Podcasts about if paul

If Paul has describing Christians by Who they desire, in this lesson, we see how he describes Christians by who they are. Instead of Paul just saying that we have been given a new set of desires, he makes sure to let us know that we are entirely different in our very essence. We are not who we once were. Instead of talking about our Holy Affections, in this lesson, we discuss our Holy Identify.

I decided to start this conversation with a little understanding of history; specifically, how the 1950s defined marriage and split-sphere gender roles as we know them today. Together, we'll consider this question: If Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 not to conform to the patterns of this world, then why does so much of what we're taught today in the church reflect the culture of marriage in 1950s America rather than mirroring Christ?Book list and resource links can be found in the full transcript at bravemarriage.com/podcast.

Scripture For Today: Mark 14:28 “…Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”Following Instructions pt 1When it comes to the Bible, it has been said that the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. In other words, you cannot just pick and choose which you would like to follow. Both make up the entire Word of God. And you cannot or should not add to either, as the Word of God is complete and perfect. Therefore, if we find instructions on how to have a deeper relationship with God, our Heavenly Father, we need to follow the instructions given. There is no other way. In Old Testament times, it was through strict obedience and obeying the Law. It required animal sacrifices, etc. But we also understood that, one day, the Messiah would come. In the New Testament, we see that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. He fulfilled every single prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. Therefore, we should be doing what HE says to do in order to have a closer, deeper relationship with the One True God. And Jesus said it was ONLY through Him. There was no other way. Period.  We understand that. Amen! But, we also need to follow instructions given in the New Testament. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, provided instructions to His disciples and Apostles once He ascended to Heaven. Because of the Holy Spirit dwelling in believers, He is able to bring, “all things to our remembrance” just as He said. I don't think any Christian would object to following instructions that are given in the New Testament. If a person objects to New Testament instructions, something is not right in their Spiritual walk. We've been studying things such as “…lifting up Holy hands, without wrath and doubting” from 1 Timothy 2:8 are part of the instructions we've been given. If Paul was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he was, then we should follow the instructions Paul gave to us. The same goes for the other books of the New Testament. I've heard a story of a man who told a Faith preacher I know that he disagreed with what was being taught. You know the type – 100% denominational teaching and anything to do with Faith other than Salvation alone is “hypocrisy” style preaching… Well, this man told the preacher, “I don't that stuff is for us today.” You've probably heard similar statements yourself from time to time.  When confronted with “this is what the Apostle Paul preached,” the man retorted, “Don't' tell me what Paul said, I don't follow Paul, I follow Christ alone.” He said that to seem “holy.” He said that to say “he was a true believer in Jesus.” He said that to try and undermine Faith preaching and Faith preachers. But if someone believes that way, then you should tear out all of the books of the Bible that Paul wrote. Just rip them right out of your Bible!  We will take this up here again tomorrow, but the reason you would not do that is because ALL of the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, including those things written by Paul. Amen! Right now, I want to pray that you will begin to see instructions provided for us throughout the New Testament – and then make a sincere effort to follow and obey those instructions that you find. They are there for a reason – to help you draw near to our Heavenly Father through Christ Jesus. Amen! Let's Pray! Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com/ (https://podcastersforchrist.com). And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today. You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this...

Title: For Honor Text: II Timothy 2:20-26 FCF: We often struggle meeting the purpose of our calling. Prop: Because we have been seta apart to be useful and ready for good works, we must flee sin and be like Christ. Scripture Intro: [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to II Timothy chapter 2. Last week, Paul began his instruction on how to deal with these false teachers in Ephesus. He told Timothy not to engage them in their disputes about nonessentials or profane chatter, but instead to focus on being a diligent, approved, unashamed, and accurate truth teacher. This was his opponent's failure. They strayed from the truth, and they have led themselves and others to ruin. But then Paul gives the comfort and exhortation. The tension between God's sovereignty and human responsibility. God knows and keeps those who are his AND everyone who names the name of the Lord must turn away from evil. Although a paradox both of these are absolutely true. God's keeping work does not negate our responsibility to obey. In many ways, Paul restates this exact point again in different words to finish out this chapter. But rather than stay in the realm of the non-specific… Paul moves directly to how Timothy and all Christians should deal with all men. Those in the church, those who are in the church but we are not sure of their spiritual state, and those who oppose us. How do we then live toward these people? Paul says all this and much more in our passage today. I am in II Timothy chapter 2. I'll begin reading in verse 20 from the CSB, but you can follow in the pew bible on page 1343 or whatever version you prefer. If you do not have a bible of your own, you are free to take a pew bible home with you. Transition: Unfortunately, our first step into the text this morning poses for us a perplexing problem. So let's dive in straight away. I.) Since we have been set apart to be useful and ready for good works, we must purge ourselves of dishonorable things. (20-21) a. [Slide 2] 20 – Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also those of wood and clay; i. Paul presents a metaphor to Timothy. Here is the difficulty with metaphor; unless it is fully explained, many times metaphors are not easily understood. ii. So, we face a difficult challenge here. How far do we press this metaphor? Does every component in the story correspond to a present reality? Does every detail need to be included? iii. If Paul does not spell out each detail and what it means in real life, how does that effect how dogmatic we can be on the understanding of the text? iv. The answers to these questions are not easy ones. However, there is an interpretive principle that I do think helps us here. v. [Slide 3] Context is King. If we can understand what Paul has been saying and will be saying, it should help us understand how far we can or should press this metaphor. vi. [Slide 4] First let's understand the metaphor plainly and then we will attempt to grasp its components. vii. Paul speaks of a wealthy home. In wealthy homes, there are bowls, utensils, vases, plates, and other household items that are made of precious metals. But even in a wealthy home, they do not use expensive vessels only. They also use vessels of clay and wood. viii. If we were to put this in our understanding we could say, In a rich man's home, not everything is a top dollar item. There are some things there that a common person would own too. Rich people still buy toilet paper. Perhaps even the same brand you do. They still buy plastic trash bags. They still buy Drain-O. They still buy furnace filters. No matter how wealthy they are, they still need common household items. ix. Why? b. [Slide 5] Some for honorable use and some for dishonorable. i. No matter how you spin it, there are some uses of utensils that all of us have. ii. There are honorable uses for vessels of precious metal. We probably would not eat hot dogs and hamburgers with silver forks and China. We would probably not buy a gold-plated plunger for our toilet. Nor would we use leather for our trash bags. iii. Typically, the dirtier, and more disgusting the job, the less money you want to spend to accomplish it. We use plastic bags for refuse and water to flush our toilets. These are relatively inexpensive things to deal with a really gross problem. iv. In fact, in the first century, by wood and clay vessels, Paul is probably referring to chamber pots for collecting human eliminations. v. Even wealthy homes had these. vi. So here is our challenge with this metaphor. What is the house, what are the vessels (precious and common), what is honorable and dishonorable use mean in real life? And we have even another layer here. Paul uses a similar metaphor in two other places in his corpus of writing. And both of those writings had already occurred. vii. II Corinthians 4:7 – Paul compares God's people to earthen vessels in which God has placed His treasure. viii. Romans 9:21-24 – Paul contrasts God's people as earthen vessels meant for special purposes, which were formed form the same lump of clay molded into jars meant for common purposes. ix. So, in the limited pool of Pauline metaphors – Not only are God's people always earthen vessels, but the precious vessels are never mentioned. x. Let's let all these questions hang for now. Let's get to how Paul applies this metaphor. c. [Slide 6] 21 – So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable i. Paul now, utterly shatters that metaphor. How so? ii. Although today we do have self-cleaning toilets that reasonably keep the inside of the bowl clean, they are quite expensive and do not clean the outside of the toilet. iii. And certainly, in the first century, there was no such thing as a self-cleaning chamber pot. Even to empty it, they would need to go to the river to do so, or at least bury it in a field. iv. Even gold and silver vessels could not clean themselves if they were to get dirty or be ill fit for their purpose. v. So the metaphor steps into comedy as we imagine a bowl scrubbing itself thoroughly to rid itself of any remnants of dishonorable things. vi. What is clear here is that although Paul's previous metaphor in verse 19 had God's sovereignty first and human responsibility last – Here Paul flips them. vii. Paul first establishes human responsibility. viii. He tells Timothy, if anyone would wash himself thoroughly from dishonorable things… d. [Slide 7] He will be a special instrument i. You will be (future tense) a vessel or instrument used for a special purpose. ii. This phrase depending on which pot we are talking about strikes us rather odd. iii. For a golden vessel or clay pot to clean itself is odd enough. Now we have this pot being cleaned to the point that it is fit to be used in the future for a great purpose. iv. But if we are talking about wood or earthen vessels used for human eliminations, this seems quite odd within the metaphor. v. I don't mean to turn your stomachs this morning – but how clean would your toilet have to be for you to use the seat as a plate to eat your next meal? Or the toilet bowl for your bowl of cereal? Could you ever get it clean enough? vi. This is perplexing indeed. vii. So, for now, let's leave this and move forward. e. [Slide 8] Set apart i. Try though I did, I cannot for the life of me understand why there is no translation that does not render this “having been made holy” or “having been set apart” ii. This is a perfect passive participle. Much like in verse 26 where the text says “who has taken them”. Same exact morphology but is not translated “taken” iii. For me, the proper understanding of this word greatly helps us to interpret this passage. iv. So it should say - “if anyone would cleanse themselves of dishonorable things, they will be a vessel for honor having been set apart.” v. If all that is maintained we have a present condition, promising a future use, based on a past work done to us. Which looks exactly like verse 19 only backward. f. [Slide 9] Useful to the Master i. Diving back into the metaphor ever so slightly, we see that an instrument, set apart for something honorable, that cleansed itself from dishonorable things, is now useful to the master for the purpose for which it was set apart. ii. Meaning that unlike the passages in II Cor 4 and Romans 9 – Paul is not saying that believers are wood and earthenware. Rather those are Hymenaeus and Philetus. How do we know they are vessels meant for dishonorable use? Because that is what fills them. Dishonorable things. iii. God's people in this passage are the gold and silver vessels. Set aside for noble purposes. And as long as they cleanse themselves of dishonorable things, they will be used this way. g. [Slide 10] Prepared for every good work. i. Again, we can add to this participle “having been” prepared for every good work. ii. Finally, we understand what dishonor and honor means. Blurring the lines between metaphor and reality Paul has said what this vessel's special use is. A vessel that has been set apart, that cleansed itself of dishonor, its special use is to bear fruit. It is to hold good works. iii. We have been made to be golden Spiritual Fruit bowls – Displaying the grace and power of God in our lives. h. And so even though this metaphor can perplex us, it seems that Paul is simply restating what he did in verse 19 only in backward order. Yes, God knows who are His, but also all who call on his name must depart from evil. i. In the same way, all who purge themselves of evil, will be those used of Him, because He has set them apart for honor. j. [Slide 11] Passage Truth: So, Paul reveals a truth here that endures to the end of this passage. That truth, is that God's people have been set apart, so they can be useful to their Master, and prepared to display good works. In response to that truth, what is Timothy's responsibility? k. Passage Application: Timothy must purge himself of all uncleanness. He must actively depart from all that is dishonorable. Paul will continue to open up to us exactly what that looks like – but at this point that is where Timothy must begin. l. [Slide 12] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to the whole of scripture, this is essentially the same thing he says in Ephesians 2:8-10 where Paul shares that God saves us by grace through faith, not of works, but as a gift so that we can do good works which God has prepared for us to do before time began. This is the entire purpose of God selecting and working within the line of Seth, through Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, and then finally Christ. God's divine appointment and setting apart for His service is His side of the equation. m. Broader Biblical Application: Our side is this…. we must be cleansed of dishonorable things. Although we only have a hint of what this means, we can reasonably conclude that if good works are what is to fill our cup, then dead works and evil deeds are what must be purged. Experientially we know that this is an ongoing process to stay pure and remain pure. We must continue to turn away from evil teachings, lifestyles, and those who preach and practice them. Transition: [Slide 13(blank)] But it seems like we need a little more specificity here. This is the second time in a few verses that Paul has referenced a purging or opposition to evil things. But what specifically ought we to purge? And what are these good works that should go in its place? Paul addresses both in the next two verses. II.) Since we have been set apart to be useful and ready for good works, we must flee sin and pursue holiness. (22-23) a. [Slide 14] 22 – Flee from youthful passions, i. Up to this point in this passage most of Paul's words have been conceptual. ii. He speaks of working hard, reminding, being diligent, being committed, playing by the rules. iii. For many of these Paul simply said – I trust the Lord will give you understanding on all this. iv. And most recently he told Timothy that God's true people oppose evil and purify themselves of dishonor. But what does that mean? v. So, Paul gets practical. vi. Flee. Youthful. Passions. vii. What are young people consumed with today? I think our answers could be quite varied. Everything from sex, drugs, and rock and roll to entitlement, rashness, laziness, arrogance, seeking praise and a following, and desiring to fight and argue. viii. If it is a normal young person's lust… it is a good bet that it is not worthy to be pursued by anyone who claims the name of Christ. ix. These are the dishonorable things that must be shed. b. [Slide 15] And pursue righteousness i. Rather we should be pursuing righteousness. Holiness, and godliness. ii. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God and His righteousness ought to be our first pursuit. And Paul, as he should, agrees with His Lord. c. [Slide 16] Faith, i. Just as righteousness is God's and must be obtained from Him, so also faith is not something conjured from within but is rather a grace of God to us. ii. Faith that believes His word and trusts Him without faltering. iii. This is what Timothy must pursue. It is the true antidote for his timidity. It is faith and hope in what God has said and what God has done. d. [Slide 17] Love, i. An attribute of God. One in which we have no part unless He loves us first. ii. For us to pursue this love is not in the sense of being lovable to God. For that is not possible and is ultimately ineffectual. iii. Rather it is the pursuit of God's love. That we may have His love for Him and for one another. e. [Slide 18] And peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. i. Peace could certainly be used here as a cessation of hostility between God and man, but to pursue this is impossible. Rather as with the others this seems like the pursuit of something God grants in His Son through His Spirit. ii. It makes sense then to combine it with the following phrase as it explains the true focus of that peace. iii. It is toward and with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. iv. We might remember the last time Paul mentioned this where there is some uncertainty that not all those who call on the name of the Lord are truly His people. And yet, Paul makes plain his meaning. It is those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. It is those who have been set apart. It is those whom the Lord knows are His. v. The word pursue continues throughout the text as the command for all these qualities. vi. Indicating that they are in fact – as with the fruit of the spirit – 1 pursuit not many. vii. We cannot divorce righteousness from faith, or love, or peace with our brothers and sisters. viii. Indeed, to have all but one is to fail them all. ix. And so youthful passions are the dishonorable things we must clean from our silver vessel and these things must go in. These are what we have been set apart to be and do. f. [Slide 19] 23 – But reject foolish and ignorant disputes, because you know that they breed quarrels. i. Again, Paul makes mention of this to Timothy in the discard pile. ii. Based on the two kinds of discussions Paul references in verses 14 and 16 it seems like he has combined both of these into one. iii. Foolish disputes would go along well with profane chatter since they are ungodly. And ignorant or silly disputes would go along with the wrangling of words. iv. All of these things, avoid them, stop them, reject them. Why? v. All they do is start fights. That is the opposite of being at peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. g. [Slide 20] Passage Truth: Once again, the primary backdrop of truth for this whole discussion is that God has set apart His people to be useful and prepared to do good works. So, if Timothy is truly a child of God, what will he do? h. Passage Application: He will discard the attitudes and actions of immature people living lives ruled by their passions, and will instead pursue heavenly virtues that can only come as gifts from God. He will receive these in order that he may minister to the body of Christ with them. i. [Slide 21] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out from our text, we know that God has this mega theme throughout scripture with the expectation of His people living differently than the world around them. j. Broader Biblical Application: And so for us at CBC, we must not be controlled by our culture. Rather, we should flee passions bred in immaturity. Not just sexual dalliances but even disputes, arguing, a critical and judging spirit, arrogance and vain glory. All of these ought to be washed clean from us by the blood of Christ. Instead we should see holiness, love, faith, and peace with all people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are the body, and we ought to be united. Not in arbitrary “get-alongedness” ignoring failings or false teachings. But unity in holiness, truth, love, and peace. Transition: [Slide 22(blank)] So we have seen some applications of this teaching that we must purge ourselves of sin and be ready for good works. We have even seen what some of those good works are… but Paul has one more set of put off, put ons for us here. III.) Since we have been set apart to be useful and ready for good works, we must not quarrel but meekly instruct our opponents. (24-26) a. [Slide 23] 24 – The Lord's servant must not quarrel, i. Remember, context is King. ii. Paul has been talking about people who died with Christ, who endure vs those who deny and are without faith. iii. He compares the message of truth with the word-war, ignorant, foolish and profane discussions of the group of Hymenaeus and Philetus. iv. He specifically calls on Timothy to be at peace with God's true people. v. Now he says that the Lord's servant – which could be applied to all Christians generally, but is surely applied specifically to Timothy as a Spiritual leader. vi. He must not quarrel. vii. But with who is Paul referring? In some sense, he has already spoken with reference to those who are true believers. So who else is the Lord's Servant and minister of the gospel not to quarrel with? b. [Slide 24] But must be gentle to everyone i. Everyone. All men. ii. The minister of the gospel ought not be quarrelsome to any. Indeed, it is a qualification of an Elder to not be quarrelsome. iii. And this is not just to those within the church, it is not just to those of whom it is evident that they are believers. It is with all men. iv. Those whom it is not evident that they are believers. They have made a confession but their lives are suspect. They are in this list. It is not the place of the minister to quarrel with them. v. What about those with bad theology? What about those with clear contradictions in their lifestyles? vi. Well, quarreling with them is NEVER the answer. vii. What is? c. [Slide 25] Able to teach i. A true minister of the gospel should relish the opportunity to take someone from ignorance to understanding. To train up someone in the ways of the Lord. ii. A minister of the gospel should chomp at the bit to have the chance to deepen the understanding and wait for God to click the lights on for the slow of hearing. iii. This includes not just instruction but rebuke, reproving, correction, and instruction in righteousness. iv. And this kind of teaching without leading to quarreling takes what? d. [Slide 26] And patient i. You betcha it does. ii. Do you know what the single most consistent theme of my 11 years of ministerial teaching and counseling is? People do not listen. iii. By the grace of God, for the most part, I have yet to become cynical and assume it of people. I remain hopeful that they will listen. But by and large – people don't. iv. At first. v. But God is gracious in that he has, at times, had people I have counseled, people who have rejected my advice initially, come back and thank me for it later. vi. I can tell you that is a gift from God. Because sometimes it feels like you are wasting your time trying to teach people His truths. And usually just when you start to think such a selfishly sinful thought… it is just then when people come with thankfulness for your input in their lives. vii. That gives me as a minister of the gospel of Christ, the patience to continue on, without being quarrelsome and beating people over the head… viii. But what about those who don't even claim to be Christians. What do you do with them? e. [Slide 27] 25 – instructing his opponents with gentleness. i. Gently, in love and humility, with the great authority of the scripture alone, instruct ignorant, profane, and ungodly people. ii. Those with whom you disagree so sharply. If you are not careful you can either attack them to undermine their argument, or even dismiss them without dignity of their person. iii. My friends, even those who we think do great damage to the gospel with their foolish arguments, will have no effect on it in reality. Christ's gospel will go on unimpeded iv. So, what then? Shall we attack someone who has no power to overthrow the truth? Can we not see them for what they are, for what we once were? Blind and dead? v. Even the greatest opponents of the gospel of Jesus Christ deserve to be instructed with gentleness. Corrected… with meekness. vi. Some say, but Jesus did not instruct the Pharisees in this way. Surely there must be an occasion for us to speak harshly to our opponents as Jesus did to His. vii. We forget that Jesus knew something about His opponents that we do not know about ours. viii. What is it? f. [Slide 28] Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. i. Jesus knew that the Pharisees had committed the unpardonable sin. ii. That they were opposed to the teaching of Christ even though they believed it to be true. iii. Jesus knew each and every Pharisee He rebuked, would never repent. And so, He spoke harshly to them as having the keys to the kingdom yet denying others entry and not going in themselves. iv. But our opponents – we cannot see their heart. v. Some of the most aggressive opponents of the gospel of Jesus Christ, have been changed by grace to believe. From Lee Strobel, to Augustine of Hippo, to Paul the Apostle, to the thief on the cross. These men, all of them, tried to make a mockery of Christ. vi. And they failed utterly. In the end, they were broken and empty and repented of their sin. vii. We do not know whether the person we see today, uttering insults on the name of Christ, may yet be our brother or sister in Christ, foreordained and predestined before the foundation of the world, chosen in Christ, having been set apart for honorable use. viii. How could such a person be called for honor? ix. Because all men who repent, and are led to a knowledge of the truth are granted both repentance and knowledge of the gospel by God Himself. x. Repentance and knowledge of the truth are not things that we innately possess nor have the ability to do. God must grant them to us. And up to the very moment He does – that heart can be black as oil and spout venomous attacks on their God and King… but when God breaks a man… there is no turning back! There is no unseeing what has been revealed. xi. Paul was on His way to kill Christians. Lee Strobel to disprove Christ, Augustine to spit on his upbringing and the thief had already mocked Christ to His face– and God said… ENOUGH! You. Are. Mine! xii. My friends, these stories not only give us hope for all men – no matter how far gone they appear – but they also reveal to us the foolishness of dealing harshly with opponents. xiii. For all that separates them from us is God's granting of repentance. xiv. And what is the fruit of repentance? g. [Slide 29] 26 – Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, i. They must come to their senses. Why? ii. Because they don't even know they are in a trap! iii. They have been lulled to sleep in a perfectly comfortable prison. iv. There are cracks on the walls – but they do not see them. v. They are blind! They are dead! But when God grants them repentance and a knowledge of the truth- all of a sudden the lights are on! They realize that they are headed for hell. And they need a savior. vi. They are trapped. vii. My friends we cannot deal harshly with opponents of the gospel. Why? h. [Slide 30] Who has taken them captive to do his will. i. They are just obeying their master… like we are. ii. We clash because our masters are different not because we are better or they are worse! iii. And God through Christ has made a way to be free of the slave master Satan with his traps of sin and death. iv. Christ has conquered sin and defeated death. v. Mankind is naturally a slave to the will of Satan. But when God opens their eyes and pulls them out of that trap, when he grants them repentance and understanding of the gospel – vi. They have a new master…. vii. And that my friends, truly, is the only difference between the elect of God and present-day unbelievers. viii. And this is why we must instruct. We must correct. We must teach the truth meekly. With power but in control. Not attacking the person but their false beliefs. Being kind and gentle. Perhaps God will grant them in our speaking or after – repentance and faith. i. [Slide 31] Passage Truth: As is hinted with his opening remark, God's servant must behave in certain ways. This is because they have been set apart for this use by the Lord. j. Passage Application: Timothy, as a minister of the gospel, must not be quarrelsome but rather instruct patiently and meekly, especially toward those who are his opponents. k. [Slide 32] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out, all of scripture points to this truth. That we are to be remade image bearers. Not due to our creation by God, but rather our re-creation by God in Christ. That has propelled us as set apart people to not only be able to do what God has asked, but to succeed in doing what God has asked. l. Broader Biblical Application: So we must teach the truths of the gospel and correct, rebuke, and exhort with gentleness, and love, and kindness… knowing that God is the one who works in the hearts of men. We must not fight with people to prove our point true or their point wrong. Why? Because we know that ultimately it is GOD alone who grants repentance to men. Why? Because they are enslaved to the Devil unable to see the trap they are in. And there are no words of ours that could ever shake them of this… unless the Lord does to them grant… eyes to see and ears to hear. So why fight with them? Will all our thrashing do more for them than God can? Will all our slices with harshly spoken words aid God in His work? God forbid we think it does! A soft word spoken with authority of God's word is what God requires of His people. Not because it will guarantee His work… but because we have been set apart for this purpose. Conclusion: [Slide 33(end)] So what can we do today CBC with such a passage? As far as applications go there are, depending on how you see it, around 7 or 8 applications here. Shall I conclude with an 8 point rehash of all that Paul has said to Timothy? Or shall I just say this. God knows who are His. And all His dear children have been set apart to be useful to Him and prepared for good works. All His true children are golden and silver vessels designed for a noble purpose. His children have been chosen in Christ, not only to display the excellencies of His grace in this life, but forever in the life to come. We are made For Honor. So friends, If you name the name of Christ… why are you wasting yourself on youthful passions? Why do you continue to fight and dispute, and argue and quarrel over nonessential or ungodly things? Why do you continue to pursue the gratification of putting people in their place? Why must you be right all the time? Why must you be first all the time? Why do you continue to complain and grumble when things are not done the way you would have them done? Why are you filling your golden serving bowl with garbage and dung? Dump it all in the fire! Even our opponents do not deserve this vitriol and rage. We were once just like them. But… God. Only when your golden dish is empty and cleaned thoroughly, can it be used for its intended purpose. To display the manifold graces of God, in holiness, faith, love, and peace. Not quarrelsome. Not arrogant. Not always insisting on your way. Not selfish. Not lewd. Not out of control. But godly. My friends… We as God's people were made for honor! So, clean out your bowl… and fulfill your purpose!

