Podcasts about his father

Ever find it a struggle to obey God's Word, and actually enjoy it? Listen in on this week's episode of Thinking With Your Bible as Scott and Chris discuss how a healthy fear of the Lord leads to a willing obedience to His Word.Key Points:The believer's fear of the Lord is no longer slavish, but filial. The OT links the fear of the Lord to keeping His commandments. Jesus's teaching in the NT confirms the OT connection between fearing God and obeying Him.Loving God is obeying him – you will not truly love God if you aren't obeying Him.Love for, fear of, and obedience to God are inseparably connected.Our delight in obeying the Lord is made possible only through taking on Jesus who perfectly loved, feared, and obeyed His Father.“Obedience is the fruit of the tree of which the fear of God is the root.  We cannot rightly obey God if we do not fear Him -- if we do not honor, reverence, and love Him.” – Jerry Bridges, The Joy of Fearing GodFollow Us on InstagramVisit Our Website

Today's Promise: John 14:27 Imagine living with the same deep, unshakable peace Jesus carried every moment of His life. Jesus walked in peace with Himself, peace with His Father, and peace with the world around Him.  In this episode, we explore what it means to experience that supernatural calm in your everyday life. What would it feel like to walk through your day steady, settled, and secure, no matter what storms are swirling around you? The peace Jesus offers isn't fragile or fleeting. It doesn't depend on circumstances. It begins in the heart and flows into every corner of your life, shaping your thoughts, your reactions, and your relationships. And like salvation, this peace isn't something you earn; it's a gift received through simple, trusting faith. Join us as we discover how to embrace the peace Christ freely gives and learn to live with a confidence the world cannot shake.

We know this is one of the things which Jesus said while being crucified.  We might just explain this by saying that Jesus did what He was sent by His Father to do.  This of course is true, but when we look at everything which Jesus accomplished and fulfilled in His life and death, we are again in awe of God and the purposes which He achieved in His Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus is arrested, betrayed, and denied, yet He prays pleas, promotes peace, and practices presence. In unwavering love He remains faithful to His Father and to His people. In taking the cup of wrath, Jesus endures the complete sting of death and weight of sin on Himself, in our place. It's not about our strength and ability, but about His.

In this episode, Fr. Anthony reflects on Christ's call of St. Matthew as a revelation of the Lord's pastoral wisdom, patience, and mercy. Drawing on St. John Chrysostom, he shows how Christ approaches each person at the moment they are most able to receive Him, gently leading sinners to repentance while shielding the weak from the self-righteous. The homily invites us to imitate this divine pedagogy—offering mercy before rebuke, healing before judgment, and a way of life that draws others to the knowledge of God. +++ Mercy, Not Sacrifice: Christ's Pastoral Method in the Calling of Matthew St. Matthew 9:9-13 At that time, as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, "Follow Me." And he rose and followed Him. And as He sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when Jesus heard it, He said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."  When looking at this encounter, it is important to know the context.  Jesus had been at this for a while.  He had already called at least four of the twelve; Andrew, Peter, James and John, to be his disciples.  Moreover, in addition to them, many others were following him.  He had already been baptized, been tempted, given the Sermon on the Mount and performed several public miracles. Knowing this allows us to better appreciate Christ, how He operates, and therefore how we might better imitate Him as we claim to operate in + His name. Example One: Calling the disciples Let's go back to His calling the disciples.  Why didn't He call Matthew at the same time He called Andrew, Peter, James, and John?  St. John Chrysostom indicates that it was Christ's pastoral heart that determined when we called each of His disciples.  Remember, as the Logos, He shares the Father's will that "all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4).  This means that He addressed people in the time and manner they were most likely to hear.  St. John Chrysostom points out that Matthew's heart was not open to Christ's call at the same time as Andrew, Peter, James, and John.  It took miracles and profound teaching to soften His heart for the encounter.  And He didn't just do this for Matthew, look how long it took for the Apostle Paul!  And perhaps, we can look at long he waited for us! We should learn from this lesson from Christ's earthly ministry and imitate Him.  We may need to live among some people for a while, showing the miracle of God's love working in and through us in the way we act and the things we say, before they are ready to accept an invitation to join us in The Way that heals and perfects.  Many of us jump the gun; skipping the vital step of living a public life of miraculous love – and then are surprised when the call to "follow Christ" goes unheeded.  Yes, there are times when the modern equivalents of scribes and pharisees need to be confronted, but once again, let's imitate Christ and let them out themselves when they question our motives and sanity for performing acts of sacrificial compassion.  If we skip the step of imitating Christ in His love for mankind, not only won't we win converts, we may also be indicating that we aren't really working in His Name at all.   Example Two: Leaving, not owning the opposition Speaking of which, Christ also demonstrates his pastoral care at the very beginning of today's lesson.  You may remember that today's lesson begins with something that seems to be a throwaway line; a transitional clause that lets the reader know that the narrative is moving on to another scene.  St. Matthew writes; "At that time, as Jesus passed on from there,…" and then segues into this lesson about how Christ called him, the author, to be His disciple.  But what did He leave and why?  What did He "pass on" from in the previous scene? Let me share that with you; just prior to this, Jesus had publicly corrected some scribes - leaders in the Jewish community - by healing a man of his paralysis after they doubted His ability to forgive sins.  Do you see how they out themselves as fools?  But Christ doesn't want them to remain in ignorance.  He desires that they, too, be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth …  but He also knew that they were not ready to accept the truth, so He left before they could double down on their sin and thus become even less likely to change their way of thinking and eventually answer His call to discipleship. As St. John Christostom puts it; For when He had performed the miracle, He did not remain, lest, being in sight, He should kindle their jealousy the more; but He indulges them by retiring, and soothing their passion. This then let us also do, not encountering them that are plotting against us; let us rather soothe their wound, giving way and relaxing their vehemence. Jesus could have owned those scribes!   This is what our polarized and self-indulgent culture seems to require of us: to immediately jump on any perceived weakness to show the superiority of our way.  We even manufacture offenses so that we have an opportunity to score points and play to the crowd.  But that's not what Jesus did; there was a real offense and a real weakness – but He didn't want or need to impress anyone.  Again, his desire is that of His Father; that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth.  And so He forbeared and gave them an opportunity to cool off and repent while He moved off to spend time with someone who was ready to hear Him. These are the kinds of lessons that are obvious to those who have "eyes to see and ears to hear," but for the rest of us, it takes time.  As we have discussed previously, we still see the Gospel "through a glass darkly" and only see reality as "trees walking."  But we want to learn, and so we ask those who have made this journey successfully before us, men like the Holy Apostle and Evanglist Matthew, whose memory we celebrate today and St. John Chrysostom who shares the deeper Truths that St. Matthew shared – we ask them to guide and pray for us as go deeper into The Way. Let's see what more we can learn about Christ's approach to evangelism and pastoral care in today's lesson.  It is worth remembering that Matthew was a tax collector.  When Jesus gave him the invitation to "follow me", he responded with hospitality.  He opened his house to the Lord, his disciples, fellow tax collectors, and unspecified sinners.  Just to make sure everyone had a good time, this was all done within view of some local Pharisees.  The Pharisees spent their whole lives dedicated to righteousness (as should all of us).  I am perfectly willing to believe that they were sincere in their devotion to the Law.  In fact, it was probably their devotion to the Law that led to their revulsion at seeing an alleged rabbi (Jesus) eating with sinners.  They shared their righteous indignation with the Lord's disciples and He overheard them.  We can learn a lot about how to pastoral ministry by looking at Christ's response. First, He said (e.g. St. Mark 2:17); Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.  This is the most obvious point: God was explaining what His mission to these sinners (and the world) was:  He had come to bring them to repentance.  This would hardly satisfy any ultra-Orthodox takfirists – they always want their pound of flesh!  After all, they say, repentance requires tears, and the best way to bring someone to tears is not to eat with them and provide them a living example of the better way; no, surely it is more effective to beat them over the head with the Sin-Stick, right?!  Evidently not, at least according to the all-knowing and all-loving God-man Jesus Christ. After acknowledging the sinfulness of His dinner companions and their need for repentance, He corrected the Pharisees' dubious pedagogical and evangelical instincts with this (e.g. St. Matthew himself in 9:13); Go and learn what it means, 'I will have mercy, and not sacrifice': for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Christ is quoting Hosea when He says; "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice".  The full passage (which was implied) continues with (Hosea 6:6); "… and [I desire] the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."  This is huge.  The Pharisees knew the full quote and its context; they would have seen that Christ was telling them that they were guilty of the very same sorts of things that went against God throughout the Old Testament.  He was telling them that they were more concerned with fulfilling the letter of the law (i.e. doing the "burnt offerings" well) than they were with knowing God or bringing others to Him.  At that meal, He was doing something that they should have been doing themselves. How Christ Discipled His Sinners cum Apostles More importantly, along with His entire response, Christ used this quote to describe His method for bringing the "knowledge of God" to sinners; He would use mercy to lead them to repentance, which would in turn allow them to grow in the knowledge of God.   St. John Chrysostom brings this point out at the end of his homily on this passage; What Christ is saying through his words and deads is this, "The disciples have not yet become strong; they still need a lot of condescension. They have not been renewed by the Spirit yet.  You really shouldn't put a lot of injunctions on people who are still weak."  And He said all these things in order to set laws and rules for His own disciples, so that when it was their turn to train disciples, they would deal with them very gently.  To reiterate St. John Chrysostom's point, God is showing His disciples how the Gospel is to be taught: gently and with mercy … while protecting the weak from the attacks of the self-righteous.  This is important for us as Christian leaders: we are called to follow Christ!  We are called to take His Gospel to sinners so that they might repent,  come to the knowledge of God, and be saved.  Keep the Sin-Stick ready, but use it the way Christ Himself did; to defend the weak from the attacks of the self-righteous. There is a temptation to bring sinners to a full awareness of their sin in order to drive them towards repentance, but be careful with this.   Psalm 129: 3-4 (which we often repeat as a prokimen so that we will master it – or rather so that it might master us);  If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee. And later in that same Psalm, we learn from the Psalmist, in the Spirt, what the purpose of this merciful forgivness is; so that He might bring salvation to Israel (129:8). Repentance, kenosis, and discernment are fostered over time.  It is an iterated and communal process.  The wounds this world inflicts on God's children are serious and it takes time for Him to heal them.  This means that you may not be able to see the process through to its conclusion, but it is okay to simply begin the treatment; the Church has trained other physicians that can continue the process, just as you will be called to continue the work others have begun.  As Christ said "One soweth, and another reapeth." (St. John 4:37:4) Conclusion Saint Matthew's life is a testimony to the efficacy of this gentle discipleship process.  He was a sinner.  The Lord protected Him and showed Him mercy.  Over time, through His example, His holiness, and His teachings, He brought Matthew through repentance to the true knowledge of God.  As a recipient of this grace, St. Matthew could do nothing else but offer it to others.   It is true that the Church is a hospital, and that Christ is the Great Physician; and it is also true that St. Matthew found healing in the Church under the Doctor's care.  But it is also true that He did not stay in the hospital bed. After a lifetime spent spreading the Gospel, this "good and faithful servant" earned the martyr's crown in Ethiopia. May the Lord transform us into the kind of patient, merciful, and holy pastors who can do the same.

This may be the most important thing you ever hear. Your eternal destiny depends on it. As Pete preaches our next section in Matthew's gospel - Matthew 25:31-46 - we see Jesus describing what will happen when he comes again in His Father's glory, and calls each and every person - you and me - to account for what they have done with their lives. The big question is: will you come to Jesus, or will you go from him?

In the old covenant, the average Israelite was not allowed to enter into the holy place, and only the high priest was allowed to enter into the most holy place. This earthly tabernacle was a shadow and predecessor of the heavenly pattern, wherein sinful men like us cannot enter into God's holy presence. Thankfully, we have a high priest in Jesus, for he is able, not only to enter into His Father's presence, but to cleanse our consciences. He cleanses us, not with the blood of bulls or goats, but with his very own blood. In so doing, Christ is the perfect lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Unlike the old covenant which required continual sacrifices by imperfect men, Christ has entered into this heavenly tabernacle, or one “not made with hands” and has made sacrifice once and for all. :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

Love and Torah – what's love got to do with it? This study series is based on the “Two Great Commands” – love Yahweh and love your neighbor. Beginning this teaching in John 15:5, Rabbi Steve Berkson explains what Messiah Yeshua meant when He was exhorting His disciples to “stay in Me and He in them,” and how that statement could also be understood as, “if you are in covenant with Me.” Without the Spirit of Messiah (His intrinsic nature) in us, it is impossible to be in covenant with Him and His Father. • What is Covenantal Fruit? Moving on, Rabbi Berkson expands on a crucial point for developing a correct mindset when dealing with those around us, centered on the phrase “he is broken off and thrown away.” This leads him into passages in Matthew 13 and Romans 11 that were not in his notes. • What is the role for the Kingdom that surpasses all of our ‘pay grades'? • Is your being considered a “darnel” or a “tare” predestined? • Do you hold preconceptions about what leadership should look or sound like? What's the danger in that? Rabbi Berkson does a “reset” of a ‘faith idea' most of us have been taught throughout our lives, specifically the notion of “ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you.” What is the terrible word that precedes the Messiah's statement about ‘asking'? Toward the end of the teaching, what started as a side note turned into an inspiring life-coaching moment as Rabbi Berkson discussed being unequally yoked, then shifted focus to those who are single and looking for a mate. A must-watch! Rabbi Berkson once again dissects the words in these passages to give you a deeper understanding of what Yah expects of you, so that you can do it and receive the blessings. Visit our website, https://mtoi.org, to learn more about MTOI. https://www.facebook.com/mtoiworldwide https://www.instagram.com/mtoi_worldwide You can reach MTOI by emailing us at admin@mtoi.org or calling 423-250-3020. Join us for Shabbat Services and Torah Study LIVE, streamed on our website, mtoi.org, YouTube, and Rumble every Saturday at 1:15 p.m., and every Friday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time for Torah Study Live Stream.

Jesus says in John 14:10-11, “Do you not believe that I am IN the Father, and the Father IN Me? The words that I speak, I speak not of Myself, but the Father who LIVES IN Me, HE does the works! Believe for the works' sake!” And in v12, “He that believes in Me, the works that I do, he shall do also – and GREATER WORKS THAN THESE shall he do because I go to My Father.” Jesus is teaching us that IF WE BELIEVE in Him, once He has gone back to be with His Father, we then on earth HAVE to carry on the work that He did – we HAVE to do what He did! So many people seem to read John 14 without seemingly being able to believe it.      

