Podcasts about his body

Friends of the Rosary,Holy Saturday (from Sabbatum Sanctum, its official liturgical name) is the day of the Lord's rest; it has been called the “Second Sabbath” since the creation of the world.It's a day of great silence on earth, instituted to enter reflectively into the divine rest.After the great battle against sin and death, Christ Jesus is resting in peace. Upon Him we see the scars of intense suffering, with mortal wounds on His Body that remain visible.Jesus' enemies are still furious, attempting to obliterate the memory of the Lord by lies and slander.In the silence of the day, Christ Jesus didn't choose divine vengeance but the ultimate demonstration of divine love.On Holy Saturday, while we meditate on the Passion and crucifixion of Christ, we wait with Our Lady of Sorrows — the Church is represented in Mary — at the Lord's Christ tomb on His descent into the land of the dead.As the Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear, “he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the good news to the spirits imprisoned there.”In the evening, as the sun sets, the Church gathers for Easter Vigil. The Church awaits the return in glory in its full splendor of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.After the readings of the crucial moments in creation and salvation history, the Church anticipates the proclamation of the Lord's Resurrection by singing the Gloria, bells are rung, and the church is fully illuminated, anticipating Easter celebration.Dying with Christ is no recapitulation. As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life, as St. Paul wrote.Ave Maria!Jesus, I Trust In You!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will. Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• April 19, 2025, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

Jesus, the night before His Sacrifice for you and me, gathered His disciples for the Passover meal. He taught them a "new command" to love and serve one another. He demonstrated that Love and His Grace by humbly doing a servant's job, washing their feet. He then served them the ultimate meal of His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of their sins. Join Pastor Dave this Maundy Thursday as he reminds us to follow Jesus lead by serving others.

Holy Thursday. The Last Supper. The institution of the Eucharist. And a call to humility. Easter is Sunday. Today, we aredigging into Christ's radical love with St. Joseph as our guide. Jesus washed His disciples' feet and gave us His Body and Blood. This isn't just a story. It's our daily reality, a taste of heaven in every Mass. Peter balked, but Jesus insisted: service and sacrifice define us.  The Catechism ties this night to the Cross; St. Augustine sees it as cleansing power. It's Christ's playbook—humility like Joseph's, service over status. Your challenge: Live it today. Wash your wife's and kids' feet if you're married—show them love through action. Can't? Go to Mass, see the altar stripped, feel the weight. Or pray the Litany of Humility. Pick one, do it. Jesus didn't just act to be nice—He saved us, stayed with us. Are you on His team or the devil's? No gray area, men—choose.  Products/References Mentioned:  Catechism of the Catholic Church  Gaudium et Spes (Second Vatican Council)  Council of Trent (1551)  St. Augustine's writings  St. Cyril of Jerusalem's writings  St. Thomas Aquinas's writings  Benedict XVI's reflection  Litany of HumilityPowerful Quotes:  “Jesus, the master, the maker, the creator, the king of kings, kneels down to wash his disciples' feet.”  “The Eucharist is the gift that surpasses all gifts. A moment where heaven touches earth.”  “If you're not willing to risk everything for God, then who are you willing to risk it at all for?”Key Takeaway:Serve someone today—wash a foot, attend Mass, or pray humbly. Act now to mirror Christ and Joseph's self-giving love.  Send us a text Support the showPlease prayerfully consider supporting the podcast on our Buy Me A Coffee page. to help grow the show to reach as many men as possible! Thank you for your prayers and support. Be sure to follow us on X for more great content. As always, please pray for us! We are men who strive daily to be holy, to become saints and we cannot do that without the help of the Holy Ghost! Subscribe to our YouTube page to see our manly and holy faces Check out our website Contact us at themanlycatholic@gmail.com

Return of the Man-Child (8)  (audio) David Eells – 4/16/25  Father, in Jesus' Name, we thank You so much, Lord, that we can fellowship around Your Word. We know and trust in Your Word that is going to reveal to us those things that we need to know for the days to come and things that will enable us to cooperate with You in this process of sanctification and holiness, and also in the ministry of the Lord. We thank You that the Lord Jesus is coming in His people in order to fulfill in His Church that which You stated You would do from the beginning. We thank You, Lord, that You have taught us that what has been shall be, so that we can see how history repeats and see how wonderfully You have told us in the Word exactly what You are going to do. In the name of Jesus, Amen.  Well, we left off in Matthew 4, where we saw wonderful things that God is going to repeat in our day. The Lord had told me that everything that happened in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts would be repeated in our day, except that the cast of characters would be multiplied many times over, as more people are born into the world. The same thing has happened in history, but now it just happens with more people.  Let's pick up right after Jesus was anointed and had been tempted of the devil. Note that the Bible speaks about a “great light” that He was going to bring into the world, especially the world of God's people. (Mat.4:12) Now when he heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee; (13) and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali: (14) that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, (15) The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, (16) The people that sat in darkness Saw a great light, and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, To them did light spring up. What could this light be other than the Lord Jesus Himself? Not only that, but what the Lord Jesus was sharing with people was the command to repent and believe.   Light is necessary in both of these areas if we want to walk in the Kingdom of God. We are walking out of one kingdom and into another. We are walking out of the kingdom of the world, much like walking out of Egypt, and we are walking into the Kingdom of God, which means under His Lordship and guidance. I believe the next verse begins with a revelation of that. (Mat.4:17) From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  That just happens to be a perfect quote from John the Baptist, who said, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat.3:2). Of course, John went on in verse 7 to say to the Pharisees, who were coming to be baptized because it was a politically correct thing to do, (Mat.3:7) Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance (What does someone who has repented look like? What kind of fruit should they have?): (Mat.3:9) and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father … Don't a lot of Christians say the same thing? “Hey, I'm a Christian; I had my experience with the Lord years ago and accepted Jesus as my personal Savior.” Yes, but do you have fruit worthy of repentance? I believe that the light is going to come to the Church, which has not even understood what repentance means. The first thing Jesus did was to take up where John left off. You notice that when we left off in verse 12, He realized that John was delivered up, and that's when Jesus came into this particular area of the country where they said they saw great light. Like John, He said, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance is necessary for the next revelation, which is the Gospel of the Kingdom. For those who repented, Jesus shared the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Good News of the Kingdom of God.  My friend Xavier once went to share with an apostate preacher who was living in fornication. He had the “greasy grace” that says, “It's okay; the Lord will forgive me. That's what the Gospel is all about, right? Forgiveness.” But no, that's not it. That's just a part of the Gospel. There is forgiveness, and then there is sanctification. Forgiveness is just a way to have a relationship with God until sanctification has done its work. There was another man in this church who recognized that the preacher was a sinner, but he told Xavier, “It would be wrong for you to judge him.” Of course, Xavier was sharing verses with the man, and the truth is that, yes, there is judgment. There is judgment in the Church. John the Baptist was judging when he said, “Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance.” He wanted to see their repentance. He did not want to see somebody say they were sorry and then continue on in their debauchery. The word “repentance” is metanoia, which means “to change your mind; to go the other way.” We have the authority to do this. We have the authority to change our mind and go the other way because of what Jesus did at the cross. He took away our sins; He delivered us out of the power of darkness; He made us free from sin. (Heb.10:14) For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.  When Xavier and I spoke about this, here's one of the verses I shared with him: (1Co.6:9) Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? What Kingdom of God is he referring to? The Kingdom of God is where God rules over you. It's not some place you go to after you leave this earth. It's some place you enter into when you repent. Notice what he's saying. (1Co.6:9) Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived (there is much deception out there concerning this): neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, (10) nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Where are you to inherit the Kingdom of God? Here and now. As a matter of fact, some people are waiting to go to Heaven to inherit the Kingdom of God. They will never see Heaven if they wait. You have to enter the Kingdom of God here and now, and you enter it through repentance and faith. Faith gives you the blood covering and repentance gives you the opportunity of entering the Kingdom. Without repentance, you cannot enter the Kingdom.  John the Baptist came in order to preach repentance to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord in their life. The Lord does not come into your life without repentance. If you received the first-fruits of Christ, which is a born-again spirit, and do not go on to get a born-again soul through your obedience to the truth (1 Peter 1:22,23), you are going to be an unprofitable servant. A “servant” refers to someone who has come to Him in one form or another. You will be an unprofitable servant who is good for nothing but to be cast out and trampled under the feet of men and cast into outer darkness. (Mat.5:13) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. (Mat.25:30) And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Now notice what he says in the next verse. (1Co.6:11) And such were some of you: but ye were washed (He is saying, “Some of you people were in these same sins, but you were washed.”), but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. The Lord demands repentance for you to enter into His Kingdom, which is where He is King over you. That's how you enter His Kingdom.  If you look elsewhere in 1st Corinthians, Paul said somewhat of the same thing. (1Co.5:3) For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him that hath so wrought this thing. Paul judged him. Was he wrong in that he judged? No. Paul had the Spirit of God and what he wrote here was from the Spirit of God. He judged him because this man was in willful disobedience, had not repented of his sin, and had not believed the Gospel. If you believe the Good News that Jesus took away your sin, then your faith has power to walk away from anything. Everyone who believes can repent and walk away. Belief is not merely mental assent, like it is in most of the Church. (1Co.5:5) To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh (I would say that's judgment! He is turning him over to the curse.), that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. People will repent when they are turned over to the devil. This is very common. If you want to know why you are living under that curse, you should question whether or not you are in willful disobedience or whether you have repented of everything and are walking by faith because the devil does a great job of bringing people to repentance. Many people come to the Lord because of what the Lord permits the devil to do.  (1Co.5:6) Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (He means that, in the Body of Christ, there are people who are fornicators, liars, and thieves.) (1Co.5:7) Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump (“Purge out the old leaven”; in other words, get rid of them.), even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, [even] Christ: (1Co.5:8) wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (9) I wrote unto you in my epistle to have no company with fornicators; (10) not at all [meaning] with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world: (11) but as it is, I wrote unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat.   Well, this parishioner who was not in the fornication, but was saying that you could not judge the pastor who was in it, was saying, “Hey, Jesus ate with publicans and sinners.” But Paul tells you here quite clearly, “If any man that is named a brother be” in one of these sins, no, not to eat with him. It is not only abstaining from eating with him physically, but spiritually, as well, because he's talking about keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We eat when we study the Word of God. Jesus said, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Mat.16:6). In other words, “Don't eat their leaven; don't partake of their doctrine.” Paul goes on to say, (1Co.5:12) For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? So there was judgment; there was judgment from John the Baptist and judgment from Jesus, concerning people who are in willful disobedience and do not want to repent and believe the Good News that they don't have to walk in their sins anymore.  Clearly, there is judgment from the Bible, and that pastor and parishioner were trying to condemn Xavier for judging willful disobedience and lack of repentance when he was merely showing them what the Father had said in His Word. Look at what the Lord says in Ezekiel. (Eze.3:18) When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life … How is it judgment when you say, “Hey, that's fornication and you can't enter the Kingdom like that”? They say, “Oh, but I'm saved.” No, you're not saved, as long as you walk in willful disobedience. You are not in the Kingdom. “Be not deceived,” Paul said, but speak “to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life.”   (Eze.3:18) When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. So God is saying, “If you don't tell them they're sinning, if you don't tell them, ‘Look, you can't enter the Kingdom of Heaven (which has to be entered here, by the way), while you are in willful, outward immorality,' then I will require his blood at your hand.” It's the very opposite of what those people say. They do not want to repent, so they try to condemn the person who brings the message.  Notice, the Lord said, “When I say to the wicked.” We just read what God said to the wicked. You can tell anybody what God said to the wicked, whether you are judging or not. That's a moot point. The question is, are they going to enter the Kingdom by repentance? Or are they going to try to shift the blame over on you? The truth is, He says to have no company with them, to cast out the old leaven. If a person will not confess his sins but try to justify them or think that they are acceptable in the sight of the Lord because of the blood of Jesus, there is no hope for him. By the way, Jesus' blood does not cover willful disobedience. (Heb.10:26) For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, (27) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. It says, If we walk in the light (Walking in the light is not walking in sin. Everyone would agree with that.) as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another (He tells you, “Don't have any fellowship with people walking in willful disobedience.” Period.), and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1Jn.1:7). That's a wonderful promise! If you will repent and believe and walk in the light, He will cleanse you of that sin. (1Jn.1:8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If a person doesn't want to confess his sin and wants to justify himself and hold onto his sin and wants to blame you for condemning him or bringing Scriptures showing where the Father has condemned him, then this person is not going to have any part of the Kingdom of God. The Lord says it very plainly, and we have to tell him the exact truth here concerning this. The light of the Gospel has to come. The true light of what repentance actually means is going to be brought on the scene here pretty quickly, folks. The overwhelming majority of Christianity don't understand what repentance is. They don't have any hope that repentance could actually deliver them from their sin and that they will not have to worry about that sin or walk in that sin anymore because of what Jesus did at the cross. He took their sin and nailed it on that cross. You do not have it anymore. Repentance and faith are necessary.  Back to where we were in Matthew, we found that Jesus took up where John left off. The next thing He does is to go out and gather His disciples. (Mat.4:18) And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. (19) And he saith unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men. (20) And they straightway left the nets, and followed him. (21) And going on from thence he saw two other brethren, James the [son] of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. (22) And they straightway left the boat and their father, and followed him. Jesus has just begun His ministry here. The people whom He was going to were seeing a great light and He was gathering together His “elders” of the Church. He was raising up His forefathers of the Church, like Jacob raised up the 12 patriarchs, who were the elders of the Church. As you know, from here on out, He carried them with Him, demonstrating to them the truth of the Gospel by His works of healing, delivering, setting free, etc., so that they could live in the Kingdom of God.  In the Kingdom of God, all the promises come to pass; the Kingdom of God is where God rules. We pray; Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth (6:10). When God's Kingdom comes on Earth, it is as it is in Heaven. Is there any sickness in Heaven? Are there any demon-possessed people in Heaven? Is there anybody lacking in Heaven? The provision of God's Kingdom is total and complete in this earth, and we want to enter into it because that's where all of God's provision is. (Eph.1:3) Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ. He's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.   As we enter into Christ, we have all these spiritual blessings that God has in His Heavenly Kingdom. He is gathering up His disciples, with whom He is going to walk, and send them forth into a much broader path than He could walk in. They, in turn, were going to raise up disciples who were going to do the same thing in a geometric progression that was going to bring a great revival. This is a type and shadow of the Man-child ministry that's coming, in whom Jesus is come to be manifested. Jesus raised up disciples in whom He was manifested here, and the same thing is going to happen in our day. Disciples are going to be raised up as forefathers to the Church of our day, except there will be many more because the Man-child is not an individual, but a corporate body.  It goes on to say, And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Mat.4:23). So He preached repentance, and then He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. What is the Gospel of the Kingdom? Gospel means “Good News,” the Good News of the Kingdom. The Good News is that you can enter into God's Kingdom on Earth through repentance and faith. Well, God's Kingdom is where God rules in your life, and this is the Good News, that you can walk in obedience to God; you can walk in the Kingdom of God, under the leadership and rulership of God. The reason we know that you can do this now is because of what Jesus did at the cross. He made reconciliation: He took your sinful life and nailed it on that cross, and He gave up His Life. Do you believe it? Do you believe that He sanctified you on that cross? That He washed you on that cross? That He delivered you from sin on that cross? The Bible says in Romans 6:18 that He made you free from sin. He delivered you.   See, here is the great light that is going to come. Most of the Church believes that the only opportunity you have is forgiveness from God, and that is the beginning, but that is not the great revelation that God's people are going to get. They already know that. The great revelation is that the Bible is actually true. Jesus actually did deliver you from your sin; He actually did heal your body; He actually did deliver you from the curse; He actually did deliver you out of the power of darkness. Hallelujah! He did this. This is going to come as a sudden shock to a lot of people, but the Gospel is actually true; it's not just a nice saying, but it's actually true.  I want to backup a little here. (Mat.4:16) The people that sat in darkness Saw a great light (He was talking about His people), and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, To them did light spring up. He's referring to walking in the light, which was what Jesus was about to show them. He was about to show them that they can walk in the light and be delivered of their sin, washed of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9). This is the Good News that most of the Church has never heard. Oh, they have heard the Gospel, but they didn't realize it was really true. They never had any faith, only mental assent. Folks, He is talking about the nature of sin, about delivering you out of the power of darkness. It does not have any power over you. That is an awesome revelation that's going to come to the Church through the raising up of this Man-child ministry and disciples who walk in the steps of Jesus Christ.  Then Jesus went out to demonstrate this by “preaching the gospel of the Kingdom and healing all manner of disease.” Most of the Church does not understand that you have a right to healing, that you are not under the curse because you are a new creation. They don't understand that old things have passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). They don't understand that you have been delivered of sin (Romans 8:2) and God accounts you righteous through your faith in Him (Romans 4:3), your faith in what the Bible says. It needs to be real faith. This is the light, the sudden revelation that a lot of the Church is going to get and that some of you have already received.   (Mat.4:23) And Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people. (24) And the report of him went forth into all Syria: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them. (25) And there followed him great multitudes from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judaea and [from] beyond the Jordan. He was demonstrating the Gospel that these people were not guilty anymore, demonstrating that God was forgiving them by healing them and delivering them of every curse that came upon them. Those curses came because of their disobedience to God and also because of the sin they inherited when they were born. They were born into sin. Some people say, “Well, God made me this way.” What does that have to do with anything? You were born in sin, you came into this world with the nature of sin, and so you say, “Because I was born this way, I'm supposed to keep it”? That will not float, folks. In the Kingdom of Heaven, you need to repent of this.  Let's read more of how Jesus demonstrated the Gospel. (Mat.8:16) And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick: (17) that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases. He carried His disciples with Him and demonstrated to them how to minister and administer this Gospel of the Kingdom. Everyone who repented and believed could have these gifts because they were no longer under the curse, as they were no longer under sin. That's the Great News of the Kingdom. God not only forgave them, He washed and cleansed them, He healed them, He delivered them, and He took away every other form of the curse. It was just like the Passover. The Passover was the Death Angel, the Destroyer, passing over them because they actually had the blood upon the doorpost (Exodus 12:23). How do you get the blood upon your doorpost? The Bible is pretty plain about that. (1Jn.1:7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of Jesus cleanses us of all sin. Walk in the light. You take those steps in the light because of repentance and God will wash you, cleanse you and deliver you.  We see here something that is going to be fulfilled in our day on a much larger scale. The Man-child ministry is going to go forth to deliver, heal, bless, and demonstrate the Gospel. Not only that, there will be the saving of souls who are in bondage to sin, which many of you have experienced, but many more are going to experience that. Do you know how we know this is going to be repeated? Because this was a repetition in itself; this had happened before. You ask, “When did it ever happen before?” Well, go back and look in the Old Testament because in Hebrews 3, the author compared Moses' house and Christ's house. There is a comparison because Moses was the Man-child in his day and he did the exact same thing that Jesus did, even bringing the same Gospel.   Let me show you how we can see that. I know that it's in the types and shadows, but when it's pointed out to you, you can see it. For instance, when Jesus was anointed, the Bible tells us that He was given the throne of David, His father (Luke 1:32). Jesus was to rule over Israel, and His anointing was compared with the anointing that David had to rule over Israel. That is what's happening to Moses here. (Exo.3:1) Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro (whose name means “His excellence”), his father-in-law … Why is Moses' father-in-law called “His excellence”? Because his father-in-law was also the Father of the Bride. Is that not still true today? Exactly so. Moses was keeping the flock. Remember, David was keeping the flock before he was anointed to be king. Moses was doing the same thing.  (Exo.3:1) Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. (2) And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned … Moses saw this sight and wanted to go investigate and when he did, he stepped onto holy ground, meaning he became holy. The Lord told him to take his shoes off, that he was standing on holy ground, and Moses did not want to be separated from holiness (Exodus 3:5). He was holy before God, and this is where he got his ordination to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt. As a matter of fact, the Lord said, And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land (Exo.3:8). “I am come down.” Is that not what the Lord said in Hosea 6:2-3? He said there that He would come as the latter rain on the morning of the third day, and that's exactly what's going to happen. The Lord is coming down to deliver His people out of bondage in Egypt, which is a representation of the world.  (Exo.3:16) Go, and gather the elders of Israel … That's the first thing the Lord told Moses to do, the same thing Jesus did. He gathered the elders of Israel. Who was Israel? Israel was Jacob and Jacob raised up 12 patriarchs, which is exactly what Jesus raised up, 12 patriarchs. So there you have it. It's a perfect parallel here. “Go and gather the elders of Israel.” Why? It's because they were to walk with Moses, just like those elders walked with Jesus. The Gospel had to be demonstrated; the power of God was demonstrated to them. They were to walk in the same path.   (Exo.3:16) Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and [seen] that which is done to you in Egypt: (17) and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt … There it is. He's going to deliver them from the curse of Egypt, the affliction of Egypt. He had said, “I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.” Who are the Egyptians? The Egyptians are the old man, the old flesh, the bondage to the flesh. What He's saying is, “Look, I'm going to deliver you from the god of this world (that is, the old man, the flesh), and I'm going to deliver you from the curse because you've been obeying them both.” That is the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is what Jesus was preaching.  (Exo.3:17) And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. These were the “ites” that represented the old man, the same thing the Egyptian represented, which was the one who had brought them into bondage. You are not supposed to be in bondage to your flesh anymore. The Lord has already delivered you at the cross; it has already been done. He has already accomplished it. That's the Good News of the Kingdom. Why is God bringing them into the Promised Land? He's doing it in order to put to death those people who were ruling in the land. The Israelite was to rule in the land, not these people. He brought the Israelites in there for the purpose of putting them to death. Most Christians today want to live with the old man, but when Israel did that and let the enemies stay in the land, they became thorns in their side for the rest of their life. So the Jews did not inherit all of the land the Lord gave them, and they lived under a curse, under warfare, because they did not obey God. He said, “You take up your sword and go in there. I will be with you. You put them to death and take their house to live in and raise up your crop, your fruit in that land” (Deuteronomy 7). That's the Gospel.  (Exo.3:18) And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us (As if He had not been there all along! Actually, He came down in a much mightier way than He had ever done in the 400-odd years that they had been in bondage, and that's how He is about to come today. He's about to come in a more powerful way than any of us have ever experienced, for the purpose of delivering His people out of Egypt and out from under the god of this world.): and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. They had to serve God in the wilderness. Moses was taking the elders of Israel with him at this time, just as Jesus was, and demonstrating unto them the Gospel.  Here is the gathering of the elders again. (Exo.4:29) And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. When Jesus gathered the elders, He was not gathering together the apostates. He started all over, which is what He is going to do this time as well. He is not going to the apostates, but He will start all over with some new, humble people who did not go to Bible school. He is going to raise them up. Paul is one of those who obviously went to Bible school, but He had to prove that He could do it, and He did. But what is represented by Moses and Aaron here? We're looking at a parallel of what Jesus did and now we see Moses and Aaron, but it had said earlier, And thou (Moses) shalt speak unto him (Aaron), and put the words in his mouth (Exo.4:15). Moses was to put the words in Aaron's mouth? That's a little like what the Lord does to us, which is what He's about to say. (Exo.4:15) … And I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. (16) And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God.   Interesting. He is likening Moses to God, like Jesus was to God. Now let me say, if a Man-child comes in our day, Who is it Who is going to be with him, putting words in his mouth? Jesus, Who is God! Moses is being used of God, and Aaron is being used as his prophet to speak his words, to do his work, and to take the staff that he did to do the miracles. In this case, we're seeing Aaron as the Man-child and Moses as Jesus in the Man-child or behind the Man-child to do the works. (Exo.4:29) And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel (This is much like Jesus did; His Father God was in Him doing the works. Jesus was the spokesman, the mouthpiece; He gathered together His disciples and did the miracles, and Aaron is doing the same thing here.): (Exo.4:30) and Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. So it was Aaron speaking the words and doing the works, just like Jesus did.  “Aaron” means “bright” or “illumined.” He represents the glory of God shining out of a person, like this says: (2Co.3:18) But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. There are three glories: star glory, moon glory, and sun glory (1 Corinthians 15:40-41). It gets brighter and brighter and brighter. This is the shining forth of God in His people. He is coming in “Aaron,” His first-fruits. Jesus was called the first-fruits (1 Corinthians 15:20), and there is a first-fruits in our day. David also represented the first-fruits and Joseph, as well. It is not the only fruits, just the first-fruits. He is planning on doing this with His whole Body. (Exo.4:31) And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped. This was a monumental time in their history because they were about to be delivered out of bondage to the old man, the Egyptian, Pharaoh, the god of this world, and to the curse they were under because they were serving them.  (Exo.5:4) And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works? … Some people think you have to put up with your “works” the rest of your life, that there is nothing you can do about it because you're always going to be a “sinner saved by grace.” That is an anti-Christ gospel. They were setting the people free from their works, from their service to the old man and to the devil, who is the god of this world that ruled over them, like Pharaoh did. They were being set free and the devil did not like it. “Get you unto your burdens.” In other words, “Get back under the heavy weight of your burden.” (Exo.5:5) And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. This is what the Lord brought us out of bondage for, to enter into His rest and to cease from our own works, the works of the flesh. We do not serve the flesh anymore. We serve the spiritual man now. This is the Gospel of the Kingdom, and it sets people free. Even the devil had to admit that they were setting them free from their works.  (Exo.6:9) And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses … You cannot set someone free unless they believe the Gospel of the Kingdom. Moses came there to set the Israelites free. God ordained him on Mount Horeb, representing the Kingdom of God, to go and bring them out of bondage and take them to that mountain, too, but they had to believe him first because the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Rom.1:16). (Exo.6:9) … But they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. God had to do a work in them before they could actually receive this light of the knowledge of the Kingdom. (Exo.6:10) And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, (11) Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt … The word “Pharaoh” means “temple of the sun.” He was God to the Egyptians. They believed he was divinity, believed that he was the sun god. Pharaoh was not the Son of God and not even a close facsimile to the Son of God, but he was usurping God's position over the people of God.  The devil does that today. He usurps the position of the Son of God over the people of God, and they do not know that the one they're serving is the devil. They don't know that they're serving the old man that serves the devil, which is the Egyptian. We know that the Egyptian represents the old man because when the Israelites went through the Red Sea, Paul called it a “baptism.” In the baptism, the old man died in the Red Sea, and the Israelite came up on the other side; the new man, the spiritual man came up out of the water. The carnal man died and the spiritual man was made alive, so we know this parable is true. (Exo.6:11) Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. Do you suppose this Man-child is going to have this same authority to tell the devil to set God's people free? Well, Jesus was doing it. He commanded the devil to loose them; He commanded the sickness to come out of them; He delivered their mind from the fogginess of their fallen state. And, yes, this is what not only the Man-child but the witnesses and the elders who are raised up by the Man-child are going to do. They're going to have the authority to say, “Turn them loose, devil,” and it's going to happen.  (Exo.6:12) And Moses spake before the Lord, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? Does the devil have to listen to you when you tell him to turn people loose if they do not believe? No. When you preach the Gospel and they believe it, only then do you have the authority to say, “Turn them loose, devil.” This is exactly what Moses complained of. He was saying, “Hey, they don't believe me yet, so why would Pharaoh listen?” (Exo.6:13) And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. That was their ordination, their command from God, Who said, “Bring them out.   You have the authority to do this.” Jesus had the same authority, by the Isaiah 61 anointing, which Luke 4:18 also speaks about. (Isa.61:1) The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to them that are bound. Who were they bound to? They were in bondage to their old man, in bondage to the devil, and they were living under the curse. Jesus took care of all three and that was all involved in the Gospel of the Kingdom. Now we know that Moses, too, was dealing with the Gospel of the Kingdom and trying to get those people to believe what he said. Praise the Lord!  (Exo.12:21) Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel (I'd like to point out to you that these elders were with him exactly as the disciples of Jesus, all the time, and he was demonstrating to them the Gospel. Actually, here is the Gospel in a nutshell.), and said unto them, Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover. We're told that they had to eat all of the lamb (Exodus 12:8-10) and that the blood was to be put on the doorposts (Exodus 12:7), so that the Death Angel, the Destroyer, would pass over them and smite the Egyptians (Exodus 12:13). Jesus said, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves (Joh.6:53). Most of the Church is refusing to eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible says, The life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev.17:11). They are refusing the life of Christ through unbelief. Moses is not able to exercise any authority over Pharaoh because of their unbelief. Jesus was the bread Who came down out of Heaven (John 6:51) that gives life to the world, and that was His Body, the Word of God.  We are also told this: (Exo.12:15) Seven days (that is the last seven “days”) shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses (This is the house that we live in. There shall be no leaven, no polluting the pure Word of God.): for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. This is a dire warning to God's people that during the Tribulation period, you cannot continue onward believing the doctrine of these apostate religions. (Mar.8:15) … Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod, too, because there are many who are worshipping the government. They're worshipping their country, their nation; they're pledging allegiance to a wicked, worldly nation. This is not to say that you aren't supposed to submit to them in every way, except when God tells you to do otherwise. Your allegiance is to the Lord, and you will bow to no one else. We see here that Moses was leading them to partake of the body and blood of Christ, and this was causing a Passover so that they did not have to live under the curse. Praise be to God!  (Exo.12:29) And it came to pass at midnight, that the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. (30) And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. In every house there was one dead. So if we are the house, there has to be one dead, and that's the old man. He is the firstborn of Egypt, born of the flesh, born of the world. He is dead and we know that he is dead, and we are free because of what Jesus did at the cross because we were crucified with Christ. The Lamb was slain here, but the Bible says, we were crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ Who lives in us (Galatians 2:20). That is the new man and that is how faith in the Gospel works. We continue to believe what the Bible says, that, “Yes, this old man is dead. He was put to death, so I don't have to serve him anymore because he is dead, and he was crucified with Christ. Now the new man lives and rules in me.” That new man is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col.1:27). We behold with unveiled face as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit (2Co.3:18). Like Aaron, who was the “brilliance,” the shining forth of the Lord in him, so the people of God will be.  (Exo.12:31) And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. Pharaoh finally gave up, and the devil is going to turn God's people loose. The god of this world, the sun god, the one who imitates the Lord and usurps His authority over God's people, is going to turn them loose, is going to obey the command of Moses. When does that happen? It happens when they, “the people,” believe they're no longer in bondage to Satan because the Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom, is the power of God to save the one who believes. It's the power to save them from the old man, from the devil, and from the curse. You will be delivered of those three things when you believe and continue to walk in the faith of the Gospel that sets free.  (Exo.17:5) And the Lord said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go. (6) Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Here, Moses was still demonstrating the power of God's provision for God's people. Jesus multiplied the fishes and the loaves, and here Moses was still demonstrating it with the authority and the power of God to the elders and the people. (Exo.18:12) And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. Praise the Lord!   This is, once again, Jesus raising up His elders and the Man-child in our day, raising up the elders to be free from the bondage of Satan and free from the bondage of the flesh. The harvest started getting bigger and bigger, and more and more people started coming into the Kingdom, just as it was also said about Jesus. (Exo.24:1) And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off: (2) and Moses alone shall come near unto the Lord; but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him. As you know, Moses went up on the mountain and was caught up unto the throne of God. This is the first mention of the 70 elders. He had already mentioned them, but now He refers to them as the “seventy.”  We have already discussed Jesus raising up the elders, but He also raised up the 70. (Luk.10:1) Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come. (2) And he said unto them, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest. Obviously, the 12 were not enough. This was a great revival for many hungry people; there was a need. Even with Moses, his father-in-law Jethro had said, “You're going to kill yourself trying to serve all the people by yourself” (Exodus 18:14-18). Then Jethro gave Moses the wisdom from God to raise up elders unto the people to judge them, meet their needs, and so on (Exodus 18:19-26).   Jesus said, Go your ways; behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves (Luk.10:3). (4) Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes; and salute no man on the way. (5) And into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace be to this house. (6) And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: but if not, it shall turn to you again. (7) And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. (8) And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: (9) and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. The Kingdom of God is where people are healed, delivered, prospered, blessed, delivered from sin, etc.  (Luk.10:10) But into whatsoever city ye shall enter, and they receive you not, go out into the streets thereof and say, (11) Even the dust from your city, that cleaveth to our feet, we wipe off against you: nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh. That is judgment; He brought judgment. These people brought judgment upon the ones who refused the Gospel. They cleaned their shoes off as a judgment against them. Don't believe that God did not do something about that because He goes on, (Luk.10:12) I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. (13) Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. (14) But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment, than for you.  God bless you, saints! Just remember, the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom is about to be preached with mighty power, and a great revival is going to go forth from it. God bless you! 