INSPIRATION: YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS (DEEPER VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Z9xJcWHsEK4 ) Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Paul who presumably had a problem in eyes wrote thirteen books in bible tells i can do all things. If Paul can write books with eye problem, and small David can kill Big Goliath and slave Joseph can rule in alien Nation, you too can do all things through Christ. Get you strength from Christ and do all things. Have a blessed day(VJR.Roy) BIBLE IN 2 YEARS 2 Chronicles.17:6 - 18:25 DAILY DEVOTION http://www.youtube.com/vjministries http://www.facebook.com/vjministries Spotify: http://bit.ly/vjmpodcast #inspiration #motivational #paraplegia #vjministries #vjmtv #vjrroy #vjchurch

If Paul had written Mere Christianity, what would be in it?Buy on Amazon

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Is the whole Bible really about Jesus? Here at Theocast, we believe that it is. Jon and Justin consider the pattern of Jesus and the apostles with regard to how they understood the Bible. The guys consider typology and how it is useful in understanding the Scriptures–and biblicism and how it is not helpful.Semper Reformanda: Justin talks about the thing that has most impacted his preaching. Jon and Justin then discuss how important it is to see that every promise of Scripture finds its fulfillment in Jesus.Resources:Episode: Is Christ-Centered Preaching Dangerous?“The Mystery of Christ, His Covenant & His Kingdom” by Samuel Renihan“Preaching Christ in All of Scripture” by Edmond Clowney“The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament” by Edmond ClowneyFREE Ebook: theocast.org/primerSUPPORT Theocast: https://theocast.org/give/   Podcast TranscriptJustin Perdue: Hi, this is Justin. Today on Theocast, we are going to answer the question, “Is the whole Bible really about Jesus?” We don’t like to bury the lead here at Theocast, and so our position is that yes, in fact, the whole Bible is about Christ and what he has accomplished on behalf of sinners in order to save us. We’re going to have this conversation from a couple of different perspectives. We’re going to talk about typology and how that works in the Bible. If you don’t even know what typology is, don’t worry, we’re going to define it and try to explain it for you.We’re also going to talk about Biblicism and how it is unhelpful to understanding the Scriptures accurately. Again, if you don’t know what Biblicism is, stay tuned. We’re going to try to explain it to you and help you see how it relates to this conversation.We really hope this is an encouraging and life-giving conversation for you, and that is a conversation that will open up the Scriptures and show you how from Genesis to Revelation, Jesus really is the point of it.The title of the episode is Is the Whole Bible Really About Jesus? What we want to do today is answer that question. But we’re really just pulling the curtain back here and having a conversation about a couple of different things—and I’m going to try to explain briefly what we mean by these terms and then we’ll just kind of take-off and run with this. We’re having a conversation today about typology and somewhat also about Biblicism. And so just briefly to define those terms for the listener: when we talk about typology, we are talking about the way that God reveals Himself, the way He reveals redemption—in particular, the way He reveals redemption through Christ in Scripture—where there are things that occur earlier on in biblical revelation, referred to as types, that are significant in and of themselves but they point to something that is greater, different, and ultimate. So those greater, different, ultimate fulfillments of the types are often referred to as antitypes. We’re going to talk about examples of some of that today. But if the Bible is read appropriately in a typological way, we are going to see types and shadows and pointers to Jesus all throughout the Old Testament before Christ even shows up on the scene in the New Testament.If you think about, for example, the writer to the Hebrews and how he explains the fact that the sacrificial system, and so many of the other things that were revealed to Israel in the law, were ultimately about Christ. They were ultimately shadows and pointers to Jesus and the redemption that would be accomplished through him. That is a biblical example of typology. We’re going to talk about some other biblical examples of typology in this episode. So we’re having that conversation about how typology is really helpful in coming to the Bible, and it’s helpful to us, in particular, in seeing Christ through all of Scripture.But then we’re also going to be having a conversation about something referred to as Biblicism. The goal of a biblicist is a good goal; it’s a good aim. It’s admirable that you want to be a Bible person and only say things that the Scripture says, and you don’t want to add to it or take away from it. That’s a good aim. But oftentimes, the way that Biblicism presents itself is that if the text does not specifically and explicitly say something, that it just must not be true. And so there’s a real concern in Biblicism for some of the systematic categories, the covenantal categories, the redemptive-historical categories that the Reformed have always had that help us to see Christ in all of Scripture. The biblicist gets very anxious about that. We’re going to explain what we mean by that, too.Before you check out, if you’re sitting here and you’re thinking, “Oh my gosh. This is an academic conversation and this is something that’s going to be over my head,” it is not going to be. We’re going to talk about this at a street level, as a couple of pastors who deal with the Scriptures regularly and are trying to teach the Scriptures to our people. This conversation ultimately is about seeing Christ in all of Scripture in ways that are legitimate and responsible, and really upholding what Jesus Christ himself says about the Bible, namely, that it’s all about him. We hope that you come away from this episode more encouraged to study the Scriptures, more encouraged to sit under the Scriptures on the Lord’s Day as you hear your pastor preach them to you, or if you’re a pastor out there and you’re more excited to get in the pulpit and herald Christ from any text in the Bible.I might just launch us off, Jon, in thinking about the words of Jesus Christ himself in Luke 24 and in John 5. Luke 24, the road to Emmaus. Jesus is resurrected and he appears to a couple of his disciples and he says to them that they are slow of heart to believe everything that the Scriptures have revealed. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to these disciples everything in Moses and the prophets that was written about him.Then in John 5, at a couple of different points, Jesus makes it very clear to his Jewish audience. He says to them, “You search the Scriptures thinking that in them you find eternal life; yet it is they that bear witness about me.” And then he goes on later in John 5 to say they talk about Moses a lot, and, “if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”This is the conversation that we’re having today. I get excited for this because this has changed my Christian life. It has changed the way that I think about the Bible wholesale. This is probably the single greatest thing that informs my preaching from a week to week basis: it is the fact that all of the Scriptures from Genesis to revelation are about Christ and what he has done for sinners.Jon Moffitt: I was preaching through the book of John, and John is probably one of the greatest prolific writers when it comes to the Old Testament in terms of how much he references in typology, in referencing to ceremonies and the law. He mentions the Psalms and Isaiah a lot. He won’t do a direct quote, but he’ll even say things like “to fulfill scripture” to allow the reader to know what Scripture something is in reference to.To add to the Scriptures that talk about Jesus in the Old Testament, there’s a couple more. You have Acts 8:35: “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.”Book of Acts. Let’s do some math here. The New Testament has not been written at the moment; it’s being recorded as past history. What Scriptures is he referencing? What is he talking about?Justin Perdue: Whenever we hear the apostles in the New Testament reference the Scriptures or Jesus reference the Scriptures, they’re talking about what we call the Old Testament.Jon Moffitt: Philip is telling the eunuch about Jesus from the Old Testament, which I can tell you right now that Justin and I both can preach the gospel clearly from the Old Testament because the apostles did. We can use Old Testament text to preach Christ and we do, and we’ll always do. We are not crippled by only having the New Testament in order to preach the gospel because what else was Philip using?Another verse that would be connected to this is Acts 18:28 where he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that Christ was Jesus. Again, Scripture has to reference the Torah, the Old Testament, and he’s referencing the Old Testament to show that it is about Jesus. It’s not one little reference. I know sometimes people say, “Well, you guys always quote Luke 24 and you’re basing an entire theological system and way of reading the Bible based on one verse. It’s not. There are multiple examples of New Testament writers using the Old Testament to teach us about Jesus. There is much that can be learned and should be learned about Jesus.Now, this is where understanding typology is so important. It took me a long time to understand this and so I’m going to say it in such a way that if you’re brand new to Reformed theology, if you’re brand new to redemptive-historical biblical theology or covenant theology, typology is really important. When someone said “type” and “antitype”, my brain didn’t have a category for that. So if you’re smart unlike me and you already know it, you can fast forward the next 30 seconds. But if you’re like me and you need help in these categories, the antitype thing is what threw me off.A type is an example or a picture of something, but not the reality of it. We use these illustrations all the time, but one of my favorite ones is if you go to a Mexican restaurant and you get that real big laminated menu. I love that the more expensive ones will have a picture of the burrito and underneath it, it says, “Not the actual size.” Thanks for clarifying. But it’s a picture; it’s a type of the burrito. You look at it, anticipate it, and are excited about what you see, but the picture is not what you taste, it is not what sustains you, it is not what gives you energy. The substance, or the real burrito, is called the antitype.So when we say type and antitype, which we’re going to give some examples here in the Old Testament, those are the theological terms for it. A great example of this is when Jesus says to Nicodemus, “as the serpent was raised in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” The serpent in the wilderness was a type, an example, a picture of what is going to happen to Jesus, because those who looked on the serpent and believed were healed, and those who looked to Christ on the cross and believed are also healed of their sins. That’s a good example of type and antitype as it relates to Jesus being referenced in the Old Testament, pointing us towards the New Testament reality.Justin Perdue: Jesus, of course, picks up on that very thing in his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. The New Testament is replete with examples of this kind of thing being done by Christ and the apostles.You mentioned earlier how the apostles write what I might even call the apostolic pattern when it comes to this conversation. When we are saying that we read the Bible from a redemptive-historical perspective, meaning it’s redemptive history with Christ at the center, and we read it in that Christ-centered way, and we read it with an eye for typology—types and shadows and pointers and fulfillment and all those things—all we are saying and all we are advocating is, “Hey guys, let’s read the Bible. In particular, let’s read the Old Testament the way that the apostles understood it and the way that Christ understood it.” We’re not coming up with anything new. We are looking to Christ, Paul, Peter, John, and the writer to the Hebrews, and we are just following their lead in terms of how they understood the Old Testament Scriptures to bear witness to Christ and the redemption that he would accomplish for sinners.This is maybe one of the more controversial pieces of this conversation: we have freedom to not only go to the texts that the apostles specifically reference, but we have freedom to read the entire Old Testament that way, because they have given us a pattern; they have shown us how to do it.For example, the way that Peter in 1 Peter 3 connects the ark and the flood and what happened there, to redemption and to baptism. That means that it is legitimate to now go back to the Old Testament as saints have done for a long, long time and see other passages, to use Peter’s language, where the saints are brought safely through water. And we can see those things as a pointer to our baptism, through which we are united to Christ, we are sealed into him, and our sins are drowned in the waters of baptism because Christ ultimately has taken the judgment of God for us. We’ve died in Christ to the law.So Peter connects that in 1 Peter 3 to Genesis 6-8. But then there are other ways that the saints have seen the same connection, like Exodus and the parting of the Red Sea, where God’s people walk safely through water. People have said this is a pointer to baptism—they’re entirely right about that. Because it’s a pointer ultimately to the deliverance that God would accomplish for us through the Lord Jesus Christ.But a lot of times—again, talking about that Biblicism thing where it’s gotta be on the face of the text and if the text doesn’t say it, we shouldn’t draw the conclusion—if you do that, if you go to the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus, where if you were to preach the flood from Genesis and you were just conclude that Moses, in writing about the ark and the flood, doesn’t say anything about baptism, doesn’t say anything about Jesus and the ark being a type of Christ, and so as you preach this, you think, “The original authorial intent must have been this thing and this is what I need to say.” In order for you to do that, you have now divorced the account of the ark and the flood in Genesis 6-8, you have divorced that from the entire canon, you have divorced it from the entire context of the whole Bible, and have actually been irresponsible in preaching it if you do not preach Christ and baptism from Genesis 6-8.That’s the really controversial thing, I think, to say here. There is such an obsession sometimes over original authorial intent in the Old Testament that we almost academically, thinking that we’re smart, convince ourselves to not preach Christ from the Old Testament.Jon Moffitt: To go back to explain what you mean by authorial intent, for those who this might be new to if you didn’t grow up a part of a church that does expository teaching or preaching, what Justin is getting at is that when an author like Moses sat down to write the history, inspired by the Spirit, there’s a reason behind their writing. That’s authorial intent. What’s the intention of the author? You can see these things in the epistles, you can hear in the beginning when Paul says, “I’m writing you for this reason.” Even in the gospels, you can see the introductions to the gospels and what they’re writing them for. The argument has been—within conservative, evangelical Calvinistic churches—is that you cannot give any other application than the original intention of that individual author. What we mean by author is Paul, David, Moses, etc.There’s a danger when you read Scripture in that way because it disconnects the Bible as if it’s a library of books that are all of the same time period, and God is a part of them—but they’re not all connected as if there was one theme.Our argument is that according to the New Testament, there is a theme and there is a driving message. We can go to Ephesians 1 and it literally says that before the foundations of the world, God made a pactum, a covenant, that there would be salvation promised to sinners. This was before the first mention of Scripture; this is before creation. We take great heart in that because Paul is saying there’s a greater theme that’s going on; there’s a major theme of what all of Scripture is about. Paul thankfully gives us a good peek into that to say, “This is how you should read your Bible: from a redemption of sinners that unfolds through history.” This is why we use the term that’s been used for many years: redemptive-historical understanding of Scripture.So our argument would be the author of Scriptures, the intention of the author, which is God by means of the Holy Spirit. The authorial intent is redemption. And then you go down into the writer. I would argue the author is God, the writers are the humans; they’re instruments. So the authorial intent is always God and His redemptive plan as revealed to us in Scripture. And then we go down and say, what did the writer say in their context? We don’t want to interpret it in our own means saying, “Well, I can say whatever I want now because the writer just wrote something.” No, the writer wrote it for a purpose, but it’s not disconnected from all of Scripture and God’s authorial plan, which was told to us before.Justin Perdue: A few comments here. 1 Peter 1:10-12 in that area. The apostle there makes it clear. I’ll just read 1 Peter 1:10 and following: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” That’s 1 Peter 1:10-12. What that is saying is that the prophets of old, as they wrote down things inspired of the Holy Spirit, did not fully, in their humanity, understand everything that they were writing. That right there has to be taken into consideration when we have this conversation about original authorial intent.Did Moses understand everything that he wrote completely in terms of how it pointed to Christ and would be fulfilled in Jesus? No, he didn’t. Did Isaiah in Isaiah 53 fully understand what was going to happen? No, he didn’t. So if you are going to govern yourself by what Isaiah or Moses or David or whoever understood then you’re going to gut the Scriptures of their ultimate meaning that point to Christ and his work for sinners to save us. That’s just one thing for us to keep in mind.Here are two examples that I think are very illustrative and perhaps provocative when it comes to this conversation. They are both from the pen of the apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 10, in particular, verse four is where I want to get. But I’m going to begin with chapter 10 in verse one and read it real quick. Paul says, “For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” That is a reference to Exodus 17. Now, in Exodus 17, what’s happening? In verse four of 1 Corinthians 10, it’s a reference to that chapter; in Exodus 17, the people had been brought out of Egypt, they’ve been brought through the Red Sea, and they are grumbling because they’re thirsty. And Moses says to God, “What am I supposed to do with these people?” Basically. And God says, “I will stand before you there on the rock of Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” and Paul is saying that that rock and the water that came out of it is about Jesus.Can you imagine in an Old Testament class or in a hermeneutics class, if a student in many seminaries today were to preach that text or to write an expositional paper on Exodus 17 and to ultimately make the point of that. “Well, Jesus is the point of this.” You will get a failing grade in many seminary classes because that is irresponsible hermeneutics and exegesis of the text. But that’s what the apostle Paul does.Another passage that perhaps is even more illustrative of what we’re talking about is Ephesians 4:7 and following. Paul has just been talking about how there’s unity in the church. Then he goes on to say, he’s going to talk now about how each of us have been given gifts for the use of the body and for the building of the body. He says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,” and he is referencing now Psalm 68, “‘When he ascended on high he led a host of cap his, and he gave gifts to men.'” And then he goes on to talk about how that’s ultimately about Jesus giving gifts to the church.If a person were to read Psalm 68, that psalm is about God being enthroned on Mount Sinai, traveling from the wilderness to Mount Sinai and being thrown on Mount Sinai. We would be looking at that again in an Old Testament class, an exegesis situation, or a hermeneutics class. And if someone were to stand up and say, “Hey, that right there—God being enthroned on the mountain—what that’s ultimately about is Jesus Christ and his ascension. And then it’s about him giving gifts to the church.” Again, I think that many people would be rebuked for such an interpretation. I think Paul himself would have gotten an F in many seminary classes for saying that that’s what this is ultimately about. He would be scolded to consider original authorial intent. “Paul, what are you doing?” These are the things that we’re talking about, and we could give a dozen, 20, or 30 more examples like that from the New Testament and how the apostles write. And so all we’re contending for today is for us to interpret the Scriptures just like Paul. Let’s look to the Old Testament and when we preach the old Testament, let’s preach it asking this question: where does this text stand in relation to Christ? It’s so helpful because then we are kept from moralizing.Think 1 Corinthians 10, Exodus 17. We can talk about the people grumbling, we can talk about our sin and all those kinds of things, and we can talk about God’s provision for the things that people need. But ultimately, what are we going to leave people with? That God in His grace—not only has He already rescued people from bondage to Egypt, which is a pointer to the rescue that’s going to come from our bondage to Satan and sin, not only has He brought the people safely through the Red Sea, which is a pointer to baptism and how we’ve been brought safely through water. But now He’s sustaining His people in the wilderness while they are sojourners. And He is saying that the water that He gives for their sustenance is ultimately about Jesus Christ himself. That’s what we can say. It’s so wonderful. It’s beautiful.Jon Moffitt: In Sam Reniham’s book, The Mystery of Christ, His Covenant, and His Kingdom, chapter 13 on the mystery of Christ is really helpful in this because that is what we’re dealing with: the revelation of the mystery of the Messiah and the final consummation where Jesus does finally show up from type to antitype, or from shadow to substance.I want to allow Justin and I to speak into this for a moment where it does change two things: I think it changes God in the way in which God interacts with you and His Word, and number two, I think it allows the Word of God to come alive. My kids love putting together puzzles. They’re up there right now. It’s summer break and they don’t have school. I wake up and they’re out there putting together a puzzle, which I don’t do. To me, I’d rather read a book or something. Puzzles just seem puzzling to me. But if I were to go in there and flip the puzzle upside down where all the color is now gone and there are only shapes, they could painstakingly, and probably with not a lot of joy, put that together. It’s going to be confusing and they could get the outer border and the frame down. But after that, it’s just not gonna be as enjoyable because part of the puzzle is seeing the progress. That’s how most people read the Bible; they don’t see the picture, they don’t have the box cover, and they are not looking at the live colors of the illustration. They hear about how powerful the Word of God is, they hear about how wonderful it is, but what they look at is a puzzle turned upside down. I can see the general idea; I know the corner pieces are obvious, but the rest of it doesn’t make sense.What we’re trying to say is once someone introduced to us the historical understanding—and this is how the Word of God has been taught and read for hundreds of years—all of a sudden, we couldn’t stop putting the puzzle pieces together and seeing Christ come to life as the Old Testament reveals him.Justin Perdue: You just talked about power. People were told that the Word of God is powerful. Last I checked, Jesus Christ is the power of God: the gospel and the message of Christ and his cross are the power of God unto salvation. If the word of God is powerful, which it is, and if the word of God accomplishes its work, which it does, ought we not herald the one that the Word is about, who is described as the power of God, the wisdom of God, our Redeemer, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption? Yes. We should preach him. I get geeked up about this, which is probably evident even on this podcast today.I’m going to continue to illustrate some of this just to maybe demonstrate my excitement over this and how this fires me up. I’m saying this publicly so I’m bound to this forever: if someone were to push me on my favorite book of the Bible, I usually say whichever one I’m reading and studying or preaching through at the moment. It’s my favorite because it’s on the front of my mind. But I think I am at a place finally in my life where if somebody told me to pick one book, it is unquestionably the book of Hebrews for me at this point because of this very reality.What’s the book of Hebrews about? It’s about Christ and how he’s greater than everything and how he’s the point of it all. The writer is telling people, “Don’t go back to the law. Don’t neglect such a great salvation and go back to the law. You know why? Because Jesus is greater than the law. He’s greater than angels. He’s greater than Moses. He’s greater than Aaron. The law, the sacrificial system, the priesthood, and the whole nine yards: all of that was about Jesus Christ. He has accomplished your salvation. He has once and for all made an atonement for your sins. He is seated at the right hand of God in the heavens and he’s coming back. He’s got you and you’ve been given a Kingdom that can never be shaken. It’s ultimately all about Jesus and what he’s done for you. And so now, in full assurance of faith, draw near to the throne of God with confidence and boldness.” What a wonderful message. That’s one.Another one is John 6. This just pops into my brain and it encourages me to no end. This illustrates our point too: when Jesus has given this whole business to people about how he’s the bread of life, and how he’s the bread that came down from heaven, he references the manna in the wilderness. He says your fathers were fed with bread from heaven. How many people, in preaching manna from the Old Testament, are gonna preach Christ? Because we should. As Jesus spoke about it, he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven. Just like your fathers were sustained in the wilderness by heavenly bread, you and your pilgrimage on this earth will be sustained by me. You need to eat my flesh and drink my blood because I am true food and true drink for you.” He’s pointing to the Lord’s Supper, but ultimately he’s talking about union with him, how he is our nourishment, and how he is what we need.This is just another example of how we often are not taught from the whole Bible everything that Christ understood the Scriptures to be saying about him. When I come to the Scriptures and when I sit under the Word, I need instruction on wisdom. I need instruction on things that I need to avoid doing because they’ll wreck my life. I need instruction on things that I should pursue because it will be good for me. I need good teaching on God’s law so that I understand what God requires and how I have not met the test. But ultimately, what do I need and what do you need when we come to the Scriptures? We need Christ proclaimed to us because he’s the only hope for sinners—and he is everywhere.I’ve said this before and I just want to clarify. Forgive me for being excited about all this, but when we talk about preaching the Bible and understanding the Bible this way, we are not saying that the Bible is a Where’s Waldo? book, Jesus is Waldo, and on every page, we’re trying to find him hidden underneath words and rocks and everything else. It’s not what we’re saying, but we are asking the questions of the text, always knowing that everything in the Bible is oriented toward and around Christ. And so then we preach that way and we understand it that way. To your point, Jon, it makes the Bible come alive.There’s actually good news all throughout. Because if I’m only told about wisdom or if I’m only given law, there’s no good news in that. Or if I’m only told that God is holy and God is good, or if I’m only told that Jesus is Lord, there is no inherent good news in that for me because I’m a sinner. You’ve got to give me the whole thing and you got to tie it together for me with Christ as my Savior.Jon Moffitt: If I were to hand you a drill that’s got a screwdriver bit in it and there’s no battery in it, and you’re over there and you’re twisting it, you’re getting the job done. You’re using it like a screwdriver. That’s how most people see the Old Testament. They understand it’s supposed to screw or unscrew something. Then I walk over, I pop a battery in, I hit a button and I say, “Watch this. Your mind is going to explode at the capacities and the abilities of how much more you’re going to be able to accomplish.” That is understanding the Old Testament in light of the power of the New Testament.One more passage I want to give as an example of this is 2 Corinthians 1:20 where it says, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.” He just summarized the Old Testament. The Old Testament is just one massive unfolding promise. It started with Adam, clarified with Abraham, moving on to David and Solomon, and all the way through the prophets. And he says, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” So Paul in the beginning of his letter in 2 Corinthians, he’s concluding for you that Jesus is the finality of all that has been written. He is it; he is the point. There’s nothing wrong with asking how this promise is connected to the greater reality of Christ. So when we look at Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets and all of that, he says all the promises of God. All of them. If Paul didn’t mean to say that, he should have clarified it like “some of the promises of God”. But he says, “all of them” are pointed in a redemptive nature to a Person of redemption who saves sinners. It is exhilarating to go back and read a book full of, you can say fantasy, but it’s not fantasy, but it feels like fantasy, because there’s so many miraculous texts in there. It’s Narnia on steroids.When you go, “Hey, this is God showing how He’s going to fulfill the promise of a Messiah, and Paul already told us it’s going to happen. So let’s go back and watch it over,” now you have one conclusion. You begin to read the Bible as one story, promise, and one covenant after another of God always being faithful. Even when the children of Israel went down to one person, God was still faithful to preserve His seed, to preserve His promise in the midst of debauchery and sin and absolute chaos. God is still in control. You look at the death of Christ, which is utter chaos, and yet John says that was according to the plan.Justin Perdue: Well, how many times does it look like the light is going out on redemption as you read the Scriptures? I just preached the account of Noah and the flood not long ago because we’re in Genesis right now, and the line of the promise is down to one guy and his family. There are going to be other points like David and Goliath: is redemption about to be over if this giant kills this guy? What’s going to happen? And that happens over and over again in the Bible. Ultimately that’s about God and what He’s doing—this is His movie and we should sit on the edges of our seats with our popcorn and jumbo Coke ready, watch it, and behold what our God has done.This is maybe my closing thought: let’s just say that you watch a really good movie for the first time and you’re watching all these things unfold. Then you get to that point in the movie where this thing happens that makes everything that happened before it clear. It makes everything that happened before it obvious. Everything that you were watching for the last two hours was about this. It changes everything for you in terms of how you think about that movie.Jon Moffitt: Can I give one example? The Village.Justin Perdue: Exactly. That’s a good illustration of what we’re discussing today. Jon, if you go back and watch The Village tonight, you’re going to watch it knowing that, and it’s going to change how you see it, because you’re going to identify all of these things throughout the movie before that revelation really occurs—and we read our Bibles that way now because we’ve been told the point of it all, and we’ve been shown how to read it by the apostles and by Christ himself. Why on earth would we go back and read the Scriptures that were written before Christ came as though he isn’t the point? We shouldn’t.It’s kind of crazy. And I think it’s just a joyful and joyous experience for people when you read and study the Scriptures, or you sit under preaching, where it becomes very clear that there are sermons about Christ all throughout the Old Testament. What a wonderful book the Bible is.Jon Moffitt: I know you’re going to take us into the Semper Reformanda and explain what it is, but in there, I would like to talk about the dangers of not reading your Bible this way and how modern day history, through different biblical interpretation models that have been given to us, have actually caused pietism, legalism, doubt, fear, and anxiety when it relates to the Old Testament, instead of hope and joy.Justin Perdue: We’ll have that conversation. Saints, if we’re going to leave you with one final thought today, it’s that read your Bible, study it, and sit under the preaching of God’s Word knowing that the whole Bible is about your Savior who died for you, who atoned for your sin, in whom you died to the law and your penalty has been dealt with, and he is the one who provided you with righteousness and you’re secure in him. Read your Bibles that way and they’ll come alive, we pray, for you.We are now headed into our Semper Reformanda podcast. This is a second podcast that we record every week for people that have partnered with our ministry. If you’re not familiar with Semper Reformanda and what it is, you can go over to our website theocast.org, and you will find all the information that you need to know about Semper Reformanda over there. We would encourage you, if you’ve not already done so, to go check that out and consider joining the Reformation as we seek to spread this message of the sufficiency of Christ and the rest that is ours in him as far and wide as possible. We would love for you to lock arms with us.For many of you that are listening to the regular podcast and will not be listening to the other one, we’ll talk with you again next week. For those of you Semper Reformanda folks, we’ll talk with you guys in just a moment. 

