Podcasts about his law

Repentance has two parts: first, contrition—sorrow for sin—and second, faith in the Gospel. The Lord delivers His Law as a thunderbolt and hammer, striking the heart and stirring it toward newness of life. True contrition is not merely sorrow for sin but the realization that we deserve death because of it. In faith, we repent, knowing that there is One who will save us from this body of death. The goal of repentance is always forgiveness and hope in Christ. God calls us to repentance, daring us to believe that He will give exactly what He promises: forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ. Rev. David Buchs, pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church, Fairhaven, MN, joins Rev. Brady Finnern to study repentance in the Smalcald. Find your copy of the Book of Concord - Concordia Reader's Edition at cph.org or read online at bookofconcord.org. Study the Lutheran Confession of Faith found in the Book of Concord with lively discussions led by host Rev. Brady Finnern, President of the LCMS Minnesota North District, and guest LCMS pastors. Join us as these Christ-confessing Concordians read through and discuss our Lutheran doctrine in the Book of Concord in order to gain a deeper understanding of our Lutheran faith and practical application for our vocations. Submit comments or questions to: listener@kfuo.org. 

In Genesis 1:1, the Bible begins with a simple but profound sentence. Most English translations of the Bible begin with ten words and end with ten words. In Genesis 1:1, we are told: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the final verse of the book of Revelation the Bible concludes: The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen (Rev. 22:21). What these two verses tell me is this: We are alive and are here today because of God and by His grace. In Psalm 23, we discover that it is by the grace of God that I am brought into the fold of His sheep, and it is for His glory that He has done so. The invitation to be included as one of His sheep has nothing to do with my performance and everything to do with His grace and glory, as John Piper put it: God is the beginning and God is the end of all my righteousness. The path of righteousness has his grace as its starting point (for he leads me into it) and it has his glory as its destination (because his leading is for his names sake).[1] What happens in the in-between is the messy part. After He finds us, it is His goodness and faithfulness that keeps us with no intention of letting go. The 23rd Psalm sounds like a pilgrimage because it is. Remember that there are five images in this Psalm. We looked at the first image, which was: The Abundant Life (vv. 2-3a). God lets and makes me lay down in green pastures in that He causes me to do so. How does He cause me to lay down in green pastures? He does so by removing all that prevents me from doing so. I was made to lay down in green pastures by waters of rest, but without the Good Shepherd we blindly go astray; according to the prophet Isaiah we were both hopeless and helpless: All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way... (Isaiah 53:6). The next four images are as follows: Image #2: The Secure Life (v. 3b) Image #3: The Hard Life (v. 4) Image #4: The Victorious Life (v. 5) Image #5: The Everlasting Life (v. 6) It is to the Secure Life that we now turn our attention. What is it that makes His guiding in paths of righteousness for His namesake that brings security to those who belong to Him? Where Does the Shepherd Lead? Where does the Shepherd lead and how does where He is leading relate to our security? For starters, it is in the nature of His guiding that brings His sheep security: He guides me in paths of righteousness. The nature of His guiding is that it does not end and that it is ongoing; it is not a onetime event where the sheep are guided by Him such as a prayer that is said or a decision that was made. So, what are the paths of righteousness that He guides me into? We are given an answer through the nature of Davids prayers like the one we find in Psalm 5, Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before me (v. 8). The answer to Davids prayer is Psalm 23:3, and those paths of righteousness are descripted for us in scores of verses in both the Old and New Testament. One such passage in the Old Testament is Psalm 1:1-3, Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, And on His Law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The paths of righteousness according to Psalm 1 includes delighting in the Law of Yahweh and meditating on His Law day and night. The Law of the Lord is the Word of the Lord. That which you delight in is where you desire to spend your time. If you delight in a particular person you will want to spend time with that person. If you have a hobby or job that you delight in, you will look for ways to spend time participating in that hobby or job that you delight in. The evidence that you delight in the Law is seen in the amount of time you spend in the Law. The one who delights in the Law of the Lord will thrive in the kinds of ways we were meant for. God wants you to thrive and considering the fact that it is His image we bear, thriving must include our Creator. Later in the Psalms, David wrote: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps. 119:105). Jesus said something similar to Psalm 1:1-3 and 119:105; He said, If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31). The Greek word used for continue is menō, which, as you may recall from last Sundays sermon, can be translated abide. If you abide, if you remain, if you continue in My word... you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The Greek word for know is ginōskō, which is the kind of knowledge that is much more than head knowledge. Jesus said, If you remain, if you continue, if you abide in my word, you will really know [ginōskō] the truth, and the truth will set your free. Let me say it a different way so that you get what is being said here: If you take up residence in the word of the Good Shepherd, you are truly His sheep, and by listening to His voice, you will live! Listen, the Shepherds guiding does not happen apart from our abiding! I am not sure if you will find this as cool as I do, but going back to John 10 where Jesus identifies as the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, He uses the same Greek word for know that He used in John 8:31. In John 10:14-16, I am the good shepherd, and I know [ginōskō] My own, and My own know [ginōskō] Me, just as the Father knows [ginōskō] Me and I know [ginōskō] the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd. Okay, so why does any of this matter and how does Psalm 1:1-3, John 8:31-32, and John 10:14-16 help you understand the 23rd Psalm better? So here we go: You cannot be led in the paths of righteousness if your knowledge of the Good Shepherd is only about filling your head without your heart being engaged. I will say it another way: If you are not abiding in the Lord of the 23rd Psalm then you are not finding in Him what you need. If you do not find in Him what you need, then you will not find in Him the green pastures and waters of rest that you were made for. If you do not find in the Good Shepherd the green pastures and waters of rest you that were made for, then you will find that the paths of righteousness that He guides His sheep on as displeasing instead of delightful. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, and it is He who causes me to lie down in green pastures because He is the green pastures that will never leave me hungry. It is He who leads me to waters of refreshment because He is the Living Water who satisfies the thirsty soul. Jesus restores the soul because He makes all things new! As the great Shepherd of your soul, Jesus guides those who abide in Him in paths of righteousness. There is no guiding apart from abiding in Lordof the 23rd Psalm! Why Does the Shepherd Lead? So, why does He do it? Why does the Good Shepherd guide his sheep in the paths of righteousness? He does it for the sake of His name! What does that even mean? It means that He rescued you from the condemnation of your sins, He gives Himself to you as the Great Shepherd of your soul to meet your need for Him, He provides the green pastures and quiet waters for your good, He renews and restores your soul, and He delivered you from your crooked paths of this world and set you on the straight path of righteousness that only Jesus can provide. God did it all, and He did it by putting His reputation on the line! Our story is summed up in one verse from the prophet Isaiah: All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him (Isa. 53:6). To fall on who you ask? Ah... I am so glad you asked! The sins of us all... fell upon Jesus who is the Lamb, the Lion, and the great Shepherd of our souls! This is why the apostle Peter wrote: ...and He Himself brought our sins in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls (1 Pet. 2:24-25). In response to all that Jesus accomplished, Paul wrote those glorious words that ought to thrill every soul that belongs to His flock: What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things (Rom. 8:31-32)? And He does so for His namesake! This is why, when you read Ephesians 1:3-14 regarding how and why God saved you from your sins that we are given three answers: The Father chose us before the foundation of the world and made us sons and daughters through His Son, and why did He do it that way? He did it, to the praise of the glory of His grace... (1:4-6). The Son redeemed us through His blood and now we have the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. Why did He do it that way? He did it, to the praise of His glory (1:7-12). The Holy Spirit made our redemption and salvation a guarantee by sealing us as Gods own possession. Why did He do it that way? He did it, to the praise of His glory (1:13-14). He chose his lambs for the sake of His name, He redeemed his lambs for the sake of His name, and He marked His lambs as His treasured possession by His Holy Spirit for the sake of His name! Listen, if the Lord is your shepherd, it is only because you have turned to Jesus for the salvation of our soul: Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other (Isa. 45:22). Listen to what Jesus said concerning all who hear His voice and come to Him for salvation: My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand. I and the Father are one (John 10:27-30). Psalm 23:2 is a picture of the secure life because of who it is that causes us to lie down in green pastures, leads us to inexhaustible and quiet waters, restores and renews our soul, and leads us in the paths of righteousness. The Lord of the 23rd Psalm is the God of Isaiah 46:9-11, Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure; Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a distant country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will certainly do it. This is why Romans 8:1 is for you Christian: Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. Conclusion So, let me say something you may need to hear. Just because you belong to the Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm, does not mean that you will not struggle with sin. Just because you are abiding in Jesus and love Him truly, does not mean that you will never be tempted by the enemys lies of greener pastures and more satisfying waters. The enemy is a dragon and a thief who comes, only to steal and kill and destroy... Jesus, the Great and Good Shepherd, has come so that we would have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). There are no greener pastures or quieter waters than what can be found and experienced in Jesus. The danger for some is that the less that you listen to His voice, the less you will delight in His Word and the less frequent you will want to abide in Him. Permit me to close with a warning from David Gibson: Life is a journey, not a viewing gallery; we are always on the move, always traveling, and were going with either Jesuss paths or a different shepherds paths. Maybe its what youre consuming online. Maybe its the choices you are making with your money or your time. Two degrees of divergence this year might mean a miles divergence next year. Take time to consider the road you are walking, who is leading you, and where that path might end. In my experience I have found that wrong steps in life are nearly always the outworking of a prior neglect of listening to Jesus speak in the Bible. When devotion to hearing his voice begins to dwindle, then eventually, inevitably, departure from his paths begins to follow.[2] There is no greener pasture outside of Jesus, for He alone is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm. Amen. [1] J. Josh Smith and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Psalms 150, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2022), 174. [2] David Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2023), 49.

He took me out in the desert to an immense valley surrounded by reddish mountains, which turned increasingly purple and blue as they extended out into the far distance.
"What words come to your mind," said the teacher, "when you look at the desert wilderness?"
"Dry ...barren ...hot ...austere ...severe ...hard ...forbidding ..."
"And when people go through hard times - times of loss, crisis, tragedy, loneliness, conflict, hardship, problems, separation, tears - they speak of going through the wilderness. And yet the wilderness is a holy place. It was in a desert wilderness that God gave His Law, His Word, and where He revealed His presence. The wilderness is holy."
"So the hard times in our lives are holy?"
"For those who are His children, yes."
"How so?"
"In Hebrew, the wilderness is called the midbar. Midbar comes from the root ward dabar. And dabar means to speak. What is the wilderness? It is the midbar. And what is the midbar? It is the place of God's speaking, the place of His voice. It's where God especially talks to us. Why did He bring His people into the wilderness, into the midbar? So He could speak to them. He brought Moses into the midbar to speak to him in a still, small voice. So too He brings us into the wilderness that He might speak to us."
"What is it about the wilderness that makes it the place of God's speaking?"
"Look around you," he said. "What do you see?"
"Rock, sand, mountains - not much."
"That's why," said the teacher. "God speaks, but we don't hear. We have too many distractions. But in the wilderness the distractions are gone. So God brings us to the wilderness that we might hear His voice. Therefore, do not fear or despise the wilderness of your life, and don't despise His removing of the distractions. Rather embrace it. Draw closer to Him. And listen to what He is saying. Seek to hear His voice, and you will hear Him. For the wilderness in your life is not just a wilderness. It is holy ground ...the midbar ...the place of His voice." The Mission: Put away the distractions, those things that keep you from hearing. And go into the wilderness, the midbar, and seek the voice of God. Enjoy the YouTube version here and join the family: https://youtu.be/FM8B26htm-0If you would like to join us for bible study, bible study is on Friday nights from 7:30pm - 9pm CST. To get the link, please feel free to message us at perceptualpneumaministries@gmail.com.

By Roc Corbett - With Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread approaching, there are spiritual lessons we can learn from the events that happened at Mount Sinai. The Lord wrote His Law, Testimony and Covenant on tablets of stone. Christ has established the New Covenant, writing His law in our minds and on our

Do you ever have trouble following rules because you feel like they restrict you in some way? The Lord has given us the Ten Commandments not to take away our freedom but rather to allow us to be truly free. St John Paul II said “freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in doing what we ought” The CCC 2057 states that the Ten Commandments first must be understood in the context of Exodus when God liberates his people from Egypt. By giving the Ten Commandments God is revealing His Will and thus revealing His heart to us. “In making his Will known God reveals himself to his people.” CCC 2059The Catechism explains that it is in the New Covenant that Jesus affirms the validity of the Ten Commandments when he responds to the rich young man to keep the commandments in order to attain eternal life. In a different gospel passage when someone asks Him which one is the greatest commandment He replies you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and the second is you shall love your neighbor as yourself. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus not only confirms the commandments, He elevates them. The First three commandments include love of God and the last seven are about love of neighbor.The Ten Commandments I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not kill.You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall covet tour neighbor's wife.You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. The CCC 2071 explains that God has written natural law on the hearts of every human being, but God need to reveal the Ten Commandments because of our fallen human condition. He has given us His Commandments to clearly show how he wants us to live. These commandments can be difficult to follow but “what God commands he makes possible by his grace.“ CCC 2082We live in a culture where some believe that there is no moral absolute. However, if we truly embrace the Ten Commandments as a sign of God's love for us, and not His control, we can pursue the genuine freedom that He created us for. We can become truly free when we follow His Law, which is His Will and also His heart. 