To me, profound words in the Bible includes Jesus speaking to His disciples as they ate the Passover bread.  "Take and eat this is my Body."  This Feast represents the offering of the Body and Blood of Christ and our admission into the Kingdom of God.  We as participants of The True Passover, are told to Take and Eat of His Body that was given for us.  In John's Gospel, Jesus said unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you do not receive eternal life.  Eating of Him is the essential diet of the Church.   We have been told much of our lives that we are what we eat.  This is so true.  Unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we do not belong to Him, and by eating of Him we are His Body.  Christ is the essential diet for the believer!  Glory to God.

The details of the original Passover, which forshadows the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and gives us His Body & Blood, in, with and under the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper.

Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!What does it mean to be obedient in today's Church? As we approach the final stretch of Lent—just two weeks away from Holy Saturday—this reflection tackles one of the most challenging aspects of modern Catholic life.The journey begins with beautiful scriptural images of Christ as our Good Shepherd, living water, maternal figure who never forgets us, and the light of the world. These metaphors reveal how completely Christ nourishes our spiritual lives, especially through His Body and Blood. But such overwhelming love demands a response from us, ideally one of prompt, joyful obedience.Yet obedience isn't simple in contemporary Catholicism. Between different communities with varying relationships to Church authority—from SSPX to diocesan structures—Catholics must navigate competing claims about where true obedience lies. The reflection acknowledges this tension honestly, advocating for a middle path that prioritizes obedience to Christ and Church dogma while extending grace to those whose prudential judgments differ from our own.There's wisdom in recognizing that the Church allows latitude on many matters. Rather than demanding absolute uniformity or abandoning structure entirely, we're called to respect the legitimate diversity within Catholic practice while maintaining unity on essentials. As we enter Passiontide tomorrow, we're reminded of seminarians making their commitment to celibacy through subdiaconate ordinations—men whose sacrificial obedience deserves our prayers and support.How will you balance faithful obedience with thoughtful discernment this Holy Week? Join us tomorrow as we explore love unto sacrifice on Passion Sunday, marking our entry into the final phase of our Lenten journey.Support the showSponsored by Recusant Cellars, an unapologetically Catholic and pro-life winery from Washington state. Use code BASED25 at checkout for 10% off! https://recusantcellars.com/Also sponsored by Quest Pipe Co. Get your St Isaac Jogues pipe here: https://questpipeco.com/discount/Amish?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fst-isaac-jogues-limited-edition********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://shop.avoidingbabylon.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssSpiritusTV: https://spiritustv.com/@avoidingbabylonRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

The disciple of Jesus must share in his Master's definition of the church as being His Body. The ministry therefore belongs to Christ and is realized by the mediating work of the Spirit through the entire Body. The clergy-laity distinction is a man-made institution from which the disciple must therefore come out.