Who Are The Real Saints? Reader: Calum Cameron Date: 7th June 2021 Time: Passage: Philippians 1:1 ------------------- Saints! What do you think of when you are asked who or what is a saint? Usually we have a picture in our mind of an ancient figure in flowing robes, a halo about the head, and often in a stained-glass window! Well, that is not quite what the Bible has in view. Indeed that's not at all like what the Bible has in view, for the Bible knows nothing about individuals being called saints, or about halos, or about elevating some Christians to a special idea of sainthood. In five of Paul's letters in the New Testament he writes to the saints who lived and were members of the congregations to which he was writing. The saints were quite simply the Christians in these congregations. If Paul were to be writing to your congregation today he would start his letter in the same way — to the saints... Why then are Christians called saints? It is because they have answered God's call to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and become faithful followers of the Saviour. They become separated from worldliness and love holiness. They also enjoy the fellowship of other believers in Jesus, and so that is why Paul always speaks of saints in the plural; they are family. So, 'the saints' is a collective noun for the real people of God. ## Prayer Dear Lord, help me to be a true saint in your family. Amen.

Peter had previously agreed with Paul that salvation was by grace alone. But when Peter went to visit the mostly Gentile church in Antioch and Jews came up from Jerusalem, he separated himself from the Gentiles and ate with the Jews. Paul called out his hypocrisy. It was an essential turning point for the church. If Paul had not confronted Peter, we would have a very different church trying to obey the laws of Moses.

When Brina and Paul began to date, he was magnetic and charming. They had a connection from the first moment together having a drink. People at work had complained about Paul, saying he was aggressive and difficult. Brina never witnessed that side of him until about 6 months into their relationship, after Paul had too much to drink at a party. Not long after, Paul was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, after having been together almost 4 years and they had just gotten engaged. Brina knows every side of him, so when he begins to act in unexpected or scary ways, she is able to see the hurting child within, who just wants to be loved. Often, his emotions and expressions don’t match. He might be feeling happy, but he displays anger, because he breaks things. If he’s feeling angry, he displays deep sadness, sobbing. With the help of therapists, Brina has learned how to help him communicate his emotions and needs and to accept and honor her needs as well.  She has learned to communicate clearly with him what her plans and boundaries are, so that he feels less abandoned when she needs to do something “without him”.  I asked Brina if she ever feels guilty for triggering a mental health episode in Paul’s life. She explained to me how she understands that she is not responsible for the emotional response Paul might have to a choice that she has made. However, if she knows that something is likely to trigger him, she feels that she does have a responsibility, to at least prepare to make that choice, in the safest way possible. If Paul ever feels that Brina has knowingly hurt him, or vice versa, together, they choose a time when they can both calmly have a conversation about what happened.   Brina shared with me how much Paul has given to her and changed her life for the better. He is fun, energetic, and brilliant. When Brina comes up with  a hair-brained idea, he takes it as an intellectual challenge and figures out how to make it happen. Paul is able to draw her out of her shell, in ways she never thought possible. Without him, she might never have felt comfortable being on a podcast like this! Despite all the challenges, Paul has given her confidence and permission to dream of her own success. Thank you for listening to Hope to Recharge! if we are important to you, help us out and Leave us a review on iTunes. It makes a huge difference! ————————————————————————— Work 1 on 1 with Matana - With our 1 on 1 coaching program, you can work directly with Matana. Get a free 30-minute fitting tryout call to see if this is right for you. You do not have to walk through your mental health struggle alone. Because as always, together is better! There is no substitute for a listening ear. Get Your Free 30 Minute, 1 on 1 Consultation Today. https://hopetorecharge.com/1on1/ ————————————————————————— As we all know, sharing can help others. We are here to support each other and to learn from each other. In mental health, Together is better. If you need more support in your mental health journey please reach out to us in our private Facebook group. ————————————————————————— Interested in joining our monthly Mastermind Group?  Find out more info here! www.hopetorecharge.com/Mastermind ————————————————————————— Connect with Brina: Facebook Instagram ————————————————————————— Quotes: “People that live with Borderline don’t have to be alone.” @MatanaJacobs #HopetoRecharge “Never go to the same therapist as your partner… they have this bias going into my treatment based on how they had treated him.” @BrinaMcNally @MatanaJacobs #HopetoRecharge “Give yourself grace. Not every moment am I going to be madly in love with him. Not every moment am I going to have the most compassion for him, and not every moment am I going to keep my temper and my cool with him.”  @BrinaMcNally @MatanaJacobs #HopetoRecharge “Abandonment is a huge issue for people with Borderline. Any time there’s a perceived abandonment -- it doesn’t even have to be an actual abandonment. It could just be you’re getting up to go to the next room, and they’re like, “Wait! Where are you going??”” @BrinaMcNally @MatanaJacobs #HopetoRecharge ————————————————————————— Topics Discussed: How Brina came to be in a relationship with someone who has BPD Seeing loved ones as people who are hurting and struggling to communicate The misconceptions people have about those with BPD How to lovingly support someone with BPD and still take care of yourself ————————————————————————— Suicide Hotlines: USA: 1-800-273-8255 USA Crisis (Text): 741-741 Canada: 1-833-456-4566 United Kingdom: 116-123 Australia: 13-11-14 International Suicide Hotlines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines ————————————————————————— Connect with us! 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We say this a lot … but THIS really is a great episode!  The laughs per minute ratio hits an all time Carnival Personnel Podcast high and it’s ALL due to the guest - world champion pumpkin carver, artist, drummer, YouTube personality and hysterical dude, Paul Dever.  If Paul wasn’t too busy with his YouTube show (Carvers and Creators) we’d have him be the full time host of CP! Paul talks his path to watching Food Network saying to himself (and his wife) I can do that … to a couple years later WINNING Food Network's 2019s Carving Championship… toughest part (spoiler alert) he won it in 2018 but it didn’t air for a year so had to keep quiet about it the whole time! How this world works, what’s ahead for Paul in this space and how he’s made life long friends with artist heroes along the way … seriously, this really is a fun episode.  And if you don’t like it at the end … it comes with a money back guarantee. Check Paul Devers out at: https://www.devercustoms.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyw2zHTb35Y https://www.facebook.com/DeverCustoms/ DeverCustoms on Instagram CP: Twitter: https://twitter.com/carnivalpodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carnivalpodcast/   Biff on Twitter is @BiffPlaysHockey Jacques on Twitter is @TheJacques4 Joe on Twitter is @Optigrabber   Opening Clips: It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Closing Song: Dan Cray and Beyond Id “Laid”  

Based on the following reading: “Three days after Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over his new responsibilities, he left for Jerusalem, where the leading priests and other Jewish leaders met with him and made their accusations against Paul. They asked Festus as a favor to transfer Paul to Jerusalem (planning to ambush and kill him on the way). But Festus replied that Paul was at Caesarea and he himself would be returning there soon. So he said, “Those of you in authority can return with me. If Paul has done anything wrong, you can make your accusations.” About eight or ten days later Festus returned to Caesarea, and on the following day he took his seat in court and ordered that Paul be brought in. When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around and made many serious accusations they couldn't prove. Paul denied the charges. “I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Roman government,” he said. Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?” But Paul replied, “No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews. If I have done something worthy of death, I don't refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!” Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, “Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!”” ‭‭Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭25:1-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬ https://www.bible.com/116/act.25.1-12.nlt

Why can we trust God in difficult situations? That's the question we're discussing on The Hero of the Story. Listen in as we discuss: The importance of prayer and fasting in commissioning missionaries If Paul's response to Elymas's rejection of the gospel—and his attempts to prevent others from believing it—was too harsh (and whether or... The post Confronting Opposition with Gospel Conviction [Ep. 241] appeared first on The Gospel Project.

Scripture For Today: Jude 1:20 “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit…” Learn to Depend on the Holy Spirit pt 1  You need to depend on the Holy Spirit to help you in your prayer life. As we have discussed in previous lessons, one important way the Holy Spirit helps us in prayer is to give us utterance in other tongues. Paul discusses this in First Corinthians 14:14-15: “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also.” The Apostle Paul said in these verses to pray in tongues is to pray with one's spirit by the help of the Holy Spirit within us. If Paul is correct in this statement, then we need to know about it. Amen? We need to pray with our spirit as well as with our understanding. I suppose all Christians everywhere pray with their understanding, but not all pray with their spirit by praying in other tongues. Many do not even know that it is possible to do so. Some people, in their haste and ignorance, have said that tongues have been done away with. But you see here, praying in tongues is your spirit praying by the Holy Spirit that dwells within you. Amen!  If tongues has been done away with, then how are you going to pray with your spirit today like we just read in First Corinthians? The Corinthian Christians did not have any means of praying that is not available to us today! We have the same biblical means they had. Amen! The ability to pray in tongues with our spirit is just as available to us today as it was to them two thousand years ago.  The Greek translation of Romans 8:6 (where it talks about groanings in the spirit) actually says, “groanings that cannot be uttered with articulate speech.”  Praise God! That means speaking in tongues is NOT your articulate, everyday speech that you use. Amen. Do not ever forget that the ability to speak in tongues is not only the initial sign of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, but it is a CONTINUAL experience for the rest of our natural life on this earth. Amen! Speaking in tongues assists us in our prayer, in our praise and in our worship. Glory to God! Let's Pray! Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit our website for more information on our ministry: https://podcastersforchrist.com/ (https://podcastersforchrist.com). And while you are at the website, download the free resource I have for you… it is free and is called, “How to Start a Christian Podcast.” It will bless you – go and download it today. You can also WATCH these session on our Facebook Playlist at this link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2 (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtKWeKtmv-BwgkquBTsSh-GznbmuUp_R2)

Patrick survives the un-Texas weather to only later hear Paul tell him what he’s (not) worth. Between upcoming tax rate hikes and inflated valuations, wouldn’t you know that Paul is keeping busy (or at least The Angry Mex is)? In other current events, Patrick *felt* special for a hot minute. You'll hear how about "a top pest control provider in the southeast that is actively seeking to expand its current service area. Our client is in the top 10 nationally in terms of annual sales and is privately held.  Knowing that yours is one of the best and fastest growing in the area...". Paul talks Patrick down from his Rising Star pedestal. Patrick recalls a one-time project in which he had to research recurring vs reoccurring. Leave it to Patrick to chase that into a food frequency free-for-all. If Paul can make it past the Compound, he can show how his one (and maybe never) trip to Waco explains the reoccurring difference. Paul goes on to distinguish reoccurring and one-times. Patrick questions Paul about saying no to Aunt Suzy. Paul questions Patrick’s question. It may be a Buzz word, but there are 'opportunity costs'. Service Agreements. Yes or No? Paper or Digital? Early cancellation fees? Termite work? Paul recalls days of yesteryear when due diligence teams sampled service agreements. What happens when a service agreement doesn’t line up with what is being delivered? You may not find yourself in a class action lawsuit but it may happen to the acquirer. The disclaimer Paul gives is one for the ages. He repeats what he has heard from attorneys. Do NOT take what Paul says as investment advice or legal advice, or prepare to stand before the judge and jury.  Episode 42 guest, Jeff Bain, must be an instant classic, or maybe it's an easy reference. Be like Jeff; define what makes your business different. Make sure to RSVP for Paul's upcoming customer retention presentation (email theBuzz@potomaccompany.com). Donation to The Human Fund not required. Co-Produced, Edited, and Mixed by Dylan Seals of hdaudiopost.com

