Podcasts about his son

What exactly this mumbo jumbo involved is hard to envision, but Isaiah also counsels against such wizardry - see Isaiah 8 verses 19-20. Luke 9 tells us of the commissioning of "the twelve" who were sent to Israel's lost sheep. These Apostles were seemingly unprepared for such a task but took the Gospel forth in faith - note the similarity in the opening verses of Luke chapters 8 and 9 (8 verses 1 compare with 9 verses 1-2). The record tells us of Herod's perplexity on hearing the report of Jesus' ministry. Herod hearing of the miracles being done by Jesus and he becomes frightened believing that these miracles might have been done by John the Baptist risen from the dead. The chapter tells us of the feeding of the 5,000 which is followed by the record of Jesus' prayer in solitude. We are told that this prayer of our Lord follows Peter's confession that "Jesus was the Christ of God". Jesus foretells his sufferings, crucifixion and resurrection. The disciples are exhorted that it is imperative to take up one's stake (Greek 'stauros') and follow Christ. The remaining segments of the chapter centre on Elijah. The transfiguration is recorded in verses 28-36 - where Moses, representing the Law; and Elijah the Prophets - are seen with our Lord in glory. The Father clearly showing and declaring the surpassing, excellent glory of His Son. Peter comments on the wonderful lessons learned then verses 2 Peter 1 verses 16-21. Read these aloud and ponder their significance for your belief in the inspired Word of God. A paralytic boy is cured by the Lord, when the 9 Apostles who had not gone into the Mount were frustrated by their inability to heal the boy. Once more Jesus tells them of his coming suffering, which message, yet again, fell on deaf ears. Sadly, the Apostles were preoccupied with their feelings of self-importance. Incredibly those who saw the events of the transfiguration should have seen that their Lord alone was great and that they were merely the servants of the coming King. The twelve rebuke a man who is performing miracles in the name of Jesus Christ. Their chastising was because that man was not of their company. Jesus declared - that they who are not against us must be for us. Jesus was next turned away from a Samaritan village since he was clearly intent on going to Jerusalem. James and John, rightly given the appellation "sons of thunder", sought to bring fire upon that village as Elijah had done in 2 Kings 1. Jesus rebukes his Apostles and alludes to the saving mission of the 'whisper of a voice' - found in Elisha's mission. The chapter concludes with three would be disciples being challenged by Christ Jesus to count the cost of following him. The three examples are verses 1) who wanted to make discipleship a second priority. 2) the next would follow when family responsibility had passed - this would always be a problem and left with those not willing to embrace the challenges of following Christ; and, 3) the third had business matters which required attention - Jesus tells that man needs to learn the lesson of which is seen in Elisha's calling 1 Kings 19 verses 19-21.Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciation of God's words, join again tomorrow

Do you ever feel unseen, unworthy, or unloved? In this devotional, we unpack what it means to be precious in God’s sight and how your identity in Christ gives you lasting value. Drawing from Isaiah 43:4, we explore God’s promise that you are deeply loved, fully known, and chosen—no matter your past, mistakes, or insecurities. Highlights Why God calls you precious, honored, and deeply loved How Isaiah 43 reveals God’s heart for His people, even in rebellion Finding security when relationships feel distant or rejection creeps in God’s compassion and grace in the middle of our brokenness Practical steps to anchor your worth and identity in Christ

At Jesus' Crucifixion and Death, the “Temple Veil” Was Torn; After Jesus Easter Resurrection, You Now Pray Directly with God MESSAGE SUMMARY:  Think about the magnitude of your direct and personal access to God that your prayers give you, through Jesus, if you will only pray. Before Jesus, ordinary people did not have direct access to God, through the Throne Room of God, with a direct personal relationship with God. In Old Testament times, people would come to the priests; and the priest would offer up a sacrifice on behalf of the people. The priests, and not the people, were communing directly with God. On Good Friday and at Jesus death on the cross, the “Temple Veil” was torn from top to bottom (i.e. “Temple Vail” was a large, very thick, and very heavy barrier that divided that portion of the Temple accessible by those wishing to sacrifice for prayer and the “Holy of Holies” where the only the High Priest could meet with God and pray on behalf of the people of God.). At Jesus Resurrection, no longer was an intermediary (e.g., a Priest) required for direct prayer with God by the people in Christ (i.e. Jesus Followers).  Because Jesus created a New Covenant relationship with His followers, now your prayers are in direct communion with God, the Creator of the Universe. Everyone, who is in Christ, may have access to the Throne Room of God in the name of Jesus. What a privilege this direct access to God is for those who are in Christ. The author of Hebrews, in Hebrews 4:16, tells Jesus Followers that, because of the Gospel, you have direct access to God's “throne of Grace” for your needs: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.".   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 FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Philippians 4:1-13; John 15:9-10; Revelation 4:1-2; Psalms 69c:25-36. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “A Word from the Cross” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/    DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Scripture: 2 Samuel 13-19. Father Wounds - are wounds brought into our lives through family members. Deep wounds with lasting consequences.  Father's wounds - are wounds to parents by their children. It is grieving because their children turned their backs on the things they were taught from the time they were little.  Both are deep and painful wounds. How to deal with the pain and how to go beyond it. Our study covers: Amnon rapes Tamar (2 Sam 13) Absalom hates Amnon (2 Sam 13) Absalom murders Amnon (2 Sam 13) Absalom flees to thalami (2 Sam 13) Absalom conspires against David (2 Sam 15) Absalom revolts against David (2 Sam 15-17) Joab executes Absalom (2 Sam 18) In our study we see that wounds eliminate the spiritual strength of King David. We also see wounds that bring about rebellion and hatred, anger and murder. We see wounds experienced by a father who feels he has failed his son. A tragic horrible story. Yet God desires to speak to us through it. This story is in the Bible for a reason and purpose. The purpose is not just to inform but to transform. God desires to bring healing, hope and strength and to reverse the painful trajectory of what we have experienced. Divine Prescriptions     ⁃    Sow and Reap - Galatians 6:7-8 Consequences of our behavior can be negative or positive. “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Also, as seen in David's story, God forgives, but the consequences of sin are still there.     ⁃    Nurture or Anger - Ephesians 6:4  encourages fathers to teach their children to live uprightly and faithfully before God and for fathers to model an upright life to their children.     ⁃    Truth and Love - Ephesians 4:15 We are to speak truth to our kids but speak that with love.     ⁃    Forgive and Release - Whether we have father wounds or father's wounds we are to forgive and letting go. Colossians 3:13 We are to forgive as the Lord forgives us - even those who have disappointed us, hurt us deeply, and in that forgiveness and releasing there is healing and there is hope.     ⁃    Father and Son - 1 John 2:1-2 Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sin and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. God loves us and His love goes beyond the love of any father. Our Heavenly Father offers each of us healing, hope and life-transforming power. If you have been the victim of a father wound or if you are experiencing a father's wounds, you need to know there is a Father who loves you more than you could imagine. Who understands the wounds because those wounds were placed in the very body of His Son and He offers to us forgiveness, eternal life, and the ability to start all over. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/david-and-gods-heart Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

In the first message of our new "Hebrews" series, "The Danger of the Drift", Pastor Jarod reminds us that in the past God spoke through the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. Hebrews warns us to pay close attention so we don't drift away, because drift is subtle—small deviations tolerated over time create massive detours. God gives us a choice in these last days: His wisdom, which is available to all who ask, or His wrath, revealed when truth is suppressed, and hearts grow dark. Even when the current feels strong, with His grace we can course correct and fix our eyes on Jesus. ____ Partner with New Tribe: Give | https://newtribe.church/give/ ____ Connect with New Tribe: Website | https://newtribe.church/comeexperience/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/newtribechurch Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/newtribechurch YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/newtribechurch

Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy greet the church in Thessalonica, thanking God for them and constantly remembering their faith, love, and hope in Christ. Paul notes that the gospel came to them not only with words but also with power, the Holy Spirit, and deep conviction. Despite persecution, the Thessalonians received the message with joy and became examples to believers throughout Macedonia and Achaia. Their faith in God spread widely, so much so that Paul did not need to say much; others testified about how they turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son, Jesus, who rescues them from the coming wrath.

Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy greet the church in Thessalonica, thanking God for them and constantly remembering their faith, love, and hope in Christ. Paul notes that the gospel came to them not only with words but also with power, the Holy Spirit, and deep conviction. Despite persecution, the Thessalonians received the message with joy and became examples to believers throughout Macedonia and Achaia. Their faith in God spread widely, so much so that Paul did not need to say much; others testified about how they turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son, Jesus, who rescues them from the coming wrath.

A Word from the Cross MESSAGE SUMMARY: In today's message, we're reminded of the profound truth that Jesus is the answer to the deepest struggles of humanity. We're called to open our eyes to the suffering around us - broken relationships, addictions, financial burdens, and physical ailments. This reflection challenges us to see beyond our own circumstances and recognize the pain in others. The central theme echoes Christ's compassion and His desire for a relationship with each of us. As His body, the church, we're entrusted with the responsibility to extend His love to those in need. This message invites us to consider: How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus in a world crying out for hope and healing?   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, I now take a deep breath and stop. So often I miss your hand and gifts in my life because I am preoccupied and anxious. Grant me the power to pause each day and each week to simply rest in your arms of love. In Jesus' name, amen.    Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 132). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FORGIVEN. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  John 14:6; Acts 4:12: Matthew 9:36; Colossians 3:12; Isaiah 53:5; James 5:16; Revelation 3:20; John 15:5; 1 Corinthians 3:20; Ephesians 4:11-12 A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “At Jesus' Crucifixion and Death, the “Temple Veil” Was Torn; After Jesus Easter Resurrection, You Now Pray Directly with God”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Lesson 255This Day I Choose To Spend In Perfect Peace.It does not seem to me that I can choose to have but peace today. And yet, my God assures me that His Son is like Himself. Let me this day have faith in Him Who says I am God's Son. And let the peace I choose be mine today bear witness to the truth of what He says. God's Son can have no cares, and must remain forever in the peace of Heaven. In His Name, I give today to finding what my Father wills for me, accepting it as mine, and giving it to all my Father's Sons, along with me.And so, my Father, would I pass this day with You. Your Son has not forgotten You. The peace You gave him still is in his mind, and it is there I choose to spend today.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

We begin today with a prayer for our brothers and sisters in Russia and Ukraine. Most of all, a worldwide revival might even start there, in the midst of turmoil.The conversation in John 4 is as astonishing as our prayers. To the woman, a Jew talking to a Samaritan woman was unthinkable. The holy God of the universe initiating communion with us is just as inconceivable. Yet He does:Moses sees the burning bush; the Hebrews tell us He has spoken in various and sundry ways. At one point, all I knew of the Bible was Romans 6:23, from a billboard.Hebrews also tells us that now He is speaking to us through His son. "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they." Hebrews 1:2-4And as Jesus is turning the woman from water to eternal life, He tells us in this passage: "…made purification of sins…" Eternity is His message.Our So What?We ask this question: Knowing that the spiritual is so much more critical than the physical. How might that change the content of our prayers? "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more." Robert Murray M'Cheynee Donation link:https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=G9JGGR5W97D64Or go to www.freerangepreacheronprayer.com and use the Donations tab.Assistant Editor: Seven Jefferson Gossard.www.freerangepreacheronprayer.comfreerangeprayer@gmail.comFacebook - Free Range Preacher MinistriesInstagram: freerangeministriesAll our Scripture quotes are drawn from the NASB 1977 edition.For access to the voice-over services of Richard Durrington, please visit RichardDurrington.com or email him at Durringtonr@gmail.comOur podcast art was designed by @sammmmmmmmm23 InstagramSeason 007Episode 072

Lesson 255This Day I Choose To Spend In Perfect Peace.It does not seem to me that I can choose to have but peace today. And yet, my God assures me that His Son is like Himself. Let me this day have faith in Him Who says I am God's Son. And let the peace I choose be mine today bear witness to the truth of what He says. God's Son can have no cares, and must remain forever in the peace of Heaven. In His Name, I give today to finding what my Father wills for me, accepting it as mine, and giving it to all my Father's Sons, along with me.And so, my Father, would I pass this day with You. Your Son has not forgotten You. The peace You gave him still is in his mind, and it is there I choose to spend today.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

What's the greatest rescue story ever told? It's not found in the aftermath of hurricanes or disasters, but in God's plan to save us from sin and judgment. Join Jim Scudder on InGrace as he shares how the Lord offers eternal rescue through His Son, a gift of grace we could never earn.

Ephesians 1:3-6 teaches that before believers can truly thrive, their souls must be anchored in the unshakable reality of God's love rather than drifting into fear, old wounds, or worldly influences. The passage reveals that God's love is not impulsive or reactive like human emotion but flows from His eternal choice, rooted in His unchanging nature and His unbreakable commitment to His Son, Jesus Christ. Because this love rests on Christ's perfect faithfulness, not human worthiness, it is steadfast, immovable, and secure in both success and failure. This anchoring love stands in contrast to the manipulations of the enemy, who tempts believers to define themselves by what they do, what they have, or how others see them. Instead, Scripture calls Christians to abide in God's love—through awareness of their thoughts, slowing down in prayer and Scripture, and experiencing the echoes of His love through the community of faith. Ultimately, Ephesians 1 shows that God's sovereign, chosen love is the anchor strong enough to hold believers steady through weakness, trial, and temptation, providing them with lasting security, belonging, and blessing.

Our Lady's conception is the beginning of our redemption. Her coming was prefigured throughout salvation history. Throughout the Old Testament, we can see how God showed her coming as a preparation for the great coming of His Son, Christ Our Lord.

How good are you at solving problems? Most of us can figure out everyday challenges pretty well. But there's one problem we can't fix on our own: we are broken people, weighed down by the reality of sin. No matter how hard we try to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, we can't escape it in our own strength.The good news is that God didn't leave us there. Out of love, He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the debt we could never pay and to offer us new life. Through faith in Jesus, we find redemption and the only way to the Father. And that's an invitation extended to you. Message Delivered: 9/7/25

In Christ, we are no longer spiritual orphans—wandering, unwanted, or unsure of who we are. God chose us before the foundation of the world, adopted us into His family, redeemed us through the blood of His Son, and sealed us with His Spirit. Our identity is not found in abandonment or uncertainty but in the […]

In 2 Kings 15 we are told of Azariah's 52-year rule over Judah, which was after the same manner as his father. Azariah's reign had little effect on the nation's behaviour. He died a leper living apart from his people. In the north, 38 years into Azariah's rule, Zachariah had an inglorious 6 months of evil rule before being smitten by his servant, Shallum - who took the throne in the 39th year of Azariah (also called Uzziah). Shallum too was slain by Menahem, who took his place. The emerging pattern of the north is of violent instability which spiralled rapidly towards a final disintegration. The Assyrian king, Pul, came and put Israel to tribute. In Ezekiel 5 we read of another enacted parable. The prophet takes some of his hair and divides into 3 parts - one third was hacked with a knife, indicating destruction by the sword; another third was thrown in the wind, speaking of scattering; yet another third was burnt in the fire. But a few strands of hair, representing the remnant of the nation that was to be saved. Those hairs were to be bound in the prophet Ezekiel's robe. In Luke 1 the beloved doctor (not an Apostle) gives his account. Luke sets out in order of happening of events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The written account is to Theophilus - a name meaning 'a lover of God'. Some have suggested that Theophilus was a high ranking Roman official. Whether this is true or not, the book is addressed to us, as lovers of God. Verses 5-18 tell of Zacharias, the priest and his temple service. Those verses tell us that the aged priest and his wife Elizabeth, had no children as she was barren. The angel Gabriel appears to Zacharias and foretells him of the birth and mission of John the Baptist - the son that was to be miraculously born to this old man and his barren wife. Because Zacharias doubted the angel's words, he was struck dumb till the day of John's birth. Note John's mission was said to be the fulfilment of Malachi 4 verses 5-6. The angel Gabriel was next sent to the wonderful Mary. This faithful young woman had been chosen by Yahweh to be the mother of His Son. This birth too was to be brought about by an even greater miracle. Read the angel's words aloud in verses 30-33 - ponder the import. Mary accepts the message and as the handmaid of the LORD she says that she will humbly comply. Mary's cousin Elizabeth, who was herself 6 months pregnant, is visited by Mary and together these two faithful women praise and exalt God; and spiritually encourage each other. Mary's song of praise giving is recorded in verses 46-55. Compare Mary's song and words of rejoicing with Hannah's song told to us in 1 Samuel 2 verses 1-10. John is born and named. Then his father Zacharias' tongue is loosed. Consider his remarkable prophecy of the work of the two greatest men ever born. The record brings together a significant number of Old Testament scriptures. Read these words in verses 68-79 and ponder the greatest epoch of spiritual ministries of all time, that was to emerge in the ministries of these two servants of the Almighty.Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciation of God's words, join again tomorrow at https://christadelphianvideo.org/christadelphian-daily-readings/

John 8:17-18 Even in your law, it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me." The testimony of the Father about Jesus is the same as Jesus' testimony about Himself. The Father's miraculous work through Jesus testified that Jesus was His Son. The unity of their testimony gives us confidence to recognize Jesus' lordship, entrust our lives to Him, and trust Him for our salvation. The Father's testimony through His Son is that God is love, and He is still testifying through us that He is love as we live to love with Jesus. Our testimonies are not what we do for God, but what He does for and through us. The Father testified about Jesus by working through and with Him. Be in awe at the corollary: Jesus testifies that He is with us, and we are His by loving through and with us. So we can testify about ourselves that we are His if we say the same things Jesus does and love like He loves. If Jesus sent us into this world to be the revelation of His love, He will testify about us by filling us with love for Him and love for others. What glory to God, and what a privilege and joy for Jesus and us. I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of "giving it forward," so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.

