Podcasts about his father

Brenda and Eddie got in the car and began their Thursday evening ritual. “Where would you like to eat?” “Oh, Eddie, I don’t care, anywhere is fine, really.” Eddie’s been here before. “Okay, how about The Windmill?” Brenda bristles, “No, anywhere but there!” Eddie sighs. “So where then?” Brenda insists, “Really, anywhere is fine.” It’s the stuff of comedy sketches, humorous from a distance because we know how maddening it is in the moment. Sometimes it can be that way in our prayer lives too. We’re too vague. In contrast, the prayer in Daniel 9 reveals Daniel boldly saying what he wants. First, he confesses the sins of his people: “We have sinned and done wrong” (v. 5). Then he makes his requests. “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant” (v. 17). “Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act” (v. 19). God owed nothing to Daniel, but such was Daniel’s trust in God’s “great mercy” (v. 18) that he felt free to bring the full weight of his desires. It’s always right to pray “not as I will but as you will,” as Jesus prayed to His Father the night before He was crucified (Matthew 26:39). But there are also times when saying what we want is the way forward. God honors our boldness when we come before Him with repentant hearts. So be bold, pray what’s on your heart, and entrust it to the God of great mercy.

Most think freedom means doing whatever you want—but real freedom is built on discipline, responsibility, and timeless principles. In this Freedom Week episode, Dr. David Phelps and mentor Steven J. Anderson reveal the foundational habits that shape personal, financial, and generational freedom. If you like this episode, here are more episodes we think you'll enjoy: Ep #564 - The DSO Reckoning – What Every Doctor Needs to Know Before Selling Their Practice – Brannon Moncrief Ep #366 - Lessons From a Boy, His Father, and a Paper Route - Steven Anderson  Check out the show notes for more information! P.S. Whenever you're ready, here are some other ways I can help fast track you to your Freedom goal (you're closer than you think): 1. Schedule a Call with My Team: If you're tired of running on the hamster wheel, and are looking for a proven blueprint to create more freedom and reduce dependency on your practice income, schedule a call with my team to learn more. 2. Get Your Dentist Retirement Survival Guide: The winds of economic change are here, and now is the time to move to higher ground. This guide gives you the steps to protect your retirement, your family, and your peace of mind. Get the 25-point checklist here. 3. Get Your Free Retirement Scorecard: Benchmark your retirement and wealth-building against hundreds of other practice professionals, and get personalized feedback on your biggest opportunities and leverage points. Click here to take the 3 minute assessment and get your scorecard.

Our culture's ideas about marriage are often broken or corrupted, with stereotypes of bitter wives and cruel or unfaithful husbands. So how should a Christian marriage be different? This week, Pastor Connor continues our series in Ephesians with a look at chapter 5. God intends for marriage to reflect the mysterious relationship between Christ and the church, so He calls husbands to love their wives sacrificially, like Christ loved the church and even laid down His life for us. Similarly, wives are to submit to their husbands' leadership in the family, just as Christ submitted to His Father and the church ought to submit to Christ. For both husbands and wives, the goal is to follow Christ and become more like Him.This weeks podcast is one you will not want to miss! Our hosts continue their discussion on the book of Ephesians, this week Pastor Connor decided to have a one on one discussion on the sensitive topic of submission in marriage, with another of our pastoral staff Patty Diliberto and get her viewpoint on the subject.If you would like to watch the video podcast, find us on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMhDfGn0zfzi6XjcKkSVcFAFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/discovertbcInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/topekabiblechurchWebsite: https://www.discovertbc.com/

John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.” “Snatch them out of My hand,” said Jesus, and "…snatch them out of the Father's hand.” Jesus told them plainly that He was the Christ—just like they asked Him in vs. 24. Jesus wasn't a good man showing all mankind how to be your best you. He wasn't a mere mortal who for a time had the spirit of the Christ upon him. He was the Christ in flesh. He was God the Father's hand in this world. He was perfectly united with His Father. To see Jesus was to see the Father (John 14:9). To know the Father, and the one whom He sent, Jesus Christ, is to know and have eternal life. For the Jews, He was saying the truth. “When you look at Me, you are looking at God, the Father.” Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will, toward those with whom He is well-pleased. Jesus is Immanuel.