Bible Study with Jairus – Acts 28 Acts 28 includes two stories.  The first story is about Paul staying on the island of Malta for three months and then leaving there after the winter to go to Rome.  On this island, he supernaturally prevailed against the attack of the viper.  He also healed the father of the chief official of the island and other sick people.   We don't understand why Paul lived on this island for three months but didn't record much of his ministry there.  For example, if we are talking about healing people on the island, Paul would be able to lay hands on them and heal them in just a few days.  Since Paul was a prisoner, he probably did not have the tools to weave tents as he always did in his profession.  While in Malta, did Paul preach the gospel and teach the natives about the Bible?  Since details aren't given, we don't' know exactly what he did for those three months. Three months is a long time.  If Paul's daily life was recorded daily in a diary, it could have been as thick as the Bible.  The Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  One written word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.  It is the Christian's instruction manual for life.  Though details may be left out, we can be sure that those details were not significant for the future of the church.  Verse 11 tells us that they had wintered on the island for three months before setting sail on the Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.  The details mentioned in this passage are significant, which is why they were included in the Bible. For example, Castor and Pollux are Greek gods, indicating that ships from Alexandria, Egypt (under the jurisdiction of Ancient Greece) were going to and from Malta.  The Greek crew members wintered in Malta for three months, yet the Bible doesn't say anything about Paul preaching the gospel to them.  What did Paul do for those three months?  In the second story, after Paul arrived in Rome, he preached Jesus as a gospel to the Jews, but a dispute arose among them.  Then Paul quoted Isaiah saying: “The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet:” 'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving."  For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!" (Acts 28:25-28, NIV) Why did Paul say this?  You might remember that in Romans 9-11, Paul recorded his burden for the Jews to be saved, wishing that he would be cursed for the sake that the Jews would be saved (Romans 9:3).  And we have witnessed in the previous records of Acts that every time he went to the Jews to preach the gospel, although they did not accept it and chased Paul to persecute him, Paul did not give up.  But why is it that he gave up this time? Remember that the Lord Jesus once said to Paul, "Quick! Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me" (Acts 22:18, NIV).  In Acts 22:21 (NIV), Paul also recorded what Jesus said, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"  So we can see from these two verses that Jesus had told him long ago that the Jews in Jerusalem would not accept his testimony, and that He would be sending Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.  But Paul's mind couldn't keep up.  He was hindered from fully understanding Jesus' will for him Because of his love for the Jews, his own cultural and religious limitations, perspectives, and personality. Previously, we've talked about whether Paul's trip to Jerusalem was God's plan or his own.  This is a controversial topic.  We reasoned that it could be from God because when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem, Jesus appeared to him and said, "Take courage!  As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome" (Acts 23:11, NIV).  In addition, some believe that Agabus' prophecy wasn't completely accurate.  He prophesied that Paul would be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem, but in reality Paul was bound by the Romans in Jerusalem.  This could be why some Charismatics who have the gift of prophecy say that Agabus' prophecy was not accurate.  The Bible does say that when Abagus prophesied, he said: “this is what the Holy Spirit says." Others tried to persuade Paul not to go, but he didn't listen. The contradiction here is a theological issue debated by many people.  In our study, we looked at it from a different perspective and concluded that perhaps Paul shouldn't have gone to Jerusalem.  If he had understood Jesus' telling him to forego Jerusalem and go directly to Rome to preach the gospel, he might have avoided being shipwrecked and imprisoned.  However, Paul was human like us and had his own perspective about what he should do.  Human perspective can hinder or interfere with God's leading.  Witness Lee said that man's perspective is what hinders following God and spiritual growth the most.  We gleaned from this chapter that Paul finally understood God's leading and plan after going through the storm and subsequent shipwreck from Jerusalem to Rome.  He understood that the Jews wouldn't accept his testimony and shifted his ministry's focus from the Jews to the Gentiles.  We see this at the end of Acts 28 when it said, "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.  He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ –with all boldness and without hindrance!" (Acts 28:30-31, NIV).  These verses confirm that Paul completely refocused his attention on the Gentiles in Rome and God's move among the gentile nations and evangelizing Europe.  As we finished Acts 28, it seemed that the chapter abruptly ended, and some of our bible study members asked why.  We eventually concluded that the ending of this chapter is spiritually significant. We can compare a person's journey from accepting God's call to completing it with Paul's journey from Jerusalem to Rome.  God officially called Paul on the road to Damascus, yet he said that God had set him apart from his mother's womb.  In turn, we can say he was called from Jerusalem.  God wanted him to go to Rome and evangelize Europe, but the journey was difficult, and Paul didn't follow God's will initially. Malta was a turning point for Paul.  He stayed there for three months, yet the Bible leaves out the details of that time period.  Rome isn't far away, but the winter weather restricts the ships from sailing.  Neither Paul nor the ship's captain and crew can leave.  God arranged these circumstances, and here is the spiritual significance that we see.  We believe that during that three months with nothing to do, Paul spent much of his time in prayer and reflected on his journey from Jerusalem to Rome.  He might have thought of God's instructions that he leave Jerusalem as soon as possible because his testimony to the Jews wouldn't be accepted.  Jesus was clear when he told Paul to go to the Gentiles to preach the gospel, but Paul's mind was focused elsewhere.  He insisted on going to Jerusalem, causing many uproars.  Perhaps during this reflection time and prayer, his attitude changed.  He may have questioned whether he fully understood God's leading and instead embarked on his own path.  Paul may have had some regret and felt discouraged, knowing that he wasn't fully cooperating with what God wanted. Acts 28:13-15 (NIV) says that when Paul arrived in Puteoli, fellow believers greeted him.  Some traveled thirty-forty miles from Rome as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three taverns to meet him when they heard he was coming.  Paul thanked God and was encouraged when he saw them.  One lady in our study questioned this, saying, "Wasn't Paul always strong and courageous?”  Why was he encouraged when these people met him?  I suggested that maybe this confirms that Paul might have had self-doubt and misgivings while reflecting in Malta. Jesus said to his disciples while He was on earth, "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.  Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." (NIV, Matthew 10:5-6).  Jesus' command to the twelve apostles was not the same command He gave to Paul.  In other words, it was the leading of God's previous move, not the leading of His new move. Our own perspective often gets in the way of what God wants to do.  Bill Johnson, a Charismatic pastor in California, said, “Every new move of God is often persecuted by the people used by God in His previous move.”  What people knew and experienced in a previous move of God often keeps them from accepting something new or different in the next move of God.  Because things in the new move look different, people will react negatively, saying it's not of God or even go so far as to say it's from the enemy.  Personal opinions can hinder God's spirit from moving.  We can see the cycle if we look to the past, from Martin Luther's reformation, which was persecuted by the Catholic Church to the Anabaptists who were persecuted by the reformed. Lastly, even within the Pentecostal Movement, newer movements are persecuted by previous movements.  It was the same story without exception.  Paul was human with his own perceptions and shortcomings.  God often has to deal with people's perceptions and natural inclinations.  The relationship between God and man is like two people trying to run together with their legs tied.  God is often running faster than we can keep up.  He has to wait for people to understand his leading or eventually let them deal with the consequences of their own choices.  This is what happened to Paul.  Jesus told Paul to leave Jerusalem and go to the Gentiles to preach the gospel, but he didn't listen.  God had no choice but to remind him through the Holy Spirit's prophecy.  Paul insisted on going, so God waited patiently.  Despite his stubbornness, Jesus appeared to him and encouraged him in prison.  2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NIV) is a verse that talks about the patience of Jesus Christ. “May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.”  It seems like Paul prayed this out of his own experience of Jesus's patience with him. Jesus Christ is not only like that to Paul.  He's also like that to us.  I shared one of my experiences to help our Bible study members understand the inspiration I received. I was saved in the Local Church Movement,  a conservative Christian group that values spiritual growth in life.  At that time, my only thought was to serve the members of our church.  I had no thoughts of serving in American churches or churches in other parts of the world.  I focused my life on serving Chinese scholars in the United States and teaching them the gospel within the Local Church Movement.  It never entered my mind that I would leave my church to fellowship with and learn about the Charismatic church and eventually pursue the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everything changed mainly because my wife and I were dealing with ten years of infertility.  I prayed every day in 2014, asking God to heal us, but there was no answer.  In 2015 I began to seek help from other churches outside the Local Church Movement.  I really wanted help from our own church and attended a special meeting in California in the summer of 2015.  This was the last meeting of the Local Church Movement that I attended.  We didn't get the help we needed for our infertility problem.  Even though my mindset was inseparable from the Local Church Movement's teachings, God silently led me out of our church to learn about healing and prophecy in the Pentecostal Movement.  I personally heard God tell me when we would have a child, and in the end, it happened! Looking back on this, my experience is similar to Paul's at Malta.  2015 was my spiritual Malta.  In one way, I hoped that the Local Church Movement could help us with our infertility problem, but they don't teach about the gift of healing or prophecy, so they couldn't help us.  The Holy Spirit began to lead me to the Charismatics teachings online and to attend their healing and prophetic conferences. I struggled inside with being a part of two completely different church movements.  In 2015, every day at the park, I was praying at noon, asking God what I should do to move forward spiritually.  Part of me felt like God wanted me to leave the Local Church Movement, but I loved my church and its people.  I was worried about hurting those who loved and cared about me.  In addition, because of how deeply they influenced me, I didn't want to hurt the body of Christ in general by leaving. Later, God showed me something that inspired me. In a vision, He showed me a tributary of the Yangtze River that originated in the Himalayas.  Then I saw a downstream tributary.  He told me that he put me on the first tributary and now has moved me to the second.  As long as I followed the Holy Spirit's leading, I could live in unity in the body of Christ.  He also said that I would never go back to the Himalayas, but the river in the Himalayas will join me downstream.  This was very encouraging.  In another dream, Jesus appeared to me, telling me that the two rivers would converge, which confirmed this vision.  It was only when I looked back at this period of history that I was able to see how God was leading me.  He led me to the Local Church Movement to learn how to pursue spiritual life and study the Bible.  It was also Him that led me to the Pentecostal Movement to learn the gifts and receive the baptism and power of the Holy Spirit.  These two rivers will converge and produce God's new move – holiness and power will converge; the word of God and the Spirit of God will converge; the fruits of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will converge.  God also told me that He wanted to take me out of the Local Church Movement because He wanted me to serve Chinese churches on a larger scale, participate in the great revival of China, and serve churches in the United States and other countries.  He challenged me to start my own ministry, another area that the Local Church Movement didn't encourage.  In 2016 besides telling me that we would have a child that year, he confirmed that Jairus Bible world Ministry came from Him.   All of this far outweighed what I was taught in the Local Church movement.  I would never have imagined that God would lead me in this way.  So, when I was struggling and hesitating in 2015, God was waiting patiently for me to catch up to him.  God led me to leave the Local Church Movement to study the Pentecostal Movement.  During this process, I had to break through my perceptions, and many of the concepts that the Local Church Movement taught me.  God recovered and encouraged many truths from his word through the Local Church Movement as well as the Pentecostal Movement.  I learned many rich truths and life lessons through the Local Church movement that would benefit every believer.  However, many see this movement and Witness Lee as heretical and have rejected their teaching altogether.  I've shared with fellow Pentecostal believers the truth and practice of “calling on the name of the Lord, pray-reading the Lord's Word, praying, studying, reciting, and prophesying,” and most were curious and open. Today, whether we are talking about believers in the Local Church Movement or those who condemn them, we shouldn't allow personal perceptions to divide us.  The same would be true of those who have negative attitudes towards the Pentecostal Movement.  The walls of division must come down.  Much of the time, it isn't that others don't know the truth.  Instead, narrowmindedness prevents us from understanding each other.  What you see taught in other churches may not be heresy or evil spirits.  It could be that your own limitations and perceptions prevent you from accepting truths that others know and practice. We are now entering an era of a great revival.  We urgently need believers of different churches to break their prejudices and enter the new era of God's convergence.  Only in this way can God's will be better achieved. That was the inspiration we received from reading Acts 28.  Paul eventually broke through his perceptions and plans through the arduous journey from Jerusalem to Rome. Finally, he entered into God's plan for his life, preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.  Although it seems like the book of Acts came to an abrupt end, it was actually perfect.  God completed his plan of leading Paul from Jerusalem to Rome, taking him from where he was called to the end of his mission.  At this point, Paul fully understood God's will and was on the path of evangelizing Europe.  This is why the Holy Spirit didn't need to write more on this.  God's leading through the circumstances Paul went through brought him to the right place at the right time so Paul could follow through with his mission. Today, the Spirit of God continues to work on us as believers, helping us to break out of our own perceptions in our spiritual Malta.  Once our spirits and minds are open, we can enter into the plan that God prepared for us long before.  We are not waiting for God; He is patiently waiting for us.  

Bible Study with Jairus- Acts 17 In the beginning of Acts 17 it tells us that Paul and Silas came to the synagogue in Thessalonica to preach the gospel. Some people were persuaded, but it also led to the opposition of many Jews. The Jews wanted to bring Paul and Silas out to the crowd but could not find them. Because of this, the Jews dragged Jason out who had received Paul and Silas. Because of this, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea, and upon their arrival, they started to preach the gospel in the synagogue. The people there were more open-minded than the Thessalonians. When the Jews in Thessalonica heard about it, they came over to stir up trouble again. The believers then sent Paul to the coast and escorted him to Athens, while Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. When Paul arrived in Athens, he asked the people who escorted him to let Silas and Timothy come over. Then the Bible records: 17:16 (NIV) While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17:17 (NIV) So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 17:18 (NIV) A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. The Christian woman who was leading our Bible Study asked, “Why is it that the Jews of Thessalonica were so opposed to Paul's evangelism and when Paul arrived in Berea, why did the Jews from Thessalonica travel to Berea to oppose Paul? Why is it wherever Paul and Silas went, they went to the synagogue first to preach the gospel? And why is it when Paul arrived in Athens, he still let Silas and Timothy to come over? It seems that Timothy had always been with Paul, but why is it he didn't mention Timothy when he was in Thessalonica and Berea? After the Jews brought Jason to the crowd, why was it recorded in Acts 17:7-8 (NIV) that: "Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus. When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil." Why were they thrown into turmoil? There are a lot of questions here but we can only answer one at a time so let's start with why the Jews were thrown into turmoil when they heard Jesus was king. I shared that there was a historical background to this which I learned while I was studying Christian theology. During the time when the Israelites were against Roman rule, there were several different Jewish factions. The Herodians and Sadducees mentioned in the Bible were Roman advocates; but the Pharisees and the Zealots advocated for independence and were opposed to Roman rule. In particular, the Zealots advocated the use of violent and revolutionary means to overthrow Roman rule, and they launched violent uprisings against Roman rule but were brutally suppressed by the Romans. After the brutal crackdown, the Zealots were almost completely exterminated. The Pharisees were basically politically cautious. They didn't fiercely advocate revolution, and thus survived. But the faction that advocated cooperation with the Romans occupied a large part of Israel's upper class. Why were the Jewish crowds and the city officials thrown into turmoil when they heard that Jesus was another king? One of the reasons may be that many Jews advocated cooperation with the Romans. It can be said that they were "Jewish traitors”. So, if Jesus (another king) came and if He was able to lead the Israelites in a successful revolt, would they have to liquidate the history of these traitors? And Jesus is really the king of Israel. Not only were these Jews afraid that He would become king, but even his disciples were hoping that He would really be king in order to lead them to revolutionary success and to drive the Romans out and restore Israel's glory. Looking at these two examples, the identity of the Lord Jesus as a Jewish king does bring hope but it also poses a threat to some groups of people. Although Jesus had already been crucified when Paul preached the gospel, talking about Him as another king of the Jews could have caused another Jewish revolution.  