Today, Bram and Sandi continue a brand new series on the Life and Words of Jesus, from His own lips! Often referred to as ‘The Red Letters', we'll take every scripture from the New Testament where God speaks unfiltered from the mouth of His Son, Jesus Christ. We hope you'll be challenged and delighted by […]

When Jesus Asked You: “Whom do you say that I am?”, Did You Answer Jesus: “You are my God and the Lord of my Life!”?  MESSAGE SUMMARY: The stories of the New Testament tell us that Jesus was no ordinary man. The Apostle John, in John 1:1-5, points out that Jesus, the Word, was the Creator of the Universe: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.". John tells us that Jesus had authority over nature, over creation, and over life itself, and he tells us that Jesus was the life-giver that came to earth for us. In John 20:26-29, Jesus asked the Apostle Thomas a fundamental question that Jesus asks you today– “Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me?'”: “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.' Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'”. When Jesus has asked you: “Whom do you say that I am?”, and how did you answer? Did you tell Jesus: “You are my God and the Lord of my Life!”? Have you, in your life, become a Jesus Follower? If not, why not?   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 A CHILD OF GOD. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. John 1:12f SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): John 1:1-18; Isaiah 7:2-14; Matthew 1:21-24; Psalms 67:1-7. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “The Power of God in Your Life” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/    DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

We reflected on God's glory, the exclusivity of His Son, and the necessity of relying on Him rather than ourselves. Fellowship was emphasized as deeply personal and initiated by God, with the cross of Christ at the center of all glorying. We discussed how God's love shapes growth, humility, and dependence, while His role as our adversary works against the flesh to bring us into deeper fellowship. The importance of humility and Christ-centered fellowship was highlighted, reminding us to avoid sentimentality and familiarity that distract from true intimacy with Christ. Testimonies reinforced the need for community and the danger of isolating from the body, while prayers were offered for families, health, and God's guidance.Themes:God's glory revealed through His Son (Romans 2; Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 30:18)Reliance on God vs. self-reliance and hopelessness outside ChristFellowship initiated by God and centered on Christ (1 John 1:1–3)Glorying only in the cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14)Prayer as dependence and protection from the enemyGod's discipline and role as adversary against the flesh (Matthew 5:25; James 4:6)Humility as the key to receiving God's love and guidanceAvoiding sentimentality and compromise in fellowshipThe necessity of community in spiritual growth and resisting isolationGratitude for God's word and His provision of unity and protectionScripture References:Romans 2; Isaiah 42:8; Isaiah 30:18; 1 John 1:1–3; Galatians 6:14; Matthew 5:25; James 4:6

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11-12, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Psalm 51, Matthew 21:9. This message deals with the difficult topic of moral collapse, specifically in David's life. Painful as it is, it can teach us much about the importance of walking faithfully before the Lord and resisting temptation. David fell into temptation after seeing Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam (a trusted soldier) and the wife of Uriah (one of David's elite soldiers). David had her brought to the palace and he slept with her resulting in her pregnancy. Instead of coming clean, David goes deeper into a dark place with more plans. After trying multiple times to cover his actions, David arranges for Uriah's death and has him killed. 2 Samuel 11:27 tells us that what David had done displeased the Lord. What does the Lord do? 2 Samuel 12:1, God sends Nathan to David. Nathan, in great wisdom, tells David a story and when David hears the story he was incensed saying that the man must die. At this point, Nathan looks at David and confronts him eye to eye, and says, “YOU are the man!” David is confronted with the horror of what he has done. He had committed a huge moral failure, but David was also a man who understood the heart of God. His response to Nathan is, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Here's what we can learn from David.  LESSONS     ⁃    Awareness - recognizing that we are all vulnerable and we are all sinners. Be aware of the temptations.     ⁃    Consequences - come when we go against God's purpose and plan in our lives. Consequences can be horrific. There are consequence to disobedience.     ⁃    Repentance -  after his sin was exposed David freely admitted he had sinned, he did not try to make excuses, he repented. Repentance brings about a change of direction, a turning away. David understood he had fallen. We all sin, but God calls His people to repentance, to not only admit our sin, but to turn away from it and begin anew all over again.     ⁃    Forgiveness - The Lord takes away our sin through the death of His Son and we see how good and gracious God really is. He loves us and offered up His own son for us all.  **Pastor shares divinely given wisdom around the loss of David's son, be sure to listen to this message so you don't miss out on some profound revelation.**     ⁃    Restoration - comes from our Father who restores us to relationship with Him through His Son. God restores to us the joy of our salvation and sustains us with the Holy Spirit. David is described as a man after God's own heart, yet he made some horrible decisions in his life. David's story compels us to take seriously the danger of going against God's plan and purposes for our lives. But this story also shows us the grace and mercy of God. These truths powerfully impact and transform us all. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/david-and-gods-heart Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

The Power of God in Your Life MESSAGE SUMMARY: As a follower of Jesus, God's power can be displayed in your life. In John 11, Jesus is in a distant town when He learns that Lazarus is very ill, but Jesus says that Lazarus will not die. However, subsequently, Jesus tells His Disciples that, indeed, that Lazarus has “died”. Jesus intended to use Lazarus' “death” and “resurrection” to build His Disciples' faith and to illustrate God's glory and power by awakening Lazarus from his “death”. When Jesus arrives at Lazarus's home town, He tells Lazarus' sister that Lazarus will arise from his “death”. At this point, Jesus tells Martha, in John11:23-27, one of the most profound statements of His earthly ministry that is the cornerstone of our Salvation Gospel: “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.'”. With both the faith of Lazarus' sisters Mary and Martha, Jesus raises Lazarus from his death in Lazarus' tomb. Upon seeing Lazarus raised from the dead by Jesus, some believed in Jesus as the Christ, but some went to the Jewish religious leaders who feared Jesus' growing power with the people; and these leaders plotted Jesus' death. In Jesus' parable of the “Rich Man and Lazarus” in Luke 16:19-31, Jesus illustrates that no matter how powerful the miracle, like raising someone from the dead, many people's hearts are so hardened to God, His Grace, and the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus that they will not believe in Jesus and His Gospel of our Salvation. The implications, for us, from John 11 and Luke 16: 1) Jesus can handle our death through His assurance of Eternal Life if we believe and follow Him, and 2) God wants to exhibit His power through our lives while we are still alive—we are not called to be wimpy Christians; we are called to be men and women of the mighty God. However, too often we are blinded by our religious experiences or what we think we have seen in church. Therefore, we think God's power is of another time, or because we believe that our sin is so great that God's power will not be in us. God wants to indwell us through the Holy Spirit – consider that the Creator of the Universe, God, wants to give you power in your life! Jesus tells us, in John 14:11-14: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, and I will do it.”. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, God was giving an outward demonstration of the power that He wants to indwell in us. God has blessed us with the privilege and power of a personal relationship with Him and with the privilege, power, and God's expectation that we will be His blessing to other people.   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: 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): John11:1-53; Luke 16:19-31; 1 Corinthians 15:26-28; Ephesians 1:18-20; Ephesians 3:7-10; Ephesians 3:16-19; Ephesians 3:6:10-11; John 14:11-14. (Click the Bible References, in blue, below to read the full Bible text for these Scripture References.). A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “When Jesus Asked You: “Whom do you say that I am?”, Did You Answer Jesus: “You are my God and the Lord of my Life!”?”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