We continue our look into Ephesians 4. We look at a couple of testimonial pictures that demonstrate God's understanding regarding His Body. References: Ephesians 4:4-7 John 17:20-23 Ezekiel 37:11-14 Ephesians 2:13-16 Ezekiel 37:15-28 Revelation 21:1-4 Numbers 17:1-13 thesatisfiedgod.com Subscribe to our YouTube page - The Satisfied God Podcast YouTube Please like and follow our Facebook page - www.facebook.com/thesatisfiedgodpodcast Thanks for all your support in every way. Please share this podcast with your friends. We are available on every major podcast provider including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Spotify. Also please subscribe to be made aware of every new episode. Thanks for listening and feel free to contact me at rabonbyrd@gmail.com You may help financially in the following ways: Give via PayPal by clicking this link: www.paypal.me/thesatisfiedgod Give via Cash App - $RabonByrdTSG Give via Zelle - rabonbyrd@gmail.com You may send financial support or other communications via U.S. mail to: PO Box 186 Marshall, AR 72650. Checks payable to Rabon Byrd. Memo: Satisfied God Podcast

Growing In God Podcast Web Description: In the story of Esther, the king was not personally involved in delivering the Jews from the destruction imposed by Haman. However, his signet ring in the hand of Mordecai gave Mordecai all the king's authority and power to deliver the Jews as if he were the king himself. Likewise through the name of Yeshua (Jesus), we have been given the signet ring of God Himself. Let us accept who we are as His instruments and use His authority and power to bring Christ's deliverance to the earth.   Show Notes: In the story of Esther, King Ahasuerus gave his signet ring to Mordecai. Esther and Mordecai then used that ring to seal a decree against those who were attacking the Jews. Having the king's signet ring in those days meant having the power of the king himself. A decree sealed by the signet ring had to be obeyed and could never be revoked. As Christians we also believe in using the King's signet ring, the name of Yeshua (Jesus), to accomplish the will of God.   We need to acknowledge that this is how God moves. When He works to brings deliverance, as the king did with Esther and Mordecai, God uses human instruments to bring about His will. God did not come down and deliver Israel from Egypt by Himself. He used Moses as His instrument. Again, God did not redeem humanity on His own. The Father chose to move through His Son. Then after Christ had ascended to the right hand of the Father, He moved through the apostle Paul to fulfill the sufferings of His Body.   We live in a time when the world has a desperate need for God, and as the Body of Christ today we must begin to accept what we are. As He has done in so many ages, God is going to work through vessels that He chooses and who are willing to give themselves for that purpose. Open your heart to that which God wants to do through you. Be open to receive the signet ring of anointing and authority that God can place upon you to work through you for His purposes to bring about the conclusion of this age.   Key Verses:   •       Esther 8:2–8. “The king took off his signet ring … and gave it to Mordecai.” •       John 5:17–23. “Whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” •       Colossians 1:13–24. “All things have been created through Him and for Him.” •       Colossians 1:29. “I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” •       John 14:12. “He who believes in Me … greater works than these he will do.” •       Esther 4:12–14. “Who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”   Quotes:   •       “What God was doing in bringing Christ forth in the flesh—bringing the Word into flesh—is He was manifesting Himself in humanity so that He would move in full power and authority through Christ as His human vessel and representative.” •       “We don't want the Body of Christ to be perishing in this time because we refuse to take our place in what God has called us to do.” •       “We may be facing threatening times. It may even seem like there is a decree of death and destruction on this age, on the Church, and on God's people—the Jewish people in Israel. But who knows whether we are not the ones who have come into this anointing and relationship with the Lord for such a time as this. Let's believe that God can work in us and through us to accomplish His will in this day.”   Takeaways:   1.    The king giving his signet ring to Mordecai represents an important aspect of Purim. When sealed with the signet ring, whatever Esther and Mordecai enacted had the full authority and power of the king behind it. When we act in the name of Christ, it is like having God's signet ring, bearing His authority, power, and presence. 2.    God chooses to move through human instruments just as the king did through Esther and Mordecai. We have examples of this in Moses, Yeshua, and Paul. If we want the authority and power of God to impact this age, then we need to be God's instruments. 3.    Haman once had the king's signet ring and had the power to destroy all the Jews. Their deliverance happened when the king took the signet ring from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. As ruler of this world, satan also had the authority to destroy mankind. But that authority has been removed from him and belongs to Christ. As instruments of Christ, using His authority, we can abolish the decree of destruction against mankind.  

Throughout this letter, Paul has challenged us to be united in Christ and in His Body. In the closing verses, Paul reminds us that we all have a common enemy. Luckily, God is on our side, and He gives us His armor! In this message, we talk about the armor of God.

Speaker: Minoru Chen;Source: USA:Our brother Minoru helped us to see that there is a never-aging life (1 Peter 1:23) in us believers. For the senior saints it is even appropriate using Psalm 92:14 as a basis to be referred to as “evergreen saints.” We saw how useful and precious Simeon and Anna were, as elderly saints, in ushering in Christ in His first coming. Both started in the Old Testament but finished their courses in the New Testament—truly real age changers. These two were not waning in their latter years but rather they ended at the high noon time of their Christian life!As seniors we have more time (but we must learn to redeem it and not waste it) to get into the Word and ministry, to pray, to attend the meetings, and to especially shepherd others. The Lord and His church needs the senior saints to use their time to go deeper into God for His Body's sake.Brother Minoru was only able to finish the first outline out of the three that were prepared. So, indications are that there may be future times to cover the remaining two outlines. He did speak at length on Psalms 90, 91, and 92 during the conference and asked all the attendees to read and get into these three Psalms. Below are helpful references to assist in doing just that. Dear saints, this is an opportunity for us to redeem our time and go deeper into God.A good summary of Brother Lee's ministry on Psalms 90 through 92 is Message 4 of the Crystallization-study of the Psalms (2) (the second training), entitled “The Highest and Fullest Experience of God—Taking God as Our Habitation, Our Eternal Dwelling Place.” Other recommended resources for getting into Psalms 90 through 92 are:Week 16 of the HWMR on the Crystallization-study of the Psalms (2), vol. 1Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, ch. 16, “One with God in His Dwelling Place”Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 35, “The Saints' Deeper Experience of God in the Identification with Christ”As a final practical reminder—may we senior saints become simpler in our living so that we can redeem our precious limited days to go deeper into God.

Speaker: Minoru Chen; Source: USA:Our brother Minoru helped us to see that there is a never-aging life (1 Peter 1:23) in us believers. For the senior saints it is even appropriate using Psalm 92:14 as a basis to be referred to as “evergreen saints.” We saw how useful and precious Simeon and Anna were, as elderly saints, in ushering in Christ in His first coming. Both started in the Old Testament but finished their courses in the New Testament—truly real age changers. These two were not waning in their latter years but rather they ended at the high noon time of their Christian life!As seniors we have more time (but we must learn to redeem it and not waste it) to get into the Word and ministry, to pray, to attend the meetings, and to especially shepherd others. The Lord and His church needs the senior saints to use their time to go deeper into God for His Body's sake.Brother Minoru was only able to finish the first outline out of the three that were prepared. So, indications are that there may be future times to cover the remaining two outlines. He did speak at length on Psalms 90, 91, and 92 during the conference and asked all the attendees to read and get into these three Psalms. Below are helpful references to assist in doing just that. Dear saints, this is an opportunity for us to redeem our time and go deeper into God.A good summary of Brother Lee's ministry on Psalms 90 through 92 is Message 4 of the Crystallization-study of the Psalms (2) (the second training), entitled “The Highest and Fullest Experience of God—Taking God as Our Habitation, Our Eternal Dwelling Place.” Other recommended resources for getting into Psalms 90 through 92 are:Week 16 of the HWMR on the Crystallization-study of the Psalms (2), vol. 1Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, ch. 16, “One with God in His Dwelling Place”Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 35, “The Saints' Deeper Experience of God in the Identification with Christ”As a final practical reminder—may we senior saints become simpler in our living so that we can redeem our precious limited days to go deeper into God.

Speaker: Minoru Chen; Source: USA:Our brother Minoru helped us to see that there is a never-aging life (1 Peter 1:23) in us believers. For the senior saints it is even appropriate using Psalm 92:14 as a basis to be referred to as “evergreen saints.” We saw how useful and precious Simeon and Anna were, as elderly saints, in ushering in Christ in His first coming. Both started in the Old Testament but finished their courses in the New Testament—truly real age changers. These two were not waning in their latter years but rather they ended at the high noon time of their Christian life!As seniors we have more time (but we must learn to redeem it and not waste it) to get into the Word and ministry, to pray, to attend the meetings, and to especially shepherd others. The Lord and His church needs the senior saints to use their time to go deeper into God for His Body's sake.Brother Minoru was only able to finish the first outline out of the three that were prepared. So, indications are that there may be future times to cover the remaining two outlines. He did speak at length on Psalms 90, 91, and 92 during the conference and asked all the attendees to read and get into these three Psalms. Below are helpful references to assist in doing just that. Dear saints, this is an opportunity for us to redeem our time and go deeper into God.A good summary of Brother Lee's ministry on Psalms 90 through 92 is Message 4 of the Crystallization-study of the Psalms (2) (the second training), entitled “The Highest and Fullest Experience of God—Taking God as Our Habitation, Our Eternal Dwelling Place.” Other recommended resources for getting into Psalms 90 through 92 are:Week 16 of the HWMR on the Crystallization-study of the Psalms (2), vol. 1Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, ch. 16, “One with God in His Dwelling Place”Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 35, “The Saints' Deeper Experience of God in the Identification with Christ”As a final practical reminder—may we senior saints become simpler in our living so that we can redeem our precious limited days to go deeper into God.