The revolts might have been successful and the Roman advocates would be called traitors.  If the revolution wasn't successful the Israelites would be brutally suppressed by the Romans again.   Therefore, there were valid reasons why the Jews fiercely opposed evangelism. It could even be said that it was a very legitimate reason to protect the Israelites from harm. Those who hold this view believe that the people who were opposing Paul's evangelism were actually protecting ordinary Israelites from the Romans, because the history of the fierce suppression of the Zealots was still fresh in their memory. It may be for these reasons, plus several others, that these Jews from Thessalonica had gone to Berea to oppose Paul's evangelism. In both places, Paul was forced to leave. Please note that the first time Paul was forced to leave Thessalonica and flee to Berea, he was with Silas. The second time Paul was forced to leave Berea and was escorted to Athens while Silas and Timothy remained in Berea. When he arrived in Athens, the one who escorted Paul had taken orders from him and went back to call Silas and Timothy to come over Athens, and left. Here, I guess the person who escorted Paul is just one person, or even if it's a few people, they were all gone. After Paul was left alone, he encountered a lot of difficulties. Herein lays the problem. When American pastors and teachers travel to other countries to preach, they spend many exhausting hours on the plane and then often proceed directly to the place they are to preach.   Many times they are already exhausted when they reach their destination. They need to be strengthened by the Lord before they can finish their sermon. Even though we have airplanes and better traveling conditions, a long flight is still exhausting.  If that's the case, imagine that if you were Paul, and you traveled long distances to evangelize and you were continuously being chased. Now you are alone in Athens, and Athens is full of idols. How would you react? Let's look at Paul's reaction. Acts 17:16-18 (NIV) says that: 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. How should we look at this passage? The church that I was saved in was more in favor of Paul's work. In my spiritual education, Paul was rarely criticized. But when the Lord led me to look at the teachings of some of the Bible teachers outside the traditions of my evangelical church, I heard some criticisms towards Paul. I heard a message from Rick Joyner that there are statistics showing that 80% of the Exegetical and Hermeneutical Work of Bible after Martin Luther's Reformation have been about Paul. Rick saw Paul once in a vision. Paul told him that everyone has highly exalted him. They should not take his work to analyze the four Gospels. Instead, they should use the words of the four Gospels to measure his works. Rick Joyner also said that Paul's life has undergone three stages of growth and change. The initial stage seems to be what he said in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians (NIV), “My immediate response was not to consult any human being.” There seems to be some pride in saying these words; but in the second stage, he claims that “For I am the least of the apostles” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 15:9) and “I am less than the least of all the Lord's people” (NIV, Ephesians 3:8); Later he said, “I am the worst sinner of them all.” (NIV, 1 Timothy 1:15). These verses show that Paul had also undergone a process of constant humility. There is some controversy that arises when reading Paul's work. The controversy revolves around the issue of Paul's teachings being infallible. Paul is a human being and all human beings are bound to make mistakes. But if Paul was used to write the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could there be any errors? If you believe that Paul can't be wrong, that doesn't really make sense because humans are bound to make mistakes. If you believe that Paul can be wrong, then how do you decide which subjects he was right or wrong about? This is an issue in particular with the controversy about Paul's prohibition of women preaching. Was Paul wrong to base it on the customs of that time, or were his words the revelation of the Holy Spirit? How we should view Paul's teachings? Whether Paul is right or wrong in this matter has become a big debate in Christian exegesis. But for now, we won't discuss the issue of whether women should or shouldn't preach. We certainly believe that Paul's words are the revelation of the Holy Spirit, but we also believe that Paul went through a learning process because he experienced failure. Although the Biblical education I received did not say that Paul's experience in Athens was a failure, I have heard other Bible teachers mention that Paul's attempt to win people's hearts in accepting Christ through debating at Athens was a failure. They specifically compared what is written in Galatians 3:5 with Paul's experience in Athens. Paul says in Galatians 3:5 (NIV), "So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?" Here, Paul specifically mentioned that the Galatians started with the Spirit so that they should not fall into the flesh. He preached the gospel by relying on the Holy Spirit. He had also performed miracles to bring the Galatians to salvation. Let's take a look again at Chapter 17 verses 16-18 (NIV): 16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. I agree more with the argument that Paul's debating may not have had good results here. Allow me to explain my thoughts.  As I mentioned earlier, Paul was chased twice by the Jews. He was accompanied by Silas the first time, and the second time; he was accompanied by an escort. When he arrived in Athens, the person who escorted him went back to assist Silas and Timothy so they could come quickly to Athens. In this interval, Paul was alone. Even if Paul possessed remarkable abilities/powers, he would still feel lonely when he was alone. The Bible tells us “How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight?” (NIV, Deuteronomy 32:30). The principle that God established was to partner us with the body of Christ. At this time, when Paul was left alone, he might have faced an attack and incitement of the enemy. My personal view is that after Paul experienced the continuous attacks and rejection of the Jews plus the fact that he was left alone in Athens and saw that the city was full of idols, he became greatly distressed. Then I think he started to reason and ask himself, was he still in the spirit? The Bible does not explain this so we do not know for sure. But the view I mentioned before, that is, the result of Paul's hopes of spreading the gospel to the Athenians through debating did not go very well. So Paul's experience in Athens is regarded as one of his failures. Let me discuss the inspiration that I received during this meeting. It can be said through the word "react" or more appropriately, "to be influenced by the environment". In our spiritual experience as Christians, we should be seated in heavenly places in Christ, but sometimes our flesh or minds are provoked and make us react in our minds and in the flesh. Afterwards, we often regret the experience. I recently listened to a very early message from an American pastor named Jack Deere about the discipline of the Holy Spirit. He mentioned a very interesting experience that he had. He said that he is a pastor in a not so well-off place in the United States. As a pastor, he is often misunderstood and attacked by others. One day, a female Christian, in a church where he served as a pastor, said to him, "You are just serving as a pastor here for the money." He was very angry and he answered her back. Things like this seemed to happen all the time. He asked the Lord, “What is going on?” The Lord said that this is the discipline of the Holy Spirit. He said, “When will it end?” The Lord replied, "When you can treat those who criticize you with a gentle and kind spirit." Jack Deere is a pastor who moved from the evangelical church to the charismatic movement. He is well-known in the Christian world in the United States. He is also one of the few American pastors I know of that teaches the discipline of the Holy Spirit. Supposedly, he's also a person who pursues deeper spirituality, but he shared this experience to let us see that a person who pursues spirituality is often influenced by the environment especially when they are not mature enough. When Jack Deere's spiritual discipline was more mature, he would respond more gently and lovingly to those who criticize him. When a Christian is practicing to be more spiritual, we need to learn not to react to the environment or be influenced by the environment. Instead, we should react to the heavenly reality and our communication with the Lord, and out of our position of sitting together with Christ in heavenly places.  Reacting to the environment or what you see will end up pulling you down to the level of the environment itself. Can Paul's experience here be pulled down by the surrounding environment? We know that Paul is a man with heavenly experience and vision, but there are times that people become weak, especially when he is constantly attacked by Jews, and his co-workers Silas and Timothy are not beside him to assist him. He might have been very knowledgeable since he received training from Gamaliel, and he was good at debating. After he was enraged in the spirit, his soul also became agitated: "You guys know how to debate, I also know to debate. Your philosophy is great. My philosophy is also very impressive." As you can see here, not only did he debate with the Jews and God-fearing people, but he has also debated with the people he met in the marketplace every day, and some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who have argued with him. We are not sure whether Paul is like this, but those who hold the view that Paul has done nothing wrong is untenable because Paul is a human being, and every human being has a process of learning and continuous maturing. In his later years, Paul did not think that he was fully mature yet, saying that “I press on toward the goal to win the prize.” (NIV, Philippians 3:14). If Paul's later years are not fully mature, then Paul's experience should be a process of continuous maturity. The only difficulty is how we see Paul's continuous maturity process with the help of the Holy Spirit, but at the same time not be affected in accepting the fact that the Holy Spirit has spread the Word of God through Paul's mouth. Judging from my limited personal evangelistic experience, many times we encounter some atheist Chinese, who often debate with the people who are preaching the gospel. I personally feel that these debates are often not very effective. The best way is to influence them through prayers and testimonies of love. Of course, among many Christians who advocate Power Evangelism, there are many who use the power of the Holy Spirit to let the atheists be convinced. The debate is usually not very effective. Debates often let us fall to the battlefield of the mind, and debates are things that often happen after we have fallen into a reprobate mind. I slowly learned a lesson, that is, when a person is not ready to accept Christ, or the Holy Spirit hasn't yet reached a point where he has begun to work on the person to open up his/her mind, we don't need to have too much debate with him/her. Instead, we can silently pray for the person with an attitude of give and take in the service of love. It has a better effect as time passes. In addition to this it's important to be spiritually paired with other believers no matter how knowledgeable or spiritual you may be.  Paul knows this very well. But does the absence of Silas and Timothy affect Paul's judgment? Although Paul is an apostle, the Bible clearly says that Silas is a prophet. If Silas is there, will Silas pray to God to get any prophetic revelation on how to do the work of evangelism in the city of Athens? Or if Timothy is there, will he be more eloquent to deliver and preach the gospel? Although Timothy is younger than Paul, we have seen how young people can do many things better in the church. When people who don't know much about God come to church, the effect when the pastor preaches a profound sermon is often not as good as the testimony of a few Christians who have faith in the Lord from the very start. The latter is more appealing to those who have just come into contact with the gospel. This is also my personal point of view. I think that Paul may be more suitable to teach those who want to seek and experience the truth on a deeper level, but Timothy may be more suitable to test the waters first in Athens. Their human hearts are not prepared yet for the idol worshipping people so we should let Timothy pave the way through his words. Or let Silas pray to God to see what strategic or spiritual guidance God has, and then find ways to preach the gospel here. But it seems that it wasn't mentioned here that Paul has received any revelation or God's guidance. Instead, the Bible mentions that he had reacted because he was angry in the spirit. Is this reaction completely from God?  We don't know. But I think that those who hold the view that since Paul was an apostle, everything he did was right and he didn't need to seek God's guidance, and he won't ever make mistakes is untenable. Although Paul was an apostle, he has the ability to make mistakes and will need a process of learning from them. I personally think that Paul should not be in a rush and do things hastily. He should take a rest and wait until Silas and Timothy come to discuss the matter together and then take action. In other words, Paul is too rash here. This may be one of Paul's weaknesses. Of course, our analysis is not necessarily right, but it can provide us with another idea, that is, to understand the process of Paul's growth in God. Paul was a person, not a God. Did he have any shortcomings? It's safe to say that it's very natural for everyone to have weakness. Did Paul have any weaknesses? If what we propose here exposes the weakness of human nature, what is Paul's weakness? What effect does Paul's weakness have on his ministry? We don't know the specific weaknesses that Paul had, but it's impossible for a person not to have any weakness. Even if people don't have obvious weaknesses, they need to be paired with other believers who have different giftings.  Therefore, the pairing of Silas and Timothy to Paul is very important. Of course, we are not totally negating the effect of Paul's evangelism in Athens. Although he wasn't good at convincing the Athenians through debating, he had attracted some people who were seeking the truth. Acts 17:19-21 (NIV) says: "Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)” You can see that the explanation in verse 21 is that the Athenians and the foreigners who live there are very busy, and they have no time to take care of other things. So these people took Paul and brought him to Areopagus to talk about these new lessons/ideas which stood out to us. Going back to what we mentioned earlier, Paul may not have the silver tongue of Timothy, or the effect of preaching the gospel to the newcomers or those who are occupied by the world's affairs, but Paul didn't fail to attract those who really seek the truth. Paul's personality may be more suitable to people who are diligent seekers of truth. Paul spoke a very famous passage in Acts 17:24-27 (NIV) which says that: "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” We have no intention of belittling Paul, and the experience here is also the highlight of Paul's experience in Athens. But I personally don't think that idolizing Paul or assuming that he doesn't have a process of continuous maturity, is correct. Paul is a human being. When he is continuously attacked and left alone, he will be weak and will be incited by the environment to react. And such a reaction usually pulls us down to the level of the environment or the enemy, letting us lose the commanding heights of victory in Christ. An example is Pastor Jack Deere that I mentioned earlier. When others criticize you, don't rush to react. Instead, rest in the Lord and ask His wisdom and follow his leading to deal these criticisms. Similarly, I think that Paul should not be rash here. He should seek the Lord on how to evangelize Athens which was occupied by idols. He should also wait for Silas and Timothy to come and discuss first before making any decisions. It's not that Paul has no wisdom, but Paul was constantly attacked and alone. He needs to get a good rest and to be taken care of. We have a new couple coming to our Bible study. I hoped to give them a prophetic word before the end of our meeting. I prayed to God and asked Him, “Are there any prophetic words to give and bless them?” I heard the Holy Spirit say two names, Aquila and Priscilla. I prophesied by faith that: I feel that God believes that you are Aquila and Priscilla. They have the same line of work as Paul, but they have also taken care of him. Although Paul is an apostle, the apostles also need to be cared to and helped by people. I feel that God called you to be Aquila and Priscilla to train the Paul of tomorrow, because in this era, God will raise and widely use many Paul-like apostles. God called you to be Aquila and Priscilla to cherish those who are serving as apostles. Whether this person is still your child, or a little brother or sister in your church, God will use you to fulfill them in order to make them become servants like Paul. As we saw in this chapter, Paul also has weaknesses and there are times that he needs help and to be paired with other believers. Paul's encounter with Aquila and Priscilla was a turning point in Paul's spirituality, because the couple, Aquila and Priscilla, is very compassionate. They were tentmakers just as Paul was and they had received Paul. We believe that Aquila and Priscilla have tended Paul to a large extent, so after Paul met Aquila and Priscilla, it could be said that spiritually, he became more mature. How God used Aquila and Priscilla to take care of and complete Paul's ministry, God will also use you two to come along side and complete the Pauls of tomorrow. I prophesied that according to the principle that “everyone can prophesy” (1 Corinthian 14:31), it's not because I am a prophet. I was saved in an Evangelical church, but I learned the gift of prophecy after I first came into contact with the American modern prophetic movement in 2015. Of course, I studied five courses at a prophetic school, and their teachings helped me to go and activate this prophetic gift. I prophesied with inspiration and faith. I don't know if these words are correct for the couple because they didn't give me feedback. However, after other friends who were in the meeting with me verified Acts 18, they began to discover Paul's experience of encountering Aquila and Priscilla. It seems that perhaps, I am speaking by the Holy Spirit. Because when I prophesied, I was not sure when Paul met Aquila and Priscilla, nor was I very familiar with the content of Acts 18. I hope that when we have the opportunity to read Acts 18, we can learn more about how Aquila and Priscilla have tended and helped Paul with the help of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for reading, listening or watching.  