John 8:15-16, You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. Amazing! In this case, Jesus was not judging anyone because the Father wasn't judging. That's what love looked like in that instance. How often do we judge according to the flesh when we should not be judging at all—as an act of love with Jesus? It seems, if anyone deserved judgment in this case, it was the Pharisees. If He isn't judging them because He's entrusting them to the Father, shouldn't we do the same with those who seem like our adversaries? Otherwise, we are "judging according to the flesh." The next time we feel compelled to judge someone, it might be wise to check to see if we are reacting in the flesh as the Pharisees were. It will free us to love with Jesus. What is truth? It is what God does, sees, judges, and testifies to with His Son. Individuality is the flesh and is what the world praises and worships. Union with God reveals the truth. Living to love with Jesus reveals not individual goodness or righteousness, but the truth that a person is no longer an individual, but is a life united with God. May we be filled with thanksgiving and praise for the miracle of new life in Christ, revealed as we love with Him. I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of "giving it forward," so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. My name is Spencer. I am one of the pastors here. So we, as I said last week, we are taking a break. We just finished up First Samuel and we are not going to jump straight into Second Samuel. We're going to do that in the new year. We're going to do a series called re member series called Remember. We'll do that through the fall and then we'll do give series and we'll come back to Second Samuel. We're excited about this series. This is an opportunity for us to revisit and remember what it means to be a member of this church. See how clever we are with titles, you guys. There you go. One clap. It's an opportunity for us to revisit what it means to be a member of this church. So we're going to over the next few months walk through our membership commitments and revisit the things that bind us together as beliefs and practices. And then if you are a member of this church, we'll have the opportunity this fall to actually recommit to membership. We're excited about that and we're going to have more information about that at our upcoming family meeting. So make sure that you are there if you're a committed member of our church, to be at family meeting. But we're thankful that we get to walk through this over the next couple months. These 14 different membership commitments that we have before we jump into those commitments today, I want to look at the why and the what of membership. We need to look at the why and the what of membership before we jump into what we actually commit to as a church. Because some folks will pose the question, why membership in the first place? Why do you have membership? Why belong to a church? Some people ask, is church membership even biblical? Like, where do you get this idea? So we're going to examine that idea while also being clear about what it means to be a member of this church. Like what is our membership commitment all about? And there's some language that we use that is going to sound very familiar, that if you ask what does it mean to be a member of of Mill City Church of Cayce, There's a phrase that will show up as we walk through this today. I know it's going to blow your mind like you've never heard it before. But we are a gospel centered community on mission. It's the language we use over and over again. I'm pretty sure it's on the wall somewhere in the lobby. But there's a reason we are that and there is a Reason why that really defines who we are as a church. And we're going to see that as we walk through why membership, but also what it means to be a member of this church. So I want to pray for us and then we will walk through this together.Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us have ears to hear this morning. I pray that you might help us see why it is good to belong, why it is good to commit to following you, to delighting in you, to loving one another, to being obedient, to take the gospel to our city. God, I pray you'd help us be present and we'd be not just hearers of the Word, but we would be doers of the Word. As we trust you, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.All right, so why do we practice church membership? Someone will ask, where in the Bible do you find the command to be a member of a local church? Now, this may come as a shock to some of you, but you're not going to find any one verse in the Bible that commands for you to be a part of a church through church membership. There's no Third Corinthians that shows up and says, and be a member of a local church and submit to the elders of that local church. There's not any one verse that really makes this crystal clear, which is if there was, it might make the conversation about membership a little bit easier over the years as we've had it. But what you will see is as you look through the Scriptures, you'll see that God is doing something in setting up his church. And that's what I want to do. For the first part in answering why membership? I want to do what's I want to do a biblical theology of church membership, which is going from the Old Testament to the New Testament to see how God is developing this people that is going to belong to him, with him at the center to declare His Excellencies to a lost world. So that's what I want to do, starting off in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis. So God chooses in the Book of Genesis, Abraham that he's going to form a people through. He promises Abraham he's going to have a great nation that's made through him. And in this selection of Abraham, we see that God is going to have a unique, special relationship with him and his people, unlike the rest of humanity. And there's this promise of this great nation, this great people that he's going to bless the nations through. And then when you get to the next Book of The Bible, the second book, the book of Exodus. You see that God takes his descendants, the twelve tribes of Israel who have been slaves in Egypt. He brings them out of Egypt. And when they're wandering in the wilderness in Exodus 19, you see really the formation and the formal covenant relationship that God establishes with his people. And in Exodus 19 he tells his people in verse 5,> 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.These are the words he shall speak to the people of Israel. Then he tells them that you are my treasured possession. And as this is going to play out, he's going to take this people, his treasured possession to the promised land. He's going to set himself up in the center of his people to be a God centered people that are uniquely his, unlike any other aspect of creation, unlike any other people. And that this people is going to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This people was meant to be separate from the nations that look different, that proclaim the excellencies of God as a light to the surrounding nations. And then this is Exodus 19, right before Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. When he gets the Ten Commandments, you see the first four commandments and the Ten Commandments are God centered commandments. This is how to have right relationship with God and worshiping God alone. And then the next six are how to live in good community with one another, how to love one another, how to trust one another, don't lie, don't murder, don't steal. And then the rest of the Old Testament law is really expounding upon those 10 Commandments. It's helping them see in their context, in their time, this is what it means to be a people who has God at the center, who loves one another fiercely in a community that takes care of one another, that looks separate from the nations, that declares how good our God is. And when you read the rest of the Old Testament, you see a people that most of the time falls on their face in trying to live that out, that over and over again. They don't put God at the center, they worship other gods, they don't love each other, they don't serve each other, they take advantage of one another. And instead of looking separate than the nations in order to show how good their God is, they look just like the nations. And that is the reason that they need a Savior and there's this hope from the prophets proclaiming this Savior is going to come. And then Jesus comes.Flip to the New Testament. When Jesus comes, he begins to develop this with new and better language. You see, if you just take the Gospel of Matthew, just start there. When you start reading the Gospel of Matthew, you're going to see what God is doing. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus begins His ministry by preaching the gospel, proclaiming the gospel of his kingdom that is coming, and declaring the good news. And then he also chooses a people. He chooses the 12 disciples, these disciples whom he's going to build his church through. He begins teaching them. You keep flipping. Go to Matthew chapter five through Matthew chapter seven. You read the Sermon on the Mount. This is a retelling of the law and new and really better language, showing the heart of God all along for his people. What it looks like to put God at the center, what it looks like to take sin seriously, to live in community. We see some of this and more teaching, more of his ministry. When you get to Matthew chapter 11, you see that he commissions out his disciples. He puts them on a mission trip to begin to declare the good news of the Gospel to the people in the surrounding areas. You keep reading the Gospel of Matthew, you see more teaching, you see more of his work and his ministry. And then you get to Matthew chapter 18. And then Jesus begins to use a word to describe what this people is going to be, that he's making this new covenant people, and that is the church. The Greek word for that is ekklesia. It means church or assembly. And it shows up in Matthew 18. And Jesus begins to describe what this church is going to look like. It's going to be a people who take sin seriously, who hold each other accountable, who practice radical forgiveness. That is unlike the rest of the world. Jesus continues to teach. He continues to form his people. He continues to disciple his disciples. And then it is time for him to do the work that no one can do. He does the work of salvation. He takes his perfect record of righteousness with him to the cross. He dies on the cross for our sins because we were unable to to obey the law. He dies on the cross, taking judgment upon himself. He conquers death at the resurrection, removing the power of death over his people. And then he looks at his disciples at the end of Matthew and he tells them,> Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.He tells them, you're going to take everything that you've learned from me over the last three years. This message of the gospel that I came to redeem you and save you. This message of what it looks like to be a people that are committed to having God at the center and loving one another. Well, you're going to take that to the nations where they're going to hear the gospel and believe and you can read Mark and Luke and John and you're going to see this story over and over again. Then you get the book of Acts where Jesus ascends to the right hand of God the Father being king over all creation. And then the Holy Spirit descends upon his people and the church begins in Acts 2. You read that Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit stands up, preaches the first sermon at Pentecost and 3,000 people, people place plus people place their faith in Jesus and are baptized. And then we see some of the very first acts of this church and responding to Christ in faith and baptism. It says in verse 42. We'll have more time to study this exact passage in community group this week. I just want to hit some of the highlights to help us see what God is doing here. In verse 42 he says,> And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.That's the teachings of Christ. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. They were a gospel centered people. And it continues into the fellowship and the breaking of bread and prayers. You go to verse 44.> And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.That they were a people that believed the gospel, devoted themselves to that teaching, but they devoted themselves to one another. They fellowshiped together, they broke bread together, they took care of each other's needs. They saw their brothers and sisters in Christ as more important than money and material things. And they're selling their stuff so that they can take care of one another. And then it goes in verse 47 and finishes.> And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.That this message continues to be introduced to people who hear and believe and are brought into the church to continue to be a gospel centered community on mission to take the gospel to the world that desperately needed it. The church in Jerusalem continues to expand as you follow the story. Keep flipping through Acts. All of a sudden God has a plan to see scatter his people and involves the death of one of his servants, Stephen. He ordains the death of Stephen who's proclaiming the Good news of Jesus Christ and he's murdered for it. And in Acts chapter eight, after he's martyred, it says, and Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And now we see that the plan is spreading, that it's not just a church in Jerusalem now, it's in Judea and it's in Samaria. And the church is going global. One of the ways this has been described is that the church globally is the big sea church in creeds. That's called the Catholic Church. It's not referring to the Catholic denomination, but the Catholic meaning universal. That there's this global, universal church bound together by Christ. But it's not just in Jerusalem, it's in Judea, it's in Samaria. It's scattered in communities across the world in local churches. That's usually called the little C church. But there are little C churches who are forming together with Christ at the center, seeking to be what God has called them. Now the church is spreading past Jerusalem. And then that man who was involved in the killing of Stephen Saul in Acts chapter nine is on his way to persecute more Christians. And then Jesus blinds him, converts him. And then we know him mostly as Paul. And then Paul is set apart to take this even further. And he plants churches all over Asia Minor, all over Europe. And the church begins to spread and expand. As you continue to read the Book of Acts, you see the gospel spreading all over that region. But as these churches are getting established and they're seeking to be a gospel centered people that are taking the gospel to the nations as they're seeking to be this, they start to run into problems. They start to run into different things, different sins, different struggles. There's a bunch of people who the thing that the. The central binding idea that holds them together is Christ. But they're very, very different. Different ethnicities, different cultures, different classes. And as you continue to read the rest of the New Testament, you see that God had a plan for this, that he starts to write letters, inspired scripture through servants like Paul to these churches to help them see what it means to be a gospel centered people. How to fight for what is good, how to repent of sin, how to live in community, how to still have some missional hustle to take the gospel to the nations. But when you read the beginnings of these letters, you see very clearly that these are individual churches. I'll run through a Bunch of them. Really quickly. The letter to the Corinthians, in First Corinthians, Chapter one, it says, to the church of God that is in Corinth, that is that church in that city with their unique issues. This is a letter to that church. Not all the churches, though all the churches, will eventually benefit from this, helping us see now it's not just one global church. There's individual churches where these people belong to one another and have their own leaders and their own issues they're facing. It continues to the churches of Galatia, that's a whole region of different churches that Paul planted in his first missionary journey. To the saints who are in Ephesus, that's the book of Ephesians. To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, that's the book of Philippians. To the church of Thessalonians and God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, that's the church in Thessalonica. You start to see that there is one global church made up of individuals, communities of Christians who are seeking to be centered in Christ, loving one another fiercely and taking the Gospel to their friends and their neighbors. And you follow that thread all the way through the letters and you'll get to the end. The Book of Revelation, which we did last year. And as we saw the Book of Revelation, it's not just apocalyptic literature. It's not just proclaiming what's going to happen. It is also a letter written to seven churches. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and as we saw last year, all churches with different problems, with different sins, some needing encouragement, all of them mostly needing a smack across the face from Jesus. But those are all individual churches where those people belong to Christ and. And one another seeking to be obedient in following him and taking the Gospel to those who needed it. So that's Genesis to Revelation. While you're not going to find one specific verse that makes this so clear, what you can see from start to finish is that God had a plan to form a people. And that plan was to be localized in churches where there were people that were so deeply committed to following Christ and having a zeal and a desire to worship and delight in him over all things, to be a people, a community that so deeply loved one another and cared for one another, that looked radically different than the rest of the world. So much so that historians at the time were looking at these Christians and saying there's something different about them. And to be a people who are not so self focused that they were going to use their energy and their effort and their time and their money and their lives lives to proclaim the good news to those who didn't know. That is God's plan for redemption. One global church working through individual local churches all around the world. That is God's plan for the church. So when someone says I don't see membership in the Bible, I just want to say it's, you got to read the whole story. You need to see what God is doing. You need to see God's plan for redemption that is through the local church.I was talking to a pastor a few weeks back and he was telling me a story about a guy who had been coming to their church and he said, did this guy come? And he was kind of coming for weeks and they started to introduce the idea, maybe you should think about committing here. And he said, oh no, I don't believe membership is biblical. He's like, I'm a part of the big C church, we're all a part of the same church, but I'm not going to commit to membership here. And he was kind of taken aback and he engaged with the conversation. He said, okay, take what you're saying, so you're a member of the big sea, the, the big church universal. He said, yeah. He said, okay, well am I like a pastor in this big old church in the world? And he said, yeah. He said okay, so does it make me like your pastor? He said, yeah. He said, alright, let me share with you Hebrews chapter 13. He said,> Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.He said, do you believe that's true? He said, yeah. He said, okay, so if I'm your pastor and you're gonna submit to me, you should go through the membership process at our church. He just laid it out for him and the guy said no and he left and he never came back. And I thought that was quite the clever way to be able to explain and poke holes in the guy's argument. But that passage is incredibly helpful. You read the New Testament letters and you see that God has structured for these local communities that he has pastors, elders that are overseeing the church. So when I look at that passage, obey your leaders and submit to them. It's helpful for me when I'm talking to people about membership. It's like, I belong to this church, I'M one of the pastors of this church. I belong to them, they belong to me. My people aren't down the road. They're the brothers and sisters. They're not across town, they're not across the world. I don't pastor them, I don't oversee their souls. I don't answer for their souls. No, it's this people. And you see that God has a plan and even the oversight of his church. And I think this is important, especially in Southern culture. And here's why. In Southern culture, pretty much still everyone, if you ask them, are you a Christian? They're gonna say, yeah. The overwhelming majority of people in the south are still gonna say, yeah, I'm a Christian. And if you begin to press into that, a lot of times it's, well, I'm Methodist or I'm Presbyterian or Episcopalian, or I'm Baptist or I'm Catholic. And it's like, what does that mean? I was just born Christian, I was born a Methodist. And as you look at the scriptures, you're not born a Christian. And if you continue to press into this, what you also see is there are a lot of people that claim the name of Christ that don't really belong anywhere. They don't commit to any people, don't commit to the Lord locally anywhere. They're just free floating in a way that is so foreign to the scriptures. And then what you'll also see is you'll see people that go, yeah, I mean, I don't really, not really. I don't really, I'm not a member anywhere. I, I like this church for the worship. I like this church for the teaching. I like this church for their Bible studies, like this church for their small groups. I like this church for their outreach. And I kind of just, you know, take everywhere like it's a buffet. And it's like, man, to make the church of Jesus Christ for your own benefit is so foreign to what the scriptures teach about the church that is not the church that Jesus bled and died for. You should be committed to God and his people somewhere. And my hope is that as you look at the grand story, you'll see, yes, you should belong. You should be a member of a church somewhere. Christians are not designed to be outside of the church or just not. And over the next couple months, I hope we continue to see that over and over again as we walk through this.Now that's the why of why we should belong to a church. Now I just want to, as we end look at the what, what does it mean to belong to this church? And it's gonna sound like a broken record, but it's a good one. It's a record we spend every Sunday. It's what Chet Phillips calls the bee's knees of belonging, which I don't know why he calls it that, but it's really important to us. And that is being a gospel centered community on mission. And that's what you're going to see over the next two months. Walking through this, you're going to see 14 different commitments that highlight that. So let's start with that first part. What does it mean to be gospel centered? It means that we are a church that is bound together by. By one shared story. And that story is the message of the gospel. We are bound together by this one shared story in a way that not just defines us at the beginning in belief, but defines us in belief and practice the rest of our lives. If you look at the American story, okay, if you look at the American story at the beginning, you see that it's a group of people that are anti tyranny. Okay? No taxation without representation. No king's going to tell us what to do. You'll see that it's a people that love freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom of speech. Don't step on my freedoms. You'll see that it's a people that have some hustle, some dogged determination to exist. That's how America began. But that's also the story that permeates through its people throughout time, that even today, Americans don't like kings. Don't tell me what I can and cannot do. We like freedom and there's still some dogged determination to exist. That's the American spirit and it still flows through its people. And we as Christians have a much better story. We as Christians have a much better story. That's not just our origin story, but it permeates through us in our lives. It is the story of Jesus Christ. It is the story of a God who looked on humanity, that rejected him, that spit upon his goodwill, that decided that they wanted to worship what they wanted to worship and find what they thought fulfilling and rejected him over and over again. And God and His mercy does not give us judgment. He sends His Son that Christ comes and he dies on the cross for sinners. And he conquers death at the resurrection. And he gives us grace that we don't deserve to be in relationship with Him. And he forms us more into his image through his work, through his will and desire and good pleasure and that story continues to work within his people. It is the story that saves us, but it's the story that sustains us. In the same way that as foreigners come to America and they become American citizens and in a lot of ways embody the American spirit in beautiful ways, they start loving freedom. They start. They have this dogged determination within them. We do not belong to this world as Christians. Scriptures say that we have. Our citizenship is in heaven. From we have with a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are part of the world that is to come. And as citizens of that kingdom here on this earth, as sojourners and strangers and foreigners, that we embody what it means to belong to him more than anything else. So what we'll see over the next coming weeks as we walk through these commitments, we'll see what it means to be a gospel centered people bound together by that story. But we will also see what it means to be a community. What it means to be a gospel centered community. One of the metaphors that we see in the New Testament for the church, for the this community is the body. So Romans 12, we'll talk about one body, many members. So one body, different body parts, different members of the body in a way that each person is doing their gift to be able to serve one another well. And man, when you see that actually in practice, when you experience what it means to belong to the church of Jesus Christ and have different members of the body who, who love and serve you, it is a glorious story. I mean, if you ever see someone who loses their job, which is a massive loss, and they're crushed, and then someone in their group finds out, and all of a sudden their whole group is messaging them saying, hey, we love you, like we're praying for you. You need to know that your identity is not in the work that you do. Your identity is in the God who loves you, who sustains you. God's going to provide for you. He's going to take care of you, we're going to take care of you. But you need to remember the gospel. And then all of a sudden, they're behind the scenes organizing things. By the time he gets home, there's already been a meal delivered and there's meals to be delivered the next few days. All of a sudden someone else in the church hears about this and they put $1,000 in an envelope and drop it on the doorstep. And all of a sudden he's being provided for, his family's being loved. And then more people in the church find out all of A sudden they ask, can we be praying about this? That you would find a new job that ends up in our prayer message that goes out to our members. Now the whole church is praying and then someone else in the church hears about that and says, wait a second, I know what he does for a living. I got a friend who's hiring for that position right now. They reach out and say, hey, hey, can you talk to this, Talk to my friend. He's hiring. And then within a week, he's already got a job lined up. When you see the church respond like that over and over and over and over again, it makes me so thankful for the church of Jesus Christ and how his church responds over and over again. We've seen this over and over again in our church and it's wonderful. And I wish in some ways more of those stories were told. I know why we don't. Because we don't let the left hand know what the right is doing. I get that. But the stories that go viral are the church hurt stories. And yes, those stories exist. They're real stories with real pain. I'm not denying the existence of them. But boy, oh boy, the amount of church help stories where people rally around one another, it's like 100 to 1 to 1 compared to that. The church is a wonderful people to belong to, to see them in action over and over and over again because they're centered in Christ in a way that helps us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, see something beyond our own interest. And when you see it in action, it's beautiful. It's a family. And that's the language of the New Testament. Often when it talks about the church and is family. When you start learning New Testament Greek, one of the first, you start with the vocabulary words that are the most, most used in the New Testament. And one of the first words you learn in Greek is adelphoi, it's the word for brothers and sisters. Because it shows up over and over and over again in the scriptures to talk about God's people, that we are a family, that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul, when he's making converts, talks about his converts like spiritual children. That we are a family, that we love one another, that we belong to one another. And when you study the Book of Acts, you see this. The church functions like a family. I was trying to explain this to someone recently. I was trying to explain this concept and I was just saying, listen, I'm close with my earthly family. I'm close with my parents, my brothers, and my sisters, like we are, we're close, but boy, oh boy, there's some eternal depth that I have with brothers and sisters in this church that when crap hits the fan in my life, the first few messages are not to family. And that's not to lower my earthly family. I'm real close with them. It's to elevate what the importance of church family is here. And when it hits the fan, I'm messaging people in this church and I got people in this church who rally around in wonderful ways. To belong to a family that fiercely loves God and one another is beautiful, it's compelling, it's wonderful. It is so good to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. And as you walk through the membership commitment with us over the next couple of months, you're going to see this. You're going to see how we fight for this, how this is so unbelievably important to us. We want to be a gospel centered people. We want to be a community that's like a family, but we also want to take this thing that we hold dear to those who don't believe. We're a gospel centered community on mission. And that's what we're also going to see in our membership commitment. We do not exist to be a holy huddle. We do not exist to be inwardly focused. We exist to take this wonderful news that brought us from death to life, to people, to friends, to neighbors, to co workers so that they might taste and see that the Lord is good and be brought into the family of God. We care deeply about this.Now, one of the downsides to you using the word membership is because sometimes the word membership in our culture has a consumeristic bent. I mean, you could be a member of Costco. It's a pretty low commitment. You pay, what is it, 80 bucks a year? You know, and then you get to go and buy all sorts of bulk goods that certainly will, certainly some of it will spoil in your cabinets because it's just hard to use up all that stuff before it goes bad. Maybe your family's better than ours. We couldn't do it. Or Walmart. Plus, that's not important. There's a consumeristic nature sometimes to the word membership that makes it about self, that makes it about our interest. And I still think the word membership is worth fighting for. I still think it's worth reclaiming from our culture to help us see that it is not about self, that membership is about something bigger than us. It's about a people who leverage their time and their Talents and their energy and their money and their efforts and their lives so that others who do not know Christ, others who are sprinting towards an eternity apart from God under his wrath, who desperately need to know the love of a savior who bled and died for them, that it's worth our energy and our hustle and our grit to take that. To those who don't believe. It's not a country club. It's more like a military outpost. The membership we have here, we don't want to be a country club. Country club is low commitment. You pay your fee, you get to go play golf, get to enjoy the pool, but you don't keep the greens and you don't scrub the pool. We don't want to be that. We want to be more like a military outpost. Our country has military outposts all over the world. And the members of the US Military who are at those outposts, they are there to serve the interest of America. They. They're there to serve the interests of their commander in chief. They are there bound together, laser focused, whether it's promoting the values of America in that area of the world or at times, whether it's fighting a war, but they are laser focused, committed to the mission of America. And we have something so much better than that. We are citizens of a kingdom that is not of this world. And we serve a king who. Who reigns for eternity. And we get to serve him in a land that we do not belong to, that is foreign to us. And we get to serve his interests taking the gospel to people who do not know him, making enemies, friends, making the lost found, making the dead alive in Christ. That's what we want to be. The church is supposed to be. And I'll be honest, we've had folks in the past who came to our church looking for a country club and they just didn't stick. And we're not perfect. We got our flaws. You've been here long enough, you go learn them. But that's not what we want to be. But we've also had folks who've been there and done some of the Southern consumeristic Christianity. And they see the things that we're fighting for and they love it and they jump on and they see I do. I want to be a people that loves one another fiercely, that chases after Jesus together. That is taking the gospel to those who don't believe. I want to be a part of that. And they jump in and we hustle and we fight to be the church of the New Testament and the scriptures that we see that hustled and fought and was missional and had some dog in it. Like we want to be that type of church to missionaries, be everyday missionaries here in this city, in Columbia. So we want to be. And as we walk through the membership commitment over the next few months, this is something that is going to show up. And at times it's hard. I'm not going to lie. At times living out the ideals and the practices and the beliefs of our commitments is difficult. And what's helpful for my soul, maybe it'll be helpful for you, is I like to take the 10,000 year perspective when I think about all this stuff. 10,000 years from now, are you going to regret when you look back at this life not picking up more hobbies, not being the best pickleball player in the world, not using all your money to level up to the next part of society, to the next class, Are you going to regret not fulfilling the American dream and all of its trappings? Or are you going to be so insanely thankful that the work of the Spirit went to work in your heart in a way that helped you leverage your time and your energy and your heart's desire to be a people so deeply centered on the gospel, so deeply, fiercely loving one another and so outwardly focused that you took the gospel to some of your co workers who currently right now are walking as enemies of the cross of Christ because you love them, because you served them, because you stood in the way between them and hell and said Jesus is better than everything else. And they placed their faith in Jesus and they got baptized and they joined a group and they kept fighting to believe all the way to 10,000 years from now. They are standing in the presence of their Savior, worshiping him with you because you gave your life away to something that matters. That is what our commitment is all about. And that's what we're gonna look at the next couple of months. My hope is that for the members of this church, you'd be so deeply excited that you be so thankful for the work of Christ in our lives that we get to do this together. But if you're not new and you're checking us out, I hope you stick around. I hope my yelling didn't run you off. It's just, I'm just excited, you guys.