He took me out in the desert to an immense valley surrounded by reddish mountains, which turned increasingly purple and blue as they extended out into the far distance.
"What words come to your mind," said the teacher, "when you look at the desert wilderness?"
"Dry ...barren ...hot ...austere ...severe ...hard ...forbidding ..."
"And when people go through hard times - times of loss, crisis, tragedy, loneliness, conflict, hardship, problems, separation, tears - they speak of going through the wilderness. And yet the wilderness is a holy place. It was in a desert wilderness that God gave His Law, His Word, and where He revealed His presence. The wilderness is holy."
"So the hard times in our lives are holy?"
"For those who are His children, yes."
"How so?"
"In Hebrew, the wilderness is called the midbar. Midbar comes from the root ward dabar. And dabar means to speak. What is the wilderness? It is the midbar. And what is the midbar? It is the place of God's speaking, the place of His voice. It's where God especially talks to us. Why did He bring His people into the wilderness, into the midbar? So He could speak to them. He brought Moses into the midbar to speak to him in a still, small voice. So too He brings us into the wilderness that He might speak to us."
"What is it about the wilderness that makes it the place of God's speaking?"
"Look around you," he said. "What do you see?"
"Rock, sand, mountains - not much."
"That's why," said the teacher. "God speaks, but we don't hear. We have too many distractions. But in the wilderness the distractions are gone. So God brings us to the wilderness that we might hear His voice. Therefore, do not fear or despise the wilderness of your life, and don't despise His removing of the distractions. Rather embrace it. Draw closer to Him. And listen to what He is saying. Seek to hear His voice, and you will hear Him. For the wilderness in your life is not just a wilderness. It is holy ground ...the midbar ...the place of His voice." The Mission: Put away the distractions, those things that keep you from hearing. And go into the wilderness, the midbar, and seek the voice of God. Enjoy the YouTube version here and join the family: https://youtu.be/FmKmFLW2zqwIf you would like to join us for bible study, bible study is on Friday nights from 7:30pm - 9pm CST. To get the link, please feel free to message us at perceptualpneumaministries@gmail.com.

Welcome back to The Follow Up, where we recap this week's sermon so you can grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus! This week, join Jack Guerra, Ryan Groshek and Bill Van Kirk as we continue our study of Romans, diving into chapter 4 verses 1 through 25 and exploring the meaning of God's Grace and the role of His Law in our lives.Subscribe for more in-depth discussions and weekly updates on our biblical seriesFind Study Guides at springlakechurch.org/study-guides 

Introduction (Bruce Almighty movie clip) It is possible that you are here today and are wondering how and why it is that a good God would allow some of the hard things you were forced to experience so far. Maybe you have said or identify with Bruces description of his own experience with God: God is a mean kid sitting on an anthill with a magnifying glass, and I'm the ant. He could fix my life in five minutes if He wanted to, buthe'd rather burn off my feelers and watch me squirm. If God is good, and if he is infinitely and perfectly sovereign how and why does He allow so much suffering in the world? How is it that He allows so much evil when he is the measure of all that is holy and good? There seems to be a great divide between the God we read about in our Bibles and the world we live in. What are we supposed to do with the confusion, disappointment, anger, evil, and suffering God has allowed into our lives? Is it okay to be angry with God when we suffer? I plan to answer the above questions, but we must start with the nature and character of God as He revealed Himself to Moses after 40 years in the desert as a fugitive of Egypt after he murdered one of Pharoahs guards. Moses Encounter with a Holy God Here is what you need to know about what led up to Moses experience with the burning bush. God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and then to Jacob that their children would become His people; the promise was threefold and included the promise of land, the increase of their people, and that their people would eventually be a blessing to the nations. However, God also promised that they would spend years in a land where they would be afflicted (see Gen. 15:13; Exod. 12:40-41). When Moses was born, the Hebrew people had spent centuries living in Egypt. The Hebrew people were first welcomed as honored guests under Joseph (one of the sons of Jacob) who was second to Pharaoh, but as the years past, so did the memory of Joseph. The Hebrews eventually became the slaves of another Pharaoh; he was so threatened by the birth rate of the Hebrews, that he implemented infanticide as the law of the land and wrote into law that every Hebrew son born was to be thrown into the Nile. Moses mother refused to murder her baby, so she kept his birth a secret until she could not do so any longer; she put baby Moses in a basket covered with tar and pitch, put him in it, and floated it down the Nile where Pharaohs daughter eventually found the basket with baby Moses whom she raised as her own. Moses grew up in Pharaohs house, but he was also aware of his roots as a Hebrew man. We know that Moses had a temper, and on two occasions, it cost him much. On one such occasion, after seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand (see Exod. 2:11-12). When Moses learned that others knew that he killed the Egyptian, he fled and hid in the land of Midian. Moses spent the next 40 years of his life in Median, got married, and worked for his father-in-law Jethro. What We Learn About God Through Moses Encounter Before we can answer where or not it is okay to be angry with God, we need to consider the God who found Moses in Midian; against the backdrop of Josephs 13 years of suffering, the generations of slavery the Hebrews suffered in Egypt, and Moses 40 years in Midian. God is Holy: He is not like us. Moses approached the burning bush not only because it was weird, but because God called to him, from the midst of the bush and said, Moses! Moses! Moses response was simple: Here I am. Notice that as Moses got closer to the burning bush, God said to him, Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. What made the ground holy? The presence of God made it holy. As R.C. Sproul wrote in his timeless and classic book, The Holiness of God: God alone is holy in Himself. Only God can sanctify something else. Only God can give the touch that changes it from the commonplace to something special, different, and apart.[1] Now, just so that you are aware, it is not only Moses, a mere mortal human, who must remove his sandals in the presence of holiness. The seraphim whose sole purpose is worship above the throne of God are not exempt from the kind of respect and reverence that was expected of Moses in the presence of the Holy One. Isaiah was invited into the throne room of Almighty God, and this is what he saw: In the year of King Uzziahs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. (Isa. 6:14) The great Seraphim must cover their face and their feet in the presence of a Holy God even though they have not been stained by sin, but because they, like us, are creatures and God is the Creator. Isaiahs response before the Holy One was appropriate: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Moses response was not only to remove his sandals, but to hide his face, for he was afraid to look at God (v. 6). Why? Because God is holy, and we are not. God is not like us. God is Omniscient: He sees the big picture. When we come to verse 6, God let Moses who it was that was speaking to him: I am the God of your fatherthe God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And just as God was intimately acquainted with the lives of Moses forefathers, He was aware of the suffering of Moses kinsmen in Egypt: I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings (v. 7). When the Hebrews entered into Egypt, they were the size of a small clan, but after hundreds of years in Egypt, they had become the size of a small nation. When Moses fled to Midian, he was a 40-year-old used to royalty; the Moses who stood before the burning bush was any eighty-year-old shepherd. What the Hebrews did not understand, and what Moses could not have fathomed was that God was using the ugly, the hard, and the pain for something far greater than they could have imagined. God was aware of their suffering all along, and now in that moment was the right time to, rescue them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from the land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey... (v. 8) just as He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries before. So, God said to Moses: And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt (v. 10). To which, Moses appropriately responded: Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? All that the Hebrews could see was their slavery and suffering; all that Moses could see was his failures and incompetence. What God saw was that He alone can use the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong (see 1 Cor. 1:26-31). What God saw was that His timing was infinitely better because He saw the big picture. God is Faithful: He keeps His promises. Remember that the Hebrew slaves in Egypt were surrounded by an Egyptian culture that worshiped Egyptian gods who were not gods, but demons (see Deut. 32:17). Moses questioned what name he was to give to the Hebrew slaves if they were to ask Who it was that sent Moses to deliver them (v. 13). Here is Gods answer: And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and He said, This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you (v. 14). Then God continued: This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is the name for all generations to use to call upon Me (v. 15). In other words, God told Moses: You tell them that Yahweh sent you! At the heart of Gods answer are four facts about His nature for why the Israelites should believe the He could and would deliver them: Yahweh is self-existent and not dependent. God was unlike the Egyptian gods who were created by their own culture. Yahweh is the Elohim over elohims. The great I AM was bigger than the plight of the Israelites as He is greater than any trouble in our own lives. Yahweh is creator and sustainer. Who wrote the Law of Thermodynamics? Who governs the laws of gravity?Who grants the Sun permission to get up in the morning? Who gave the song for the birds to sing? Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills? Who brings men into power, raises nations into prominence and then brings them to naught? Is it not the great I AM who keeps His covenant promises. Yahweh is unchanging. Yahweh is the great I AM whose personality does not change. He does not suffer from a multi-personality disorder. He does not change with the ideas of his devotees. He is unmovable because He does not change. Because Yahweh is unchanging, He is constant unlike the gods of the Egyptians or whatever idol we may have set up in our own heart. Yahweh is eternal. Because He is the great I AM, Yahweh will never have a beginning nor will he ever have an end. Even though the fool has said there is no God, Yahweh is absolute reality with nothing before or after Him. The great I AM does not sleep, slumber, slack off, or slip into a daydream stupor. What God told Moses is this: Moses, you tell My people that the Covenant Keeper who promised their forefathers that He would make them into a great nation, would give them land as a nation, and would make them a blessing to the nations... you tell them the Faithful and Living One sent you! God keeps His promises because He alone is faithful even when we are not. Conclusion So, the question you may still be asking is whether it is or is not okay to be angry with God? Is it okay to be angry with He who is Holy and infinitely unlike us creatures? Is it okay to be angry with the One who sees and knows all things perfectly? Is it okay to be angry with the One who keeps His covenant promises because He is faithful while we are faithless time and time again? Is it okay to be angry with Yahweh who is Almighty God? As you know, God did use Moses to lead the Hebrews out of the bondage of slavery from Egypt, and He did it miraculously and profoundly. Yet, even after God delivered them, Moses found himself shepherding and leading a people who demonstrated over and over again just how faithless they really were. After their grievous sin of idolatry with the golden calf, Moses pleaded with God for mercy for His people who sinned, and God granted it. In Exodus 33:17-34:9 we are given a glimpse into Moses heart as a shepherd absolutely in love with Yahweh, and in that exchange asked to see God. God told Moses that he could not see His face and live, but this is what God did say He would do: I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion (Exod. 33:19). When God did pass, He hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, and allowed His goodness to pass by him and when it did, Moses heard God proclaim of His goodness: The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 34:67). So, what does Gods goodness include? It includes His mercy, patience, faithfulness, truth, and grace. But it also includes His justice and wrath in response to sin. So, again I ask you: Is it okay to be angry with the God who is Holy and infinitely unlike us creatures? Is it okay to be angry with the God who sees and knows all things perfectly? Is it okay to be angry with a holy God who is faithful while we are faithless time and time again? Is it okay to be angry with Yahweh who is Almighty God? Let me reframe the question for you: If God is infinitely good and we are the ones who need to improve upon being good, do we have any right to be angry with God? Now, think about the effects anger has on a relationship. When you are angry with someone because you believe you have been wronged by that person, it interferes with communication. Anger towards a friend or a member of your family often drives a wedge between you and that person. Anger typically results in the one offended distancing himself/herself from the person who wronged them. If there is no need for God to improve, especially in being good, then to suggest that it is okay to be angry with Him is to suggest that it is okay to accuse Him of wrongdoing. Psalm 145 is a great Psalm to visit while suffering or confused why God would allow you to suffer; verses 8-9 say the following: The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works. Again in Psalm 145:17-18, The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. I have head Christians and Pastors console the suffering and confused: It is okay to be angry with God. To which I ask, How is it okay to be angry with He who is infinitely holy, how is it okay to be angry with Him who sees all while my vision is limited, how is it okay to be angry with the Almighty whose faithfulness has been proven time and time again while my faithfulness has been found wanting more than I count? Listen dear friend, not only are we not given permission in all of Scripture to be angry with God, but we also have no right to be angry with Him. Here is what is permitted and even expected by God: We can be confused, frustrated, and even hurt emotionally. If God is infinitely good, which He is, then we can run to Him with our confusion, we can run to Him with our frustration, and we can run to Him with our wounded and bleeding hearts knowing that even though we cant see His goodness in and through our pain, we can trust that He is still good and will turn it around in His way and in His time for His glory and our good! After Moses experienced the goodness of God when His glory passed by while he was in the cleft of the rock, Moses responded on behalf of the sins of Israel: If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us as Your own possession (Exod. 34:9). Dear brothers and sisters, if your faith and trust is in Jesus as proof of Gods infinite goodness, then my plea to you is not to run from Him in anger but to him with all your pain, confusion, and frustration. Run to the God of Romans 8:28-32, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? [1] Sproul, R.C., The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers; 1998), 39.