February 24, 2025Today's Reading: Matthew 11:25-30Daily Lectionary: Job 19:1-12, 21-27; John 8:1-20“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. On this day, the Church remembers Matthias, the thirteenth of the Twelve Apostles. As the book of Acts starts, the Eleven figure that they need a replacement for Judas, who betrayed Jesus and died a horrible death. But doesn't it feel like the Gospel reading assigned for this festival doesn't quite fit? Does replacing Judas sound like an easy yoke for Matthias? Does facing death by confessing Christ sound like a light burden? We might ask the same question. This world inflicts heavy burdens on us. We face rejection for confessing Christ. We face addiction, depression, loneliness, and fear. Where's this rest that Jesus promises? When will all these things end? At our death? But what about now? What does rest look like now?However, we first must know what rest is. Rest isn't simply the cessation of work. Rest isn't simply the end of doing something difficult. Rest isn't turning off your brain or simply sleeping. Our world defines rest that way. But how do you feel after doom-scrolling for hours? How do you feel after binge-watching shows all evening? Or when you've done nothing at all. How do you feel after enduring work all day and waking up the next day, only to do it all over again? It's not rest you receive, no matter what our world calls it. Josef Pieper, in his book Leisure, the Basis of Culture, explains it this way: The highest form of rest comes from the festival. And at the heart of every festival is worship. You don't turn off your brain, or sleep, or do nothing when there's a festival. Instead, they are often very busy. But the doing is in service to the joy, rather than because it is necessary.Today is a festival. We celebrate St. Matthias, the apostle whom Jesus chose, that His Word would be proclaimed. There's a feast at the festival, a feast at the center of our worship, and the feast is Christ Himself. Facing the world? Christ says, “Take and Eat; this is My body.” Facing addiction, depression, loneliness, and fear? Christ says, “Take and drink, My blood shed for your forgiveness.” Doing nothing doesn't prepare us for fighting these battles. Christ putting Himself in us does. Because rest doesn't come from inaction. Rest comes from the feast in worship, which brings the strength to endure the world.Jesus Himself is who eases the yokes of this world and lightens the struggles we face. And Jesus gives you His Body and Blood in His feast for that purpose. This is why the Church has so many feasts, including the weekly feast celebrating Christ's resurrection from the dead every Sunday. We need the festival. We need the joy it brings. We need the rest it provides. We need Jesus. And here He is.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.At the Lamb's high feast we sing Praise to our victorious King, Who has washed us in the tideFlowing from His pierced side. Alleluia! (LSB 633:1)-Rev. Eli Davis, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Grants Pass, OR.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Be an Image of Jesus (audio) David Eells 2/19/25 (Note: I have been concentrating my teachings for months in the area of sanctification, or Christ in you, to prepare you for your high calling of God. As the Lord has led, some are being prepared to be in the Man-child body, some in the Bride body, some in the virgin body, and some will just get their toe in the door. I want the best for you. Concentrate on your holiness and be ready to meet and recognize the Lord in the anointed Man-child as we head towards the wilderness.) Let's start with Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians in (1Co.15:1) Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received (So he's definitely talking to Christians here.), wherein also ye stand, (2) by which also ye are saved (The Greek word there is sózó and it is grammatically in the active voice; this should correctly read “being saved.”), if ye hold fast… Well, that's a condition: “ye are being saved, if.” You are being saved if, and only if, you hold fast the Word. That means all those churches out there preaching unconditional eternal security, or ultimate reconciliation, or any other such doctrine, have cut all the “ifs” out of their Bibles. That also means they've been lying to you. (1Co.15:1) Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, (2) by which also ye are being saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. Sadly, there are people who believe, and are Christians, but they don't “hold fast” to the Word and so they end up believing in vain. It's important what you believe about the Word. It's important that you believe only what “thus saith the Lord,” because these are the Words of eternal life (John 6:68). And there's only one “Seed” according to Galatians 3:16, which is Christ, the Word, the Seed of the Scriptures that can recreate in you the living, true Christ, which God considers to be your “fruit.” The Parable of the Sower explains how very important it is that we “hold fast” the original Word which the first disciples preached (1John 2:7,24,3:11; 2 John 1:6), otherwise, you're just wasting your time. Many people have “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4) because the men that are leading them don't hold fast to the Word. There's only one Word that will bring forth the fruit of Christ, and that is the Seed, which is Jesus Christ, the Sower. That's the Seed which brought forth, in one out of the four types of people, thirty-, sixty-, and a hundred-fold fruit of Jesus Christ. Now if we want to know what the “fruit” looks like, we look at Jesus. If we say that we abide in Him, we must walk as He walked (1 John 2:6) because He is our demonstration of what our Father wants. We can't look to our modern-day preachers; many of whom are all fallen-away from the Truth. So we are told in (Heb.10:23) let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised. We have to be those “that endureth to the end” to be saved according to Jesus in Matthew 10:22. Colossians somewhat repeats this in (Col.1:21) And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works (Obviously, again he's speaking to Christians.), (22) yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death… “Reconciled” is the word apokatallasso and it means “to exchange completely.” This exchange includes Jesus' righteousness for our sins, His blessing for our curse, His health for our sickness, His provision for our lack, etc., etc. Gal.3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And Abraham was said to be blessed in all things. And we are responsible for making this exchange by our positive confessions of these blessings. We are also the ministers of this reconciliation to ourselves and others. For instance, our confession in (Gal.2:20) … it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me… brings this truth into the physical realm. We cause the reconciliation, the exchange, to come to pass and we do that by our faith and our confession, since we see in (Jas.2:17) … faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. When we have faith, we walk it and talk it out; in other words, our actions agree with our faith. That's what causes the reconciliation to continue. We understand that the exchange, of course, is the life of Christ for our life, because “fruit” is according to (Col.1:27) … Christ in you, the hope of glory. Fruit is the 30-, 60-, and 100-fold fruit of the Word sown in the heart, as the Parable of the Sower shows us, and by our faith we consider it done. Jesus said in (Mar.11:24) … All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. Believing here is manifested in our words and feet. When we believe we have received something, we can confess it with confidence, and that agrees with (Col.1:22) yet now (That is the Greek word nuni and it means “at this instant; immediately.”) hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: (23) if so be that ye continue in the faith… Not just any faith will bring the reconciliation to pass, only lasting faith in the Gospel, faith in the true Word and the true Promises will cause us to bring forth fruit. Religions have fallen far short of this and that's the reason they're not producing people who walk in the steps of Jesus. They only produce people who are (2Ti.3:5) holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof. From these also turn away. The apostle certainly knew what was going to happen, and so he said to turn away from them and hold fast to the Word. (Col.1:23) If so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel (“Hope” is the Greek word elpis meaning a “firm expectation or confidence in what is sure.”) which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister. We are not to be “moved away” from the original Good News because the salvation of our soul, the reconciliation, is not the beginning of our faith, it's a product of the end of our faith according to 1 Peter 1:9. (Gal.3:16) Now (This word “now” is not in the original text. It was added by the translators.) to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. So the promises were spoken to Abraham and his One Seed. The promises were not spoken to us outside of Christ; they were spoken to us as we abide in the One seed of Christ. (17) Now this I say: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God, the law, which came four hundred and thirty years after, doth not disannul (“Disannul” is how the KJV and the ASV translated the Greek word akuroó that actually means “I annul, make of no effect, cancel, invalidate.”), so as to make the promise of no effect. So, the promise to Abraham and to Jesus are still in effect. It's the Law that's not still in effect. (18) For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise: but God hath granted it to Abraham by promise. (19) What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions (You see, the main Covenant was the promise to Abraham. Then the Law was added afterward “because of transgressions.”), till the seed (Jesus) should come to whom the promise hath been made; [and it was] ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. According to this the Old Testament Law is over; it has vanished. It was meant as a temporary measure to help keep people from parábasis, from “transgressing, overstepping, deviating” beyond the boundaries set by God. The Law was in effect only until “the seed,” Who is Christ, “should come to whom the promise hath been made.” It's simply a type and a shadow, as the Bible clearly says, of the greater things which are to come and the greater Covenant, which took its place. (Heb.8:13) In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old. But that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away. 2Co 3:14 but their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ.  Well, if the promise was to Abraham and to Christ His Seed, how do we appropriate this blessing? We have to be “in Christ”. If you're not in Christ, you don't have the covenant blessing. Let's look some more at what it means to be “in Christ” so the promises can be ours. (1Jn.5:10) He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him… The word “witness” here is the same word as “testimony” in both the Hebrew and the Greek. In the Greek New Testament, “witness” is from the word marturia, meaning “witness, evidence, testimony, reputation.” In the Old Testament, the two tables of “testimony” is the same word as “witness” (Exo 31:18). Moses the man-child brought the two witnesses to the people of God in (Deu 9:11) and they broke them in (Exodus 32:19). Those tables of testimony were the written Word of God; His testimony. Jesus also brought us the two witnesses; His disciples who went out two by two. The Bible says in (Joh.7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. (39) But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet [given]; because Jesus was not yet glorified. There's the “witness” or “testimony”: It's the Spirit of the Word that all believers should receive in (Rom.8:9 But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.) Meaning, if you do not have the born again Spirit of Christ you are not saved. But the Holy Spirit empowers you to walk in the Spirit. And notice, we must believe on Him “as the Scripture hath said,” not adding to, or taking away, from it. (1Jn.5:10) He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning his Son. Notice that if the preachers are changing any part of the witness, the testimony, concerning the Son, concerning the Word of what He came to do, concerning His sacrifice, concerning the provision that He left us as heirs, if they're changing any of this, then they're making God a liar. And you can tell they're making God a liar because they're not turning-out people that look like Jesus Christ. And since they're not turning out people that look like Jesus Christ, they're not sowing the right seed. It's their seed, not God's Seed. God's Seed is His Witness, His Testimony that He bore concerning His Son (1 John 5:9). (1Jn.5:11) And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life (Yes, He did, but He adds a condition to that gift.), and this life is in his Son. He didn't put the gift of eternal life in your hand. Eternal life is in Christ; that's where He put the gift. (Gal.3:16) … To Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed … which is Christ. The promise was made to Christ, not to us. It is only to us if we abide in His Son. The Bible says, (1Co.15:22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Life comes from abiding in Jesus Christ. I've had people say to me, “God's given me eternal life, David, and He can't take it back. I have unconditional eternal security.” No, people who say that are deceived because God did not do that. He gave eternal life to Christ, so if you don't abide in Christ through repentance and faith, you don't have it. That's one reason why people fall away; they think all they need to do is shake a preacher's hand and “accept” Jesus, and they've received everything. No, you have to continue to abide in Christ. If you're in Christ, you will be doing what Christ does. We are called the “Body of Christ.” Who lives in the Body of Christ? He does! Now, it's a word of faith, I understand, but so many people who call themselves “Christian” don't abide in Christ. They don't abide in His Body, respecting His Word, doing His works, thinking His thoughts, doing His deeds, appropriating His blessings, and so on. “God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son,” therefore, we have to abide in His Son to have it. (1Jn.5:12) He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life. And in (2Jn.1:9) Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not (“Abide” is the Greek word menó and it's also translated “remain, stay, wait, endure, continue, live.”) (2Jn.1:9) Whosoever goeth onward (I.e., continues to walk with the Lord) and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God… You can get saved and you can have a born-again spirit, but then you can walk on believing some other word than the teaching of Christ or His apostles, and then you don't have God. You've lost Him. Go back, get into the Word of God for yourself, and once again confirm what He says so you know what to believe. There are over 40,000 denominations today and they can't all be right. Only the Word of God is God. (Jn 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Again in (2Jn.1:9) Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching (We abide in the teaching so we can have God in us.), the same hath both the Father and the Son. (10) If any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into [your] house, and give him no greeting: (11) for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works. You better pay attention to this if you don't want to put yourself under the same curse that those “evil works” have brought on them. So in Christ is the only place you can claim the gift of eternal life, because your eternal life IS Jesus Christ. It's His nature in you: That is eternal life. (1Jn.2:4) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar… Only those who keep His Word know Him. Obviously this is a progression of receiving His life as we learn His Word but we must stay on the road. It's true that people make all kinds of excuses for not keeping His commandments, and the doctrine of “unconditional eternal security” is one of the main excuses. It teaches that you can't be lost, even though you don't keep His commandments, but if you were keeping His commandments, you would not be in a dead church that teaches lies in the first place. You wouldn't be in a dead church that doesn't have the power of God and isn't filled with the Holy Spirit and His gifts. (1Jn.2:4) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; (5) but whoso keepeth his word, in him verily hath the love of God been perfected. Hereby we know that we are in him (Listen carefully.): (6) he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. We have to believe exactly what God said, the Witness that God gave, concerning His Son. We don't have to believe anything else. Anybody who teaches anything else, we're not to receive from them. Now, didn't Jesus say the exact same thing here? (Joh.15:1) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit (Notice that you can get in Him to begin with, but what He's watching for is to see if you're going to bear His fruit.) (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh it away… We're watching this happen even now with the faction movement that's going on around the world. He is snatching rebellious people out of the body. It says in (Mat.13:41) The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things (Not in the Greek) that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity. God turns them over to faction, they become offended over nothing and then, suddenly, they're gone. Then they are gathered “in bundles to burn them,” just like He said He'd do with the tares at the end of time in (Matthew 13:30). Then (Mat.13:43) … shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father… (Joh.15:2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away… And this is a “falling-away”. If you were in Him and then you're out of Him, that's a falling-away. The “fruit” that is ultimately left is the fruit of Christ. Remember, the fruit was the fruit of the Seed that Jesus, the Sower, sowed into hearts in Mathew 13, while the other three out of four fell away. The fruit is not you going out and saving another 30, 60, or 100 souls, as some teach. That's ridiculous, it's plain that the “fruit” is the fruit of the Seed that Jesus sowed, which is the Word of God in us. The most important thing you can do is put the Word of God in your heart. If you don't do that, you're going to fall away. You have to feed the spiritual man, Who is Jesus Christ in you. You have to feed Him, and He only lives and grows on the Word of God and the breath of the Holy Spirit. Again, (Joh.15:2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away… The Greek word kathairó translated there as “taketh it away” means “pruned (purged); eliminating what is fruitless by purifying.” Of course, pruning can be painful, but if you're sapping the strength that comes through the vine of Jesus Christ by getting into too many other things, it's like burying your talent in the earth (Matthew 25:25). If you're doing that, He's going to cut some things off from you. Some people have idols and those idols are sapping their strength. Notice that all through the Bible, God judged people's idols (Deu 31:16-17; Judges 10:6-7; 1 Kings 11:9-11; etc.) Be careful not to make an idol of your wife, your husband, your mom, your dad, any of your family, or your church, or your preacher, or your job, or even some hobby. Whatever it may be, don't put them before God and His Word. Anything that you make an idol can be cut off because it is sapping your strength that belongs only to the Son. (Joh.15:2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he pruneth it (Some versions say “taketh it away.”): and every branch that beareth fruit, he pruneth (This is also translated “cleanseth.”) it that it may bear more fruit. You don't want to lose a husband or wife because you've made a god out of them and they're ruling your life and your time. Of course, we have rules in the Scriptures. The head of the woman is the man and the head of the man is Christ (1 Corinthians 11:2-16). That's obeying Christ. That's abiding in Christ. But you don't want to make a god out of your spouse to the point where everything revolves around them. You have a relationship with the Lord, and the most important thing for you to do is to obey His Word or else you don't abide in Him, just as we saw. And you can obey His Word when you walk by faith and you have the good confession, which brings reconciliation. We are ministers of this reconciliation. (2Co.5:17) Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new. (18) But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; (19) to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (20) We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beseech [you] on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God. We make this exchange happen in ourselves as we “trust and obey for there is no other way”. First comes the born-again Spirit of Jesus Christ and then, as you obey that Spirit, the born again Soul (i.e., mind, will, emotions) of Jesus Christ, and if you've obeyed in your soul, you will have a new body. And when we preach the Gospel to other people, we make this exchange of our life for His, happen in them. They repent of the old man and the new man begins to come forth. So He prunes His people to help them bear more fruit. If you waste your time by not bearing fruit, you are thrown out, “spewed” out, rejected from the body of Christ (Revelation 3:16). You have fallen away. (Joh.15:3) Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. The Word cleans you up. The Word transforms you by the “renewing of your mind.” (Rom.12:2) And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. What are you transformed into? Christ. The Word creates (Col.1:27) … Christ in you, the hope of glory. You're coming into His Image. He's recreating the body of Christ in the earth, and the true body of Christ does not look like many modern Christians today so that's not yet the body of Christ. In Hosea 5:7 they are called “strange children” because they do not look like the Father. (2Co.6:17) Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you. Back to (Joh.15:4) Abide in me (If you don't abide in Christ through faith in the promises, you're cast forth as a branch.), and I in you… How do you put Jesus in you? First, you accept that He took away your sins and nailed them to the cross. Then you accept by faith that Christ lives in you. 2Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. Then you begin to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind with the Word.” You put Jesus in you through the Word because He is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). He is the manna that came down out of heaven that gives life to the world (John 6:51). This Word is the Manna. Eat the Word. If you want to bear fruit quickly, eat more of the Word as you repent of your old life. There has to be a reconciliation, an exchange. You have to lose your life to gain your life, as Jesus said (Matthew 16:25). That's a most ignored condition. If you want more of Jesus' life, then there has to be less of your life because they occupy the same territory. (2Co.4:16) Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. (Joh.15:4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself… That just makes good sense. If it's not connected to the trunk or the vine, a branch is not going to receive the life-giving sap of Jesus to bear fruit; it's going to die. If you don't stay connected to the Lord because you're refusing to bear the fruit and act on the Word, well, you're broken off. You might be sitting on a pew, but it won't make any difference; you're still broken off. (Joh.15:4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing. Do you want to bear even more fruit? Then put the Word of God in your heart and abide in Him by keeping His commandments. You can keep His commandments because God will give you grace for faith. Do you believe the reconciliation? It happened at the Cross. He gave all of His Son for all of our old life. (Rom.6:11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. This will empower you to forsake sin. (12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof. If you believe it's done, God will empower you to bear fruit, “for apart from me ye can do nothing.” If we don't abide in Him, we can do nothing. (Joh.15:6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch… So, even though he was in you to begin with, you may not have abided in Him and here you are cast forth as a branch. Some people say that if a person falls away, then he never was saved in the first place. We're seeing that's not true because this whole text is saying that's a lie. (Joh.15:6) If a man abide not (meaning does not continue to stay) in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you (There it is two more times again.), ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Do you know a lot of people who don't get any of their prayers answered? What's the problem? They are not abiding and eating the Word. In other words, if this happens, your will is changed to His will. Your will is in agreement with God and His Word. (Amo.3:3) Shall two walk together, except they have agreed? We read the Scriptures in order to come into agreement with Him, so that everything we ask is according to His Will and, therefore, we receive it. He wants us to bear fruit like this. “Ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” People who come into agreement with God are people with power! These are people whose prayer has power to deliver, to save, to provide. If you don't have enough power, maybe you should spend more time putting His Word in you, because faith comes through hearing and hearing by the Word (Rom.10:17). Spend more time putting the Word in you. There's an uncertainty when you don't know God's Will. It's hard to have faith if you don't know something is God's Will, but you'll become convinced what God's Will is by reading about Jesus and His disciples. You'll see it's obvious that God's Will is to save, to heal, to deliver, and to provide for His people. When you put the Word in you, according to the Parable of the Sower, you can bear the fruit of Jesus Christ, 30-, 60-, and 100-fold. He said, “Ask whatsoever you will” and “believe you have received” (Mark 11:24). What happens when you put the Word in your mind is that it changes your will. (Php.2:13) … it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. The Contemporary English Version says, “God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.” That's how you get set free. (Joh.8:36) If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. He gives you His Will, and when you have His Will, you're free, because everything you want to do is what He wants to do, and He gets what He wants. So freedom comes from putting the Word in you, abiding in Him, and Him abiding in you. This really is Good News! (Joh.15:8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples… Notice that a “disciple,” a mathétés, is “a learner and a follower.” If you can't learn from Jesus and you can't follow Him and you're all caught-up in an idolatrous institution, with an idolatrous leader in the Nicolaitan error, who thinks he's the head of the church, then you're not going to bear fruit and you're not going to be a disciple. Preachers are not to make disciples of themselves; they're to make disciples of Jesus. They're to point you to the Word, to show you how you should be a disciple, a learner and a follower, of Jesus. Praise the Lord! Everything we need is in Christ. (Eph.1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ… Notice! Every spiritual blessing has already been given to us in Christ. A spiritual blessing can also be a physical blessing. It's a spiritual blessing: a blessing from the Spirit and in the Spirit. God wants you to have all of your needs met. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He wants your needs met: spiritual, physical, and emotional. And as you see, if you abide in Him and put the Word in your heart, you can ask whatever you want and it will be done because what you want is what He wants. Well, since every spiritual blessing is in the “heavenly [places],” where are the “heavenly [places]”? They are “in Christ.” Note again it says, “He hath (That's past tense.) blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places],” which is in Christ. When you abide in Christ, you have every spiritual blessing and you have your needs met. God has put all of your provision there. You must go there to get it, and ask in faith. The flesh wants to live and walk outside of Christ and think outside of Christ, and then men wonder why in the world God does not do for them these things that He says in His Word He will do. It's because these things are in the heavenly places. You can't “walk on the earth,” spiritually speaking, and “walk in heavenly places” at the same time. Either you're walking worldly and earthly, or you're walking heavenly. If you're in Christ, you're walking in heavenly places because He is the heavenly place. And when you abide in Him, you can have what you need, because that's where it's provided. It's not provided outside of Him. He hasn't given it to you. Remember, (Gal.3:16) Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. So those people who say that if God gives you a gift, He can't take it back, they don't understand that He doesn't have to take it back, because when you step out of Him, you lose it. Who moved? You're abiding in Him, first of all, through your faith in the reconciliation, and second of all, through your actions since faith without works is dead (James 2:17,20,26). If you walk by faith in Him, you have all these promises, because that's abiding in Him, too. Then you have all of these promises; they're yours. However, if you're in willful rebellion, know that the only promise you have is this: (Heb.10:26) For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, (27) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. There's your promise. If you're walking outside of Him, the promise you have is that God's going to whip you. That's His promise. Again, in (Eph.1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ: (4) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love. You see, you weren't an after-thought at all. He had you in Mind before Adam ever fell. Did He know Adam was going to fall? Yes, but He chose you in Him, meaning that He knew you needed a Savior, and He provided that Savior before Adam ever fell. Why did God go on with the process? He did that because fallen people who are saved have a great appreciation for God and they know what's wrong with walking according to the world. They've tried it, they failed, and they understand that God has provided better. God doesn't want ignorant people; He wants people who are trying, and let me tell you, the “fall” is a training (Genesis Chapter 3). Yes, He knew about the “fall.” We're not in plan B, we're still in plan A. God doesn't make plan B's. (Eph.1:4) Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be (He wants us to be something.) holy and without blemish before him in love. The reason we abide in Him is to have His holiness and to be without blemish, and if you put the Word in you, the Word will empower you to walk “holy and without blemish before him in love.” If you starve your spiritual man, you will spiritually die. He needs the Word of God to be fed. He's created out of the Word of God.

Alright, Brave Table fam—buckle up, because today's episode is a special one! I am sitting down with my baby brother, Vinay, who has completely transformed his life and his morning ritual—by giving up caffeine (gasp, I know!). From chugging five to six cups of coffee a day to developing Loom Superfoods, a caffeine-free powerhouse drink loaded with Mayan nut, adaptogens, and protein, Vinay's journey is nothing short of inspiring.But this episode isn't just about coffee—it's about answering the call when your health (and intuition) nudges you to pivot. We talk about breaking bad habits, braving change, and why so many people stay stuck in comfort zones instead of leaping into their true potential. Oh, and we're spilling all the tea (or should I say, Loom) on why most coffee drinkers are unknowingly wrecking their sleep, gut health, and energy levels.So if you've ever thought about cutting back on caffeine (or just making bold moves in your life and business), this one's for you.What you'll get out of this episode… Caffeine disrupts gut, energy, and sleep cycles.Growth comes from discomfort—Vinay moved cities to avoid stagnation.Health is wealth—Vinay's high blood pressure at 30 was his wake-up call.Big problems fuel big solutions—Vinay turned caffeine struggles into a business.To pivot, ignore the noise, embrace uncertainty, and go for it.TIMESTAMPS[00:00:00] Intro: My Brother's Wild Health Journey[00:03:00] Affirmation of the Day: “I Am Brave Enough to Suck at New Things”[00:06:00] The Moment Vinay Knew He Needed to Change His Life[00:12:00] Drinking 6 Cups of Coffee a Day: What It Did to His Body[00:19:00] Braving a Career Pivot: From Real Estate to Superfoods[00:24:00] Discovering the Mayan Nut & Creating a Coffee Alternative[00:29:00] How Caffeine Affects Sleep, Anxiety & Blood Pressure[00:34:00] Why Loom Superfoods is the Ultimate Coffee Replacement[00:39:00] The Reality of Entrepreneurship & Handling Naysayers[00:45:00] How Ditching Caffeine Improved His Energy & Mental Clarity[00:47:00] Final Hot Takes: What It Means to Be BraveTo receive a free gift, email a screenshot of your 5-star review of The Brave Table to support@globalgrit.co

“We need to migrate to strategic cities in the United States and Europe for the spread of the Lord's testimony. However, we should not carry out migrations in the way of a movement. Instead, we need to encourage the saints to receive a burden from the Lord to pray for the spread of His recovery so that the Lord may lead them to migrate to new localities in the move of His Body.” (Witness Lee, The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1981, vol. 1, p. 384, Living Stream Ministry) This week we continue the series titled, "Migration Within the United States,” with speaking from brother Minoru Chen on the importance of the United States for the Lord's move. These testimonies were given during a gathering for working saints at the 2018 Memorial Day conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The original recording can be found at:  https://livingtohim.com/2018/07/working-saints-fellowship-at-the-2018-memorial-day-conference/

God introduced the concept of TEMPLES to the human race from the very beginning, which is why you see temples in every ancient culture and religion. Even if the religion is corrupted, man has an understanding of the fundamental concept of a temple as it is part of God's original general revelation to mankind. A TEMPLE is designed to be a DWELLING PLACE of GOD, and God introduced TEMPLES to reveal His ULTIMATE PURPOSE for mankind. God created man to be His TEMPLE, and now His plan is to redeem us, so that we might be the DWELLING PLACE of God, that God would dwell with us and IN US! In salvation, the forgiveness of sin is just the beginning, the necessary preparation in order to make possible the fulfilment of His ultimate purpose - that we might become the holy Temples of the Living God. Each Temple of God was a visual aid, a teaching tool, designed to reveal what it means to be a Temple of God (the nature, design and operation of a temple). Ultimately, these temples are all revelations of redeemed MAN in Christ – God's ultimate and eternal Dwelling Place, which we see fulfilled in Rev 21-22. All the earthly temples of God are pictures of God's ultimate eternal TEMPLE – redeemed MANKIND in Christ. We are designed to be Temples of the Living God, so that God might dwell in us and be glorified through us. The EARTHLY Temples were made according to a HEAVENLY blueprint – the HEAVENLY Temple (Heb 8:5). So, earthly Temples are images of the heavenly Temple (Mount Zion, the New Jerusalem), both of which are pictures of God's ultimate eternal Temple – redeemed MAN in Christ. The Bible describes a sequence of earthly Temples, which are patterned after the heavenly Temple, and all these earthly and heavenly Temples are pictures (revelations) of God's ultimate eternal Temple – redeemed MAN. The ultimate fulfilment in Christ is not just that we individually are Temples of God, but that God joins all redeemed humanity in Christ together into a union, so that together, we all form one great corporate Temple of God, Christ & His Body - the Dwelling Place of God forever. This is God's vision for mankind. All the different temples have different characteristics, each providing different pieces of the complete picture. They all harmonise together, but each one carries only part of the whole revelation of God's ultimate Temple. To get the full picture of what we are called to be, we must put together what each temple reveals. The main earthly temples are: (1) The Garden of Eden, (2) Mount Sinai, (3) The Tabernacle of Moses, (4) the 1st Temple of Solomon, (5) the 2nd Temple (Herod's Temple), (6) the 3rd (Tribulation) Temple, (4) the 4th (Millennial) Temple. Individually, we are Temples of God, and God is also fitting us together as living stones to form one great ultimate Temple of God (1Peter 2:5). We understand spiritual things by their physical analogy, so by understanding all the analogies (the earthly and heavenly temples) we can learn much about God's ultimate Temple (the Church), and we will understand how we are designed to be God's Temple, and how everything works and connects together. Basically, a Temple has 2 PARTS: (1) the Temple BUILDING, and (2) the GOD who dwells within the Temple, for a Temple is the Dwelling Place of God: “(2) the LORD GOD Almighty and (1) the LAMB (Christ and those who are in Christ) are its TEMPLE” (Rev 21:22). A Temple is a Holy Place, for God's PRESENCE dwells within the Temple, and His GLORY shines out from the Temple, sometimes represented as RIVERS of LIVING WATER flowing out from the Temple (Gen 2:10, Ezek 47, Joel 3:18, Rev 22:1-2, John 7:37-39). Through the New Covenant, established by Jesus Christ, His believers become Temples of the Living God, indwelt by the Spirit of God. This is God's plan & purpose for man coming to pass – that God would dwell in man, that man would become a Temple of God. Jesus came & died & rose again to make this possible (1Cor 3:16-17: 6:17-20, 2Cor 6:16, Rev 21:3). Man is the ultimate Temple of God, so all the other temples are teaching tools to reveal God's purpose for man, and how man is designed to connect with God and function under the grace and power of God. Jesus came as a sinless man, the PROTOTYPE TEMPLE of God, a man indwelt by and filled with the Spirit of God - showing us what man is meant to be like. He declared He was a TEMPLE of God (John 8:12). By His death & resurrection, Jesus multiplied and reproduced Himself in us (John 12:23-24). Through the New Birth the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, making us all into Temples of God. The Spirit is the Fountain of living waters within us (Jer 2:13, 17:13), a continual Source of outpoured grace (rivers of life) flowing into our heart, causing us to worship God & empowering us to serve Him. (John 4:13-14). So now there are many Temples, and God is building us all together into one great Temple (Christ) – His ultimate Purpose.