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Saturday, 6 September 2025   For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” Matthew 12:50   “For whoever, if he should do the determination of My Father, the ‘in heavens,' he – he is – My brother and sister and mother” (CG).   In the previous verse, Jesus extended His hand toward the disciples and exclaimed, “Here are My mother and My brothers!” In order to explain that, He next says, “For whoever, if he should do the determination of My Father, the ‘in heavens.'”   Jesus sets the parameters for whom He is referring from the previous verse, explaining what He meant. But what is the “determination of My Father” that He is referring to? The answer to the thought is found in John 6 –   “Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?' 29 Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.'” John 6:26   This explains what Jesus is referring to. Jesus is not (by a long shot) telling His hearers that they must observe the Law of Moses. That is what Jesus came to fulfill. He is not telling us that He is kin to the stock of Israel and that we must bless them to receive a blessing, even if His literal descent is from Israel. He does not say that those who have big churches full of wealthy congregants are His family.   The famous, beautiful, athletic, politically connected, royalty, etc., are excluded without believing in Jesus. Cutting out all categories of people, Jesus identifies those whom He is referring to as those doing “the ‘determination of'” His Father. To exactingly identify them, He next closes out Matthew 12, emphatically saying, “he – he is – My brother and sister and mother.”   Genealogy is excluded. This is why Paul says –    “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26-29   Paul further says –   “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” 1 Corinthians 1:20, 21   It is true that at the time of Jesus' ministry, those of Israel who were under the law were expected to observe the law. Nobody should dispute that. But Jesus' words in John 6, as explained by Paul and the other apostles in the epistles, tell us that we are to have faith in the works of the Son. His works include sinless perfection in His life before the law, His death in fulfillment of it, and His resurrection, which proved that it was so. Belief in this is what God expects of His people. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.   Life application: To cut out much of the theological error that rushes your way from the pulpit, computer, TV screen, etc., remember what God is doing in the world as explained in Scripture. God has a plan of redemption set forth to restore humanity to Himself.   That plan of redemption is based on the work of His Son, Jesus Christ. This plan, centered on His Son, is often co-opted by those who want to control others in various ways. At the time of the early church, it was Judaizers coming in and trusting in the flesh, boasting over those they circumcised.   As the church developed, various cults and sects have arisen to pull people away from the gospel. Eventually, the church became such a large and powerful entity that it exalted itself and its doctrines above the simple gospel. Because of this, the reformation occurred.   In America, a nation that allows freedom of religion, people took advantage of others by proclaiming aberrant ideas through a manipulation of Scripture. Sometimes, there is the exalting of a particular version of Scripture, not Jesus, who is the focus of that Scripture, as a supposed necessary condition for salvation.   Today, unconditionally supporting Israel, a nation that has rejected Jesus at this point, is said to be a necessary condition for receiving God's blessing. In fact, this false teaching is explicitly taught by many supposed Jesus-centered ministries. It is Jesus, not a person, Bible version, nation, or denomination, who brings salvation.   When should believers support a church? The answer is when that church proclaims the gospel. When should believers exalt a people group or nation? The answer is when that nation exalts Jesus Christ. Israel, as a nation, has not yet done this. But unlike other nations, they are explicitly prophesied as someday doing so. For this reason, prayers for them should be raised to God that His will be done in this rebellious group of people.   At the same time, we should be willing to evangelize and pray for all people, telling them about the saving message of Jesus Christ. This alone will bring people to a right relationship with God.   “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” Acts 15:8-11   Lord God, thank You for the simple gospel of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Help us to have our priorities right, clearly thinking through what it means to be in a right standing before You. Your word tells us what it is! It is through faith in Him and what He has done. Yes, thank You for this simple gospel. Amen. Matthew 12   12 In that time, Jesus, He went – the Sabbaths – through the grainfields, and His disciples, they hungered, and they began to pluck kernels and eat. 2 And the Pharisees, having seen, they said to Him, “You behold! Your disciples, they do what it permits not to do in Sabbath.” 3 And He said to them, “Not you read what he did, David, when he hungered, he and those with him? 4 How he entered into the house of God and the bread ‘the before-setting' they ate, which not it is being permitted him to eat, nor those with him, if not the priests only? 5 Or not you read in the law that, the Sabbaths, the priests in the temple the Sabbath profane, and they are guiltless? 6 And I say to you that the temple – greater, it is here. 7 And if you had known what it is, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' not you condemned the guiltless. 8 For Lord, He is – even of the Sabbath – the Son of Man.”   9 And having departed thence, He went into their synagogue. 10 And, you behold! Man, he is, having a withered hand. And they queried Him, saying, ‘If it permits, the Sabbaths, to cure?' That they should accuse Him.   11 And He said to them, “What man, he will be from you, who he will have one sheep, and if this, it should fall into a pit on the Sabbaths, not he will seize it and he will raise it? 12 Therefore, how much man – he excels a sheep! So too, it permits – the Sabbaths – to do good.” 13 Then He says to the man, ‘You outstretch your hand.' And he outstretched it, and it reconstituted, healthy as the other. 14 And the Pharisees, they took counsel against Him, having gone out, how they might kill Him.   15 And Jesus, having known, He withdrew thence. And they followed Him, great crowds. And He cured them all. 16 And He admonished them that not they should make Him apparent. 17 That it should be fulfilled, the ‘having been spoken' through Isaiah the prophet, saying:   18 “You behold! My Servant whom I chose, My beloved in whom it approved, My soul, I will place My Spirit upon Him, And judgment to the Gentiles, He will proclaim. 19 Not He will wrangle, nor He will clamor, Nor anyone – he will hear in the streets His voice. 20 A reed, being battered, not He will break, And flax being smoldered, not He will extinguish, Until if He ejects judgment into victory. 21 And in His name, Gentiles, they will hope.”   22 Then he was brought to Him ‘being demon possessed,' blind and mute, and He cured him, so the blind and mute speak and see. 23 And they were astounded, all the crowds. And they said, “Not any, this, He is the Son of David?”   24 And the Pharisees, having heard, they said, “This, not He ejects the demons if not in Beelzebul, prince of the demons.” 25 And Jesus, having known their thoughts, He said to them, “Every kingdom, having divided against itself, it desolates, and every city or house having divided against itself, not it will stand. 26 And if the Satan, he ejects the Satan, he divided upon himself. How then, it will stand, his kingdom? 27 And if I, I eject demons in Beelzebul, your sons – in whom do they eject? Through this they, they will be your judges. 28 And if in God's Spirit I, I eject the demons, then it preceded upon you, the ‘God's kingdom.' 29 Or how, any, he can enter into the house of the strong and his goods through-seize, if not first he should bind the strong? And then, his house he will through-seize. 30 The ‘not being with Me,' he is against me. And the ‘not gathering with Me,' he scatters.   31 Through this, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy, it will be forgiven men, but the ‘Spirit blasphemy' not it will be forgiven men. 32 And whoever if he should speak a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever, if he should speak against the Holy Spirit, not it will be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in the coming.   33 Either you make the tree good and the fruit of it good, or you make the tree rotten and the fruit of it rotten. For from the fruit, the tree – it is known. 34 Viper's offspring! You can, how, speak good – being evil? For from the surplus of the heart, the mouth, it speaks.  35 The good man, from the good treasure of the heart, he ejects good, and the evil man, from the evil treasure, he ejects evil. 36 And I say to you that every inactive utterance that if they will speak, men, they will render a word about it in judgment day. 37 For from your words, you will be justified, and from your words, you will be condemned.”   38 Then, they answered, some of the scribes and Pharisees, saying, “Teacher, we desire to see a sign from You.” 39 And having answered, He said to them, “Generation – evil and adulteress – it seeks a sign, and not it will be given it, if not the sign of Jonah the prophet. 40 For just as Jonah, he was in the lunker's belly three days and three nights, thus He will be, the Son of Man, in the earth's heart three days and three nights. 41 Men, Nineveh, they will arise in the judgment with this generation and they will sentence it, for they reconsidered at the proclamation of Jonah. And you behold! Jonah's greater is here! 42 Queen, south, she will arise in the judgment with this generation and she will sentence it, for she came from the extremities of the land to hear Solomon's wisdom. And you behold! Solomon's greater is here.   43 And when the unclean spirit, it departs from the man, it traverses through waterless spots seeking rest, and it finds not. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house whence I departed.' And having come, it finds ‘holidaying,' having been swept and having been arranged. 45 Then it traverses, and it takes with itself seven other spirits, itself eviler, and having entered, it dwells there. And the last of that man, it becomes worse than the first. Thus it will be also – this evil generation.”   46 And He yet speaking to the crowds, you behold, His mother and His brothers had stood without seeking to speak to Him. 47 And, he said, someone to Him, “You behold! Your mother and Your brothers, they have stood without seeking to speak to You.” 48 And answering, He said to the ‘telling Him', “Who, she is, My mother, and who, they are, My brothers?” 49 And having extended His hand to His disciples, He said, “You behold! My mother and My brothers. 50 For whoever, if he should do the determination of My Father, the ‘in heavens,' he – he is – My brother and sister and mother.”

In our two chapters from 2 Kings 11 and 12 we have the story of the faithful boy king, Joash, who came to the throne at the age of seven. We also have the elimination of the remnants of Ahab's household in Judah - that is of Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. The treacherous Queen thought she had destroyed all the seed Royal in Judah. But the faithful high priest Jehoiadah, together with his remarkable and equally faithful covenant wife Jehosheba (Joash's aunt) hid and protected the heir to the throne in the temple of Yahweh). Upon the heir reaching 7 years of age the high priest set in train events that saw Athaliah's destruction, and the true monarchy restored. The remainder of the chapter records the covenant that Jehoiadah made with the people in concord with the king to remove Baal worship from Judah. Joash rules faithfully for forty years because of the faithful influence of his uncle on him. However, despite the removal of Baal worship, idolatry still persisted with many of Judah. Under Joash's influence he arranged for the temple to be repaired from funds voluntarily placed in a wooden box. The workers were paid from this, and accounting was not required due to their honesty. Joash bought time for the Kingdom of Judah from becoming subjects of Ben-Hadad and by paying tribute. The servants of Joash conspire against him and replace him with his son, Amaziah. In Ezekiel 2 we read of the prophet's commissioning as a priest. Ezekiel is called 'son of man' - a frequently used title of our Lord Jesus Christ. This title is emblematic of one, the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose mission would be so difficult, and so critically strategic to Yahweh's saving of the world from sin, that it necessitated that God be his Father in order for him to have the capability to successfully undertake the mission, without ensuring his success in any way, from his own love and complete trust and obedience of his Father. Ezekiel's mission was, as was Christ's, to a rebellious people who would refuse to listen. Ezekiel is told by the LORD that he will be savagely opposed by his people, but he is not to be afraid as the Almighty will be with him. In the test of time as Ezekiel's words from his Sovereign come to pass the nation will know that Yahweh's prophet will be vindicated in their midst. In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 Paul encourages extreme generosity in giving support to the poor believers of Jerusalem. Paul had seen the need for this fund for some time and had arranged for the Gentile ecclesias to share their material wealth in the same way that God had blessed the Gentile believers in Christ in partaking of the Hope of Israel - the gospel that had been preached to Abraham and his seed. The Apostle says that generosity is of our Heavenly Father, who provides unstintingly for all of His children. Consider this, all we have is God's anyway; and not our own. When we give it is only what He has first given us. And if we feel we cannot give then think again. Our Heavenly Father is always able to recompense faithful service. But our greatest reason for giving is out of our gratefulness to Him for what He has given us in His Son. Chapter 9 verses 15 ESV read aloud - "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!" Pause and Ponder. We too can show our gratitude to our Father by generously supporting through prayer and contributing of our abundance to our needy brothers.Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciation of God's words, join again tomorrow at https://christadelphianvideo.org/christadelphian-daily-readings/

Rwh06sep Ep.380 – Run With Horses Podcast –  5 Traits of Disciple Makers Podcast: rwh.podbean.com Website: www.runwithhorses.net Youtube:  https://youtube.com/@rwhpodcast Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RWHpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rwh_podcast Twitter:  https://twitter.com/RWH_podcast Author pages with links to all books on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BCSDDVLB – James Norman Smith https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BMGW51FW – Susan Jane Smith   1.. The Call to Discipleship •Jesus' Invitation •Mark 1:17 •Goal of Discipleship •Romans 8:29   2.. Theological Foundation of Spiritual Growth •The Seed Growing •Matthew 13:31–32 •Athletes Training •1 Corinthians 9:24–27 •Endurance in the Race •Hebrews 12:1–2   3.. Core Virtues in the Journey   1. Discipline •1 Timothy 4:7–8 2. Perseverance •James 1:2–4   3. Risk-Taking (Faith in Action) •Jonathan and His Armor-Bearer (1 Samuel 14:6–7) •Risk: Attacking a Philistine garrison with just two men. •Faith: Jonathan trusted that God was not limited by numbers or strength. •Outcome: God gave them victory, sparking courage in Israel.     4. Curiosity (A Holy Hunger) •Acts 17:11   Zacchaeus Seeking Jesus •Luke 19:3–4 •Curiosity: Zacchaeus was determined to see Jesus. •Outcome: His seeking led to salvation coming to his house.   Godly curiosity: •Is fueled by humility (acknowledging we don't know everything). •Leads to greater revelation (God meets seekers with truth). •Results in deeper faith and obedience, not mere intellectual satisfaction.   5. Integrity (Wholeness and Consistency) •Matthew 5:37   6.. Conclusion •Philippians 1:6 •Return to Jesus' words: “Follow Me, Fish for men.”   – “Thank you for listening today!  -If you enjoyed the show you can listen to all the past shows wherever you listen to podcasts. A good place to start is at runwithhorses.net. You can also write me at norman@runwithhorses.net or leave a comment on the Run With Horses Podcast facebook page. Day by day, God is transforming us into the image of His Son. Be encouraged that He will complete His work! And Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and never stop running."

John 8:13-14, So the Pharisees said to Him, "You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going." The Pharisees didn't know, but now it is known. Jesus came from the Father in Heaven, and He went back to the Father in Heaven. He came to take away all our sins—everything that separates us from Him. He went back to the Father to intercede for us, so the Father would send us His Spirit to be with us forever and empower us with His presence to live and love with Him. His love in us is His testimony, and it is true. The Pharisees demanded more than one's own testimony about himself. They were looking for more proof of where Jesus was from before they would believe Him. Jesus' proof of where He was from was the work of the Father. Earlier in John 5:36-37, Jesus had told them, “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me.” In the same way, Jesus testifies about us that we are His disciples by the works He does in us. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 15:7-8 repeats this truth. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” Did you notice Jesus said, “It will be done for you?” Jesus loving in us is His testimony that we are from Him, just as the Father loving in Jesus is His testimony about where Jesus was from. That's why I have concluded that God saved us to glorify Himself through His Son loving in, through, and with us. In short, we glorify God by living to love with Jesus. Where are we from? We are from God. Where are we going? We are going to God in heaven. I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of "giving it forward," so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.