If Paul tells says pastors aren't supposed to be pugnacious, then why does he also tell Timothy to fight in this letter --- twice- Ministers of the gospel must model a self-guarding of their personal lives for the flock to follow, and they must be willing to stand for truth. Within that light the apostle charges Timothy to -fight the good fight,- and we'll note that fight in practice -v. 11- and in perspective -v. 12-.--Come visit us--For more information- http---gracesavannah.org--To give securely- https---gracesavannah.org-give-To watch live- https---gracesavannah.org-live--Title- Ministers Fight- - 1 Tm 6-11-12-Series- 1 Tim- Honoring God in Church-Speaker- Shaun Marksbury-Bible- 1 Timothy 6-11-12-Date- January 10, 2021

This past Wednesday, I was horrified as I watched on TV US citizens storming the capitol. These individuals destroyed and stole property, attacked authorities, broke onto the senate and house floors, and occupied offices. I thought to myself, “I can’t believe what I am seeing!” I never thought I would see the day when citizens of this country would storm the US Capitol to try and stop a lawful procedure. Something in this country has changed. There has been a shift. Then I noticed something else. At first, I looked past it. But then I say it. The flags. The flags and banners came to the forefront of my view. The rioters carried flags and banners. Many of the flags were the US flag hung upside down. Others carried flags that featured President Trump’s name and image. But in this crowd of rioters, there were several who carried flags that bore another name. And that name was Jesus. The name of Jesus was on Capitol steps. The name of Jesus was climbing over the barricade. The name of Jesus was knocking down the Capitol doors. Some of these people were doing these things in the name of Jesus. So this raises some questions. Does Jesus approve of this protest? Does Jesus approve of this insurrection? Or the question this message and the next will try to answer Is it okay for a Christian to overthrow his country? Today we will begin to answer that question – is it okay for a Christian to overthrow his country? And in answering this question, we will learn our number one priority to our government.   Let’s Pray Open your Bible to 1 Timothy 2 Our First Responsibility In 1st Timothy, Paul lays out our first responsibility to our community and to our leaders. What could it be? Let’s read the passage: Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. The Bible is very clear. Our first responsibility toward all humans is to pray for them. Paul uses three general terms to cover the idea of prayer. Supplication – which is to ask Prayers – which is to communicate with God Intercessions – which is to ask on behalf of someone Sometimes the Word is making a distinction within a list. Here I think the Word is using three ways to say the same thing for emphasis. There is a fourth term that is a bit different from the first three – “Giving Thanks” Two things immediately stand out. Paul does tell us who to pray for – everyone and especially our leaders. Initially, Paul does not tell us what to pray. He only tells us to pray. I say initially because I do think a verse later he gives us what we can pray. So what would a first-century believer pray for on behalf of all men? What do you pray for today? Health needs Work and financial needs Family struggles Marriage struggle When you pray for leadership – for the president, for the governor, what do you pray? Protection Policies Moral behavior The early church father, Tertullian, helps us understand what 1st-century believers may have prayed. He writes, “We pray for all the emperors, that God may grant them long life, a secure government, a prosperous family, vigorous troops, a faithful senate, an obedient people; that the whole world may be in peace; and that God may grant, both to Caesar and to every man, the accomplishment of their just desires.” It is one thing to pray for someone. It is another thing to give thanks for them. You probably know 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. That means we give thanks for the people and circumstances we like AND for the people and circumstances, we do not like. Why does God want us to give thanks for all men and all leaders? Why even would God want us to pray for all men and all leaders? When you sincerely pray for someone and give thanks for someone – if that someone is someone who you do not like – your prayers and gratitude for that person keep bitterness away. Gratitude keeps bitterness away. It’s easy to pray for the people you love. It’s easy to pray for the folks you agree with. But what about the person who has hurt you? What about the person who has wronged you? What about the leader who upsets you or disturbs you, or disgusts you? That is not so easy. When you pray and give thanks, God can use that to keep you from becoming bitter. I also think God is doing something with what He is asking us to do. Ask for their needs Pray in general for them Pray specifically on their behalf Then give thanks for them Think about that person you are very angry with. Think about that person who you do not want to pray for. If all you had to do was pray for them then your prayers might be what theologians call Imprecatory Prayers. What are Imprecatory Prayers? Well, the Book of Psalms has several Imprecatory Psalms. David wrote them while he was on the run. Imprecatory Psalms are psalms when David asked God to judge, bring down curses, and calamity upon his enemies. So yours might sound like this: “Dear God, rain down fire on my ex-husband” “Heavenly Father, strike my teenage daughter’s tongue!” It’s hard to call upon God to curse someone when you must follow that prayer up with words of gratitude. “Dear God, strike Joe dead! But thanks for the two kids he gave me” doesn’t ring true. Prayer + Gratitude does not equal Bitterness. Prayer + Gratitude gives you a look into the heart of God. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:43-45 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. There are people in your life who have hurt you. Pray for them and find a way to give thanks. Even here in this church, there is probably someone who has disappointed you and you struggle to pray for them. They have wronged you and you omit them from your prayer list. They have hurt you and you want God to hurt them back. God asks you to pray for them and to give thanks. Do not let bitterness set in. Do not let your prayers become a weapon.   No one has been wronged more than God. And He blesses even the worst of humanity. When you pray and give thanks for all men then you get a glimpse into the heart of God. You live our life on earth as God lives in heaven. Responsibility to Our Leaders Let’s talk about our responsibility toward our rulers. Our first responsibility as a citizen of this country is to pray for and give thanks for our rulers. Think about the situation in Rome and what we have here in the U.S. We have something that the Roman citizen did not have. We have the vote. The great civil rights leader, The Honorable John Lewis, once said, “Voting is the most powerful non-violent tool we have.” The ability to vote is powerful but I respectfully disagree with Mr. Lewis. The most powerful non-violent tool we have is prayer. Every believer in every situation has the ability and opportunity to pray. In the U.S. we have the vote and prayer. But a believer in North Korea does not have the vote. But they do have prayer. I said earlier in this message that Paul does not initially tell us what to pray only that we should pray. But in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 he does give us one thing we should always pray for on behalf of all men, especially our leaders. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The one thing we should always pray for when we pray for all men and our leaders is for their salvation. Over the years and over the presidents, my prayers have been varied. A few have even been Imprecatory. But the most consistent thing I have prayed for in regard to our leaders has been for their salvation. I pray even today that President Trump repents of his sin and turns to Christ for salvation. I have prayed similar prayers for almost every president. If we want true change in our country, true change will only come when our leaders believe on Christ. Not until then. So we should pray for their salvation. Why Should We Pray? We’re almost done. But I have held back the best part of this passage – the ultimate WHY WE SHOULD PRAY. This is found in the second part of verse 2. Our first responsibility is to pray and give thanks. Why should we do that? ...that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence We pray for all men. We pray for rulers. We pray for their needs and their salvation. Why? So they will leave us alone. So we can lead a quiet, peaceable life. So we can raise our kids, do our jobs, worship our God without them interfering. Isn’t that what you want? Don’t you want the government to do its job to do and leave you alone? Yes, but you’re thinking, “I already have that.” But you’re looking at this verse through western eyes. Think about the Christian family in North Korea, or Egypt, or Iran. They just want to live a quiet life. They want to raise their kids. Go about their work. Worship the Savior without the threat of some leader kicking down their door and dragging them off to prison because they love Jesus. Think about the people who originally received and read 1 Timothy. In the recent newsletter, I told you to try and determine who the emperor was at the time Paul wrote 1 Timothy. The answer is Nero. What do we know about Nero? He covered Christians in pitch, hung them on poles, and set them on fire to use as torches in his garden. Nero murdered his mother, his aunt, his first wife Octavia (who was also his step-sister) and murdered his second wife by kicking her to death (She was pregnant at the time.) He then married two different men. The first he castrated and the second looked so much like his second wife that Nero dressed this man up in his second wife’s clothes and called him by his dead wife’s name. And he burned Rome down and then blamed it on Christians. This led to the empire-wide persecution of believers. But Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 says we are to give thanks for and pray for him. If Paul can pray for Nero, you can pray for ___________________. Next Sunday we will have a guest speaker, Pastor Matt Robinson. When I return on the 24th we will continue to answer the question, Is it okay for Christians to overthrow their country? But today you learned that your first responsibility is to pray for all men, especially your leaders, and to give thanks for them.

According to Paul the Apostle, a believer in Christ should have a lifestyle altogether different from “outsiders,” or gentiles. Paul’s description of gentiles is that they are useless in their minds, void of understanding, foreigners to God’s life, ignorant, hard in heart, without feeling, loos-living, unclean, and greedy. A spiritual man does not exhibit this kind of lifestyle. If Paul were to meet you, would he consider you a believer or gentile based on your lifestyle?Many of Francois' messages are delivered within the context of a spiritual formation school called, LEGACY School Of Discipleship. The emphasis of the school is to be trained within the realities of the accomplished work of Jesus Christ. LEGACY School Of Discipleship: www.legacyencounter.orgSupport this podcast financially: https://www.legacyencounter.org/supportEmail questions: podcast@legacyencounter.orgLEGACY on Instagram: @legacy_discipleshipFacebook Page: LEGACY School Of Discipleship

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Acts 17:1-9. Sermon Outline What caused such violent opposition to Paul's preaching? If Paul had declared a message of private religious devotion, or personal fulfillment, he would not have been opposed. Though incredibly personal, the gospel Paul announced also had very public implications. He was declaring that Jesus, a crucified and risen Messiah, was king over the whole world! This upset the power structures of his time and they violently opposed him. What message do we declare? Have we diluted the Christian gospel into something private and non-offensive? Do we proclaim in word and deed the universal Lordship of Jesus Christ over all of life?