Introduction (Bruce Almighty movie clip) It is possible that you are here today and are wondering how and why it is that a good God would allow some of the hard things you were forced to experience so far. Maybe you have said or identify with Bruces description of his own experience with God: God is a mean kid sitting on an anthill with a magnifying glass, and I'm the ant. He could fix my life in five minutes if He wanted to, buthe'd rather burn off my feelers and watch me squirm. If God is good, and if he is infinitely and perfectly sovereign how and why does He allow so much suffering in the world? How is it that He allows so much evil when he is the measure of all that is holy and good? There seems to be a great divide between the God we read about in our Bibles and the world we live in. What are we supposed to do with the confusion, disappointment, anger, evil, and suffering God has allowed into our lives? Is it okay to be angry with God when we suffer? I plan to answer the above questions, but we must start with the nature and character of God as He revealed Himself to Moses after 40 years in the desert as a fugitive of Egypt after he murdered one of Pharoahs guards. Moses Encounter with a Holy God Here is what you need to know about what led up to Moses experience with the burning bush. God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and then to Jacob that their children would become His people; the promise was threefold and included the promise of land, the increase of their people, and that their people would eventually be a blessing to the nations. However, God also promised that they would spend years in a land where they would be afflicted (see Gen. 15:13; Exod. 12:40-41). When Moses was born, the Hebrew people had spent centuries living in Egypt. The Hebrew people were first welcomed as honored guests under Joseph (one of the sons of Jacob) who was second to Pharaoh, but as the years past, so did the memory of Joseph. The Hebrews eventually became the slaves of another Pharaoh; he was so threatened by the birth rate of the Hebrews, that he implemented infanticide as the law of the land and wrote into law that every Hebrew son born was to be thrown into the Nile. Moses mother refused to murder her baby, so she kept his birth a secret until she could not do so any longer; she put baby Moses in a basket covered with tar and pitch, put him in it, and floated it down the Nile where Pharaohs daughter eventually found the basket with baby Moses whom she raised as her own. Moses grew up in Pharaohs house, but he was also aware of his roots as a Hebrew man. We know that Moses had a temper, and on two occasions, it cost him much. On one such occasion, after seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand (see Exod. 2:11-12). When Moses learned that others knew that he killed the Egyptian, he fled and hid in the land of Midian. Moses spent the next 40 years of his life in Median, got married, and worked for his father-in-law Jethro. What We Learn About God Through Moses Encounter Before we can answer where or not it is okay to be angry with God, we need to consider the God who found Moses in Midian; against the backdrop of Josephs 13 years of suffering, the generations of slavery the Hebrews suffered in Egypt, and Moses 40 years in Midian. God is Holy: He is not like us. Moses approached the burning bush not only because it was weird, but because God called to him, from the midst of the bush and said, Moses! Moses! Moses response was simple: Here I am. Notice that as Moses got closer to the burning bush, God said to him, Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. What made the ground holy? The presence of God made it holy. As R.C. Sproul wrote in his timeless and classic book, The Holiness of God: God alone is holy in Himself. Only God can sanctify something else. Only God can give the touch that changes it from the commonplace to something special, different, and apart.[1] Now, just so that you are aware, it is not only Moses, a mere mortal human, who must remove his sandals in the presence of holiness. The seraphim whose sole purpose is worship above the throne of God are not exempt from the kind of respect and reverence that was expected of Moses in the presence of the Holy One. Isaiah was invited into the throne room of Almighty God, and this is what he saw: In the year of King Uzziahs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. (Isa. 6:14) The great Seraphim must cover their face and their feet in the presence of a Holy God even though they have not been stained by sin, but because they, like us, are creatures and God is the Creator. Isaiahs response before the Holy One was appropriate: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Moses response was not only to remove his sandals, but to hide his face, for he was afraid to look at God (v. 6). Why? Because God is holy, and we are not. God is not like us. God is Omniscient: He sees the big picture. When we come to verse 6, God let Moses who it was that was speaking to him: I am the God of your fatherthe God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And just as God was intimately acquainted with the lives of Moses forefathers, He was aware of the suffering of Moses kinsmen in Egypt: I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings (v. 7). When the Hebrews entered into Egypt, they were the size of a small clan, but after hundreds of years in Egypt, they had become the size of a small nation. When Moses fled to Midian, he was a 40-year-old used to royalty; the Moses who stood before the burning bush was any eighty-year-old shepherd. What the Hebrews did not understand, and what Moses could not have fathomed was that God was using the ugly, the hard, and the pain for something far greater than they could have imagined. God was aware of their suffering all along, and now in that moment was the right time to, rescue them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from the land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey... (v. 8) just as He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob centuries before. So, God said to Moses: And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt (v. 10). To which, Moses appropriately responded: Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? All that the Hebrews could see was their slavery and suffering; all that Moses could see was his failures and incompetence. What God saw was that He alone can use the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong (see 1 Cor. 1:26-31). What God saw was that His timing was infinitely better because He saw the big picture. God is Faithful: He keeps His promises. Remember that the Hebrew slaves in Egypt were surrounded by an Egyptian culture that worshiped Egyptian gods who were not gods, but demons (see Deut. 32:17). Moses questioned what name he was to give to the Hebrew slaves if they were to ask Who it was that sent Moses to deliver them (v. 13). Here is Gods answer: And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and He said, This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you (v. 14). Then God continued: This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is the name for all generations to use to call upon Me (v. 15). In other words, God told Moses: You tell them that Yahweh sent you! At the heart of Gods answer are four facts about His nature for why the Israelites should believe the He could and would deliver them: Yahweh is self-existent and not dependent. God was unlike the Egyptian gods who were created by their own culture. Yahweh is the Elohim over elohims. The great I AM was bigger than the plight of the Israelites as He is greater than any trouble in our own lives. Yahweh is creator and sustainer. Who wrote the Law of Thermodynamics? Who governs the laws of gravity?Who grants the Sun permission to get up in the morning? Who gave the song for the birds to sing? Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills? Who brings men into power, raises nations into prominence and then brings them to naught? Is it not the great I AM who keeps His covenant promises. Yahweh is unchanging. Yahweh is the great I AM whose personality does not change. He does not suffer from a multi-personality disorder. He does not change with the ideas of his devotees. He is unmovable because He does not change. Because Yahweh is unchanging, He is constant unlike the gods of the Egyptians or whatever idol we may have set up in our own heart. Yahweh is eternal. Because He is the great I AM, Yahweh will never have a beginning nor will he ever have an end. Even though the fool has said there is no God, Yahweh is absolute reality with nothing before or after Him. The great I AM does not sleep, slumber, slack off, or slip into a daydream stupor. What God told Moses is this: Moses, you tell My people that the Covenant Keeper who promised their forefathers that He would make them into a great nation, would give them land as a nation, and would make them a blessing to the nations... you tell them the Faithful and Living One sent you! God keeps His promises because He alone is faithful even when we are not. Conclusion So, the question you may still be asking is whether it is or is not okay to be angry with God? Is it okay to be angry with He who is Holy and infinitely unlike us creatures? Is it okay to be angry with the One who sees and knows all things perfectly? Is it okay to be angry with the One who keeps His covenant promises because He is faithful while we are faithless time and time again? Is it okay to be angry with Yahweh who is Almighty God? As you know, God did use Moses to lead the Hebrews out of the bondage of slavery from Egypt, and He did it miraculously and profoundly. Yet, even after God delivered them, Moses found himself shepherding and leading a people who demonstrated over and over again just how faithless they really were. After their grievous sin of idolatry with the golden calf, Moses pleaded with God for mercy for His people who sinned, and God granted it. In Exodus 33:17-34:9 we are given a glimpse into Moses heart as a shepherd absolutely in love with Yahweh, and in that exchange asked to see God. God told Moses that he could not see His face and live, but this is what God did say He would do: I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion (Exod. 33:19). When God did pass, He hid Moses in the cleft of a rock, and allowed His goodness to pass by him and when it did, Moses heard God proclaim of His goodness: The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 34:67). So, what does Gods goodness include? It includes His mercy, patience, faithfulness, truth, and grace. But it also includes His justice and wrath in response to sin. So, again I ask you: Is it okay to be angry with the God who is Holy and infinitely unlike us creatures? Is it okay to be angry with the God who sees and knows all things perfectly? Is it okay to be angry with a holy God who is faithful while we are faithless time and time again? Is it okay to be angry with Yahweh who is Almighty God? Let me reframe the question for you: If God is infinitely good and we are the ones who need to improve upon being good, do we have any right to be angry with God? Now, think about the effects anger has on a relationship. When you are angry with someone because you believe you have been wronged by that person, it interferes with communication. Anger towards a friend or a member of your family often drives a wedge between you and that person. Anger typically results in the one offended distancing himself/herself from the person who wronged them. If there is no need for God to improve, especially in being good, then to suggest that it is okay to be angry with Him is to suggest that it is okay to accuse Him of wrongdoing. Psalm 145 is a great Psalm to visit while suffering or confused why God would allow you to suffer; verses 8-9 say the following: The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works. Again in Psalm 145:17-18, The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His works. The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. I have head Christians and Pastors console the suffering and confused: It is okay to be angry with God. To which I ask, How is it okay to be angry with He who is infinitely holy, how is it okay to be angry with Him who sees all while my vision is limited, how is it okay to be angry with the Almighty whose faithfulness has been proven time and time again while my faithfulness has been found wanting more than I count? Listen dear friend, not only are we not given permission in all of Scripture to be angry with God, but we also have no right to be angry with Him. Here is what is permitted and even expected by God: We can be confused, frustrated, and even hurt emotionally. If God is infinitely good, which He is, then we can run to Him with our confusion, we can run to Him with our frustration, and we can run to Him with our wounded and bleeding hearts knowing that even though we cant see His goodness in and through our pain, we can trust that He is still good and will turn it around in His way and in His time for His glory and our good! After Moses experienced the goodness of God when His glory passed by while he was in the cleft of the rock, Moses responded on behalf of the sins of Israel: If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us as Your own possession (Exod. 34:9). Dear brothers and sisters, if your faith and trust is in Jesus as proof of Gods infinite goodness, then my plea to you is not to run from Him in anger but to him with all your pain, confusion, and frustration. Run to the God of Romans 8:28-32, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? [1] Sproul, R.C., The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers; 1998), 39.

The love language for God is the language of covenant. A covenant is a divinely imposed legal agreement between God and people that stipulate the conditions of their relationship. It is a love relationship initiated by God and given to people. The language of covenant is beautiful: “I will be your God, and you will be My people,” God declares. These covenants are filled with promises to be kept by God and conditions to be met by people. But the problem for every covenant is that the people never keep their end of the bargain. God is continually faithful, the people are not. Yet, there are echoes of a New Covenant, promises that one day God will go from writing His Law on stone tablets to writing His Law on the hearts of those who know Him. For the New Covenant to be true, we first needed a covenant keeper, a person who actually keeps our side of the relationship on our behalf.

Week four of our Devoted series takes us to Psalm 19. Here, we see David delighting in the Lord and His Law as he describes the beauty and perfection of God's Word. Follow along as we look at David's pattern to foster devotion. We'll focus on verse 7 — the Word of God is perfect and sure. Website: www.experienceredemption.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/experienceredemption Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/experienceredemption

January 10, 2025Today's Reading: Romans 2:28-29Daily Lectionary: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 19-32; Ezekiel 19:1-24:27; Romans 2:17-29“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” (Romans 2:28-29)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law and thereby redeem all peoples, Jew and Gentile alike. This was plain enough to the early church from the Holy Scriptures, the teachings of the Apostles, and the very words of Jesus Himself. But the Christ came “first for the Jew, then for the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). So did Gentile converts first need to become Jews in order to become Christians? Did they need to learn all 613 Mitzvot? Adopt Second Temple-style worship, dress, and cultural norms? Did Baptism truly impart new life and freedom from sin, or merely bring one into a new legal covenant? The Law was the teacher of God's chosen people for centuries; it demanded outward righteousness. What part did it play now? Some in the church abused the Law, lording worldly power over Gentile converts. The true Lord, however, charged us not to lord power over the other members of His body (Matthew 20:25-28). The church of Christ is not some cultural country club; it is truly catholic (universal). The Christian is called by the Holy Spirit, enlightened, sanctified, and kept in the true faith through the gospel. In other words, we are Christians not because of our own outward works or cultural heritage but because of the inner workings of Christ in our hearts.St. Paul makes this abundantly clear in his letter to the Romans. While many of God's people considered themselves generally upright and to have made proper atonement for their sins, the fact remained: all failed to uphold His Law in their hearts. All except one: Jesus Christ. He has fulfilled the Law, accomplishing what no sinful human being ever could through circumcision nor any other outward work. For this, He received no praise from men. Instead, He was crucified–given as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all people. Praise be to God for the salvation accomplished by Him! Salvation is now for all who trust in Him. It is yours, not through works, but by faith! “No temple now, no gift of price, No priestly round of sacrifice, Retain their ancient pow'rs. As shadows fade before the sun The day of sacrifice is done, The day of grace is ours.” (LSB 530:1)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.O God, You made known Your only-begotten Son to the Gentiles. Lead us, who know You by faith, to enjoy in heaven the fullness of Your divine presence; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect L11, adapted)-Rev. Donald Stein, pastor of Saint Andrew Lutheran Church in Rockton, IL.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.