n this solo episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Jesse Schwamb dives into a theological exploration of work as an extension of Christian calling that extends far beyond paid employment. Building upon their previous discussion about vocational choices for Christians, Jesse addresses the question: "Does a Christian's work ever cease?" Through careful examination of Ephesians 2:8-10 and other passages, he argues that while the nature of our work may change through different seasons of life—including retirement, caregiving, or illness—God has prepared good works for believers to walk in throughout their entire earthly journey. The episode offers both theological foundations and practical guidance on how Christians can approach all forms of labor as worship, finding purpose and meaning in every season of life. Key Takeaways Good works are not the basis of salvation but its goal—Christians are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), not by works, yet they are saved for good works that God has prepared in advance (Ephesians 2:10). The Christian's work never ceases but changes form—Whether in paid employment, retirement, caregiving, or even during illness, God has prepared meaningful work for believers in every season of life. All work has spiritual value when done unto the Lord—The Reformed tradition elevates all forms of work, not just paid employment, as having potential to glorify God. Prayer is a significant and valuable form of work—Even those who cannot engage in physical labor can participate in the vital spiritual work of intercessory prayer. Good works offer multiple benefits to believers—According to the Westminster Confession, good works manifest gratitude to God, bolster assurance of faith, encourage other Christians, adorn Christian doctrine, silence critics, and glorify God. Christian workers should be distinctively different—Believers can stand out in the workplace by being fair and committed, genuinely caring for others, demonstrating generosity, remaining calm under pressure, and being authentic about their faith. Finding our identity in Christ transforms our approach to work—When we place our ultimate treasure in heaven rather than earthly gain, we can approach our labors with greater peace, purpose, and freedom from anxiety. Elaboration on Key Points The Christian's Work Never Ceases but Changes Form Jesse challenges the modern Western notion that work is merely a season of life that eventually ends with retirement. Instead, he presents a more ancient and biblical perspective: that work never ceases but merely takes different forms throughout our lives. Using Paul's metaphor of "walking" in the good works God has prepared (Ephesians 2:10), Jesse explains that our journey continues throughout life, with the landscape changing as we move through different seasons. Whether we're in paid employment, caring for loved ones, serving in retirement, or confined to a bed during illness, God has prepared meaningful work for us to do. Even those who are physically limited can engage in the vital work of intercessory prayer, which Jesse describes as "the kind of work that is so glorious... that while it exhausts us, it exhausts us in a way that brings us the greatest kind of sleep or refreshment." This perspective eliminates the anxiety many Christians feel about the purpose of their later years and affirms the ongoing value of their contributions to God's kingdom regardless of their physical capacity or economic productivity. Good Works Offer Multiple Benefits to Believers Drawing from the Westminster Confession of Faith, Jesse outlines six significant benefits of good works in the Christian life. First, good works manifest our gratitude to God for the gift of His Son—they become tangible expressions of thankfulness for salvation. Second, they bolster assurance of faith by providing evidence of God's work in our lives. Third, good works encourage other Christians toward greater acts of Christ-centered love, as we witness the transforming power of the gospel in one another. Fourth, they adorn the doctrine of God our Savior, making abstract theological truths visible and attractive to others. Fifth, good works silence critics who devalue biblical Christianity by demonstrating its positive impact. Finally, they glorify God by displaying His transformative work of love in our lives. These benefits apply to all forms of work—paid or unpaid—and give eternal significance to even the most mundane tasks when done unto the Lord. As Jesse emphasizes, "There are no mundane things. There are no small works... There are just these small things that come alongside with the great work that God has done already in our lives." Memorable Quotes "Good works aren't bad when they're seen as the goal of salvation, not its ground. The goal, because it's worthwhile to want to worship God and to obey him by doing good works." "Keep walking on that journey knowing that God all along the way has already prepared good works for you to do because he loves you and because this is our opportunity to worship him together in everything that we do." "When we are performing this work for God, he assures our faith. He refreshes us in it. He exhausts us in the best possible way so that we might love him more, cherish him more, encourage one another more, and really come to understand his character more forthrightly."   Full Transcript [00:00:08] Jesse Schwamb: Keep walking on that journey knowing that God all along the way has already prepared good works for you to do because he loves you and because this is our opportunity to worship him together and everything that we do. [00:00:32] Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 459 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse, and this is the podcast where the tulip never wilts. Hey, brothers and sisters. [00:00:48] Recap of Previous Episode [00:00:48] Jesse Schwamb: So in this episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, this solo episode, I'm gonna wrap up a conversation that Tony and I just had in the last episode and set us up, wet Your Appetite for a whole brand new series. [00:01:03] Jesse Schwamb: That's gonna be starting in the next episode. So you find yourself bookended by two really great things. One, a great conversation we just had about the Christian and work. Are there jobs that really Christians shouldn't have? Because it takes us away from what it means to serve the Lord vocationally, as strange as that sounds. [00:01:22] Jesse Schwamb: So if you didn't hear that, you're gonna wanna go check that out before you listen to me, wrap all of us up right now. In fact, here's what you should do. Stop everything you're doing, unless it's operating a vehicle or a backhoe. Power those things down. Get off the side of the road, then go to reformed brotherhood.com and you can find all of the episodes living out there that we've ever recorded, including the one from last week, and I believe will be greatly blessed by hanging out with some of those conversations. [00:01:49] Jesse Schwamb: So go and do that first. [00:01:51] The Christian's Work and Retirement [00:01:51] Jesse Schwamb: On this episode, I'm gonna talk a little bit as a follow up about. Does the Christian's work ever cease? Is there a time, because we just spoke about vocational work and work for which we're remunerated, where once that goes away, what happens next? Is it a different kind of work? [00:02:07] Jesse Schwamb: Is it no work? Should we be the kind of people that are trying to pursue an end to that remunerated work as quick as possible? Is that okay? What happens if we can't be compensated for our work anymore? What happens? We're gonna reason from the scriptures a little bit more about work, our calling and all of that by way of vocation. [00:02:26] Jesse Schwamb: And part of this conversation has actually come from a larger conversation. So one of the greatest and best things about this podcast, something I wanna boast in right now, because it has nothing to do with Tony or me, and that is. There are lots of people listening, brothers and sisters from all over the world who gathered together and debrief. [00:02:47] Jesse Schwamb: Talk about the episodes, hang out and talk about life, share funny stories, share prayer requests, support one another. And you can do that by joining our little group on a messaging app called Telegram. So in fact, here's the second thing you should do. If you go to T Me Reform Brotherhood one more time, T Me Back slash Reform Brotherhood, slap that bad boy in your favorite browser, and that'll give you a link to our little corner of this messaging app. [00:03:13] Jesse Schwamb: And there's a channel within that app just to talk about. The various episodes as a way of interacting with all of us, and as a result of the episode that we recorded last about this idea of vocational work and calling, how does that all come together? Brother Joshua posed an excellent question, which is in part the reason for the conversation I'm about to have with you all, and that is what happens. [00:03:33] Jesse Schwamb: When we retire, or what happens when we desire to set aside sufficient resources if we can, so that we can get to that place as soon as possible. What then what about work or what if we have to care for a sick, sick, loved one? Or what if we have to come and take responsibility for our family in a different or unique way that takes us away from work where we're not being paid for things in the same way anymore? [00:03:52] Jesse Schwamb: What happens then? So we are going to get to all of that on this little brief little episode that's gonna sit in between the end of our conversation on work and the beginning of our brand new series, which, you know, you want me to tell you what it is, but I'm not gonna do it. It's just not gonna happen on this episode. [00:04:09] Jesse Schwamb: So you're just gonna have to sit in that anticipation waiting. Waiting for it to come next week, but for now, let's talk a little bit more about work. [00:04:17] Good Works and Salvation [00:04:17] Jesse Schwamb: And let me start with a, a phrase that's like so obvious, but you can say it with me if you want, because we have to agree on this. At least that good works aren't bad. [00:04:27] Jesse Schwamb: I mean, good works aren't bad. They're good. By definition it seems like self-reinforcing. And as Christians, we should want to do those good works. Now, I haven't said what the good works are, haven't even explained really. Although we, Tony and I talked about this before, how they really fit into that pattern and that normative behavior of the Christian life. [00:04:44] Jesse Schwamb: But can we just agree that if the Bible is saying there are good works for us to do, then they must be good. And they must be there for a purpose. They must be there for a reason and we can't debate that. Just because we're not saved according to our works doesn't mean that we shouldn't be concerned about pursuing a life of joyful obedience to God's word. [00:05:01] Jesse Schwamb: I mean, this is why Jesus like emphatically states in the gospel. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments in obedience. However frail it is. However much we stumble, however feeble we are in actually executing it is our evidence. Our love for God and for his son Jesus Christ. So far from undermining the gospel of grace, good works are the perfect compliment to the gospel, and this is why good works are good. [00:05:29] Jesse Schwamb: So to be clear, good works are bad when they're seen as the basis of salvation. And I think if you've been with us for any length of time or you're familiar with the reform. Theological movement. If you've been steeped in the scriptures, you're gonna find that kind of compulsion, that pull that says like, well, I understand that when I use my good works as a means of somehow Meritoriously earning my salvation, they cease to be good. [00:05:54] Jesse Schwamb: This is why, of course, Jonathan Edwards called Good works of this nature, only glittering sin because they're, they have no power to redeem. They have no power to save. They have no power to. Transition yourself into some kind of a righteous sense or rubric. It's impossible. They will not do that. They do not serve that purpose. [00:06:12] Jesse Schwamb: A person is not saved by works, but by God's grace through faith in Christ. [00:06:17] The Role of Good Works in Christian Life [00:06:17] Jesse Schwamb: So this is the time where we have to love ones. Go to Ephesians chapter two. It's impossible for me to continue without at least sharing this good news. If you need to hear this again, and this may be a well rehearsed verse or a well rehearsed writing from the Apostle Paul to you, but I ask that you hear it again. [00:06:32] Jesse Schwamb: If you can with these ears that are unstopped, that are almost fresh with excitement for this really good news, this is what Paul writes to the church and Ephesus for. By grace, you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. [00:06:51] Jesse Schwamb: For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. I mean, there's so much there that is. Lovely and refreshing. And freeing. It's not works righteousness, it's not meritorious. Salvation is clearly not of our own doing. It's not the result of these works, even the faith through which we receive salvation is a gracious, gracious gift from God. [00:07:21] Jesse Schwamb: So what a just burden taken off of our shoulders. The mantle has been removed from us. To somehow even equate or think that, well, if I have a good day and I've done a lot for God, he must love me more. I must be more ingratiated towards him, even if I have the sense that. I feel closer to him. Hopefully that closeness is the sense of joy and obedience. [00:07:40] Jesse Schwamb: And now where we get the sense that, well, because I've done something for God, he ought to do something for me or me more favorably disposed towards me. All of that is nonsense and that way just. Total foolishness and madness lies. Instead, when we turn that into our rejoicing first for the faith itself by which we receive from God, that grants us access to this great salvation. [00:08:02] Jesse Schwamb: When we see that as a gift first, then all of this other mongering for responsibility and trying to placate through the things that we can do and having this sense of guilt in our minds about what we should have done or what we did not accomplish, or even if in our own obedience toward Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, we've fallen short. [00:08:20] Jesse Schwamb: We can still find there is this gift for us and the gift of salvation is ours in Christ through faith, not by works. It's very, very clear in what Paul writes to the church here as fallen creatures, even our best efforts are completely laced with sin. This also is, by the way, a really great kindness of God that we can never really be contrite enough in our coming before him and, and even in our humility, we probably can never be humble enough. [00:08:47] Jesse Schwamb: So the fact that God accepts because of Christ us into the family of God without having to put upon us this burden that you must be sorry enough for your sin, or you're not repentant enough, you haven't expressed the severe and necessary amount of contrition to really placate and understand that you have cosmically committed treason against the all powerful God of the universe. [00:09:13] Jesse Schwamb: Who could stand underneath that kind of weight. And the answer is no one, but by the grace of God through Jesus. So it's amazing. That when we start to think about work, what we find is that God is first doing all of the work in us, and we see that the first work is not our work, but his work, the secondary work, this means of obedience, of showing, our gratitude of expressing praise and worship. [00:09:37] Jesse Schwamb: Must, I think, necessarily be manifest in work that is labor of some kind, because God has first expressed himself in that kind of labor. And second, he's given it to us to do as an experience into his very being and his character, but also in service to him and to those who are around us. I promise I'm getting to all of this good stuff about what does this practically mean, but all this I think is so necessary for us. [00:10:02] Jesse Schwamb: To really set the proper understanding for what it means to have good work to do and to do this work. So these good works provide no basis for boasting because they're utterly worthless to save. They have worth in other ways, but it just turns out they're worthless In this way. It's a bit like if you take your, take your, whatever your domestic currency is, whatever the currency you, you transact in, I live and hang out in the United States, so my currency is the US dollar. [00:10:24] Jesse Schwamb: If I take a bunch of dollars with me and I go travel almost anywhere else in the world. There's a small chance they'll be accepted. And I realize I've picked the wrong currency for this metaphor at this point, but if I let, let's say, let's just pick a different one. Let's say that you live in Zimbabwe or you just happen to have a bunch of Zimbabwean dollars hanging out in your pocket. [00:10:42] Jesse Schwamb: I'm sure some of you do, and you take that currency and you come to the United States and you wanna go buy something, those dollars will not work. They just won't work. Nobody will accept them. They're worthless. They're without value. Now, do they have value? In a certain sense, of course they do. In that domestic currency, in that homeland they do. [00:10:59] Jesse Schwamb: And in the same way, though, of course, slightly different here, our works are these expression of. Obedience of love for God. But the minute we try to exchange them for salvation, what we're gonna find is God says that's worthless here. And it again, is a fool's errand to build your entire life on some kinda system or belief that says, what I'm doing is earning these dollars, making these good works, performing these things. [00:11:22] Jesse Schwamb: So I'll have gathered to myself all of this currency, which I'm then going to use to buy my salvation now, I think even in my own ears, that sounds ridiculous to say, and yet so many of us. Get caught up in that. And if we don't get caught up in whole, we sometimes get caught up in it peace wise, because again, we have a sense that, well, if I've been a particularly good Christian today, doesn't that mean that God is more happy with me? [00:11:45] Jesse Schwamb: And Paul says, no, you have been saved as a gift of God. It is his gracious act that through faith you have been given salvation, and that faith was not of your own. That itself as well was a gift. It's gift upon gift upon gift. And so even the work itself is shaped. By the sense that all that God gives us and him doing all the verbs is his gifting. [00:12:09] Jesse Schwamb: So good works are gonna provide no basis for boasting because they are worthless to save. And the only foundation for salvation is Christ, we're saved by his works, not ours. If you're looking for that good, that first, that perfect work, the thing that you could latch onto, the thing that you would say this, I'm gonna hang my hat. [00:12:27] Jesse Schwamb: And all of my life on the work that you're looking for is not the one that you can accomplish. It is the one that Jesus has already done on your behalf. So that's why I always think when I see those W wait, they're not as prevalent anymore I suppose. But do you remember a time loved ones when like the ubiquity of the WAJD bracelet and I always thought about the question, what would Jesus do? [00:12:49] Jesse Schwamb: And to me, the answer I give now somewhat tongue in cheek is everything and it's already been done. And so that is really the promise. The great blessing of the gospel that now we are saved for works and boy does that preposition make a difference. Like we should be underlining that, like putting that gilded gold in our Bibles like we are saved now for God works good, works are not bad then when they're seen as the goal of salvation, not its ground. [00:13:14] Jesse Schwamb: I wanna say that again because I think that might sound a little bit funny to some, but I've long really come to cherish this idea that it is the goal but not the ground. The goal, because it's worthwhile to want to worship God. And to obey him by doing good works. And Paul gives us an avenue in which to travel and to understand this and to reason it from the scripture so that we can be confident that that's exactly what God intends for us. [00:13:37] Jesse Schwamb: And so again, while these good works aren't meritorious salvation, they are a necessary component of Christian faith. And the first important thing that we ought to mention here. Is that when we think about work, it's not that like the reform tradition, that that theological perspective has somehow elevated work for remuneration. [00:13:55] Jesse Schwamb: I, I don't think that entirely was the whole emphasis of talking about vocation in that kind of theological sphere. That is, we have a bunch of Christians and they have to do work to survive, and some of them are cobblers and of them are cooks and some of them are cleaners. And so what we really need to do here is make sure that people understand that whatever you're getting paid for God has made you to do. [00:14:15] Jesse Schwamb: And that is not a great thing. That's all true, but the goal wasn't just to elevate that style or type of work that is the work for which you get compensated. It was to elevate all work, all work of every kind, all labor of every kind, because God is big enough that every bit of labor paid or unpaid in direct service for somebody. [00:14:34] Jesse Schwamb: Fortunately, there is no compensation or in service to someone for which there is that all of that work. It does give God glory if we mean it to. And so this is why they do all things. Whatever you do, whether you eat or whether you drink, all of even these tiny things roll up into this argument from the lesser to the greater all of work is for God's glory. [00:14:53] Jesse Schwamb: And so to tip my hat a little bit here, then I think an answer to, to Brother Joshua's question, and in a nice compliment to what Tony and I were talking about last week, there is no end to the Christian's work. There's just different types of work. Oh, we'll get to that. I'm a little bit ahead of myself here. [00:15:08] Jesse Schwamb: But of course we find in Ephesians two, it's important to understand this because there's so much of the dynamic of good works in the Christian life that are being explained there. And of course we learn that good works are the result and not the cause of being new creations, and they're testifying to the fact that we have been redeemed. [00:15:24] Jesse Schwamb: So our lives might reflect craftsmanship and character of God. So amazing, isn't it? That God has given work, that work is not a four letter word, that labor is good labor of all kinds. Is good because it's reflecting the craftsmanship in character of God in unique ways. That is like apart from doing work from this work which God has called us to, from traveling in it through our lives and participating in all kinds of different work, that there's something that would be missing in our exemplifying, the craftsmanship in character of God. [00:15:56] Jesse Schwamb: And so we see that apart from Christ. We can do nothing that pleases God, but in Christ. And here's a great promise. We are created to perform God honoring acts of obedience in Christ. We can be confident that God accepts our weak and wobbly efforts. You know, Paul further goes on to talk about good works, a result of God's pattern for the Christian life. [00:16:15] Jesse Schwamb: We don't need to wonder what God requires from us. He's told us in his word, good works are deeds done in conformity to God's word. Now the beauty of that is. That we have this pattern for the Christian life in which Paul is saying, and I think this is really helpful for our conversation, that all of the things that God has given us to do, he's already prepared. [00:16:39] Jesse Schwamb: He's already me and plus it. He's already set the table for us. He's already put all the things in place. He's already organized all the details. And he says that because he's done that we are now free to walk in them. And I interpret that walk as this idea, which I think is very particular to the way that Paul is writing here. [00:16:57] Jesse Schwamb: It's a word of encouragement that is speaking of more of a marathon and rather a sprint. So of course, like a lot of times in the West, we think of our work as a season of life in which we're doing something in service for a company and for others, creating value, which is good. All of these things can be in service to God, of course, especially when they're in honoring. [00:17:15] Jesse Schwamb: With a full counsel of the scriptures and that when we do those things, that time will end and then we start to think about what work do have left. Whereas really, of course, a more ancient way of thinking about work was that it never ceased. It was of different kinds, and we know it was of different kinds because of this idea of walking that is like you never says stop the walk. [00:17:32] Jesse Schwamb: It never says take a break. It says you're gonna continue throughout your life in this metaphor of. Your journey of life being a walk, and as that walk changes, as the landscape undulates, as you move and transverse over different geographies on this walk in this metaphor, there's no doubt that the work will be different. [00:17:50] Jesse Schwamb: And there may be a season when you no longer have to work and be compensated, but it doesn't mean, of course, that the work ends. In fact, the work is still there. It's a different kind. And we don't want it to go away, in fact, and we don't want it to feel, uh, like it should be a, a lesser thing because it's not because we've been given in this verse the sense that this is the pattern that's been given to us. [00:18:12] Jesse Schwamb: It's the value of walking the pathway of obedience. And Paul makes it manifold. In fact, the Westminster Confession of Faith, which I'm 17 minutes in and you can mark your clock. That's the first time I mentioned it. I've gotten there already. Loved ones. Don't worry, we're always gonna bring in a confession. [00:18:27] Encouragement and Assurance Through Good Works [00:18:27] Jesse Schwamb: And on this week, it's the confession of faith from the Westminster states that there are at least six benefits of good work. So here these out, this is just my quick rundown of what the Westminster puts forward thinking about these good works and when you hear these benefits. Think about them in the broadest way. [00:18:41] Jesse Schwamb: That is like, think about how these benefits apply to all kinds of work, not just like your nine to five, but like of course your family society and the church and your work there is needed both because it is an exemplification of obedience to Christ, but also because it is accomplishing good and creating value. [00:18:58] Jesse Schwamb: So the first is that good works manifest our gratitude to God for the gift of his son. Now think about this. If that's true, that this in a concrete way. No matter what, we're able to do that we, if we're doing these good works, we're showing gratitude to God. Why would we ever want those good works to go away? [00:19:14] Jesse Schwamb: Why do we wanna break that pattern? We don't want to. And again, this gives a, a high level, a high calling to all the things that we can do, both like again, in our paid work and then thereafter. Or even if we, we never have paid work that all of these things, there's something for us to do here and it manifests our gratitude to God and the gift of his son. [00:19:32] Jesse Schwamb: The second thing is good work's, bolster assurances of faith. So it is the Christian who in obedience to Christ has a compulsion is as Paul would say elsewhere, hemmed in by the love of God to work towards a specific end in love and service toward others. That is a good work. And when we're doing that good work, there's a mutual kind of reinforcement that occurs that as we humble ourselves before God and that we work to. [00:19:57] Jesse Schwamb: Or to obey him and that we walk in the good works that he has prepared for us, that we find that we are sure that God is who he is, that his character and craftsmanship is, is in fact manifest in us and demonstrated by us. And in this way as we worship him, we find that our faith grows. Especially perhaps when we're called to do things that are difficult or we're called to participate in work, especially in the church, that requires some kind of leap of faith and we're in so doing where we must trust God forthrightly. [00:20:27] Jesse Schwamb: We find that doing those good works bolster our assurance of faith. Number three. Good works are a means of encouraging other Christians toward greater acts of Christ-centered love. There's so much in Hebrews chapter 10 that we could talk about there. This is an incredible idea that when we work towards obeying God laboring on his behalf in all of the spheres of life, to which he has given us to participate in that Christians receive this as a. [00:20:55] Jesse Schwamb: Form of encouragement. You know, think about how you've seen the testifying work of somebody else in your church, in their patience, in their kind behavior. You know, we often speak about a person who is graceful, and by that of course, we mean there's a beauty to their outer movement, as it were. That's maybe they're a graceful dancer. [00:21:11] Jesse Schwamb: Maybe they're a grace or a baseball player, but you'll find that you can apply this word in so many ways whenever you are trying to really show that somebody in their outward movements does things particularly well, or just with ease or in a way that conveys a certain kind of beauty. When we say that somebody is gracious, what we essentially mean is that there's a beauty to their inner movement that is, that the exemplification of who they are in Christ is so firmly rooted in solid, that the way they behave in situations and circumstances clearly shows. [00:21:43] Jesse Schwamb: That there's something different about the way that they process the world and in the way that they work. And when we see that we are prone to be encouraged to see that God is real, that he does intervene and interact in situations that he does, in fact still do the most miraculous thing ever, which is take the sinner, take the gospel abuser, take the unregenerate, and perform that surgical movement. [00:22:05] Jesse Schwamb: Where that heart of stone is replaced with one of flesh, it's the greatest miracle in the entire universe. And so when we're seeing that work exemplified, we're allowing ourselves to participate in encouraging our brothers and sisters. Fourth good works are concrete avenues for adorning the doctrine of God, our savior in life, in ministry. [00:22:25] Jesse Schwamb: So again, it's uniting this idea of who we are, that we say we are, who we are in our transformation regeneration, marrying that up with work. And this is, again, why a. All of this reform of theology elevates work to this place of saying, whatever you do, you can do it to the glory of God and you ought to, you ought to be thinking that way because this is the way God intended all the things that we do to be done. [00:22:47] Jesse Schwamb: So idea of like when Paul says, like, pray without ceasing, be constantly in the Lord. I think in some ways what he's saying is. When you shift your mindset to recognize that there are no mundane things to do because God has prepared all those things ahead of time, they're, they're mundane, maybe in their smallness, in our own like really myopic kind of human natural man perspective. [00:23:06] Jesse Schwamb: They are certainly not mundane with respect to the power of love that may be communicated in them with the encouragement that flows out of them, and with the expression of gratitude for God, our savior and his son. All of those things are high