extraordinary, but to become truthful. Gradually the false self built upon recognition, performance, fantasy, and comparison begins to weaken. A different kind of life slowly emerges: simpler, poorer, more real, 5 less dependent upon being seen. This is why hiddenness feels simultaneously painful and liberating. Painful because the ego experiences obscurity as diminishment. Liberating because the soul gradually discovers it no longer needs to construct itself continually before others. Nazareth teaches us this freedom. The hidden Christ reveals the holiness of ordinary existence lived in communion with the Father. And perhaps holiness itself is far quieter than we imagine. Perhaps sanctity often looks less like dramatic accomplishment and more like: patience, presence, forgiveness, hidden prayer, remaining, and consenting slowly to the life actually given to us. Nazareth teaches us that salvation enters the world silently. And it teaches us that the ordinary moments we are most tempted to overlook may become precisely the places where Christ is forming His life within us. 6

It can be argued that Moses is the main character in the Old Testament story. Moses is the one that God communicated his Torah to on the top of Mount Sinai. Moses is the one who loeads the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land. Yet, in the story of Moses there are long periods of hiddenness when God is in the background of his life. Perhaps it is the same for all of us - there are times of intensity and times of absence in our divine/human relationship. The key is to be able to navigate these different seasons and maintain our spiritual focus through it all.

The homily reflects on a passage from the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus asks how the Messiah can be both a descendant of David and David's Lord. It emphasizes that Jesus taught with unique authority because His life perfectly matched His message, unlike the religious leaders who viewed Him as a threat. By examining the biblical text, we discern that Jesus subtly revealed His divinity through scripture rather than through overt demands for worship. This approach demonstrates a humble and discreet God who prefers a sincere father-son relationship with humanity over one based on fear or force. Ultimately, I encourage listeners to find joy in recognizing Jesus as the true Lord and to model their lives after His integrity and service.

Healing isn't about changing your personality. It's about being freed from the compulsions that drive it. In this final episode of the histrionic series, Dr. Greg explores what the path from performance to presence actually looks like — why hiddenness feels terrifying but works like medicine, and why the deepest fear underneath this pattern can only be answered by God. Key Topics: Why healing doesn't mean losing what makes you magnetic — and what actually does need to change How a room falling silent can feel like ceasing to exist — and why that's the wound, not the cure Why hiddenness feels like punishment but acts like medicine What it means when provoking a reaction feels more real than having a real conversation Why no amount of being seen by other people ever quite reaches the thing underneath Why real connection becomes possible only when you stop needing to be the most interesting person in the room Learn More: Need help? Schedule a free CatholicPsych consultation Being Human series on the Histrionic Defense Patterns: Ep. #276: Back to Eden: Overcoming the Fear of Being Alone Through Divine Love Ep. #275: Hiding the Real You: The Histrionic Battle for Intimacy Ep. #274: To Be Loved Is to Perform: Inside the Histrionic Compulsion for Attention and Validation Previous episode on attachment theory: Ep. #63: Attachment Theory: What It Is, What It Isn't, and How It Affects Your Relationships Previous episodes on parts work (IFS): Ep. #34: A New Theory! w/ a Catholic Lens Ep. #35: Why Do I Feel Like I Have Conflicting Thoughts? w/ Dr. Peter Malinoski The Jeweler's Shop by Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) — the play Dr. Greg references on the theater of the word and the freedom of love God Is Love: St. Teresa Margaret — Her Life — the book Dr. Greg discovered in college about the Carmelite mystic whose life of radical hiddenness is a model for this healing path Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Complete Works, Volume One — the Carmelite mystic Dr. Greg credits with introducing him to St. Teresa Margaret Summit of Integration 2026 — Coming to Dallas this October, celebrating the Year of John Paul II Start of the Being Human series on the Borderline Defense Patterns: Ep. #269: BORDERLINE: The Push-Pull Between a Fear of Abandonment and Annihilation Start of the Being Human series on the Dependent Defense Patterns: Ep. #265: Jerry Maguire, Gollum, and the Fear of Not Existing Start of the Being Human series on the Narcissistic Defense Patterns: Ep. #261: Narcissism and the Terror of Being Ordinary Want to help? Learn more about our Certification in Professional Accompaniment Follow Us on Socials: Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter (X) | LinkedIn

Hi friends! In this episode, I chat about something that has been on my heart recently- and something that the Lord has been stirring in me and doing a work in me with! I talk about the beauty and the deep fulfillment that can be found in the hidden, sacred parts of our lives. I hope this episode gets you thinking and reflecting