January 1, 2025Today's Reading: Luke 2:21Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 61:1-11; Luke 1:57-80“And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:21)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.The new year always begins with a festival called “The Circumcision and Name of Jesus.” This part of the Christmas story is celebrated every year on the Church calendar, but since we usually aren't in church on New Year's Day, it can easily slide by unnoticed, and when you consider the length of today's text, it's no wonder. This is the shortest reading in the entire lectionary, and this one-sentence lesson simply reads: “And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”This reading may be brief, and yet the truth it contains is vast. You see, in this succinct Scripture, the infant Jesus is subjected to life under the Law of God, and for the first time, His blood is shed as a foreshadowing of the ultimate shedding of His blood on the Cross. In this important event from the life of Christ – on the eighth day of Christmas – we see Jesus keeping the Law in our place while, even as an infant, He begins His redeeming work for us, and all of this is captured in the name given by the angel:“Jesus,” which means “Yahweh – the Lord – saves.”This name takes us completely out of the equation. This is important to note because as much as our sinful nature likes to tell us otherwise, God's Word is never simply a call for us to get busy or to get better! Instead, it is first and foremost a proclamation of performative language where God is putting our sinful nature to death and then raising us to life as a new creation created in Christ Jesus to do good works. He does this through His Law, and He does this through His Gospel, and in this personal application of performative language, the LORD does something to us and in us that fundamentally changes who we are!This week, I saw a list of the top resolutions people made to greet the New Year, and ahead of both weight loss and improved health, the number one resolution for 2025 was to “be a better person.” Well, today, we need to recognize that in the eyes of the Lord, this resolution will always be impossible for us. The things that depend on our resolve will always fail to deliver us… but in the things that really matter – in eternal things – we have a Heavenly Father whose resolve was demonstrated in the cross of His Son and delivered to us by the Holy Spirit. In the Name of Jesus, we are blessed now and forever.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Lord Jesus, take me and my sinful nature out of the equation and remind me that in my Baptism, Ihave received your saving Name. -Rev. Thomas Eggold, pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, IN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.

Psalms 2:1-12 — In this sermon on Psalm 2, you will learn that Scripture always speaks to the precise position in which we each find ourselves today. Realize first, that in and of ourselves, we can do nothing. We must pray to God that He might pour out His Spirit in a manner that it might be irresistible. Listen as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains how the second Psalm describes our present position. Are you astonished at the state of the world? This is a state of organized insanity and confusion. “Pride of man and earthly glory, sword and crown betray its trust, what with care and trial he buildeth, tower and temple fall to dust.” In this modern world, we must go back and read the instructions from our Maker – otherwise, there is no hope. The cause of our troubles and unhappiness is due to man's sin. This is not simply weakness in human nature, it is a willful act and hatred against God. God looks upon mankind in wrath as man opposes both His Law and love. Love manifested in the death of His own Son. God's final appeal is to be wise, serving Him with fear, and rejoicing with trembling. The modern man needs reverent preaching, not shallow entertainment. Look at God's offer of salvation!

Psalms 2:1-12 — In this sermon on Psalm 2, you will learn that Scripture always speaks to the precise position in which we each find ourselves today. Realize first, that in and of ourselves, we can do nothing. We must pray to God that He might pour out His Spirit in a manner that it might be irresistible. Listen as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains how the second Psalm describes our present position. Are you astonished at the state of the world? This is a state of organized insanity and confusion. “Pride of man and earthly glory, sword and crown betray its trust, what with care and trial he buildeth, tower and temple fall to dust.” In this modern world, we must go back and read the instructions from our Maker – otherwise, there is no hope. The cause of our troubles and unhappiness is due to man's sin. This is not simply weakness in human nature, it is a willful act and hatred against God. God looks upon mankind in wrath as man opposes both His Law and love. Love manifested in the death of His own Son. God's final appeal is to be wise, serving Him with fear, and rejoicing with trembling. The modern man needs reverent preaching, not shallow entertainment. Look at God's offer of salvation! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/603/29

The Bible is the Template for all Modern Politics, Including Globalism. Unfortunately, the Church as pursed a policy of deprecating the application of the Holy Scripture to society. Jesus Christ created all things, including the earth and the nations in it; we are in rebellion against Jesus Christ to the extent that we pretend His Word and His Law do not apply to our modern circumstances. Fritz Berggren, PhD www.bloodandfaith.com  

For centuries, Judah had been defiant toward God, even though He had made Himself known to them and given them His Law--a situation that is very similar to the world in 2024. Knowing that we need righteousness but can't secure it, God chose to show mercy and become our righteousness through Jesus Christ. In response, it is vital that we consecrate ourselves and live in the sanctification that only He can provide...and willingly does.  Video of this service is also available:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9aR76il_B0&t=3959s

Hebrews 8:9 “Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them,” says the Lord. The covenant God made with Israel, which included the tribe of Judah, was based on their obedience to His commandments. I am shocked by the Lord's comment, “I did not care for them." How about you? The author was quoting from Jeremiah 31:31-33. Listen carefully to what Jeremiah wrote,  “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD. Did you notice that the phrase “I did not care for them” was not in Jeremiah's version? Obviously, the Holy Spirit added that comment through the inspired author. What are we to make of this variance? I think it contrasts God's care for wayward, adulterous Israel and Judah with His care for His children of promise under the new covenant. God did care for the children of Israel physically. He provided for them, protected them, and led them by His hand, metaphorically speaking. However, He did not care for them spiritually because, although He blessed them with the Law, He didn't care for them by giving them the grace to keep the covenant. In the new covenant that God established in Jesus Christ, His Son, He cared for them, as we will see, by supplying the grace that His Law requires.  The following verses clearly reveal what it means for God to care for His people, so I won't spoil it today. If you trust in Jesus, then God cares for you more than He cared for Israel and Judah when He led them out of Egypt and gave them commandments He knew they could and would not keep. You can be encouraged today that if you are living to love with Jesus, you are doing so because God cares for you. He is doing in you what pleases Him. He has given you faith to believe Jesus lives and that you are united with Him. You have 24/7/365 access to the throne of grace so that you may receive all that God has for you through and in Jesus, His Son.  Let us be overflowing with gratitude that we live under a covenant of grace through Jesus Christ, our Lord and high priest.

YOU'D THINK an appearance by God Himself would be enough to keep even a king on the straight and narrow for the rest of his life. After completing the Temple, God revealed to Solomon the blessings and consequences for obeying His Law or turning aside to worship other gods—which, sadly, we will learn is exactly what Solomon did as an older man. We also discuss the significance of 1 Kings 9:3, where God tells Solomon, “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever.” We've discussed “Name theology” in previous episodes, and we encourage you to read Dr. Michael Heiser's article at the Faithlife Study Bible, “The Name Theology in the Old Testament”: www.bit.ly/name-ot Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/4esHHgu), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3XR6KnV), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Gates-of-Hell-Audiobook/B0DCX4YNVZ)! Derek's new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback (https://amzn.to/3YOHZJE), Kindle (https://amzn.to/3UBG1K5), and as an audiobook at Audible (https://www.audible.com/pd/Destination-Earth-Audiobook/B0DDV1ZC8R?qid=1730562326)! If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources: Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821) Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF) Follow us! • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship NOTE NEW DATES FOR OUR NEXT TOUR OF ISRAEL: Due to the ongoing war, we've decided to postpone our next tour of Israel until the fall of 2025, probably the second half of October. For the latest information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel. Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square pole barn now has HVAC, a new floor, windows, ceiling fans, upgraded electric service, and insulation. We're now producing programs out there. Thank you for your support! If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site! Check out our online store! www.GilbertHouse.org/store is a virtual book table with books and DVDs related to our weekly Bible study. Take advantage of our monthly specials! Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store. Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.

YOU'D THINK an appearance by God Himself would be enough to keep even a king on the straight and narrow for the rest of his life.After completing the Temple, God revealed to Solomon the blessings and consequences for obeying His Law or turning aside to worship other gods—which, sadly, we will learn is exactly what Solomon did as an older man.We also discuss the significance of 1 Kings 9:3, where God tells Solomon, “I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever.” We've discussed “Name theology” in previous episodes, and we encourage you to read Dr. Michael Heiser's article at the Faithlife Study Bible, “The Name Theology in the Old Testament”: www.bit.ly/name-ot

The oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. “Oracle” a ‘direct' word from GOD through a prophet in response to questions asked by the prophet's audience. Some scholars believe that Malachi is not a name, but is the designation of an anonymous author. Malachi clearly cared about GOD, His Law, and GOD's people. He also cared about the Temple as a place where GOD and mankind could meet; and also about the Priesthood who were ordained to serve GOD in the Temple.

Hebrews 3:18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? When the author used Ps. 95 to encourage his readers to be on guard against unbelief, he did so because he saw the analogy between the rest of the Promised Land offered by God to those coming out of Egypt and the rest of heaven offered by God through Jesus Christ. If God swore to Israel that if they were disobedient to His Law, they would not enter into the Promised Land, then has God changed? Will He allow those who disobey His Son, the living word of God, to enter into heaven's rest? Of course the answer is absolutely not. Let's not miss how seriously God views the sin of unbelief and the hardness which comes with it. It's serious enough that God swears with an oath regarding its consequences. We can see the author's line of thought on this all the way back to chapter 2, verse 1-3. Not believing God when He speaks is extremely serious and consequential. For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? We are encouraged today again by the negative example, but let me frame it positively. If we hold fast to and obey God's revelation through Jesus, His Son, we will most assuredly enter into God's promised rest. Dear brother and sister, abide in Jesus today and open your life to Him for His love to pour through you to everyone God puts in your path. You'll enter into the rest God promises for the faithful heart. There's a peace, a promised rest, that comes with taking up His yoke and working with Him in this world. If I may, let me remind you again of His promised rest in this life. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30).

Hebrews 3:7-9 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years.” It helps to understand that verses 7-12 of chapter 3 contain another “therefore” after the author declared that Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brethren because we are all from the same father (2:10). From the beginning of chapter 2, he warned his readers not to drift away from what God has spoken with regard to His Son. This “therefore” leads into another warning to “take care” that they don't let unbelief harden their hearts. Let's remember what gives unbelief the opportunity to enter. It comes from 2:8 where the Holy Spirit says that all things have been subjected to man, “But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.” The sin of unbelief is opportunistic. All it needs is unpleasant circumstances, severe trials, pain, disappointment, suffering—a day of trial—and the devil can then accuse God, the Bible, and believers of being toxic, untrue, and untrustworthy. The author reminded his Hebrew readers of an important part of their history where the Holy Spirit spoke through the Psalmist in Psalm 95. The children of Israel went through a severe season or “day” of trials in the wilderness. They did not believe God's promise to give them a land flowing with milk and honey. They did not believe God's promise of blessing if they would love Him and obey His Law when the going got tough. Instead they provoked Him by trusting other gods. Here's the point for us as we live to love with Jesus. Faith looks like trust, and God's love only flows out of a heart that is soft and trusts God in every circumstance. God's promise to Israel was to take them to a promised land. God's promise in Christ is to take us to glory—to a new world—after this one is rolled up like a garment and cast away. We are supposed to learn from Israel's story to expect “a day of trial” in our journey as well. How to do we survive? How do we make it to the final destination? When we hear God's voice, do not harden our hearts. God speaks in the midst of our trials. When He says, “Trust Me! Remember My word, My commandments, My promises,” don't harden your hearts. What is His word and command to us? Jesus commanded us to believe in Him as God and love one another as He has loved us (John 14:1 and 13:34). I interpret His command this way: live to love with Jesus for the glory of God. Living to love with Jesus is the journey we are on to the Promised Land—glory in the world to come.