God introduced the concept of TEMPLES to the human race from the very beginning, which is why you see temples in every ancient culture and religion. Even if the religion is corrupted, man has an understanding of the fundamental concept of a temple as it is part of God's original general revelation to mankind. A TEMPLE is designed to be a DWELLING PLACE of GOD, and God introduced TEMPLES to reveal His ULTIMATE PURPOSE for mankind. God created man to be His TEMPLE, and now His plan is to redeem us, so that we might be the DWELLING PLACE of God, that God would dwell with us and IN US! In salvation, the forgiveness of sin is just the beginning, the necessary preparation in order to make possible the fulfilment of His ultimate purpose - that we might become the holy Temples of the Living God. Each Temple of God was a visual aid, a teaching tool, designed to reveal what it means to be a Temple of God (the nature, design and operation of a temple). Ultimately, these temples are all revelations of redeemed MAN in Christ – God's ultimate and eternal Dwelling Place, which we see fulfilled in Rev 21-22. All the earthly temples of God are pictures of God's ultimate eternal TEMPLE – redeemed MANKIND in Christ. We are designed to be Temples of the Living God, so that God might dwell in us and be glorified through us. The EARTHLY Temples were made according to a HEAVENLY blueprint – the HEAVENLY Temple (Heb 8:5). So, earthly Temples are images of the heavenly Temple (Mount Zion, the New Jerusalem), both of which are pictures of God's ultimate eternal Temple – redeemed MAN in Christ. The Bible describes a sequence of earthly Temples, which are patterned after the heavenly Temple, and all these earthly and heavenly Temples are pictures (revelations) of God's ultimate eternal Temple – redeemed MAN. The ultimate fulfilment in Christ is not just that we individually are Temples of God, but that God joins all redeemed humanity in Christ together into a union, so that together, we all form one great corporate Temple of God, Christ & His Body - the Dwelling Place of God forever. This is God's vision for mankind. All the different temples have different characteristics, each providing different pieces of the complete picture. They all harmonise together, but each one carries only part of the whole revelation of God's ultimate Temple. To get the full picture of what we are called to be, we must put together what each temple reveals. The main earthly temples are: (1) The Garden of Eden, (2) Mount Sinai, (3) The Tabernacle of Moses, (4) the 1st Temple of Solomon, (5) the 2nd Temple (Herod's Temple), (6) the 3rd (Tribulation) Temple, (4) the 4th (Millennial) Temple. Individually, we are Temples of God, and God is also fitting us together as living stones to form one great ultimate Temple of God (1Peter 2:5). We understand spiritual things by their physical analogy, so by understanding all the analogies (the earthly and heavenly temples) we can learn much about God's ultimate Temple (the Church), and we will understand how we are designed to be God's Temple, and how everything works and connects together. Basically, a Temple has 2 PARTS: (1) the Temple BUILDING, and (2) the GOD who dwells within the Temple, for a Temple is the Dwelling Place of God: “(2) the LORD GOD Almighty and (1) the LAMB (Christ and those who are in Christ) are its TEMPLE” (Rev 21:22). A Temple is a Holy Place, for God's PRESENCE dwells within the Temple, and His GLORY shines out from the Temple, sometimes represented as RIVERS of LIVING WATER flowing out from the Temple (Gen 2:10, Ezek 47, Joel 3:18, Rev 22:1-2, John 7:37-39). Through the New Covenant, established by Jesus Christ, His believers become Temples of the Living God, indwelt by the Spirit of God. This is God's plan & purpose for man coming to pass – that God would dwell in man, that man would become a Temple of God. Jesus came & died & rose again to make this possible (1Cor 3:16-17: 6:17-20, 2Cor 6:16, Rev 21:3). Man is the ultimate Temple of God, so all the other temples are teaching tools to reveal God's purpose for man, and how man is designed to connect with God and function under the grace and power of God. Jesus came as a sinless man, the PROTOTYPE TEMPLE of God, a man indwelt by and filled with the Spirit of God - showing us what man is meant to be like. He declared He was a TEMPLE of God (John 8:12). By His death & resurrection, Jesus multiplied and reproduced Himself in us (John 12:23-24). Through the New Birth the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, making us all into Temples of God. The Spirit is the Fountain of living waters within us (Jer 2:13, 17:13), a continual Source of outpoured grace (rivers of life) flowing into our heart, causing us to worship God & empowering us to serve Him. (John 4:13-14). So now there are many Temples, and God is building us all together into one great Temple (Christ) – His ultimate Purpose.

"But the Holy Spirit challenged me to do the thing that doesn't come easy, the thing that I didn't want to do. He challenged me to let others into my pain and fear and discouragement.It took almost everything inside of me to reach out, but I did. If you find yourself in a hard season, in need of the comfort of God through His Body, I'd love to pray for you!"Leave a comment for Karina: https://incourage.me/?p=251176--Shop February monthly markdowns at DaySpring.com to save 50% on ALL calendars and planners! Stay organized and inspired all year long. Visit DaySpring.com and save today!The (in)courage podcast is brought to you by DaySpring. For over 50 years, DaySpring has created quality cards, books, and gifts that help you live your faith. Find out more at DaySpring.com.Connect with (in)courage: Facebook & Instagram for daily encouragement, videos, and more! Website for the (in)courage library, to meet our contributors, and to access the archives. Email us at incourage@dayspring.com. Leave a podcast review on Apple!

February 5, 2025Today's Reading: Luke 4:31-44Daily Lectionary: Job 2:1-3:10; John 1:19-34And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” (Luke 4:36)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.We return again to this reminder: Epiphany is the season of the Church that reveals and enlightens us about who Christ is. Today, we get to see this unfold in an exorcism. Now, modern horror films and stories portray this elaborate and horrific image of demonic possession. And often, it becomes this story about the priest's faith versus the power of the demon. Usually, all who walk away from the story shiver in the spine and are terrified to look in the mirror, go down to the basement, or be by themselves. All of it is enough to show that this is not the fruit that comes from God, and more importantly, this is now how our God has called us to live. In actuality, an exorcism is a lot like what happens when we repent. It is not about our faith having to be strong enough, the priest's faith, the kind of demon, etc. It is about encountering TRUTH and our realignment to that very truth. It is the Truth of the Gospel that encounters us with the authority of Christ. It's not about how much faith we have. It's about the power that is in Christ Alone and what He has done to the powers of darkness. He has, by His very blood, made a public mockery of them (cf. Colossians 2:15). And you have been made a partaker of this Heavenly power in Christ, for all who are baptized into Christ and all who drink of His Body and Blood, are one with Him as He is one with them. You need not fear the dark. You need not fear the wicked spirits. You need not feel stuck or trapped. Their power has been brought to nothing in the blood of Christ. Keep your eyes on Jesus, your confidence in your Baptism, and your heart captivated by the Word of God; demonic darkness will have no power over you.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.I bind unto myself today The strong name of the Trinity By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three. Against the demon snares of sin, The vice that gives temptation force, The natural lusts that war within, The hostile foes that mar my course; Or few or many, far or nigh, In every place and in all hours, Against their fierce hostility, I bind to me those holy pow'rs. (LSB 604:1,4) -Rev. Matthew Synnott, associate pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Peoria, IL.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.

1. Looking From a Distance2. Asking for His Body3. Securing His Grave

1. Looking From a Distance2. Asking for His Body3. Securing His Grave

The Millennial Mustard Seed podcast joins The Days of Noah podcast for a roundtable discussion "Deconstructing Pagan Christianity".  On this episode, we compare and contrast the shortcomings of how we meet as Believers with the design of God for His Body- to be fully-functioning and fully-participating members and using the gifts He's given us! https://bleav.com/shows/the-days-of-noah/ MMS CONTACT INFO: •Email Rod Smith: ⁠⁠⁠mmseed@proton.me⁠⁠⁠ •MMS Podcast Website Link: •Leave a message: ⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rodney-jay/message⁠⁠⁠ MMS SUPPORT: •Consider partnering with our ministry. ⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/rodney-jay/subscribe⁠ Buy a copy of my new book! The Words are Salt ⁠⁠⁠https://a.co/d/a1ZL3u2⁠⁠⁠ my Amazon Author page link Amazon.com: Rodney Jay Smith Jr: books, biography, latest update ⁠⁠⁠https://givesendgo.com/GB6F9?utm_source=sharelink&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=GB6F9⁠⁠⁠ Venmo - @Rodney-Smith-368 ⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/creative775⁠⁠⁠ Cash app - $Rodsworth77 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Millennial Mustard Seed Podcast on SubscribeStar.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Millennial Mustard Seed | Podcast content & community | Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ RECOMMENDED MMS RESOURCE: Brother Klaus Chavis YouTube channel. ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DigitalDiscipleMinistries⁠⁠ Dan Duval Bride Ministries International Download their free app here: ⁠⁠http://brideministries.app.link/⁠⁠ Please leave a 5-star review on your favorite podcast app/catcher, whichever you use to listen. Music from Uppbeat Free Music for YouTube Videos & Creators UppbeatLicense: PFREJYBLQKUZTMDH:

Jesus is truly present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity at every Mass.

Welcome to Montalvo International's Kingdom Chat Series presented by the M.I. W.I.L.L. Podcast as a part of a brand new series inspired by the "Thy Kingdom Come" conference occurring on November 3, 2024 at New Life Prophetic Ministries. Throughout this series, we will discuss topics that elevate what Jesus prayed in Mathew 6:9-10, "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven." This series will cover topics such as Kingdom Relationships, Kingdom Health, Kingdom Government, Kingdom Identity, and Kingdom Wealth, and what God says about us living according to His Will. This episode of this series is entitled Kingdom Health, and host of the M.I. W.I.L.L. podcast, Antonette Montalvo, discusses God's desires for health and wholeness in His Body, in every area of our lives, including our physical health! As a disclaimer, this episode is not offering medical advice, but sharing Biblical truths about health and wellness, as well as a time of prayer for supernatural healing and restoration. Scriptures highlighted:

Web Description: We really need to see the works of God in this generation. And those works will only happen through us, the Body of Christ. And so we must have a new revelation of God's grace. Why? Because the works are God's and not ours. And they are for God's glory and not ours. This must be our absolute and permanent conviction: The only reason we can do God's works at all is by His grace. It is by His grace, which is sufficient for us, that His power will be released.   Show Notes: We are believing for God's power to be manifested through the Body of Christ. But we also know that the more God anoints us to perform miracles, signs, and healings, the more difficult it becomes to separate ourselves from the works happening by our hands. We have seen it many times in the history of the Church that people start focusing on and glorifying an individual who is moving in God. When that happens the anointing from God dissipates and eventually goes away.   When people began to attribute to Yeshua (Jesus) the works He was doing, He was very firm to respond, “These works you see me doing are not mine. They are the Father's works only.” And we need something in our hearts where we are absolutely convinced that whatever is happening through us is God moving to glorify Himself. And it is only by His grace that we are involved in it at all.   According to the Apostle John, “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” And the more of Christ's fullness that we receive, the more His grace needs to be multiplied in our lives, until there is no question in our minds that we can do nothing of ourselves; we can only do what Christ has given us to do. By this grace Christ glorified the Father through the greatest works ever seen. By this grace Paul labored mode abundantly than all the apostles. Let us reach into this grace today and see Christ glorified in His Body.   Key Verses: •       Isaiah 48:11–12. “For My own sake, I will act.” •       John 5:18–20. “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing.” •       John 5:30. “I can do nothing on My own initiative.” •       John 17:4. “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” •       John 20:21. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” •       John 14:12. “He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.” •       John 1:15–16. “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” •       Romans 11:6. “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” •       1 Corinthians 15:7–10. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” •       2 Corinthians 12:7–9. “My grace is sufficient for you.” •       2 Corinthians 13:14. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ … be with you all.” •       Acts 4:23–31. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” •       Acts 4:32–33. “And abundant grace was upon them all.”   Quotes:  •       “There has to be, according to the Scriptures, a Body of Christ that's moving in the power and the awesome things of God.” •       “Here's a good place to start having the mind of Christ: ‘I can do nothing on my own initiative.' We are incapable of anything. The works are not our works. It is God working, and Him working through human instruments.” •       “I think the key gift is grace. Because if we're filled with grace—if we have a solid revelation of the grace of God being the only thing in our lives—I think then all of the gifts follow that.”   Takeaways: 1.    We are believing for God to move through our intercession. But in everything God is getting ready to do, He is going to glorify Himself. We need to always keep that picture before us. What is God doing? He is glorifying Himself among the nations. He is glorifying Himself before all creation. 2.    When the works of God start happening, people start following the person performing those works. It becomes difficult in the eyes of the world to keep the focus on God and not on man. Therefore it must be real to us that it is only by the grace of God that we have any involvement in His works. 3.    God is glorified by His works. And just as the Father sent Christ into the world to do His works, Christ has sent us into the world to do even greater works. That is why we must have a new powerful revelation of the grace of God in our lives that is continually expanding as we grow in God.  

Rod Smith from The Millennial Mustard Seed podcast joins us for a roundtable discussion as we pick up from where we left off (from EP 83) w/ Rick Copeland when we discussed "Deconstructing Pagan Christianity".  On this episode, we compare and contrast the shortcomings of how we meet as Believers with the design of God for His Body- to be fully-functioning and fully-participating members and using the gifts He's given us! Check out Rod's show here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/millennial-mustard-seed/id1504504171 Please consider supporting our podcast; for Luke and I to create 4 episodes a month takes an average of 40 hours to research, record, and produce, sometimes more. If you find value in our work and would like to help support us, please choose from the options below. Thanks very much!! -Luke and Pete ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Paypal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/peteohlinger⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Cash App: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://cash.app/$PeteOhlinger⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Venmo: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://venmo.com/u/Pete-Ohlinger⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments for the show! Email us at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thedaysofnoahpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠      ⁠ ⁠⁠We'd love to hear from you! Thanks for listening- we appreciate each and every one of you out there. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe, and tell your friends and family about the show, and leave us a five-star review, which helps to spread the show to others! Original Music by BassManPete Cover art is of Mt. Hermon, site of the Watcher's descent, photo credit: By Almog - Own work, Public Domain, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2181987⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and beautifully crafted into our logo by graphic designer Christine Forster (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/GfxChristine00?s=20⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)

Christmas Communion Service 2024 12/22/24 Susan Allen THE IMPORTANCE of His BODY is often overlooked.   John 1 reminds us that The birth of Jesus was not His beginning 1 Cor 15:47 calls the 2nd ADAM THIS WOULD BE NECESSARY for HIM to be the SPOTLESS LAMB   Mankind had sinned against God and gave […]

December 16, 2024 Today's Reading: Zephaniah 3:14-20Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 32:1-20; Revelation 4:1-11The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. (Zephaniah 3:15)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Zephaniah writes three chapters to a church convinced they are above reproach. Which, before you roll your eyes at them, feels great. If you're above reproach simply on account of your membership, that means everything wrong is someone else's fault. God is mad at them, not you. It's not surprising people like that are whiney. Nothing's their fault, and nothing's their responsibility. They just heap blame on the world and wait for God to punish wrongdoers and fix it. Did I say them? I meant us. Me. You. See how easy the language shifts?  Captivity comes not for the unbelievers but for Israel, and if that's just a punishment for other people's sin, there's no hope while there are still sinners, and worse things for the world mean better things for you. The only hope is a world without them. And hatred festers. Zephaniah preaches woe that doesn't just whine. He promises captivity and calamity as condemnation for incredulity, but here, he leaves Israel with hope. Even after promising terrifying things for Israel, who thinks they're above reproach, He promises to advent. The mark of hope is not measured in the state of the world but the presence of the LORD, who created, redeems, and cares for it. Is God present or not? There are signs of His presence. Zephaniah tells you what to measure. Don't start with the world. Start with you. Are your judgments being taken away? Are you being saved? Are you given something to hold onto that removes even fear?If hope is measured in a perfect world, all we have is whining about why it isn't perfect yet and blame for what we're unable to fix ourselves. If hope is measured in a present God, it might be worthwhile to see what He does when He shows up. He dies. Jesus comes to Israel, captive to sin and fear, ego and death, and frees us. You. Me. He dies for our sins. Yours. Mine. This is why the language matters. Christ shows up and feeds sinners. His Body and Blood are for you. They save you, strengthen you, forgive you, and grant you hope not just for a world with no problems but for a God present in the midst of them to bring you through them to the last great day when all the world will look as it ought. Resurrected. The last great day will come, but even now, God gathers the outcasts and the captives alike and turns the shame of all we can't fix into the praise of all He's conquered in His death and resurrection.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Where the paschal blood is poured, Death's dread angel sheathes the sword; Israel's hosts triumphant go Through the wave that drowns the foe. Alleluia! (LSB 633:3) -Rev. Harrison Goodman, content executive for Higher Things.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Jesus came over 2000 years ago and along with His birth He also gave birth to His Body, the Church. Jesus set things straight when He came the first time and He ascended and He now sits at the right hand of the Father but He promised He would return. He left us with power in the form of the Holy Spirit to help us on the journey between His first coming and His second. Within the help that the Holy Spirit provides is Joy. Therefore we have in our possession Joy for the journey. As followers of Christ it is a must that we maintain the joy of the Lord for the journey.