Behind proclamations of the Gospel, behind the rigorous apologetic defenses for the Christian faith, behind many of God's chosen servants, and behind those who fiercely opposes Christianity, are many who, despite all outward appearances to the contrary, are struggling with various degrees of depression, anxiety, OCD, and despair. On this special one-part episode with professor of literature at Oklahoma Baptist University and author Dr. Alan Noble, we discuss navigating through seasons of depression and despair. Alan shares with us wisdom, practical experience, and candid honest reflections about wrestling with difficult mental health struggles as a professor, father, husband, and Christian.We talk about his short but very candid and encouraging little book On Getting Out of Bed - The Burden & Gift of Living. For more on Alan and his work, visit his website OAlanNoble.com.  If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, anxiety, or despair, seek help. The darkness is not the end of your story. You can call the 988 lifeline if you need someone to talk to.  While the helpline is not specifically Christian, it is still a helpful resource if you are in need. Related Watchman Fellowship Resources Watchman's four-page article on the Hiddenness of God: https://www.watchman.org/DivineHiddenness/ProfileDivineHiddenness.pdfDaniel Ray's personal testimony on Jana Harmon's Ex-Skeptic YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBkakNvweQYAdditional Resources:FREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/FreePROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (two volumes totalling over 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/NotebookSUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/GiveApologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2026 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Deserts can be forbidding even deadly but they are also beautiful and needful for our earthly sojourn. At some point in  our lives as Christians, we too will pass through the harsh and arid terrain of a spiritual wilderness. How do we navigate our way through it? Thankfully, there are many faithful men and women of God who have passed through such a wilderness and offer to us their cairns and memorial stones of how Jesus led them through it and out of it. On this week's episode of Apologetics Profile, resurrection scholar Dr. Gary Habermas continues to share with us his years of practical and pastoral advice and counsel in helping believers navigate through seasons of doubt. If you or someone you love is passing through a desert wilderness of doubt, you definitely don't want to miss this week's broadcast. See the link in Gary's name below for his books on doubt. Dr. Gary Habermas has dedicated his professional life to the examination of the relevant historical, philosophical, and theological issues surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. His extensive list of publications and debates provides a thorough account of the current state of the issue. He has written 50 books about half of which are on the subject of Jesus' resurrection. He has also contributed more than 90 chapters or articles to additional books, and over 200 articles and reviews in journals and other publications. In recent years, he has been a visiting or adjunct professor at about 15 different graduate schools and seminaries in the United States and abroad. Dr. Habermas is a Distinguished Research Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy. He is married to Eileen and they have seven children and 11 grandchildren.Watchman's four-page article on the Hiddenness of God: https://www.watchman.org/DivineHiddenness/ProfileDivineHiddenness.pdfDaniel Ray's personal testimony on Jana Harmon's Ex-Skeptic YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBkakNvweQYAdditional Resources:FREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/FreePROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (two volumes totalling over 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/NotebookSUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/GiveApologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2026 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Is God really there? Listen in with Kymberli Cook as analytic theologian Kevin Wong and philosopher Charity Anderson explore one of the oldest and deepest questions, diving into the complex concept of divine hiddenness and asking why a loving God might not always make His presence obvious.    Time codes:   3:19  What is Divine Hiddenness?  5:29  Classic Arguments for Divine Hiddenness   8:27  How Divine Hiddenness Affects How We Think About God  14:33  How Creating a Stronger Argument for Divine Hiddenness is Helpful  22:31  Hiddenness and a Knowable God  27:24  Navigating Divine Hiddenness as a Christian   32:12  Wrestling with the Question of Divine Hiddenness   41:34  Summary of Divine Hiddenness   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Passing through a desert wilderness is a common theme throughout Scripture. Many of God's choicest saints have spent time, alone, in the wilderness. And the wilderness can mean both a desert environment as well as a place of spiritual difficulties and trials. Israel spent forty years in the desert wilderness of Sinai and Jesus Himself spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. As believers, we too pass through deserts of despair, depression, and doubt. Doubt, however, is not our final destination, but a temporary, sanctifying landscape that reminds us of our total dependence on Christ alone. On the next two episodes of Apologetics Profile, we sit down with resurrection scholar and friend of Watchman Fellowship, Dr. Gary Habermas, who has also written and spoken extensively on the topic of doubt. Here Gary will help you or someone you know navigate through the forbidding arid terrain of the deserts of doubt.See the link in Gary's name below for his books on doubt. Dr. Gary Habermas has dedicated his professional life to the examination of the relevant historical, philosophical, and theological issues surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. His extensive list of publications and debates provides a thorough account of the current state of the issue. He has written 50 books about half of which are on the subject of Jesus' resurrection. He has also contributed more than 90 chapters or articles to additional books, and over 200 articles and reviews in journals and other publications. In recent years, he has been a visiting or adjunct professor at about 15 different graduate schools and seminaries in the United States and abroad. Dr. Habermas is a Distinguished Research Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy. He is married to Eileen and they have seven children and 11 grandchildren.Watchman's four-page article on the Hiddenness of God: https://www.watchman.org/DivineHiddenness/ProfileDivineHiddenness.pdfDaniel Ray's personal testimony on Jana Harmon's Ex-Skeptic YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBkakNvweQYAdditional Resources:FREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/FreePROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (two volumes totalling over 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/NotebookSUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/GiveApologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2026 Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