Another one another one you aint even had time to listen to the other 24 other one. back to back. Paul and Adrian finally talk about DRUGS but not the fun drugs. like that sad shit. anyway we tell some stories review some advice columns and Adrian implements a controversial new system to win himself pizza and shame Paul for his toxicity. If Paul was a Pokémon he would be Ekans cause he uses toxic as his most effective move. That's a little bonus riff for those of yall who read the description Urban Diplomat: My maid Cleaning lady ate my pot edible https://torontolife.com/city/dear-urban-diplomat-help-my-cleaning-lady-ate-my-pot-edible-and-freaked-out/ Andrew W. K: should I do Heroin? https://www.villagevoice.com/2014/05/14/ask-andrew-w-k-should-i-start-doing-heroin/

What would any of Jesus’ Disciples say if they walked into your church? If Peter walked into the cathedral built in his name, I think he’d start tearing down statues — including those of Mary — and candle stands and scream, quoting what Jesus said when He cleared the money changers from the temple… The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” Matthew 21:13 NLT“ He would also add that with all the idolatry, it’s become a pagan temple and an abomination to God. And, he’d be right. If Paul walked into a progressive church like the United Church of Christ, he’d sit quietly in the back shaking his head and thinking to himself… “Oh, dear Lord! What I wrote to Timothy all those years ago came true! What happened?” What did he write to Timothy? You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! 8 These teachers oppose the truth…They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. 9 But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are… 2 Timothy 2:1-5, 8-9 NLT What Did Happen to the Church founded by Jesus portrayed in the Book of Acts? Click on over to my blog to keep reading and to watch a video detailing the Protestant churches after the Reformation as well as lots of links so you can dig deeper... If you want to reap all the benefits of salvation including the 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven then… Believe. Repent. Be Baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit. Pray this prayer humbly and wholeheartedly… “Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Please forgive me. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and my life to you. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior. I surrender my whole life to you and I will follow you for the rest of my life. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me. In Jesus' name, Amen.” Jesus is coming back soon! Are you ready? Soli Deo Gloria — To God Alone Be the Glory! This is a daily podcast, published each evening. Hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out! And please share this with your friends. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/seek-the-truth/message

There are many Christians who could testify that God works in mysterious ways. A wrong turn became the right one because God had something in store in that area. A simple walk became a lifesaver because you have met someone who was depressed. You listened to a gut feeling and you have been saved in an impending accident. A call or a message to a friend has become an affirmation of his or her prayers. We have so many experiences like these that we could consider mysterious when we look back. But when we reflect deeper, we could see that they were actually God's ways to steer us into His will. Paul in the book of Acts had a similar experience with us. In Acts 16:6 to 7, he was barred by the Holy Spirit into going to Asia. Paul was not also allowed by God to go to Bythinia which was in Asia minor. What can we learn from this experience of Paul? First, God will find a way to reveal His plan for us. Paul and his companions had a plan. They must strategize and analyze why they should do mission in Asia. The Holy Spirit prevented them not only once but twice. In our lives, let us listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. God may have been sending messages through the events around us. What is God trying to tell you in this Covid-19 pandemic? Sometimes, when there is no message, do not be discouraged. No message may also mean a message. Second, God's way is always better than our way. Paul had a vision to go to Macedonia. He went there with his companions and along the way, they met Luke, a medical doctor and a historian. If Paul insisted in going to Asia, then we could not have read the Gospel according to Luke and the book of Acts. In going to Asia, Paul might have been able to preach the Gospel without being imprisoned but God led him to imprisonment. Paul's imprisonment became the avenue in which Paul wrote letters to churches and individuals. Sometimes, Paul could not write because he was chained. Paul dictated his letters and Luke was the one who wrote it. Their partnership resulted into a successful writing ministry. Luke wrote two books, and Paul wrote 13 or maybe 14 books. These books are 55 percent of the New Testament. The areas that Paul wanted to go were later reached by Peter. In that area, the Council of Nicea was later formed and it produced the Nicene Creed. It was not meant to be part of the missionary journey of Paul. If God is hindering you to do something, pray and listen because God has something in store for you! God continues to work in mysterious ways. Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on #SeedsOfFaith

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.Introduction Jesus and Paul are beyond question the two persons in the NT about whom we know most. Paul wrote 13 of the 27 NT documents (87 chapters, nearly as many as the 89 of the four gospels). But there is a major difference between him and Jesus.  Jesus left nothing directly to us in writing. In Paul’s case, we are able to coordinate his missionary activities (in Acts) with his writing and follow-up ministry (the letters). This affords a kind of triangulation; with such perspective the man comes to life.In this podcast we will not be examining the letters of Paul. For that, please see the NT chapter studies…BackgroundPaul was a Jew, though not from Palestine. He was a citizen of Tarsus, capital of the Roman province of Cilicia, modern southern Turkey (Acts 9:11, 21:39, 22:3).Would have grown up speaking Greek, though fluent too in Hebrew, Aramaic, and possibly Latin.He was trained as a rabbi under the distinguished Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).His secular profession was tent-making (Acts 18:3; see also 9:43, 20:34-35; 2 Corinthians 5:1).Paul was also born of the purest Jewish blood, a descendant of the patriarch Benjamin (Philippians 3:5)—at a time when few Jews would have been able to trace their descent, given the confusion of the exiles. He was named after Israel’s first king, Saul.Paul was born a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37, 22:25-28)—when only a minority of those residing within the Roman Empire were given this privilege.He was an intensely focused Pharisee (Acts 22:3, 23:6, 26:5; Galatians 1:13-14; Philippians 3:5. A driven man, Paul claims to have advanced beyond many of his contemporaries (Galatians 1:13-14). Certain that the Christians were dangerous heretics, he hounded them, imprisoned them, tortured and killed them (1 Timothy 1:13; 1 Corinthians 15:9).Sometimes it is asserted that Saul was troubled during his pre-Christian days by his active persecution of the Christians (Acts 7:58, 8:1,3; 9:1; 22:4,20), but he himself insists that he always had a clear conscience (Acts 23:1, 24:16).His training as a Pharisee would have equipped Paul to think long and hard about the relationship of Torah to believers in Christ—appropriate for the one who was divinely appointed to be the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13; Galatians 2:8).Chronology Paul was baptized within a few years of the resurrection, between 32 and 34 AD (Acts 9:18, 22;16). This is a deduction from Galatians 2:1. Paul wrote Galatians, his first epistle, in 48 AD, and so 34 AD would be the latest possible date for his second Jerusalem visit.If Paul can call himself an “old man” by the time of Philemon 9 (c.60 AD)—presumably 60 years of age—then he was born by 1 AD. Note: Saul could easily be called a “young man” at the time of Stephen’s martyrdom [Acts 7:58; cp. John 8:57], as he was not yet 40.Phases of his lifePhase I – Pharisaic roots1 BC-AD 1 - Birth in Tarsus13-16 - Trained by Gamaliel in Jerusalem31- Presides over martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 8)Phase II – Church planting32 - Baptism  in Damascus33-36 - Ministers in Damascus and Arabia; receives further revelation from Jesus Christ in Arabia (Acts 9:19-22, 26:20; Galatians 1:16-18)36 - First Jerusalem visit (Galatians 1:18; Acts 9:26-30)36-45 - Ministers in Syria and Cilicia (Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:21)46 - Second Jerusalem visit (Acts 11:27-30; Galatians 2:1-10), the return to Tarsus47 - Return to Antioch (required by Acts 11:25)48 - First Missionary Journey (Acts 13:1-14:28)49 - Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-35)50 - Second Missionary Journey (Acts 15:36-18:22)57- Third Missionary Journey (Acts 18:23-21:16)Phase III – Imprisonment56-58- In custody in Caesarea58-60 - Roman imprisonment60 - Released, resumes mission64 - Fire of Rome, many Christians seized and killed. Paul rearrested.67/68 - ExecutionSome things we learn from the life of PaulSincerity does not equate with truth (Romans 9:1-5).Grace has an impact  (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).Suffering is the mark of true leadership (2 Corinthians; Galatians 6:17)When we become Christians, we should harness all our energy and momentum and put it in the service of Christ (Galatians 1:13-15; Philippians 3:3-14)Main scriptures in this podcast Pre-Christian past: Galatians 1:13-15 (Acts 22:3, 23:6, 26:5)Philippians 3:3-7Progression in humility: 1 Corinthians 15:9; 2 Corinthians 12:5,10; Ephesians 3:8; Philippians 2:3-4; 1 Timothy 1:15-16—passages written about 55, 56, 58, 60, and 63 AD, respectively.Romans 10:21 Corinthians 9:19-222 Corinthians 1:8-9Romans 9:1-51 Corinthians 15:10Galatians 6:17For further thought: A legacy of the Protestant Reformation is the conclusion “Paul is the key to understanding Jesus.” But surely this is backwards; Jesus’ life and teaching form the filter through which we understand Paul, not the other way around. Paul himself would be outraged with this teaching (1 Corinthians 1:13-17). After all he had a brilliant mind—but not in comparison to Jesus. And as passionately as he strove to live a holy life, he admits to frequent failure. Jesus is the key to understanding Paul, which means that the gospels, not Paul, are the entrance point to grasping the message of the NT.Paul was executed under Nero, who himself committed suicide in 68 AD, which is therefore the latest date for Paul’s death. One tradition says he was beheaded—decapitation was the standard form of execution for Roman citizens—at Aquae Salviae, along the Appian Way just outside Rome. Death is imminent when he writes 2 Timothy 4, likely his last letter.Further: A Quick Overview of the Bible: How All the Pieces Fit Together (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 2012), chapter 21.

Paul says something stunning. He says that God’s power "is at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). Then he says, "To him be glory in the people he has called out, and in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 3:21). If Paul had said, “To him be glory in Christ Jesus” we would not have been startled. But Paul says that God is glorified also "in the people he has called out". God’s power is at work in God’s people to his glory! Is that not amazing? Romans Chapter 5: 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

If Paul’s letter to the Romans is indeed the Mt. Everest of the New Testament, it’s fitting to say Romans 1:16-17 should be likened to ‘Base Camp’ on Mt. Everest. If you’re unfamiliar with what a Base Camp on a mountain is, it’s the place where everything happens, it’s the HQ if you will. So,…… Continue reading Morning = Romans 1:16-17, The ‘Base Camp’ Thesis

If Paul’s letter to the Romans is indeed the Mt. Everest of the New Testament, it’s fitting to say Romans 1:16-17 should be likened to ‘Base Camp’ on Mt. Everest. If you’re unfamiliar with what a Base Camp on a mountain is, it’s the place where everything happens, it’s the HQ if you will. So,…… Continue reading Morning = Romans 1:16-17, The ‘Base Camp’ Thesis

By Ryan Leasure In this post, we’re asking the question: What does Paul say about homosexuality? To find out, we need to investigate Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and 1 Timothy 1:9-10. Let’s consider each text in turn. Romans 1:26-27 This passage is probably the most significant biblical text addressing homosexuality. In the broader context, we read that God reveals his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness. Even though people know God exists through natural revelation, they have suppressed the truth and worshipped idols instead. Therefore, God hands them over to their depraved minds. Verses 26-27 give us an example of this depravity: For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature (para physin); and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. So what exactly does Paul condemn here? Matthew Vines, author of God and the Gay Christian notes, “Paul wasn’t condemning the expression of same-sex orientation as opposed to the expression of an opposite-sex orientation. He was condemning excess as opposed to moderation.“1 Elsewhere he states that Paul “explicitly described the behavior he condemned as lustful. He made no mention of love, fidelity, monogamy, or commitment.”2 That is to say, and Paul doesn’t condemn homosexuality in general. He merely condemns the excesses or abuses that were common in the ancient world. These excesses included pederasty, master/slave rape, or prostitution. If Paul, according to Vines, would have seen examples of committed, monogamous same-sex partners, he would have celebrated them. In response to Vines, I simply note that nowhere does Paul limit his condemnation to specific types of homosexuality like master/slave relations, pederasty, or prostitution. Rather, he condemns homosexuality in general terms. If he wanted to condemn pederasty, for example, he could have simply used the Greek word paiderastes. If he meant to condemn a master appeasing his sexual desire with his male slave, then why state that they were “consumed with passion for one another?” Doesn’t that sound like two consenting adults? Furthermore, why mention the women engaging with one another when we have no record of female master/slave or pedophilia relations from the ancient world? Contrary to Vines, Paul condemns homosexuality in general (not limited to specific abuses) and roots his condemnation in creation itself. This explains why he writes that homosexual activity is an “exchange of natural relations that are “contrary to nature” (para physin in the Greek). Other revisionists (not Vines) take this to mean that some men’s sexual appetites were so insatiable, that they went against their heterosexual nature to have sexual relations with other men. In other words, “going against nature” simply means going against one’s heterosexual orientation. Thus, the text doesn’t condemn those with a homosexual orientation engaging in sexual activity. But this explanation fails on multiple fronts. Not only do ancient authors repeatedly use the phrase “para physin” to refer to homosexual activity (not going against one’s orientation), Paul goes to great lengths to state that his position is rooted in the creation narrative of Genesis 1-3. In the surrounding context, he uses phrases such as “creation of the world” (1:20), “creator” (1:25), “birds and animals and creeping things” (1:23), “women” and “men” (1:26-27), “image” (1:23), “lie” (1:25), “shame” (1:27), and “death” (1:32). These allusions to the creation narrative indicate that Paul sees homosexuality as an affront to God’s design for marriage as outlined in Genesis 1-2. Self-professed lesbian Bernadette Brooten writes in her scholarly book Love between Women: I believe that Paul used the word “exchanged” to indicate that...

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NIV)   “Three days after Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over his new responsibilities, he left for Jerusalem, where the leading priests and other Jewish leaders met with him and made their accusations against Paul. They asked Festus as a favor to transfer Paul to Jerusalem planning to ambush and kill him along the way.” Acts 25:1-3 (NLT)   “But Festus replied that Paul was at Caesarea and he himself would be returning there soon. So he said, ‘Those of you in authority can return with me. If Paul has done anything wrong, you can make your accusations.’” Acts 25:4-5 (NLT)   “Paul denied the charges. ‘I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the Temple or the Romans government,’ he said. The Festus, wanting to please the Jews asked him, ‘Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?’ But Paul replied, ‘No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews. If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has the right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!’ Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, ‘Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!’” Acts 25:8-12 (NLT)   Key Thought 1: If you prepare to share your faith, God will prepare someone to receive it.   “A few days later King Agrippa arrived with his sister, Bernice, to pay their respects to Festus. During their stay of several days, Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king. ‘There is a prisoner here,’ he told him, ‘whose case was left for me by Felix. When I was in Jerusalem, the leading priests and Jewish elders pressed charges against him and asked me to condemn him. I pointed out to them that Roman law does not convict people without a trial. They must be given an opportunity to confront their accusers and defend themselves. When his accusers came here for the trial, I didn’t delay. I called the case the very next day and ordered Paul brought in. But the accusations made against him weren’t any of the crimes I expected. (Now I want you to catch this) Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive. I was at a loss to know how to investigate these things.’” Acts 13-20 (NLT)   Key Thought 2: The gospel is confusing for people who don’t know Jesus.   The Gospel on a Napkin: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

If Paul were here talking with you right now, he would surely point out that the agency’s big, sweeping, trademark-able philosophy has nothing to do with buzz generation, media agnosticism or content creation, but is simply “our intentions are good.” Those good intentions – doing right by its clients and people – have helped Paul and his partners attract about 180 of the nicest, most talented people you will find in advertising as well as blue chip brands including Audi, Reebok, REI, Celebrity Cruises, Starwood Hotels and MillerCoors.

Paul lived in a world that was immoral and pagan. He was called to minister to the gentiles who were composed of a culture of sexually immoral people. Out of this troubled church, God was remaking men and women. "For such were some of you," Paul states. This new church was fragile and weak because there were a group of people who were causing dissension and teaching immoral doctrines. Paul said, "Flee Fornication." If Paul were here today, he would say the very same thing to us. Today we are going to look at what the Bible calls Fornication. Join us for this lesson taken from 1 Corinthians 5 & 6. this is a group study recorded as the lesson was being taught.  Join us also for Worship Services on Thursdays at 7 PM, Traditional Service at Sunday 8:30 AM, Contemporary Services at 10 AM and 11:30 AM Sundays. First Christian Church of Malvern is located at 4046 Coral Rd Malvern, Ohio. 

Read a written version of this conversation: Corner Church Blog Take It Deeper Questions Read Ephesians 5 How do you best receive direction? Worst? Why? How do you best receive correction? Worst? Why? How do you decide if a Biblical directive or correction is for you or not? How do you decide if you will do it or not? How do faith, belief, teaching and community fit into that equation? If Paul was writing you with some reminders, directives and corrections, how would you receive/process/react to his letter? Bible Reading Plan Acts 12 Acts 13 Acts 14 Acts 15 Acts 16 Acts 17 What to be reading as we are studying Ephesians Read the book of Galatians. How are Galatians and Ephesians similar and different?

SCRIPTURE: Philippians 1:1-26REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:Paul wrote Philippians from prison. While we are not in prison right now (hopefully), the Covid-19 restrictions may make one feel imprisoned. What element of the stay in place order is most difficult to endure?If Paul was able to write the “Epistle of Joy” from prison, how can Paul’s example help us in times of our distress? How can Paul be joyful during imprisonment and amidst uncertainty about his future?In Philippians 1:3-8, Paul describes the joy he receives from others. How can we help overcome our distress by taking joy in our friends, family, and church? How can prayer for others impact us, too?In Philippians 1:21, “Paul says to live is Christ and to die is gain.” What is he talking about?!? One Bible commentary says, “Paul was so positively committed to the will of God that both life and death held certain attractions. If the choice were left to him, he would not know what to decide.” How difficult would it be to believe “to die is gain,” when one is young, married, with children or in another place in life where the future here on earth seems so full of possibilities?What “work” do you think the Holy Spirit is “seeing to completion” in you? Where do you see growth? Could you find joy in trusting this process more fully?