and lifted up worthy of exaltation and call worthy of all of our efforts. [00:23:23] Jesse Schwamb: And so there we find that there are really no mundane things. There are no small works as it were. There are just these small things that come alongside with the great work that God has done already in our lives and our expression of that first work that he has done. So Fifth Good Works, silence critics who devalue the goodness of biblical Christianity. [00:23:43] Jesse Schwamb: You know, there's a lot here that we could talk about. Jesus was so outspoken about what it meant for his followers to adorn themselves to be in Christ, and in so doing, they were gonna be these lights set on a, like a city on a hill for all to see. And sometimes as Christians, we get a little, eh, strange about this kind of thing, don't we? [00:24:01] Jesse Schwamb: Because we, we wanna be careful that we need to be humble. You know, we, we want to make sure that as we're serving God, that we are not boasting in that in any kind of way, and yet there is something here where we ought to be giving and testifying to why we do certain things. I've been thinking about this a lot because I think it's one thing for us to say, well, we wanna live in such a manner. [00:24:21] Jesse Schwamb: We wanna do our work in such a manner, whatever that is, so others know there's something different and, and this is noble and honorable. I think what's even better is to let them know why it's different. Sometimes you shouldn't wait for somebody to ask. You know, if it's clear that you're doing something and you wanna express why we're doing it, say, I'm, I'm doing this 'cause Jesus loves me, he's changed me, and Jesus loves you. [00:24:39] Jesse Schwamb: I mean, this is okay to say loved ones. And I think in doing that, making that connection clear, what it's gonna do is it's going to make sure that those who would say like the, the Bible is antiquated out wounded document. It's a document that's filled with strife. It's a document that pits won't people against one another. [00:24:54] Jesse Schwamb: It's a document that is not progressive enough. What they'll find instead is. When our good works, our truly good works are accompanied by a verbal testimony of why we do these works in obedience to God for, because of his great love for us. It will discredit those who would say all of those things. It turns away a. [00:25:14] Jesse Schwamb: All of the critics would say that the Bible is, is not relevant, that Christians are too, uh, bigoted, that we are the kind of people that are too hypocritical. Instead, when we acknowledge that we are far from perfect, but that we have a perfect savior when we talk about our weak faith, but that our, the faith that we have is not in its size, but in the size of the savior. [00:25:34] Jesse Schwamb: When we can say all these things alongside of our efforts to be obedient. Being humble, asking for forgiveness, seeking repentance from those whom we hurt, that in this way, we are again doing all of the things that are the theology of the cross, that even in our small weaknesses, even in our great failures, what we find is God does more than just to fill in the gaps He overflows with through the power of His Holy Spirit into a powerful testimony into the lives of others with whom we interact, and especially in the things that we do. [00:26:05] Jesse Schwamb: So six. And lastly, this is from the Westminster. These benefits of good works. Last Good works glorify God by displaying his work of love in our lives. I think we often forget about this. That God has given us work because he loves us. Of course, God is always working. There's something beautiful about the fact that God is ever present in our lives working in our hearts. [00:26:29] Jesse Schwamb: And sometimes of course, as the, the older reformers have said, he lays us over the Anil, as it were, and he hammers on us, and those are painful times. And other times he's really polishing up our sharp edges or sanding off those places where we need a little bit of attention. But everywhere he's working in us and what a blessing that he never stops, isn't it that he comes to us constantly because he loves us. [00:26:51] Jesse Schwamb: He refuses to leave us in a state that is less than the abundant life. Now we know that we will never accomplish that, this side of glory. But what a benefit that God never gives up on us. That he continues to show his great love for us in how he attentively comes into our lives to hone us in this progressive sanctification, whereby his work doesn't stop. [00:27:13] The Unending Nature of Work [00:27:13] Jesse Schwamb: And so because his work doesn't stop. Neither does ours. So the beauty of this is for anybody else, for us, for brother Joshua, for those who are thinking about, you know, what if I, I want to maybe try to set aside more resources now so I can stop my work of re of compensation to do other things, I would say. [00:27:31] Jesse Schwamb: Well, Godspeed by, by the power of God, I, I hope that happens for you. And what about those who would say, well, my work is gonna have to be caring for a loved one who's ill? I would say that is great and good work. What about those for who are retiring now or thinking about retirement? What's left? Tons. Of good work. [00:27:48] Jesse Schwamb: I think we know this. Now, what about for those who are in the final stages of their life, those who are not ambulatory, maybe those who are weak, maybe those who are ill themselves. There is still good work because the work that God gives us is not the heavy kind that causes our bodies or our minds to be crushed in despair, to have to till the ground as it were in such a way that it leaves us lacking replenishment instead, even for those. [00:28:16] Jesse Schwamb: Who are saying, what is my place when my body is wasting away? [00:28:21] The Value of Prayer in Our Work [00:28:21] Jesse Schwamb: When I'm having a, a season of sickness and I feel like there's nothing I can do, there is so much that the church needs from you in particular, especially your work in prayer. And again, I think we've been outspoken. Prayer is absolutely a work. [00:28:34] Jesse Schwamb: If you don't believe me, just. Try to pray. So just being able to participate in something like that, which is in many ways maybe the greatest calling. I, I always think about this phrase, when we work, we work, when we pray, God works. And so just the act of saying I'm gonna devote myself in prayer, in intercessory prayer for my church, for my community, for my family, is a kind of work that is unparalleled. [00:28:58] Jesse Schwamb: And so if that's the work that God has given you to walk in right now. Then would you please do it? Because it is the season to which he's called you because he's with you on that journey. And Paul says, wherever you go, wherever you are walking, God has already prepared before you get to the next stop sign, before you get to the next wave point, before you get to the next pin drop. [00:29:17] Jesse Schwamb: God has already prepared for you good works, and you're mealing to walk in them. [00:29:22] Finding Joy and Refreshment in Labor [00:29:22] Jesse Schwamb: And so the work of prayer by itself is the kind of work that is so glorious, like all the work of Christ that we find refreshment and it changes. There's a theme here, like all of our work changes because when we are doing it onto the Lord, we're doing it with him in mind when we're understanding that this is our obligation, but also our greatest privilege, that while it exhausts us. [00:29:41] Jesse Schwamb: It exhausts us in a way that brings us the greatest kind of sleep or refreshment. Does that make sense? We ever had like a really great day at work where, you know, I, I worked hard and I did work worth doing, and in that I felt that there was a sweetness. In fact, Ecclesiastes five 12 says, sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich man will not let him sleep. [00:30:05] Jesse Schwamb: This idea that. Why as we work, as we labor for God, that he does restore us, he gives us joy and satisfaction in that work. And again, there's this, all this mutual reinforcement, this kind of self-fulfilling and reinforcing idea that. When we are performing this work for God, he assures our faith. He refreshes us in it. [00:30:24] Jesse Schwamb: He exhausts us in the best possible way so that we might love him more, cherish him more, encourage one another more, and to really come and understand his character more forthrightly. [00:30:34] Living Quietly and Minding Your Affairs [00:30:34] Jesse Schwamb: I like what Paul says in one Thessalonians chapter four, aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs. I mean, that's. [00:30:42] Jesse Schwamb: Good advice for all of us, mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. So we talked before about what it means, that really in our work, we ought to care for those who we love. We ought to make sure that we can provide for them, but there will also be seasons. [00:30:59] Jesse Schwamb: One, there will be others who need to provide for us. And so in so doing, again, we're honoring God by walking in this path that he has given us, uh, to do. I like this. There's a couple of other great verses I think that are helpful for us to really think about what it means to have good work to do and to understand that good work. [00:31:17] The Blessing of Giving [00:31:17] Jesse Schwamb: Here's from Acts chapter 20. Paul says, in all things I've shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus. How He himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. So think about that there. There is an expression right there about work and what is this working hard. [00:31:35] Jesse Schwamb: It's to help the weak and to remember the words of Lord Jesus Christ. It is more blessed to give, to receive than to receive. Love always leads to giving for God. So love the world that he. Gave, and I think part of this good work that God calls us to is just giving. And so like right now, you may be in a season where you are giving of your labor in return for compensation, for that labor, but presumably there will, and there should come a time when you'll be giving it and you'll not be receiving that. [00:32:00] Jesse Schwamb: But it doesn't lessen the work. It doesn't take it away. It doesn't mean that it's not necessary anymore. We ought to continue to pursue that because love always leads to giving. Now I want to just finish our short little time together today as we've reasoned, hopefully. [00:32:15] Practical Ways to Exemplify Christian Values at Work [00:32:15] Jesse Schwamb: In a profound way from the scriptures helping us to be encouraged in this work by just a couple of things that if you are thinking in the sense of what can I do right now in my work of all kinds to exemplify and to be driven by unique view of humanity and a love rooted in the wisdom of the cross to stand out, what, what can we do as Christians, practically speaking. [00:32:37] Jesse Schwamb: To take everything that Paul has just given us here, appreciating this beautiful pattern that work is just gonna be part of our lives forever. And by the way, loved ones I, I have a strong conviction that in the new heavens and new Earth, that work will still be present there in a fully orbed and fully expressed, fully realized way that it's not capable today because of everything being mined by sin. [00:32:59] Jesse Schwamb: But then we're gonna find that this is just like an amm bush. It's the taste that. The thing that's coming for us, the appetizer of how work is gonna be fully satisfying, fully encouraging, fully joyful, and a full expression of how God has made us to do things. One of those things again are laboring in prayer, laboring on the construction site, laboring on a desk, laboring in the education and the teaching and ammunition of children. [00:33:24] Jesse Schwamb: All of these things are just really, really good. So what are a couple of things that we can do? Well, here's some things that that come to my mind. The first is that I think Christians can be known as the most care fairing and committed kind of people. So. Think about it this way, driven by the father's love and his acceptance of us through Jesus, we can be the kind of people that are known as fair, caring, and committed to others. [00:33:52] Jesse Schwamb: Since we know the depths of our own sin and the magnitude of God's grace to us, we can be ready to forgive and reconcile with others, and we should be quick to do so if we're doing that in their work environments. Whatever that environment is, there's no doubt this is gonna draw some fair amount of attention. [00:34:07] Jesse Schwamb: We may actually, and this is gonna sound a little bit wild. We may even have opportunities to take risks for the benefit of others. Now imagine it this way. Let's say that everybody has somebody to whom they're responsible and almost everybody else has somebody who's responsible to them. So think of it this way, if you are leading any kind of group of people, formerly or informally, you may have a unique opportunity to take risks on the behalf of those people. [00:34:30] Jesse Schwamb: Now, that may be may mean advocating for them. It could mean yielding to them, even if you have a hierarchical position that's above them. But more than anything, it could mean that you actually take a risk to take responsibility at times. So it's possible that let's say you're a leading a team and you're a place of work, and one of the people who is responsible to you, that is one of the people who reports to you, makes a mistake. [00:34:52] Jesse Schwamb: Let's say that the person that you are responsible to, your boss finds out about this. There's lots of ways you could go about this. Now, you may feel that you want to be easy just to say, well, this wasn't me. It was their fault. But consider how a Christian might approach this in love. It's possible that it may be entirely appropriate for that leader to take responsibility for the mistake, not taking blame for it, but taking responsibility for it as an act and expression of what it means to be fair, caring, and committed to others. [00:35:20] Jesse Schwamb: And now this may mean that if you were that person, you might lose a little bit of cloud to the organization. You might use a little bit of reputation or ability to maneuver within the organization, but there could be a very powerful, could be testimony in your ability to risk yourself for others in a way that I believe, again, is walking in this path of good works and that you are reasonable people. [00:35:41] Jesse Schwamb: You can sort out, I think in a situation like that. What kind of responsibility you might have, but I think it's important for us to consider that we may have that kind of responsibility and that to be known as fair, caring and committed to others. To advocate for them to again, forgive and to reconcile, and then sometimes to take risks of opportunity for the benefit of others is something that is unique to the Christian. [00:36:00] Jesse Schwamb: I think we at least agree on that, that kind of response to a s. We'll be wholeheartedly unique. [00:36:06] Generosity and Kingdom Living [00:36:06] Jesse Schwamb: I think we also need to be known as generous and depending on the context and opportunity, generosity at work can be expressed in so many different ways. Managers can be generous with their advice, their access, their investment in people. [00:36:17] Jesse Schwamb: All of us can be generous with our time, our money sharing our resources. Sacrificially. If you're a small business owner, and this is gonna sound wild, but let's, let's talk about kingdom living for a second. Loved ones like I presumably you're listening to this because we're not just satisfied with the small things. [00:36:31] Jesse Schwamb: We wanna think big in what it means. For the gospel to go out, for Jesus to be known. And so in this context of being generous, maybe it means if you're a small business owner, that you're willing to take less personal profit to benefit your neighbors or your customers or your employees. You know, I think of this company called a Go. [00:36:47] Jesse Schwamb: Which is a wooden toy company and it's, it was founded by a couple of Christians and driven by their Christian faith. They intentionally take smaller profit margins to benefit the people of Honduras where the wood is sourced and to create an employee savings program for them. I mean, that what a remarkable thing what, what a counter-cultural expression of what it means to be doing good. [00:37:08] Jesse Schwamb: Work. And so we can also grow and show our generosity to our colleagues by loving them outside work. You know, cooking a meal, preparing a meal for them when they have a child or attending a funeral if they lose a loved one, grabbing dinner with them if they're struggling, joining their club sports team, attending their wedding. [00:37:23] Jesse Schwamb: You know, generosity during, after work hours is a testimony of love. It shows that you see them as a whole person, not merely as like a productive asset or just a colleague. So I think we should push back a little bit on being generous and maybe sometimes I, I wanna say this. Gently because we are a benefit ourselves in this podcast of this, but not just with your money, especially with your time and maybe with like your attentional focus, maybe with your prayer time. [00:37:47] Jesse Schwamb: Maybe with your labor, in your prayer closet, that of all the things you could focus on, how often are we praying for our colleagues, like really praying that they would come to see the gospel in us, that we would be courageous in expressing that gospel and that God would arrest their hearts, which snatch them up and bring them into his kingdom so that all of our workplaces would be filled, uh, with Christians, that they would be everywhere. [00:38:08] Jesse Schwamb: Doing all kinds of things in som, much as God calls us to those things in submission to him, an expression of who he is and in obedience to what he's done for us. Here's another thing. I think this is a big one. It's one that I struggle with in my own life. [00:38:23] The Importance of Calmness and Authenticity [00:38:23] Jesse Schwamb: So I think another place, another way in which we can really stand out as Christians in our good work is to be known as calm. [00:38:30] Jesse Schwamb: Poised in the face of difficulty, failure or struggle. This might be the most telling way to judge if a person is drawing on the resources of the gospel and the development of their character. And this goes back to this idea of like, what does the a voracious person mean? It's, it's somebody who has like that inner. [00:38:47] Jesse Schwamb: Beauty expression of inner inner beauty. You know, how do we act when our boss passes over us for a promotion? How do we act if we fail to get that bonus we expected or, or if like a colleague is placed on a team we want to be on, how do we respond to those things really reveals where we placed our hope and identity. [00:39:03] Jesse Schwamb: And that can be a whole nother. Podcast. But if it's true that we have rooted ourselves, grounded ourselves, securely in Christ, then that is the supreme treasure that we have, and then everything else should be like, oh, that's no big deal. It's not to say that we're not gonna have big emotions, but even as we experience those big emotions, part of what it means to be humble is to come before God and say, God, I'm feeling this way. [00:39:26] Jesse Schwamb: And I'm a contingent being and I'm upset about this. Would you help me to reveal your gospel in this situation? And what a blessing in our progressive sanctification where God moves us into that space so that what becomes normative is when everybody else is losing their minds, when everybody else is gossiping, when everybody else is complaining. [00:39:46] Jesse Schwamb: What everybody else is pushing back here is the Christian who is resolute in firm and is speaking words of life. Encouragement into their workplace or those whom they're doing their work, who is speaking the gospel to them, who is calm and is poised and is ready to lead in such a way that brings value to everybody, helps 'em to find the true security in the situation and is not willing to compromise by participating in a meaningless backtalk. [00:40:12] Jesse Schwamb: That is an incredible testimony, and there's no doubt it's gonna cause us to stand out. There is something about this placing value that I think is important to mention. And I think I mentioned this before, but Tony's not here and I'm just talking. And so my experience, my professional career is all in the realm of finance. [00:40:30] Jesse Schwamb: So I've gotta use this because I think about this a lot and it's certainly relevant to us thinking about where is our value. [00:40:38] The Concept of True Treasure [00:40:38] Jesse Schwamb: I find it so interesting. That in the sermon on the mound. And when Jesus is speaking about treasures, he doesn't completely say that we should forsake treasures. Have you ever thought about that? [00:40:50] Jesse Schwamb: So instead of saying, you know, listen, don't worry about the treasure, just focus on me. Don't try to go after things. Just focus on me. And somebody says, listen. Listen, listen. You're going after the wrong treasure. So don't go after treasure where you know a moth or Russ is gonna destroy it or where like you're gonna be worried. [00:41:09] Jesse Schwamb: A thief is gonna break in and steal it. All those things are not just temporal, they can be taken from you. In fact, they, they will be taken from you. This is the wild part to me. He says instead, rather than do that, here's what you should do. Seek after the treasure that's in heaven. In other words, the proclivity to want to grab hold of valuable things and to keep them close to you, that is not bad in and of itself. [00:41:32] Jesse Schwamb: It's that you are focusing on the wrong thing that you want to grab and hold close. Seek after those treasures in heaven. And I can tell you why. This just shows the brilliancy with which Jesus knows us because he has created us loved ones, and in our fallen state, he's so kind to condescend to be like us, yet of course, without sin. [00:41:50] Jesse Schwamb: And in that he expresses a great knowledge of who we are and how we are. So. There's a very famous study done, actually very many versions of this study done, and what they'll do, and you can play along, I know I've done this before, but as you're sitting there listening to my voice play along with the scenario that I'm about to give you, and you can answer for yourself what you would do in this situation. [00:42:11] Jesse Schwamb: There's no right or wrong answer. So here's the situation. Researchers gave per people two options. They said, you, I can either give you a thousand dollars for sure, or. Or we can play a game. We'll flip a coin. If the coin is heads, you get $2,000, but if the coin comes up, tails, you get nothing. So the choices were you could have a sure thousand dollars or you could risk it. [00:42:39] Jesse Schwamb: And with a coin flip, a fair coin flip, you could get either $2,000 or zero. Now I'll pause. What would you prefer if you're like most people? You would take the sure $1,000 because you'd rather have for sure a thousand dollars in your pocket than giving up the gamble. Even though you could get twice as much the gamble of $2,000 or zero, who wants to walk away with zero when somebody's like, I'll give you a thousand dollars for certain. [00:43:06] Jesse Schwamb: Most people would prefer the certainty. Now those who are like keen have a turn of mind for mathematics are gonna realize that on average, those two options are exactly the same. So whether you get a thousand dollars. For certain, you got the a thousand dollars on the other option, half the time you'll get zero. [00:43:23] Jesse Schwamb: Half the time you'll get a $2,000. If you average those out, that's sequel to a thousand dollars over the long term. So there's something interesting there too, isn't it? See how our minds are working that we prefer, we are loss averse. In other words, we do not like loss. In fact, there's a very famous. [00:43:39] Jesse Schwamb: Theorem about this that says the pain of losing a dollar is twice as great as the pain of gaining one. And this is why it's so hard. If you have a retirement account, you have investments somewhere. When you look at your accounts and the numbers are down, you feel particularly awful. And when they're up, you feel good, but not that great. [00:43:54] Jesse Schwamb: Uh, this is the idea of. Being a loss averse. Now, here's the other thing that these researchers did. They flipped the whole scenario, and I'm gonna give you one more thing to think about. So rather than talking about gains, they said these people, okay, here's your choice, and you have to choose one of these. [00:44:09] Jesse Schwamb: Either you can take a sure loss of a thousand dollars, or you can take a gamble. And you can take a, we'll flip a coin and if it comes up heads, you'll lose $2,000. But if it comes up tails, you will lose zero. So again, here are the two options, but now we're talking about losses. You either have to take a loss of a thousand dollars for certain, or you could take the gamble, flip a fail fair coin, and you could lose $2,000 or you might lose nothing if it comes up tails. [00:44:42] Jesse Schwamb: Now what would you do? Now if you're like most people, what these researchers found is people gravitated toward taking the risk. That is, they chose the option when they said, let me flip the coin, because at least if I flip the coin, there's a chance I might not lose anything. I know I might lose $2,000, but I would rather take the risk of losing 2000, but have the opportunity to lose nothing than take the sure loss of a thousand dollars. [00:45:05] Jesse Schwamb: So here's what's crazy about all this. Here's what it teaches us, is we make the wrong choices all the time. You know, technically speaking, when it comes to gains, we should prefer the risk, the risk of zero, because you started out with zero, so you're not better. You're not worse off by having zero, and if you win, you get $2,000. [00:45:22] Jesse Schwamb: But when it comes to the loss, we should take the sure loss of a thousand dollars because we might end up having a loss of $2,000. We tend to behave poorly given the situations. This is an example of loss aversion and risk aversion, and Jesus knows this. That's the brilliance of it, of course, because he says, I know that your hearts will be troubled by losing your treasure. [00:45:45] Jesse Schwamb: So here's the thing. It's not the treasure that's bad, it's that you're putting your faith, you're going after the wrong thing. So loved ones. When we find ourselves rooted in Christ, when we find our identity right there in him, when we are sure that all that we have is in the heavenly realms and therefore everything else can float and fl away, then we find ourselves able to be the kind of people in our workplaces where we're calm, poised in the face of difficulty failure, or all kinds of challenges. [00:46:14] Jesse Schwamb: One more thing I would encourage you with, and that is just be known as authentic and integrated. This goes back to something Tony and I have really challenged ourselves with so much, and that is some Christians aren't very open about their faith at work and others talk about it all the time, but act and speak in ways that marginalize nonbelievers. [00:46:30] Jesse Schwamb: We should, of course, be really wise about how we share the reason for the hope that we're, we have when we're at work. But staying silent isn't an option. If we wanna be authentic people, we have to bring our whole selves to work. I think this is where we all, at times could use a little work. I, I've barely been encouraged by brothers and sisters who are far better at this than I, where. [00:46:50] Jesse Schwamb: They're really good at explaining why they do something, and perhaps they've been building a relationship with non-believers, serving them, working with them. And, but when the right opportunity approaches when the moment arrives, they're right there with their explanation. They're quick to say, it's because Jesus loves me. [00:47:06] Jesse Schwamb: They're quick to talk about the transforming power of the gospel. And it's not in a way that's overbearing. It's not in a way that seems disingenuous or somehow like they're, they're shoehorning in some kind of, you know, bully pulpit testimony. Instead, it's a natural expression. Because they were ready and willing and brave. [00:47:22] Jesse Schwamb: To do that. So we've got to be known as authentic and integrated, and that integration is just as important as the authenticity. What, what is the good, what is the point of doing many of these good works if there is not a commensurate explanation or expression of why we are doing them, because. Plenty of people who are non-believers also do good work. [00:47:42] Jesse Schwamb: This is part of the common grace that God has given to all of our world and to the entire universe writ large. So in that being said, sometimes we just need to say, this is why I'm doing it. And it's possible that probably people are sometimes thinking, I have no idea why this person is doing this, but I'm not gonna ask them. [00:47:57] Jesse Schwamb: 'cause that's super weird. So by us stepping forward and saying, listen, I love you, God is good to me, uh, there there's a God over the universe who saved me. I was in this pit of despair and he's taken me out of that pit. My work, the things I do, I do now for him. I do it not just because I wanna provide for my family, but because I love God. [00:48:16] Jesse Schwamb: I want to be obedient in worshiping him, and part of how I worship him is doing my work this particular way. That's why you see me. Work like this. What a beautiful thing. Loved ones. [00:48:25] Final Thoughts and Encouragement [00:48:25] Jesse Schwamb: So there's so much I think for us to think about here. I could go on and on, and at this point, this is no longer a short episode. [00:48:32] Jesse Schwamb: You've gotten almost 50 minutes of me just talking. So I want to thank some people for good works right now. And that is. For those of you who have joined in the Telegram chat and are hanging out. Thank you. I really appreciate that. And there's so much good conversation going on there. Again, I gotta plug it. [00:48:48] Jesse Schwamb: If you haven't, if you're not in there, you're really missing out on this experience. It's not just hearing Tony and I talk. It's coming alongside and being integrated with all kinds of other brothers and sisters. So do yourself and us a favor and go to T Me Rhyme, see t me slash reform brotherhood and come hang out with us in addition. [00:49:10] Jesse Schwamb: I'm so grateful for all those who contribute to the podcast financially to make sure that just keeps going. If you've ever wondered like, how is this all free, and there's a website where I can go surf the back catalog@reformbrotherhood.com and it just shows up in my podcast feed, and it doesn't sound like they're in a tin can somewhere or in a hurricane recording this. [00:49:28] Jesse Schwamb: How does all of that happened? It happens because there's so many lovely brothers and sisters who's come alongside and said. Yeah, you know what? After all my responsibilities, I have a little bit left over and I wanna make sure that this thing just continues to keep going. And so I say to you, thank you so much. [00:49:43] Jesse Schwamb: If you would like to be a part of that and I challenge you, come join us in giving toward the podcast, Tony and I do. And there's somebody I love, our brothers and sisters who do as well. That's what makes this happen. You can go to patreon.com, reformed brotherhood, so we've got all kinds of good stuff coming up. [00:49:59] Jesse Schwamb: I love the fall season, autumn in the Western hemisphere here, because it feels like a reset in many ways. Like the kids go back to school, the weather changes depending on where you are, the