It is possible to practice the rhythms of faith and still miss the Person those rhythms were meant to lead us to. We can read Scripture, attend church, adopt the language of discipleship, and build entire spiritual lives around the habits of Jesus—while quietly drifting from intimacy with Jesus Himself. This week on Win Today, Hosanna Wong joins me for a clarifying and deeply confronting conversation about the difference between performing Christianity and actually knowing God. We examine how selective obedience slowly erodes intimacy with Him, why legalism has learned to rebrand itself as passion for holiness, and how seasons of hiddenness and crushing are often the environments where authentic discipleship is formed. Hosanna also unpacks six roadblocks that frequently prevent believers from experiencing genuine connection with God, revealing how easy it is to substitute religious activity for relational transformation. The invitation of Jesus has never been behavior management or spiritual performance—it is repentance, surrender, and relationship. If you've been doing the practices of faith but still feel distant from God… if you've sensed the quiet conviction that something deeper is being asked of you, or if you're realizing that obedience in some areas has been selective rather than surrendered, this episode will bring needed clarity. Guest Bio Hosanna Wong is an international speaker, best-selling author, and spoken word artist known for helping everyday people know Jesus in a real and personal way. Widely recognized for her viral spoken word piece "I Have A New Name," Hosanna shares her message in churches, conferences, prisons, and ministries around the world, reaching across denominations, cultures, and backgrounds. Raised in an urban ministry on the streets of San Francisco, she later spent years traveling throughout the United States speaking and sharing the gospel through spoken word poetry while living out of suitcases. Through her speaking, writing, and creative work, Hosanna equips believers to deepen their relationship with God and pursue authentic discipleship. Show Partner SafeSleeve designs a phone case that blocks up to 99% of harmful EMF radiation—so I'm not carrying that kind of exposure next to my body all day. It's sleek, durable, and most importantly, lab-tested by third parties. The results aren't hidden—they're published right on their site. And that matters because many so-called EMF blockers on the market either don't work or can't prove they do. We protect our hearts and minds—why wouldn't we protect our bodies too? Head to safesleevecases.com and use the code WINTODAY10 for 10% off your order. Episode Links Show Notes Buy my book "Healing What You Can't Erase" here! Invite me to speak at your church or event. Connect with me @WINTODAYChris on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The Purim story is recorded in Megillat Esther and is a cannonized text of the Bible. Yet, the name of G-d is not even mentioned once throughout the whole story. How are we to understand the reason for including this albeit interesting story which seems to lack relgious significance in the bibilical text? The answer reveals that within the story, are hidden some fundamental understandings of G-d's presence in the world, in history and in our lives. We learn that within the hidden, there is even greater revelation of G-d in this world. How? Listen to The Surprising Revelation of Hiddenness and gain deeper insights into not only the Purim story, but how G-d is manifest in each of our lives. Soul Talk 26FEB2026 - PODCAST

John 13:1-17

Sermon by Pastor Scott Edinger

While this episode was suposed to appear in Decemeber, it is a powerful appreciation of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Michael Sparks and James Joseph excitingly invite newly ordained Deacon Luciano Diaz to share his story. In this episode another Sons of Ars episode is referenced called "He Who is Called by God" from Mar 21, 2022 Email with any questions or comments: sonsofarspodcast@gmail.com Do you want to get monthly updates about seminary life at Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary? Sign up for our monthly newsletter: https://sjvdenver.edu/  Also, check us out and see our events on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sjvseminaries/

Ben Green

Welcome!Bruce Downes Catholic Ministries is for people who are seeking to know more about God and Church and where believers from around the world can strengthen their walk with Christ.Like, comment & subscribe to stay updated with the latest content! Connect With Bruce At:► Website: https://BruceDownes.org ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCatholicGuyBruceDownes ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecatholicguy ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecatholicguy ► Online Store: https://brucedownes.org/store Consider Becoming a Faith Builders Partner:Everyone who donates to Bruce Downes Catholic Ministries is what we call a Faith Builder Partner. The team are working to build the faith of every person we connect with whether they are powerful or weak, rich or poor, young or old, in whatever city, town, village and country they are in. ►https://brucedownes.org/giving/#brucedownes​ #catholicministries​​​ #praytherosarv #devotional #dailydevotional