Hebrews 2:15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. Jesus set us free to live to love with Him, not out of fear of punishment, but out of joy. Let's grasp what the author said in chapter 2. God has spoken: Every transgression and disobedience of His Law deserves the penalty of death. No one escapes the penalty…except for God's children (Jesus' brothers and sisters), those who believe in Jesus as the eternal living Son of God who became a man and tasted death for them and promises to bring them to glory with Him. Before a person trusts in Jesus, they are not free to love. They are the devil's slaves, slaves of fear. One might try to love so they won't be punished, but that motivation doesn't glorify God, so it is useless. God isn't interested in our loving out of fear. In fact, He's not impressed or pleased with our trying to love for Him. He gave His Son to free us from the motivation of fear so we could love with Him for the glory and joy of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Notice, Jesus became a man and died so that He might free the brothers He's bringing to glory from fear which has made them slaves to the devil, sin, and death. When we live to love with Jesus, we do so out of joy, for the Father's and the Son's joy. In John 15:8-11 Jesus taught this. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. To abide in Jesus' love is to live in and out of the benefits of His sacrificial, sanctifying, cleansing death for us. We are free from the guilt, shame, and condemnation of all of our transgressions and acts of disobedience through the work of Christ. Can you imagine our Father's delight and joy in what He has accomplished? Also, from Jesus' side, can you imagine the joy of His knowing He has obeyed and pleased His Father by His sacrifice on our behalf? Jesus kept His Father's commandment and rested in His love through His life. Verse 9 says He tasted death for us by the grace of God. Jesus' joy is the Father's joy. So here's the encouragement for us today. Our joy comes from abiding in the love of God through Jesus. He has commanded us to love with Him, so we know He will be filled with joy as we obey His commandment. When we know He is joyful over our obedience with Him, our joy is made full. Our joy is the Son's joy. Jesus sets us free to live to love, motivated by His joy rather than fear. I hope you'll be encouraged by the joy of Jesus set before you. It will cause you to despise, make light of, any suffering God allows into your life. You are being brought by the grace of God, through love, to the glory of God where you will enter into the joy of your master. If you haven't read my book, Live to Love: Experience Freedom and Joy in Relationships, I encourage you to do so. It is available for free at livetolovewithjesus.com in print, ebook, and audiobook formats.

Now in Joshua 22, we come to a very interesting incident and conflict that almost caused a war between the tribes before they hardly get settled into their inheritance because of the “great impressive altar” that the two and half tribes built on the border at the Jordan River.   The word traveled quickly that the tribes east of the Jordan had erected an altar. While these two and a half tribes had been very sincere in what they did, their action was misunderstood; and the other tribes prepared for possible war. But wisely, they waited while an official delegation investigated what was going on. "He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him" (Prov. 18:13).   The delegation of ten princes, one from each tribe, was led by Phinehas, the son of the high priest, a man who had already proved himself courageous in defending the Law of the Lord (Num. 25; Ps. 106:30-31). It was the responsibility of the tribal leaders and the priests to investigate every situation in Israel that appeared to be a breach of the Law (Deut. 13). God had instructed the Jews to destroy the altars of the heathen nations in Canaan and not to build altars of their own. There was to be one altar of sacrifice at the one sanctuary that God had appointed (Deut. 12; Lev. 17:8-9).   In Joshua 22:15-20, it's likely that Phinehas made this speech, but note that his address represented the agreement of all the tribes. Phinehas called what they had done "an act of treachery”, which means Joshua had commended these two and a half tribes for their loyalty, and now it appeared that they had proved faithless. They had “turned away” (vv. 16, 18, 23, 29), which meant they were no longer following the Lord (see v. 5). This word carries the idea of "backsliding," gradually moving away from the Lord. The strongest word used was “rebel” (vv. 16, 18-19, 22, 29), which means deliberately resisting God's will and disobeying His Law. In building an unauthorized altar, these two and a half tribes were guilty of apostasy. "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Sam. 15:23).   From the nation's recent history Phinehas cited two serious cases of rebellion as warning to these tribes. The first was the participation of Israel in the heathen rites of the Moabites, when the men committed harlotry with the Moabite women (Josh. 22:17; Num. 25). As a result, 24,000 people died. The second was the sin of Achan after the victory at Jericho, when he deliberately took the spoils that belonged to the Lord (Josh. 22:20; see Josh. 7). His sin led to defeat at Ai and the deaths of thirty-six Jewish soldiers. It also led to his own death and that of the members of his family.   This conflict between the tribes should remind us as believers that we are all apart of the “household of God”, His Church, the body of Jesus Christ, and what we do affects the whole body. Also, we shouldn't even give the appearance that we are worshipping the altars and gods of this world in our attempt to worship the One and Only True God, through Jesus Christ! Being a borderline believer can cause all kinds of conflict and mislead other believers.   Think about it!   God bless!

July 11, 2024 Today's Reading: Catechism – What is Confession?Daily Lectionary: Judges 6:25-40; Acts 15:6-21What is Confession? Confession has two parts. First that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The sacred Scriptures tell us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, NKJV). Does that really matter to you? You know you have sinned, you know you have fallen, you know you deserve death and damnation, but do you even care? Many of us act like it doesn't even matter. We show little regret and are mortified if we have to fess up to our sins.  If you ever read about people who commit terrible crimes like murder, you will find that almost all of them felt an undying urge to tell someone what they had done. The more they kept their crimes to themselves, the more they had to tell something to someone. This is how God deals with us, as His Law is written on all of our hearts. By His Law, our consciences are seared by the sword of His Word. We may act confident, but deep down, we are in chaos and terrified. The Law speaks to everyone those words spoken to our first parents in the Garden, “Where are you and what have you done?” whether you want to hear them or not. This is why the Law of God is good for us– it reminds us that sin is a part of our very nature. We will not be entirely free from it in this life.This is why God has given us the gift of Confession and Absolution. Confessing sins probably doesn't seem like a gift; who wants to admit they are wrong? Yet God does not give us this gift to make sure we feel poor and miserable all the days of our life. He gives us confession to take our sins and to lay them on  Jesus on the cross so that He may do away with them once and for all.You may notice in movies or books that criminals who are sentenced to death are usually visited by a priest or pastor for the condemned to confess and receive forgiveness in Christ. This is why you have your pastor. In our sins, we stand condemned to death. Yet your pastor stands ready to hear your confession privately and fully confidential. He stands ready to proclaim that Christ has died and risen to take all of your sins and death and bury them in His tomb, never to return. The Absolution your pastor speaks is the greatest gift you can ever receive; it is your sentence of life that is to be lived eternally and without fear in the Glory of God. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Lord, on You I cast my burden– Sink it in the deepest sea! Let me know Your gracious pardon, Cleanse me from iniquity. Let Your Spirit leave me never;  Make me only Yours forever. (LSB 608:4)-Rev. Kent Schaaf is pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Little Rock, AR.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.Your favorite study Bible is now available in a simple, intuitive app on your device! Distinctively Lutheran notes on the full ESV text, helpful articles, and custom user settings offer an engaging experience in God's Word anywhere you go. Download The Lutheran Study Bible App.

After God gave His Law to Moses on Mt Sinai, it became apparent very quickly that it was almost impossible for His people to keep it. And yet, the Law was important to reveal the standards of God, and what His expectations were. That???s the topic of discussion on Foundations.Your support sends the gospel to every corner of Australia through broadcast, online and print media: https://www.vision.org.au/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we will begin to look at a new section of the Book of Joshua in chapters 13-21. We need to remember that the Book of Joshua is an historic record of the people of Israel under Joshua's leadership, conquering and taking control of the Promise Land and then dividing the land as an inheritance to the twelve tribes of Israel. At the same time, Joshua is a spiritual lesson book teaching us how to conquer our enemies by faith, and also how we can claim the inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ as believers.   In chapters 10-12, Joshua had successfully completed the first half of his divine commission. He had conquered the enemy and was in control of the land and the cities (1:1-5). Now he had to fulfill the second part of that commission and divide the land so that each tribe could claim their inheritance and enjoy what God had given them (v. 6). (See Num. 34-35.)   The word inheritance is found over fifty times in these nine chapters and is a very important word. The Jews inherited their land. They didn't win their land as spoils of battle or purchase their land as in a business transaction. The Lord, who was the sole owner, leased the land to them. "The land must not be sold permanently," the Lord had instructed them, "because the land is Mine and you are but aliens and My tenants" (Lev. 25:23). Imagine having God for your landlord!   The "rent" God required was simply Israel's obedience to His Law. As long as the Jewish people honored the Lord with their worship and obedience, He would bless them, make their land productive, and keep their nation at peace with their neighbors. When Israel agreed to the blessings and curses at Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal (Josh. 8:30-35), they accepted the conditions of what is called "The Palestinian Covenant."   Their ownership of the land was purely the gracious act of God; but their possession and enjoyment of the land depended on their submission and obedience to the Lord. (See Lev. 26 and Deut. 27-30 for the details of the Palestinian Covenant.) The Promised Land was a gift of God's love; and if the Israelites loved the Lord, they would want to obey Him and please Him in the way they used His land (Deut. 4:37-39). Unfortunately, they eventually defied the Lord, disobeyed the Law, and defiled the land; and God had to chasten them in the land of Babylon.   As we look at this section of Joshua, we will find that there were four main stages in the distribution of the land. And in each of these stages, we will discover spiritual lessons for God's people today who want to enjoy their spiritual inheritance in Christ.   Jesus, begin His first recorded message in Matthew 5-7 with these words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v. 3). “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (v. 5). We can begin to claim the “riches of our inheritance in Christ” (Ephesians 1), when we humble ourselves by admitting that we are a sinner and accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. And then by yielding the ownership of our life and possessions to the Lordship of Christ. When we humbly give up everything to Him, it is then that we will discover that we can truly experience life and enjoy living the abundant fulfilled life on earth that Jesus promised in John 10:10. “… I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly”.   God bless!

When God revealed Himself and His Law to Moses on St. Sinai, Moses besought God to let him see Our Lord. And though Moses was only given a glimpse of God's glory and majesty, his face was made radiant for the rest of his life. Through Christ Our Lord, we, too, are offered the possibility of eternal radiance through His salvific death.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Very often focusing on the Law and religious rituals distract us from where the power to change comes from. When this happens, these Laws become empty and even dangerous. Those principles don't grow us.God's power changes us! And it is His grace, not His Law that does that changing. Both the motivation for change and the power to change is all of God's grace… grace that is living through us in Jesus Christ.

Very often focusing on the Law and religious rituals distract us from where the power to change comes from. When this happens, these Laws become empty and even dangerous. Those principles don't grow us.--God's power changes us- And it is His grace, not His Law that does that changing. Both the motivation for change and the power to change is all of God's grace- grace that is living through us in Jesus Christ.

Series: Nehemiah-Rebuilding Speaker: Larry Stout Scripture: Nehemiah 9:1-37 Main Idea: The Lord reviews His mercy and faithfulness to His people since the creation itself despite their constant disobedience to His Law and statutes.

After a long season away from CR101, Brother JS Lowther has chosen to return in hopes of continued propagation of Christ's Kingdom truths so need in the Christian world of falsehood, false science and delusion. We are going to restart our time together with 'Focusing on the Kingdom' - a sub-series which will contain shorter podcasts 20-40 min long that will seek to establish fundamental truth of Kingdom living for the Christian Family, Church and Society. The Law of God will be our focus as the Kingdom is the King's Dominion ruled by His Law with His faithful subjects devoted to in love and admiration. In this first episode of our new series, we will start with the agreement every Christian has in the "Lord's Prayer" and ask the question, how much of that prayer do you think about? Do you pray it contrary to the Lord Jesus' instructions? If not, have you considered how this pray has its genesis in the Law of God as it pertains to the marriage and the family? Join Sola Scrip Torah once again as we launch this new adventure into the exploration of the Coming Kingdom of God and of His Christ!