Web Description: In Christianity there is a strong emphasis on individual ministry. However, the Scriptures show God's emphasis moving from one individual to many. Then the beginning of the Church showed us the many becoming one. With the Lord's help, let us follow His leading from our own individuality to real body ministry to the oneness of Christ.   Show Notes: When God met Abraham, the entire focus was on Abraham as an individual fulfilling God's plan. When his descendants multiplied and moved forward in the plan of God, the focus on an individual transitioned to a focus on the many. Likewise, when Yeshua (Jesus) was on the earth, the focus was on Him as an individual. But when His disciples were baptized in the Holy Spirit, the great anointing that was on Christ was transferred to them, and the plan of God began to happen through the many.   Abraham as an individual did not possess and fill the Promised Land. His descendants did. And Christ as an individual had to ascend to the Father so that the Holy Spirit could fill a people to become the many-membered Body of Christ. God has always transitioned from an individual to a people. Yet it is difficult for us to get out of focusing on the singular individual. Even within the Church today we tend to emphasize individual ministries rather than really getting into body ministry.   Our focus needs to be on body ministry because God wants to lead us into the next step, which is the transition from many individuals into oneness. Christ's prayer to the Father was that we as His Body would be one. And we have to see that this is the conclusion that everything He did for us is leading to. The revelation of Christ to the world happens as we become one just as the Father and Christ are one. Let this be imparted to our spirits as we pray for His Kingdom today.   Key Verses:   •       Genesis 22:17. “I will greatly multiply your seed … as the sand which is on the seashore.” •       Leviticus 23:5–11. “You shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.” •       John 12:24. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” •       Leviticus 23:15–17. “You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering.” •       Acts 1:1–11. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses.” •       Acts 1:14–15. “A gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together.” •       Acts 2:1–4. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” •       Acts 4:23–25. “They lifted their voices to God with one accord.” •       Acts 4:31. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” •       Ephesians 4:13–16. “The head, even Christ, … causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” •       John 17:11–21. “They may all be one … so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”   Quotes:   •       “In the plan of God, we go from one—a focus on one individual or one ministry—and that transitions into many. Then the many must transition back into one.” •       “All that has transpired in the story of God is coming to this conclusion: there must be a body of people. That body must be fitted and held together by that which every joint is supplying.” •       “What's happening to the many? They are becoming one. And that is what the purpose all of this was about in the mind of Christ.”   Takeaways:   1.    We emphasize individual achievement and individual ministry. But it is important for us to see that God's plan has always been to transition from one to many. 2.    The Feast of Weeks shows the transition from the singular first fruits of grain to the two loaves of bread made from many grains. Christ was the singular first fruits who pleased God and did His will completely. At Pentecost His followers received power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, signifying the transferring of anointing from Christ as a singular ministry to His many-membered Body. 3.    This transition resulted in a great congregation of people who were serving the Lord. Then there was another transition as this congregation was together in one place, in one accord, in one mind and heart. When they prayed together, the power of God was released by that oneness. 4.    The next step is that the many become one. The Body of Christ cannot continue on as a multitude of individuals. It must become one for the purpose of God to be finalized.  

The dramatic words of v7-10 were spoken at the Gates of Jerusalem, when David brought the Ark of the Covenant to God's earthly holy Hill in a procession (2Sam 6, 1Chr 15). This was the ascension of the Lord Himself, enthroned on the Ark (Ps 132:5-8) to His chosen resting place in the city of the great King (Ps 48:2, Matt 5:35). Thus, it's a type of Christ's Ascension to His throne in the New Jerusalem, God's heavenly holy Hill, as well as His ascension to sit on David's throne at His 2nd Coming. It's a Messianic Psalm ultimately fulfilled in His Ascension. v3-6 poses & starts to answer a big question: “Who may ASCEND into the Hill of the LORD or STAND in His Holy Place?” (v3). God's requirement to ascend & stand in His Presence is perfection (v4), so it's impossible for us, but God provides salvation by grace (v5-6). In v7-10, He answers the big question, revealing the unique perfect Man, Christ, who ascended to Heaven, the King of Glory, mighty in battle who defeated all foes & accomplished our salvation. It reveals that with Him many will ascend, showing how God provides us salvation by grace (v5). We can't climb to God, but He came down to us, so we could rise with Him (Heb 2:10). He fulfilled the conditions of v4; then ascended to Heaven (v7-10), to make a way for us to rise with Him. Before this no man ascended to Heaven (John 3:13). He alone fulfils God's standards. The scene describes this glorified Man ascending to Heaven & coming to its Gates to request access. v7-10: “Lift up your heads, O you Gates! and be lifted up, you everlasting Doors! and the KING of GLORY shall come in. Who is this KING of GLORY? (God does not seek entrance to Heaven, so this refers to Christ, His anointed human King). The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle (He's the Lord God, who became a man, fought the battle & won the victory for us). Lift up your heads, O you Gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this KING of GLORY? The LORD of HOSTS (armies), He is the KING of GLORY. Selah.” v3 asked: 'Who can ascend?' Here is the answer. He lived a perfect life, defeated all foes & ascended, but not on His own. He's the Lord of armies. When He enters thru the Gates, His army of saints enter with Him, united to Him by faith. He gained access to Heaven for all under His command. Thus Ps 24 deals with the issue of salvation, asking & answering: “Who may ascend?” (v3). To enter requires moral perfection (v4). When we receive Him, we receive His righteousness, so in Him we ascend into God's Presence & receive His blessing (v5). He's the Head and we, His Body, rise with Him. He rose as our representative, so we ascend in Him. Thus Christ, the Righteous One, is the Way to God (John 14:6,12). Moses' Tabernacle teaches our access to the Holy Place (v3) is only by His Blood. Ps 24:7-10 also reveals His future earthly ascension to David's throne. He humbly offered Himself to Israel as her King with salvation, but the leaders didn't receive Him. He said He'd only return when they repent & receive Him as King (Matt 23:37-39). They'll do this at Armageddon & then He'll return as King of Glory to Zion, save them from their enemies & establish His Kingdom (Zech 14:3-4). When Israel receives Him as King, He'll manifest His glory to, thru & for her. Notice, He didn't force Himself into Heaven, or force His reign on Israel, and He doesn't force Himself on us. We must receive Him as our King, and then He'll manifest His glory in & thru us. He reveals & offers Himself to us to be our Lord & Saviour. When we open the gates of our heart to Him, He comes in with His glory, 1st into our spirit, then into different parts of our soul. So v7-10 can be applied personally. He fulfilled it by ascending into the Heavenly Temple, but we're also God's Temple & He has the right to enter our holy of holies & be enthroned there. The Gospel declares v7 (Rev 3:20). By these words, He seeks access to our Temple, and we must open our gates & let Him in. When we do, He enters our spirit & imparts His glory (manifested nature) to us, as a free gift, making our spirit righteous, holy, full of His life & light, enabling us to ascend into God's Presence in Him. Since He's already ascended, as soon as He enters into us, we automatically ascend in our spirit to the Father thru our union to Him, by His power & righteousness in us. He comes in as the Lord, delivering us from the power of darkness & translating us into His Kingdom. Then His glory (love) works in our souls from within, changing us from glory to glory, so we increasingly fulfil His righteous requirements (v4). As we increase in holiness, the more we can ascend into His Presence to commune with Him (v3). He continues to ask for more access to every part of our soul, with the words of v7, so as we open our doors, inviting Him in to reign, He manifests Himself in us as the King of Glory, the Lord strong & mighty in battle, releasing His power & victory in us.