So often we look in the mirror and realise, that we're simply not worthy to come before the throne of grace. And yet, because of Jesus, nothing more needs to be done for you and me to walk boldly before God into His throne room and say 'Father, I love You; I want to be in Your presence.' Nothing more needs to be done!   Experiencing the Truth These days we don't just want to know God – we just don't want to know Him in our heads but we want to experience God and historically, as we look back, Christians have made, I guess, two extreme mistakes in living their lives out with God. The first is that they focus just on truth – truth as head knowledge, studying the Bible, knowing lots of things, getting doctrine sorted out in their heads but you know, that ends up being really dry and there is no joy or peace in that head knowledge and it becomes like "religion". The other extreme – right at the other end of the scale, people have said, "You know, we are rejecting that, we are sick of that kind of dry, "head knowledgy" kind of "God" truth. And we want to experience God – it was a reaction to the dryness of the head knowledge. And so those Christians kind of emphasise God's wonderful spiritual gifts – prophesy and healing and worship and that's really exciting. But there is a risk that you do that and you de-emphasise the truth. And that form of Christianity ends up becoming kind of whacky and unreliable and at its worst, emotional manipulation. But somewhere in the middle … somewhere in the middle there is an answer. Somewhere in the middle there is God's Word and His truth and all of His goodness but also the spiritual reality of experiencing who God actually is in the middle of life. And you know, when you look at Jesus, Jesus lived in that middle ground. At times in His ministry it was full of emotion; it was from His heart – you know, when He was healing lepers, when He was weeping over Lazarus, when He was weeping over Jerusalem. And at other times in His ministry, He taught on the hard issues – the Sermon on the Mount, the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Jesus was in the middle ground – He believed in the truth of God's Word and yet He lived it out in a reality that was, well, so real; so human, so Jesus. In Matthews Gospel chapter 4, verse 23, it says this: Jesus went through Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness among the people and so His fame spread through all of Syria. See, Jesus was into, yes, teaching and preaching and knowing God's Word. But He was into touching people's lives and healing them and changing them and bringing them new life as well. And because of both of those things, His fame spread – people came from far and wide. It's really funny – if we try and just stick to Biblical truth alone; that sort of very head-knowledge kind of truth, we can end up missing out on who God really is. We can end living out a faith which is "religious", which is rule based, which is critical, which is, I don't know, it's not freedom. On the other hand, if we end up just in the "experience" camp, we can end up right off the rails because God's truth about who He is and what He wants us to do and how He wants us to live our lives out – God's truth is so important. And sometimes you will hear a preacher from one camp criticising a preacher from another camp and I'm thinking, "What's that about?" They stare at each other across this divide and the Jesus that I know; the Jesus that you discover in the Bible was a Jesus who passionately believed in the truth of God's Word and a Jesus who passionately lived out that truth in such a real way. This Jesus laid all of His glory aside, even though He was the Son of God, and He walked on this earth as a man and yet He had such a wonderful and powerful and dynamic relationship with His Father in heaven through the Spirit. Jesus used to get up early in the morning and go out on His own and pray because He had this wonderful, real relationship with God in heaven. Last week we looked at what Jesus said to His disciples on this subject. In John chapter 14, beginning at verse 15, He said: If you love Me you will keep My commandments and I'll ask My Dad and He will give you another advocate – this is the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it doesn't see Him and it doesn't know Him but you know Him because He abides in you. Those who love Me will keep My Word and My Dad will love them and we will come and make our home with them. Isn't that beautiful? Being a Christian is loving Jesus and loving Jesus is knowing the truth and obeying Him. And then we experience Him because He says: If you love Me you will keep My commandments and I will ask Dad and He will give you the Holy Spirit and we will come and live with you. You will experience God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit dwelling in us through His Spirit – every minute of every hour of every day. Come on, that's fantastic! And He says: You in Me and Me in you. So for Jesus, knowing God is not just knowing the truth, it's about intimacy as well – a real experience of who God is. But there is a problem with that ... the problem that we have is the problem of sin. If you love Me you will keep My commandments. What do we do about that problem? How do we get over that problem, to have this powerful, wonderful relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit? We will have a look at that next.   I Have a Problem Well, Jesus promised that following Him and being a Christian wasn't just about head knowledge of the truth but about an intimate relationship with Him. And in this series called, "The Holy Spirit and Me" we are looking at this Spirit of wisdom and truth, as Jesus called Him; the Holy Spirit and experiencing the joy and the peace in an intimate relationship with God – but our problem, as we looked earlier, is the problem of "If you love Me you will obey Me." If you love Me you will obey Me. And you and I, in our nature are not very good at obeying. And I confess not so many years ago I used to have a problem with this. You know, Christians used words like "sin" and "repent" and "Jesus said repent because the Kingdom of God has come near" – to tell you the truth, to me it was all out of date and anachronistic and old fashioned and rubbish. Come on, what's this repent and sin business? If it feels good, do it! We live in an "anything goes kind of world". I mean a woman looks at having an abortion and she says, "Well, it's my body, it's my choice!" If it feels good, do it! That's the world we live in. We are programmed for self-indulgence today. In the same way as our grandparents coming out of a depression and a world war, were programmed for self-discipline and austerity. On the one hand we want it all, on the other hand we ignore the human cost of this sort of a life – divorce and abortion and marriage breakdown and breakdown in relationships and loneliness and ... you know it's a law of life that for any relationship to bring satisfaction and joy, the people who participate in that relationship have to pay a price. Marriage is like that! Before I met my wife Jacqui, I came and went as I pleased and then we went through a courtship and more of my time was involved in relationship with her and we went through an engagement and more of my time was involved and then we were married. And once we were married, I could no longer come and go as I pleased. I could no longer make all of my own decisions. I could no longer spend all of my money on everything that I wanted. Now that sounds like oppression – oppressed? No way! This man is liberated – liberated to enjoy my life as Jacqui's husband, in a relationship that is so wonderful with her. But there is a cost – there is a daily cost in that I cannot come and go as I please anymore and that takes some adjustment but that's the price of a wonderful relationship. And the same is true with God. A relationship with God follows the same principle but it is hard because all those other things that we want to do is the stuff that God calls "sin" – stealing, pulling other people down, being dishonest, the bad stuff but giving them up can be hard because it's not in our nature to give up the things that we don't want to give up because we are selfish. And the Apostle Paul has exactly this same problem – if you have a Bible, grab it. We are going to Romans chapter 7, beginning at verse 14 through to verse 21. This is what he says: We know that the law is spiritual but I'm of the flesh – I am sold into slavery under sin. I don't understand why I do things because I don't do what I want but I do the very thing that I hate. Now if I do what I don't want, I agree, the law is good but in fact, it is no longer I that do it but the sin that dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that's within my flesh. I can will what is right, I just can't do it. For I do not do the good I want but the evil that I don't want is what I do. Now if I do what I don't want it is no longer I that do it but the sin that dwells in me. So I find this to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. In other words, Paul is torn. He is torn between what he wants and making the sacrifices in living his life for God. Now I praise God that Paul has this same problem because here is a man who wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. God had a big role for Paul to play. Halleluiah! – Paul has the same problem that I do and the same problem that you do. Have you ever felt like Paul? You want to do the right thing but some days we just can't. What's the answer? What's the solution? I remember Nicky Gumble – you may have watched Nicky Gumble or heard him speak on the ALPHA series. He tells a wonderful story of an old woman whose funeral he had to do and she was a woman who lived on the streets. She carried all her belongings around in plastic bags and she just lived on the streets and she was a street person. And when it came to her funeral he discovered that she was a multi, multi millionaire – she had some great inheritance but she couldn't come to the point of taking all those bags of rubbish and throwing them away and going and living in that inheritance – and we can be the same. We have an inheritance – an inheritance in Christ – we are heirs, co-heirs with Him. You believe in Jesus? Then we are one of God's kids but sometimes we want to hang on to the rubbish, to the stuff. What's the answer? How do we deal with that? Well, God has an answer and His answer comes in two parts. We are going to look at those in just a moment.   God Has the Answer Well, what is God's answer? God's plan as we saw, as Jesus said there, is that He comes and lives with us – lives in us through His Spirit; the Holy Spirit – to have this beautiful and wonderful, intimate relationship with God, day by day. Can I encourage you – if you believe in Jesus and you are not walking in that sort of relationship today – today God is calling you into a deeper, closer more intimate relationship with Him? But Jesus said that that relationship was for those who loved Him and He would know who loves Him because those who love Him obey Him. Yet here we see the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7, disgusted with himself, struggling with his sin. This is what he writes – begins in chapter 7, verse 24: Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body to death? Thanks be to God, our Lord Jesus Christ! So then with my mind I am a slave to the law of God but my flesh is a slave to the law of sin. But there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, none – because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin He condemned sin in the flesh so that the just requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. In other words, how does God deal with this? God has dealt with my sin and God has dealt with your sin by letting Jesus die on the cross to pay for that. Every relationship has a price. And when we look at us and God it can feel like, in this struggle that Paul has, with his own sinful nature – it can feel like we are the ones who have to pay the price all the time – we're the ones who have to give stuff up which is hard to give up sometimes. People who are addicted to anger, people who are addicted to gossip, people who are addicted to sexual immorality find those things hard to give up. And if feels like Jesus is saying 'Well, if I want to a relationship with Him I have to give those things up and I am the one making the sacrifice.' Well in a sense that's true, but Jesus has already made the sacrifice for us. Jesus has already opened the door. Jesus died on that cross for you, Jesus died on the cross for me. You and I are forgiven if we place our faith in Him – full stop – end of story – no arguments - no more work to be done. Every sin that I have ever committed, every sin that I will commit has been paid for in full by Jesus Christ. That's the good news – that part is free. That's the starting point – that's the beginning of a clean, fresh, new relationship with the slate wiped clean. But the problem is you and I still want to carry the garbage around. You and I still want to carry the sin around with us because that's what our nature is. That's our human nature – that's exactly what Paul is struggling with in that passage. I know what is good – I can will to do what is good, I just can't do it. I end up doing the stuff I don't want to do and every time I want to do good, says Paul, I find in the law that evil is right at hand. So there has got to be a second part. We are forgiven, we are set free, nothing more needs to be done for you and I to walk boldly before God into His throne room and say 'Father I love You, I want to be in Your presence.' Nothing more needs to be done. But God actually wants to set us free in our lives. God wants us to be free of sin – Jesus said: I have come to set the captives free. That's you, that's me He is talking about. Halleluiah! He wants to set us free. But look at it – He talks about here being free from the law of sin and death. "The law of the Spirit of life" – Romans chapter 8, verse 2: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death because God has done away with sin through Jesus. Those of us who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. What does that mean? God is talking here about His Spirit, about Spiritual things. Last week we looked at what Jesus said. He said: I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you; I will send the Holy Spirit to be in you and you in Me. And now Paul is saying, "You know something, if you believe in Jesus and if you know that Jesus died for you and if you are relying on His payment in full on the cross to be forgiven by God, there is something more. Jesus has put His Spirit in you and in me. And now Paul says it is time to walk with the Holy Spirit. Not according to the flesh, not according to that old sinful nature but walk in the Spirit." Well how do you do that? To set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. In other words, if we keep on thinking about those things; if we keep on turning them over in our minds and being angry with that person and not forgiving them or whatever it is that we are addicted to in the flesh, we keep spending our intellectual time, our emotional energy thinking about those things, that's exactly what we will end up doing. On the other hand if we take the time that we have to think and we turn that away from those things and we put our focus on Jesus; we put our focus on the Holy Spirit; we put our focus on the Father; we put our focus on His goodness and His love and what He has done for us and what He wants to do for us, we can't help it. We will end up doing that that stuff; we will end up living life the way God intended us to live it. See people try and change themselves; their behaviour, but at the end of the day, we can't do that. As clever as we are; as smart as we are; as much as God put us right on the top of the food chain on this planet, that is beyond our ability. But what is in our ability is to focus on Jesus. I remember Joyce Meyer hearing her once say 'Where the mind goes, the man follows.' If I focus my mind on the bad stuff, that's where I will end up going. If I focus my mind on the good stuff; on Jesus, on the Spirit, that's where I will end up going. Think about the good things – think about God – pray, spend time with Him, get into the Bible, be transformed by the renewing of our minds. When we do that we are giving the Holy Spirit control of every part of us, day after day, time after time. We can try to do it on our own but we are doomed to failure because the works of the flesh will overtake us. But when we do this in faith; when we accept the Spirit's power in faith, in the same way that we have accepted our forgiveness through what Jesus did on the cross, in faith – when we accept God's goodness and God's Spirit in faith and we spend time focussing on Him, listening to Him, praying with Him then God is going to change us from the inside out. It's as sure as God made little green apples; it's as sure as night follows day, which follows night which follows day. I believe that Jesus died for me not only so that I could be forgiven but so that I could also be set free day by day by day, from my sin and my failures and that's the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 11: But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of God's righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you. That's God's promise! Our job isn't to change ourselves, our job is to get close to Jesus. Our job is to set our minds and hearts on Him, our job is, in the heat of the battle, to give Him a split second if that's all you have, to involve Him, to give Him room to move, to draw on His power. Our job is to accept His life in faith. And God will change us. That's His plan – that's His heart – that's His promise. That's why He sent the Holy Spirit to you and to me!

Sr. Pastor A. A. Jackson shared this message live at the Island Nursing and Rehab Center in Holtsville, NY.  It is based mainly on 1 Peter 2:11and Luke 4:14.  Jesus was always about His Father's business.  As modern day disciples, or followers of Jesus, we must also be about the business of the Heavenly Father, […] The post Are You a Holy Spirit Empowered Pilgrim? appeared first on Realm of Agape Christian Church.

Just as Jesus followed His Father's direction to the Olive Garden and then the cross, leading to His death and resurrection, we must be willing to give up our own lives, take up our cross of suffering and follow Him. The only way our lives will work well is if we give up control and let Him have it all.

Just as Jesus followed His Father's direction to the Olive Garden and then the cross, leading to His death and resurrection, we must be willing to give up our own lives, take up our cross of suffering and follow Him. The only way our lives will work well is if we give up control and let Him have it all. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/640/29

In the midst of life’s busyness, God invites us to step away into a quiet place and rest in His presence. Mark 6:31 shows that even Jesus, fully God and fully man, sought moments of stillness—sometimes with those He loved. Welcoming quiet allows our souls to recalibrate, hear God’s voice, and find true peace amid the noise of daily life. Highlights Jesus modeled the need for quiet and rest, inviting His followers to join Him. Quiet time isn’t just physical rest; it’s a soul-level invitation to be with God. Embracing stillness allows us to hear God’s tender voice, not our inner critic. Scripture encourages us to stop striving: Psalm 46:10, Psalm 131:2, and Jeremiah 31:3. Quiet helps us develop contentment, security, and joy in God’s presence. Practical steps: switch off distractions, focus inward, and allow God to fill your mind and heart. Regular quiet cultivates a deeper connection with God and His peace. Gift Inspiration: Crosswalk's Holiday Gift Guide Looking for a meaningful way to celebrate the season? Check out our Holiday Gift Guide—from beautifully illustrated Bibles and devotionals to novels, greeting cards, and picture books, there’s something for everyone on your list. Wrap up stories for loved ones, tuck a book into your own nightstand, and join us in celebrating the wonder of giving this Christmas! Full Transcript Below: Welcoming the Quiet By Cindi McMenamin Bible Reading: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31 NIV) Jesus said these words to His followers after a busy day in ministry. Perhaps He felt drained from all the demands and expectations placed upon Him from crowds of people who wanted something from Him. Perhaps He felt burdened at all there was to do, and so many people to help that He needed to get away to a quiet place with His Father in heaven. And certainly, He knew His followers could use some rest and respite as well. And that’s why He invited them to come with Him to the quiet to get some rest. If Jesus, being fully God, yet fully man, could sense His need to go away to a quiet place, then we should sense our need for the stillness and quiet as well. And I find it interesting that Jesus, while there were times He got away by Himself to be with God, in this particular verse, He invited those He loved to come away with Him. Part of Jesus’ rest and refueling was to be with those He loved—in the quiet. Intersecting Faith & Life: Do you ever sense the need to get away from it all to a quiet place where you can get some rest? Perhaps you sense that every day. But that is more than just your body’s way of saying “get some rest” or your mind’s way of saying, I need a vacation. I believe it’s our soul’s way of saying “God’s been waiting. Get away with Him.” I believe it’s Jesus’ way of saying, “Come with Me to a quiet place where we can be together.” You and I can view quiet, alone times as reminders of our loneliness and do everything we can to avoid them. Or, we can try to get to a place where we think it will be quiet, but we’ll be taking our noisy minds and selves with us. But I encourage you to welcome the quiet as a much-needed respite from the noise—and as an invitation from God who has been whispering to you: Come with Me to a quiet place and get some rest. How often do we feel we must set aside time to be with God and then feel guilty for not doing it? How often our hearts may long for a getaway with Him, not realizing that getaway is available to us every moment of the day because He indwells us and calls us to come to Him within the recesses of our hearts. “Be still and know that I am God,” says Psalm 46:10 (NIV). We can get to know Him in the stillness as we allow Him to quiet our thoughts, and we begin to focus on His presence. Psalm 46:10 in the New American Standard Bible reads: “Stop striving and know that I am God.” Having a heart at rest means we are not striving to control, not anxious or stressed about what might happen, or all that we have to do. It means we are in a place of quiet contentment, like David sang in Psalm 131:2: “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me” (ESV). Quiet. Full. Satisfied. Secure. Is it time to slow your pace, switch off the inner chatter, and ask God to still your mind from anxiety or busyness and flood it with His peace? Is it time to close the app, shut the lid on your device, or turn off the music or the TV, and develop a heart that not only welcomes but longs for the quiet stillness? It’s there you will begin to discern your Savior’s voice, which is much more loving than your own internal critic. It is there you will hear His tender words: I have loved you with an everlasting love… I have drawn you with kindness (Jeremiah 31:3). It is there you will be assured of His promise to never leave you or abandon you (Hebrews 13:5). It is there, in His presence, that you will find fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Embrace the quiet of your day—or escape to it by carving it out somewhere—so you can get away with God in your heart. Close your eyes. Enjoy the stillness of the moment and the assurance of His presence. Spend some time thanking Him for breathing rest –and quiet—into your day. Further Reading: Matthew 11:28-30 For a guided plan for growing closer to God in the quiet, see book: The New Loneliness Devotional: 50 Days to a Closer Connection with God. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

November 6, 2025Today's Reading: Catechism: Table of Duties - To WivesDaily Lectionary: Jeremiah 8:18-9:12; Matthew 23:13-39“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:22)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.God's gifts come in all sorts of packages. Think about Adam; the first gift God gave him was the gift of life. Adam was then given a garden to take care of, and from it, he received the gift of daily food. But then God gave Adam a very special gift fit just for him—a wife. God personally made her and then brought Eve to Adam. God blessed the gift of marriage, the gift of a husband, and the gift of a wife. It was very good. On the sixth day of creation, God established the vocations of husband and wife. Each is a gift to the other to be cherished and loved. Each loving one another with the kind of love that is selfless and self-giving, the kind of love that has the other's best in mind. God was pleased, He was happy, and He blessed them. So, when we hear the words, “wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord,” they are an invitation to love another in the same self-giving manner that marked the first marriage of creation before the Fall. These words call out to love another with the same kind of love that we ourselves have been loved with. After all, isn't this how Christ has loved us? Jesus humbled himself by becoming a man. Jesus submitted Himself to His Father's will even to the point of dying on a cross. Jesus loved us selflessly and sacrificially by laying down His life for us. Out of this love that Jesus has for us, we are set free to love one another – wives are free to love their husbands. This sort of love is radical. It flies in the face of our current culture, but isn't that the nature of the Gospel? It offends our inherent tendencies to take care of ourselves first and try to get what we deserve. Grace throws us and the world on its head. It frees us from focusing on ourselves. It compels us to ask, “How can I serve another?” This is the kind of love God is working in us. This is the kind of love a God-given marriage is built upon. God is the giver of all good gifts, and the gift of a husband and a wife is most certainly a gift to be treasured. May our Lord grant us the grace and working of His Spirit to love one another as Christ has loved us.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Christ the Savior, Christ the Servant, Be Your life in us displayed. (LSB 847:1)Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Anaheim, CA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Harrison Goodman is the Executive Director of Mission and Theology for Higher Things.This new devotional resource by Carl Fickenscher walks you through each week's readings, revealing thematic connections and helping you better understand what is to come in worship each Sunday.