Thursday September 4, 2025XII week after Pentecost---“When We Fall, God Still Reigns”

Jesus was more than a man. He was, and is, the Son of God, sent to save. Today's culture has taken the man out of manhood, redefined the roles of men and women, altered the definition of marriage, and even changed the meanings of God-created sexual identities. But God wants you to know why His Son came. Discover more in Pastor Troy Jackson's message "More Than A Man: Sent From Heaven To Save." To learn more about Larry Huch Ministries, our broadcast, podcast, outreaches, current TV offers, other resources, how to give, and so much more visit https://larryhuchministries.com.

Send us a textDeeDee brings her brand-new puppy, Zack, to a church picnic where her class performs a Bible skit about bringing a lamb to the altar. When DeeDee is asked to place Zack on the pretend altar, his soft whimper makes her realize how precious a sacrifice really is. The moment helps everyone picture how much it cost God to give His Son and how deeply He loves us. Kids will learn why Jesus is called the Lamb of God and what true forgiveness means.Talk about it:Why did the Israelites bring a perfect lamb to the altar?How did DeeDee feel when Zack whimpered? How do you think God felt about Jesus dying for us?What is one way you can say “thank You” to Jesus this week?Visit our website: kathyskidsstorytime.orgWe'd love to hear from you.To reach us quickly, click the “Send us a text” link at the top of the episode description.Or write to us by mail:Kathy's Kids StorytimePO Box 44270Charlotte, NC 28215-0043

A Course in MiraclesLesson 246To love my Father is to love His Son.

God Sees a Jesus Follower as Being “In Christ”; Therefore, God Sees a Jesus Follower as His Son or Daughter MESSAGE SUMMARY: As Followers of Jesus, you are "In Christ" -- God looks at you, as a Jesus Follower, and He sees Jesus in you. Throughout the Epistles we find: "In Christ" or "In Him". In Galatians 3:14, Paul tells you that your faith in Jesus makes you “In Christ” and a recipient of God's Covenant with Abraham: “so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.". Also, Paul goes even further, in Galatians 3:25-28, to tell you that, through your faith in Jesus, you no longer need any kind of intermediary because you are “In Christ” and you have a personal relationship with God, the Creator of the Universe: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”. When God sees you, “In Christ" as a Jesus Follower, He sees Jesus, the Son. Therefore, God sees you as His son or daughter.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, everything in me resists following you into the garden of Gethsemane to fall on my face to the ground before you. Grant me the courage to follow you all the way to the cross, whatever that might mean for my life. And then, by your grace, lead me to resurrection life and power. In Jesus' name, amen.   Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 100). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Self-Centeredness. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit's fruit of Love. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Romans 3:21-26; Romans 6:5-11; Romans 6:22-23; Psalms 63:1-11. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Crumbs From The Table”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Today, we are looking at Ephesians 1, and we're talking about the riches, the richesthat we have in Christ Jesus. I made the statement the other day that Isaac wasborn to wealth. Remember his father Abraham was called by God to leave Ur ofthe Chaldees and go to a land that God would show him. And God promised that Hewould bless him. He would make him a great nation. And in him all the nationsof the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). And then God promised him a sonthrough whom this seed, this great nation would come. But it took a long time.And finally, Isaac was born. But by the time Isaac was born, Abraham, becauseof the blessings of God, was a wealthy, wealthy man. Isaac didn't do anything.If you read about him in the Old Testament, he was born to wealth.  Andmy friend, we've been born again to great riches in Christ Jesus. That's whatthe book of Ephesians is about. We see that especially in verses 2-6, becauseGod the Father, God the Father has chosen us. He has adopted us. He hasaccepted us in Christ. All these rich blessings are made possible with theFather in heaven. Before we were alienated from Him, but now we're reconciledto Him through Christ.  InEphesians 1:7-12, we see our riches we have from God the Son. In Him we havethe redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. And again, it'saccording to the “riches of His grace”. He has revealed to us His will.The mystery that's been hidden in the past ages but now revealed to us throughJesus Christ. And that is that He will bring everything together. That “inthe dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in oneall things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him”(v. 10). Wehave something to look forward to. The world has nothing to look forward toexcept another day possibly. And they don't even know that they are guaranteedthat. They have no future. They're without hope. We'll read in Ephesians 2:12.But we have hope. Hope in Christ. A future that's bright. A future that's sure,secure, anchored to Jesus Christ. What a rich blessing.  Todaywe see in verse 11, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance,being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all thingsaccording to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christshould be to the praise of His glory." What is the will of God? Whathas God predestined us for? That we should be to the praise of His glory. Everyborn-again believer, every saint of God has been called to glorify God, toglorify the Lord Jesus Christ, be to the praise of His glory. And this willtake place one day. But even now, we are to live for His glory.  Notonly have we “obtained an inheritance”, but as some translations read, "inwhom also we were made an inheritance", we are His, Christ, inheritance!Both are true and the one includes the other. In Christ we have a wonderfulinheritance (read 1 Peter 1:1-4), and in Christ we are an inheritance. We arevaluable to Him. Think of the price God paid to purchase us and make us part ofHis inheritance! God the Son is the Father's love gift to us; and we are theFather's love gift to His Son. Read John 17 and note how many times Christcalls us "those whom Thou hast given Me." The church is Christ's body(Eph. 1:22-23), building (Eph. 2:19-22), and bride (Eph. 5:22-23); Christ'sfuture inheritance is wrapped up in His church.  Weare "joint-heirs with Christ", which means that He cannotclaim His inheritance apart from us! Romans 8:17 says: "And ifchildren, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed wesuffer with Him that we may also be glorified together with Him."  What a rich blessing that we have aninheritance and at the same time we are His inheritance.  Today,are you enjoying the inheritance you have in Christ? Godbless!