True Leadership & Revival (audio) David Eells 12/4/24 The Lord is going to repeat the history written in the Gospels and Book of Acts on a much larger scale. Read God's Word and make sure that you will be on the right side of what is coming. Those early disciples were raised in their youth to believe that they were the people of God and that their apostate leaders were Godly men, until the Word of God through Jesus opened their eyes. When this happened they became a threat to the apostate (backslidden) leadership. Great persecution will come from the official church against those who begin to believe and walk in the steps of Jesus instead of religion. We know this to be so because it has been happening and will continue just as it says in Ecc 1:9 That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. If your church does not teach the Word as it was given in the beginning you are not learning to abide in Christ. You are in danger of being on the wrong side of what is coming. 1Jn 2:24 As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. Christianity has followed in the steps of Judaism with its paid professionals who do not know God and have added to or taken away from the “everlasting covenant” with their traditions. They pay no heed to the warning in Rev 22:18 I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues which are written in this book: 19 and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book. The prophet Joel declares a full restoration of all that the curse and religion has taken from God's people for years, first the Jews, and then the Gentiles. Joe 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former (or early) rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first [month]. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. God's people will be restored from the devastation that these insect type curses did to His crop in the early and now going into the latter rain. This rain was identified in verses 28,29 as an outpouring of the Spirit on them. Peter quotes verses 28,29 in Joel declaring that the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost was a fulfillment of this prophecy. Act 2:16 but this is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams. This early rain came to the Jews that believed to restore them after a great falling away and then it was passed on to the Gentiles. Those disciples who received that power of the Spirit walked as Jesus walked and did His works. The pagans called them “Christians”. There's not enough evidence to convict many “Christians” of that anymore but the story is not over. For 2000 years only a few have been partakers of the early rain. The early and latter rain will come to those who believe, to restore the fallen Church and then it will be passed on to the Jews, because now most of them are the unbelievers. When will the latter rain come? Both the Jews and the Church have fallen away from what was given on Pentecost for 2000 years. The Spirit of God says in Hos 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me earnestly. In the midst of affliction, which has already started, His people say in Hos 6:1 Come, and let us return unto Jehovah; for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days will he revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. 3 And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah: his going forth is sure as the morning; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain that watereth the earth. We see here that on the morning of the third day, where we are now, the latter rain outpouring will come to empower and restore the Church. What are these days? 2Pe 3:8 But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Having read the writings of the early church fathers I can tell you that they commonly believed in the 1000-year day and that after six of these days the end would come. The Hindus, Muslims, and the Jews also believed this. Gibbon in “The Rise And Fall of The Roman Empire” said that the Christians believed this. I have found in Scripture over a dozen astounding revelations using the 1000-year days pointing to this time in which we live. The Bible is laid out in seven prophetic 1000-year days. These days are always numbered from the creation of the first Adam or the birth of the last Adam. There were 4000 years or four days between the Adams. I believe in September of 2001 to 2002 we came approximately to the Biblical year 6000 A.M. (Anno Mundi -year of the world). This begins the morning of the third day or third thousand years from the last, new creation Adam, Jesus Christ. It will also be the morning of the seventh day from the old creation Adam. This is when the end time begins and God finishes His work as God said in Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. According to this type God is about to finish His new creation work on the seventh day and rest. This soon coming latter rain outpouring will restore the true believers to the holiness, power, and ministry of Jesus. Religion will fight against this as they did the early rain and this time it will be worldwide. In perfect parallel to the early rain in the Book of Acts, this revival will come to the people of God who will receive it in the latter rain. God's crop is about to burst forth on this morning of the third day. As with the early rain this revival will not be spawned in the established apostate church but on the streets. As they lose their “members” the jealousy of the New Testament Pharisees and Sadducees will be evident. This revival will not be the placebo of false signs that have been seen, but a restoration of the Biblical gifts and powers to the righteous Joe 2:23-25. And as Jesus said, “greater works than these shall you do”. Mass healings and deliverances will come through the Man-child reformer ministers. The Med Beds will be put to shame.   The Real Apostolic Church Matthew J. Burdette (David's notes in red) I was in prayer several nights ago, and God began to show me a vision. In this vision I saw one that I knew to be an Apostle out in the streets. He was healing the sick, wheelchair cases were getting up out of their chairs, shouting and praising God. He was as Jesus was when He walked the earth. The very power of heaven seemed to be at his disposal without effort. (At this same time, God began to speak to me, or reveal to me, what was happening, almost in a narrative sense.) As the Apostle did the miraculous, he was also proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the people. His message did not veer from the message Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. It was “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. (Mass baptisms of water and Spirit will happen.) Many believed his words, and obeyed his message. Great revival was present! As the Apostle continued to proclaim and work the miracles, I saw others come on the scene. These men were leaders in churches. God was not moving for them in the same way he was with the Apostle, yet they were carrying the title of “Apostolic.” There was a hatred that came upon them for the Apostle. They despised his miracles, and began to say his power came from the devil. They cut him off from their fellowship and began to persecute him.  At this time I saw him in several different ways, or scenarios. Some of the “Apostolic” men began to try to turn the people away from the Apostle. Some followed them because they were ‘Elders in the church.' Their position and standing in the assembly swayed some to their view. They then began to fight the Apostle, throwing rocks at him, he was put in prison. He was even killed. It seemed strange, but as the Apostle suffered the persecution and was killed he still continued to do the work. (They will be dead to self, the world and religion.) Even after he was killed he was still there, preaching salvation, and showing God's power through the signs and wonders that he did. As all this was being shown to me God was narrating the whole thing to me. This is what He was saying: “The Apostle is the Real Apostolic Church. He is My Ambassador to the world. He will demonstrate My power to the world, but he will hold the same doctrine that the first Apostles taught, any other doctrine negates him as My Ambassador. The Apostle will be men that do not limit Me. They will ask for the impossible, so that I may get the Glory, because man could not do what they were asking. They will believe Me for the limitless.” As the scene changed, and the Apostle began to be persecuted, I seemed to know the interpretation as it happened. The Real Church will be persecuted by those that claim to be the church - much like the Pharisees persecuted Jesus. They will try to draw some away by speaking against the move of God through the Apostle (the Real Church). Some will follow them because they have been the leaders of the “church” for years. As God continues to move on the Real Church, these false leaders will hate all who stand with the Apostle. They will fight and cast false accusations, drawing some away. They will turn the ‘governments that be' against the Real Church. Men will be put in prison. Some will be put to death. (And some spiritually put to death.) Yet all the persecution will not destroy or stop the Real Apostolic Church from the task before them. The gates of hell will not prevail!     Corporate David Raises Apostles Soon Garrett Crawford - 05/13/2009 (David's notes in red) In this dream, the first thing I remember was that I was at my pc, looking at a website. There was some kind of piece written about a movie. The movie was about a few young men who traveled the world and ultimately changed it forever. I assumed it was about the first apostles. I was amazed at the good things the critic had to say about them and the movie because I did not think of him as a Christian. After I saw this, I began to look around some more on these young men and saw that there were many movies and books written about them. It was like they were larger than life and the whole world knew about their great works. But I also got the feeling that what they had accomplished was a one-time thing, never to be duplicated. As I sat and found myself thinking about them, I began to even admire them and think of the greatness of their works. (To most of the Church, the things that happened in the Gospels and Acts have passed away and are only of historic value, but God will repeat the former rain in a latter rain that will cover the world. Ecc 3:15 That which is hath been long ago; and that which is to be hath long ago been: and God seeketh again that which is passed away.) Shortly after this, I found myself sitting down on the floor with a small group of young men, some younger than me. David Eells was in the middle, sitting in a wooden chair. (I am being used as a type of this thing that will happen corporately all over the world, through the David ministries God told me He was about to raise up.) He had a book in his hands and he was teaching these men, but this was no ordinary teaching. He was preparing these men who sat around him to do many mighty works. He was raising them up to walk in the steps of their first-century counterparts. These who sat around him were on the verge of shaking the world and it was all going to start in this humble setting, in a small living room. (In the steps of the apostles, modern apostles will be raised up by the Man-childs to bring a remnant of the Church back to their biblical foundations in this coming latter rain. While the world was all excited about a movie of the former miracle workers, something so great was stirring here in this house and no one knew. (Much of the church has been deceived that God is not raising a people in the image of Christ to prove the power of His salvation.) While I was sitting there, my mom (representing the Church) walked in and said, “Garrett, the new movie just came out. Do you want to go see it?” I remembered my excitement about it and said yes, but then, as I looked back to David and the group sitting around him, it dawned on me, why would I want to see a movie about the past when I, along with these others, are on the verge of reliving what those men did, in the very near future? (In a repetition of history, many religious people will walk in the steps of their forefathers -- the Pharisees, Sadducees and Zealots -- in persecuting these men because of the dead letter that is taught to them. These Apostles and those who spring from them will shake the world.)     Revelation Given To David Walters I arrived early for the Sunday service and sat in a local church in Georgia. I looked around the sanctuary and saw only one or two other people. I looked around at the condition of the church and saw that it was well maintained. I have visited this church a number of times over the years. I had even preached there on several occasions: the first time in the mid-eighties. WHERE WAS EVERYONE? The sanctuary was capable of seating about four hundred. I knew there would be far less in attendance than 400. Probably around seventy or eighty. I began to consider what would be needed to fill that church. I began to imagine what I would do to fill it, if I were the pastor. Make the platform larger? Take the front pews out? Get rid of the grand piano and install a keyboard? Look for many gifted musicians? Change the pulpit to a fiberglass see through podium? Put banners on the walls? Make the meetings more attractive and exciting, in order to draw in lots of young families with kids and lots of young single adults? I said, “Yes Lord, I know You want to fill this church, but I'm not quite sure how”. The Lord then answered me and said, “I am not interested in filling church buildings. I have never been interested in filling church buildings, for it has never been on My agenda. My desire and My agenda is not fill church buildings, but to fill the whole earth with My glory. This has always been My agenda, to fill the heavens and the earth with My glory”. He then told me to check it out in the scriptures. “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea”. (Hab 2:14.) “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory Amen and Amen”. (Psa 72:19)  He then went on to say, “There are many church buildings that are full today, but they have nothing to do with Me. I am not interested in filling church buildings, but many buildings will be filled, because of Me. But this will happen because of the moving of My Spirit upon the earth. When My Spirit moves you will not have enough buildings to contain the sinners and backsliders which will pour into my church. They will fill the streets, the marketplaces, the places of business in the cities. Yes! Every area of society will be affected by My mighty outpouring. For I am more concerned about nations, countries, cities and villages, than I am about church buildings. I am more concerned about nations than church affiliations and denominations.  For when My people become more concerned about their communities, their cities, their villages and their nations and pray and seek My face and give up their own agenda's and come into unity and seek Me for My agenda and My glory, then I will come upon their communities and their cities and their villages and their nations. When My people renounce the religious spirit, which has polluted much of My Body and caused division and has weakened My church and made her impotent, then I will hear and answer”. “When My church refuses to trust in the arm of the flesh, and in human talents, and renounces vain traditions, and casts out spirits of suspicion against herself, and calls upon My name, then I will come and visit her with My great power and presence. Expect to see a great sign and wonder which I am waiting to accomplish. Observe what I have already done and am doing in the nations across the world and know that there is nothing too hard for Me. For I am no respecter of persons, or countries, or nations; therefore humble yourselves, renounce the spirits of darkness and evil, repent of your sins and pray for a visitation of My Spirit upon your nation. When My people humble themselves, then I will humble the nations”.     True Church Government David Eells The common church government today breeds false prophets. Jesus, as a type of the Man-child, raised up the apostolic fathers to found the Church on a five-fold ministry of men who are spiritual specialists in their field. Pro 11:14 Where no wise guidance is, the people falleth; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Jesus Christ is the Spirit (1 Cor.15:45) and head of His Body the Church (Epe.5:23). His headship is manifested physically through the five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Epe.4:11). The members of the head represent these different five-fold ministers. Apostle is Greek for “one sent forth”, and they are sent to raise up churches and set them in order. The apostles are ‘a jack of all trades' with a little of the gift of the rest of the five-fold ministry so they can discern the elders that they are called to ordain (Act.14:23). Elders are ordained five-fold ministers, not assistants to the pastor (Act.20:17, 11:30). Even apostles are elders (1Pe.5:1; 2Jn.1; 3Jn.1). When the legalists were trying to bring the Gentiles under the law the apostles and the other elders were gathered to consider this problem (Act.15:6). Together the elders made a decision (v-22) and sent their findings to the rest of the church (v-23; 16:4). Let's consider the other elders who are members of the head. The prophets are the spiritual eyes of the head and see what others do not. Isa 29:10 For Jehovah... hath closed your eyes, the prophets... 11 And all vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed. The pastors or shepherds are the nose of the head because they lead the local body of sheep to pastures with a discernment that is neither from their eyes or ears. There is no such thing as an assistant pastor in Scriptures. You either are a pastor or you are not. Teachers are the ears of the head. Solomon asked for “an understanding heart” in 1 Ki.3:9 and in verse 12 God granted him “an understanding heart”. The Hebrew word for “understanding” in both verses is “hearing”.  I was first ordained through an apostle to be a teacher. Later a prophet who knew nothing of this saw a vision of me with ears as big as elephants. Later the Lord appeared to me twice and re-ordained me to another office, which was confirmed by other ministers. I am certainly not comparing myself to Paul, but he was re-ordained as an example that the Lord does do this (Act.13:1-4; 14:14). The evangelist is the mouth of the head because he ministers to those outside the body. It takes all of these to perfect the saints and raise up others into the head (Eph.4:12,15) so that individuals in the Body have a portion of these gifts so they may be guided and used personally by their Lord. Now you know why Satan wanted to replace the five-fold ministry with a manmade one-fold ministry. This false government is easier to corrupt and the saints are not perfected by it. Through men with a lust for power Satan has been able to destroy the Scriptural government of the church. God never wanted a king over Israel; men did. They said, “make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1Sa.8:5). Does pastor, assistant pastor, and elders sound a lot like President, Vice-President, and cabinet? The church has copied “all the nations” as Israel did. God gave Israel the king they wanted saying,       “they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them (7). God has given the church her kings too. God also warned Israel that their king would take their children to serve him and would charge them a tithe of everything for his service (10-18). Sound familiar? Pastors, without any Scriptural foundation, tell us that the Lord did away with the five-fold ministry after the apostles died. Actually it was false prophets who did away with the five-fold ministry. In our worldly system the pastor usurps the authority of the rest of the five-fold ministry. I have heard pastors who are not even filled with the Spirit claim that today they are the prophets when they expound the Word under the anointing. If this does not make them false prophets, then I do not know what does. As far as the five-fold ministry is concerned, nowhere in Scripture does the pastor take authority over a prophet or teacher or vice versa. In the world do doctors take authority in a lawyer's field or vice versa? Does it make sense to be given authority over another's gift that you have no expertise in? If a prophet, speaking in the Spirit, is told to shut up by a pastor, then God is told to shut up. (Many can exercise the gift to prophesy but the office of prophet is that of an overseer that has authority in the Body.) Remember that each of the five-fold ministers are overseers (or bishops) who are specialists in their field with authority only in their gift. Each is a portion of the head of the Body of Christ and necessary for the guidance of the Body. However, when one of the five-fold ministers falls into sin or gets deceived, the rest have authority to correct, discipline, or throw them out (1Cor.5:9-13). This insures the safety of the sheep. The false system of shepherd-ship is the Nicolaitan error, which Jesus said He hates (Rev.2:6,15). Nicolaitan comes from two words, “Nikao”, meaning “to conquer”, and “laity”, meaning “the people”. This was and is a privileged order who consider themselves above the common people as mediators between them and God. Ministers are to make disciples of Jesus and His Word, not themselves and their traditions. He is the mediator. The Protestants falsely copied the Nicolaitan error from the Catholic Church, which partially took it from the Old Testament priesthood. Jesus constantly denounced this worldly relationship between the ministry and the people. We read this in Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 26 Not so shall it be among you: but whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister (Greek: “servant”); 27 and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant (Greek: “bondservant”): 28 even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto (Greek: “served”), but to minister (Greek: “serve”), and to give his life a ransom for many. Mat 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, [even] the Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.     Jesus' Coming on Board Brings Revival David Eells Many years ago I asked the Lord, “Why is there so much spiritual resistance and all the wicked coming against us, with limited success in getting the Word out to the multitudes?” I was led to flip my Bible open and stick my finger down without looking and I got: Luk 5:4 And when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answered and said, Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing: but at thy word I will let down the nets. 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their nets were breaking; 7 and they beckoned unto their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9 For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken; 10 and so were also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. So this is saying the disciples worked in relative darkness while Jesus, as a type of the Man-child, wasn't in the boat and they caught no fish, representing the lack of revival. When Jesus entered the boat and gave the Word, the catch was overwhelming. I have said that we are building a platform for the Man-child ministry and not us. PTL! Come on board, Lord! The fact that He gave me this underlined part of the verse, from henceforth thou shalt catch men, says to me that we are almost at that point when Jesus comes on board and we will be amazed at the multitudes coming into the Kingdom. I then said, “What else will you speak about this, Lord?” In the same way I got the part below, which is a type of Jesus in the end-time Man-child. Rom 15:12 And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be the root of Jesse (A type of David / Jesus / and Jesus in the Man-child), And he that ariseth to rule over the Gentiles (Nations); On him shall the Gentiles (Nations) hope. 13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit. God is permitting hindrance until the timing is right when the light of the coming of the glory of Jesus in the Man-child will start the great revival. For many years it has been prophesied that a great revival would start in Pensacola, Florida. When I lived there a prophetess pointed me out all the way across a large church saying loudly that I was the one the Word would come through. That was my first time there and her first time there. (In 1993, Dr. David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, South Korea, the world's largest church, conducted a meeting in Seattle, Washington. As he prayed for revival in America, he questioned, “God are you going to send revival to America, or is she destined for judgment?” The Lord instructed him to get a map of America. He did so, and the Holy Spirit told him to point his finger at the map. As he did, he felt his finger drawn to the Florida panhandle and to the city of Pensacola. “I am going to send revival to the seaside city of Pensacola, and it will spread like a fire until all of America has been consumed by it”, said the Lord to Dr. Cho.) When the Brownsville Revival came, pastor Cho at first thought this was the fulfillment of his revelation, but I knew that it was only the counterfeit before the real even as Babel came before the real virgin birth. I believe we will get the boat built but won't have great success until the soon coming glory of God comes aboard through the Man-child reformers. Then I got this verse: 1Pe 4:13 but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. (The greater glory is coming through the Man-child reformers.) 14 If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed [are ye]; because the [Spirit] of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.     Saul's Death Brings David and Revival Shirley Hinkle (David's notes in red) I was told by God at the end of 2007 to fast for the death of Saul (1 Chronicles 10:12). (God does not want us to pray for the death of any individual but for the death of the Saul ministry which is leading God's people to death. [See Pharisees, Saul & Eli Ministry series.] An apostate Saul ministry is spiritually dying now to make room for the anointed Davids, the coming Man-child Reformers, in whom Jesus will be manifested by Word and Spirit. 1Ch 10:6 So Saul died, and his three sons; and all his house died together. ... 11:1-3 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, ... Thou shalt be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince over my people Israel. ... and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Jehovah by Samuel.) During this fast I had 2 dreams. Dream 01/04/2008 A man walked up to me in my dream and said, “Pray for the womb to heal from the inside out, prepare for the seed”. (The seed of the Word has to have good nurturing soil in us to bring forth the fruit of Jesus. When the seed is planted, Saul's death will be completed in nine months and the Davids, as the Man-child, will be anointed. Also the Davids will be planting the seed of the Kingdom in the womb of the saints.) Dream 01/06/2008 I was in this room with some other people. We were sitting in rows of chairs; there were just a few of us there. David Eells (Representing the coming David, Man-child reformers in whom Jesus will live by Word and Spirit.) walked into the room and said, “Where is everybody?” (In the beginning there will be only a few. According to Rev 3:10, it is only the Bride of the Philadelphia Church who will escape the hour of trial for they have already been tried.) David said, “Maybe they all went in the rapture after all.” He then chuckled in that little laugh of his and we all laughed with him. The atmosphere in the room was very light and peaceful. A woman walked into the room and up to David and said, “You need to remove that big farmer's machine that is blocking the front door; not everyone knows about the side door over there that we use. (In other visions we have seen two doors: a smaller one opened in the beginning for the first fruits and a larger door for the ingathering harvest at the end.) So we all looked and sure enough, there blocking the front door was this big planter machine that puts the seed into the ground to fertilize it. (Jesus was not seeking for the multitudes since he spent much time with 12 disciples who could perfectly reflect Him to the world. He was the pattern to be duplicated. These 12 became a geometric progression that later reached the World.) The next scene David was passing out something to the few of us who were there. When he came to me I saw he was carrying a very large brown woven basket full of water. (The basket is our life full of the water of the Word. The coming revival will have a small beginning — the Bride, which is Zion. Psa 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When Jehovah bringeth back the captivity of his people, Then shall Jacob rejoice, [and] Israel shall be glad.) I looked into the basket to see what it was and saw it was full of pickled cucumbers. (Cucumbers are mostly water and are full of seeds and they were in the water of the Word. When pickled they are incorruptible.  This is what purifies souls or manifests Christ in you. 1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: 23 having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth. Zion is the “small remnant” that has the seed to restore the rest of Israel. Isa 1:7 Your country is desolate; your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah.)  I got very excited and said, “Oh, I have one of those too”, and we looked down on my lap and there was the exact same very large brown woven basket full of water with pickled cucumbers. (We are to bring our baskets full of the Word to feed the revival.) The people around us started eating from the baskets and found it to be very refreshing, they said. (The seed of the Kingdom greatly refreshes. Song 2:5 Stay ye me with raisins [old seed], refresh me with apples [new seed]..., and Mat 13:52 And he said unto them, Therefore every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.) As the people started eating, the people began to multiply until the room was packed and there was no place to sit; it was standing room only. People were trying to make room for even more who were coming in. (Passing around the incorruptible seed of the Word will make for a great revival.) In the front of the room a lady called to me to come to her, so I did and when I reached her, I recognized her to be from the UBM ministry. She had a teabag in her hand and then handed me enough to make a cup of tea. When she went to hand it to me she got so happy she started rejoicing. She said to me, “Look!” and I turned and there behind me was a line of people that was so long we couldn't see the end. (This is the geometric progression. One shared with ten. Ten shares with a hundred. A great revival is coming our way.) She started laughing and rejoicing again, saying, “I don't know if I will have enough teabags for everyone, but I will continue to pass it out”. (Skillful workers in the Kingdom are like teabags that pass on the pure flavor of the tea without passing on the flesh of the tea leaves.)

*Listen to the Show notes and podcast transcript with this multi-language player. SUMMARY: After a person has received Christ, he can go into a determination to grow in God and find how he is to relate to the Body of Christ. The challenges can occur in knowing how to communicate and relate both to believers and unbelievers. One of the stumbling blocks in communicating can show up when you discover you do not necessarily agree with the beliefs of other people. This does not need to end up in divisiveness, but there can be an attitude of heart where a person grows in the spirit and learns how not to break oneness. SHOW NOTES: Everyone is included in His Body; no one is excluded. There may be things that we have believed in the past that we may need to drop. When we have been brought into a level of oneness and we hear something that we may not agree with, we can hold that thought before the Lord in order to get a revelation of that thing. When a group gets into a discussion and they don't agree, they don't need to get into a debate or determine to prove a point. Everyone is able to state their beliefs, but can determine not to “push” those beliefs. If everyone does this, then you can have disagreement without division. Competitiveness is related to immaturity. Every one of us comes through a stage of getting out of your immaturity to drop the individual focus and come into a being a part of the Body. QUOTATIONS: Oneness is not a human ability. The oneness that we're talking about is a oneness of spirit. If I am with a...

Christ calls us to work for unity in His Body on earth, as St. Josaphat did. “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.”

November 17, 2024 Today's Reading: Mark 13:1-13Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 33:1-22; Jeremiah 34:1-36:32; 45:1-51:64; Matthew 27:11-32And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. (Mark 13:5)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.There is no shortage of people who have claimed to be the Messiah throughout history. A quick Wikipedia search will bring up over forty names of people who have claimed to be some kind of “messiah.” This is not a surprising thing. It is actually expected if we read the scriptures and take Jesus' words seriously. He already has warned of this. People will come and they will make false claims, not only about being the messiah but about the end times as well. Most recently, the Eclipse brought out all the conspiracy theories and doomsday preppers on places like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. It was flooded with calls to get right with God because the time is drawing near. Clearly, the signs tell us this. Maybe you rolled your eyes at the predictions. After all, Jesus makes it clear that no one knows the day or the hour of His return except for the Father. Or maybe you found yourself struck with fear. After all, wars, national disasters, persecution– all of those things sound scary. I, for one, can admit if I had the choice, I would rather not live through wars, natural disasters, and persecution. Yet, we ought not be afraid of the things to come. Instead, we stay vigilant, discerning against the voices proclaiming false truths and listening to the Voice of Truth. Listen to Jesus and what He has to say to you. My mind goes to the Gospel of Saint John, where Jesus speaks to His disciples. Allow these words to speak to you who find yourself worried about what the future holds. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Christ continues to overcome the world, Christ continues to bring peace, Christ continues to give himself to you. So go where He promises to be, receive His Body and Blood, hear His Word preached, and be at peace; Jesus has overcome the world. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.O Lord, by your bountiful goodness release us from the bonds of our sins, which by reason of our weakness we have brought upon ourselves, that we may stand firm until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.-Rev. Caleb Weight, associate pastor of Peace In Christ Lutheran Church in Hermantown, MN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.Spend time reading and meditating on God's Word throughout the Church Year with the Enduring Grace Journal. Includes scripture readings, prayers, prompts, and space for journaling. The Church Year Journal, Enduring Grace, now available from Concordia Publishing House. 

November 13, 2024 Today's Reading: Matthew 26:20-35Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 26:1-19; Revelation 13:1-18; Matthew 26:20-35Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you,for this is my blood of the [new testament], which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:26-28)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus is with His Apostles in the Upper Room, preparing to go to the cross to die. Three days later, He will be raised from the dead. Forty days later, He will ascend to Heaven, leaving His Apostles and His church here on Earth.Jesus is the Lord who will not leave His people alone. Ascended to Heaven, He will never not be with His church. So, on the night when He was betrayed, He gave His church a mandate. He instituted the Gift by which He would bodily be with His church until he comes again.Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the [new testament], which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”Until that day, when He comes with glory to judge both the living and the dead, He remains with His Church. He brings us again and again into His remembrance, forgiving our sin.In the midst of the church, He is with us in his Body and Blood. Among the people He loves, He is proclaiming His Father's Name (cf. Hebrews 2:11-13), cleansing us of all sin, declaring us innocent of all guilt, and covering all of our shame. Here, among us, with us, He is bestowing on us the wealth of His cross.That's what Jesus was doing in that Upper Room with his Apostles. A Man on His way to death— He was instituting His Last Will and Testament so that upon His death, the wealth of His cross would be freely given out to His beneficiaries, to all those He calls into His Church (cf. Hebrews 9:15-16). It's His Gift. Christ instituted it. It is life itself, instituted by Christ for us Christians to eat and drink.The sureness and certainty of this Gift depends upon Him alone. We do not make the Sacrament, nor does it derive any authority or worthiness from us. It is His Body and His Blood. Your sins are forgiven.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Your body and Your blood, Once slain and shed for me, Are taken at Your table, Lord, In blest reality. (LSB 628:3)-Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NMAudio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.Spend time reading and meditating on God's Word throughout the Church Year with the Enduring Grace Journal. Includes scripture readings, prayers, prompts, and space for journaling. The Church Year Journal, Enduring Grace, now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Read OnlineJesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. John 2:19–21We celebrate, today, the Lateran Basilica in Rome, the mother church of the entire Roman Catholic Church. It was given to the Bishop of Rome in the fourth century and remained the pope's primary residence until the building of St. Peter's Basilica, at a time when the Lateran Basilica was falling into ruins. However, the Lateran Basilica to this day remains the most important Church in the world, since it is officially the Cathedral Church of Rome.As we honor this church, we honor more than a building. The Lateran Basilica is a symbol of the one true Church of Jesus Christ. Its interior is beautiful and awe-inspiring so as to point us to the unimaginable beauty of the Church Herself, which is the Mystical Body of Christ.Today's Gospel depicts Jesus entering the Temple and driving the money changers out with a whip and the animals they were selling for profit. As He did so, He cried out, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace.” Psalm 69 is then quoted: Zeal for your house will consume me.Jesus loves His Church as His own Body—because that is what it is. As His Body, the members of His Church are called and sent to act as His instruments, members of His saving action. Much more than a church building, today we honor the Church Herself—which means we honor you, insofar as you are a member of the Body of Christ. And in light of this Gospel passage for today's Feast, we are reminded of the zeal that our Lord has for the cleansing of His Church.How is the Church purified? It is purified by the cleansing of Her members. That means that Jesus desires, with perfect zeal, to drive out every sin from your soul, cleansing the filth that keeps you from fulfilling your essential role as a member of His Body.Sometimes we become slack in our own commitment to be purified. We can easily become comfortable with the sins we commit, and we can form habits that are hard to break. When this happens, it is useful to ponder this story of the cleansing of the Temple and see it as Jesus' desire to cleanse our own soul. At times, we need to be shaken up, challenged, confronted and encouraged with the unwavering zeal in the heart of our Lord. Reflect, today, upon this powerful image of Jesus cleansing the Temple. As you do, apply it to your own life. The people selling and buying in the Temple must have been shocked at Jesus' zeal and actions. If you have become complacent with your sins, try to allow this holy shock to also wake you up. Allow our Lord's zeal to affect you, and know that His purifying actions are acts of love by which He desires to free you to become a more fully functioning member of His holy Church.My zealous Lord, Your heart burns with a deep desire to cleanse me and all Your children from sin. Your zeal reveals Your deep love and Your willingness to do all that You can to make me a fuller member of Your Body, the Church. Open my mind and will, dear Lord, to all that You wish to say to me and give me the grace to respond to Your purifying action in my life. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured image above: Jesus Speaks Near the Treasury by James Tissot, via Wikimedia Commons

November 5, 2024 Today's Reading: Hebrews 9:11-22Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 7:1-29; Matthew 23:1-12How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. (Hebrews 9:14-17)A man sits in a room with twelve other men. The twelve are legal witnesses. This is serious business. The man knows that he will shortly die. He has assembled the legal witnesses in order to establish his Last Will and Testament. Upon his death, his legally binding Last Will and Testament will be put into effect, and his wealth will be distributed to his beneficiaries, as he established in his testimony to his legal witnesses.The man on His way to His death is Jesus. Into this death, He was baptized to be the sacrificial “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).His wealth to be distributed? His Body and Blood (“Take, eat … Drink ye all of it … this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” [Matthew 26:26-28 KJV]). The beneficiaries? They're the sinners for whom He will shortly die. When you go to the Lord's Supper, you are receiving the Last Will and Testament Jesus made before He died. As Hebrews 9 says, a Testament is put into force only upon the death of the Testator. Jesus is the Testator. He then died. His death puts His Testament into force until He comes again. So take and eat, take and drink; it is His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins. Because He is bodily resurrected and living, His wealth, His Body and Blood, never runs out. By the way, some Bible translations weakly use the word covenant instead of testament. So why does your Pastor always repeat Jesus' command as “this is the New Testament in My Blood” when consecrating the Lord's Supper? To answer that, look at Hebrews 9:16-17, where Scripture makes clear that the Greek word is here, emphasizing that it is the legal testament made by a man before his death. In this case, the man making the testament is Jesus; the beneficiary of the wealth is you. Your sin is forgiven. For Jesus will never abandon the promise of his Body and Blood.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.O Jesus, blessed Lord, to Thee My heartfelt thanks forever be, Who has so lovingly bestowed On me Thy body and Thy blood. (LSB 632:1)-Rev. Warren Graff, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, NMAudio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.Spend time reading and meditating on God's Word throughout the Church Year with the Enduring Grace Journal. Includes scripture readings, prayers, prompts, and space for journaling. The Church Year Journal, Enduring Grace, now available from Concordia Publishing House. 

11/3/24 message from Pastor Ralph Royea Brief description of show/service topic —You Knit ‘T'— Unity David was a man after God's heart. A ruddy shepherd, faithful to his father's sheep, somehow, he caught and or captured the attention and heart of Father God. It was not David's personality, publicity, or prominence that got him noticed, but likely his private praise, powerful confessions, and his pursuit of the mercy and grace of Father God that brought favor to him and anointing over his life. Here we have a man after the heart of God, while simultaneously having his heart chased by King Saul, but for the purpose of ending its echo of existence. The favor and anointing of Father God on David's life stirred up a murderous spirit in King Saul. Saul, being motivated by comparison, acted upon the emotions of envy and jealousy. As you and I walk into the fullness of Father's anointing and favor we will find that some people who once called us friends and found us meaningful; may turn against us. 2 Cor 2:16 lays it out for us well, “To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?” We can suffer these things because we do not suffer them alone, but in the unity we have with Christ and with His Body. We must protect this unity, in the Assembly of Saints. We do not have room for criticism, competition, or comparison. In the Body, we are not simply Christian in name only, but followers and disciples of Christ. In this, we operate for the sake of comm”unity” in Care, Concern, Compassion, and Completion. “You Knit” these things together with favor and anointing and we will never suffer Saul's fate. https://www.thcanfield.com https://soundcloud.com/touchheavenministries https://www.facebook.com/TouchHeavenMinistries https://twitter.com/TouchHeaven

October 25, 2024Today's Reading: Matthew 17:14-27Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 27:1-26; Matthew 17:14-27What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. (Matthew 17:25-26)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It sounds too good to be true, but that does not mean that it's not true. That's just the nature of the gospel. It defies all human reason and thought because the gospel is for those who cannot pay for it, not for those who can. It's for the unrighteous, not the righteous. The gospel is for you.The gospel is for you because Jesus places no burden or tax on you being in His Father's kingdom. His death lifted every burden and paid every tax for you. Beware of anyone, then, who would want to turn faith into the only burden or tax demanded of you. Faith will quickly become just another burden or tax you cannot fully pay. Jesus says, “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to here,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20-21). Like the apostles, then, all we can confess is, “No wonder I am always crashing into mountains.” “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).Like the apostles, we have an imperfect faith. But also, like the apostles, we have a perfect Savior. Jesus' death on the cross declares us fully righteous in God's sight and completely holy in His judgment. Jesus' death on the cross is why God does not keep score but sets all our sins aside and declares us heirs in His eternal kingdom. Baptized into Jesus, pardoned by His Word, fed His Body and Blood, God has moved mountains Himself and set us free from the greatest mountain of all, ourselves.  “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17)  Hear in that cry the call of the One Who moves mountains for you, for there is no burden now, no tax at all. God requires nothing from you for you to be or to remain in His kingdom. Jesus' death lifted every burden and paid every tax for you. That is the promise of the gospel. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God's own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ! He, because I could not pay it, Gave my full redemption price. Do I need earth's treasures many? I have one worth more than any That brought me salvation free Lasting to eternity! (LSB 594:1)-Rev. Bradley Drew, pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Metairie, LA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.In Embracing Your Lutheran Identity, Author Gene Edward Veith Jr. will guide readers through that heritage, starting with the Early Church and moving through the Reformation to Lutheranism today. Readers will learn about key people in the history of Lutheranism, from two teenagers who were the first martyrs of the Reformation, through the Saxon immigrants who left everything behind so they could practice Lutheranism freely, to the Lutherans who have stood strong for the faith in our own day.

EPHESIANS 4:1-6 - UNITY OF THE SPIRIT - BRIAN SUMNER - 2024What does it mean to be a Prisoner of The Lord, to walk worthy of our calling, to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?How is it that Jesus views His Bride, the Church, His Body? As divided, or as one? To support this channel and partner with Brian in Ministryhttps://www.briansumner.net/support/For more on Brianhttp://www.briansumner.net  / briansumner    / briansumnerofficial    / brisumner    / briansumnerministry  To listen to Brians Podcast, click below.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Purchase Brians Marriage book at https://www.amazon.com/Never-Fails-Da...Brian is a full time "Urban Missionary" both locally and internationally with a focus on MISSIONS - MARRIAGES - MINISTRY. Since coming to faith in 2004 doors continued opening locally and internationally to do more and more ministry with a focus on Evangelism, Outreach Missions, Marriage, Counsel, Schools, Festivals, Conferences and the like.  Brian is also a volunteer Pastor and part of the Preaching/Teaching Team at Branches Church Huntington Beach, CA.Everything about this ministry is made possible because of people personally partnering through the non profit. To hear more and personally partner with Brian's call please visithttp://www.briansumner.net/support/God Bless and thank you. †Support the showSUPPORT THE SHOW

Read OnlineHe put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”—that is, “Be opened!”—And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. Mark 7:33–35One interesting point in this story is that the people who brought this deaf and mute man to Jesus begged Him to “lay his hand on him” so as to heal him. But what did Jesus do? Instead, He took the man away from the crowd, put His divine finger into the man's ears, touched the man's tongue with His own sacred saliva and the man was cured. At first, the act of putting your finger into someone else's ear and touching their tongue with your own saliva may seem repulsive. Normally it would be. To understand these two actions, we must understand the symbolism.The image of a finger is used a number of times in the Scriptures to refer to God's power. In the Book of Exodus after the plague of the gnats, Pharaoh's magicians said that this was clearly done “by the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). On the mountain when Moses received the Ten Commandments we know that it was also God's finger that wrote them (Exodus 31:18). In the book of Daniel, a finger appeared and wrote a prophetic message on a wall (Daniel 5:5). In the New Testament, Jesus cast out a demon “by the finger of God” (Luke 11:20) and in today's Gospel He healed this man's hearing with His finger. The “finger of God” is understood as the power of God and an action of the Holy Spirit. Thus, by using His sacred finger to heal, Jesus was symbolically revealing that He fully exercised the power of God and acted in perfect union with the Holy Spirit and the Father. The image of saliva is also interesting. Perhaps you have noticed that when an animal has a wound it often licks that wound. This is a natural instinct but also one that makes sense. Saliva has a certain medicinal power of healing. It contains antibacterial agents. Therefore, since normal saliva can help heal a wound, Jesus's saliva is able to heal in a supernatural way. Recall, also, that Jesus healed a blind man by spitting on the ground and then smearing the mud on his eyes (John 9:6).Did Jesus need to use His finger and His saliva to heal this man? Certainly not. He could have done it with a mere thought. But He chose to use His body as an instrument of His healing power. Doing so reveals to us that Jesus' humanity became the source of unity between God and man. Even His finger and His saliva unite us to God. Everything about the Son of God in His human form dispensed grace, healing and mercy. Even that which may, at first, seem most repulsive.Though there is much we can take from this passage, one thing that should not be missed is that if Jesus chose to use His finger and even his saliva to dispense His power, so, also, He desires to continue using the members of His Body to distribute His grace. By Baptism, you are a member of Christ's Body, the Church. You are His hands and feet, His eyes and voice, His heart and finger, and even His saliva. That last thought is very humbling. But if Jesus can use His saliva for healing, He can use you. If we can humbly understand that, then we will be better disposed to become an instrument of His divine mercy to those who need it. God is able to use us NOT because we are worthy of being used. Rather, He can use us because He has chosen to do so, even in our most humble state.Reflect, today, upon the image of Jesus healing this deaf and mute man. If you ever feel as though God cannot use you, call to mind the way in which our Lord worked this miracle. If God can use His finger and His saliva, He certainly can use you, no matter how unworthy or sinful you may be. This miracle shows us that God can use all things for His glory for the simple reason that He is God. Humble yourself and offer yourself to God to use you as He wills. Doing so will give God the opportunity to manifest His almighty power through you.My healing Lord, when You took on human form, You united divinity with humanity. Through Your sacred humanity, You poured forth Your grace and mercy and continue to do so today. Please use me, dear Lord, as an instrument of Your grace. May I always humbly see myself as Your unworthy instrument, whom You choose to use despite my unworthiness. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured image above:  Jesus Healing the Deaf Man By Scott Griessel, via Adobe

John from Chanhassen, Minnesota, called in with a really great question that might have crossed your mind: How do we know that Jesus' consecration at the Last Supper wasn't just a one-time thing, and how does it connect to every Mass since then?    Patrick really dug into this one, turning to the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—to show us that when Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” He wasn't just telling the Apostles to act it out. He was commanding them to actually make the Eucharist happen just as He did, transforming the bread and wine into His Body and Blood. This isn't just some symbolic gesture; it's the real deal. St. Paul even backs this up in 1 Corinthians 11, where he warns about the serious consequences of receiving the Eucharist unworthily. If it were just a symbol, why would St. Paul say that you could bring judgment on yourself by not recognizing the Lord in the Eucharist? That's pretty heavy stuff, right?    Patrick also pointed out that this belief isn't something the Church made up later—it's been there from the start, backed by the early Church Fathers. But then came the Protestant Reformation, and that's where things started to diverge. Martin Luther, for example, introduced this idea of consubstantiation—basically, that Christ's presence is alongside the bread and wine, not actually replacing them. It was a bit off from Catholic teaching, but still closer than what others like John Calvin believed. And that's how we ended up with all these different interpretations today.   To wrap things up, Patrick recommended a fantastic book called The Hidden Manna by Father James O'Connor. If you're curious about what the Bible and the Church Fathers really say about the Eucharist, and how the Reformers lost their way on this, it's definitely worth checking out.

Read OnlineJesus said to the crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” John 6:51It must have been somewhat shocking to the people who heard Jesus say this for the first time. Immediately after Jesus said this, we read that “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'” Jesus addressed their confusion even more directly by saying, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Those who were confused must have become even more confused, and those who believed must have deepened their faith as they heard Jesus teach so clearly and profoundly.Of course, Jesus was speaking about the Eucharist. The Eucharist is truly His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. We know that. We believe it. But from time to time, it is a helpful spiritual practice to revisit our Lord's very direct and definitive teaching. On the deepest level, the Eucharist will always remain a profound mystery of faith. How can we eat His flesh and drink His blood? To someone without faith and without a basic understanding of the Eucharist, this teaching seems shocking and unbelievable. In fact, it's easy to understand how some of the first hearers of this teaching quarreled among themselves in confusion. For that reason, we must listen to Jesus' words with the spiritual gift of understanding so that we are not among those who are confused. Understanding is a gift of the Holy Spirit that opens our minds to the deep spiritual truths Jesus is revealing. If we attempt to listen to this teaching using our human reason alone, we will never understand.When you consider Jesus' teaching on the Holy Eucharist, what do you understand and believe? Especially consider what goes through your mind when you attend the Holy Mass and go forward to receive Communion. What normally takes place within you at that moment? Some come forward distracted or even disinterested, paying more attention to the others around them than to the Eucharist. Others simply go forward out of habit because that's what they have always done. Some see the Eucharist more as a symbol of our sharing in God's banquet. But some come forward with a deep spiritual hunger and thirst for God, receive Him in faith, love Him deeply as they consume Him, and are filled with hopeful anticipation that their reception of this holy gift will transform them interiorly and set them more firmly on the path to holiness. Which person are you most like?Believing in the Holy Eucharist and receiving it with the utmost faith and devotion will only happen when we believe. But believing doesn't come automatically. It first requires understanding. And understanding will only come when we allow our minds to engage the mystery and teaching of Jesus, ponder it, contemplate it, penetrate it and open ourselves to God's gentle and revealing voice. Words do not suffice to explain this mystery. Prayer that opens oneself to the voice of God alone suffices. Reflect, today, upon how you approach Holy Communion each week. Start by thinking about the last few times you went forward to receive our Lord in this way. From there, think about how deeply you understand that moment. Is it transforming for you? Are you among those who hunger and thirst for Jesus? Do you notice the spiritual effects that take place within you as a result of your reception of the Eucharist? If so, then deepen your faith by committing yourself to a more prayerful participation in the Mass the next time you attend. If not, then try to step back and examine that which you actually believe, are confused about or do not believe. There is no greater gift we will ever receive in life than the Eucharist. Believe it with all your heart, and the Eucharist will change your life.My Eucharistic Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief. I thank You for the very gift of Yourself, given to me in the reception of Holy Communion. Please continue to teach me about this Gift, dear Lord. Open my mind to understand so that I will always come forward to receive with the utmost faith, love and hope. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured image above: I Am the Bread of Life, via flickr

The Assumption of Our Lady Into Heaven Hello St. Mary Magdalene,  Thursday August 15th is the solemnity and holy day of obligation where we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. This feast is a reminder for us of our final hope, to be united body and soul into Heaven with Jesus.  Also, our new mosaics are in! They are a phoenix and a pelican. The phoenix is situated over the ambo due to its connection with resurrection. St. Paul speaks in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 about how we will, at a word of command from Christ rise to meet Him when He comes again at the end of days. The pelican, situated over the presider's chair is an image of the Eucharist. Depicted on the mosaic is a mother pelican plucking the meat from her own chest in order to feed her young, giving her life to save theirs. This is exactly what Christ does for us in the Eucharist, giving us His Body and Blood so that we might have life! The meaning for both the phoenix and the pelican are actually handed down to us from the earliest Christians who saw in these animals an allegory for how God is at work in our lives.  Have a great week and I will see you on Sunday and then again on the 15th for the holy day!  God bless,  Fr. Chris Visit us: https://www.smarymag.org Support us online: https://membership.faithdirect.net/AZ754

Because we have lost sight of the truth that our identity in Christ means our identity as members of His Body, we haven't had the sufficient desire for unity. If we rightly understand our faith, we will come into unity. Excellence should be based in our mutual desire to help each other thrive and flourish and our gifts. A sermon by Steve Fry. 

Because we have lost sight of the truth that our identity in Christ means our identity as members of His Body, we haven't had the sufficient desire for unity. If we rightly understand our faith, we will come into unity. Excellence should be based in our mutual desire to help each other thrive and flourish and our gifts.