Most assume that the difference between Greek literature and the Semitic Scrolls, written in Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Qurʾanic Arabic, lies in narrative. It does not. Narrative is the veil, a carrier wave for what remains unseen. Everything hinges on lexicography. The decisive divide is grammatical.Greek “meaning” is a conceptually “built” construct, grounded in philosophical abstraction and analytic inference. Semitic function emerges from triliteral consonantal roots that test, constrain, and judge the observer. Greek vocabulary operates within a narrow conceptual field, like a teenager wearing a VR headset, viewing an AI paradise while sitting in a garbage heap. Semitic vocabulary operates within an open functional field. The same teenager with the headset removed, discovering he sits in an open field among living, breathing things, where biblical roots carry behavioral consequences.This becomes immediately visible in Luke 8:47. The single Greek verb λανθάνω (lanthano) activates a constellation of six distinct Hebrew roots:ע־ל־ם (ʿayin-lamed-mem, hiddenness)מ־ע־ל (mem-ʿayin-lamed, covert breach)צ־פ־ן (ṣade-fe-nun, stashing, treasuring)ע־ד־ר (ʿayin-dalet-resh, missing from the count)כ־ח־ד (kaf-ḥet-dalet, concealment from the king)ר־א־ה (resh-ʾalef-he, divine seeing)That Scripture draws on such a wide Semitic field to express “not escaping notice” shows how seriously the biblical tradition treats hiddenness and uncovering. Each root contributes a different functional angle: what is hidden to humans, what is hidden in betrayal, what is hidden as hoarded, what is missing from the tally, what is concealed from authority, and what is seen by God. The phenomenon is not Greek versus Hebrew. Multiple Semitic operations of judgment underwrite a single functional moment in Luke. This density is lexical, not narrative, let alone speculative. It reflects how the Semitic system encodes the living, breathing reality around us.Across the Abrahamic scrolls, these triliteral roots operate like living tissue. They replicate, invert, intensify, and map action to consequence. Hidden sin is traceable in Hebrew because ע־ל־ם (ʿayin-lamed-mem) is not a metaphor but a function. It moves. The Qurʾan does the same with خ-ف-ي (khāʾ-fāʾ-yāʾ) and غ-ف-ل (ghayn-fāʾ-lām). Luke's Greek lexicon operates because a biological Hebrew bone structure undergirds the scroll. Without that structural field, no instance of λανθάνω (lanthano) conveys, or is able to convey, the full weight of divine accounting. However, once the field is “seen” Scripturally, “with the ears,” the semantics are relentless. The Pauline scales (not scales of measurement) fall off. (Acts 9:18)Only a Hellenist, in our time a Westerner, is fooled by what they can see, or worse, by what they imagine they can explain. A true Semite has ears to hear. Through hearing, the blind learn to see, and the deaf and the mute are healed.The unseen, الغيب (al-ghayb) and נֶעֱלָם (neʿlam), is not mysticism. It is judgment. It is the Lord's test. Hiddenness is God's domain. Covering belongs to God; uncovering belongs to God; the scales of measurement, المِيزَان (al-mīzān) belong to God; the tally belongs to God. The Qurʾan repeats the decree of Luke, that the Lord is not unaware of what you do. Previously, Ecclesiastes insisted the same. Every hidden deed is brought into judgment. (Ecclesiastes 12:14) Luke and Matthew proclaimed that what is concealed will be shouted openly. (Matthew 10:26; Luke 12:2) This mechanism is not literary ornamentation. It is the biological operating system of the Abrahamic scrolls, coded in living, breathing triliteral grammar.The problem for the now dominant West is that Greek thought presupposes that meaning originates in the human mind. The human city becomes the center, the planted earth becomes a concretized static, or idolized center, human proportion becomes the measure, and vision, human sight, becomes epistemology. Once vision governs understanding, enlightenment becomes darkness, because the logos of the human being projects its categories outward.Scripture dismantles this, not because the Greeks lacked intelligence, but because the entire Greek system assumes the human observer as the reference point.Scripture forbids this. Every consonant is intentional. Greek has letters that should not exist because they collapse two sounds into a single symbol. To the Semitic ear, as Fr. Paul Tarazi explains, “psi, xi, and the Greek chi” expose that Greek writing is constructed, not found. The Greek alphabet was designed, not discovered. It is man-made. It does not correspond to what is heard in nature. The living and moving, breathing triliteral system prevents human projection by preventing morphological collapse. The scriptural lexicon forces the hearer to receive what is written in creation. In Scripture, projection is stripped away and reality is conveyed as inscribed. The effect is destabilizing. Idols disappear. The hearer is confronted by what is found, confronted by reality.God is not mocked.Hearing is the anchor. The Greek philosophical tradition debates whether vision originates in the eye or in the object, a question already speculative. Scripture never entertains such speculation. Hearing is unilateral. The hearer does not hear the self. The hearer receives. Scripture is heard, not inferred, not theorized, not constructed, not “built”. The Qurʾan operates the same way. قَرَأَ (qaraʾ, to recite), أَذَان (adhān, the call), أُذْن (udhn, ear, instrument of hearing). Sound poured into another's ear. Scripture is submission through hearing what is found unbound by the logos of man. Cosmology heard, not seen, let alone imagined. Functional. Simple, not simplistic.All of us are shaped by whatever language we hear in our environment from the time we are born, and Scripture is the only speech that shatters that formation, continually scattering us out of our own projection, the palaces and temples we build in our mind, into the hearing of the biblical God who speaks in the wilderness. It cannot and must not be “about” narrative. It must function as the living words themselves, the breathing lexicon of God. He must control our literal vocabulary.Scripture is heard, not built.It is found, not fashioned by man's logos.Western thought resists this simplicity because the God of Abraham leaves no hiding place for Greek temples. No hiding place for sin.This week, I discuss Luke 8:47-48. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) — “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”My precious daughter,Before the world named you, I called you Mine. Before you ever felt overlooked, I chose you. Before you faced your hardest battle, I equipped you for victory. Every season of your life — every joy, every tear, every hidden place — has been part of a greater plan.You were made for this. Not because you're fearless, but because I am faithful. The same power that spoke galaxies into motion now lives within you. You carry My Spirit, My wisdom, and My authority wherever you go.The world tries to convince you that you're behind. But I say you're right on schedule. I have not forgotten you; I've been forming you. The delay wasn't punishment — it was preparation. I've been strengthening your roots so that when I bring fruit, it lasts.Do not despise the season of small things. Hiddenness is not insignificance — it's incubation. Every seed that bears eternal fruit begins buried in darkness before it breaks through into light.When fear tells you that you're not enough, remind it Who called you. When shame whispers, “You've failed too much,” point to the cross that silenced every accusation. When weariness weighs on your heart, come to Me — I am your rest, your strength, your reason to rise again.Daughter, you are not here to survive culture; you are here to shift it. You are not a background character; you are part of My front line. Your words carry creative power. Your prayers open spiritual gates. Your obedience moves Heaven.Lift your eyes. The field before you is white for harvest. I have placed people in your path who need what you carry — My hope, My truth, My love. Don't wait for perfect conditions; start right where you are.When the road feels heavy, remember: I never asked you to carry it alone. I am the strength behind your surrender. I am the peace within your perseverance. I am the joy that will outlast every sorrow.Walk boldly, daughter. Speak truth with grace. Love deeply. Forgive quickly. And never forget — you are My workmanship, My masterpiece, My messenger to this generation.You were made for this.With everlasting love,Your FatherLet's Get To Work!Thanks for reading My Reasons To Believe! This post is public so feel free to share it.My Reasons To Believe is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