Pastor Jonathan continues teaching about the word “infirmity” based on it's use in The Bible related to Paul's experiences and testimonies. With all that's going on in the world today and all that we see in the news, it's important that we live by faith and not by fear. Go forth in God's strength and do what Jesus calls us to do through The Holy Spirit.Have a listen to hear Pastor Jonathan explain.Scripture referenced in this sermon evident that Paul couldn't have been sick:Matthew 13:15 ~ (Jesus referencing Isaiah 13:14) Hear with your ears, see with your eyes, understand with your heart, be converted, and be healed.Romans 10:17 ~ Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.Mark 7:13 ~ Turn from tradition and follow the example of JesusActs 10:38 ~ Jesus went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed by the devil. God was with Him.Acts 9:11-12, 15-16 ~ God sent Ananias to lay hands on Saul to heal him so He could show him what he would endure for His name's sake.Matthew 16:24 ~ Jesus said to take up your cross and follow Him. Your cross is your ministry. Your redemptive purpose.Matthew 4:23 ~ Jesus taught, preached, and healed all sickness and disease.Matthew 5:10-12 ~ Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness' sake. We sacrifice for our ministry and will be persecuted, but heaven is our kingdom. This is the cornerstone laid by Jesus, our Lord and Master.Galatians 4:13 ~ Through infirmity (weakness) of the flesh, Paul preached. All of his missionary journeys went through Galatia. He's said to have covered 10,000 miles, likely on foot.2 Timothy 3:10-11 ~ The Lord delivered Paul out of all the persecutions he faced in and through Galatia.Acts 20:7, 13 ~ Older Paul preaching long through the night, near the end of his missions, has a man fall asleep on him and out a window to his death. Paul goes down, embraces him and he's resurrected. Paul continued preaching until daylight. Then, he went on foot 30 miles to his next destination.Romans 5:6 ~ Without strength = infirmity = totally unable to save ourselves = in need of a savior.Matthew 26:41 ~ Jesus said the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; meaning because of infirmity the disciples were physically unable to do what they needed to, which was keep watch and pray.Romans 6:19 ~ Manner of men = common weakness = natural limitationsRomans 8:26 ~ The Holy Spirit helps overcome our infirmities (weakness.)Romans 15:1 ~ We that are strong should bear the infirmities of the weak.Hebrews 5:1-2 ~ The high priest of men offered sacrifices for those around him and, also, for himself.Hebrews 7:28 ~ Men made high priests have infirmity (weak flesh.)2 Corinthians 11:30 ~ If Paul were to boast it would be because he's dependent on The Holy Spirit.2 Corinthians 12:1-7 ~ Paul only boasts about needing The Holy Spirit. God gave him abundance of revelation of Christ.Ephesians 1:17 ~ The Holy Spirit is the spirit if wisdom and revelation.Numbers 33:55 ~ Thorns were personalities; people persecuting God's people.

Can we take advantage of the opportunities presented by COVID-19? If Paul was able to maintain a joyful spirit in prison, how do we share the joy we have in Christ during this social and economic shutdown? Please join Derek and Sharon Gilbert each Sunday for the Gilbert House Fellowship, our weekly Bible study podcast. Log on to www.GilbertHouse.org for more details. The Gilberts' first book together, Veneration, is available now! Find out more and watch the Veneration interviews at www.VenerationBook.com! Sharon's latest novel in The Redwing Saga, Realms of the Dead, is available now at Amazon.com! For more information on the series, log on to www.TheRedwingSaga.com. To get all of the Gilberts' audio from PID Radio, the Gilbert House Fellowship, and Derek's interview program A View from the Bunker, go to www.spreaker.com/user/gilberthouse.

Questions we answered on this episode: 305   How often does the "status" (popularity) of a player influence whether or not they are granted entry into a tournament if they didn't sign up on time? I watched the interview with Drew Gibson after a debate online and it got me thinking... If Paul or Ricky doesn't sign up for a tournament on time, should they be allowed to cut in front of everyone on the waitlist due to their status?  What do the rules say about waitlists and how TD's should handle them?   What are some ways to practice hitting your lines? I have a tournament coming up that has some extremely tight gaps to hit, and I want to be sure I can hit them with more than just luck. I can practice aiming for a target or throwing between some objects, but that usually just shows me that I CAN hit the line and that I can be FAR from the line. I want a practice session to actually help me dial in my accuracy. Besides just trying to hit a target line, what are some ways I can help reinforce the good throws and start minimizing the errant shots? I would like to be able to come away from a practice session at least a little more accurate than when I started.   I’ve been playing for a few years and though I take the sport seriously I'd classify myself as a rec player. While I’ve improved in other areas, my distance has plateaued at 300 ft. I have a good grasp of what I need to do to improve, I simply struggle to implement it. This is mostly due to the limited time I have to work on my form. Hearing all of you talk about your own skill sets got me thinking. As a thought experiment, if someone like Bobby decided to dedicate more time to increasing distance and worked with Eric or Danny to do it, what do you think his ceiling might be with six months of work? Is 400 ft beyond reach? I’m aware Bobby is happy with where he is, I’m just curious what you think is possible for a player with similar skills. Also, as a suggestion for future videos, it would be interesting to see Danny work with someone overtime at the rec level. This would give viewers the chance to see a player develop by implementing the fundamentals taught in other videos.   If you have a tournament to play and circumstances prevent a practice round, how do you recommend you play? I am an intermediate golfer so I'm not looking to birdie anything but wonder how aggressive I can be and still play well.   I've been really working on my forehand, and am wondering if it's better to just throw my bag, or a few similar flying discs so I can see how I'm doing with release angle etc, or is there another way I'm not thinking of?   I have a SE Guard and I love it the only down fall i have with it is how deep the rim is. Am i legally able to shave the rim down on a mill and use it in a tournament? If not is their a similar disc to the guard only with a shallower rim?   Imagine a hole with two baskets, a short and a long one. While playing a tournament my card played to the short basket. 2 of the players putted out and finished the hole but before the rest of us made our final putts we hear the group in front of us hollering that we are supposed to play to the long basket. In this scenario what would you do? Since half the card has already finished the hole would you keep playing to the short basket and take a penalty or start throwing to the long basket and just penalize the players who already finished the hole? Luckily this wasn't a sanctioned tournament and the TD allowed us to replay the hole.   HeckleGuy was our SkipAce winner for the week!

Nero burned Rome, blamed it on the Christians, and persecuted them.  Paul was living under his rule, yet still encouraged prayer for for those in authority.  (1 Timothy 2:1-3)If Paul could encourage prayer for Nero, how much more should we pray for leaders in our day...even if they weren't our choice?  Practice praying for anyone that has authority or influene over you - for this is pleasing to God!  Pray for national, state, and local politicians.  Pray for national and local church leaders or anyone in your personal life that God may grant them wisdom and the ability to lead and that they may be God honoring, God fearing and Christ following.

What does it mean to be in darkness? How does one know if they are in light? Rabbi Steve Berkson continues in the topic of Darkness & Light and how it relates to submission; in darkness being under no authority or wrong authority, and in light being under Yah’s authority. First we are taken to the letter to the Romans, chapter 2, verse 17 as we see the apostle Paul call out his brothers for being hypocrites in their role as “guides to the blind” – the blind as in referring to darkness – and a light to those in darkness. • Why did Paul have to come down on his brothers in the Jewish faith? • What was it that made them out to be hypocrites according to Paul? In this section Rabbi Berkson unpacks the meaning of circumcision and uncircumcision as Paul uses those terms when referring to the different groups of people. • If Paul was against torah-observance, as some would say, why did he say what he did in Romans 2:27? • What is one thing that living out Torah does for others? Moving from there to another letter from Paul to his assembly in Corinth, Rabbi Berkson takes us into 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 to enlighten us about the “Great Masquerade”. • Does Satan have horns, pointy tail and a pitch fork? What form can he take? • What if Satan’s workers actually did do wonders? Would you be deceived? Rabbi Berkson then leads us into Ephesians 5 to help us understand what it takes to become “imitators of Elohim”. • How can you be an imitator of someone who is no longer physically present? • To what is love always connected? • Why did Paul say that certain bad behaviors would keep them from the inheritance of the reign (kingdom) of Messiah? Weren’t the Ephesian’s “saved”? Who was Paul talking about? • What are the “empty words”? To where can they lead? Once again, Rabbi Steve Berkson delves deeper into scripture to uncover even more dimensions of Darkness and Light. Related Teachings can be found here: • Beware False Prophets https://youtu.be/h3k6TXmzRe4 • My Sheep Know My Voice https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf9HOA0P9oX_0hV4gKuq9Zwr2_aLd3J-M • What Did Yeshua Do? https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/steveberkson/episodes/2012-05-14T13_57_36-07_00 • Love and Torah https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/steveberkson/episodes/2012-04-22T19_46_29-07_00 • Are You Saved? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf9HOA0P9oX-XDS4JdFkY0WuOGluQm7_Y • INFOCUS: Put the Mic Down https://youtu.be/QTH6Vc2ssqQ Don't miss out on new teachings every week. You are welcome to post your comments and please click on the "LIKE" button if this teaching has been a blessing to you. For more information about MTOI (Messianic Torah Observant Israel), visit our website at http://www.mtoi.org Join us on Social media! Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/mtoiworldwide Follow us on Instagram: @mtoiworldwide Follow us on Twitter: @mtoiworldwide We are located in Cleveland TN. If you would like to know more about us, we would love to hear from you! Feel free to visit us on our website wwww.mtoi.org, email us at admin@mtoi.org or call us at 423-250-3020. Join us for Shabbat Services & Torah Study LIVE Streamed on our Main YouTube Channel every Shabbat at 1pm (EST) and every Tuesday for Torah Study Live Stream at 8pm (EST)!

In today’s passage, Paul accuses the Corinthian church of acting “merely human,” which is to say that they are acting as if the Spirit of God does not dwell in them. This is no small accusation. Our faith invites us into a new way of being human. Not that we are no longer human, but that our humanity is met with the power of the Holy Spirit empowering us to be more like Christ. If Paul were a guest preacher this morning, would he speak to you as he spoke to the Corinthians? Or is the Spirit transforming you day-by-day?

Acts 18:1-11. How can God use your earthly skills for his glory? What might he do if you surrendered your organizing or writing or teaching to him for his use? If Paul can find in-roads through tent making, I bet God can use your skills too.

In part 1 (0-19:00), Tim and Jon give a brief historical overview of Israel at the time Jesus was born. Israel had been under hundreds of years of military occupation by different empires. At the time of Jesus, that empire is Rome. Tim notes that the entire Jewish people would have had a sense of expectation. The Hebrew Scriptures taught them that the glory of the Jewish kingdom would return and a messiah would rescue them. This mindset—though difficult for us to imagine—was that of an ancient Jew under Roman rule at the time when the gospels were written.In part 2 (19:00-25:00), Tim notes that for one to declare or be declared as “messiah” while under Roman rule would have been viewed as an act of politcal insurrrection and revolution.In part 3 (25:00-38:45), Tim outlines the history of the word gospel, which comes from the old English word “godspel” or *good tidings*. This word in Greek is εὐαγγέλιον and Tim notes that “the euangelion” is what Jesus is said to proclaim in the beginning of Mark. Mark 1:1 *The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God.* Tim then notes how Paul uses the same word at the start of Romans. Romans 1:2-4 *the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.* Tim also shared 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. *Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.* Tim notes that Paul doesn’t have a stock phrase or answer for “what is the gospel.” Instead he tweaks the message in both of these books and offers two complimentary answers. This example from Paul should make us cautious of trying to boil down the gospel to a simple formula. If Paul didn’t really do it that way, why should we? Instead we should try to learn how to articulate the whole story of the Jewish Scriptures and distill the gospel through that lens.In part 4 (38:45-44:45), Tim also brings up Paul’s speech to the Athenians in Acts 17: Acts 17:22-34 *Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.* *“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’* *“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”* *When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.* Tim notes that also in this presentation, Paul does not bring up Christ’s atoning death explictly. The atoning death of Christ is part of the gospel, but it is not the whole. The larger story of the gospel is portrayed in the four books known as the Gospels. What is the larger story? It is about Jesus inaugurating the kingdom of God.In part 5 (44:45-end), Tim gives his own definitions of the four books known as "the Gospels." "The gospels are carefully designed theological biographies of Jesus of Nazareth. They focus on his announcement of the euangelion. They are not merely historical records. They are designed to advance a claim that will challenge the readers thinking and behavior, and you are going to be forced to make a decision about Jesus after reading the book. And what is the claim? That the crucified and risen Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of Israel and true Lord of the world." Tim closes with an insight from scholars Loveday Alexander and Richard Burridge, as well as a book called *Reading the Gospels Wisely* by Jonathan Pennington. Show Resources:* Richard Burridge: [*What are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco Roman Biography*](https://amzn.to/32DhKWK).* Loveday Alexander: [*The Preface to Luke’s Gospel*](https://amzn.to/2Lz4lcI).* Jonathan Pennington: [*Reading the Gospels Wisely*](http://amzn.to/2wOuw9n).* [A brief overview of Jewish history pre-Christ and during Roman rule.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_history#The_Hasmonean_Kingdom_(110%E2%80%9363_BCE)) Show Music:* Defender Instrumental by Tents* Hello from Portland by Beautiful Euology* For When It’s Warmer by Sleepy Fish* Instrumentals of Mercy by Beautiful Eulogy* Chilldrone: Copyright free Show Produced by: Dan Gummel Powered and distributed by Simplecast.  

If Paul had had a Pinterest account, what would've he pinned to his board to inspire us to live a Christian life? Travis Williams talks about how Christ + Nothing = Enough. All that's holding us back has been nailed to the cross. The Scripture text is from Colossians 2:6-15. This is a podcast of Evangel Church, Houghton, Michigan, July 21, 2019.

Once a year, God calls His people to count the 50 days between Passover and Pentecost. But why? He desires us to be reminded each year of what the disciples counted down to while in Jerusalem: The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Each year He desires us to conduct introspection to see whether we live a Holy Spirit-filled life, or one that lacks the fruits, boldness, and power that the Holy Spirit brings. Paul said that he didn't come with the wisdom of men, but rather the empowerment of the Spirit. If Paul felt like he couldn't preach or do anything without the Spirit, we should also yearn for God's Spirit like our life depends on it - because it does. If we desire to walk as Yeshua walked in love, power, signs and wonders, and wisdom - we will never be able to without the Holy Spirit. Let us seek the filling of the Spirit in this season! Like a man who knocks until a door is opened, even if it means being persistent.

As I've grown older, I've noticed that I'm becoming more nostalgic. I'm more emotional when I'm reminded of people and events from my past. One of the reasons why, to be honest, is Facebook. For better or worse, social media has had a profound impact on our culture. In my life, one of the benefits of Facebook has been seeing a "memory" pop up on my home page, a picture that I had posted in the past. When you look at pictures from your past, what do you see? Can you measure how much you've changed? Throughout his writings, the Apostle Paul consistently returns to the concept of growth and change. He knows firsthand how much God changed him, and he never stops calling others to be changed in the same way. If Paul could see a portrait of himself from before he met Jesus, I'm certain he would not recognize himself physically AND spiritually. Can you and I say the same thing? This week, as we continue in our series on Romans, Live By Faith, Paul will continue to fill in the portrait of what he calls a living sacrifice. He uses this provocative language at the beginning of chapter 12 to describe how followers of Jesus live. The rest of the letter helps us understand what it means and how do to it. Our text this week is Romans 13:8-14, a small section with a huge message. Come explore what it means to be a living sacrifice and consider how your portrait is being developed by Jesus.

  Understanding why you are doing something can be just as important as taking on the task itself, especially when running your own practice. As we become more seasoned in our profession we all evolve our techniques and strategies to better serve our clients. One area of a practice where early adoption can be essential for growing your practice is business management. Today, Dr. Paul Needham joins us from New Zealand to share his personal chiropractic late bloomer story and the knowledge he has gained along his journey. Paul bought an existing practice just four months after graduating from chiropractic college. All the facilities were in place but some essentials were missing. Mainly, a quality front office team and basic business management skills.          During this episode, we discuss the skills necessary for new chiropractic graduates, the importance of focusing on your core function in your practice, and the benefits of coaching, seminars, and knowing your purpose. Key Takeaways: Paul shares his origin story. [1:01] How Paul’s chiropractic technique has changed over the years. [10:13] After buying his practice just 4 months out of school, Paul knew the value of a chiropractic adjustment but needed to tweak other aspects of the business. [17:10] The importance of front office staff and creating a statement of purpose for the practice. [22:13] The biggest shift in Paul’s business was a procedural manual, figuring out the why, and coaching. [32:34] If Paul could go back and speak with his younger self he would recommend getting some coaching about running a business. [36:15] Solid advice for knowing who you are and what you stand for to help grow your practice. [50:54]   Learn More: The Shift Unplugged Seminar — Gold Coast May 31 - June 1 Dr. Don McDonald The Underdog Curse: The Cause, The Cure and The Road to Success @DrDonMacDonald on Twitter Dr. Don MacDonald on Facebook

If Paul's prayers in Scripture don't sound much like our own, maybe we should take a few minute to learn from his Spirit-inspired prayers to God for the church at Ephesus. Jerry and Grant led us.

We all need prayer! Pastors are to pray for their flock, and members of the church must pray for those who are ministering God's Word to them. If Paul needed prayer then surely preachers and teachers in these days need the prayers of God's people.

"Hello, My name (snuffle snuffle) is Grumpy Sessions and I am here to introduce episode 91 of CheapShow to you. Eli and Paul graciously asked me to write the blurb for this episode and i am more than happy to do so (snuffle snuffle). So what can you expect? Well, Paul was mean to me, so i don't want anything to do with him, but Eli was very nice and has a very interesting collection of vinyl records that i enjoyed listening to (snuffle snuffle). The boys also revisit YouTube sensation "Weird Paul" and discover what he has recently found in thrift stores, much to their jealousy, and i believe they read more of your letters too. Isn't that nice (snuffle snuffle)? I have to go now, but i hope to see you all again in the future... If Paul drops the attitude!" You can watch Weird Paul along with us at this link: https://youtu.be/73mGTzQCKvk And if you like us, why not support us: www.patreon.com/cheapshow Share & Enjoy. Subscribe or Die! www.thecheapshow.co.uk If you want to get involved, email us at thecheapshow@gmail.com And if you have to, follow us on Twitter @thecheapshowpod or @paulgannonshow & @elisnoid If you like what you hear, please spread the word! Like, Review, Share, Comment... LOVE US!