There is a sticker I have seen on vehicles and on the back of laptops that I have seen just about every day since we moved into Cheyenne. The sticker did not capture my interest enough to google its meaning but every time I was forced to notice it at a stop light because it was affixed to the car in front of me, I would wonder about its meaning for as long as the light would last and then I would forget about it. Would you believe that I encountered this sticker for four years not realizing its significance because I never thought long enough about it to realize what it really meant? It wasnt until a year ago that while at a red light and another car with the same sticker I had seen dozens of times since moving to Wyoming that I realized that the number 307 stood for something; we even have a day each year in the great state of Wyoming to celebrate the significance of 307 every year on March 7th known as 307 Day to celebrate all things Wyoming. I am not the most observant person on planet earth when it comes to the most obvious things around me, but I do realize that the 307 stickers were low hanging fruit. Of the fifty-two states that make up our nation, Wyoming is one of eleven states that can boast of a single area code. In case you did not know this, area codes are given based on the population and number of phones in a geographic area and not based on the states land mass. As I thought about the significance of 307 and how that number was always before me for the first four years since making our home in Cheyenne before I ever realized what it truly meant, I cannot help but reflect upon how it is that so many can claim to be a Christian without fully appreciating what it means to be in Christ. Saved Through Christ from Death to Life I shared with you last Sunday that if you are a Christian, there are three reasons why you are, alive together with Christ. We, who were dead in our offenses and sins, walked in step with the prince of the power of the air, were disobedient, lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulged in the desires of our flesh and mind, and at the core of our nature were children of the wrath of Godare now, alive together with Christ (v. 5). The catalyst that moved God to, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (1:4) was His mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that made available the redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of our wrongdoings (1:7) was Gods mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that resulted in God sealing all who belong to Him by His Holy Spirit was the mercy, love, and grace of almighty God! However, it was not just any old mercy, love, and grace that we received from God, no it was His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace. In what way is Gods mercy rich? Last week we went back to Genesis 2-3 to discover what Paul meant by stating we were all, dead in our offenses and sins. Today, to understand what Paul means by mercy, we must go to the place he drew the word from, and that place is found in Exodus 34:6-7, Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. (Exod. 34:6-7) What you need to know is just before we come to Exodus 34, Moses requested to see God, but was warned, You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live (33:20). God did promise that Moses could experience His presence, but Moses would have to remain hidden in a cleft of a rock as a way to protect him from certain death. The reason why Moses could not see the face of God and live was because Moses was sinful while God is holy. God promised Moses that while he was safe in the cleft of the rock, I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion (see Exod. 33:12-23). There was another man who found himself in the presence of God, but for him it was in the form of a vision. The man I am referring to is the prophet, Isaiah. It happened after Israels king, who had served for over 40 years, died. We are told about the prophets encounter in Isaiah 6, but what we learn in those verses is that even Seraphim had to cover their faces and their feet in the presence of God: In the year of King Uzziahs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory (vv. 1-3). It was only a vison that Isaiah had, and yet his response was appropriate: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa.6:5). So, of course Moses could not see the face of God and live, but he could experience His presence, and as he did, he heard Yahweh proclaim: The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin... (Exod. 34:6-7a). Let me give you four reasons why I am certain that the mercy, love, and grace of God that Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:4-5 was shaped by his understanding of Exodus 34. My four reasons are really four words God declared about Himself to Moses: Compassion (rǎḥm), merciful (ḥǎnnn), faithfulness (ḥěʹsěḏ), and truth (ʾěměṯ). The Hebrew word for compassion means mercy; the Hebrew word for mercy can be translated kindness or goodness; the Hebrew word for truth can be translated trustworthy. There is one more word God used to describe Himself, and that word is faithfulness which is the word used to describe Gods faithful and loyal love; listen, ḥěʹsěḏ is Gods covenantal and great love! What was revealed to Moses while he was in the cleft of the rock is the same God that Paul described whose mercy is rich, whose love is great, and whose grace is sufficient! But wait! God did not end His description of Himself there, of His rich mercy, kindness, goodness, or his covenantal and great love; for His also told Moses: yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 34:7b). God cannot and will not compromise His holiness and justice so that He is able to extend mercy, love, and grace towards guilty sinners. His holiness and His justice will not permit Him to leave the guilty unpunished. This is why, after seeing and experiencing the holiness of God, Isaiah cried out: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa. 6:5). If God is God, then He must be just as merciful as He is just, He must be equally holy as He is a God of love. If God is God, then He is all that He is in equal measure with no character trait of His in conflict with the other. There is nothing about Him that is lacking and there is no room in Him for improvement. So, if God is God, then can He be rich in mercy and absolutely just in dealing with those who are dead in their offenses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3)? The Answer is found in Ephesians 1:7-8, which states: In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. This is why Paul could write: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ. (Eph. 2:4-5). At the cross the rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace of God was reconciled through Jesus who bore Gods perfect justice through the full measure of a wrath we all deserve. First and foremost Jesus died to satisfy legal demands our sin required, and this is why Jesus was, Pierced for our offenses, and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5); this is also why just five verses later, we read these words: The Lord delighted to crush Him, causing Him grief (v. 10). If you are a Christian, you are the recipient of a mercy that is rich, a love that is great, and a grace that is sufficient to address all your sins because of the Christ who, redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). This is why we can sing: Who could imagine so great a mercy?What heart could fathom such boundless grace?The God of ages stepped down from gloryTo wear my sin and bear my shameThe cross has spoken, I am forgivenThe King of kings calls me His ownBeautiful savior, I'm yours foreverJesus Christ, my living hope[1] Raised With Christ to Show Gods Grace As a result of being made alive with Christ, you, Christian, are raised up with Him, seated with Him, and united with Him. You were dead in our offenses and sins, but now you have been made alive with Christ! You were the spiritually walking dead and bound to a nature united with you, depravity, but now you have been set free by Christ and your life is now rooted in Him! You were once a child of wrath, but now you are a recipient of Gods great lovedeclared by Him to be His child! We who were dead in our offenses and sins, God made alive by the same power that He was able to give life to Adam from the lifeless dirt of the earth. However, our lifelessness was worse in the sense that Adams lifelessness came from the dirt of the earth while ours came from the soil of our own sin and rebellion, and from that polluted soil, God brought forth life out of death. God did what only God could do, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings through the same boundless power that raised Jesus from the grave, God did three things: 1) He made us alive with Christ, 2) He raised us up with Christ, and 3) He seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Bryan Chapell, in his commentary on Ephesians said of these verses: These are the words of resurrection. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also, we are filled with the life that is from God. Our spiritual death has been swallowed up in Christs resurrection victory. The guilt and power of sin have been conquered by the Savior who now resides in us.[2] Oh, can you see it? Can you see that to be a Christian is not about being a more moral person, or a more religious person, or a nicer person, but about becoming a whole new person just as we are promised in the Bible: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, the new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). Not only are we alive in Christ, but we have been raised up and seated with Him. The Greek word that Paul used for raised is synegeirō, the prefix of this word is syn-, from which we get the word sync and is short for synchronize. God made us alive in Christ, and quite literally has synced us with Him. What this means is that if you are a Christian, your identity is not in an area code, your last name, the person you are married to, your employment, or what you are able to do or unable to do. No! Your identity dear Christian is synced with the living Christ; you are not only alive in Him, but now you are raised up with Him. This is why, in his epistle to the Colossians, Paul wrote, Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). Your identity as a Christian is and always will be where Christ is! But hold on, it gets even better Christian! Not only have you been raised with Christ, but you are also seated with Christ. What does it mean to be seated with Christ exactly? Remember the way Ephesians 1 concludes, for it is in the final four verses that Paul informs us where it is that Christ is: He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (vv. 20-23).Jesus is above all things and all powers, and one day, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). It is with that Christ that you are raised with and are seated with! What this means is that Christs identity is now our identity and now we are seated with Him positionally. What this means is that Jesus victories are now our victories, and because His victories are our victories, death, sin, disease, persecution, hardship, the demonic, and any other front that threatens to undo us does not have the final word or say over all who are raise with Christ and seated with Christ! What this means is that you are the Bride of Christ and regardless of your past, you dear Christian are now the apple of His eye! Christian, you were once dead in your offenses and sins, and now you are alive with Christ. Christian, you were once among the spiritually walking dead, but now you are raised up with Christ. Christian, you were once synced up with the prince of the power of the air and the spirit of the age, but now you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.Christian, when you were dead, you lived in the lusts of your flesh and indulged the desires of the flesh, and now you are the recipient of the boundless riches of His grace in kindness in Christ Jesus (v. 7). Christian, do you know who you are? Because if you do, you will begin to live as though you are alive in Jesus, raised up with Jesus, and seated with Jesus. You will live with the confidence that it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks of you or has said about you because what matters most is what God thinks of you, and to Him, you are His inheritance and His trophy, demonstrating His all sufficient and infinite grace. Christian, you are a testament to the grace of God that is as boundless as is His power that raised Jesus from the grave and brought you from death to life. According to verse 7, for all of eternity you who were once dead will only know the unending benefits of His rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace! For the ages to come we will stand together as Gods trophy of Grace that will forever serve as a reminder that there is no sin so great and no life so messed up that Gods mercy, love, and grace cannot overcome, redeem, resurrect, and put back together through the great serpent crushing, grave robbing, all-sufficient redeemer Himselfnamely Jesus Christ! We sing as the Church not because of how we feel or what style of music we like, we sing because the words we sing are true like the words in the modern hymn, In Christ Alone: In Christ alone, who took on fleshFullness of God in helpless babeThis gift of love and righteousnessScorned by the ones He came to save'Til on that cross as Jesus diedThe wrath of God was satisfiedFor every sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I live, I live No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand [1] Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson; Living Hope [2] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009), p. 83.

There is a sticker I have seen on vehicles and on the back of laptops that I have seen just about every day since we moved into Cheyenne. The sticker did not capture my interest enough to google its meaning but every time I was forced to notice it at a stop light because it was affixed to the car in front of me, I would wonder about its meaning for as long as the light would last and then I would forget about it. Would you believe that I encountered this sticker for four years not realizing its significance because I never thought long enough about it to realize what it really meant? It wasnt until a year ago that while at a red light and another car with the same sticker I had seen dozens of times since moving to Wyoming that I realized that the number 307 stood for something; we even have a day each year in the great state of Wyoming to celebrate the significance of 307 every year on March 7th known as 307 Day to celebrate all things Wyoming. I am not the most observant person on planet earth when it comes to the most obvious things around me, but I do realize that the 307 stickers were low hanging fruit. Of the fifty-two states that make up our nation, Wyoming is one of eleven states that can boast of a single area code. In case you did not know this, area codes are given based on the population and number of phones in a geographic area and not based on the states land mass. As I thought about the significance of 307 and how that number was always before me for the first four years since making our home in Cheyenne before I ever realized what it truly meant, I cannot help but reflect upon how it is that so many can claim to be a Christian without fully appreciating what it means to be in Christ. Saved Through Christ from Death to Life I shared with you last Sunday that if you are a Christian, there are three reasons why you are, alive together with Christ. We, who were dead in our offenses and sins, walked in step with the prince of the power of the air, were disobedient, lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulged in the desires of our flesh and mind, and at the core of our nature were children of the wrath of Godare now, alive together with Christ (v. 5). The catalyst that moved God to, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world (1:4) was His mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that made available the redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of our wrongdoings (1:7) was Gods mercy, love, and grace. The catalyst that resulted in God sealing all who belong to Him by His Holy Spirit was the mercy, love, and grace of almighty God! However, it was not just any old mercy, love, and grace that we received from God, no it was His rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace. In what way is Gods mercy rich? Last week we went back to Genesis 2-3 to discover what Paul meant by stating we were all, dead in our offenses and sins. Today, to understand what Paul means by mercy, we must go to the place he drew the word from, and that place is found in Exodus 34:6-7, Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. (Exod. 34:6-7) What you need to know is just before we come to Exodus 34, Moses requested to see God, but was warned, You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live (33:20). God did promise that Moses could experience His presence, but Moses would have to remain hidden in a cleft of a rock as a way to protect him from certain death. The reason why Moses could not see the face of God and live was because Moses was sinful while God is holy. God promised Moses that while he was safe in the cleft of the rock, I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion (see Exod. 33:12-23). There was another man who found himself in the presence of God, but for him it was in the form of a vision. The man I am referring to is the prophet, Isaiah. It happened after Israels king, who had served for over 40 years, died. We are told about the prophets encounter in Isaiah 6, but what we learn in those verses is that even Seraphim had to cover their faces and their feet in the presence of God: In the year of King Uzziahs death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory (vv. 1-3). It was only a vison that Isaiah had, and yet his response was appropriate: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa.6:5). So, of course Moses could not see the face of God and live, but he could experience His presence, and as he did, he heard Yahweh proclaim: The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth; who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin... (Exod. 34:6-7a). Let me give you four reasons why I am certain that the mercy, love, and grace of God that Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:4-5 was shaped by his understanding of Exodus 34. My four reasons are really four words God declared about Himself to Moses: Compassion (rǎḥm), merciful (ḥǎnnn), faithfulness (ḥěʹsěḏ), and truth (ʾěměṯ). The Hebrew word for compassion means mercy; the Hebrew word for mercy can be translated kindness or goodness; the Hebrew word for truth can be translated trustworthy. There is one more word God used to describe Himself, and that word is faithfulness which is the word used to describe Gods faithful and loyal love; listen, ḥěʹsěḏ is Gods covenantal and great love! What was revealed to Moses while he was in the cleft of the rock is the same God that Paul described whose mercy is rich, whose love is great, and whose grace is sufficient! But wait! God did not end His description of Himself there, of His rich mercy, kindness, goodness, or his covenantal and great love; for His also told Moses: yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Exod. 34:7b). God cannot and will not compromise His holiness and justice so that He is able to extend mercy, love, and grace towards guilty sinners. His holiness and His justice will not permit Him to leave the guilty unpunished. This is why, after seeing and experiencing the holiness of God, Isaiah cried out: Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies (Isa. 6:5). If God is God, then He must be just as merciful as He is just, He must be equally holy as He is a God of love. If God is God, then He is all that He is in equal measure with no character trait of His in conflict with the other. There is nothing about Him that is lacking and there is no room in Him for improvement. So, if God is God, then can He be rich in mercy and absolutely just in dealing with those who are dead in their offenses and sins (Eph. 2:1-3)? The Answer is found in Ephesians 1:7-8, which states: In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. This is why Paul could write: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ. (Eph. 2:4-5). At the cross the rich mercy, great love, and sufficient grace of God was reconciled through Jesus who bore Gods perfect justice through the full measure of a wrath we all deserve. First and foremost Jesus died to satisfy legal demands our sin required, and this is why Jesus was, Pierced for our offenses, and was crushed for our wrongdoings (Isa. 53:5); this is also why just five verses later, we read these words: The Lord delighted to crush Him, causing Him grief (v. 10). If you are a Christian, you are the recipient of a mercy that is rich, a love that is great, and a grace that is sufficient to address all your sins because of the Christ who, redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). This is why we can sing: Who could imagine so great a mercy?What heart could fathom such boundless grace?The God of ages stepped down from gloryTo wear my sin and bear my shameThe cross has spoken, I am forgivenThe King of kings calls me His ownBeautiful savior, I'm yours foreverJesus Christ, my living hope[1] Raised With Christ to Show Gods Grace As a result of being made alive with Christ, you, Christian, are raised up with Him, seated with Him, and united with Him. You were dead in our offenses and sins, but now you have been made alive with Christ! You were the spiritually walking dead and bound to a nature united with you, depravity, but now you have been set free by Christ and your life is now rooted in Him! You were once a child of wrath, but now you are a recipient of Gods great lovedeclared by Him to be His child! We who were dead in our offenses and sins, God made alive by the same power that He was able to give life to Adam from the lifeless dirt of the earth. However, our lifelessness was worse in the sense that Adams lifelessness came from the dirt of the earth while ours came from the soil of our own sin and rebellion, and from that polluted soil, God brought forth life out of death. God did what only God could do, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings through the same boundless power that raised Jesus from the grave, God did three things: 1) He made us alive with Christ, 2) He raised us up with Christ, and 3) He seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. Bryan Chapell, in his commentary on Ephesians said of these verses: These are the words of resurrection. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, so also, we are filled with the life that is from God. Our spiritual death has been swallowed up in Christs resurrection victory. The guilt and power of sin have been conquered by the Savior who now resides in us.[2] Oh, can you see it? Can you see that to be a Christian is not about being a more moral person, or a more religious person, or a nicer person, but about becoming a whole new person just as we are promised in the Bible: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, the new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17). Not only are we alive in Christ, but we have been raised up and seated with Him. The Greek word that Paul used for raised is synegeirō, the prefix of this word is syn-, from which we get the word sync and is short for synchronize. God made us alive in Christ, and quite literally has synced us with Him. What this means is that if you are a Christian, your identity is not in an area code, your last name, the person you are married to, your employment, or what you are able to do or unable to do. No! Your identity dear Christian is synced with the living Christ; you are not only alive in Him, but now you are raised up with Him. This is why, in his epistle to the Colossians, Paul wrote, Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). Your identity as a Christian is and always will be where Christ is! But hold on, it gets even better Christian! Not only have you been raised with Christ, but you are also seated with Christ. What does it mean to be seated with Christ exactly? Remember the way Ephesians 1 concludes, for it is in the final four verses that Paul informs us where it is that Christ is: He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (vv. 20-23).Jesus is above all things and all powers, and one day, at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). It is with that Christ that you are raised with and are seated with! What this means is that Christs identity is now our identity and now we are seated with Him positionally. What this means is that Jesus victories are now our victories, and because His victories are our victories, death, sin, disease, persecution, hardship, the demonic, and any other front that threatens to undo us does not have the final word or say over all who are raise with Christ and seated with Christ! What this means is that you are the Bride of Christ and regardless of your past, you dear Christian are now the apple of His eye! Christian, you were once dead in your offenses and sins, and now you are alive with Christ. Christian, you were once among the spiritually walking dead, but now you are raised up with Christ. Christian, you were once synced up with the prince of the power of the air and the spirit of the age, but now you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.Christian, when you were dead, you lived in the lusts of your flesh and indulged the desires of the flesh, and now you are the recipient of the boundless riches of His grace in kindness in Christ Jesus (v. 7). Christian, do you know who you are? Because if you do, you will begin to live as though you are alive in Jesus, raised up with Jesus, and seated with Jesus. You will live with the confidence that it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks of you or has said about you because what matters most is what God thinks of you, and to Him, you are His inheritance and His trophy, demonstrating His all sufficient and infinite grace. Christian, you are a testament to the grace of God that is as boundless as is His power that raised Jesus from the grave and brought you from death to life. According to verse 7, for all of eternity you who were once dead will only know the unending benefits of His rich mercy, great love, and all-sufficient grace! For the ages to come we will stand together as Gods trophy of Grace that will forever serve as a reminder that there is no sin so great and no life so messed up that Gods mercy, love, and grace cannot overcome, redeem, resurrect, and put back together through the great serpent crushing, grave robbing, all-sufficient redeemer Himselfnamely Jesus Christ! We sing as the Church not because of how we feel or what style of music we like, we sing because the words we sing are true like the words in the modern hymn, In Christ Alone: In Christ alone, who took on fleshFullness of God in helpless babeThis gift of love and righteousnessScorned by the ones He came to save'Til on that cross as Jesus diedThe wrath of God was satisfiedFor every sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I live, I live No guilt in life, no fear in deathThis is the power of Christ in meFrom life's first cry to final breathJesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of manCan ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand [1] Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson; Living Hope [2] Bryan Chapell, Reformed Expository Commentary: Ephesians (Phillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing; 2009), p. 83.