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Join Chris Montgomery in a profound exploration of faith through the lens of Mark 4. This sermon delves into the dual seasons of manifestation and hiddenness in one's spiritual journey, emphasizing trust in God's unseen work. Reflect on how both visible and invisible moments shape our faith, urging us to trust in God's heart even when His hand is not apparent. Prepare your heart for a deeper understanding of spiritual growth and God's continual work in our lives.

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In this episode, Dr. Oord discusses the theme of divine hiddenness in conversation with a new book by Tim Miller entitled The Silence of the Lamb: Exploring the Hiddenness of Christ and GodIn the book, Tim Miller highlights a variety of explanations over the centuries for why a God of love might exist yet seem so silent and hidden, giving particular attention to Process and Open and Relational ideas as well as proposing novel ideas for reconciling a God of love with the divine hiddenness so many experience.

Joel Solomon

Why does God hide Himself? Why does Scripture show Him veiled in clouds, curtains, flesh, and bread? In this episode we explore one of the most overlooked themes in Catholic spirituality: the veil.From Eden to the Eucharist, from Moses' shining face to the veil of the Temple torn at the Cross, veiling runs through the entire story of salvation. The Catholic mystics teach us that veils are not barriers but acts of mercy — God concealing Himself so that we may gradually be unveiled and transformed into His likeness.We'll explore:The Biblical meaning of veils (Genesis, Exodus, Song of Songs, Revelation)Why God veils Himself in mercy, mystery, and preparationHow we veil ourselves through sin and fearThe Eucharist as God's veil under bread and wineTheosis: unveiling as transformation into God's image (2 Corinthians 3:18)Purgatory as the final veil before union with GodVoices of the mystics: Catherine of Siena, Bernard of Clairvaux, John of the Cross, Gertrude the Great

I round out my discussion on possible reasons God seems hidden to unbelievers, and then explain why one of those reasons is not because too much evidence would violate people's free will. I end by explaining some possible reasons that God feels hidden from believers. Web: ThinkingtoBelieve.comEmail: ThinkingToBelieve@gmail.comFacebook: facebook.com/thinkingtobelieveTwitter & Gettr: @thinking2believTruth: @ThinkingToBelieveParler: @thinkingtobelieve

God has plenty of critics, and His critics raise numerous objections against Him.  So I'm beginning a new series that will answer God's critics, starting with their objection that God has not provided enough evidence to convince rational people that He exists – the so-called problem of divine hiddenness. If God exists, why isn't His existence more obvious? Why doesn't God provide evidence sufficient to convince everyone that He's real? In this episode, I argue that the hiddenness of God is not just a problem for unbelievers, but believers as well. I also argue that even if the objection is successful, it does not disprove theism and surely does not prove atheism. Then I question the assumption that God is hidden and provide some reasons that God may not provide more evidence of His existence than He does. Web: ThinkingtoBelieve.comEmail: ThinkingToBelieve@gmail.comFacebook: facebook.com/thinkingtobelieveTwitter & Gettr: @thinking2believTruth: @ThinkingToBelieveParler: @thinkingtobelieve

In this lecture, the speaker concludes a five-week series focused on two central Christian habits: community gathering and serving one another. Emphasizing the significance of these practices, they argue that gathering as a community is indeed a discipline that fosters connection and support within the faith. The session highlights the pressing issue of isolation in contemporary society, particularly exacerbated by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has contributed to a decline in participation in communal activities and volunteerism. The speaker candidly shares their own struggles with feelings of isolation, likening them to a common tendency to retreat to the comforts of digital distractions rather than engaging in meaningful community involvement. This personal reflection underscores the broader cultural trend of individuals opting for solitary activities over collective engagement, which hinders both personal growth and community vitality. The call to action centers on intentionally forming habits of service, challenging both themselves and the audience to move beyond mere self-interest and towards collective benefit within the body of Christ.Transitioning to discussing the urgent need for volunteers, the speaker recognizes the responsibility of church leadership not to manipulate congregants into service but to inspire genuine engagement rooted in love and compassion. By stressing the importance of every role within the church—be it making coffee, serving in children's ministry, or community outreach—the lecturer paints a vivid picture of the interconnectedness required in serving others. They invoke a sense of urgency without resorting to guilt, instead inviting reflection on the joy and fulfillment that can come from being part of something greater.The discussion takes a theological turn through the exploration of Scripture, beginning with a powerful passage from Ezekiel 34. This text highlights God's discontent with Israel's leaders who neglect their responsibilities to care for the people, drawing a direct parallel to the importance of servant leadership within the church today. The speaker points to the consequences of poor leadership, illustrating that self-serving actions lead to a lack of care for the vulnerable, and emphasizes the need for true shepherds who are invested in the well-being of their flock.Furthering this theme, the lecturer references the Gospel of John, where Jesus identifies Himself as the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. This profound imagery serves to remind the congregation of the ultimate model of service, challenging them to follow Christ's example in their own lives. The message is clear: serving is a reciprocal act, reflecting the service and love that Jesus first demonstrated.Throughout the lecture, the speaker interweaves personal anecdotes, Scriptural insights, and social commentary, creating a compelling narrative that urges listeners to rethink their relationship with community and service. They conclude by encouraging attendees to consider how they might engage with their local church, emphasizing that serving others not only meets communal needs but also cultivates personal spiritual growth. This session effectively melds encouragement, scriptural teaching, and a heartfelt call to service, inviting participants to embrace both the challenges and rewards of active involvement in their faith communities.