“I've often said that I wish people could realize all their dreams and wealth and fame so that they could see that it's not where you'll find your sense of completion.” -Jim Carrey. Solomon had everything that the world values: wisdom, women, money, power, possessions, and prestige. Yet, Solomon was empty. Reflecting on his life, he cried, “Vanity of vanities… vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” The message of Ecclesiastes is simple: If God is not in the picture, our own kingdom building will always lead to the feeling of, “There's gotta be more than this.” Many years after Solomon, God did something truly new: He sent His Son in the flesh to give us a real life of meaning. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)Take-Home Message: Without God, all is vanity.A biblical definition of “Vanity”– Literally, a wind, breath, mist or vapor. Metaphorically, something that is empty, futile, fleeting or elusive.Common Meanings of “Vanity” in Ecclesiastes-       Futility– “striving after the wind”-       Fleeting– “passes like a shadow”-       Perplexing– the idea of obscure, dark, difficult to understand, enigmaticSolomon's Battle with Vanity (1-2).The Vanity of My Life and Legacy without God (3-11).Message: All is VanityScripture: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11Prairiebible.org 

Jesus Followers Are the Enemy's {devil's} Target to Mess You Up and To Destroy Your Relationship with God MESSAGE SUMMARY:  The enemy {the evil one, the devil} is always at work seeking to destroy the fruit of the Lord's field and your life. In John10:10, Jesus tells us: “The thief {enemy} comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”. In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter tells you more about your enemy who is always with you: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil {enemy} prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”. Continue to remember that the enemy is always attempting to mess you up and to destroy your witness. Also, the enemy is always attempting to destroy your relationship with God and to get you to reject God. The enemy does his evil in subtle ways, but his purpose is clear -- the enemy wants you off the right path. The enemy is always at work, and he never sleeps.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Father, I confess that when difficulties and trials come into my life, large or small, I mostly grumble and complain. I realize the trials James talks about are not necessarily “walls,” but they are difficult to bear, nonetheless. Fill me with such a vision of a transformed life, O God, that I might actually consider it “pure joy” when you bring trials my way. I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief. In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 94). 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): John10:10-18;1 Peter 5:8-11; Ephesians 4:26-32; Psalms 50b:13-23. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Crumbs From The Table” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/    DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

John 12 brings us to the final public words of Jesus before He turns to the cross. After years of miraculous signs, fulfilled prophecies, and gracious teaching, the people still refused to believe. This passage confronts us with the sobering reality of unbelief, yet it also reveals the unshakable sovereignty of God in bringing His redemptive plan to pass. What seems like human rejection becomes the very means through which salvation is extended to the world.Here we see the contrast between the fragile glory of man and the eternal glory of Christ. We hear the voice of a Savior who does not remain silent or indifferent but cries out with urgency, offering light to those in darkness and life to those dead in sin. This sermon reminds us that God is sovereign, God is just, and yet God is merciful—pleading even now with sinners to come to Him while there is still time.Key Points: 1. The Folly of Unbelief 2. The Sovereignty of God 3. The Pursuit of Man's Praise 4. The Final PleaUnbelief hardens. Man's glory fades. But God's Word endures, His plan prevails, and His Son still calls: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”

Crumbs From The Table MESSAGE SUMMARY: We need to create a Culture of Grace and Kindness in our families, our churches, our work, and in our country. What is a Culture of Grace and Kindness? This culture involves: 1) an atmosphere or environment in which there is no griping or complaining – no putting people down; 2) giving others the benefit of the doubt; 3) visibly valuing other people; and 4) being filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. A Culture of Grace and Kindness flows from: 1) keeping Jesus Lord – as Jesus instructed us in Mark 12:29-30: “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.'”; 2) loving your neighbor as yourself – as Jesus instructed us in Mark 12:31: “'The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'”. 3) practicing the “Golden Rule” – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”; and 4) “having the attitude of the Canaanite Woman” – in Matthew 15:25-28, she exhibited humility without pride: “But she came and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, help me.' And he answered, ‘It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.' Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.' And her daughter was healed instantly." Too often in our families, work and church, we forget, in the way we treat others, that we to are sinners and not perfect. Therefore, we exhibit a culture without grace and kindness. Without a Culture of Grace and Kindness, we miss the blessings. In Matthew 15:25-28, the “Canaanite Woman” received the blessing, in her faith and humility, from Jesus when “her daughter was healed instantly”. Additionally, some are unhappy in their “Christian walk”.  Those, who are unhappy in their Christian walk, have forgotten that what Jesus wants from them is for them to “love Him”. The Lord, in ; Revelation 2:4, was telling the Church in Ephesus three things will enable us to get back to our love of Jesus: 1) remember – remember how we loved God when we first started walking with the Lord; 2) repent and return to the Lord – ask God to fill you with a sense of longing for Him; and 3) repeat the things we performed when our faith was on fire for God – don't get away from doing those things that provided a direct link for you to have a personal relationship with God and made you, in your eyes and the eyes of others, a follower of Jesus. Are you communicating, in your works, actions, words, and deeds inherent in a Christian Culture of Grace and Kindness? If not, why not?   TODAY'S PRAYER: Father, I confess that when difficulties and trials come into my life, large or small, I mostly grumble and complain. I realize the trials James talks about are not necessarily “walls,” but they are difficult to bear, nonetheless. Fill me with such a vision of a transformed life, O God, that I might actually consider it “pure joy” when you bring trials my way. I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief. In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 94). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Galatians 5:22; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31; Matthew 15:21-28; Ephesians 4:29-32; Colossians 3:12-17; Revelation 2: 1-7; (Click the Bible References, in blue, below to read the full Bible text for these Scripture References.). A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “Jesus Followers Are the Enemy's {devil's} Target to Mess You Up and To Destroy Your Relationship with God”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The story in 2 Kings 6 contains small yet monumental events. The swimming axe head appears so inconsequential and insignificant, causing us to ask verses 'Why is it recorded?'. Because it demonstrates our God's care for the small, as well as the great. Next follows the tale of Elisha's being surrounded and protected by the Almighty's fiery chariots - the new prophet now carried Elijah's mantle, both literally and figuratively. He was now His Sovereign's vehicle. To the prophet's servant he asks the LORD to open the servant's eyes as Elisha says to him verses "they that be with us are more than those who are with them". Elisha teaches Israel's faithless king and the Syrian king of God's invincibility. The prophet demonstrated the mercy of his God. Finally, in Ben-Hadad's siege of Samaria we see the extremities to which the city is brought. Yahweh protects Elisha from the murderous intentions of the wicked king to teach Israel and all of the Almighty's servants to depend on their God. Lamentations 2 tells us of the untold sorrows that come of Jerusalem, the land of Judah and our Sovereign's people. Read the horrific depiction and desolation of the LORD's people. This devastation was brought by a vengeful enemy - Babylon. But of a truth the Babylonians were in fact the agents of punishment from the LORD Himself. The lesson is explained in Romans 11 verses 22-23. It is our choice as to which facet of God we want to face - goodness (mercy); or severity (retribution for our wrongs). Slowly and carefully read these verses aloud and ponder the path that you will choose to walk. In 1 Corinthians 15 the Apostle outlines the incontrovertible proofs of Christ's resurrection before hundreds of eyewitnesses, in many locations and over a prolonged period - 40 days verses Acts 1 verses 1-3. It could not be said that Christ was not resurrected. And thank God for that, since apart from that event our sins could not be forgiven - verses 12-19. Our Lord Jesus Christ Lord rose 3 days after his crucifixion and was the first fruits of the resurrection - his faithful disciples will join him when they are raised at his coming - verses 21-23. The process of perfecting the faithful in Christ's 1,000-year rule is described in verses 24-28. By God sending His Son to the earth to set up the long-promised kingdom. A 1,000 years later will complete this stage of the Almighty's purpose with the earth. That purpose is spoken of in Numbers 14 verses 20-21; Psalm 72 verses 1-20 - read and consider; Habakkuk 2 verses 14, 20; Revelation chapters 20-22. At this time the Lord Jesus Christ will hand over the perfect earth to his Father, who as Supreme Creator will be all and in all. How impossible are trinitarian notions when we are told that our Lord will acknowledge his subservient position to His Father, God. A short discourse follows on the need for each of us sin prone beings to be baptised, that we may be raised to eternal life. A treatise on the differences between our natural bodies and those raised and bestowed upon with the life from heaven comes next. Paul tells of the superiority of Christ over Adam, who in many ways was a parable of the Son of Man - the Christ. What a time that will soon come and how we yearn for it (read of it in Isaiah 25 verses 6-9; and Hosea 13 verses 14, as cited by the Apostle). Finally, read aloud and meditate on verses 57-58. Thanks for joining us - we pray you found these comments helpful in your appreciateion of God's words, join again tomorrow at https verses //christadelphianvideo.org/christadelphian-daily-readings/

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Send us a textEphesians 2The Ephesian believers were once spiritually dead in their sins, following the ways of the world; however, God, rich in mercy, made them alive with Christ. Their salvation is accomplished by grace through faith, not by works, so no one can boast. As God's handiwork and driven by His incredible mercy, they were created in Christ for good works that He prepared for them. Through Jesus' sacrifice, the barrier between Jews and Gentiles was removed, making all believers one in Him. No longer strangers, they became citizens of God's kingdom and members of His family. Together, they were being built into a holy temple, with Christ as the cornerstone, becoming a dwelling place for God's Spirit. No one deserves to be in a saved relationship with God. We have all given in to the enemy and sinned against our Father. “But God, rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,” made us alive together through Christ. God's act of grace saves us through Jesus as we choose to have faith in Him. Our works are flawed, but Christ's perfect work has restored those who trust and follow Him. We now live faithful to Him, grateful for what God has done for us through His Son. And we are not alone. Christ has broken down walls, uniting all believers in one body, with access in one Spirit to the Father. We build our lives on Jesus, and we joyfully do so together. Kind Lord, we humbly thank You for Your abundant mercy and great love that made us alive in Christ. We know we were once dead in our sins, but by Your grace, we are saved through faith. Help us walk in the good works You have prepared for us, living as reflections of Your love. Unite us as one body, breaking down any barriers of division. May we always remember that we are Your dwelling place, built on Christ, our cornerstone. Help us recognize Your Spirit and live with hearts of gratitude filled with peace, love, and humble service. Thought Questions: -       You once walked in darkness, refusing to live in the light of Christ. What did God do that changed your heart and caused you to repent? -       Christ's blood broke down all walls and united all believers. Is that still an important message for the church today? Why is it needful? -       Christians must keep growing into a holy temple with Jesus as our cornerstone. What helps you keep growing in Him alongside believers? 

Today's Promise: John 15:9 If there is one word that summarizes the Gospel, it's love. From the beginning, love was the central theme of Christianity. God loves you so much that He gave His Son. Jesus said, as much as God loves Him, He loves us. Now here is the twist. Jesus loves you as much as God loves Him. Jesus invites you to live in His love. To "abide" is to connect or rest. We are to rest and "make ourselves at home" in the love of Christ. As you abide in His love, His love flows through you to the world around you.

This week I'm diving into Doctrine and Covenants 93—“Receive of His Fulness.” I talk about Elder Renlund's message on “Infuriating Unfairness” and the importance of being stone-catchers instead of stone-throwers, share some powerful listener stories about following the prophet, and explore how we grow grace by grace, just like the Savior did. We'll look at what it means to climb the ladder of exaltation one step at a time, how light and truth fill our lives as we keep the commandments, and why setting our own homes in order really matters. I hope this episode reminds you that you are a child of God with divine potential and that little by little, you can receive of His fulness. From the manual:  “When you climb up a ladder,” Joseph Smith taught, “you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 268). Sometimes that ladder of exaltation seems impossibly high , but we were born to climb to the top. Whatever limitations we may see in ourselves, Heavenly Father and His Son see something glorious in us, something godlike. Just as Jesus Christ “was in the beginning with the Father,” so “ye were also” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:21, 23). Just as He “continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness,” so also “you shall receive grace for grace” (verses 13, 20). The restored gospel teaches us about the true nature of God, and so it also teaches us about ourselves and what we can become. Despite the efforts of the “wicked one” (verse 39)—and despite what you feel you may lack—you are a literal child of God with the potential to “in due time receive of his fulness” (verse 19). https://youtu.be/3mzj-gBeAZg?si=2JS0EzsTV4gm4bkB https://youtu.be/JBX-InLxObI?si=F-5cI1YIb6x3UeAD https://youtu.be/tMRm1NfpQYQ?si=FECvAJzW-_fBCuAy https://youtu.be/VZljNTyemcU?si=LL_Bz98ayO9-pNN1 Check out my book, "Feasting on the Words of Christ," where I share a simple, five-step method for receiving answers to your prayers through the scriptures. You're really going to love it!

Romans 6:1-2 — What does it mean to have died to sin in Christ? This is a debated phrase that has had a number of interpretations throughout church history. In this sermon on Romans 6:12 titled “Transferred to the Reign of Grace,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that understanding this Scripture is vital. This is important not merely as an academic exercise, but for the Christian life. He says that to have died to sin means that God has declared the Christian justified in Christ and a new person. It is the divine pronouncement of God's favor and total forgiveness for all who believe in Jesus Christ. The emphasis, says Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, is always on what God has done for His people. This is why Paul expects the charge that he is encouraging sin so that grace might abound; he anticipates that this view of grace could be misunderstood. This sermon asks all saved people: “why are you in Christ? Has God declared you holy and in His Son?” It challenges Christians to see if they have truly believed in the gospel and received salvation from God. For only by believing in the cross of Jesus Christ can anyone be saved and made a child of God.

Send us a textGalatians 4Before Jesus, the Galatians were like children under guardians, enslaved to the world's principles. But when the time was right, God sent His Son to redeem them so they could be adopted as His children. Because they are His children, He has given them the Spirit, allowing them to call Him “Abba, Father.” Paul warns them not to return to bondage under the Law, reminding them of their initial joy in the gospel. He expresses deep concern for them, longing for Christ to be fully formed in them. Using the story of Sarah and Hagar, Paul illustrates the difference between living under God's promise versus slavery to the Law. He urges them to embrace their identity as children of the free woman and to live in the freedom of Christ. We are deeply indebted to God for all He has done to redeem us from our sins. He sent Jesus through a woman, born under the Law, to redeem mankind from the burden of justification through law-keeping. He poured the Spirit of His Son into our hearts to help us call out to our Father. The grace of God frees us, adopted and cherished as His children. It would be foolish to forsake liberty in our Savior for the bondage of life without Him. This occurs when we act in pride by trying to justify our claim to be with God through our adherence to any law separate from Christ. The result is bondage. We must choose freedom under Christ's covenant.   Faithful God, thank You for adopting us as Your children through Christ. Help us to live in the freedom You have given us and not return to anything that enslaves us, especially our pride and self-justification. Fill our hearts with Your Spirit so that we may know You as our loving Father. Guard us from anything that pulls us away from the truth of the gospel. Strengthen our faith, and let Christ be fully formed in us. Teach us to embrace our identity as heirs of Your promise and to walk in the joy and freedom of Your grace. Thought Questions: -       Are you living joyously in freedom as God's child, or do you get distraught by your own imperfect law-keeping? Are you a saved child of God? -       Sadly, false religious teachers turned some Christians against Paul. Why does this still happen today, and how do we avoid such sinfulness? -       You live under the new law of freedom in Jesus Christ. What does that mean to you, and how does it motivate you to obey Him with gratitude?

Dave Lomas teaches from Mark 12:2-12 on God's patient pursuit, calling us to respond by receiving His Son. Slides available at https://bit.ly/45Juz5n If you'd like to partner with what God is building here in San Francisco, you can give at realitysf.com/building 

Grace For Grace - Growth Mindset For Kids - “Receive of His Fullness : Doctrine and Covenants 93”When you climb up a ladder,” Joseph Smith taught, “you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation” (⁠Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 268⁠).Sometimes that ladder of exaltation seems impossibly high, but we were born to climb to the top with the Savior's constant help. Whatever limitations we may see in ourselves, Heavenly Father and His Son see something glorious in us, something godlike. Just as Jesus Christ “was in the beginning with the Father,” so “ye were also” (⁠Doctrine and Covenants 93:21, 23⁠). Just as He “continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness,” so also “you shall receive grace for grace” (⁠verses 13, 20⁠). The restored gospel teaches about the true nature of God, and so it also teaches about your true nature and destiny. You are a literal child of God with the potential to “in due time receive of his fulness”.This week we discuss the scriptures in doctrine and covenants 93, how Jesus Christ grew grace to grace, we can too. We liken this to the ladder that Joseph smith taught about. We also play some fun growth mindset games. You're listening to Come Follow Me Kids!A Come Follow Me Podcast for Primary Kids of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.We are an interactive game play podcast for kids. Children will learn shout the scriptures while playing games that go with the Come Follow Me Lessons from the church.This year we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants. If you are looking for a Doctrine and Covenants Podcast for Primary Kids, look no further! Our podcast is called Come Follow Me Kids. Come Follow Me for kids that are primary aged 2-12 in the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We follow the come follow me manual from the church but are not officially affiliated in any way. Some audio segments come from the friend magazine and other church sources. On this podcast we play interactive games while learning about the gospel and atonement of Jesus Christ.If your children would like to be guests on this podcast or to receive a baptism shout out, please email us at their info at comefollowmekidspodcast@gmail.com