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Carmen reflects on the stripping of Prince Andrew of England being stripped of his title and honors because of behaviors that dishonored the Throne.  Unlike Jesus, who honored His Father to the point of death.  Political scientist Daniel Bennett responds to the loss of his Seattle Mariners in AL championship series and thinks about the biggest defeats in sports to him.  He talks about NINO's (Nones in Name Only) who are people who don't claim being part of a religious group, but still have some strong level in spirituality.   Faith Radio podcasts are made possible by your support. Give now: Click here  

In John chapter 5, Jesus makes one of His most astonishing claims — that God is His Father and that He shares in God's divine authority. In this conversation, Pastor Bill Van Kirk hosts Pastors Jack Guerra and Garet Meyer for a rich discussion about how Jesus' words would have been heard by His original audience, what “Son of Man” from Daniel 7 really means, and how the Trinity reveals both unity and distinction within God.They also reflect on why the Nicene Creed — written over 1,600 years ago — remains a vital declaration of faith for the church today.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 2nd of November, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Gospel of John 3:35: ”The Father loves the Son and has given and entrusted all things into His hand.” Our Heavenly Father gave Jesus all authority and all responsibility, and Jesus fulfilled and completed the responsibility right to the last letter. He died on the cross for your sins, for my sins. He set us free. He put the devil down once and for all, and then He went back to Heaven to be with His Father. But before He went back, He told His disciples that He will not leave us as orphans. Homeless, with no leaders. He said, ”I am sending you My Holy Spirit.” In Greek the name is, Parakletos, which means “the Helper”. “I am sending you the Helper so that you can complete the entrusting that God has given to me.” That's what Jesus said.Now in the amplified version, reading that today, in both scriptures, we go to John 16:7: But I tell you the truth, (Jesus said) it is to your advantage (our advantage) that I go away (that I go home, that I go back to My Father in Heaven); for if I do not go away, the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him (the Holy Spirit) to you [to be in close fellowship with you]. I want to speak today, not only to men but to women, to young people, to leaders. The Lord never expected us to do it on our own. Our Father in Heaven sent His Son down to earth because He saw that we were failing terribly. The Son did the work. He's gone back to the Father but He's left us with His Holy Spirit. He says, ”Now you” (That's you and me, sir, you and me, young lady) “complete the job.” You know, it's a handing over, it's a responsibility. In these Olympic relay races, the most important part of the race is handing the baton over. If you drop the baton, you are disqualified, and there's only a certain place that you can hand it over. There are two lines. You've got a few yards. You're running at a full sprint. You need to be in unison with the person that you're giving the baton to. Today, you and I need to understand that our Heavenly Father has given us the authority, he has given us the ability. Now we need to do it, we need to do it fast and we need to do it safely. Let's finish the job. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

Introduction: Matthew 11:25 – At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children..." John 16:13 – When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. How Do I Know if I Have the Mind of Christ? (Philippians 2:5–8) When I don't insist on my RIGHTS. (Phil 2:6) When I act like a SERVANT. (Phil 2:7) When I OBEY God All the Way. (Phil 2:8) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 and Philippians 2:5-8What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Why do you think the world is so interested in the “wisdom” of celebrities and politicians, the “rulers of this age” (1 Cor 2:6)? What does God say about them?What is this passage saying about how the Bible was written (1 Cor 2:10-13)? Why is this important for unity in the church?According to Philippians 2:5-8, what does it mean to have “the mind of Christ”? Give specific examples of what that looks like.BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Open up to 1 Corinthians in chapter 2.Let's just pause for a moment.Please pray for me to be faithful to clearly communicate God's Word,and I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive it.This is a complicated passage.But I think that's one of the great things about expository preaching.It allows us to slow down and see what exactly it is that God actually said in His Word.Sometimes it's a passage that we have read through quickly so many times.I'm not quite sure what's going on there, but next.And there's so much here that the Lord wants to teach us.So please pray for me to be clear and accurate,and I'll pray for you to receive it.All right? Let's just take a moment.Father in heaven, we need Your Spirit, and we always do.I guess sometimes we feel it, that we're more aware of it than others.This is one of those times for a lot of reasons.Father, I pray that Your Spirit and Your Word would do what only You can do.glorify Your name as we spend some time in Your Word today, Father, in Jesus' name.All of God's people said, "Amen."Amen. You know, I try.But it gets harder and harder to keep up with the language that these kids are using these days.Since I'm working with the youth group, I really want to speak their language,but I'll be honest with you, I don't get it.I don't get it. I'm not sure, Justin, you still get it anymore.Mid? See? He gets it.I just find myself so awful. I don't get it. I don't get what you're saying.Like Pastor Taylor a couple of weeks ago dropped the 6-7 thing.Do you know like dictionary.com or something made that the word of the year?Did you know that?Do you know where that's from?It's from some basketball player that's 6-7. Aren't they all?I don't get it. I don't get it when the kids say words like "Skibbity toilet riz."Have you heard this one?I had to have somebody explain it to me. I still didn't quite understand it.But that is a thing and I don't get it. I just don't get it.I remember many years ago when the nieces on my wife's side were younger,probably teenagers-ish. But one family gatherer, I was Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever.I just remember the three girls were just walking around going,"I just bought a new alligator purse at Walmart for $4.99."And then they would laugh hysterically.So I'm like, "Well, I went in on the hilarity."So I'm like, "Well, I just bought a new alligator purse at Walmart for $4.99."And everybody laughed hysterically. I don't get it.I don't get "dolulu" and "juzh it up."And by the time this is on our website, somebody's going to listen to this and be like,"Oh, those are old words. We don't say that anymore."I try.I don't get it.And see, that is the point of the passage that we're looking at today.Here's the whole sermon.When it comes to the Word of God, unsaved people don't get it.But those who are born again, who have the Spirit of God residing in them,we come to the Word of God and we get it.This whole section that we're in in 1 Corinthians is contrasting man's wisdom and God's wisdom.And last week we focused specifically on the show.Why? Because Paul says he came in weakness.He wasn't like one of the lofty speaking philosophers putting on a show.Paul says, "I didn't come to you like that."So last week we talked about the show. This week we're going to talk about the content.The content of wisdom.Look at verse 6.He says, "Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom,although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away."So there's two kinds of wisdom.We talked about this many times in the past.I've gone through the Proverbs, I've gone through the book of James.There's two kinds of wisdom.There's man's wisdom, worldly wisdom, earthly wisdom, and there's God's wisdom.And that's what Paul's talking about here.Paul's like, "Don't throw out anything called wisdom because there's different kinds."We didn't come with man's wisdom, we came with God's wisdom.Now listen, when we talk about man's wisdom, we are not saying that man is incapable of doing anything with earthly wisdom.Man has done so much with medical advances, engineering, art, obviously.But man's wisdom cannot do anything about spiritual matters.When you try to apply man's wisdom to spiritual matters, do you know what you get?You get one of two things.You get heresy, or you get nonsense, or maybe you get both.Paul here talks about the rulers of this age.It's not a wisdom of the rulers of this age.Like, who are the rulers of this age?Well, in Paul's day, right, scribes, Pharisees, Roman officials.It's the important people, right?And who are the rulers of our age?It's pretty obvious.Politicians, celebrities.The loud, anti-God actors, musicians, athletes.You know, church, if I live to be a billion, I will never understand why we take so much stock in the opinions of celebrities.I don't understand that.You know, like somebody is paid millions of dollars because they're able to catch a ball.Which is a talent.Don't get me wrong.It's a talent.All of a sudden, we're like, well, I got to hear what his political views are.Why?Or you got some young lady who, she writes songs for a living.She writes really catchy pop songs about bad relationships.And we're like, man, I wonder what she thinks about immigration.Why do we care?Right?An actor whose very job is to pretend to be someone else.And they are fantastic at pretending to be someone else.And the world is just waiting to hear, what do you think about God?Paul says, I'll tell you what to think about them.They're doomed to pass away.Alright?God's word will stand forever, but a celebrity's opinion will be forgotten.Alright?So look at verse 7.He says, "But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before theages for our glory."None of the rulers of this age understood this.For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.See here, Paul's talking about the secret wisdom.These are spiritual truths that man cannot know unless God reveals them.God has revealed knowledge about Himself.Paul says, "For the glory of His people," and he says, "Those who are not born again,they don't get it."They don't get it.That's why he says, "None understood."None of the rulers of this age understood.They don't get it.They can't get it.Paul says in verse 8, "Here's an obvious point that they don't get it.God showed up in the flesh and they nailed them to a cross."Do you think for a second if they really understood who Jesus is that they would have crucifiedHim?Do you think for a second if they're like, "Well, this is the God who created me.This is the God who's ultimately going to judge me, and He's here right now.What should we do with Him?"Do you think they would have killed Him if they got that?Obviously not.So look at verse 9.He says, "But as it is written, what no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of manimagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him."So here Paul is paraphrasing concepts from the book of Isaiah, specifically Isaiah 64in verse 4.Now listen, when people read this verse, people immediately want to interpret this as, "Youcan't believe how awesome heaven is.You can't believe the things that God has prepared for us."And that's really not what this verse is about at all.Listen, this verse is about unbelievers not being able to understand salvation.Believers don't get it.That's what this verse is about.Look at it again.He's saying that spiritual truths about salvation can't be obtained through natural processes.Look at it again.He says, "What no eye has seen nor ear heard."He's saying, "Unsaved people can't understand spiritual truths by external means."He's saying you can't look at a sunset or the stars in the sky and understand salvation.You can understand some things about the power and beauty of God.Yes.But you can't look at a sunset and understand salvation.You can't perceive with your eyes or your ears.Then he goes on to say, "Nor the heart of man imagined."What's he saying?That's internal.That you can't come up with truth about God from your mind.You can't just sit around and say, "I wonder what God's like."And you imagine truths about salvation.Can't happen.You'll try though.You hear people say things like, "Well, you know, I think that we're all God's children.I believe love is the only thing that matters.I don't believe God condemns anybody.And with all due respect, it doesn't really matter what your opinion of God is."It's like a fruit fly trying to figure out how an iPhone works.It's not going to happen.And you trying to figure out on your own how God works, it's not going to happen.You can't do it.Truth about God must be revealed by God.That's Paul's whole point here.Human perception or wisdom can't contribute to this.People have no idea externally or internally what God has prepared.Everything for those who love it.They're like, "All right, I have a question.How exactly did God reveal His truth to man?How did He do that?"Well, that's what he goes on to answer.Look at verse 10.He says, "These things..."What things?"The things that God has prepared, the content of the gospel message.These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.Through the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God."So Paul says, "God revealed the content of the salvation message."He said he revealed it to us.And us in the Greek is emphatic.They're like, "Well, who is us?"Well, go back to verse 10.Paul's refers to those who love Him.Right?Like, what is he talking about here?Well, really, he's talking about something Jesus already gave us the heads up on backin Matthew 11 when Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that youhave..."Look at this."Hidden these things..."What things?Matters of salvation, revelation from God.Truth about God.You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, the important people, therulers of this age is what Paul calls them.Jesus says you've hidden them from the wise and understanding and revealed them to littlechildren.That's the point of this passage.You think you're so wise.No, no, no, no.God has to reveal truth if you're going to know anything about God.And God didn't reveal it to the important people.He revealed it to the children, people who love Him.That's his point.He gives an easy analogy.Look at verse 11.He says, "For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which isin him?"So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God.That's an easy analogy.No one knows a man's thoughts except that man.I mean, I can wonder all the live long day what Bob Brown thinks.I'm never going to know.His thoughts, his opinions, his hopes, his dreams, his fears.That's all within him.Nobody knows that about Bob Brown the way Bob Brown knows that about Bob Brown, right?And the only way I'm going to get a clue on any of that is if he tells me, right?And that's what Paul's saying here.Only God's spirit knows God.No one knows what God thinks but God.And God's spirit has to reveal God's thoughts to us.You're like, "What is that?"He's talking about the Bible.This book is the Holy Spirit revealing things that are known only to God.Like, "Wait, wait, okay."So you're saying that this book is the book of God's thoughts.Yes, that's what the passage is saying.Well how in the world could an infinite, holy, awesome God reveal his thoughts in a way thatwe could understand them?Because he's way above us.How in the world could he reveal his thoughts?So we could understand them.Verses 12 and 13, Paul answers that.He says, "Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God,that we might understand the things freely given us by God.And we impart this in words."Look at this."And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit."Here it is interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.He's talking about how we got the Bible.When he says "we" here in verse 12, he's talking about the apostles.It's obvious from the context.God didn't give you books of the Bible to write down.You might have some blank pages at the end of your Bible like in the book.That's not for you to write your own book.That's not what those are for.You're like, "Well, what are they for?""I don't know what those are for."But they're not for writing your own parts of the Bible.That was for the apostles.The apostles, Paul's saying here, "received the Spirit to put God's thoughts into humanwords."Again, this is something that Jesus promised would happen.Look at John 16.Yeah, Jesus said, "When the Spirit of truth comes," the Holy Spirit, "he will guide youinto all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears,he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come."This is how you got your Bible.God's Spirit gave God's thoughts to these apostles and he enabled them to write God'sthoughts down in a book, an objective source of God's truth.And you're like, "Okay, all right, all right."So if that is what the Bible actually is, the thoughts of God written in human words,why doesn't everyone accept the Bible as the Word of God?Why doesn't everybody just get on board with that?Why doesn't everybody just understand it?All that Paul has said is to drive us to this point.Are you still with me?All right?There's no sermon today.It's like Sunday school.There's a little sermon at the end.This is like Sunday school class.Everything he's saying here is to drive us to this one point.Understanding the thoughts of God revealed by the Spirit of God put in this book.Understanding this book also requires the work of the Holy Spirit.This is what he is driving us to.Look at verse 14.He says, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for theyare folly to Him, foolishness to Him, and He is not able to understand them because theyare spiritually discerned."You see Paul saying the Holy Spirit gave God's Word to the apostles and He makes known themeaning of God's words to those who love God.Non-spiritual people.Listen.They're like, "Why do we theology?"Because right now there's a whole lot of light bulbs that are going to go off.Non-spiritual people cannot accept the Word of God, and they do not understand the Wordof God.That's what he says in verse 14.Non-spiritual people cannot accept it.People who hate the Bible are just acting naturally.Why do you hate the Bible so much?Well, I'll give you a reason.He tells us right here in verse 14, "They don't understand it."They don't understand it.It makes no sense to them.And listen.Listen.If you refuse to believe in the Word of God, you will never understand it.Never going to happen.This is interesting, but like what does this mean in real world application, Pastor Jeff?Well let me tell you a lesson that I had to learn some time ago.I had to learn that you cannot put biblical standards on non-Christians for this veryreason.They're like, "Can you be specific?"Yeah, how uncomfortable do you want this to get?All right, let's talk about people that are living together, but they're not married.They live as if they're married, but they never got married.Cohabitation.I've dealt with this a lot, especially at my old church.It was a downtown church.It was a big, old, beautiful building.And we would have complete strangers coming off the street.They're like, "I want to get married here."Why?Not because they knew me or anybody else in the church.It's just pretty architecture."I want to get married here."But they were living together.We've had people like, "I want to join harvest and I want to actively serve at harvest."And they're living together, but they're not married.And in all of these cases, people are outraged that we would say, "Well, that's sin."It's sin.People were like shocked and outraged that you would even hold such an opinion.What do you mean it's sin?And this is tying into Paul's point here, my friends.When a couple was in that situation and understand their biggest issue is not cohabitation, thebiggest issue is they have no regard for God's work.That's the issue.And it's a scary thing because this is evidence that they don't have the Holy Spirit.And it's evidence, if all this is true, it's evidence that they're not born again.So you see, cohabitation isn't the biggest issue.Non-spiritual people don't get it.They can't accept that they don't understand.Light bulb should be going off.I hear this all the time.I hear this all the time and my heart breaks.But I hear people say, "People have adult children."I raised my kid in the church and now he absolutely refuses to go to church.He doesn't want anything to do with church or Bible study.My teenager hates going to youth group, refuses to go.And they won't listen to any biblical instruction.And I don't understand why.I'll tell you why.If this passage is right and I certainly believe that it is, the Bible makes no senseto them.They don't believe it.They don't get it.And when they come to church, they don't believe it.They don't accept it.They don't understand it.They don't get it.They come to church and I get up here or Pastor Taylor gets up here or Justin gets up hereand we're talking and people don't get it.All they hear is us standing up here going, "I bought a new alligator purses at Wal-Martfor $4.99."They're like, "What's that all about?"They don't get it because it has to be spiritually discerned.You're like, "Oh, so you're saying I shouldn't drag my kids to church?You're saying I shouldn't teach my kids the Bible?"Of course I am not saying that.Come on.But they aren't really going to get it if they don't personally make a decision toreceive Jesus.That's what you need to drive them to.Look at verse 15.He says, "The spiritual person judges all things."Stop right there.This is a statement.We who are spiritual, we who have the Holy Spirit can judge all things.What's He talking about?He's just simply talking about this.The Bible, when rightly understood, makes sense of everything.It makes sense of the world.It makes sense of man.It makes sense of God.It makes sense of the way sin works.Understanding the world through the lens of God's Word when we understand it makes everythingmake total sense to us.We get it.We get why lost people act like lost people.We get it.You're spiritually dead.We get it.Bless you.We get people get old and die.We get it.Why does that happen?We get it.We get it when we have a loved one that's stuck in an addiction.Like I get it, it's a worship disorder.They're worshiping something and it's not Jesus.It's an addiction.We get it.We get it when a believer still struggles with sin.Like why is he still struggling with sin?We get it.Because he's a spiritual person that lives in fallen flesh.So there's going to be a war going on until he's removed from the fallen flesh.We get it.It all makes sense.We get it, church.We're rightly able to judge these things and we're rightly able to judge what's happeningout there.We can watch the news.We can rightly judge all of that stuff if you really understand the Bible.Like for example, what was the big news story last week?The snap benefits getting cut off, right?We can understand that through the lens of God's Word.Anybody not offended yet because you might be here in a second?Understand that through the lens of God's Word?Look, the government doesn't need involved in that.In feeding people at all.Whose job is that?It's the church's job.Here's what should happen.The church should be providing for those in need who are unable to provide for themselves.But someone who can work and refuses to work doesn't get to eat.That's what the Bible says.We can rightly judge all things, right?We rightly judge all things.Things like racism is idiotic.It's just stupid.We're able to judge that.We realize we all came from the same parents.We all come from Adam and Eve.So if your skin's a different color, your eyes are a different shape, who cares?It's stupid, but people make that an issue because they don't get it.We get it.Why has Israel survived for thousands of years even though everybody's constantly tryingto exterminate them?Why are they front and center in the world stage all the time?We get it.We get it.That's what Paul's saying.We judge all things.Like, yeah, we get it.But look at the back of verse 15.He says, "But is himself judged by no one."But is himself judged by no one.So Christian, don't worry about how the world judges you.Don't worry about how the world looks at you.You close-minded, anti-science, misguided, uneducated, unintelligent, fairy tale believing,homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic jerk.Don't worry about what the world calls you.They don't understand the word.They don't value the word.So they're not going to understand you, and they're not going to value you either.You judge by no one.Right?Now look at verse 16."For who has understood the mind of the Lord as to instruct Him?"That's Isaiah 40, verse 13.He says, "But we have the mind of Christ."That last line, that's the punchline here.Meaning he's saying, gets to this one sentence, "But we have the mind of Christ."And if Paul would have just come out and said that first without any explanation, we wouldhave been like, "What in the world are you talking about?"Well, who's the we here?Why is he saying we?Why doesn't he say, "You have the mind of Christ?"He could have.Why does he say, "We have the mind of Christ?"Why we here?Well, what's Paul talking about throughout the first several chapters of 1 Corinthians?What's he talking about?Unity.Right?Here's the point.Unification can really only happen if we are all thinking the same way.If we have the mind of Christ, if we think like Jesus, that is what will unify.We, that is what will unify us.This unity comes when I walk around here saying, "You all need to think like Jeff."You need to think like Jeff.That's the problem with this church.You all don't think like Jeff.That causes disunity.Right?And then, like, Laura gets up and she goes, "No, the problem is you need to think likeLaura."That's the problem with this church.Everybody think like Laura will be good.And then Brian gets up.Brian's like, "No, no, the problem is everybody needs to think like Brian.You think like Brian will be in good shape.That will unify us."No, no, no.That just causes division.We need to think like Jesus.And with a statement like this, I couldn't just be like, "Okay, we have the mind of Christ.You're loved.See you next week.Let's sing a song."Like, that's such a statement that I figured we have to take a couple of minutes to unpackthat.You have the mind of...Not...You should have the mind of Jesus.You have the mind of Jesus.You do.And until you think like Jesus, church, we're never going to have unity here.We're always going to be fighting over something.So I do want to leave you with this.Just a couple more minutes here.So just grab your neighbor's sleeve right now and give him a shake and say, "Okay, theSunday School Lessons over, now we're getting to the sermon.Take a minute and do that."Some of you aren't shaking hard enough.We're just going to close with this.We have the mind of Christ.And you're like, "Well, how do I know?How do I know if I have the mind of Christ?"Well, Paul tells us.Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul tells us in Philippians.Turn over in your Bible to Philippians chapter 2.I know usually we like camp in one passage, but we can't just end with that statement.We have the mind of Christ.What's that mean?Turn to Philippians chapter 2.Just over a few pages.Look at verses 5 through 8.Paul says, "Have this mind among yourselves."And you look at the context.He's talking about unity here again, right?Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.You have the mind of Christ?Well, how do I know?How do I know if I have the mind of Christ?Write these three things down very quickly.Number one, you know you have the mind of Christ when I don't insist on my rights.I know I have the mind of Christ when I don't insist on my rights.Look at verse 6.He says, talking about Jesus, "Who, though He was in the form of God, did not countequality with God a thing to be grasped."I know I have the mind of Christ when I don't insist on my rights.In Jesus' mind, He didn't feel the need to tightly cling to the privilege that comeswith being God.And oh, Jesus would have had every right to demand everyone treat Him as God, becauseHe is.Jesus could have walked around on the earth and said, "Serve me.Get me this.Fetch me that.Now chop chop.I'm God.Serve me."He could have gotten away with that.He's the only person in history that could have.He let go of that.That was His right and He let go of it.And you have to get to the place where you made up your mind that you don't have to insiston your rights.I deserve more.I deserve better.I can't believe you asked me to do that.Do you know how important I am?I'm not thinking like Jesus.See, the world says, "Hey, you go out and you demand your rights."But when you think like Jesus, you say, "Yeah, I let go of my rights."When you do that, you get it.You get it.How do I know if I have the mind of Christ, number two, when I act like a servant?Verse 7.Verse 7.He says, "But made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likenessof men."We've done sermons on this in the past.This one phrase really stands out to me more than anything in this whole passage, really.It says that Jesus took the form of a servant.And you know, you have the mind of Christ.You know you're thinking like Jesus when you act like a servant.By the way, God's wisdom is opposite of the world's wisdom.If I said who's the greatest person in the world, you would say, "Well, it's whoeverhas the most people serving him, right?"That's how we determine greatness.Who has the most people serving them?Jesus said the greatest among you will be the servant of all.And His life was an example of such greatness.You know you have the mind of Christ when you act like a servant.Like, well, how do I do that?Well, you won't know.You won't know if you're a servant until somebody treats you like one.Then you find out.If you walked in here today and I had one of them stickers that said, "Hello, my nameis," and I wrote on there, "My name is slave.Tell me what to do."And I slapped that on your chest.How would that make you feel if that's how everybody regards you?"Hey, they're slave.I'm going to tell them what to do."You won't know if you're a servant until somebody treats you like one.But God took the form of a servant.And when you're like, "I'm here to serve," then you think like Jesus.Then number three, how do I know I have the mind of Christ when I obey God all the way?All the way.Unconditionally, no limits.Look at verse 8.He says, "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient."How far did you take that, Jesus?Abedient to the point of death.Even death on a cross.You see, Jesus' way of thinking determined what He did.He humbled himself and became obedient to His Father all the way to death.And not just death.All the way to the worst way to die.Death on a cross.All the way, and everything else, along the way, all the way, everything Jesus did wasan obedience to the Father.So how far are you willing to take your service to God and to others?How far are you willing to go?How much is too much?If you say, "Okay, all right, all right.I'll serve in the church.All right, I'll serve, but only when it's convenient."Or you're not thinking like Jesus.If you're like, "Okay, all right.I know I'm supposed to give to the church.And the Bible says that.We've walked through that.I'll give, but listen, I'm only going to give a little bit.I'm only going to give like what I won't miss."You're not thinking like Jesus.And if you're like, "You know what?That person wronged me."And yes, they reached out.They apologized."I will never forgive her.I will never forgive her for what she did to me.No matter how many times she says she's sorry, I will never forgive her."You're not thinking like Jesus.The world says be true to yourself.You think like Jesus.You say, "I'm obedient to God, no matter what."We'll take it all the way.You get it.You get it.Our worship team will make their way back up front.You know, we could go on and on and on about the mind of Christ.But really, it can be summed up in one word.If you really say that Philippians 2 passage, the word is selfless.Are you a selfless person?You will be if you think like Jesus.But when you have God's Spirit within you, enabling you to discern and understand andapply God's Word, you will think like Jesus.You'll get it.You will get it.Let's pray.Father in heaven.That's such an interesting thing, the way your Spirit works with your Word.Somebody can stand up here and preach the most Biblically accurate message and it'sgoing to go right over the head of people that don't have your Spirit.Father, when your Spirit moves in the hearts of people and your Word is proclaimed, youdo something.And God, that's what I'm asking, is that you would soften the hearts of those maybewho are sitting here and are heart-hearted and haven't been getting it for a long time.Those who are closed-minded towards your Word, they don't get it.Maybe they think they do.And I just pray, Father, for your Spirit, for all of us, you draw us just one step closerto you today.We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Mark 1:35-45 As we finish the first chapter of Mark's gospel this week, we will dwell on the mercy of God. As we sing together, we will declare the following things about God's mercy: 1. We would be lost without God's mercy: Just as I am, I would be lost, but mercy and grace my freedom bought. 2. We see the fullness of mercy in Christ's sacrifice: He left His Father's throne above, so free, so infinite His grace; Emptied

LESSON 303The Holy Christ Is Born In Me Today.Watch with me, angels, watch with me today. Let all God's holy Thoughts surround me, and be still with me while Heaven's Son is born. Let earthly sounds be quiet, and the sights to which I am accustomed disappear. Let Christ be welcomed where He is at home. And let Him hear the sounds He understands, and see but sights that show His Father's Love. Let Him no longer be a stranger here, for He is born again in me today.Your Son is welcome, Father. He has come to save me from the evil self I made. He is the Self That You have given me. He is but what I really am in truth. He is the Son You love above all things. He is my Self as You created me. It is not Christ That can be crucified. Safe in Your Arms let me receive Your Son.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

LESSON 303The Holy Christ Is Born In Me Today.Watch with me, angels, watch with me today. Let all God's holy Thoughts surround me, and be still with me while Heaven's Son is born. Let earthly sounds be quiet, and the sights to which I am accustomed disappear. Let Christ be welcomed where He is at home. And let Him hear the sounds He understands, and see but sights that show His Father's Love. Let Him no longer be a stranger here, for He is born again in me today.Your Son is welcome, Father. He has come to save me from the evil self I made. He is the Self That You have given me. He is but what I really am in truth. He is the Son You love above all things. He is my Self as You created me. It is not Christ That can be crucified. Safe in Your Arms let me receive Your Son.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

October 30, 2025Today's Reading: Introit for Pentecost 21 - Psalm 50:1-2, 14-15; antiphon: Psalm 50:23Daily Lectionary: Deuteronomy 31:30-32:27; Matthew 20:1-16“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; the one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!” (Psalm 50:23)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You know our situation. As human beings, we are conceived and born sinful; there is no good in us to do anything right. None of us could ever offer thanksgiving that is perfect in God's eyes. No one could sacrifice anything that would glorify God. How could we ever be shown the salvation of God?! How can this verse from the upcoming introit make sense?Jesus continued giving perfect thanks to the Father, sacrificing himself once and for all on the cross. That was the greatest moment of God's glory, showing His ultimate mercy to all in the suffering and death of Christ crucified. Look to the crucifix. See Jesus in all His glory, pouring out God's mercy on you. In that sacrifice of His that glorifies God, you are made His. There you are shown (and given) the salvation of God!While Christ's giving thanks perfectly showed God's glory in giving mercy for all, He still delivers the benefits and blessings of that thanksgiving. “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks…” “In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks…” In the Last Supper, Jesus gives thanks to His Father in heaven. The Church picked up on that detail and has often used a name for the Lord's Supper: the Holy Eucharist. Eucharist is simply a Greek word for “Thanksgiving.”But here is the awesome thing: the Last Supper was not about the disciples giving thanks; Jesus gave thanks! The Eucharist today is not about you and me giving thanks, or even your pastor. It is Jesus giving perfect thanks on your behalf!The salvation of God was purchased and won for you at the cross. Now, the salvation of God is delivered to you through Baptism, Absolution, the proclamation of the Gospel, and through the Holy Eucharist! At His altar, Christ once again offers thanksgiving as His sacrifice, and that glorifies God. The Lord feeds you His body and pours His blood into your mouth, showing (and nourishing you with!) the salvation of God!Dear Baptized friends, your Jesus eucharists for you! And your Jesus IS the Eucharist for you, feeding you the salvation of God with His Body and Blood.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Praise we Him, whose love divine Gives His sacred blood for wine, Gives His body for the feast – Christ the victim, Christ the priest. Alleluia! (LSB 633:2) Rev. Richard Heinz, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Lowell, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Harrison Goodman is the Executive Director of Mission and Theology for Higher Things.Step back in time to the late Reformation and learn about a divisive yet inspirational figure: Matthias Flacius Illyricus. His contributions to Lutheranism still echo in our teachings today, from the Magdeburg Confession to parts of the Lutheran Confessions. Learning about Flacius's life will help you understand more intricacies of the Reformation than ever before.

Send us a textWhat do you think the two most important things were in the life of Jesus? You may say His relationship with His Father, The Father's will for Him and His obedience. but what do you think about Jesus representing Himself as One who prayed often and forgave always.Prayer and forgiveness was a big part of His life and He talked about it often. Listen carefully as you hear the Master teach on these two vital aspects of our Christian life.

Summary: In this episode, Dr. Michael Easley and former NFL quarterback Jeff Kemp talk about what it means for men to follow Jesus with humility, dependence, and intentionality. Kemp draws from John's Gospel, where Jesus repeatedly affirms that He only does what His Father tells Him to do. Michael reflects on how staggering it is that the God-man chose to say and do only what pleased His Father. Jeff unpacks this further: if Christ Himself modeled such dependence, then we too must stop striving to impress God and instead learn to receive from Him. The conversation then turns to one of the greatest needs among men today—true friendship. Many men isolate, even while surrounded by people, leaving them lonely, insecure, and vulnerable. Kemp encourages men to take simple but intentional steps: initiate, honor others, pray together, and practice accountability. He shares practical questions for building deeper friendships, emphasizes the power of confession, and reminds us that level-five friendships are rooted in Christ and His Word. At the heart of this conversation is a simple challenge: don't try to live the Christian life alone. Depend on Christ. Invest in other men. Take the initiative to build friendships that are honest, prayerful, and life-giving. Takeaways Jesus modeled total dependence on the Father, and we are called to do the same. Men often isolate, leaving them vulnerable to loneliness and insecurity. True friendships require initiative—reaching out, honoring, and encouraging others. Confession and prayer with trusted friends bring healing and strength. Practical questions and accountability take friendships beyond the surface. Deep, Christ-centered friendships are essential for spiritual growth and resilience. LINKS MENTIONED: Receive by Jeff Kemp Men Huddle Watch the highlights and full version of this interview on our Youtube channel. For more inContext interviews, click here.

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The whole of Jesus' life was lived under the shadow of the cross. As Christ faithfully served His Father each day, the agony of Calvary loomed ever nearer. Today, Sinclair Ferguson begins to reflect on the life of our Lord. Read the transcript: https://ligonier.org/podcasts/things-unseen-with-sinclair-ferguson/living-under-the-shadow-of-the-cross/ A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://donate.ligonier.org/ Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

What would your relationship with God look like if you slowed down enough to truly listen?In this message titled Solitude from the Practicing the Way series, Lead Pastor Aaron Pennington teaches on the power of silence and solitude in a world full of noise. Through Scripture and the example of Jesus in Mark 1, Aaron shows that even Jesus withdrew to quiet places to pray, listen, and realign with His Father's purpose.Solitude is not isolation. It is intentional time with God that brings clarity, peace, and renewal. When we slow down and listen, we discover that God is always speaking if we make room to hear Him.Listen as we explore:• Why solitude is essential for a thriving faith• How to recognize God's voice amid life's noise• The importance of silence, prayer, and purity of heart• Practical ways to create space for God in your daily rhythm

Introduction: We're Not Putting on a Show (1 Corinthians 2:1–5) Because the show will replace God's MESSAGE. (1 Cor 2:1–2) John 17:17 – Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. Because the show will replace God's METHODS. (1 Cor 2:3–4) Because the show will replace God's MISSION. (1 Cor 2:5) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 2:1-5What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What are some ways you have seen a church make the Gospel into a show / performance?Why does God prefer to work through weak people instead of strong & talented people (1 Cor 2:3-4)?How can you tell if a “good preacher” is a real Spirit-filled preacher, or a talented man just using his own gifts?BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Open those Bibles up to the book of 1 Corinthians. We're going to be in chapter 2.Let's just pause for a moment.And I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's Word accurately and clearly.I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what God said in His Word.Alright? Let's pray.Father, there are so many things that compete for our attention and devotion.Give us a hunger for your Word, because it is through your Word that we know you.So I pray, Father, that our appetites would be for nothing but the bread of your Word.Let us dial into what your teaching is here in this passage, Father. We pray in Jesus' name.Amen.Amen.1 Corinthians chapter 2, are you there?I was today years old when I learned what that phrase meant.How many people have heard that? I was today years old. How many have heard that one? How many of you used that?Some of you are like, I don't know what you're talking about. Well, maybe you're not hip like Justin Cady,knowing all the vernacular of the children.But let me give you an example. I was today years old when I learned that on a box of tic-tacs,do you know when you open it up, there's this little oval in here? Do you know what that's for?That is to serve the tic-tac. Did you know that?Have you been just eating your tic-tac straight from the box like a wolf?Did you know that you're supposed to use this thing to...Ta-da!Maybe you can flick it in your mouth.Never mind.I'm going to give you, in all seriousness, the biggest and most shocking thing.The whole phrase I was today years old means there's something I should have known.I'm just finding out this thing that I should have known my whole life and wow, it changes everything.Well, here's the biggest one of all time.Did you know that you have the ability to take power out of the cross of Jesus Christ?Did you know that? You might be leaving here today saying I was today years old when I learned.I can empty the cross of Jesus Christ of its power. Do you realize you have that ability?The Bible says we do have that ability. Look back at chapter 1 verse 17.We covered this a couple of weeks ago, but very briefly because I knew we would be hitting it hard this week.But chapter 1 verse 17, Paul says, "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel,and not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."What? I can take power away from the cross of Christ? That's what he said.How can I take power away from the cross? How can I empty the cross of Christ of power?He tells us right here in verse 17 by relying on eloquent wisdom.Look at chapter 2. We're going to look at the first five verses, but I want us to read it all first.I want us to be very clear what the Lord is saying here.Paul says through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "And when I came to you, brothers,did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were notimplausible words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."See a theme there? Over and over and over he's talking about wisdom.And you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, hang on, timeout Pastor Jeff, hang on."I thought wisdom was a good thing, right?And we've had whole sermon series on wisdom and there's books in the Bible called wisdom literature.I thought wisdom was a good thing. Why are we poo-pooing wisdom here today, Pastor Jeff?Well, wisdom is one of those words that can have different connotations depending on the context.A lot of words like that, right? Like the word aggressive.Is that a good word or a bad word?Well, depends on where we're using it, right? It's great if you're playing hockey.It's bad if you're in a meeting. See?Or how about the word judge? You hear that word judge, is judging good or bad?Well, depends how you use it. We are commanded to judge to discern.But we are forbidden to judge in the sense of criticizing people like we talked about in the sermon on the Mount.So you see, judge is bad or good depending on the context. And it's the same with wisdom.Because the Bible is clear there is God's wisdom and there is man's wisdom.And the obvious point of this passage, all circles around this idea of not man's worldly, earthly wisdom.That's the point. He says it in verse 1. He says it in verse 4. He says it in verse 5.So to sum up this passage, here's what Paul is saying.He's saying, "I didn't come proclaiming man's wisdom. My message was not in man's wisdom and your faith can't be in man's wisdom."You're like, "What's he saying? What's the problem here? Why is he so adamant about this?"Well, you have to understand something about the Greeks.You have to understand something about the people that lived in Corinth.You see, for them, public speaking was entertainment and competition.Now please dial in here, because if you miss this, you're going to be so confused as we go through these verses.Public speaking was entertainment and competition.They would actually compete for money and prizes and fame with public speaking.So for the Greeks, those in Corinth, public speaking was putting on a show.Public speaking was a performance.Remember, they didn't have TV.They weren't sitting down to entertaining themselves by watching the Judge Judy or whatever.They didn't have the internet where they would sit on their phone and death scroll through countless videos about cats.That's not how they were entertained.They were entertained in the Greek culture by two things, really.Sports, we get that, right? But their other form of entertainment was public speech.And public speech, listen, public speech was evaluated on eloquence.We get that, because how many countless TV programs do we have about judging talent?Right? The Americans got talent and American Idol and The Voice, The Mass Singer, what else is there?All these shows where, you know, so you think you can dance, we're constantly evaluating the talent level of people on these programs.Public speaking was that in Corinth.Now, do you see the issue?Paul came to them with a speech, the Gospel.He came to them with a speech and he came to a culture that evaluates a speech based on the performance of the performer.So if you look at this passage again, I'm going to look at it again, just abbreviating it, but you could substitute this phrase where it talks about wisdom.You could substitute putting on a show. That's what he was talking about here.Paul's saying, "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming you the testimony of God by putting on a show."And then down in verse 4, "My speech and my message was not about putting on a show."And then in verse 5, "Your faith might not rest in the show, but the power of God."You see? That was the issue for that culture.And you're like, "Phew! Stinks for that culture because I get a... You know what, Pastor Jeff, it would be absolutely horrible.I mean, that would be terrible if people today turned the Gospel into our show.I mean, could you imagine how tacky it would be if people made church a performance?We don't have to stretch our imagination, do we?What do you see when you go to a lot of churches and Bible conferences, right?Fog machines and lights and how about a man pole dancing and swallowing swords?That happened at a men's conference.And oh, every spring I gag as I see churches promoting this summer at such and such church, summer at the movies.Life lessons according to Toy Story 2.I'm like, "Really? You've preached through the whole Bible and you're out of material and now we're turning to Pixar.Really?We made it into a show.Come to our church. We're dropping Easter eggs out of a helicopter.Oh, you know what the worst is. This could be... And this is personal opinion. This is the worst.The pastors that get on stage dressed up like a character.Have you seen this? Have you seen this nonsense?Pastor Taylor sent me a video for the record making fun of it.He sent me a video of a pastor that got on stage and their whole thing was Indiana Jones.And look, I love Indiana Jones, but the pastor was dressed like Indiana Jones.It was so stupid. He had a whip and he's just standing up there.It was so foolish.I have a... Noa guy who's a pastor, local-ish.We're talking about what's happening in church, what's going on in your ministry right now.And he went on and on and on bragging. He bought an evil-can-evil costume and preached as evil-can-evil.I'm like, "Great. Did you have to spend 20 minutes explaining to the people under 60 who evil-can-evil is?"Like, "Really? That's church?"What are we doing?If you sit these people down that are putting on these performances, these pastors,that are putting on these performances, like, "Why are you doing this?Why are you standing on stage waving a silly whip around like Indiana Jones? What are you doing?"They would say, "Well, that's how I get people to church.""Hey, no need to thank me, Jesus. I have a brilliant plan to fill the seats."And just as sad, churchgoers applaud these gimmicks because they get attention, right?That's why we're sharing these videos. They get attention.Oh, but then we get out to do each other, don't we?He dressed like Indiana Jones next week, harvest."You come to church next week. I'm going to be dressed as Darth Vader."[sighs]Your faith is weak.Won't that be awesome?You're like, "No, Pastor Jeff, that would be stupid."And you're right.We're going to top the other guy, and then we're going to top ourselves, right?Okay, so my thing with Darth Vader, people are clapping and giggling for that.So what am I going to do next week that's better than that, right?Just like one of those Lord of the Ring elves or something, and we'll blast fireworks on stage.What are we doing?This is exactly what Paul's talking about here.This is the principle. Lofty speech, human wisdom, plausible words.It's making the gospel into a show in order to win people.Paul says, "I didn't do that when I came to you in the Harvest Bible Chapel.We're not doing that either."And somebody right now is like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, come on, what's the big deal?"Lighten up.I mean, if it draws people to church,why wouldn't we apply a little worldly wisdom?Listen, we are not putting on a show.We are not putting on a show.That is a hill that I will die on.You're like, "Well, what's the issue?"Well, let's revisit the text here, and we're going to see it's a much bigger issue than you think.We're not putting on a show.Write some things down. Number one, because the show will replace God's message.That's why the show, the show will replace God's message.Look at the first two verses again.Paul says, "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to youthe testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you."Except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."When I came to you, you can revisit this story."Acts chapter 17, Paul was in Athens and he preached and responds, "Not so great."Then Acts chapter 18, he goes to Corinth.He's alone and he's looking around and he's like, "This place is even worse than Athens."And Paul here is saying, "So when I came to you, did I come with the fancy talk?Did I come like your public speakers putting on a show for you?"He's like, "No, no, no, no, the Gospel isn't about that.I didn't come to you like one of your philosophers.I came to you as a witness of Jesus Christ."And I love this.What is it?He says, "For I decided."It wasn't a whim.It wasn't one of those tweak and go things, last minute change.He goes, "No, no, no, no, no.I made the decision ahead of time that I'm not going into Corinth and I'm not going to try to dazzle them into the kingdom."By the way, do you think Paul could have?Do you think he had the ability to dazzle people with the knowledge that he had?Yeah, he could have.He said, "I will not do that."So what was your plan, Paul?He tells us this was my plan, verse 2, "For I decided to know nothing among you."Except what?Say it.Jesus Christ and say it.Him crucified.That's it.That's all I wanted to know.That's it.The only thing I wanted to know.The only thing I wanted to teach.The only thing I wanted to talk about was Jesus Christ and Him crucified.You're like, "Oh, time out question.Isn't there more to the Bible than that?"I mean, isn't there more to the Bible than that?Nope, there's not.Listen, the cross of Jesus Christ is literally everything.Everything.How is it that a person is saved?How is it that a person can have their sins taken away and the promise of being in glory with their God forever?How does that happen?The cross of Jesus Christ.How do we know that God loves us?How do we know that the God who created us has a love and compassion and He really cares for us?How do we know?The cross of Jesus Christ.How do we know that God is holy, that God is a God of justice?How do we know that God always upholds His Word, always does what He says?How do we know that?The cross of Jesus Christ.How does God feel about sin?How does God feel about our rebellion, our thumbing, our noses at Him and our...How does God feel about our sin?Where do we get our answer? Shout it out.That was the weakest shout it out I've ever heard.Come on, you can even hit the Sunday School Answer here.How do we know how God feels about sin?Where do we look? Tell me.The cross!That tells us.You know, I was really hitting this this week, hard thinking,is there anything that's not finding its foundation in the cross?I couldn't think of anything.And somebody's like, well, how about money?How about money, Pastor Jeff?Does the cross speak to money?Yeah, it does.Why do we give?Because God is a God who expresses His love through giving.And the cross of Jesus Christ tells us why we should be generous givers.Read 2 Corinthians chapter 8.He talks all about that there.So yes, the cross is a foundation even for giving.Oh, okay, okay, Pastor Jeff.Very slick.What about marriage and sexuality?I bet the cross doesn't talk about that.Oh, you got me. No, you didn't.Who did Jesus die for?His bride.Jesus died so that He could have a bride that was spallus.And heaven is described as the marriage supper of the Lamb.And husbands are to conduct themselves in a home in the pattern of Christbecause the purpose of a marriage is to put on a graphic displayof the relationship Jesus has with the church.Husbands represent the self-sacrificing love of Jesus Christ to their wives.Do you see how the cross speaks to marriage?We could do this all day.Fight me.Fight me.Show me something.Show me something that the cross of Jesus Christ doesn't cover.Doesn't explain.Paul says, "I wanted to know nothing.I decided I'm not going to know anything except Christ and Him crucified."Then I'm going to tell you, church,it is absolutely baffling to me when I see all these goofy gimmicks that people are doing in churches.It's absolutely baffling to me when we're dressed up like Indiana Jonesor Evil Can Evil or Super Mario or whatever.It's absolutely baffling to me.I'm like, do you realize the message that we have in the Word of God?Do you know what this message is?The message is God spoke everything into existence.He created us in His image.We rebelled against Him so God in His love came to this earth as a manand demonstrated supernatural abilities proving who He was.And then in the ultimate act of love, He sacrificed Himself on the crossso that we could be forgiven and then they put Him in a tomb and He rose from the dead.And that's not it.Then He flies to heaven and He's making a place because He's going to come backand He's going to take us so that we can be there with Him forever in a place that's so glorious.And like, is there anything better than that?There's the greatest message in the world.And somehow we think it needs bling.We think we need some kind of a gimmick to make Jesus exciting.What are you talking about?That's Paul's point here.It's the greatest message and it always will be in any attempt to put on a show.It's not going to enhance the gospel. It's going to replace the gospel.You know what I mean by that?Take our good friend Indiana Jones.I hope you weren't in that service.But if you were, could you imagine what people were talking aboutwhen they walked out of church that day?Do you think they walked out of church going, you know,after watching the pastor get around and waving his silly little whip around?Do you think people walked out of church going, Jesus Christ is so awesome?Do you think they walked out of church going, oh how wonderful the salvation of Godthat He would so love us?I'll tell you what people said walking out of that church.People walked out going, man I got to find my temple of doom VHS.We've replaced the message of how to be safe from hell with nonsense to entertain people.Well, at harvest Bible Chapel, Bible is our middle name.We are committed to pillar number one, proclaiming the authority of God's word without apology.Why are we so committed to nothing but expository preaching, representing the word?Why are we so committed to that?Like why are you so hard-nosed about that?I'll give you three reasons why.Number one, because it's commanded.God said this is what we were to talk about.So that's what we're going to talk about.It's commanded.Second reason that we're so committed to the word of God is it's literally the only thing that's effective.God said He is watching over His word to perform in Jeremiah 1.God says Isaiah 55, that His word always accomplishes the purposes for which He sends it out.It's effective.Nothing else will change a person.But the Spirit of God working through the word of God.That's it. That's the only way change happens.There's another reason that we're so committed to the word of God is because it's unifying.In John 17, Jesus was praying for us, and Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth."Sanctify means set apart.Jesus said, "Regarding His people, regarding us, we are to be set apart in the truth."Like where do we find that?Right there, Jesus said it.As He was praying to His Father, He says, "Your word is truth."So Jesus said, "The thing that must unify us, church, isn't some gimmick or a favorite form of entertainment.The thing that must unify us is the word of God. Get under the word."That's why we're committed to that.And you know what? I got to tell you this personally.This is so freeing for me.This is so freeing.I don't have to wonder what to say to you.See, we don't get in our offices through the week and we're like,"Oh, Pastor Taylor, what do you think we should say this week?Let's come up with some really great thing that's going to really fire people up."We don't have to do that.We just have to share the word of God.It's so freeing. I don't have to think, "How do I top last week's show?"I mean, people were really entertained last week.How do I top that?It's freeing for you, too.It's freeing for you.We talk about witnessing.One of the main obstacles people have about witnessing,I hear this all the time, Pastor Taylor,you've heard it a billion times as well, give or take.But you know what people say about witnessing?They say, "I don't know what to say."I would share my faith, but I'll be honest with you.I don't really know what to say. Yes, you do.You know exactly what to say.What do I say?Try this. Try Paul's technique.Nothing but the cross. How about that?Nothing but the cross. Share that.Do you know about the cross? Share that.You know, when people come to you and they're like,"Well, you know what does the Bible say about politics?"And like, Republicans and Democrats, you're like,"Well, do you know that Jesus Christ died for your sins?Did you know that?"And then they're like, "Well, what does the Bible say about AI?"I mean, AI is kind of scary.What does the Bible say about that?And your response is,"Do you know that God loved you so muchthat He sent His Son to die on the cross for you?That's how much God loves you."And they're like, "Well, does the Bible say anythingabout in vitro fertilization?"And she's like, "No, no, no. All I know is that Jesus died for you."That's all we need to know.We're not putting on a show because the showwill replace God's message of the cross of Christ.Number two, write this one down.We're not putting on a show because the show will replace God's methods.The show will replace God's methods.Look at verses 3 and 4 again.He says, "And I was with you in weakness and in fearand much trembling.And my speech and my message were notin plausible words of wisdom,but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."Paul reminds them, he didn't come to themlike a boxer going to the ring.Like, "I fired up."Yeah!You see, there's really goofy, like,WWE professional wrestlers.Do you ever see these guys that come to the ring with the fireworks?Yeah!Yeah, and Paul's like, "That's not how I came to you.Like some goofy entertainer."He says, "I came to you. Use the three words, 'weakness,' fear, and trembling."What do you mean?What do you mean by that?Well, you look at how it's used biblically.Trembling is talking about mental anxietyover an important issue.That's when you feel something heavy in your heart and mind.You feel something so heavy that it's like weighing on you.And here's what I mean.Have you ever had the unfortunate business of having to give somebody newsyou didn't want to give them?Unfortunately, in my role, I've had to do that too many times.And it's so heavy on you.You're driving to the person's house because you have to tell them face to facethat there's been a terrible accident and things don't look good,that heaviness that you have while you're heading there.And delivering the message, just...That's what he's talking about.Or the heaviness, like if you have to confront somebody about their sin.Like, it's been brought to my attention that so-and-so is involved in a relationshipthat shouldn't be involved in.Now I gotta go talk to them about that.You see, you don't walk into that like a WWE wrestler, do you?Like, "Hey, guess what? I got news for you.There's been a terrible tragedy!"Like, what's the matter with you?No, that's the heaviness of having to deliver a serious message.That's what he's talking about here.Paul says, "This was my posture when I was with you.Not exactly the celebrity showman that the Corinthians would have preferred."Paul is saying, "I came in weakness because I didn't want to put on a showbecause I didn't want to get in God's way."Why, Paul? Why?Because the show will replace God's methods.You're like, "Well, what is God's method for reaching lost people?What is God's method?"It's the foolishness of preaching from a weak preacher.That's God's method.Did you ever say something like magnanimous, you have this really idealistic convictionand then the word of God kind of changes your mind on that?What I mean is, in past time I've said things like,"Well, you know what? The messenger is insignificant. The message is everything."After my study this week, I'm not so convinced of that anymore.Yeah, look, we established already that the message cannot be replaced.We already talked about that.But you cannot separate gospel content and gospel communication.Because according to this, in 117 that we already talked about at the beginning,you can suppress the power of the gospel message if attention is taken away from thatand put on the speaker.And you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. Hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.Are you telling me that popular people can't be faithful preachers?"Sure they can.So long as the spotlight isn't on them, you see.You're like, "Well, where's the line? Where's the line?"It's a hard issue. I'm not sure that we can see the line, but I know that God can.And I know that there is a difference between preaching Christ and showing off.And please hear me. You don't need to dress up as Indiana Jones to show off in church.You can dress like Pastor Taylor.You know, you really hurt his feelings by laughing just there.There is nothing wrong with how you're dressed.I'm sorry, Pastor Taylor.Do you know what this thing is for in a tic-tac box?You put the tic-tac in there.Moving right along.You don't need to dress up as Indiana Jones to show off.You can dress like Pastor Taylor, but unlike Pastor Taylor, you can try to make yourself the star.Unlike Pastor Taylor, you can put all the attention on yourself.You know, the message of the cross, you know what the message of the cross is?The message of the cross is about the humiliation of God.And preaching and witnessing require the humiliation of man.If you're sitting here today and you're like, "Well, I'm not really anything special.I'm just a sinner saved by grace."Well, if that's your attitude, then that's exactly why God wants to speak through you.Because you've found nothing to boast of in yourself.And instead, all you can do is exalt Jesus Christ.The power is in the gospel, which is why it must be preached by someonewho isn't going to drown out the gospel message with the sound of tuning their own horn.So we're not putting on a show because the show will replace God's method of preaching through weak men.One more.We're not putting on a show, number three, because the show will replace God's mission.Look at verse 5.He says that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.See here Paul's landing. This is the end game.The results.Here's the bottom line.If you're dazzled by men, your faith is going to be in men.But if you are dazzled over the power of God, if your experience is with the power of God,then your faith is going to be in God.What you win people with is what you win them to.See we're not putting on a show, why?Because if we win people with the show, with entertainment, we've won them to entertainment.And guess why people are going to come to harvest?Because they want entertained.But if we win people with Jesus, we've won them to Jesus.And people are going to come to harvest because they want to know Jesus.Putting on a show replaces God's mission.Instead of making disciples of Jesus, I'm making disciples of me.There's a very pragmatic problem with that too.If the church is replacing God's mission for the show, it leaves the converts vulnerable.Why? Because there's always a more impressive performance.There's always a more charismatic personality out there.There's always a better show somewhere else.And that's why, listen, that's why people bounce around churches.People bounce around churches looking for something more entertaining.They're not going to use the word entertaining.They want something that is going to be more appealing to them.We hear it all the time."Oh Pastor Jeff, we love harvest.We love the people here and we love you.But such and such church has a better playground.We've got little kids and they need better facilities like that with playground and stuff.I had one family.I said, "Oh Pastor Jeff, we love harvest."But he said, "My kid, he had a 12 year old kid.He said, "My kid loves the concert atmosphere at such and such church, so we're going there."I'm like, "First of all, Dad,I seriously doubt the wisdom of leaving the decision of the spiritual direction of the familyin the lap of the most immature member of the family.That's a problem.But is that how we're picking churches who has the best concert?You see, if the faith of the responders is produced by the preacher's show,what if the preacher leaves?What happens when that preacher retires?What are we going to do now?Worse, what if the preacher fails?See, you replace the mission for the showand Paul says you're missing out on God's power.God's power, you're like, "Well, what is the power?What is the power?"You're like, "Oh, I know this one.I know what the power is because I've seen this on TV."Who's that guy that's...He slaps people and heals them?What's his name? Benny Hill?Hen, Benny Hinn.Benny Hill's different.I've seen that show.He slaps the people and they're down.And then he waves at a group of people and they all fall down.That's the power of God, right?Well, back in chapter 1 verse 18 of Pastor Taylor preached on last week,we learned what the power of God is.You know what the power of God is?The gospel.The gospel. Romans 1.16, the gospel is the power of God.You're like, "Well, do we see the power of God at Harvest Bible Chapel?"Yeah.Every time that we have a baptism serviceand you have somebody stepping in to the tubgoing, "I turn from my sin and I receive Jesus Christ, I am born again."You're witnessing the power of God.Every time somebody chooses forgiveness,"I was wronged, I was offended, I want to forgive, I want the relationship restored."Every time that happens, you're seeing the power of God.Every time somebody uses spiritual gifts to minister to others in the church,you're seeing the power of God.You see, the power of God is a changed life.You're the power of the Holy Spirit.That only comes from Jesus.In church, we are doing a major disservice to peopleto replace people experiencing His power with people enjoying my performance.I have no power at all.I can't save anyone.I can't change anyone.Only Jesus Christ can do that through His Spirit.So we're not putting on a showbecause the show will replace God's mission of making disciples of Jesus.The Harvest Bible Chapel, there's no tricks for results herebecause the Gospel just simply points to the bloodied Jesus Christ on the crossand says, "There, right there on the cross is your salvation.There on the cross is your example.There on the cross is your victory.There on the cross is your power."So this is a call for discernment.Look, are you new here?You're a first-time visitor here today?Have you been bouncing around visiting churches?And this is just one of many that you've been checking out.Or maybe you're somebody who's been attending for a while.Maybe you're even a member who's been thinking about moving on.I just want to ask you a couple of questions in light of what God says here.What are you looking for in a church?Wait, wait, maybe that's not the right question.Maybe the better question is what should you be looking for in a church?More fireworks?More pizazz?Or is Jesus what you really want?Are you saying, you know, I want to know the Gospel.I want nothing more than to experience the power of God in my life.Well, wherever you choose to worship,I would encourage you to make your decision based on the right factors.I have no say over what other churches do.I have some say here in a harvest Bible chapel.We're not putting on a show.We buy our heads as the worship team makes their way back up.Father in heaven, we bow before you as people who live in a culturebombarded by entertainment.Bombarded by churches trying to win people through goofy stuff.Father, your word is so clear on that in this passage.That your Gospel doesn't need help.It's just He's proclaimed.Father, I'm sorry for all the times that I thought it was about me.I'm sorry God for all the times that I was trying to factor in some element of creativityor something to really wow people and your Gospel doesn't need that.My efforts will just replace the pure, simple, clear message of the crucified Christ.Father, I pray for all of us that we would have the discernment that only comes from your spirit.That as we are evaluating where we are worshiping and how we are worshiping,we're evaluating the methods that you've laid out in your Word.We're evaluating the mission that you've laid out in your Word.We're evaluating the message that you've given us, Father.Give us discernment.We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Have you ever walked into a place that was supposed to be sacred or peaceful, only to find it cluttered, noisy, and chaotic? That's the kind of scene Jesus walks into in John 2. He enters the temple—the very center of Jewish worship—and finds not reverence, but racket. The temple courts are filled with merchants, money changers, and the smell of animals. Then Jesus does something shocking. The gentle carpenter from Nazareth makes a whip, drives out the sellers, overturns tables, and commands everyone to stop turning His Father's house into a place of profit. It's not the image of “meek and mild” Jesus we're used to—it's a righteous, passionate Jesus, consumed with zeal for God's glory.

Have you ever walked into a place that was supposed to be sacred or peaceful, only to find it cluttered, noisy, and chaotic? That's the kind of scene Jesus walks into in John 2. He enters the temple—the very center of Jewish worship—and finds not reverence, but racket. The temple courts are filled with merchants, money changers, and the smell of animals. Then Jesus does something shocking. The gentle carpenter from Nazareth makes a whip, drives out the sellers, overturns tables, and commands everyone to stop turning His Father's house into a place of profit. It's not the image of “meek and mild” Jesus we're used to—it's a righteous, passionate Jesus, consumed with zeal for God's glory.

Halloween often stirs tension for believers — a holiday steeped in fear, darkness, and controversy. As our daily prayer and devotional note, some choose to avoid it altogether, while others seek creative ways to redeem it. In this devotional, Alicia Searl challenges us to look at this season differently: not as a night to hide our faith but as an opportunity to shine God’s light in the darkness. Jesus never avoided places or people marked by fear or sin. He faced darkness with courage, truth, and prayer — relying on His Father’s strength and authority. As followers of Christ, we too are called to stand firm in faith and reflect His light in a broken world. This Halloween, instead of turning off the porch light, what if we opened our doors in love and hospitality? Whether through a kind smile, a word of encouragement, or a small gesture that points to Jesus, we can show our neighbors the light of Christ. Let this be the night we live out Matthew 5:14–16 — radiating joy, truth, and grace for all to see. Today's Bible Reading:“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14–16

Saturday, 25 October 2025   So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, Matthew 13:49   “Thus it will be in the age's consummation. The messengers, they will go out and they will separate the evil from the righteous' midst” (CG).   In the previous verse, Jesus noted that the good fish in the seine would be gathered into vessels, but the bad would be cast out. In explanation of that, He next says, “Thus it will be in the age's consummation.” The thought is similar to that of verse 39, where the same word, sunteleia, consummation, is used –   “Therefore, just as it is gathered, the darnel, and fire – it consumed, thus it will be in the age's consummation.”   The parable teaches a similar truth to that one. There is a time of things continuing on, and then there will be a time when things are brought to their consummation. Like the darnel being separated by the messengers from the wheat and cast into the fire, Jesus next says, “The messengers, they will go out and they will separate the evil from the righteous' midst.”   A new verb, aphorizó, to separate or set off by a boundary, is seen. It is derived from apo, away or from, and horizo, to mark out or bound (as in a horizon). Thus, it signifies a separation of the two by a set boundary.   There will be a separation of the two before things have come to their completion. Considering the end set for the darnel, the end for the bad fish will probably not be so great. What that end is will be seen in the next verse.   As with the parable of the wheat and darnel, the metaphor would have to be so stretched to fit the church age that it would lose much of its intent. There is no separation before the rapture that matches what Jesus is describing here. The people of the world will be going about their lives when, suddenly, and without prior notice, there will be a removal of saved believers.   Only after this will the world enter the tribulation. At the end of the tribulation, a separation will take place before those who are worthy will enter the millennium.   Life application: Jesus' words in John 3:18 should be remembered –   “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”   Paul repeats this thought in Romans 5 –   “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Romans 5:12-14   Jesus says that people are condemned already. Man doesn't need to do anything to be eternally separated from God. He is conceived and stands condemned. This is not because of committed sin by the person, but because of sin committed by Adam. As all are in Adam, all stand condemned already.   Jesus came to undo this. Despite being born of a woman (He is fully Man), He did not inherit Adam's seed, which is transmitted from father to child. Rather, His Father is God (He is fully God) and received His Father's righteous innocence concerning sin. He cut the line of sin in fallen man, thus fulfilling the sign of circumcision.   In living perfectly after He was born, meaning He had not committed sin, He became a suitable substitute for the sins of the world. By faith in what He has done, man can move from fallen Adam to the innocent risen Christ.   Understanding this, there is nothing cold, uncaring, or malicious in God's judgment of the darnel and bad fish. Rather, there is the perfection of love in the offering of His Son for fallen, corrupt, and already condemned humanity.   No person will be able to come before God and say, “My condemnation is unjust!” Rather, all people will acknowledge the rightness of the situation in relation to the perfect holiness of God. Be sure to get this right. Understanding that God is fully vindicated in His judgment is something people must be taught. Be sure to let those you talk to know that what He does is perfect and beautiful.   Glorious God Almighty, how great You are in Your judgments. We have no right to accuse You of wrongdoing or having an uncaring attitude toward our plight. Rather, what You have done is the height of loving attention to Your wayward creatures. How good and loving You are, O God. Amen.  

When we sin, the biggest lie that gets put in our heads is that we must continually do things to fix our problem. The reality of that mindset is that you're depending on a sinner to fix the sin in their life! Today, Pastor Gary says the profound statement that the law says to do, but grace says done. Jesus paid it all for you on that cross. He desires you to have a relationship with His Father and died on the cross so you could have that opportunity! Rest in His love today, trust that when Jesus said it is finished, He meant it.

We are glad you are here with us on the Unchanging Word Bible Broadcast with Dr. John G. Mitchell.We are in Matt.16 verses 18-20. Our study continues with the focus on our Savior and His interaction with the disciples concerning the revelation of His Person by the Father.In verse 17, Jesus reveals to Peter this revelation as being from His Father in heaven. In verse 18, Jesus said, upon this rock I will build My Church. This divine revelation of the Messiah by the Father is the rock upon which Jesus would build His church. When the Holy Spirit came from heaven in Acts 2 the church began through the preaching of Peter concerning this Jesus who was revealed to Peter by the Father.Paul and the N.T. apostles and prophets also built on this revealed foundation of Christ Himself. Let's join Dr. Mitchell here on the Unchanging Word Bible Broadcast, Mt.16:18.

“There are some things that only time can do. Dynamite can't touch them.”– Dwight D. EisenhowerIn The Scandals of the Kingdom, Dallas Willard names a profound tension between the person of Jesus and the dilemma of modern American Christianity. We spend vast sums of money and energy trying to get people into church. Meanwhile, in the Gospels, people tore the roofs off buildings just to get to Jesus. So much so, He often withdrew from the crowds—not to perform, but to be with His Father and to invest in a few trusted apprentices.Jesus was the most consecrated King who ever lived. And yet, while we strive to build platforms and leverage influence, He chose obscurity and intimacy and consented to the slow and steady work of His Father in the lives entrusted to his care.So we must ask ourselves: Why do we find Him hiding from crowds in places where we keep striving to be seen?If we are willing to be honest with both this longing to be seen and the desire to see immediate results for the fruit of our labors, we can access a precious part of us that becomes a fresh doorway to return home to the heart of God.This episode concludes a deeper cut series—an excavation of the foundational ideas unearthed through Becoming a King. At its core, we've been exploring a central, piercing question: How do we become the kind of men to whom God can entrust His power?Let me remind you—this path was never promised to be easy. But I can assure you: it is profoundly worth it.Over time, a compelling pattern emerges. Through the consent by day and by decade to the narrow road of deep apprenticeship, transformation is no longer just a hope—it becomes a lived reality. I see it in the stories, again and again, from men being led by God into deeper wholeness and restoration through Becoming a King.What once felt like a headwind—marked by adversity, resistance, and battle—in time becomes a tailwind. The strength and care of a good Father, ever present, begins to nourish and sustain us.A Father who is for us, not against us. Having committed Himself to our well-being, He relentlessly pours Himself into our shepherding and our apprenticeship.He is our tailwind. And even in our trials, in the end, we will encounter His exceeding kindness.In this episode, we conclude this conversation with some compelling ideas, questions, and stories from Outposts of Eden around the globe, thanks to the strength lent by allies John Scott Mooring, Pablo Ceron, Ryan Ruebsahm, and Chris Rice.Together, we're looking deeper into the kind of King that Jesus is, and I want you to join us.It's all been prologue. The best is yet to come.For the Kingdom,Morgan and Cherie

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 21st of October, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Gospel of John 1:41-42: “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” Who brought Peter to Jesus? It was Andrew. He introduced Peter to Jesus, and Peter, of course, eventually was the one who headed up the church when Jesus went back to heaven to be with His Father, but how many people remember Andrew being the one who introduced his brother, Peter, to Jesus? Somebody sent me a little clip some time back, and it was a beautiful story, and I want to share it with you. Two young men, 16 years old, heard there was an evangelist who had come to their local town, and these two young men decided to go and have a look. It was a tent meeting, as they arrived, they were looking for a seat, and they couldn't find one, so they both walked out the back of the tent and thought, ”Oh well, we'll just leave it.” Then an usher, yes, an Andrew, (and his name wasn't Andrew, nobody knows his name. Only Jesus knows his name, and you and I will meet him maybe one day when we get to Heaven), he ran after them. He said, ”Boys, where are you going?” “Sir, the tent is full, so we decided we'll just go along.” ”No, come with me.” He took them into the tent and brought them up to the front, found two chairs for those two young men and the rest is history. Who were they? Well, the one young man, his name was Billy Graham. I'm an evangelist myself and he's one of my heroes. He's a man who's been used by God, to introduce more people to Jesus than anybody else, ever. Today, don't despise becoming an introducer. People need to be introduced to the Lord and He, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of His Holy Spirit, will do the rest. Today, become an introducer. Maybe start in your own family.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,Goodbye.

In this Bible Story, we will learn about the agonizing heart of Jesus, his resolve to save us, and his desire to have his disciples near him in the last hour. We also see Judas again, coming with a small army to arrest Jesus. This story is inspired by Matthew 26:30-39, 52-57; Luke 22:42-51 & John 18:3-10. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Luke 22:48 from the King James Version.Episode 209: Jesus led His disciples to a garden named Gethsemane. While there he began to pray in agony over what was about to happen. He asked The Father to take away the suffering He was about to endure if at all possible. But Jesus also trusted His Father and asked that above His own The Father's will be done. Just as Jesus finished praying, Judas arrived with a small group of armed men to take Him in. After a short display of power, Jesus left willingly, while His disciples scattered.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introduction: Why Is Self-Promotion So Foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18–31) Because it misses the power of THE CROSS. (1 Cor 1:18–25) Because it misses the strength of a WEAK CHURCH. (1 Cor 1:26–28) Because it misses the glory of BOASTING IN CHRIST. (1 Cor 1:29–31) 1 Cor 4:7 - “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 1:18-31What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What is self-promotion? Where do you see self-promotion at play in this culture and in the church world?How do you struggle with exalting/promoting yourself?Why is being weak your greatest strength?What does it mean to “boast in the Lord?” List practical ways that you can boast in the Lord/promote Christ on a daily basis. BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Alright, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 18 through 31.1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 18 through 31.As a teenager, I was the last of my friends to create a Facebook account.For years I held strong against the peer pressure,but do you want to know what finally led me to get a Facebook account?The desire to boast in myself and self-promote.See, back in the summer of 2009, my family and I went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for vacation.And on that vacation, we went shark fishing.And during that expedition, I caught a baby hammerhead shark.Pretty impressive, right?My one friend who was on the trip took a picture of me holding up that hammerhead shark,and I thought it looked so cool.And as soon as I got back to the condo, I fired up Facebook, I created an account,and I made that picture my profile picture.I'm not going to show that picture on the screens because I don't want to selflessly promote myself yet again,although I already see Jamie Kendrew looking up Facebook right now.And I'm sure that many of you will do the same after service,so happy hunting trying to find that picture.But I went back and looked at this cringy 16-year-old postto see how many likes and comments it received.How many likes do you think that picture got?A hundred?Wow, Jeff, you have a lot of confidence in me.Six.Talk about going viral.I think I might have missed my calling as a social media influencer.But as I was looking at this old post, I also saw the comment of my friend who took that picture.He wrote this on the post.I'm just going to point out that this picture is the only reason you even got a Facebook.You just wanted the world to know about the shark.My friend saw right through my motivations, and he knew why I created that account.Self-promotion.But I'm not the only one who has utilized social media for self-promotion, right?That's the main drive for most people who have an Instagram, a Facebook, or a TalkTix,as Pastor Jeff often calls it.On social media, you put your best foot forward.You curate an image of yourself that isn't exactly accurate or realistic,but you don't really care because that's how you want other people to view you.This past week, I did a deep dive into self-promotion,and I came across a lot of interesting content.I came across really buff dudes who lectured not so buff dudesabout the importance of being a perfect physical specimen,the art of destroying the competition and manifesting your dreams into reality.I also came across inspirational coaches who pamper with self-help talk,like, "Whenever you succeed, tell yourself, 'I'm so proud of myself.'I'm my own personal hero."I saw this one last week.I'm becoming a person that the younger version of me would have looked up to.Oh, gag. That was really hard to hear.Here's one quote that I haven't been able to stop thinking about as soon as I read it."If you don't promote yourself, nobody will."Do you want to know what I thought when I read that?That's exactly right.If you don't promote yourself, nobody will, because they are too busy promoting themselves.We live in such a me-centered society.Focus on me. Pay attention to me, because I'm so special and unique.Don't be unfair to me. Don't tell me what to do.Listen, self-promotion isn't just a problem out there.Self-promotion is a problem in here that we need to deal with.And don't think to yourself, "You know what, Pastor Taylor, you're right.There's a lot of prideful people in this room, and I'll do my part in calling them out. Don't worry."Hold on a minute. Self-promotion isn't just a problem out there.And in here, vaguely and generally, self-promotion is a problem within you that you need to deal with.Self-promotion is a problem within me that I need to deal with.This is the third week in a year-long study of 1 Corinthians, church unified and purified.Last week, Pastor Jeff challenged you to protect the unity of the church by nixing the clicksand refusing to divide over pointless preferences and particular personalities.This morning, you will be challenged to protect the unity of the churchby resisting the temptation to pridefully promote yourself and elevate your importance.Because obsessing over me hurts the we. It hurts everyone around you.And self-promotion isn't just a new problem that started with the Internet.It is an ancient problem that the Corinthians had to deal with as well.And this ancient problem can only be solved with the timeless truths of God's Word.And you cannot deal with the prideful promotion within your own heartuntil you realize how destructive and foolish it really is.So I want us to ask and answer one question this morning, just one.Why is self-promotion so foolish?Why is self-promotion so foolish?Before we seek to answer that question, let's go to the Lord and ask for His help.Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's Wordas I pray for you that you will faithfully receive it.Father, we come to you and we admit our temptation to self-glorify, to self-promote.Lord, I admit to you that I have been dealing with that this morning already.Father, I pray that we wouldn't push aside the conviction that your spirit brings,that we wouldn't think, "Oh, this sermon is for somebody else.Lord, help every single person in this room to think, 'No, this is for me.'"This is God's Word for me.And may we walk out of here different people with a different attitude and a different focus.We ask all this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.So why is self-promotion so foolish?Reason number one, because it misses the power of the cross.Because it misses the power of the cross.Last week's text ended with the cross, and this morning's passage begins with the cross.Let's read 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 together.The apostle Paul writes, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God."According to Paul, there are only two ways to view the cross.There are only two ways to view the news of Jesus Christ, God himself who came to suffer and die,to save anyone and everyone who believes in Him.There are only two ways to view the gospel.Foolish or powerful?Those are the only two options. There is no riding the fence.There is no middle ground.You either hear the gospel and think, "That is so dumb."Or you think, "That is so awesome."Which is your view of the cross?Foolish or powerful?Dumb or awesome?Your view of the cross isn't a minor footnote in the story of your life.Your view of the cross isn't a small aspect of your worldview.Note is the defining characteristic of who you are.Your view of the cross reveals where you stand right nowand where you will end up in eternity.If you reject the cross of Christ in this life,you will be rejected by Christ when you exit this life.But if you have embraced the cross of Christ, Paul says you are being saved.Does that sound kind of weird to you? Being saved?We usually just talk about salvation in the past tense, right?But Scripture talks about salvation in three tenses.The past, the present, and the future.If you have trusted in Christ, you have experienced salvation.You are experiencing salvation and you will experience salvation.You have been justified.You are being sanctified and you will be glorified.You were made right by the blood of Christ before the presence of God.You are being made more and more into the image of Christ.And one day you'll be fully perfect in the presence of Christ.The cross has the transformative power to change your past, your present, and your future.But you can only experience the power of the cross if you humble yourself before it.You will not experience the power of the cross if you live to promote yourself.You will not experience the power of the cross if you think you're wiser than God.You will not experience the power of the cross if you think you can save yourselfand figure out the meaning of life on your own.Paul talks about the foolishness of trusting in your own wisdom in verses 19 through 20."For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.'"Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe?Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?So Paul quotes Isaiah 29 and 14 and then throws down the gauntlet to challenge all the great thinkers of his day.The philosophers, the teachers of the Old Testament law, and the polished public speakers.If Paul was speaking directly at 2025, he'd be talking about the most celebrated politicians.Enlightened spiritual gurus.And the most influential influencers on social media who get way more than six likes on their posts.Paul is saying, "You think you're so clever? Fine. Try to step up and impress God. Try to beat him in a debate."Let's see how that goes.Spoiler alert, he's going to wipe the floor with you. So who's up next to challenge him?As I read this verse this past week, I thought back to playing board games with my dad growing up.You know how some parents let you win or make a concession to, you know, go easy on you?That wasn't my dad's strategy right then.Every time you played a game, he would just demolish me in sorry, monopoly, clue.I have a different opinion, but for some reason, no loss hurt quite as bad as risk.When I was six, seven, some of you get that, some of you don't.When I was six, seven, I kept thinking that my day of victory had finally come.The day had finally arrived when I thought I was wiser than my dad. I was smarter than my dad.I would beat him at a game of risk. And time and time again, I would make a foolish move towards the end of the game.And my dad would ask the question that I could still hear in my mind right now."Son, you sure you want to do that?"And sure enough, I did. And then my dad would totally destroy my wisdom and thwart my discernment.Every single time we got out the risk board.And God does the same exact thing to everyone who opposes Him on the risk board of life.Every single time we put forth a new religion, a new philosophy, a new ideology,I just imagine God asking, "Are you sure you want to do that?"And sure enough, we do. And then sure enough, God totally destroys our wisdom and thwarts our discernment.And Paul goes into even greater detail about why and how God does this in verses 21 through 25."For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom,it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified,a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called,both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God,for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men."It gives God great joy, great pleasure to expose the so-called wisdom of the worldby saving sinners in a seemingly foolish way, the brutal death of His Son.We lose sight of how foolish the cross would have seemed to Jews and Gentiles alike2,000 years ago because we see crosses everywhere, don't we,T-shirts, bumper stickers on church steeples.Let me ask you, when was the last time you saw someone wearing a T-shirt with the graphic of a gas chamber on it?When was the last time you saw someone wearing a lethal injection or electric chair necklace?These are serious symbols of death and capital punishment.Wearing something like that in public would be so off-putting and reprehensible, right?Well, now you understand why so many Jews and Gentiles were totally put off by the cross 2,000 years ago.Back in Jesus' day, criminals weren't put to death by a firing squad, an electric chair, lethal injection.No, the Romans would nail them to a wooden cross and leave them to ex-fixiate to death.For the unbelieving Jews, the cross was a stumbling block because a crucified Messiah was an oxymoron.It was like saying that someone is a brilliant idiot, a murderous humanitarian, or a lying truth teller.Those words don't naturally belong together in describing the same person.Under the Old Testament law, being hung on a tree was a sign of divine curse.It was a sign that you were being punished by God Himself.So to the Jews, how could the Messiah that chosen one be punished and cursed by God?That seemed insane. It was beyond belief.For the Gentiles, the philosophical Greeks, the cross was folly, from which we get our word "moronic."To them, the cross was stupid.Why would the Creator of everything lower Himself enough to die a death that was reserved for the worst criminals?But for the believing Jew, for the believing Gentile, Christ crucified isn't a stumbling block or moronic.To those who accept the divine call Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God,for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.Your own way of thinking may seem wise to you, but I can assure you it is foolish.God's method of salvation may seem foolish, but it is infinitely wise than anything you could possibly brainstorm.Your "I got this on my own" attitude may seem strong to you, but it is nothing but worldly weakness.Christ dying on the cross may make Him seem weak, but that was the strongest act of love we could possibly imagine,totally stronger than anything you could ever hope to accomplish.The wisest one who created all things chose to hang on that cross all those years ago.The strongest one who will uphold this universe by the word of His power chose to take the full wrath of His Father.The source of life chose to lay down his own life so that you could live forever and ever.So if you have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, I want you to look at me and act like your life depends on what I'm about to say because it does.You do not have the power in and of yourself to please God. You don't.You do not have the power to rid yourself of the guilt and shame that you feel deep down.And you know exactly what I'm talking about, those feelings of regret and conviction that you feel.Those oppressive thoughts about your past mistakes that you can't seem to let go of.You do not have the power to erase the stain of sin off of your soul.You don't have the power to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and save yourself.You do not have any wisdom or power of your own.For the very first time, look to the only source of heavenly wisdom and power, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.If you submit to Him, He will save you. He will forgive you if you ask Him to. Christ will have you if you will have Him.Why is self-promotion so foolish?Because it misses the power of the cross.Second reason, because it misses the strength of a weak church.Because it misses the strength of a weak church.Does the wording of that point seem somewhat strange to you? Does that seem disrespectful?Taylor, do you really think the church is weak?Yeah, I do. And that's its greatest strength.If you don't believe me, believe Paul because he says the same exact thing in verses 26 to 28.For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards.Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth.But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are.We just saw that God shows Himself wise to the foolishness of the cross.Now we see that God shows Himself strong through the weakness of His people.Travel back in time with me to recess whenever those teams were picked for dodgeball, kickball, basketball, pick your sport.Was that nerve-wracking for any of you?And some of you are like, "No, actually it was a lot of fun. It wasn't nerve-wracking at all."That's because you were the ringers who were chosen first. Must have been nice to be you.The rest of us were in the middle of the pack or chosen dead last.Why and how are kids chosen in a pickup game of recess?There are two qualifiers, skill and popularity.The best of the best and the coolest of the cool are snatched up first.Is that how it works in the family of God?Does God jump at recruiting the best of the best and the coolest of the cool?No, it's actually the exact opposite.Paul calls the Corinthians to consider who they were and where they came from.Not many of them were Brainiac philosophers, influential leaders and rich aristocrats.No, in the eyes of the world they were stupid, worthless, obscure and poor.But none of that matters.They have been chosen last in a game of kickball, but they were chosen by God himself.And if God chooses you, you are no longer defined by who rejects you.And the pages of the Old Testament and the New Testament are filled with examples of God choosing the weak and the most unexpected.God chose Abraham to father a son and jumpstart the people of Israel when he was as good as dead as the author of Hebrews lovingly describes him.God chose Jacob over Esau, even though Jacob was a slimy liar.God chose Moses to deliver the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt even though Moses was a stuttering murderer.God chose Gideon to defeat the invading Midianites even though Gideon was hiding from the Midianites when he was called by the angel.God chose 12 ordinary men to be the followers of Christ.These men had ordinary and even hateful jobs.The apostle Paul started as a religious Pharisees who held the coats of the men who stoned Stephen.Why does God do this? Why is this God's recruiting strategy?Well, Paul tells us why in verses 27 to 28. Let's read those verses again."But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are."That is so counterintuitive, isn't it? That's so different than what we would do if we were God."Worldly reasoning dictates that the church should recruit the most famous athletes, the most polished politicians."Have you ever heard someone say, "Man, that person would make a great Christian?"Wouldn't everybody make a great Christian? Or, "Man, so many people would get saved if that person got saved."That view promotes human wisdom, not God's wisdom. That view promotes human strength, not God's strength.That view acts like God's up in heaven looking over his draft picks like, "Man, I made a lot of mistakes in the first few rounds.""I need some more stars to round out my roster and boost my stats."Now, God is not like you and me. God does not think like you and me.If God needed the biggest "somebodies" of this world, then He would not be somebody worthy of your devotion and worship.God wants to use "nobodies" to show that He needs nobody.God wants to use the most unexpected to bring Himself the most glory.God wants to use the weak to expose those who think they are strong apart from Christ.And I personally believe that's why the Lord called me to be a preacher of His Word and to be a pastor, because I was the most unexpected choice.As a kid, I was terrified to talk in front of people. I had a stuttering problem which I still had to deal with at some level to this day.No one looked at the teenage tailor and thought, "Man, get that guy behind a pulpit ASAP. He is so charismatic. He is so magnetic. He is a shoe-in for ministry."God chose me to be a messenger of the Word to show that all the glory belongs to Him and not to me.If God can use me for His kingdom, then He can use anybody.If God can use someone like me, I guarantee He can use someone like you.Do you feel inadequate to follow Jesus?Do you feel insufficient for the task that He has given to you?Do you feel unqualified for ministry?If you feel that way, then you are the perfect man or woman for the job. Congratulations, you are hired.Thinking that you are unqualified for ministry makes you qualified for ministry.On the other hand, believing that you are qualified for ministry makes you unqualified for ministry.If you think you are strong, you are going to depend on no one else besides yourself.If you think you are strong, I have to warn you, you are not going to like the mission and priorities of this church.We are not interested in teaching self-help nonsense. We are not interested in puffing up your ego.We are not interested in making you a self-reliant person, but we are in the business of training you to be a weak servant of Christ who recognizes your weakness.Are you willing to get on board with that mission? Are you willing to have those priorities?Stop promoting your strength. Stop trying to impress people. Begin to find comfort in your weakness.Stop putting others down so you can feel better about yourself.Stop thinking, "Well, this church can never survive without me. This church can survive without any of us."Stop thinking, "I'm the MVP on God's team." Stop thinking that your opinions and preferences are the most important.Begin to focus on the "we" instead of "me."Why is self-promotion so foolish? Because it misses the power of the cross.Because it misses the strength of a weak church. And finally, because it misses the glory of boasting in Christ.Because it misses the glory of boasting in Christ.In verses 29 through 30, Paul continues to offer another explanation for why God fills his church with weak people.Paul writes that no human being might boast in the presence of God.And because of him, because of God, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.Self-promotion doesn't just hurt other people. Most importantly, self-promotion offends God.When you boast before other people, you are actually boasting before God.It's a very bad plan to brag about yourself in the presence of the most important person in all of existence.You know, boasting in yourself is kind of lame, right?Do you know what makes boasting in yourself even lame-er?Boasting about something that you didn't even earn in the first place.Imagine with me that next week I drive up in a brand new Lamborghini.I don't really know what the cool cars are now, so I said Lamborghini, alright?So just fill in the blank, whatever car you want it to be, I guess.I park the car, the door slides open, and I step out with cool sunglasses, driving gloves, a cool leather jacket.And I'm like swinging my keys around, hoping that you'll say something about my car.And as soon as you say, "Pats are Taylor, that's a nice ride."I jump on the opportunity to bask in your glory.Yep, I've won a car like this for 35 years, and it's finally mine.I mean, sure, it costs a fortune, but why not treat yourself?Why not enjoy the fruits of your labor?And then I proudly saunter away, and you come across my dad in the lobby, and you say, "Man, Taylor has such a nice new car."He must have worked so hard to be able to afford that.And my dad looks at you with shock in his eyes, and he says, "What are you talking about?I bought him that car."Doesn't that piece of information kind of change what I presented to you?Doesn't it make my ridiculous outfit and my prideful speech seem even worse to you?But why? Because you can't really boast about something that you received free of charge.And that's what Paul is saying in these verses.If you were a born-again believer, you were in Christ because of the undeserved grace of God.Period, no other reason.You did nothing to earn it.You have received all that Christ has, and you have received all of who Christ is.You have been given everything.You have received so much from Him.Listen to what Paul has to say about this in a few chapters from now in chapter 4 verse 7.What do you have that you did not receive?If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?You have received grace. You have received salvation.Why would you boast like you didn't receive it and like you earned it?Look again at chapter 1 verse 30."And because of Him, because of God, you were in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."This first presents so many important truths that you cannot forget if you're a true Christian.You are not wise all by your lonesome.You were not born with a sense of righteousness.You cannot be sanctified, set apart, and made holy by your own efforts.You cannot redeem yourself.You could not purchase yourself from slavery to Satan, sin, and death.But according to Paul, someone came to this earth to be your source of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.Who is that one person?Jesus Christ.In Christ, your foolish thinking has been replaced with the very wisdom of God.In Christ, your gross unrighteousness has been exchanged for Christ's perfect righteousness.In Christ, your slavery to sin has been ended so that you can belong to the kindest master imaginable.In Christ, your godly immaturity has been put aside so that you can finally pursue after godly maturity.All of these things are a gift from God, so do not take an ounce of credit for a single gift that He has given to you.So what should you do instead of taking the credit and boasting in yourself?Well, Paul makes it very simple by referencing the prophet Jeremiah in verse 31.He says, "So that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boasts in the Lord."You are to replace self-promotion with Christ's promotion.What is Christ's promotion?Christ's promotion is being on the lookout for opportunities to point every single person in your life to the person and work of the Lord Jesus.Because everyone in your life needs what Jesus has to offer Christians and non-Christians alike.Even those people you don't like very much.Christ's promotion is redirecting all the praise that you receive to Him because He alone deserves it.Christ's promotion looks like being freed from the horrible hobby of trying to fish for other people's compliments.Your meaning no longer hinges on how your boss and your coworkers evaluate your performance.Your identity no longer hangs on what your neighbor thinks about your house, your car, or your lawn.Guys in the room, nobody really cares besides you.Moms, your meaning no longer depends on what other moms think about your kids.You no longer exist to impress people.Life is no longer about you and your boasting is no longer about you.Because here's the hidden secret according to Paul and Jeremiah.You're going to boast.It's going to happen.It's not a question of will you boast.It's a question of who will you boast in.I have a nine-year-old goal retriever named Murdoch and he's still a puppy at heart.One minute he'll be sleeping on the couch and then he'll be running zoomies around the house.Do you all know what zoomies are when you explain that?When dogs run like they're in Kentucky Derby, right? Running in circles around the house.In those moments, I don't try to make Murdoch stop running zoomies because he's going to give energy out in some way.Instead, I open the front door and say, "If you're going to run zoomies, at least run them outside."That's what Paul is saying in these verses.He's saying, "If you're going to boast, boast in the Lord."My dog's crazy playing belongs in the right setting outside.Your bragging, your boasting belongs in the right setting as well.The person and work of Jesus Christ.So what's the big takeaway from this passage?What's the big takeaway from this sermon?I want you to brag as much as you possibly can.I want you to boast until you're blue in the face.I want you to promote from sun up to sun down.You've probably never heard a pastor tell you that before.But never forget this really important detail.You cannot be the focus of your promotion.You cannot be the focus of your bragging and your boasting.If you're the focus of your promotion, you'll miss the power of the cross of Christ.You'll miss the strength of being weak in Christ.You'll miss the glory of boasting in Christ.If you promote Christ and not yourself, you'll find yourself becoming more like Him.If you promote Christ and not yourself, the church will be strengthened.If you promote Christ and not yourself, you'll begin to feel that burden of being the center of existenceand stop your shoulders because you were never meant to bear that.If you promote in Christ, you'll feel stupider,but you'll be wisest in the most important way.If you promote Christ, you'll feel weaker, but you'll actually be stronger.The worship team can make their way forward.You know, boasting in the Lord all by yourself is great.You can boast in the Lord during your personal quiet time,but you know what's even better?When others join in and boast in the Lord with you.Singing as a body of believers is a biblically commanded way to boast in the Lord.As we sing, our unity is on full display in a physical and tangible way.When we sing, our voices come together to form a corporate praise.Our voices come together to promote the one who has given us all that we have.When God's people lay aside all distractions and fear of embarrassment to sing,it's made clear that we boast in Christ and not ourselves.I know what some of you are thinking, "Pastor Taylor, I don't like to sing."Well, too bad because God wants you to sing.So we're going to do that.So let's stand and sing to the one who deserves our praises.Please stand and give all of your passion to promoting God's strength,His wisdom, and His power.

Every word of scripture is full of fire from the Holy Spirit. Every time you and I take a word of scripture to heart great things begin to happen in our souls. We begin to recover our sense of the presence of God in our lives and in the world around us. The communion of our Lord Jesus Chirst is a heart full of the Holy Spirit - it is friendship with him, and knowledge of His love for us. It is living in His relationship with the Father, and calling His Father as our Father. Follow us on: Instagram: ​​​​@contemplatapodcast Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/DominicanFriarsMedia Support: If you want to support this podcast, please visit dominicanfriars.org/contemplata

Wolfgang Van Halen on A Different Kind of Truth: “The Fact That It Happened at All Is a Miracle” In a recent interview with Paul Cashmere of Noise11.com, Wolfgang Van Halen reflected on his role in creating A Different Kind of Truth — the final Van Halen album and the band's first full-length studio release since 1998. Wolfgang, who joined Van Halen at just 15 years old, played alongside his father Eddie Van Halen from 2006 until the band's final tour in 2015. He recalled how the 2012 album came together from the ground up: “It just felt like the right time for Van Halen to release new music,” Wolfgang said. “We'd toured, and the next logical step was to record something. Some of the demos started as early as 2009 — it took years. The fact that the record even happened is kind of a miracle.” According to Wolfgang, many of the songs were based on unfinished demos from the 1970s, which he discovered and helped bring to life. “A lot of those ideas were from the band's early days,” he explained. “It was a great way to get everyone back into that old creative mindset. It was fun — a lot of work, but I'm really proud of what we did.” Streaming Drama and Band Tensions The album made headlines again in June 2024 when it finally returned to streaming platforms after nearly two years of being unavailable. In a 2023 interview with Eddie Trunk, Wolfgang revealed the delay stemmed from internal disagreements: “Some people involved with the record don't like it,” Wolfgang admitted. “We've been trying to get it back up, but it's not easy. Let's just say those people were part of the record.” When Trunk asked if the person “with three initials” — a clear reference to David Lee Roth — was the issue, Wolfgang simply replied, “Probably.” Shortly after, Roth responded with a tongue-in-cheek YouTube video titled “Family Therapy.” In the skit, he mocked Wolfgang's frustrations about the album's streaming issues, even comparing A Different Kind of Truth to Muhammad Ali's late-career fights, suggesting it wasn't one of the band's finer moments. Wolfgang on Roth, the Band, and His Father's Legacy Over the years, Wolfgang has spoken candidly about his limited relationship with Roth: “We were cordial, but it was very business-related,” he told Rolling Stone. “We were always cool, but we only really saw each other onstage.” In later interviews, Wolfgang also hinted that Roth's difficult personality was a major reason why a proposed Eddie Van Halen tribute concert never materialized: “Some people made it really hard to get anything done when it came to Van Halen,” he said. “The fact that we managed to do three tours, release an album of new material, and a live record — that's a miracle in itself.” Wolfgang also set the record straight on how Van Halen operated behind the scenes: “People love to pin everything on Dad, but Al [Alex Van Halen] was the brain,” he explained. “Dad just wanted to play guitar. The Van Halen philosophy was always: if nothing's happening, there's nothing to talk about.” Eddie Van Halen passed away in October 2020 at age 65, surrounded by family and friends. With the band inactive since its 2015 U.S. tour, A Different Kind of Truth remains a rare and powerful final chapter in Van Halen's legendary story — and, as Wolfgang says, “a miracle that it even happened at all.” #ExclusivelyVanHalen #VanHalen #WolfgangVanHalen #EddieVanHalen #DavidLeeRoth #ADifferentKindOfTruth #VanHalenFans #VanHalenFamily #RockHistory #RockLegends #ClassicRock #GuitarGod #5150time #VanHalenNation #RockInterview #MusicNews #HardRock #VanHalenLive #SammyHagar #JohnnyBeaneTV

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 13th of October, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of John 1:1-4: ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (that's Jesus), and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Wow, I just love that scripture folks! You have no idea how much I love that Scripture! That's why I love the Bible so much, because Jesus Christ is the Word and when somebody says to you, ”Show me this Jesus you're always talking about, I can't see Him,” give him a Bible because Jesus is the Word. I want to say to the younger people, this Big Bang theory, it doesn't hold anything at all. It's a lie, I'm telling you, a lie from the pit of hell! They'll tell you that this whole beautiful universe of ours started by some chemical explosion. I want you to ask them a question, ”Who made the chemical explosion?” And they'll say to you, ”And how can you prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” You can say, ”Because the Bible tells me, “In the beginning…” He was there in the beginning with His Father.” So that holds a lot more water than talking about some big explosion. In the beginning, “I Am” was there. He's always been there and He always will be there.Now, I'm not a scientist, no, no, I'm a farmer, but I want to tell you, I defy any scientist to prove to me. We'll go for a walk into the field and I'll show him spring. It's spring here on the farm at Shalom and the leaves are coming out on the trees that have been dormant right through the winter. I see a newborn calf, I see the wild animals are breeding at the moment, it's a wonderful time of the year, but every season is a wonderful time of the year. You know why? Because Jesus made it all. He made it all, from the beginning.So, Jesus bless you today as you celebrate the wonderful truth that in the beginning was the Word and His name is Jesus Christ.God bless you and have a wonderful day,Goodbye.

In his book Man of Honor, Ray Pritchard shared the story of his stroll in a cemetery where he discovered a man’s grave marker with a wordy tribute. But then he describes an eye-catching epitaph on the gravestone of the man’s son: “A man of unquestioned integrity.” As Pritchard wrote: “Five words to sum up an entire life. Sixty-plus years distilled into five words. But, oh what truth they tell.” In Psalm 15:2, the concept of integrity is captured in the word blameless: “Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts” (nlt). This verse answers the question, “Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?” (v. 1 nlt). The question (v. 1) and answer (v. 2) combination refers to communion with God. The rest of the psalm summarizes—in positive and negative terms—what a God-honoring life looks like. When we have intimate communion with God, it’s displayed in a life of integrity, particularly in how we treat others as the Spirit helps us (see Matthew 22:34-40; 1 John 3:16-18). It’s the posture of life that we assume when we believe in and follow Jesus—the one who lived in perfect communion with His Father.

Jesus joins Martha and Mary in Bethany four days after their brother Lazarus died. The sisters are disappointed and distraught, uncertain what Jesus can do. Jesus, grieving on multiple levels, comes to Lazarus' tomb and confronts the unbelief of everyone present. Jesus then summons Lazarus from the dead, glorifying His Father and proving the Son of God is the resurrection and the life.

Scripture Reading: Revelation 5:1-14 One thing that is revealed to us in Revelation 4,5 is this … at the center of the universe, the Almighty is seated on His throne, ruling over everything He has made.  The world we live in is filled with horrors of every kind.  And yet, God is governing everything that happens in the world, so that a sparrow does not fall to the ground without the hand of a sovereign God.    Revelation 5 is an exaltation of God the Son, as He takes from His Father's hand a seven-sealed scroll.  No one, in heaven and on earth, is able to break the seals and open the scroll.  But the inhabitants of heaven sing, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals" (Rev 5:9).  Interpretations regarding the contents of the scroll differ.  In light of the content that is revealed in the book of Revelation, as the seals are opened, it is reasonable to conclude that the scroll represents the consummation of all of human history … including the judgment of the nations of the earth, the glorification of the people of God, the earthly reign of Christ, and the eternal state of all things. The proper response to God the Son, shown in all His glory, is praise, gratitude, and reverence.  The inhabitants of heaven fell down, trembling, before the Lion of Judah, who is also the Lamb who was slain … joyfully singing His tribute … "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever."  Can we do anything less, all the days of our lives?

As a young journalist, I quickly learned about the power of a “press pass.” That one credential—displaying my name, picture, and media outlet—unlocked countless doors by allowing me to meet and interview athletes and celebrities before or after major events. While I enjoyed having special access to public figures, the allure soon faded after I received Jesus as my Savior and started living for Him. I realized sports and my career had become my idols. When God called me out of my journalism career, I lost my press pass but gained the access that truly matters— access to God’s heavenly throne room through prayer because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection. The writer of Hebrews points out that a high priest was selected from among the Israelites, specifically one of Aaron’s descendants, and appointed for the sacred duty of representing the people before God. He was the only one who could enter the Most Holy Place in the temple once a year “to offer gifts and sacrifice” to atone for his and the people’s sins (5:1) for he too was a mere mortal man. Then Christ came, our great and perfect high priest. When He died, the veil in the temple was torn and the barrier that existed between God and humanity was removed (Matthew 27:51). Because our loving Redeemer has reconciled us to His Father, we can freely pray to God: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). What a privilege to have access to God’s throne room as we talk to Him in prayer.

During the Blitz on London on December 29, 1940, a bomb destroyed a warehouse near St. Paul’s Cathedral and the resulting fire raged for two days. When Biddy Chambers received the news that all 40,000 copies of Oswald Chambers’ books stored there were lost—which she had compiled and edited but not insured—she set down her tea cup and remarked to her daughter, “Well, God has used the books for His glory, but now that is over. We’ll wait and see what God will do now.” Perhaps Biddy was remembering what Oswald had written at the start of the First World War before his death. He noted how Jesus spoke to His disciples about “the inevitability of peril” so that when horrible things happened, they would “not be scared” because He was with them. Indeed, Jesus told His friends of the trials they would face: “In this world you will have trouble. But,” He continued, “take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He wanted them to remain strong in their faith in His Father so they could withstand the trials and challenges they would endure. Biddy’s quiet confidence in God carried her through, and eventually the books were reprinted and became classics for generations. We too can find encouragement and hope in Jesus’ promises that He has overcome the world. We know that He won’t leave us (14:18) and will give us peace (v. 27), no matter what we face.

Every believer needs a secret place. Where is your quiet place? Where can you regularly get alone with God in prayer? I believe the impact of our public testimony and ministry is a direct result of the time spent with God in secret.Main Points:1. If all we see is the public ministry of Jesus, we miss something very important. It's not talked about much, but Jesus had a private, personal relationship with His Father. There was a vital connection to his private times of prayer and his public ministry.2. It's in the secret place that we can be alone with God. We remove ourselves from the distractions of daily life. There are no interruptions of family, work, school, smartphones, or social media. It's in the quiet we draw closer to God and a new intimacy is gained. It's here that we quiet the noise around us and within us. We open our spiritual ears to hear the voice of our Heavenly Father. 3. May you and I see the value of finding a secret place to spend time with God in prayer. In our busy, noisy world, we need this quiet place with God.Today's Scripture Verses:Matthew 6:1 - “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”Matthew 6:5-6 - “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”Psalm 46:10 - “Be still and know that I am God.”Quick Links:Donate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group

“What Identity Were You Born With?” In this episode, we explore the profound connection between our identity and the Eucharist, alongside questions about the nature of identity itself and the role of sacraments in leading a fulfilling life. We also delve into how to engage in meaningful dialogue with those of different faith backgrounds and the intriguing topic of angels in spiritual warfare. Join The CA Live Club Newsletter: Click Here Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 03:40 – People are obsessed with identity 06:25 – We have to deal with the fact that we are creatures. 08:00 – Where does identity come from? 18:04 – What does it mean that our identity is Eucharistic? 23:35 – His Father is non-denominational and believes that the Catholic church is just a middle ground and not necessary. That he can just go directly to Christ and have a relationship with him. What advice can Father offer for him to better dialogue with his dad? 31:13 – So are the sacraments “the key” to a full life? 35:55 – How do angels do battle? 43:35 – Can I classify “relation” as a transcendental of being given how Ratzinger writes about it? 46:44 – Why has Jesus been portrayed as a white man throughout time and what implications has that had on the Church over time?