In this episode, I'm speaking directly to the Kingdom Creatives; you know who you are. If you feel that fire in your bones to speak, build, write, or launch something for the Kingdom, this one's for you. We're diving deep into the journey of what I call the Roaring Bride, those of us being refined in hiddenness, shaped in the wilderness, and prepared for something greater than comfort or applause. If you've been asking, “Why am I still in this hard season?” let me remind you: the wilderness isn't punishment. It's preparation. I'll walk you through what it really looks like to submit to the process, lean into intimacy with the Lord, and discover your true roar, the one that doesn't come from striving, but from abiding.  If you're ready to launch your podcast, monetize your message, and fund the ministry God has called you to roar—join us at resistandroar.com. Raise your roar, let's create and build together!   Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Kingdom Creatives 00:53 The Roaring Bride: Hidden and Refined 03:20 The Call of the Wilderness 07:08 The Importance of Community and Fellowship 08:18 The True Roar vs. False Confidence 16:30 The Woman in Revelation 12 24:30 The Process of Hiddenness and Forging 27:11 The Fire Within: Embracing the Wilderness 30:01 The Wilderness Season: A Time of Preparation 31:36 The Roar of the Bride: Emerging from Hiddenness 33:33 The Process of Dying to Self 34:47 Remaining in the Fire: Lessons from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego 37:34 God's Protection in Our Waiting 39:38 The Anointing Oil of the Holy Spirit 41:12 Emerging from the Wilderness: The Roaring Bride 41:41 Intimacy with a Powerful God 47:06 The Transformation of Desires in the Wilderness 49:49 The Roaring Bride: Carrying His Glory 54:38 Encouragement for the Waiting Season 55:56 Outro VIDEO podcast (1).mp4  

Hi SSH Community! Here is the audio for our Bible study on March 20, 2025 titled Ruth: The Hiddenness of the Lord. In this session we explore the Old Testament narrative of Ruth, seeing how God's hand is at work even when He seems hidden. Through Ruth's story, we're reminded that His providence often unfolds quietly in the everyday lives of faithful people.

In this powerful message from Shane Willard, originally shared at the CIM Network Conference hosted by Hill City Church, we explore one of the most challenging and freeing questions for the Church today: Are we building fences to keep people out, or digging wells to draw people in?Using the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, Shane unpacks what it means to move from a fence-based to a well-based faith - where inclusion, love, and transformation take priority over exclusion and rule-keeping. This teaching will stretch your perspective, challenge old paradigms, and inspire you to reimagine what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today's world.00:00 - Intro & Podcast Update01:14 - Why We're Sharing Shane Willard's Sermons02:54 - Shane's Opening & Vision for the Weekend06:48 - Two Framing Stories10:46 - From Fences to Wells11:13 - Acts 8 and the Eunuch's Question17:05 - Fence-Based vs. Well-Based Paradigms23:03 - The Unexpected Fruit in Ethiopia23:47 - 10 Contrasts Between Fence & Well-Based Churches27:06 - Hiddenness vs. Honesty in Church Culture28:09 - Measuring Distance vs. Direction31:24 - The Atheist Door Greeter Story33:04 - Legal Transaction vs. Way of Life36:12 - Heaven Now, Not Just Someday37:01 - God for Me vs. God for the World39:06 - From ‘Saved' to ‘Thirsty'40:09 - What Makes a Thirsty Culture?41:47 - Jesus Redefines Access at the Temple43:30 - Wrestling With Application47:56 - Are We Digging Wells or Building Fences?49:06 - Final Blessing & Challenge

Part 1: https://youtu.be/J7uP9uFNThY Part 2: https://youtu.be/9B1G44hywd0 Dr. Jacobs' Class Survey Link: Survey Link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdCCSj9URmUSo5YE8JyxCTDo0ESjUKZ7eZMD_SFwmbG10aAsw/viewform?usp=sharing In this third episode on the problem of divine hiddenness series, Dr. Jacobs takes a closer look at the premise. Is God truly hidden? Through anthropological and theological lenses, he investigates how our status as creatures might affect our ability to perceive God, and whether divine hiddenness serves a purpose in redemption. He'll also explore whether you are ultimately morally culpable for non-resistant unbelief.  All the links:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNathanJacobsPodcast X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUtCwDT40uFbqTk3QS Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nathan-jacobs-podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenathanjacobspodcast Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/ Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/ Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs 00:00:00 Intro  00:02:51 The timing of belief in God  00:13:32 The requisite conditions for unveiling God  00:18:44 Anthropology  00:26:31 The nature of creatureliness  00:38:59 Objective and subjective hiddenness  00:54:16 Why is God not more evident?  01:10:25 Hiddenness & redemption 01:16:23 Are you ultimately morally culpable for non-resistant unbelief? 