How God Says He Loves Us: Part 3 -- The Covenant with Moses MESSAGE SUMMARY: Throughout human history, God has reached out to humans for a personal relationship and to express His love for humankind. We have a God that loves us so much, and God's love for us is expressed to us through His “covenants”. Also, God's “covenants” reveal to us His grace and faithfulness. In today's message, we will discuss God's Covenant with Moses. A “covenant” can be defined as an “oath or promise of God”. In a Biblical covenant: 1) God establishes the Covenant; 2) God always implies that “I am your God, and you are my people” – God desires a personal relationship with us; and 3) God sets the Covenant's terms and rulers. After God's Covenant with Abraham, his son Isaac became the recipient of God's blessings. Subsequently, Isaac had two sons. One of Isaac's sons was Jacob, and God changed Jacobs name to Israel. Jacob had twelve sons, and they evolved into the “Twelve Tribes of Israel”. In Genesis 37, the focus begins upon Isaac's son Joseph; and Genesis ends, in Genesis 50, with Joseph's death in Egypt. In Exodus 1, two hundred and fifty years have passed since the death of Joseph. During this time, God's people and the people of Egypt forgot about Joseph. God's people became fruitful and multiplied, but they forgot about God and God's Covenant with Abraham; and the people began to worship idols. Exodus 2 presents the birth of Moses., and Exodus 3 includes God's call to Moses and God's appearance to Moses through the burning bush. Since God had a blood covenant with His people, He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people leave Egypt. Pharaoh said “no”, so God sent nine plagues on the people of Egypt – nine chances for their Repentance. Since Pharaoh continued to say “no”, God sent the tenth plague on the people of Egypt – a plague of Judgement on the people of Egypt. After the Passover for His people in the Plague of Judgement, Pharaoh relented and let God's people leave Egypt. In Exodus 19, God's people wound up on Mount Sini, and God made the “Sini Covenant” with Moses in Exodus 19:4-6: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”. In prior covenants, God did everything; but in this “Sini Covenant”, the people had obligations. God gives His Law, the Ten Commandments, to His people as God speaks directly to them in Exodus 20. The Glory of God, when He was speaking directly to His people, was too much for the people; and they feared a direct personal relationship with God, and they wanted Moses or an intermediary to speak to them for God – they rejected a personal relationship with God just has humans have been doing ever since. In Exodus 21, Exodus 22, and Exodus 23 (“The Book of the Covenant”), God takes His Ten Commandments and He applies the Ten Commandments to our everyday living. In Exodus 24:3,7-8, Moses takes God's Book of the Covenant to the people: “Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.' Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.' And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.'”. Deuteronomy 28 presents the “blessings” for the people if they adhere to their promises to God in the “Book of the Covenant”. On the other hand, Deuteronomy 28 lays out the “curses” for non-adherence to the Covenant. Within six weeks, God's people, who had said “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do”, had disobeyed and broken their Covenant with God. The disobedience of God's people is significant to us today because “it shows us what sin is”. “God is unconditional love” (1 John 4:16); and in this Covenant, God made plain to all of us “what sin is”. “We are made by God to be perfect mirrors of God's Agape love.” Our sin is our failure to act as the God of Agape love acts. Sin is our self-centeredness.  “The opposite of love is not hate; sin is me.” The Ten Commandments are not negative; they are God's Agape love because they show us what a life of love and without sin and death does not include. Jesus tells us the most important Commandment in Mark 12:28-30: “'. . . Which commandment is the most important of all?' Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'”. The people of Israel continued to mess up and sin, but they continued to sacrifice a lamb for their sin thinking that their sacrifice brought their lives of sin back into adherence with their Covenant. However, in both God's impatience with our sin and in His Agape love and His adherence to this Covenant, God sent the perfect Lamb as His and our sacrifice for our sin – Jesus the Christ. This old Covenant points to God's New Covenant – Jesus' death on the cross and His Resurrection. Have you asked Jesus into your life so that your sin is atoned? If not, then there is a blot between you and God. Remember, the God who made Covenant with Moses is Jesus of our Trinitarian God.     TODAY'S PRAYER: Keeping the Sabbath, Lord, will require a lot of changes in the way I am living life. Teach me, Lord, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me to trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus' name, amen.    Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 129). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD'S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  Genesis 3:15; Genesis 37:1-36; Genesis 39:1-23; Genesis 41:1-57; Genesis 42:1-38; Genesis 43:1-34; Genesis 44:1-34; Genesis 45:1-28; Genesis 46:1-34; Genesis 47:1-31; Genesis 50:1-26;  Exodus 1:1-22; Exodus 2:1-25; Exodus 3:1-22; Exodus 19:3-11; Exodus 24:1-18; Deuteronomy 28:1-68; 1 John 4:16; Mark 12:29-30; A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “To Be a Jesus Follower, You Must First Enter the Only Door to God's Kingdom and that Door is Jesus – the Door to Eternal Life ”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Our best Friend is Jesus - He who did not withhold His own life from us but for our sakes became poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich, (CS, 326). Our best Friend is Jesus - He who bore a test infinitely more severe than that which Adam failed to endure, and who overcame the tempter on man's account that through His obedience, His purity of character and steadfast integrity, His righteousness might be imputed to man. What love ! What amazing condescension ! (2Red, 14 and 15) Yet what are we but proud, disobedient and naked... What are we but confused, angry and dirty. Join us now and learn of Christ's faithfulness, His nobleness and righteousness, His authority and His blessings. We'll also discuss His Law and the spirit of His Law, and His Second Coming as well. Come and study with us ! All that can be desired is not comparable to Him. Jesus is our Friend in affliction; He is One who knows, (DG, 221). 1.- Are Christians supposed to keep the feast days ? 2.- Where do you cross from an acceptable pride, to a sinful pride ? 3.- Were Adam's and Eve's garments the first introduction of artificial, synthetic, technological light on Earth ? 4.- Is the law that we are “no longer under” referring to the Book of Moses ? 5.- How long was Dorcas dead before she was revived in Acts chapter 9 verses 36 through 43 ? 6.- How are we supposed to keep the Sabbath in the New Earth if there is no passage of time ? 7.- Where does the timeline of Daniel 9 verse 26 fall in the timeline of the 70-week prophecy ? 8.- Scripture says that every eye will see Jesus' return. How will a sailor in a submarine witness the Second Coming ? 9.- Why does Genesis 9 verse 3 say, “everything that lives shall be meat” ? Does that include unclean foods ? 10.- Is the false prophet in the Book of Revelation a man or a nation ? 11.- Regarding the Ten Commandments, what is the difference between coveting and stealing ? 12.- As Christians, do we have the right to defend ourselves ? 13.- Are the prophecies in Zechariah chapters 5 and 6 fulfilled in this current time ? 14.- Why does the ram mentioned in Daniel 8 verses 4 through 8 face three different directions ? 15.- What is the sealed book mentioned in Isaiah 29 verse 11 ? 16.- Revelation 20 verse 10 says, “they will be tormented day and night.” How can we explain that this doesn't mean people burn forever ? 17.- Matthew 15 verses 17 though 20 seems to imply that all meat is good to eat, because what goes in the mouth doesn't defile. Can you explain why it does not mean that ? 18.- Will God answer prayers if I don't pay tithe ? 19.- Why doesn't God ask for shoes to be removed when He encountered Abraham and Balaam, like He did with Joshua and Moses ?

While I encourage you to listen to the entire sermon to get the full meaning and context of 1 Peter 4-1-6, I will tell you that I speak illustratively and directly to the situation with Alistair Begg beginning at the 45 minute mark.--If you fight a good fight in every area except where Satan's battle against God and the souls of men is raging the hottest...you're not fighting a good fight at all- If you sound a full retreat on that battlefield, make a peace treaty with those warring against God, in any way affirm them in their abominable war, and give them gifts to honor and celebrate their perverse war against God and the souls of men...you are a coward and a traitor to Christ, His Law, His Gospel, and mankind. In 1 Peter 4-1 the Lord gives us a command to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ. Are you armed with the mind of Christ in this wicked and perverse generation of rampant apostasy-- Is your pastor-- Are your favorite conference and radio preachers----Tragically, Alistair Begg has proven not to be armed for the battle of our day, the battle of Sodom and Gomorrah, the battle of Psalm 2, the battle of Romans 1. In the day of global battle against Satan's soul damning, life ruining, body mutilating, sexually deviant lies, Alistair Begg has compromised and capitulated in the name of not offending the world at war with our God and King. Alistair now serves as a litmus test for the rest of us. Is our armor on--- Will we wield the Sword of the Spirit with strength and clarity, will we merely swing it about in the air against unnamed foes, will we shamefully leave it in its leather sheath altogether.

While I encourage you to listen to the entire sermon to get the full meaning and context of 1 Peter 4-1-6, I will tell you that I speak illustratively and directly to the situation with Alistair Begg beginning at the 45 minute mark.--If you fight a good fight in every area except where Satan's battle against God and the souls of men is raging the hottest...you're not fighting a good fight at all- If you sound a full retreat on that battlefield, make a peace treaty with those warring against God, in any way affirm them in their abominable war, and give them gifts to honor and celebrate their perverse war against God and the souls of men...you are a coward and a traitor to Christ, His Law, His Gospel, and mankind. In 1 Peter 4-1 the Lord gives us a command to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ. Are you armed with the mind of Christ in this wicked and perverse generation of rampant apostasy-- Is your pastor-- Are your favorite conference and radio preachers----Tragically, Alistair Begg has proven not to be armed for the battle of our day, the battle of Sodom and Gomorrah, the battle of Psalm 2, the battle of Romans 1. In the day of global battle against Satan's soul damning, life ruining, body mutilating, sexually deviant lies, Alistair Begg has compromised and capitulated in the name of not offending the world at war with our God and King. Alistair now serves as a litmus test for the rest of us. Is our armor on--- Will we wield the Sword of the Spirit with strength and clarity, will we merely swing it about in the air against unnamed foes, will we shamefully leave it in its leather sheath altogether.

FORGIVENESS is only possible because GOD punishes all violations of His Law. WHEN GOD FORGIVES A BELIEVER: He releases the believer from having to personally bear the punishment for his sins on the basis that JESUS has already suffered the punishment for his sins.

While I encourage you to listen to the entire sermon to get the full meaning and context of 1 Peter 4:1-6, I will tell you that I speak illustratively and directly to the situation with Alistair Begg beginning at the 45 minute mark.If you fight a good fight in every area except where Satan's battle against God and the souls of men is raging the hottest...you're not fighting a good fight at all! If you sound a full retreat on that battlefield, make a peace treaty with those warring against God, in any way affirm them in their abominable war, and give them gifts to honor and celebrate their perverse war against God and the souls of men...you are a coward and a traitor to Christ, His Law, His Gospel, and mankind. In 1 Peter 4:1 the Lord gives us a command to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ. Are you armed with the mind of Christ in this wicked and perverse generation of rampant apostasy? Is your pastor? Are your favorite conference and radio preachers?Tragically, Alistair Begg has proven not to be armed for the battle of our day, the battle of Sodom and Gomorrah, the battle of Psalm 2, the battle of Romans 1. In the day of global battle against Satan's soul damning, life ruining, body mutilating, sexually deviant lies, Alistair Begg has compromised and capitulated in the name of not offending the world at war with our God and King. Alistair now serves as a litmus test for the rest of us. Is our armor on?! Will we wield the Sword of the Spirit with strength and clarity, will we merely swing it about in the air against unnamed foes, will we shamefully leave it in its leather sheath altogether.

If "our chastisements are our promotions," and if that which is gained after many a struggle is a full weighted blessing, and if "our heavenly Father measures and weighs every trial before He permits it to come upon" us... then everything we go through is worth it for now, and for eternity ! (C. Spurgeon, OHC, 323.) Let us then show the world that our God is worth ten thousand worlds to us (C. Spurgeon); that His Word is the maximum; that His Law is our delight; that despite not understanding everything, we keep faith, because everything is worth it, because nothing is above Him - because we will see God's smiling face in Heaven ! Tune in now to learn more with us, about the attacks on God's beautiful Word, about how to keep the Ten Commandments and much more ! 1.- Please explain Revelation 11 verses 11-14. 2.- Did Jesus use the lunar calendar to keep Sabbath ? 3.- Has the latter rain happened yet? 4.- Will you please explain the verse that describes Jesus' Second Coming and how "every eye will see Him"? 5.- Can mentally challenged individuals go be forgiven ? 6.- Is God the Lake of Fire mentioned in the book of Revelation ? 7.- Will we see God when we get to Heaven ? 8.- How do you keep the Ten Commandments ? 9.- Is it Biblically okay to be cremated ? 10.- What does the human brain lack, that we cannot understand God ? 11.- Is it okay for a Christian to take yoga classes ? 12.- Was Satan in the presence of God when he was talking to Job ? 13.- What happened to Enoch after God took him to Heaven ? 14.- Will you please explain Revelation 1 verse 7 ? 15.- Were the Ten Commandments written on blue sapphire stone ? 16.- Will you please explain who the King of the North and the King of the South are and what they represent ? 17.- What is taking place in Psalm 2 verse 7 and Hebrews 5 verse 5 ? 18.- What is the best response when someone asks if we are saved ? 19.- Did God create sin according to Isaiah 45 verse 7 ? 20.- Do we know how many fallen angels there are ? 21.- Is Michael the Archangel Jesus ? If so, what are the scriptures to support this ? 22.- Where did Melchizedek come from ? Is He God ? 23.- What is the delusion that God speaks about in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 11 ?

Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. What the apostle Paul was saying in this verse is like when you were in school and the teacher gave you an assignment. The teacher had the authority to assign whatever was best for you, and you had an obligation to do the assignment. God, of course, is the ultimate authority in our lives, and He has given all of mankind the assignment to keep His Law perfectly. In the previous verses, Paul wrote, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” Vs. 10 continued Paul's point that agape love for one's neighbor will do no wrong to them. Therefore, when we love with an agape love, a love that does good, we fulfill the assignment. This should be a great encouragement to live to love with Jesus. We know Jesus never did wrong to anyone. He always did what was in their best interest, thus fulfilling what His Father assigned Him to do—namely, live to love with Him for His glory. We are not trusting in our ability to love our neighbor, but in Jesus' love them. We love because He has first loved us. If we treasure the glory of God above everything and everyone else in this world, especially above ourselves, we will treasure Jesus. If we treasure Jesus, meaning the indwelling ever-present life and love of Jesus, we will desire to abide in Him more than doing anything else in life. Living to love with Him by abiding in Him becomes our purpose in life because in so doing, God is glorified by Christ in us. This treasure is what we sell everything for. He is the pearl of great price. Therefore, the more we treasure Jesus, the more we fulfill the Law. Love flows only out of those whose ultimate treasure is Jesus Christ. Is this greatest desire of your heart—to treasure Jesus? That question has stimulated me to make treasuring Jesus the aim of my heart in 2024. I've treasured other things more than Christ way too much in my life. I am convinced that if by the grace of God I treasure Jesus more this year and every year until that day when Jesus returns or I go to be with Him, I will not be disappointed. I want to read and study God's Word, pray, and minister in His name because knowing and pleasing Him is the greatest desire of my heart. I want it to be the “why” behind all of my words and actions, not so I can feel like I'm a good person, but so God can be glorified in Him in me. I've got a long way to go, and maybe you feel like I do. Let's not be satisfied with just being okay, let's desire that Jesus be the treasure in all that we do, and thus we will live to love with Him and fulfill the Law for God's glory. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

Nehemiah 8:13-18 / November 13-15, 2023 In search of a solid foundation in the Law, they returned to Ezra, seeking insight—wisdom that could be built into their daily lives. They committed to clear away the rubble of wrong thinking and their old patterns of living, replacing them with obedience to the Lord and His Law. This biblical method for spiritual renovation is an excellent model for rebuilding our spiritual lives today. From the Series: Hand Me Another Brick: Timeless Lessons on Leadership read more

Nehemiah 8:13-18 / November 13-15, 2023 In search of a solid foundation in the Law, they returned to Ezra, seeking insight—wisdom that could be built into their daily lives. They committed to clear away the rubble of wrong thinking and their old patterns of living, replacing them with obedience to the Lord and His Law. This biblical method for spiritual renovation is an excellent model for rebuilding our spiritual lives today. From the Series: Hand Me Another Brick: Timeless Lessons on Leadership read more

Nehemiah 8:13-18 / November 13-15, 2023 In search of a solid foundation in the Law, they returned to Ezra, seeking insight—wisdom that could be built into their daily lives. They committed to clear away the rubble of wrong thinking and their old patterns of living, replacing them with obedience to the Lord and His Law. This biblical method for spiritual renovation is an excellent model for rebuilding our spiritual lives today. From the Series: Hand Me Another Brick: Timeless Lessons on Leadership read more

Nehemiah 8:13-18 / November 13-15, 2023 In search of a solid foundation in the Law, they returned to Ezra, seeking insight—wisdom that could be built into their daily lives. They committed to clear away the rubble of wrong thinking and their old patterns of living, replacing them with obedience to the Lord and His Law. This biblical method for spiritual renovation is an excellent model for rebuilding our spiritual lives today. From the Series: Hand Me Another Brick: Timeless Lessons on Leadership read more

If you've ever been nervous about sharing your faith, Pastor Greg Laurie has good news: it's easier than you might think. In this Sunday message, he gives us a powerful example of leading others to Christ from John 4. Notes Jesus never dealt with any two people in exactly the same way, because there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to evangelism—everyone is different! 1. Telling your story (testimony) is a powerful bridge for the gospel message. People may argue with you about facts, but they cannot deny your personal story. Many people believed as a result of this woman's testimony. While sharing your testimony, don't glorify or exaggerate your past (accuracy is important). Don't boast about what you gave up for Christ, but what He gave up for you! When you tell your story, it's not about you but Him! 2. We must speak in a language that people understand! Every generation needs the gospel! “The gospel is the power of God to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Any gospel presentation that offers forgiveness without repentance is not the gospel. If it promises Heaven, but does not warn of Hell, it is not the gospel. If it tells you God loves you, but do not tell you God wants to change you, it is not the gospel. We all stand as sinners before a holy God. Trespass speaks of crossing a line. God gave us His Law, the 10 Commandments, not to make us righteous but to show that we all fall miserably short. God tells us the bad news so we can better appreciate the good news. Seeing our complete weakness, God did the unthinkable: He poured His wrath and anger on Jesus, who died in our place. “It is all in four words: Jesus died for me.” —C. H. Spurgeon Sometimes in our attempts to crossover, we don't bring the cross over! There are hard questions that nonbelievers can fire at you, but you need to know that essence of this gospel message is the cross. Scripture Referenced 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 Galatians 1:6–8 Romans 3:23 Romans 5:6–8 Jude 1:23 1 Corinthians 2:1–2 1 Corinthians 1:18 --- Learn more about Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries at harvest.org. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you've ever been nervous about sharing your faith, Pastor Greg Laurie has good news: it's easier than you might think. In this Sunday message, he gives us a powerful example of leading others to Christ from John 4. Notes Jesus never dealt with any two people in exactly the same way, because there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to evangelism—everyone is different! 1. Telling your story (testimony) is a powerful bridge for the gospel message. People may argue with you about facts, but they cannot deny your personal story. Many people believed as a result of this woman's testimony. While sharing your testimony, don't glorify or exaggerate your past (accuracy is important). Don't boast about what you gave up for Christ, but what He gave up for you! When you tell your story, it's not about you but Him! 2. We must speak in a language that people understand! Every generation needs the gospel! “The gospel is the power of God to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). Any gospel presentation that offers forgiveness without repentance is not the gospel. If it promises Heaven, but does not warn of Hell, it is not the gospel. If it tells you God loves you, but do not tell you God wants to change you, it is not the gospel. We all stand as sinners before a holy God. Trespass speaks of crossing a line. God gave us His Law, the 10 Commandments, not to make us righteous but to show that we all fall miserably short. God tells us the bad news so we can better appreciate the good news. Seeing our complete weakness, God did the unthinkable: He poured His wrath and anger on Jesus, who died in our place. “It is all in four words: Jesus died for me.” —C. H. Spurgeon Sometimes in our attempts to crossover, we don't bring the cross over! There are hard questions that nonbelievers can fire at you, but you need to know that essence of this gospel message is the cross. Scripture Referenced 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 Galatians 1:6–8 Romans 3:23 Romans 5:6–8 Jude 1:23 1 Corinthians 2:1–2 1 Corinthians 1:18 --- Learn more about Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries at harvest.org. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners.Support the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Bible says that every person has a conscience. But what's divine the purpose of the conscience? Additionally, is this conscience a form of God's Law for those who have never heard of God's Law? Namely, can God rightly judge those who have never heard of His Law by their conscience? Pastor Dale Partridge answers all these questions in this episode of Real Christianity.