While Adam failed to obey God and brought humanity into ruin, Jesus perfectly kept His Father's commandments to bring salvation to His people. Today, R.C. Sproul teaches that we are saved by works—the works of Christ on our behalf. Read the transcript: https://ligonier.org/podcasts/ultimately-with-rc-sproul/saved-by-the-works-of-christ/ Study Reformed theology with a free resource bundle from Ligonier Ministries: https://grow.ligonier.org/ A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://donate.ligonier.org/ Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts

Read OnlineJesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” Luke 10:23–24 We rejoice over many things in life. We might rejoice if we win a game, do well on a test, complete some task at home or work, or attend a celebration or party. Though rejoicing is an emotion tied to our human nature, true joy is spiritual in nature, a gift that overflows into human emotion.Try to imagine Jesus rejoicing in the Holy Spirit. Jesus' joy was perfect. As God, His unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit was beyond anything we can imagine. Therefore, when He experienced the perfection of spiritual joy, that joy overflowed into His perfect human nature, resulting in an emotional response that was more powerful than any of us will experience until the day we stand with our resurrected bodies before the Beatific Vision in the New Heavens and new Earth.When Jesus prayed, “I give you praise, Father…,” He was not only engaging in an intellectual exercise. He did not just make a public statement so that it would be written in Scripture or because it was the right thing to do. Rather, Jesus spoke His praises to the Father because His lived human experience, in that moment, was a human rejoicing with divine power. Jesus' all-consuming joy was perfectly ordered, deeply fulfilling, an appropriate response to His Father and the Holy Spirit, and contagious to those around Him. True spiritual joy is never contained; it overflows and touches the lives of others.By experiencing such joy in His human nature, Jesus further elevated human nature itself, making it possible for us to rejoice in the Holy Spirit with Him within our human souls, provided we humble ourselves before Him. Jesus praised the Father for revealing Himself to the childlike, those who are humble of heart. Seeing that was the cause of His joy. To be childlike in the eyes of God means to trust Him completely, to approach Him with openness and wonder, and to depend on Him for all things. It is the opposite of relying on our own understanding and wisdom, which often leads to pride and distance from God.True humility is nothing other than honesty with oneself before God. Humility makes us childlike because it opens our eyes to the truth that we are little spiritual children in need of God's fatherhood. If we pretend to be “wise and learned” before God, we only reveal our foolishness, the absence of divine wisdom. Reflect today on the perfection of spiritual joy in Jesus' divinity and its emotional effect upon His humanity. No one has ever rejoiced with the same joy as the Son of God. However, we are all called to live within that spiritual joy. This joy strengthens us in trials, deepens our love for others, and helps us live our faith with greater conviction and authenticity. Humble yourself before God today, begging for greater humility so that you will become a greater partaker of Jesus' joy, the joy He came to bestow upon the world. My humble Lord, You rejoiced as You saw Your Father reveal hidden and divine mysteries to those who were humble of heart and childlike. Please bestow Your grace upon me so that I will also grow in divine wisdom, remaining humble and childlike, to fill Your human soul with the deepest joy. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: Sancta Trinitas by Lawrence OP, license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2025 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we see that prayer wasn't a responsibility to be pushed into for Him; it was a relationship to be pulled into. It was in prayer where He found rest, strength, and direction, and where He experienced the Father's love most deeply.In Matthew 6:5-8, Jesus offers some straightforward advice on how to pray like He did. 1.     Pray systematically – carve out time.Deep, satisfying relationships are a function of time spent together. The same is true with God.However, time seems to be the one thing we run out of fastest! God offers to give wisdom and perspective, guidance and direction, encouragement and confidence through prayer.  But I'm too busy to take Him up on His offer.  It's been said, “If Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.” Why? Because if you're too busy to connect with God, eventually, you'll make yourself bad. Take a look at the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10. Jesus and his men stop by, and Martha heads to the kitchen to start preparing a meal. Meanwhile, her sister Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet, learning from Him. Martha gets ticked off—not only at Mary, but at Jesus! She's so busy doing “good” stuff, that she fails to do the “better” thing. And it made her worried and upset over things that didn't really matter.For Jesus, being busy was not an excuse to not pray. Instead, it was precisely because He WAS so busy that He intentionally got away and alone to spend time with His Father. And so should we. You will never know Jesus' power until you follow Jesus' pattern.2.     Pray secretly – get away and get alone.In Matthew 6:8, Jesus talks about going to your closet to pray. Find a quiet place where you can meet with God. It's alone, in the silence, when we can share with the Lord what He means to us.  It's alone, in the silence, when we can pour our hearts out to Him.  It's alone, in the silence, when all other voices are shut out, that we can hear the whisper of His still, small voice. It's alone, in the silence, when we can just be with our Father.Can you imagine doing life that way?  Here's the thing: You will not drift into this way of life.  You must choose it.  Text: Mt. 6:5-8; Lk. 10:38-42; Mk. 1:35-36Originally recorded on August 29, 2004, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN

John 10:29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." Jesus' sheep are given to Him by His Father. He is greater—more powerful—than any one who would like to snatch His sheep out of His hand. His sheep can't be snatched out of His hand because not only are the sheep in Jesus' hand, they are in the almighty, all-powerful Father's hand. Our security isn't based on what we do or don't do. Our salvation isn't based upon our good works. We are saved and have eternal life because of the Father's sustained will toward our highest good, even if it cost the Shepherd's life. He created us in Christ and gave us to Him forever. That's security! However, those who are not His don't need to be snatched out. They aren't in the Father's hand. They do not believe because they are not His sheep. They refuse to listen to His voice because they do not know His voice. We are living through a time in history where it appears that the devil is snatching sheep out of the midst of Jesus' flock. He doesn't have to snatch them, he can just call them. Progressive “Christianity”, which isn't Christian at all, is calling his sheep out from His flock. The apostasy has begun. God is separating the world's sheep from His sheep before He brings them into the fold.

John 10:25. Jesus answered them when they asked Him, "If you're the Christ, tell us plainly," "I told you, and you do not believe the works that I do in my Father's name. These testify of Me." What do these works testify of regarding Jesus? Just to name a few, the miracles testify that God is with Him. They tell us that Jesus's passion is for the name of His Father. They tell us that Jesus is the Christ, God in a body like ours. These testify that Jesus's words are true. As people hear, listen, and follow Him, it testifies that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Those who live to love with Jesus should say the same. We should say, "The works that I do, I do in the name of Jesus Christ. These testify of me that I'm a child of God and that Jesus lives in me." Jesus taught this in John 14:12-14. Let's think about this today: Are all of my works bringing glory to the name of Jesus? Do they accurately testify of who He is, and who I am as His disciple?

Wednesday, 26 November 2025   And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. Matthew 14:23   “And having dismissed the crowds, He ascended to the mountain, off alone, to pray. And evening, having arrived, He was there solo” (CG).   In the previous verse, Jesus compelled the disciples to get in the boat and cross to the other side while He dismissed the crowds. Next, Matthew records, “And having dismissed the crowds.”   It isn't known how Jesus did this, meaning with a word of encouragement and then prayer, but that is likely. John 6 notes that some wanted to make Him king by force. His redirecting them back to the Lord God as their true King, and through prayer, demonstrating that He was on a spiritual mission, may have quelled that among them.   Mark 6 notes that He sent them away. The day was long, and the walk to return would add to it. Therefore, some may even have slept under the stars, waiting till the next day to return home. Having an evening outside with a bonfire would be a nice cap to the wonderful day spent in the open with Jesus. If so, this would be an added reason for the next words, “He ascended to the mountain, off alone to pray.”   Whether He was removing Himself from all of the crowds as they departed, or if some were laying out mats to sleep on, there were still people there. This necessitated Him to ascend the mountain. Or it may be that ascending the mountain was keeping in accord with the traditions of meeting God on the high places that were instilled in the people's thinking, and a point which permeates the Hebrew Scriptures.   This would be in line with the transfiguration, which occurred on a mountain as well. Whatever other reason may be involved, Jesus went up in order to find solace and to pray. Matthew next records, “And evening, having arrived.”   This would be the second evening of what is known as “between the evenings,” explained in Matthew 14:15. This would be the evening of the light when the day transitions into night. At this time, it says, “He was there solo.”   Nobody had followed Him up the mountain, disturbing His time of prayer alone. These words of Matthew had to come from somewhere, so either an eyewitness saw that Jesus went up alone, or that Jesus had specifically told him this was the case.   Life application: Things were obviously done differently when Jesus walked among the people of Israel. There were no cars, cellphones, or TVs. People's lives would have been run at a completely different pace than what we are used to.   However, the days for Jesus were long and certainly tiring. What did He do at the end of His long day? He spent more energy ascending the nearby mountain, and He engaged with His Father in prayer. Although there is nothing prescriptive in this, it is an ideal that we can strive to attain.   Taking some time alone, away from the innumerable distractions we face, and spending time with the Lord will never be wasted time. Your mind can relax from the nag of calls, messages, text reminders, etc. Well, that is if you leave your phone behind when you decide to spend time with the Lord and pray.   If you are not used to this, it can be difficult to adjust. Being connected to the world through digital devices has become a standard part of our existence. And more, it has become an addiction for many. Take time to actively consider what value it is in your life. Is answering another text as important as spending time with the Lord through prayer or through His word?   Do your best to set your priorities straight and be willing to put everything else aside from time to time. At set times, try to refocus on filling the spiritual chasm in your life, replacing it with the goodness of God. You will find your time doing so a blessing you could not have imagined.   Glorious God, there are so many things that constantly distract us, pulling our attention away from what is truly important. If we stop and evaluate the time we spend doing things that are wholly unproductive, and then compare it to the time we spend with You, what would the balances reveal? Help us, Lord, to have our spiritual priorities right, focusing on You and fellowshipping with You each day. Amen.

As we have taken time to think about God’s good in our lives, there is no greater good than the gift of His Son, a gift He gave because He loved. Not because we were owed. Not because we were pretty good at heart. Not even because we had asked. He sent His Son as gift because He loved. And it was Jesus’ love for His Father, His love for You and me that brought Him to the cross.

Communitas: Marked by the BloodJesus declares that the family of God is all those who do the will of His Father in heaven.Common Master = FamilyCommon Mission = Will

Live to Love Scripture Encouragement, John 10.20. John 10:20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” Hm. Why did people listen to Jesus? Let's see. In the last 24 hrs, God testified about Him by healing a lame man and a blind man. He claimed that God was His Father and that He is the Light of life, the door to safety and peace, and the good shepherd. No one ever spoke with authority like Jesus. This being said, there are many people today who will think we are insane to listen to Jesus and love with Him. Let's not be distracted or discouraged. Love on with Him!

Today we explore how the wilderness is the place where Jesus met His Father, where He still speaks, and where our true identity is recovered.

Today we explore how the wilderness is the place where Jesus met His Father, where He still speaks, and where our true identity is recovered.

Today we explore how the wilderness is the place where Jesus met His Father, where He still speaks, and where our true identity is recovered.

Verses 1-27 of Nehemiah 10 tell the names of those who signed the covenant. Verses 28-39 outline the responsibilities and obligations of the covenant. The first of the obligations was to not marry uncovenanted wives (i.e. those of different beliefs to those taught in His Law by the God of Israel).Responsibility 2 was to observe the Sabbath by preventing the buying and selling of goods. The third necessity was to pay their tithes and offerings for the house of God. And finally come together for the three principal feasts to rejoice in their God; and with those of like precious faith.Amos 2 commenced with judgments on Israel's neighbours for their sins and now from verses 6-16 the prophet states the sins for which Israel will be chastised. Firstly, those whose covetousness and callousness knows no limits; secondly, those whose uncontrolled sexual appetites were insatiable; thirdly, their boastfulness - the word Amorite comes from the Hebrew "amor" meaning mouth; fourthly, their corrupting of God's laws i.e. giving the Nazarites wine to drink. And so "as they had sown, so they would reap" and not be able to resist the severe coming judgment.1 Timothy 4 commences with signposts which mark out the coming departure from true teachings - 1) a belief in evil and deceitful spirits; 2) a celibate clergy forbidden marriage; 3) the refraining from eating certain foods e.g. meat on Fridays and during Lent leading up to Easter - all foods are for our eating as long as we have offered a prayer of thanksgiving before eating. In verses 6-10 we have the third faithful saying, "bodily exercise is of some value, but godliness (Greek "eusebia" - good, or well worship) is profitable in every way, benefiting present daily life, and offering the hope of eternal life in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ". It is essential that believers be reminded of the necessity to be pure in thought, word and action. Such diligence will save both the teacher and the hearer alike. In chapter 5 we are told the type of respect to be shown to elderly believers. Next follows instructions on the proper treatment of widows. It tells families to show their commitment and care for the widows before requesting aid from the ecclesia. However, widows whose faith and actions stand as a witness to their commitment to Christ Jesus and His Father should be supported in their needs. Older members of the flock of God who have diligently proclaimed the Word of God must be honoured (compare Hebrews 13verses7, 17). Those whose words and actions show a failure to continue in the beliefs and behaviour of the Truth are to be openly rebuked. Be careful in the choice of those commissioned to faithful service. Timothy should drink wine moderately for reasons of health. Sometimes the faithfulness of some believers is evident; and sometimes the wrongdoing of believers is seen. But not always. Beware of hypocrisy, but be assured it will be unmasked in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciation of God's words, join again tomorrow

John 10:18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” On the front side of the cross, you can see why the Pharisees were constantly scratching their heads as they listened to Jesus. However, from our post-cross perspective, our heads explode with wonder and awe. We know exactly what He was saying. The Father commanded Him to lay down His life and take it up again. So if the Father commanded it, then He has authority to do it. His death won't be because He is a victim of men's hatred and plotting. He put Himself into their hands (probably the very hands of the Pharisees to whom He was talking) to be killed of His own initiative in obedience to His Father. He knew they were trying to kill Him (Jo. 7:19; 8:37, 40). He wanted them to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He and the Father were in complete control. As we live to love with Jesus, let's remember that we are never victims. We are in the hands of our Father, who loves us through our good Shepherd, who is with us. We lay our lives down by confronting sin, speaking the truth, forgiving, and loving those who who hate us and wish us harm.

Episode 2.58Adoption is not sentimental — it's sacrificial.In this week's episode, Zach and Michael turn from the Father's loving plan to the Son's redeeming work, showing that our adoption came at a staggering cost: the blood of Christ.Drawing from Galatians 4:1–7, they trace the journey from slavery to sonship. Humanity once stood as heirs-in-waiting, bound under the law. But “in the fullness of time,” God sent His Son — born of woman, born under the law — to redeem us so that we might receive adoption as sons. The Son bore the curse we deserved (Gal. 3:13), freeing us to share in His own inheritance.Paul's phrase “adoption as sons” carries Roman legal weight: all believers — male and female — share in the same full rights before the Father because they are united to Christ, the true Son.Our adoption was not cheap. It required the cross.Romans 5 reminds us: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God didn't adopt the neutral — He adopted the hostile. Every believer's redemption is a declaration of victory in a cosmic war.Applications:– Adoption is Warfare — every redeemed life is proof that Christ has conquered.– Adoption is Costly — our family status required the Son's death.– Adoption Invites Worship — Jesus was forsaken so we could be welcomed.– Adoption Shapes Gratitude — understanding the cost leads to humility and joy.Big Idea:Spiritual adoption is possible only because the Son paid the full price of redemption, securing our right to call His Father our Father.Find our videocast here: https://youtu.be/cWkzqx5GK6UMerch here: https://take-2-podcast.printify.me/Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/reakt-music/deep-stone⁠License code: 2QZOZ2YHZ5UTE7C8Find more Take 2 Theology content at http://www.take2theology.com

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.

But What If? 27There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30And the second 31and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32Afterward the woman also died. 33In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife." 34And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him." 39Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." 40For they no longer dared to ask him any question. Luke 20 [ESV] Do you know how we like to say, "Yes, but…but, what if…?" Teachers put up with this all the time. God puts up with this from us all the time… …but what if?…We say this after hearing God's Word…don't we? …but…but, my relatives have come to town? Yes…your point is? Take them with you to church, or let them stay home if they won't. You be here. …but what if I have worked a real hard and long year and go on vacation to rest? The best rest is in the Lord's House. …but on holidays I need all the time I can get to prepare the feast…so we can eat on time. …So have snacks ready and eat later. ….yes, but then the game is on…. …so tape it, eat, then watch. Is it the holiday (the HOLY DAY) or the game that is being celebrated? Is it a day of excuses to sin? Come on, what else you got? You see, I can give you a counter answer to almost all of your "what if's" as any good teacher will, or simply answer that that situation you give will never happen in the real world. I can give you an answer because the Bible answers everything that is under the sun. There is nothing new. Yes, God has an answer for them all…and yes, God has heard all the possible reasons for not doing whatever He tells us to do. God says to have no other gods before Him. Other little gods, yes, as God knows we have them, but Our Lord comes first. What do I and He mean here? Go ahead and love other things, but according to the Commandments and in their proper order. God first, then family (wife, then children…husband, then children), then your neighbors, then your vocation, then your hobbies. Love, cherish and care…but not before…not above Him…not out of the order of creation—the way He made them all. Yes, but what if… What if my husband is a work-aholic? My children need me, and since he is not around much, why should I put…let him be first in my life…over them? You both need to repent. Yet each of you are still to do what God says. Despite the situation—even in the situation. What if … Yes? …but…the town does such a lousy job on the roads…and they sent my son over to Iraq and I don't think we should even be there…and look at gas prices…. Show me a coin. Whose image is on it? A president. So, render to the government—to the world—what is theirs, and to God what is His. Pay your taxes, yes, but also give to God what is due Him: YOU. Whose image is on you? Whose image has been once again placed on you? How were you formed and how were you re-formed? Adam was made in the image of God, but then took the "what if" against…and instead of…doing according to how he was made. So, the image of the devil was stamped on Adam…and Eve…and all of us. The world—I don't mean this planet, although effected, yes—but when the Bible talks about this world, it is in the image of the devil. Its ways and its wants. It—the devil—wants to also form the church into its image. He would like to form you again into his image. As a liar. A cheat. A thief. A user. An excuser—an excuser of sin. The devil wants you in the image of death—to die and stay dead. You see, he is the master of the "…but what if…" scenario. He gave Adam and Eve a crash course right in the garden. "But what if God is holding out on you…what if it is a better thing to know good and evil…and what if God really does not want you to be like Him…?" That is where this MO comes from. The devil. The devil tried to do this even to God. He tried the "what if" in heaven…what if he, the devil could replace God and run things for a change…what if that were better? Yet he failed. The Bible says that the devil and his angels that he took with him—a third—lost their former estate. Thrown out of heaven. Adam and Eve lost their former estate too—kicked out of the garden. Pain in childbirth, friction between husband and wife…and more weeds than edible plants from all that hard work. Then Brothers killing each other. It seems that the devil's "what if" was working here, on earth. It has been—working well in the sense that we all do it, but the results…well no good for us has come of it. Yet, we still wonder, "but what if it eventually will be good…" No, as we will be dead. Every one of us. Then the devil, with all his success here, thought he would get another chance at heaven. Yes, especially when the Son of God became man. He even tried to make Jesus into his image. He tempted Jesus. Then because Jesus wasn't taking the bait, he killed him. The devil failed. Using his own work against Him, Jesus was not re-imaged, but actually began the start of humanity's re-imaging. Jesus was not just reclaiming His own body, and life, but also ours…and the world—nature and the universe itself. All will have the full, undiminished, unaffected, untarnished image of God once again. Starting with Jesus the man…then continuing with a band of twelve which then became over 3,000 by the second chapter of Acts, then out into the whole world—all by baptism—Word and Water…and Spirit. Same as at the beginning of the world. The World made by God's Word, the Son, in Water and the Spirit which hovered over the deeps. Just read Genesis chapter 1. All is being remade again according to God's way…again…with Water and Word. You see, by baptism, we no longer have the image of the world. We get God's name, and wherever His name is placed, God is there—His image is there…He is there. A new creation starts there. We Get Jesus as our covering. Jesus is the exact image of God. When we see Jesus, we see God. When God sees us, He sees Jesus. We get—we have Jesus, His Spirit and His Father. We have been reborn…re-imaged…remade…regenerated in His image once again. The planet is next…out into the universe even—everything. So, God has all the "what if's"—every contingency—even ones we have not thought of or ever will—He has got them covered. What if? What if nothing! We are to act now according to how we have been remade…like Jesus…to please His Father…where there are no, "what if's" any longer. There just are none in Jesus. Never! Even if we cannot see the how, it is covered. We are covered. So, we can, then, render to God, what is God's: You. Do so. All of you and yours. Your time, your things, your spouse and children even. Your life even. He who hates his life in this world, Jesus says, will keep it. He who loves it, will lose it. What image do you like best? Stop letting them change you into their image…the way they do things! Stop letting people try and change the image of the church then! We don't vote for choice in the name of freedom. We vote to keep God's commandments. We don't change church and our services just because that is what the world likes. It wants us to reflect them—their image, but we must reflect God's. It wants the church to use marketing and packaging to tempt and lure. It wants us to dress and be like them—to lure and seduce and tempt. All this is the image of sin, death and the devil. The church and its people have the image of Christ—it must or it is not the church. God's image is of life, not the dead. He lives and we live and move and have our being in Him. He is the author and perfecter of our lives. You only live because He says so. You only have because He says so. He gives life to all those who despair of their own. Face the result of your sin—your death. Face the fact that the soul who sins dies and leaves all that he has to someone else. Face that picture. Face that image. Then turn and embrace instead the image God gave you—His. God is the only one who can change that death mask into a face that lives…that reflects Him. He sent Jesus for this very reason. Jesus is the resurrection. He is the way, the truth and the Life. All those who believe in Him, who eat of His flesh and drink of His blood have life in them. These carry His life giving being—God Himself—the very image of God, Jesus, in their very bodies. Whose image do you have? Theirs or His? Those without Jesus' reflection die… …with no if's, no but's, about it. So don't confuse yourselves, or others, with "but what if's." As if…we could stump God. As if we could find wiggle room out of what He expects. As if there are loop holes. As if there were any other way. No, None! He alone provides the way out. Jesus. He alone provides life. Jesus. Yet, He not only gives wiggle room—to live and breath freely in—He brings us to His wide open fields—where we can and will be at play…in the house of the Lord…forever. Jesus came and did this for us,

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

“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

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.

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.

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.