How do we become and remain healthy followers of Jesus? This is the key question we're answering in our series, Out of the Ashes. Brennen starts this series by examining Luke 5 by examining our history and hiddenness. First, the gathering of God's people has always been the gathering of broken people. All of us have been or will experience hurt in the church. Yet it is God's redemptive power that calls the church beautiful and can redeem our history with the church. Secondly, Jesus calls out the places of ourselves we try to hide. We walk in the light by acknowledging our sin and confessing to God. In confession, God invites us to walk in his light of freedom. Message Delivered: 1/26/25

How often do we as Christians ponder the essence of our relationship with God? Is it merely inherited from our upbringing, or do we seek to carve our unique path in understanding and connecting with the divine? In today's episode, I, Kenny Embry, delve into these questions with none other than my son, Jake. Together, we explore the complexities of faith, the journey from inherited beliefs to personal conviction, and the challenges of living out Christian principles in today's world. Join us as we unpack what it means to truly own your faith in a conversation that promises to challenge, enlighten, and inspire."Expanded Key Takeaways:Conceptualizing God:Jake shares his internal struggle with forming a tangible concept of God, moving beyond traditional images to a more abstract, yet personal understanding. This highlights the journey from a child's simple faith to an adult's nuanced relationship with the divine.Visual Learning:The importance of personal learning styles in faith development. Jake's reliance on visualization underscores how personal traits can shape our spiritual experiences, suggesting that faith can be deepened by engaging with it in the way we best understand the world.Apologetics Journey:Jake's exploration into apologetics isn't just academic; it's a quest for personal truth. His dive into arguments like the fine-tuning of the universe shows a quest for rational foundations of faith, bridging science and spirituality.Arguments for God's Existence:A detailed look at three philosophical arguments:Chance: The likelihood of the universe's conditions being perfect for life by mere accident.Necessity: The idea that the universe's constants must be as they are for life, yet this doesn't explain why they are necessary.Design: This argument resonates with Jake due to its logic that complex systems suggest a designer, paralleling our human inclination to recognize design in less complex creations.The Hiddenness of God:This point delves into the philosophical and emotional challenge of God's apparent silence or invisibility, exploring how believers reconcile the lack of overt divine intervention with their faith.Evangelism:Jake and Kenny discuss the modern Christian's dilemma: how to share faith without alienating others. The takeaway is the emphasis on showing love and respect, allowing actions to speak as loudly as words, and understanding that conversion is not about numbers but about genuine connection.Dealing with Doubt:Doubt is portrayed not as a failure but as an essential part of faith's maturation. Jake's experiences remind listeners that questioning can lead to stronger faith, as it forces one to engage deeply with their beliefs, moving from passive acceptance to active conviction.Three Applications for Listeners:Visualizing Faith:Encourage listeners to explore or create visual metaphors or symbols that resonate with their personal understanding of God or spiritual truths. This could be through art, nature, or even personal symbols that help bridge the abstract with the tangible in their spiritual life.Engaging with Apologetics:Suggest that listeners delve into apologetics not just to defend their faith but to explore and deepen their understanding of it. This could involve reading books, attending lectures, or even discussing with others who have different views to strengthen their own beliefs through dialogue and reason.Embracing Doubt as Part of Faith:Encourage listeners to view doubt not as a threat but as an opportunity for growth. They should be prompted to ask questions, seek answers, and understand that doubt can lead to a more robust and personal faith. This might include setting aside time for reflection, prayer, or joining study groups where doubts can be shared and explored in a supportive environment.These takeaways and applications from the conversation offer listeners points of reflection, encouSupport the show

Happy In Hiddenness 1 Samuel 16:1-13 v.4 – It was quite a shock to the Bethlehem elders that Samuel came to their town. They assumed something was wrong. v.6-7 – Even Samuel was enamored with Jesse's oldest son Eliab. But God wasn't impressed. He was looking at hidden traits, not outward superficial data. David wasn't even an option. He was out in the fields tending sheep and goats – a low-level job. Example of my Ray's Food Place job in high school. Stocking shelves in the back room at minimum wage ($3.85/hr) Many of you are tending sheep & goats in this season. You're living the hidden life and quietly honing your rock-slinging skills, practicing the harp, stringing words together, wondering if they're even going to see the light of day. Here are a few people who can relate: Joseph waiting 13 years from the time he was sold into slavery to getting his call to serve in the Palace of Pharaoh. Moses tending sheep for 40 years before encountering God in the burning bush, Jesus and his hidden years of serving in the family carpentry business between age 12 and 30. Karate Kid – Daniel learning the mundane, seemingly pointless tasks from Mr. Miyagi. Runners toiling away in the winter putting in miles in hiddenness. It was always interesting to find out who had been putting in the work when some of the Spring races began. David was cultivating his gifts in hiddenness. He had no idea what the Lord would do in his life and the positions he would be called to. He was most likely 14 or 15 years old when he was anointed by Samuel to be king in the presence of his father and older brothers. But guess where he went right after being anointed? Back to the fields, tending sheep and goats. How difficult would that be for us? It would be at least 15 years before he took the throne at age 30. In those years, David was in the school of trials, turmoil, and testing. Many of us want the throne without the trials and testing. But it's in these hidden years that the Lord does His best work is us. Is God enough for us? We see that David was known as a man after God's own heart. I believe he was enjoying and cultivating that heart after God during his hidden years…even before being anointed as Israel's future king. If God sees fit, He will anoint us and prepare us for the doors He's open at the perfect time. Our prayer closets are the ultimate hidden place where victories are cultivated and won. “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:6 NLT Rather than making our destination (i.e. published books) the idol, we can be happy in hiddenness, knowing our Father is growing and maturing us during this season. May we also be men and women after God's own heart, whether we're hidden or thrusted into the spotlight. Resources: If you're ready to take a step of faith and finally finish your book we have a few ways we can help you.  1. Free Writing Week Challenge: Create a Writing Habit in 15-Minutes a Day Even if you feel overwhelmed or stuck in procrastination, sitting down to write for just 15 minutes a day is the best way to finally reach your writing goals. Most writers think they need hours of uninterrupted time to make progress in their writing. However, in this free challenge, we will show you how much you can accomplish in just 15 minutes of focused writing. Click here to create a consistent writing habit this week. 2. Book Writing Lab Workshop - Map Out Your Book in Just 90 Minutes If over the last year you've struggled to get your book written, this workshop is for you. Choose your book topic, write an outline, and create a writing plan in just 90-minutes! Finally feel confident that you will actually finish your book. Get started now for just $27 3. Want More Support? Join Christian Book Academy Most writers stay stuck and never finish their first draft. Inside Christian Book Academy, we help you partner with God to write your book so you can become a published author. Finally ditch your self-doubt and take a step of faith so you can finish your book. Join Christian Book Academy (coupon code PODCAST) Get 50% off your first month by using the coupon code PODCAST at checkout.    

Allison Allen shares her journey from growing up in Texas and North Carolina to pursuing a career in theater and eventually meeting her husband Jonathan. She emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God's plan and trusting in His timing, sharing her own experiences of infertility and the birth of her two sons. Allison encourages listeners to embrace their current season and trust that God is working all things together for their good. In this part of the conversation, Allison Allen shares how the waiting process and hidden seasons can be a time of preparation for what is to come. She emphasizes the importance of surrendering to the season we're in and trusting that God is working behind the scenes. Allison also discusses her involvement in the Back Porch Theology podcast with Lisa Harper and the impact it has had on her life. She talks about her books, 'Hidden' and 'Seen. Secure. Free.', which explore the hidden characters of scripture and finding beauty in hiddenness along with inviting listeners to join the Faith Gateway online Bible study for ‘Hidden.'Keywords:Allison Allen, journey, surrender, timing, infertility, motherhood, seasons, trust, God's plan, hidden seasons, preparation, surrender, Back Porch Theology, podcast, books, Hidden, Seen. Secure. Free., Faith Gateway, Bible study, hidden characters, beauty in hiddenness, faith conversations.Takeaways:Surrendering to God's plan and trusting in His timing is key in navigating life's journey.Difficult seasons and experiences can shape and mold us into who we are meant to be.God specializes in spiritual late bloomers and can use anyone, regardless of age or circumstances.Embracing our current season and finding joy in it is a powerful way to live.God's purposes and dreams for our lives may look different than what we initially imagined, but they are perfectly suited to who we are. Hidden seasons and waiting periods can be a time of preparation for what is to come.Trusting in God's timing and surrendering to the season we're in is important.The Back Porch Theology podcast with Lisa Harper explores deep theological topics in a relatable and humorous way.The books 'Hidden' and 'Seen. Secure. Free.' by Allison Allen delve into the stories of hidden characters in scripture and finding beauty in hiddenness.Join the Faith Gateway online Bible study for 'Hidden' to explore the themes of the book in a community setting.Engage in faith conversations with your children and explore the hidden characters of scripture together.Create your own perfect beautiful day by envisioning activities that bring you joy and fulfillment.Sound Bites:"I could not work my way into a new season. I could only surrender my way into a new season.""You're not too young. You're not too old. God's plan for you has not passed you by because of a clock.""The trajectory of my life is one far more suited to my gifts, far more suited to my temperament, and far more suited to delight.""God is preparing you in that hidden season.""He's never caught off guard by our season.”Links:Allison's Website: https://www.allisonallen.net/Allison's Books: https://www.allisonallen.net/booksBack Porch Theology: https://www.accessmore.com/pd/Lisa-Harpers-Back-Porch-TheologyFaith Gateway Free Bible Study: https://pages.faithgateway.com/hidden-allison-allen-obs-registration/

Why is the book of Esther in the Bible if God is never mentioned? Is God present in the day-to-day activities of our lives? Can God use complex people to accomplish his purposes? In today's episode, Tanya shows us how Esther 1-2 reveals God's hidden sovereignty even in strange, dark times. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we're tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Esther 1-2

Reflection 3 – The Hiddenness of God – Reflections from Contemplative Provocations by Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts God is more present in prayer than we may often think, turning toward us with a father's solicitude to protect our soul in some manner, assuaging some doubt, removing some uncertainty. In this there ... Read more The post CP3 – The Hiddenness of God – Reflections from Contemplative Provocations by Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts appeared first on Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts.