Podcasts about imagine god

Who Does the Lord Know? (1) (audio) David Eells, 6/21/26 We received a question regarding Matthew 7:23 and how these people could say they know the Lord, and yet the Lord says, “I never knew you”. Also, Some people think that they are lost people, or that they were never really saved. And so I thought we could look at that today and identify who the Lord knows and those whom the Lord said He never knew. Let's look first in Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. The Bible talks about false prophets quite a bit in both the Old and New Testaments. Sometimes they don't appear to have been apostate, but in some cases, they definitely are. This is true in 2 Peter chapter 2; and the Christians he's talking about there. I believe the whole chapter really is about false prophets. 2Pe 2:15 forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing; Of course, the only one that can forsake the right way is somebody who's been there, and obviously, they are being an apostate or fallen away in this case. For instance in 2Pe 2:20-21 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. 21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. This and many other scriptures clearly refute the ”once saved always saved doctrine.  Another good example would be in Jude 11 Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. 12 These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; This includes those who fell into the error of trying to be “a profit” instead of a prophet. But I just wanted to make that point, because some people say that all false prophets are lost people, and that's just not the case. Of course, a lot of times, when we talk about Christians, we really should identify Christians the way the Bible identifies Christians, and not the way the worldly church identifies them. The way the worldly church identifies Christians now is those who have been born in spirit. Their spirit has been born from God, and they have a new spirit. But it is more than that. that's not the way the scriptures identify as Christians. Scriptures identify Christians as those who walk and talk the way Christ walked and talked. Also, there's a big difference between somebody who's just been born in spirit and those who walk the way Christ walked, because you can have Christ's spirit and not live His life as Paul exhorted Christians in Rom 8:13 for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. That's an exhortation given to those who have the spirit of Christ because he went on to exhort that those who have the spirit of Christ should go on to receive the Spirit of God. Everyone who is born of God receives the Spirit of Christ and today, that's called a born-again Christian. As we read the text, we'll see that “Christian” is identified scripturally as something completely different. So keep that in mind that I'm talking about Christians in the way that the church uses the term, those who have been born in spirit. Back to Mat 7:16 By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; (Again, now he's not just identifying prophets. Now he's broadening the scope. And in the next few verses, he uses the word “every” several times. So he's broadening the scope to talk about everybody, not just false prophets.) 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Now, this same verse is used in Matthew 3:10, where John the Baptist is rebuking the Covenant people of God; those religious leaders who made their stand on believing that Abraham was their father. Mat 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance: 9 and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10 And even now the axe lieth at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  I want you to notice here that He's talking about the Covenant people, thinking that because they were children of Abraham, they were entitled to God's blessings. And John told them that that's not the truth. The truth is, only bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance brings you into God's blessings. I think this is a good exhortation for Christians today, because Christians think, “Well, I'm a Christian, God's my Father so I can just go and do what I want to do now.” But this is not so. It says every tree that doesn't bring forth good fruit among us is hewn down and cast into the fire.  The scripture also says in Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away:… Notice: Every branch in me… Now that can be no other than God's people, right? We're all responsible to bring forth fruit. The fruit is what identifies us as Christians, and the fruit here, as we see in the text, is the actions of your life. The fruit is love, the joy, the peace, the righteousness; all those things that Christ was and is. The actions of our life are the fruit of the inner life, that's what He's talking about; the fruit. Along the same line in several of Jesus's parables, He came looking for fruit on the fig tree. He wasn't looking for fruit on a tree that wasn't supposed to bring forth fruit. He was looking for fruit on a tree that was created to bring forth fruit. It is the fig tree that identifies God's people. Luk 13:6-9 And he spake this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. 7 And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground? 8 And he answering saith unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9 and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou shalt cut it down.  Notice: The Lord is the one who's going to cut it down. The Lord is long-suffering with us to bear fruit, but be that as it may, we've been given a certain amount of time to bear that fruit, and I think that's what He's talking about in Matthew 7, because as He goes on in Mat 7:20 Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Now he's identifying fruit as doing the will of the Father. The fruit of the Spirit is doing the will of the Father. He goes on to say, 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? Let me make a point here. Do you suppose that it's possible that an apostate Christian could prophesy? I mean, prophesy from the Lord? We have examples in the scriptures of false prophets who prophesied in the name of the Lord. A good example is in 1 Samuel 19. This is talking about Saul after he had fallen away from the Lord; in fact, he had been rejected by the Lord. It says 1Sa 19:23 And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets? Now, some people say, well, because he stripped off all his clothes, that doesn't seem like a godly thing to do, but I think what the Holy Spirit was showing to people around him was that he was walking naked before the Lord. He wasn't dressed up with Christ. He didn't have on his wedding garment, so on and so forth. He had fallen away in his works, because remember when we studied the garment, it symbolized your works, right? In Revelation 19, the righteous acts of the saints were the garment that the bride is wearing.  Now, I want you to notice this too; this same man had a demon that was sent from God to him. 1Sa 18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as he did day by day. And Saul had his spear in his hand; 11 and Saul cast the spear; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall. And David avoided out of his presence twice. 12 And Saul was afraid of David, because Jehovah was with him, and was departed from Saul. Now this is the same Saul whom the Lord had departed from, who later prophesied in the name of the Lord, because the Spirit came upon him. Here, he prophesied in verse 10 by an evil spirit. He had obviously become a false prophet. Was it always that way? No, it wasn't always that way. He was the anointed of the Lord. But yet he became a false prophet. He became what we would know today as an apostate Christian. He was rejected in 1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king. So he had been rejected by the Lord, received an evil spirit by which he prophesied, and later even prophesied in the name of the Lord when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Now, going back to what I consider to be probably apostate Christians in Mat 7: 22 …Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name,… And some people say, ‘Well, that wouldn't be possible if this person did not know the Lord at all to be able to prophesy by thy name.' And the point I want you to see here, too, is that it says by thy name and not in thy name; in the original, it says by thy name, meaning they could be prophesying true enough, but they weren't in the name. They weren't getting a reward because they weren't abiding in the name of the Lord. Another point, it says, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 12, when they accused Him of casting out demons by the prince of demons, Beelzebub? Mat 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons. 25 And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. You know, I think you'll find that Satan doesn't cast out Satan; that even the most apostate Christians, because of their Covenant relationship with the Lord, still have authority to do that and can do it. I've seen people that the Lord identified to me as false prophets and actually did prophesy wrongly, and I've seen them cast out demons too. They had the Covenant relationship because of the Jews. The seven sons of Sceva were Jews. You see, the Jews were casting out demons. This wasn't new to the Jews to cast out demons. They had been doing that. And because of Covenant relationship, the Jews got healing, and they got deliverance. Even today, people, because of Covenant relationship, before being completely rejected by God, they can still cast out demons.  I know of a false prophet in particular who has identified too many people who cast out demons; in fact, he cast them out with me. Let me say this: a person who is lost, who does not know the Lord, how do they cast out demons? Those who have no Covenant relationship with the Lord; how do they cast out demons? Their father manifestly is Beelzebub, so how do they cast out demons? Well, what happened to the seven sons of Sceva when they tried to use “by Jesus whom Paul preacheth” to cast out demons in Acts 19:13 and then got whipped? They did not know the one who was creating the New Covenant. I think the point is that you have to be in some kind of a Covenant relationship in order to be casting demons out, because Satan doesn't cast out Satan.  The One who lives in you now casts out demons. 1Jn 4:4 … greater is he that's in you than he that is in the world. Who's in the world? Satan. Does Satan cast out his own kingdom? Jesus said, No, he doesn't do that. Well, here's the point. Were they casting the demons out by the Spirit of God or were they casting them out by Satan? Jesus said they couldn't cast them out by Satan. The lost people's authority is Satan. The one that lives in them is Satan. The point I'm making about these people here, these false prophets, is that many of them are apostate Christians. Remember, an apostate is one who is falling away from the truth and the grace of God. And it's somebody who is obviously saying, Lord, Lord, (so they obviously believed in their heart that Jesus was their Lord) Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy and by thy name cast out demons and by thy name do many mighty works? Notice they were not “in” thy name but God permitted this “by” thy name as a witness of Jesus. Who is it today that we know that is doing this in the name of the Lord, if it's not somebody who is abiding in His name, which is far more powerful?  I was in a situation where a preacher and his girl friend were trying to cast many demons out of a man who chased them out of the building. Previously the demon possessed man chased  the preachers deacon through a plate glass door, shattering it, and sending him to the hospital. So, they sent for me and told me their story. They watched from the doorway as I approached this man who thought to do the same to me. By the grace of God he cowered and was delivered. Many today are in “by” mode, meaning they are using the name of the Lord and not doing it in the name. I agree that some people profess the Lord and don't know the Lord or haven't been sent by Him. And all false prophets are not apostate Christians or just lost deceivers. ; not all of them. And I'm convinced that there is some chicanery going on even in Christian circles. I don't know if any of you are familiar with it, but I've been among some of them where they see a demon behind every bush. They cast demons out daily from everybody's flesh. But a lot of that's not demons, it's just run away flesh.  Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Now here's the point: is there such a thing as a Christian who's been born in spirit that God spoke to and said, “I don't know you” or “I never knew you?” Yes, we have examples of that. But first, before we get away from this, I want to read on because He says, I never knew you depart from me you that work iniquity. What is it for the Lord to know you? I want to look at that and what that means. When he says depart from me ye that work iniquity verse 24 went right on Every one therefore; (Meaning: He's talking about the same thing as just before this verse.) Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: 25 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. 26 And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: Notice, He didn't say whether you had the spirit of Christ or not; it all has to do with obedience. The difference between a foolish man and a wise man is strictly just one word; obedience. The born again spirit filled with the Holy Spirit gives us power to obey through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus. Our text deals with the fruit, which has to do with whether you're obeying. So the main difference between the wise and the foolish is hearing the words and doing them. Notice that both men here in this text heard the words, but only one obeyed, and that was the wise man. 27 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof. And this is the test that follows. I want to make that point before we go on because I want to look at the foolish virgins briefly, because God spoke to them, and He says, I don't know you. Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. Again, what's the difference between the wise and the foolish? It's just one thing, being a hearer and a doer by the anointing of God. 3 For the foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them: 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. We know that in Pro 20:27 The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, Searching all his innermost parts. The spirit of man is the lamp of the oil. And the oil being the life of God or the Holy Spirit is to be in that lamp. And there's a vessel that the wise virgins took with them that was also full of oil; that obviously the foolish did not bring. What do you think the vessel is that also has the oil? We've talked about the difference between the born again spirit and the born again soul, which is your mind, will, and emotions. This is the fruit of the Spirit being born in the soul.  The person who had just a born-again spirit, but brought forth no fruit in the soul through obedience will be rejected. They were not bearing the fruit of obedience so they could be born again in the soul. The vessel that they brought with their lamp is the vessel of their physical life because that's where you bear the fruit of the oil. That's where you bear the fruit of Christ to be seen by the world. Now, even the foolish virgins here had oil in their lamp or spirit. So you can't classify them as non-Christians? Or, what we've been calling Christians. You understand? Verse 5 Now while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 But at midnight there is a cry, Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. This was another question someone had a while back about a word, so I went and looked it up. It's the Greek word, kosmeo. Kosmeo is the word we get cosmetics from. And it simply means ‘to arrange or to adorn'. It's not implying that their lamps were out and they lit them, you understand? It's just talking about adorning or arranging their lamps. They chose to translate it trim in this text; I don't think that's a very good word to use. To trim is to bring the wick up so the light shines best. Continuing in Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out. 9 But the wise answered, saying, Peradventure there will not be enough for us and you: go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast: and the door was shut. Notice that - the door was shut. That was ominous because that door being shut is mentioned in other places in the scripture, like in Luke 13:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13 Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour. He said, I know you not. Now these virgins did have oil in their lamps. So obviously what the Lord means by knowing you is more than just receiving a new spirit, a born-again spirit. There must be fruit born of that spirit life in order for the Lord to know you. And I want to look at that too. Before we go there, let's look at Luke too, because it has a very close parallel to this door being closed. Luk 13:25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; … (Obviously the same text there.) and he shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence ye are; 26 then shall ye begin to say, We did eat and drink in thy presence, and thou didst teach in our streets; 27 and he shall say, I tell you, I know not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. See, so many people are relying on their relationship with the Lord by what they know, by who they're connected with, by the fact that they're a Christian, that they've accepted Jesus as their Savior, but they're using none of the criteria of the scriptures. The only basis that God rebuked any of these people was for their disobedience. And we know that the only way we can obey is by having faith in the Lord and being filled with His Spirit. If we have faith, we'll obey. We'll overcome the sins that we struggle against because we fight the good fight of faith. It's not by works. I'm not trying to magnify our works; I'm trying to magnify the Lord's works through us. The criteria by which the Lord is going to judge any of us is going to be works. And he says to them, because of their evil works, not because they weren't Christians, because it's obvious to me from Matthew 25, and what we just read here, that He's talking to His children. But He says, I know not whence ye are… What causes the Lord to know us? First of all, many people are going to be found in this situation. In Matthew 25, there were 10 virgins. It was talking about the time of the coming of the Lord, how that five were ready, and five were not. That's only half of the people mentioned; half were not ready to meet the Lord, and half were. The very next parable is the parable of the talents, and again, there's no paragraph indentation, so He just goes on in Mat 25:14 For it is as when a man, going into another country, (In other words, he's telling you, watch, I'm going to show you the same thing in another way.) There were three groups at that time who had each been given talents. And one-third of them were rejected because they didn't bring forth the fruit that God put in, right? Doesn't the Bible say a third of the stars of heaven will be cast down to the earth? How come it was half of the virgins and yet a third of those with the talents? Because the virgins are those who are living on the earth when the Lord returns, and these men with the talents are standing before the judgment after death, after resurrection, you see? We're talking about those who are living at the time the Lord returns in order to be caught up to be with the Lord. What about the people who die? There are obviously three groups. A third of the stars of heaven were cast to the earth in the Book of Revelation. That's a third of the people. The scriptures say that Abraham's seed are as the stars; also, Jacob. The stars are likened to God's people. In Jacob's dream of the stars, they're the children of the bride chamber; it's in many, many places. There's the star glory in 1 Corinthians 15; the star glory is a person who's manifested star glory with the Lord. And some go on to moon glory and sun glory. But a third of the stars of heaven are being cast to the earth, and it goes on in Rev 6:13 and the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. That's not talking about angels, that's talking about God's people not coming to maturity. You see, this is what's happening to a third of the stars. And yet of the people who are alive and remain, half of those people do not enter to being with the Lord. During this end time many will fall in the great falling away. They were called, twice dead and plucked up by the roots. Do you suppose that if your lamp is going out, you would be called twice dead? I do and that's what he's talking about; there's a great falling away happening right there. I think during the tribulation period, probably a third of the Christians are going to take the mark and spiritually die, and out of the ones that are left, half of them are going to be rejected. This is what I feel from these two parables. In the parable of the sower in Mat 13, three out of four did not bear fruit and were rejected. But let's look now at the Lord and how He knows us. You know that the Lord foreknew a group of people in Rom 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: Let's see who the Lord knew. Okay, it's really important that we know who He foreknew because He didn't foreknow every Christian. I can prove that to you Notice who he's talking about; who was foreknown. Now, that's not knowing what's going to happen before it happens. Foreknew is like Adam knew his wife. The word ‘know' implies an intimate relationship. Rom 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: These people whom He foreknew here is not talking about He foreknew that they would overcome. He knew this person. He knew their nature before the world was created. Watch, it says, For whom He foreknew, He foreordained. (Everybody that He foreknew, He foreordained.) Notice to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Notice now, there's no way out of this verse. If you start in on one end of it, you've got to come out on the other end of it. The ones He foreknew, he foreordained, (He predestined) to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. So, everybody that God foreknew from the foundation of the world will be conformed to the image of His Son. That doesn't mean everyone that we call ‘Christians'. So, Jesus pointed out this group; He called them 30-60 and a 100-fold fruit. Fruit of what? The fruit of Christ. The 30-60 and a 100-fold are going to be conformed to the image of Christ. These are the ones He foreknew. What is it to know God? Did God know anybody who was not in Covenant relationship? No, He didn't. I'm going to make this point at the very beginning that God only knows one family in all the earth, and that family is born again spiritual Israel. Amo 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities. Now keep that in your mind that the Lord has only known Israel from the foundation until now. Even though Israel was changed in the New Covenant, it's still Israel. He makes a point back in Rom 9:6 … For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel: In other words, ‘real Israel' is going to be picked out of the midst of mans ‘Israel'. You understand? Because remember, For many are called, but few chosen. Mat 22:14 That word chosen is eklektos, or elected. And Paul exhorts us to give diligence to make our calling and election sure. (2Pe.1:10) This group of people in Romans 8 was called and elect because in verse 33, he said who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? … So, he's specifically talking about the elect, not just the called. Now, everybody who's the elect has to be called because the word call means invited. You remember when Jesus came to the Jews, they were invited, but they all weren't elect, and the reason was that they didn't accept Jesus. So it's only Israel that He knows and specifically only those who are of faith in the Promises.  Let's look at Rom 11:1 I say then, Did God cast off his people? God forbid. He cast off all but the elect who are born from above for they are His people. There were some Israelites that He didn't cast off because Paul said, For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. So God didn't cast off the chosen or elect Israelites. But there were other Israelites that He did. 2 God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. Notice that. Nobody that God foreknew did He cast off. You know why? Let's read on, and we'll see why. 2 God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. Or know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he pleadeth with God against Israel: 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election (or chosen) of grace. Now the remnant is according to the election of grace. Notice that Israel did fall away, but not the elect, not the chosen, not the foreknown. Watch. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. In other words, by no more of your works, no more works of the law, are you going to be justified before God. 7 What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, … Notice, the elect or the chosen will obtain it. The foreknown will obtain it, and they will not be cast off. See, we're identifying something here. There were many people called out of Egypt who fell in the wilderness and did not make it to the Promised Land. The Bible says many are called, but few are chosen or ‘elect'. Who are the ones He foreknew? The many called or the few chosen? So, obviously, from this text you can see very clearly that the ones He foreknew were elect, meaning chosen, and they obtained it. Why did they obtain it? Let's see what it means to be known by God. Look at this verse very closely in Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20 Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 for if God spared not the natural branches (Israel), neither will he spare thee. 22 Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.  The point I wanted to make is in verse 26 And so all Israel shall be saved. So what about all those who were cut off? They were Israel. They were called, but they were not elect. Remember what we saw back at the beginning of the chapter: those who were called and fell away in the wilderness. Those who rebelled against God, the ones whose hearts He hardened, He said, But the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened. (Rom.11:7) Who is Israel? Who is the Israel that God foreknew? It's the elect. It is the foreknown. What about the rest of them? He didn't foreknow them. You know why? Because they didn't endure to the end in faith and obedience.  I want you to notice that everybody who was not foreknown and who was not written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world is going to be deceived and fall away. Everybody. We're talking about those called who fell in the wilderness. That's talking about the world, the flesh, everybody who is not foreknown is going to be deceived by the Beast.  Look at Rev 13:8 And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain. Notice, it's everyone who is not written or not foreknown. Many Christians are called, meaning invited, but will not come to prove to be the elect, or chosen. They won't obtain the promise because of unbelief and are broken off. You understand what I'm saying? Remember they do not obtain the promise because they do not endure in faith. You can't obtain the promise that way. Look at Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, they whose name hath not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come. So everybody whose name was not written there is going to be deceived, but everybody whose name that is written there will see through it. They are the elect; they will obtain. They are the foreknown; they will obtain. They will be the ‘Paul out of Israel', who God chose to go on and to bear fruit.  Today, we see Israel as a type of Christianity. Out of that, there are some who are going to go on and be obedient. Because obedience proves your faith. If you have no obedience, if you do not obey, if you are not a doer of the word, you have no proof for your faith. The way God is going to prove that you walk by faith is by your works. Everyone who walks by faith will overcome. If we walk by faith, we will overcome the trials in this life; the sin, the works of the devil; we will win.  There's another point I want you to see. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in Ephesians, where it also says God chose us; that's the word eklektos in Him, before the foundation of the world. Now, if Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, when was He manifestly slain? Not until 2,000 years ago. Now, if our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world, when are they manifestly written in the Lamb's Book of Life? They're manifestly written in the Lamb's Book of Life when you're born again. Therefore, you were foreknown just as Christ was foreknown. You see that? It is really important that you follow this now. It's manifest when you're born into the Kingdom. In God's plan and His foreknowledge. Just like Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, but He wasn't killed then. When God set His plan into manifestation, Jesus was sacrificed. But it might as well have been because God calls the things to be not as though they were.  So, when you were born from above you were written in the Book of Life. I'm not talking about in God's plan that He foreknew. I'm talking about when manifestly your name was written in. Because everyone who's born of God is written in His Book. But remember, the ones that He foreknew from the beginning were those who endured to the end and came into the manifestation of Jesus. Psa 87:4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon as among them that know me: Behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia: This one was born there. 5 Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her; And the Most High himself will establish her. 6 Jehovah will count, when he writeth up the peoples, This one was born there. Selah. The point is, when you're born into the Kingdom, that's when God writes your name. He said, Rejoice not that you have power over the demons, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luk 10:20) So here's the point. Everybody that's born, including all of those that came out of Egypt, were written in that book. But some were blotted out. Who was it that was blotted out, before the full manifestation of Jesus? Remember, we're talking about those whom He foreknew before the foundation of the world who came into the image of His Son. But according to Rev 3:5, He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life,…. So you've got many names written in manifestly, and those who don't overcome are blotted out. Before what? Before the full manifestation, the ones who were foreknown. So all the Jews who came out of Egypt were written at that time. Also, every Christian who receives a new born-again spirit from God is written at that time. But only the ones who endure to bear fruit were foreknown. Therefore, of those who fall in the wilderness, He says, I know you not. I never knew you. Why? He didn't foreknow them. What was the main difference between those two groups of people, the wise and the foolish? The main difference was that they both heard the word, but only the wise became a doer of the word. In both Matthew 7 and Matthew 25, the difference between the wise and the foolish is the same. And yet, clearly, even the foolish had oil in their lamps. But their oil was going out. See, there's a great falling away coming because of tribulation, because of trials and people are going to fall away. Look at Psa 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life, And not be written with the righteous. There will be those who will be written in Zion but the sinner in Zion will be destroyed out of it. Look in Isa 4:3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem; 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning. God is doing a work of purging from the church those who are walking in wickedness, those who are guilty of blood, and walking in disobedience.  This scripture is very plain about being blotted out: Psa 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life, And not be written with the righteous. There's another one where Moses was interceding for the people in Exo 32:32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 33 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. So those who are written among the living, those who have manifested fruit, those who came into the image of Christ through the Word. Those who are written at the end are going to be the ones that He foreknew. They're going to be the elect, the ones that He chose. He exhorts us in 2Pe 1:10 Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble: Look at 2Ti 2:19 Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his: and, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. See, the Lord knows them that are His and that's going to be the ones who depart from unrighteousness, so he's exhorting everybody that names the name of the Lord to depart from unrighteousness, to depart from iniquity. See, we're finding out who the Lord knows. Do you know who He knows? He knows Jesus. He knows the name, which is the nature and character of Jesus. Can you imagine God having relationship with us as Adam did with Eve? (That's what the word ‘know' means.) Imagine God having a relationship with somebody who is contrary to His nature? Do you understand that? God cannot know someone who is contrary to His nature and Word. 1 John 3:9 Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God".   Just like He commands us Christians not to choose an unbelieving mate, right? Why did He tell us not to choose an unbelieving mate? Because we're not to know anybody with a contrary nature. What fellowship has light with darkness? So God knows and sows the Word who is Jesus. To the extent Jesus is in you, that's to the extent God knows you.  Who did Jesus say the Father would love? Every Christian? No, He didn't. Joh 14:23…If a man love me he will keep my word: and my Father will love him and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. What is the proof that you love God? Jesus said several times that the proof that you love God is that you obey his commandments. This is the one He knows. 1Co 8:3 but if any man loveth God, the same is known by him. In other words, we are proving our love for God by walking in faith and obeying His commandments. The ones that God knows or foreknew are the ones that love Him. Why? Because they not only hear the Word, they do the Word. The ones that God knows will come to know Him because of the foreknowledge part, like I said. It's in the mind of God. It's calling those things that be not as though they were. God spoke, and ever since He spoke this plan, it's been coming into existence. Don't miss it!  It was Jesus Who was foreknown to die for the world, but He wasn't manifest until Calvary. And you, who were foreknown to be in God, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, weren't manifest until you were born. Of those who are born and walk by faith and overcome and endure to the end, Jesus said, they shall be saved. Those who endure through the wilderness and enter into the Promised Land; they are the types of the elect. The very thing that causes you to go on is faith and if you don't understand that, then you can't overcome it anyway. Ever since Exodus chapter 3 the Lord revealed Himself to Moses. But you know Moses didn't know the Lord? He confessed it in Exodus chapter 33. He did not know the Lord. We are coming to know the Lord. The Lord is the nature of Jesus Christ.  And the more we come to know that nature of the real Jesus, the more we're coming to know the Lord. The one the Father knows, or even foreknew, was Jesus, because He was of like nature. God can only know that which is of like nature. Jesus said in Joh 14:9 If you have seen me you have seen the Father. He doesn't know the worldly person. He doesn't know the wicked person. He knows the righteous man that's inside of those who love Him. Exo 33:12 And Moses said unto Jehovah, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, See, the Lord had told Moses, I know thee by name. You know what the word ‘name' means? It's the same in the Hebrew as it is in the Greek. It's nature, character, and authority. The Lord told him, I know thee by name, and thou hast found favor in my sight. 13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy ways, that I may know thee. The Bible talks about the Jews, how they knew the doings of the Lord, but Moses knew the ways of the Lord. There's a difference in knowing His doing and knowing His ways. If you know His ways, you can walk with Him. If you only know His doings, sometimes you're just going from judgment to judgment. …that I may know thee, to the end that I may find favor in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. 14 And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.  And in verse 17 And Jehovah said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found favor in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18 And he said, Show me, I pray thee, thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee; Moses found out the name of the Lord in Exodus chapter 3. He told him the exact name. YHWH, I AM THAT I AM. So obviously, he's talking about a different name here. He's talking about the real name here.  Verse 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name (the Shem) of Jehovah before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for man shall not see me and live. Moses represented the Law; you couldn't come into the likeness of Christ through the Law. So he didn't get to see the face of the Lord, but we have a promise in 1 Corinthians 13. Moses didn't see His face; he spoke to Him face to face, but he didn't see His face. There's a difference. We can speak to the Lord face to face, but not see Him. Now there's a difference. He spoke to God face to face, but he didn't see His face. For man shall not see me and live. In other words, as man, you can't know Him. And as man, you are not known by Him. 1Co 15:50 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. It is your spirit man that can know Him and be known by Him. The Holy Spirit helps our infirmity that we can know Him and see Him.  But He goes on to say, 21 and Jehovah said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock: (The only place you can see God is standing upon the rock, right? That's Jesus, and you have to stand upon the Word of God.) 22 and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand until I have passed by: 23 and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back; but my face shall not be seen. Now, when He revealed the name of the Lord, the Lord said He was going to proclaim His name. It wasn't YHWH because He told him that 30 chapters before. Look at Exo 34:5 And Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. 6 And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, (YHWH; it's YHWH, in the original, that's what He said.) a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth; 7 keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. This is His Nature, Character, and Authority, Which is the meaning of Name. Now, He just proclaimed the name of the Lord. But what Moses didn't know, and he asked God to show him, ‘Show me thy ways, so I'll know the one who's going with us.' See, this is knowing God. Knowing this person whose name represents the I AM, that's knowing God. The opposite is also true. God knows the same nature. He knows Jesus Christ. He knows Jesus in us. And it is Christ in us by Word and Spirit that is the hope of glory. Remember in Romans 8, the ones He foreknew, and you go all the way to the end of the verse that says, He also glorified. Everyone He foreknew, He glorified. Now in 1Co.13: 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. So knowing fully is seeing God face to face. Moses said, ‘I don't know You; reveal Yourself to me.' Therefore, he could not see Him face to face. Coming to maturity, bearing fruit, or manifesting Christ's likeness is coming to know Him face to face. It is coming to know Him fully as I was fully known. Who is going to come to know Him fully? Only those who were fully known will come to know Him fully and will see Him face to face.  Moses himself said, ‘I don't know You yet.' By the Law, you can't know God face to face. That's why Moses didn't enter into the Promised Land as a type and a shadow because the Law could not make perfect. It's also why Moses couldn't see God's face; he could only see His shadow, His back parts. Did you see that? By the Law, all they could see was shadow, so God said I'll let you see My hinder parts but He wouldn't let you see His face because by the Law you can never come to know God. It's only by His grace that you can come to know God.  Now Moses was asking for this, ‘Let me know the One Who's going to go with us.' In the New Testament, our Moses is Jesus; He did know God face to face. And we're coming to know God face to face through His grace and through His sacrifice. But the ones that are going to fully know God are the ones that were fully known by God before the foundation of the world. All the rest of them are going to fall away, just like those people in the wilderness. They were written in, but blotted out before coming to the fullness of God, which was what? The Promised Land. Did you know that, as a child, we can speak to God face to face? And God can speak to us face to face as a child of God. And the reason we can speak to God as a child is because of our Covenant relationship. But coming to know the Lord is seeing Him face to face by faith. 2Co 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. That's coming into His nature, coming into His life, coming to know Him. Moses knew the literal name, Y-H-W-H, but he didn't know the One that name just represented. Remember we build on the foundation and we need to able to stand upon the rock when the wind blows and the rain beats against that house. Look, what is the firm foundation of God that stands? It's the name of the Lord. And that everybody who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. We can't stand on that rock in our own strength. I know I've shared this vision that my wife had years ago, how that I was standing on this rock wearing what was like metal leg braces.  The ones who are foreknown are going to stand on that rock of the Word and this shows us it won't be by their own strength, but by the strength of the Lord. So that's why it's our faith that counts. If it were by our works, it would be our strength that would cause us to stand but it's not. We can praise God for this, because it's not by our works. It's by grace, and the only way to get grace is faith in the promises. I thank God that Jesus freely gave us this salvation that we're talking about. We can accept it by faith without trying to work it up in ourselves. Everybody seems to go through that stage of trying to earn their salvation and failing miserably because it's got to be freely given by grace. It's got to be the strength that God supplies, and God supplies that strength by simply believing the word of God, not walking by sight, but believing the word of God. We believe that Jesus took away our sins. Initially we can't see that, but as we believe that He did it will happen. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We proclaim and confess the word; that's standing upon the rock and that's the only place you can see the Lord. Right now, maybe we speak to Him more face-to-face than see Him face to face. But we're going to know fully, if we walk by faith, even as we were fully known. Can you imagine that? You're going to know God fully as you were fully known. That's a tremendous promise! I mean, we want to know God, and gradually, the more we stand upon the rock, the more we're going to see His face. It's progressive, it's not an instantaneous thing.  When Moses stood upon the rock and the Lord proclaimed the Name, He proclaimed the nature of God there. This is the way God is, and yet, we're only learning the nature of God a little by little, line upon line, here a little and there a little. We're learning His nature. A lot of people are building things upon the foundation of God that have got to be torn back down, like in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. People build on it, the wood, hay, and the stubble of their own works, own doctrines, and religious establishment. All those dead things have to be burned back down by tribulation, and then start over. We build upon the foundation, which is Christ. There's no other foundation that can be laid that will work. That's what Paul was saying. Some people are on the shifting sand, yet some who are really on the right foundation, but they're building wrong things on the right foundation, the right foundation being that Jesus took away our sins.  But again, you can make the same mistake the Pharisees made in making of no effect the Word of God by their traditions. This is what the worldly church is famous for. This is what the Jews were famous for and Jesus rebuked them several times for that. If you make of no effect the word of God by your traditions, you're not standing upon the rock, and you're not going to see His face.  We have to come to know this Lord. We have to humble ourselves to His word. People have ulterior motives for believing what they believe, which is religion's way; they have different reasons for believing what they believe and they don't like to be wrong. They want to be seen as right. They live purely for the glory of men. And so they never change their mind even when you can show them all the verses in the word. They're building other things on the foundation and those things are going to be torn down by tribulations that are coming. Hopefully, many people will repent and rebuild the right things on the right foundation and bear fruit. That's why tribulation is coming. It's coming to tear down, to shake, the things that can be shaken, shake them right down to the ground so that God can rebuild the truth. There's going to be a great outpouring of truth in the tribulation period for those who love the truth. But sadly, for those who will believe a lie, there's great deception coming. That deception is going to blot a lot of names out of the Book of Life so that those who are foreknown will be there alone. Those that are left in Zion will be holy, you understand, because the spirit of fire has cleansed it, so the way is to walk by faith, to stand upon the Word of God continuously, and not be swayed by the traditions of men, by Babylon's wood, hay and stubble. Babylon really has been around since, as people say, the Tower of Babel, but really the nature of Babylon has been around since the very beginning. Religion is supplanting God's way. The problem is, all we like sheep have gone astray, each one after his own way, and that's why we've got so many religions. But we've got God's standard to go by. God's way, and you really can't accept anything else. Religion's ideas, how to organize the church, and how to do the works of God. Religion's ideas are Babylon. God's people, historically, the Jews were taken captive by Babylon, and will later be delivered from the bondage of Babylon to build Zion, and that's really the Christian walk. Every Christian starts out taken captive to Babylon. That's the false ideas of ways God wants things done, false ideas of the nature of God, the name of God, and their false image of Jesus. Everyone needs to be delivered from all that. Their false teachings, church doctrines, traditions of men, etc., and go to Zion where the truth is. The Lord Jesus is our Zion; the true Word is our Zion. It's seeing God the way God wants to be seen; it's knowing God the way God wants to be known, and without knowing God the way God wants to be known, He doesn't know you. Do you know who God knows? It's the inner man, the seed of Christ that's on the inside of us. God knows Him.  And the point is, if we're not like those virgins taking the vessel of oil along with the lamp with the oil, then we're not bearing fruit in the area of the soul. Their lamps went out because they didn't carry the oil in the vessel. In these days, people don't think it's necessary to obey. But bearing fruit in the area of the soul comes from obedience. Peter said that, and it's something we need to see. 1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: 23 having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth. In other words, we're still being born again; we're being born again in our soul. And our souls are being purified, and we're walking in holiness. Heb 12:14 Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord: 1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is. 3 And every one that hath this hope set on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. And Jesus said in Joh 6:46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he that is from God, he hath seen the Father. Who is Christ in you. For a more complete teaching on those who are chosen and the elect, see our book Predestined Called and Elect on our Website.

Leddy Hammock Highlights: Inspired by "Imagine Love" by Terry Prince: Let's use our imagination to see what love can bring. Let it be the inspiration that lets our voices sing. Imagine peace here right now. Imagine God's love smiling on us now. Imagine love, imagine heaven here on earth. Imagine love, imagine love is all life's worth. Imagine all we ever dreamed of coming true. Let's close our eyes, and all realize, We can survive and really thrive. Imagine love!

Imagine God's people all together. United in obedience & expectancy. To hear & see the supernatural, aware deep within you the Presence of God. Then experiencing the indwelling of His Holy Spirit that cannot be expressed in words.  New presence. New power. It can happen to any believer. Anywhere. Anytime. Question from God… & Pr Isaac : DO YOU WANT THE HOLY SPIRIT? Connect with us through social media at http://tiny.cc/sibklchurch and visit us at www.sibkl.org.my 

They were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people. — Revelation 5:8 Did you know that our prayers are like a scented offering to the Lord? Imagine God sitting on his throne, inhaling all of our prayers. He is surrounded by four creatures that are beyond our imagining, and by 24 elders who represent all of his people redeemed by Jesus, the Lamb of God. The amazing creatures and the elders hold out bowls of fragrant offerings to God, and these represent all of our prayers.We might not usually think of scents when we consider God's holiness or God's presence, but perhaps we need to. We know that God created the nose of the bloodhound, which is about 50 times more sensitive than our own. So perhaps we can imagine God deeply breathing in the most attractive scent in the universe— our prayers. He takes a deep breath and smiles. God loves us more than we can imagine, and he delights in hearing whatever we have to say. Whether we express joy or thanks or wonder or sadness or grief or concern or anxiety, the God who loves us is always eager to hear us.We can imagine that our prayers give God a scent more satisfying than fresh-baked bread or fresh-cut flowers. Our prayers are precious scents, offered to God in golden bowls.Did you know that your prayerful thoughts and words are enjoyed as the loveliest of scents in the highest heaven? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, accept our offerings of prayer. May they be a pleasing scent to you as you sniff out what we truly need. Thank you, Lord, for hearing all our prayers. Amen.

You may be someone who has truly honoured God and walked alongside Him with faithfulness. Yet, the foe really tries to throw you off balance and make things tough for you. Sometimes, you might find yourself at the point of cracking under pressure and stepping away from your faith. But is there any peace as you become distant from God? Today, Pastor Mark invites you to reconnect with God. If you've turned your back on Him, it looks like you're on a path that could lead to some serious struggles. But you know what? It's always a good time to return! Imagine God standing there, arms wide open, just waiting for you to come back to Him!

Follow along with us! Struggling with money stress? Living paycheck to paycheck?Wondering what the Bible actually says about budgeting? You're not alone. Millions of people feel anxious about money — and many Christians quietly wonder how to manage their finances in a way that honors God without creating guilt or pressure. In this message from Redemption Church, we walk through practical biblical budgeting principles that help you: Lead your money instead of being led by it Reduce financial stress Build savings with wisdom Give generously without fear Create a simple plan that reflects your faith If you don't lead your money, your money will lead you. What Does the Bible Say About Budgeting? The Bible talks about money more than almost any other topic. Not because God needs your money — but because money reveals your heart. Here are four core biblical budgeting principles: 1. Your Money Reveals Your Priorities “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21 Your spending patterns reveal direction. And direction can change. 2. God Entrusts You With Resources In Matthew 25, Jesus describes stewardship as managing what belongs to the Master. Biblical budgeting begins with this mindset shift: You are a steward, not an owner. 3. Faithfulness Starts Small “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” – Luke 16:10 Wealth is built on consistency, not hype. 4. Money Is a Tool — Not a Master “You cannot serve both God and money.” – Matthew 6:24 Money makes a terrible master and an excellent servant. A budget is simply telling your money where to go. A Simple Christian Budget Plan (Give, Save, Live) If you want a biblical starting point, evaluate three areas: 1️⃣ What You Give Giving reveals trust. Start somewhere. Give intentionally — not emotionally. 2️⃣ What You Save Saving reveals wisdom. Emergency savings protect your peace and reduce anxiety. 3️⃣ What You Live On Living reveals priorities. Cancel drift. Review subscriptions. Stop unconscious spending. Drift always costs more than direction. Frequently Asked Questions About Biblical Budgeting Is budgeting biblical? Yes. Scripture consistently teaches stewardship, faithfulness, generosity, and wisdom in managing resources. How do Christians budget money? A simple Christian budget often prioritizes giving, saving, and living — in that order. What does the Bible say about money stress? Jesus teaches that money should not master us (Matthew 6:24). Financial peace grows when we align our money with God's priorities. How can I stop living paycheck to paycheck? Start by reviewing recurring expenses, creating a simple spending plan, building a small emergency fund, giving intentionally, and avoiding financial drift. RESOURCES FOR YOU Well Spent Series Hub Continue the full Well Spent series here. Download the Well Spent Toolkit We created a free Well Spent Toolkit, including a 30-day Well Spent Challenge, to help you: Get clear on your money, time, and energy Evaluate what you give, save, and live on Build a simple savings and spending plan Audit your calendar and commitments Reset daily rhythms so you don't burn out Cancel financial drift and take practical next steps Download it here. Printable Sermon Handout (PDF) Follow along or use in your Connect Group. Download the How to Budget Your Blessing sermon handout here. Take Your Next Step at Redemption Church You don't have to figure this out alone. Whether you're exploring faith, returning to church, or looking for a way to serve, we'd love to walk with you. Take your next step with serving, groups, outreach, giving, or sharing your story: Start here. Watch the Message Message TranscriptWell Spent 1 – How to Budget Your Blessing – Chris Fluitt at Redemption Church Plano, Tx Learning how to manage money God's way. Well Spent 1 – How to Budget a Blessing Pastor Chris Fluitt – March 1, 2026Key Scriptures (NIV): Matthew 6:19–21; Luke 16:10–13; Matthew 25:14–30Big Idea: If you don't lead your money, your money will lead you. Welcome back to Redemption Church. My name is Chris Fluitt, and I'm so glad you're here.If you're in the room, we love you.If you're joining us online, we love you too. Let us know where you're watching from. We are one church family. Well SpentToday we're starting a brand new series called Well Spent. Well Spent – Stop wasting. Start investing your time, money, and energy. Every single day, we are spending something.We're spending money.We're spending time.We're spending energy. The question isn't “Are we spending?”The question is “Are we investing?” Here's where we're going this month: Well Spent Outline March 8: Kingdom ROI – how to invest your life in what actually lasts forever instead of what fades by Friday. We will have special guests – Matt & Julie Hattabaugh, missionaries to Lebanon. March 15: Spend Your Time on What Lasts – how to stop being busy and start being meaningful. March 22: Do Not Burn Out, Burn Bright – Learn the rhythm of Jesus that keeps your soul strong instead of running on fumes. Value Add – Well Spent Toolkit Download the free Well Spent Toolkit with a 30-day challenge to reset your money, time, and energy. We built a free Well Spent Toolkit to help you live this out. You can download it today. It will help you with your money, your time, and your energy. Today, we're starting with money. Today's message is called: How to Budget a Blessing. Learning how to manage money God's way. “Where did it all go?Wasn't there money in this account?How did we spend that much there?” I've had tough months.Times where I struggled to get to pay day.Januarys that felt hard because Decembers were expensive. And I can tell you honestly, money stress steals peace. There's something about financial anxiety that just sits heavy. We know what this is like. Right? We know what it's like to swipe the card and hope.We know what it's like to avoid checking the balance.We know what it's like to think, “If nothing unexpected happens this month, we'll be okay.” The $truggle Is Real Stats • Around 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.• More than 50% cannot cover a $1,000 emergency without debt.• The average household carries roughly $7,000 in credit card debt.• Nearly 40% of adults have little to no retirement savings.• 66% Americans say money is their number one source of stress. This is not rare. Money is a real problem – and we don't like to talk about it. But that's exactly why Jesus did talk about it. Not because He needed their money. Because He knew what money does to the heart. I have 4 quick lessons from Jesus on money and how to stop wasting and start investing. Your spending reveals your heart Matthew 6:21 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. We cannot compartmentalize our heart and our wallet. They are in the same compartment. If our treasure goes toward comfort, our heart leans toward comfort.If our treasure goes toward the Kingdom, our heart leans toward the Kingdom. We like to say we care about generosity.But if our spending never reflects it, it's just talk. We like to say we're disciplined.But if the ledger says otherwise, something's off. Our bank account is not a verdict.It's not judging our soul.It's not saying God doesn't love us. Our spending is revealing direction.And direction can change. God has put you in charge of His money (stewardship) Matthew 25:14 He entrusted his wealth to them. This is a parable… a story Jesus tells to reveal a spiritual principle. The money in the parable never becomes the servant's money. It always belongs to the master. The master's money is entrusted to the servant. God is the master. God has put us in charge of His money. This parable has 3 servants, and they are all given different amounts from the master. The real difference wasn't the amount.It was what they believed about the master. The 2 faithful servants trusted the master and invested. The one wicked servant (strong language) said – “I was afraid of you,” and buried the money. What we do with our money reveals what we think about God.Fear buries.Trust invests. What do you think about God?Are you burying? Are you investing? Faithfulness starts small and gets practical Luke 16:10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much. Wealth is built on boring consistency. Not hype.Not emotion.Consistency. If we can't manage little, more won't fix it. Look back at the verse. God is looking for who can be TRUSTED with more. We often pray for MORE.Do we pray to be faithful and trustworthy? More money does not solve our issues.More faithfulness solves our issues. Money is a tool or a master Matthew 6:24 …You cannot serve both God and money Money makes a better servant than a king. You cannot serve both God and money. When money is master, anxiety rules. When God is master, money serves. A budget is telling your money what to do, and how to serve. It's not punishment.It's not stewed beans forever. It's declaring money is not my master. And at the top of that budget should be God. Why?? Because HE is the master who has entrusted us with His money. What does this mean for you? Here's the question. Is your money well spent? Is your money revealing the heart you want it to reveal? Look at three areas this week: What you give.What you save.What you live on. Giving reveals trust. Saving reveals wisdom. Living reveals priorities. Let's talk about what you give. As soon as I say that, a voice in your head goes, “I KNEW IT. You greedy pastors just want my money…” So let me calm that down. This is not about boosting our offering.We are not locking the doors and taking up a special offering. This is not about squeezing more out of you. Here's what I actually want for you: I want you to find a place to give that lines up with what you value and the kind of heart you want God to grow in you. It doesn't have to be here. Give somewhere. Give to a ministry that is feeding people.Give to an organization that is reaching students.Give to a person God puts on your heart. Next week we have missionaries coming from Lebanon.Prayerfully consider giving toward that.That would be amazing. But you don't have to. If you give here, if you give there, if you give somewhere else entirely… What I care about is that you become a giver. HERE IS WHY. Giving reveals trust.Saving reveals wisdom.Living reveals priorities. Giving reveals trust. Saving reveals wisdom. Living reveals priorities. How are you doing? Most of us DO NOT KNOW… BECAUSE we cannot evaluate what we refuse to examine. We have to sit down with the numbers. And when we don't, we become victims. There are companies happy to keep us that way. Some people are paying for duplicate subscriptions.Streaming services never alert them. Credit card companies profit when balances roll into the next month. We are victims – but often of our own drift. Drift always costs more than direction. So this week: Open your bank app.Look at recurring charges.Cancel at least one subscription. And download the Well Spent Toolkit. Work it. Imagine if we were a church that was well spent. Imagine if our families were well spent. Imagine teaching our kids how not to be victims in the marketplace. Imagine living in such a way that we could help more people. Imagine generosity that is planned, not pressured. Remember what God the master told the servants who managed the money well… Well done, good & faithful servant. Imagine God saying that about you.Well done, good & faithful servant. Well Spent Actions Your money reveals your heart. This is deeply spiritual. Repent If we've drifted, let's repent.Wasting?Not saving?Not giving? How we spend reveals our direction.Repentance is how we change direction. Make a Plan Decide this week you will sit down with your numbers. Stop burying, start managing. Surrender When we work on our money, we work on our heart. Over the next few minutes, I want breakthrough. If you need prayer about debt, anxiety, trust – come. Spend the next moments worshiping and seeking God. This is time well spent. “If you don't lead your money, your money will lead you.” Giving reveals trust. Saving reveals wisdom. Living reveals priorities. What you give. What you save. What you live on.Giving reveals trust. Saving reveals wisdom. Living reveals priorities. Download the free Well Spent Toolkit with a 30-day challenge to reset your money, time, and energy. Download the Well Spent Toolkit + 30-Day Challenge. We don't want this to stay just a Sunday idea.The Well Spent Toolkit gives you: A guided look at your money, time, and energy A 30-day Well Spent Challenge Simple worksheets to track giving, saving, and spending Space to review your calendar and commitments Practical prompts to cancel drift and build healthier rhythms Download the toolkit and work through it this month. What Is Your Money Revealing? This isn't about guilt.It's about direction. If your money has been leading you instead of you leading it, today can be a turning point. Consider these steps: Talk honestly with God about your money and your heart Make a simple plan for what you give, save, and live on Download the Well Spent Toolkit and start the 30-day challenge Ask someone you trust to pray with you and walk with you If you're local to Plano or joining online, you are welcome here. If you need prayer, have questions about Jesus, want to join a group, or are ready to serve, you don't have to wait. Take your next step here. Building real community in Plano

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Recently, I suggested that there were frequently two things involved in God's appearances in the Old Testament. He showed his glory here on this earth and he came to call his people back. In that podcast, I reflected on God's glory; today, I want to spend some time on the second element. Imagine God and his angels sitting under the tree having lunch with Abraham. God had important stuff to do further on, but he took the time to linger with Abraham. Many of us cannot imagine God having such time for us; but consider Jesus drawing the little children to himself when his disciples tried to shoo them away. God has time for us. He is Immanuel. John 1 is a complex chapter drawing in several Old Testament references. This might cause us to miss the main point, which, as Peterson paraphrases, is that God has moved into the neighbourhood. Why has he come? He has come to find the lost. He came to arrange for our adoption. He wants to be able to call us his children. In Luke 15, Jesus paints three pictures of God on the hunt for us. In the first, he compares God to a shepherd who has lost one of his 100 sheep. He ends the story with this, "And when he (the shepherd) finds it (his sheep), he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep…I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" (Luke 15:5-7). So, if you are listening and don't follow Jesus, know that God is looking for you. He wants to find you and name you his child. He wants to give you a brand-new identity and a brand-new family, the church. Get in touch with us if you'd like to have a conversation about this. Many of you who are listening have family and friends who do not follow Jesus. Our text has a word of encouragement for you. We wonder how on earth we are going to get them to follow God. Know this, God has his eye on them, he is out searching for your child, your spouse, your relative, your friend. We try to figure out how to connect people to God. The thing is, God is better at arranging that connection than we are. When people find God, its usually not in the expected manner. God tends to surprise us in the way he finds his lost sheep. Throughout the stories of Jesus birth, the gospel writers emphasize that Jesus came to save. So, let's have confidence that God can connect with people. We don't have to make it happen, rather let's pray that God will do his stuff and let's tell stories of God's love in our lives. As you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.

Imagine God saying to you, “Come let us reason together.”  The Lord tells the Israelites that he is prepared to make their ‘bloody’ sins as white as snow…  IF they are willing and obedient, he will reward them abundantly, but IF they resist and rebel, then they will be ravaged by war. God was allowing them […] The post Insights from Isaiah: Part 3 TruthTalks appeared first on Truth Is The Word.

Proverbs 4:26 reminds us, “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.”That's a call to intentional living—choosing wisdom over impulse, especially in how we manage our money. We often emphasize that budgeting isn't just about numbers—it's about aligning your resources with God's purposes.Matt Bell, a trusted voice in biblical finance, recently wrote about the contrast between cultural and Christian approaches to budgeting. He notes that culture gives your money a script:“Make $80,000 a year. Then move into this neighborhood, drive that car, wear these clothes, eat in these restaurants, and take these vacations. Then you can give.”In this model, spending comes first and usually leads to debt. If we're lucky, we might save or give with what's left. The result? Financial stress, shrinking savings, and a fading sense of contentment.Budgeting as a Sacred TrustBut what if budgeting isn't just a spending plan—it's a sacred trust?Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.” Your income is a gift and a responsibility. Imagine God saying:“I'm entrusting you with $80,000 this year. Use it to reflect My love—meet needs, fund ministry, invest in My Kingdom. Save wisely. Enjoy what I've provided.”This echoes 1 Timothy 6:17, which reminds us that God “richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” With a biblical framework, our financial decisions flip the cultural script:Give firstThen save and investThen spend wiselyAnd use debt sparinglyPaul David Tripp puts it this way:“God calls us to stop starting with ourselves and hoping there's money left over for him. Instead, the call is to willingly and joyfully accept that our money's primary purpose is to fund a kingdom of generosity… and then trust that God will provide what we need.”Jesus warned in Matthew 7:26–27 that anyone who builds their life on shifting sand—hearing His words but not doing them—will find their house collapsing in the storm. A budget based on biblical principles isn't just practical—it's foundational. It anchors our financial lives to the truth of God's Word.A Partner for Kingdom StewardshipIf you're ready to build your finances on that foundation, it helps to partner with others who share your values. That's why we're grateful for Christian Community Credit Union (CCCU).More than a bank, CCCU is a financial institution with a Kingdom mission. They offer everything you'd expect—checking, savings, loans, mortgages—but they also invest your deposits in ministries that serve the Gospel worldwide. Every dollar becomes a tool for transformation.If you're seeking a trusted financial partner that aligns with your faith and fuels your impact, learn more at JoinChristianCommunity.com.Budgeting isn't about restriction—it's about worship. It's about saying, “Lord, everything I have is from You and for You.” When we carefully consider our financial paths, we begin to experience the freedom, peace, and joy of Kingdom stewardship.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I will be full retirement age in August. I'm still working, so my Social Security will be a surplus that I want to put toward my home. I still owe $82,000 on it, but I also know it needs many repairs. Does it make more sense to put this extra cash flow toward repairs, paying down the mortgage, or a little bit of both?What's the difference between getting a debt consolidation loan or working with a debt counselor?I just wanted general information about universal index life insurance. It seems too good to be true. I've heard that you put money in, and it always increases, but you never lose money out of there, like in the case with stocks.I have a colleague with $12,000 in student debt. He wants to pay $1,000 down and the rest over time, but I think he should pay it off completely now. What's the best method for him to save money and pay off the debt quickly?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)Christian Community Credit Union (CCCU)Christian Credit CounselorsWisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on Money (Pre-Order)Look At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

Do you ever feel like you have to do everything on your own? Like you can't depend on anyone else? A lot of us think that being independent means being strong. But what if going alone actually means missing out on something amazing? Proverbs 3:5- 6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Imagine…God has all wisdom and knowledge. His understanding surpasses mine and yours. What if you trusted His plan for your life instead of your own? I can tell you from experience, starting a relationship with Jesus will change your life in the most marvelous ways. Pray. Ask God to guide you in His wisdom today. Watch, and see what He will do. Always remember, there is hope with God. I'm Andrew Palau. radio.hopewithgod.com

Sermon 4/6/2025 – Jn 12:1-8   The prophet Isaiah brings us words from our Lord God:  “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” This is a beautiful reminder that God will surprise us God makes a way for us God brings out an army of fighters for us God nourishes and replenishes us Whatever we face, God is there, navigating beside us   The arc of the Gospels from Luke these past weeks have been building the tension toward Jesus' arrest and crucifixion We can feel the tension within the community The Pharisees are threatening Herod's wish to kill Jesus They're grumbling about what Jesus is doing and who he's hanging out with (all the wrong people) And Jesus is responding with outrageous parables about how God isn't going to fall in line with human expectations God is extravagant in God's love for God's people God will protect God's people like a fierce mother hen God will nourish the fig tree until it bears fruit God will welcome the wayward son with open arms and celebration “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”   In the midst of anxiety With the threat of death Burdened with tension God is there God is about to do a new thing Can we perceive it? Can we? Because fear Anxiety Tension The energy of these emotions act like walls Huge barriers to God's love Barriers that make God's love, mercy, tenderness and forgiveness sit on the outside of our hearts --- One thing we know about anxiety and tension – Is that they spread They are more contagious than Norovirus or Influenza A As they travel among people and communities   So today, we hear the words of the prophet Isaiah and the Gospel story about Jesus in a safe place, the home of his friends His chosen family – Lazarus who he raised from the dead, and Martha and Mary These people who are close to Jesus have been shown the nature of God through the person of Jesus They have been shown God's extravagant love again and again Through parables And miracles Through Jesus raising Lazarus from death But the tension from the community is there, It's seeped in It has spread into their home Into their hearts and minds as Mary does a new and extravagant thing   We read these stories year after year We know that Judas is the “bad guy”, who will betray Jesus to the soldiers leading to his imprisonment and crucifixion But having a woman act as the “good guy” is surprising It would have been even more surprising then than it is now For Mary to demonstrate God's abundance For Mary to break cultural expectations Challenging gender roles As she takes her hair down Uses an entire pound of perfumed oil And wipes Jesus' feet But Mary's role isn't the only surprising role in this story We see the human side of Jesus, the fierce advocate, the strong defender, the wise teacher, the righteous Son of God, As he sits and acknowledges his need of tenderness His need of support His weariness from these past months As Mary cares for him Wiping the tension out of his whole body through his feet   “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”   We acknowledge the intimacy of this act on Maundy Thursday when Jesus washes the feet of his disciples Imagine the intimacy of Mary wiping Jesus' feet with her hair and expensive perfume… Imagine how close she would have to sit to Jesus… Imagine her face, and her gaze upon him… Imagine the smell of the perfume, an entire pound of it, filling her nostrils and wafting up to Jesus' face, filling his nose The lovely fragrance spreading…permeating the entire room Lingering… Imagine his gaze upon her… As Jesus sits around the dinner table, surrounded by others, and Mary touches his feet for the first time… Imagine Jesus' surprise as she continues ministering to him until the entire jar is gone… “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”   Now imagine God caring for you in that extravagant and tender way Imagine God knowing all you've done And not done All you've endured And all you're facing in life Imagine God bringing God's self so close to you So close, just a hair's length away Close to even the dirtiest and sorest parts of yourself Not just the parts you'd offer first But even the embarrassing and hurt parts The parts you keep tucked away and covered Imagine God coming so close to those parts And blessing them Wiping them Loving them Anointing your past, present and future With a beautiful and unexpected fragrance That takes over your whole self That fills the whole room That is obnoxious in a way that even others notice “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” /         /         /         / We are so often like Judas Keeping track Judging Anxious As the tension of our community and world Spread and infect our spaces Our school and work Our congregation Our homes Even our thoughts and hearts Which is why this season of Lent is all about repentance Turning back toward God Taking a chance to let down the walls and barriers The hardness this world has erected within us And let God in Let God sit so close to us Let God let down God's hair Let God use the whole jar And reach our most unpresentable parts Let God tenderly touch those parts of us Let God wipe them clean, Let God bless them, and anoint them with God's extravagant and Holy love Amen

Lance remembers doing puzzles at his grandmother's dining room table, and it sets him in mind of how the church operates: we are like pieces of the puzzle, but you don't get the full picture when we are still scattered. Imagine God bringing the pieces together at Main & Clay. As we come together as individual pieces of a puzzle, we begin to see how we fit. We want to build a shared culture, we want to gather together to grow disciples. To worship, to pray, to be discipleship with one another. To build each other up, so that God can use us to build the church. Acts 2:42-47 & Hebrews 10:24-25 fmhouston.com

Be Bold & Sprinkle Love Like Confetti 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.I liked this verse when I read it for a couple of reasons.  The first reason was that it says, “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.”  I liked the phrasing of it.  The verse is saying that they have confidence in God through Christ.  They are acknowledging that Christ is the reason the have confidence in God.  It is through Him that all things are possible.  I like this because it means that all the responsibility for trusting God is not on my shoulders.  If I ask, Christ will help me with my confidence in God.The next line says, “Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God.”  I like this because, again, it takes some of the responsibility off of us to have to know how to do it all and to be good at everything.  If God asks us to do something, then He will give us all we need to do it.  This is sometimes hard to believe.  Imagine God asking you to build an orphanage in a foreign country.  One where you have never been before.  It is difficult to say yes to this when you have no idea how any of the pieces will come together.  Maybe you don't even know how to build anything, and you are not a fan of travel.  Maybe you don't have any money and you don't have the first clue how to do fundraising.  It would be hard to step into this calling when you don't have any answers.  And yet, some people do.  God asked Noah to build an arc.  He asked him to build an arc in the middle of a drought.  Noah had no idea how to build an arc. He was a farmer.  Noah had never built an arc before.  I don't think that Noah had all the supplies to build the arc before he said yes to the Lord.  God asked Noah to build an arc with very specific dimensions, and Noah said yes.  He said yes, not because he knew what he was doing and not because he had all the answers.  He said yes because he loved God, and God asked him to.  He said yes and relied on the Lord to give him what he would need to complete the project.  I wish we all had this kind of trust in the Lord.  I wish that when God asked us to do something, we all just said yes.  We didn't think about it, we didn't weigh the pros and the cons, we didn't worry about whether we were good enough or not.  I wish we just said yes.  If God wanted to erase everyone except Noah off the face of the earth, then it seems like the world was in a pretty bad place.  The world is in a pretty bad place right now.  It seems as though you can be anything you want today except for Christian.  You have to be tolerant of everyone else's beliefs, but no one has to be tolerant of Christian beliefs.  Don't get me wrong, I think that we should be tolerant of other people's beliefs.  I just expect that same respect, and it doesn't seem to be happening these days.  I believe that God is calling us all to action.  I believe He wants us to spread the gospel and to live His word every day.  This brings me to the next line in this verse, “our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant.” God made the apostles competent ministers of the new covenant.  He will do the same for us.  If we just say yes, he will equip us with the knowledge and power that we need to spread the good news.  If you are anything like me you shrink away from the responsibility to spread the good news.  You think to yourself, “Who am I to talk about God? What do I know?” or you say, “There are others much better suited to talk about Jesus. Others that have studied harder or paid attention more.” There are any number of things we tell ourselves to convince us that God may be calling some people, but He isn't calling me.  I am not worthy to serve the Lord.  I am not good enough, smart enough, educated enough, or whatever your version of “not enough” is.  This is the enemy talking!  He has convinced us that we aren't enough, so God couldn't possibly use us.  All the proof you need to know this isn't true can be found in the Bible.  God never used the most educated men, the most holy people, the people who got everything right.  He used normal, everyday people to be his instruments in the world, and He wants to use you.  Do not believe the enemy that you are not enough.  Are you worthy?  No, none of us are worthy, and yet God loves us and wants to use us anyway.  God made us in His likeness and image, so we can't be all that bad.  The last part of this verse is a really important part.  It is one that I find really interesting and want to dive deeper into.  I will touch on it today to draw your attention to it, and then, if you want to dive deeper to understand it better, you can do that.  The last part of this verse says, “Who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  This talk of a new covenant is what I would like to dive deeper into.  The things I found regarding this particular scripture say that the letter of the law is the mosaic law.  Before Paul was converted, he used to enforce the laws of the old covenant.  The reason this verse says that the letter kills is because it is impossible for us to follow all the laws on our own.  We are a sinful people, and we can't live a life without sin without the Holy Spirit.  When Paul teaches the new covenant, he teaches those who trust in Jesus to live by the Holy Spirit.  I think this is where many of us go wrong.  We want to help everyone find Jesus, and we have noble intentions.  However, we go about it by preaching the letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law.  Instead of starting out letting everyone know how much they are loved by our heavenly father, we tell them that they are living in sin if they live with someone they aren't married too.  Instead of loving people right where they are and trusting the Holy Spirit to convict them of any wrongdoing, we judge them and treat them according to how we feel they should be treated.  The Holy Spirit has really convinced me over the years that Jesus is love and that He wants me to be an example of that love to all that I meet.  I fall short, and I don't always do this. However, I never stop trying, and I know that when I do fail, God forgives me, and then he gives me the grace I need to do better next time.  If we truly want to help people find their way to Jesus, then we need to be a reflection of Jesus to all we meet.  When Jesus ate with the tax collectors and the prostitutes, he did not lecture them about what they were doing and how they needed to change.  He just loved them right where they were, and they saw a love and a peace in Him that they wanted.  Our words will not be the thing that changes people. Our actions will.  It seems like people are starving for love and connection these days.  This may sound weird because, with social media, it seems like everyone has so many more friends.  However, it is rare to get true connections with others online.  There is definitely a shortage of love these days.  Even with all these ways to communicate, people are feeling more alone than ever.  What if we spread love around to everyone we meet?  I heard this saying, and I love it. The saying is, “Sprinkle love like confetti.” What if we all made this our goal? Imagine how much better the world around us would be if we all sprinkled love like it was Confetti.  Imagine if we were all brave and bold enough to love more freely.Dear Heavenly Father, I  ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to love you and to have confidence in you.  Lord, help us to say yes to whatever it is you are calling us to, even if we don't understand how or why you are calling us to it.  Help us to say yes, even if we don't have any of the answers we think we need.  Please give us the grace to trust You and rely on You for all we will need to carry out the mission You give us.  We want to be competent ministers of the new covenant.  Help us to lead by example and to teach the spirit of the law instead of focusing on the letter of the law.  We love you so much, Lord; help us sprinkle that love like confetti to all those we come in contact with.  Thank you so much for all you do for us.  You are truly spectacular, and we are so grateful.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “My children, as I am merciful, so must you be. I do not hesitate to pardon you. I do not hesitate to give you a chance. You must do so with other people.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Are You Working Out What God's Working In You? Ever feel like life's a relentless rollercoaster of ups, downs, and loop-de-loops? What if you could approach each twist with a radically fresh mindset? Philippians 2 doesn't just paint God as a distant helper it reveals Him as your very life source. In Him, you're not just surviving you're thriving from a place of unshakable union. Imagine God at work within you, shaping your desires and actions to align with His purpose. As Christ's mindset pulses through you, confidence in His provision and a genuine concern for others start to flow effortlessly not as obligations, but as natural expressions of who you already are. Curious about transforming your trials into undeniable triumphs? Click to watch and explore how living from your union with Christ fuels everything you do, lighting up the world with His love through you! Discussion Questions for Philippians 2: 1. Read verse 3. How does genuine humility happen? How does humility reflect the heart of the Gospel? 2. Read verses 4-5. How does looking out for the interests of others start to happen in our lives? How can we have this mindset? 3. Read verses 6-8. What does it mean that Christ emptied Himself? What do you think God is trying to tell us through this? 4. Read verses 9-11. Why is the exaltation of Christ significant to our understanding of His nature and place in our lives? What does it mean that Jesus is Lord? 5. Read verse 12 and react to this statement: Work out what God has worked in! 6. Read verse 13 and react to this statement: God doesn't just cause us to do but also to will (or want) what He wants. 7. Read verses 14-16. From a grace perspective, how do we shine as lights in the world? And what does it mean to hold fast to the word of life? 8. Read verses 17-18. What does poured out as a drink offering mean? How can we share in joy as we encourage and build one another up? To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1258/29

We're receiving an education in developing a biblical mindset right now on Light on the Hill. Glad you could join us. Imagine God coming up to you and saying, Ask for whatever you want me to give you! What would you ask for? That very question from God was posed to Solomon, and he asked for wisdom! God would give that to him and so much more. Pastor James Kaddis will look at this dialogue and relate it to what every Christian should know about wealth. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1459/29

Imagine God offering you anything you ask for. What would you choose? Ephesians 2:10 reveals three transformative truths: we are God's workmanship, created for good works, and called to walk in them. This passage answers life's big questions about identity, purpose, and fulfillment, urging us to align our desires with God's work and live a life of eternal significance. Visit us and find more at: https://www.friendshipsturgis.com and facebook.com/fbcms Helpful Links: New Here?: https://friendshipsturgis.com/connect Announcements: https://friendshipsturgis.com/announc... Online Giving: https://friendshipsturgis.com/give Kids: https://friendshipsturgis.com/kids Family: https://friendshipsturgis.com/family CCLI#: 2902454 CSPL# 055762

Ever felt the difference when you try to do life (or business) without God? In this episode, I share what it's like to move from just serving God to partnering with Him—as a friend, mentor, and guide. Imagine God walking with you through every moment, offering wisdom and joy. Whether you're running a business, raising a family, or building relationships, He's ready to lead you into His best for you. Join me on this journey of saying “yes” to God as your CEO, and let's see what amazing things He has in store! As always,

Hebrews 7:26 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; Please worship and enjoy with me this description of Jesus. Never was there a more holy high priest than Jesus. Oh, the beauty of holiness. Holiness entails the concept of oneness or union with God. Jesus is fused into one with the Father and Holy Spirit, and all function as one beautiful, glorious being. Psalms 29:2, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in holy array [the beauty of holiness].” Holiness also means set apart from something (this world) to something (to God). There's no one like Jesus. As we look at Him and all the other high priests who ever served in God's temple, Jesus stands out in incomparable grandeur and beauty.  Unlike all other high priests, Jesus is innocent—literally, He stands apart from what is evil or bad. Not one thought, word, or deed is associated with evil. His life is also undefiled, spotless, or unstained by any evil. Evil has not touched Him. I'm reminded of something Jesus said to His disciples on His last night with them. John 14:30. “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” There is not one desire in Jesus for anything the devil has to offer. That is not true of any other high priest. The basic idea within the word separated from sinners is the idea of a chasm or a space between items or people. He is exalted above us. We are earth bound, associated with sin and evil, defiled, stained, and corrupted with lust for this world. Do you see us as a group standing together on the earth? But Jesus is not like us sinners. He is lifted up above the heavens. Can you see the space between us? Therefore, God has made it clear that He is fit to act as our intercessor with God forever. Imagine His life now as your life! Imagine Jesus standing in for you in the presence of God. Imagine God counting the beauty and glory of Jesus' life and character as yours, and worship Him.  My dear friends, we are indeed blessed beyond words. Could God do anything more for His beloved? It is fitting, it is clear, that God can do no less than the absolute greatest possible thing for those He loves, and that He has done. He has given Himself to be our righteousness, our redemption, our sanctification, and our confidence in His presence. Therefore, love others out of His fullness.

Join us as we look to God and what He has for us as a church in our future. Want to learn more about our church and get connected: https://linktr.ee/friends_church_eastvale

Holy God so often we feel cut off from you and one another. Help us find our way to healing and hope, so that we can become new again. Amen.   Strikingly beautiful, Maria had deep dark eyes and long black hair. Superficially she seemed jaded, a kind of rebel. But if you took the time to really know her, she had great intelligence, sensitivity and heart. During my junior year of high school we were close friends. She used to talk about what it felt like getting painfully lost in the shuffle after her parents split up, about her resentful mother being left with almost nothing.   In those days divorce was suddenly becoming far more widespread and our society was not prepared. We did not know how to cope with divorce in a humane and grace-filled way. Divorce deeply affects all of us. Perhaps you have gone through a divorce yourself, or maybe it was your parents, your children, a close friend or work colleague. In our society really poor people, the ones who are barely making it, are far more likely to get divorced than wealthy people.   Being truly part of the human family means understanding how hard it can be to sustain a relationship and how much pain we can suffer when it breaks down. Many of us also have an experience of new life and joy on the other side of this suffering.   What does Jesus offer as we try to understand this feature of the human condition? Many preachers shy away from this complex topic and I worry a little about putting words into Jesus' mouth and a lot about saying something that inadvertently harms you. But I believe that Jesus offers practical and real good news. But like all communication his words need to be interpreted and this requires difficult work. It is worth it because this teaching will lead us to wholeness and new life.   The context matters. Jesus has been teaching his disciples about becoming “servants of all.” [1] In fact he says that the world completely misunderstands servanthood. In Imperial Rome but also today we tend to think of servants as lower, lesser, outsiders compelled to work for those who are greater than they are. We easily slip into thinking that the great ones are those who coerce and control others. But Jesus turns this idea on its head. He tells his friends that serving others, especially vulnerable people, is the key to a meaningful life. He says that the greatest one will be servant of all.   Some Pharisees come to Jesus. The name Pharisee in Aramaic means “the ones who are set apart.” [2] They care intensely about determining what and who is pure. They are right to fear Jesus because he undermines this whole project. For Jesus there is one human family and no one is impure or left out. The Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” The narrator calls this question a trap. Whether Jesus says yes or no the Pharisees have a plan to condemn him.   Jesus understands that there is no right answer. He also knows what happened after King Herod and his former sister-in-law each divorced their spouses and married each other. John the Baptist criticized their marriage. And this led to his execution by Herod. Rather than trying to set a policy or law on divorce Jesus changes the question. Rather than asking if it is legal to divorce he asks us to consider what God wants for us.   During those times there were ethical disagreements concerning divorce. Some believed that the only justification for divorce was sexual infidelity. Others thought that a husband should be able to divorce his wife for pretty much any reason. According to the Book of Deuteronomy a man can write a certificate of divorce if his wife, “does not please him” or, “because he finds something objectionable about her” (Deut. 24:1-4).   This biblical passage puts all the power in the hands of the husband. It makes divorce the rule rather than an exception to be employed only after all other courses of action have failed. Most important this law endangers the most vulnerable people in society – women and children who could not own property and who depend for their well-being on the generosity of their husband and father. This actually describes the situation of my friend Maria.   Jesus hates just this kind of human suffering. You can almost hear him raise his voice as he says that the reason for a commandment permitting divorce is our “hardness of heart.” But note this. Jesus does not say Moses was wrong. Jesus does not say that the commandment permitting divorce should cease to be a law. Jesus is not forbidding divorce.   Instead he uses hyperbole to make a point. In our reading a few weeks ago Jesus said that, “if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out” (Mk. 9:47). Just as this is not a call for us to pluck out our eyes, Jesus describing remarriage as a kind of adultery does not mean that no one should ever get divorced. In every way Jesus says we are children of God and our actions have lasting effects on other children of God many of whom are far more vulnerable than we are.   Jesus is the same person who teaches us that the law was made for human beings not human beings for the law. Jesus' point is not to shame people who have already suffered all the effects of a broken relationship. He is not trying to make people stay in a relationship that is abusive or in one that has clearly died. He is not trying to preserve relationships that continue to do damage to the people who are in them.   Instead Jesus is moving our attention from what the law permits to God's dream for how our relationships could be. Describing this higher picture of marriage Jesus rejects the Pharisees' approach which only sees the relationship from the perspective of the divorcing husband. In his words here Jesus treats women and men the same (he talks in equal terms about a man and a woman divorcing a spouse).   Jesus paints a picture of what love can become. He quotes the book of Genesis and talks about people leaving their families in order to be joined together. So often in my own life I think about the deep and miraculous truth that “the two shall become one flesh.” Adding to this Jesus says that, “what God has joined together, let no one separate.”   Let that sink in for a bit. Imagine two beings so united in purpose and affection that they become like one single entity. Imagine God as the source of our deepest relationships and actively at work in helping them to thrive. I understand that marriage is not for everyone. Anyone entering into marriage needs to know that even in the best circumstances it can be hard work. Marriage involves renewing the relationship over and over again. Marriage requires wisdom, communication, perseverance, patience, courage, forgiveness and an openness to what is new and what cannot be controlled. It demands not just a commitment to the other person but to the relationship itself. To be strong a marriage requires a community of support like the one gathered here this morning.   Jesus wants us to know that there is more to life than feeling justified by the law and superior to another person. Jesus wants us to strive for goodness, to find the way that we are called to serve. But there are relationships that have become so broken that no matter how hard we try, they cannot be saved. Jesus speaks about this not because we have broken some rule and deserve to be punished, but because it is God's nature to be present to help us when we are suffering. [3]   I began by sharing my fear of speaking about divorce with you today. I guess I really did not want to be misunderstood on this point. Jesus does not condemn people for being divorced. Fifty years ago Diane, my mother-in-law and one of the women I most admire, went through a divorce with my father-in-law. Because of this the church she grew up in utterly rejected her. For decades she never felt comfortable in a church and I did not talk to her about it. Some of you might remember that magical midnight Christmas mass ten years ago when she joined us.   Delayed by her flight, Diane hesitantly made her way down the center aisle to her pew. In all those years as family we had never worshiped together. In the middle of my sermon, preaching from this pulpit I immediately recognized her. I almost started crying tears of joy because she had come home – loved by God and by you the people who welcomed her.   Our reading today ends as Jesus' disciples try to keep children from bothering him. Mark writes that Jesus feels “indignant” about this. He says, “Let the children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” Mark writes, “And [Jesus] took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”   This week I keep thinking of my high school friend Maria and Jesus taking her into his arms and blessing her. I imagine Jesus holding Diane with that smile from Christmas on her face and blessing her. And in my mind's eye I see all the people who have suffered the effects of difficult marriages and divorce and he is reaching out to embrace and bless us. [1] Matt Boulton, “One Flesh: Salt's Commentary for the Twentieth Week after Pentecost, SALT, 1 October 2024. https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2018/10/3/one-flesh-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-twentieth-week-after-pentecost [2] “The appellation “Pharisee” is probably derived from the Aramaic word perishayya which means “the separated one.” Very likely the addresses of Mark's story would not know that. But from previous narrative they have already learned that the Pharisees maintain a pollution system that separates the world into two realms of the clean and the unclean.” Herman Waetjen, A Reordering of Power: A Socio-Political Reading of Mark's Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1989) 165. [3] Canon Edie Weller writes about this in a sermon. She says, “Jesus was a realist. He knew that there are times when we can't reach or maintain the kind of relationship that God might dream for us. There are times and circumstances which lead to broken relationships, from which – as hard as we might work at it – we cannot recover. Jesus speaks about this not because the death of a marriage is more sinful or worse in some way than other experiences of human brokenness. Rather he speaks about this because he cares about us. God's grief in the face of our irreconcilable differences stems not from our having broken the rules or failed a divine test, but from God's response to our experience of such pain. Edie B. Weller, “Sermon for Sunday October 7, 2018 Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B (Proper 22), St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington. https://saintmarks.org/staff/the-rev-edie-weller/

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think (imagine).” In this series, we will revisit the Imagine vision God gave us a year ago and talk about what we've done and where we're going.

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax your body, refocus your mind, and to re-imagine and re-narrate your life to a truer reality. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. In our last few episodes we looked at what Moses tells the people of Israel.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)  “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life….” “Now choose life, so that you…may live.” “For the LORD is your life!” “LORD” in all uppercase letters in our English Bibles indicates that in Hebrew God's name, Yahweh, is used (for example, Exodus 3:14-15; Isaiah 42:8). Yahweh is the ancient Hebrew verb form for “HE IS.” God's name, Yahweh, is used more than any other term for God in the Hebrew scriptures. More than “God” is used.  God's name is filled with wonder and mystery and transcendence for us to meditate on using our biblically guided imagination. When we see God's name, HE IS, in the Hebrew scriptures (what we call the Old Testament), four important aspects of God are repeatedly emphasized.  HE IS the Creator and Sustainer of ALL that exists, including this entire universe (Ps 33:6; Isa 40:26; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24).  HE IS the Giver and Sustainer of ALL life everywhere always (Num 27:16; Job 12:10; Acts 17:25). HE IS eternal and forever God (Isa 40:28; Isa 57:15) HE IS ALWAYS infinitely 100% present with you and in control of everything in your life at every moment (Ps 31:14-15; without being any less present or focused anywhere else in the universe, because HE IS infinite). See Jesus's words in Matthew 10:29-31. We often meditate on God‘s name in this podcast because it is the key to experiencing God as HE IS.  So imagine – envision – this reality. He is the Source of all being; he is the Giver of your life and sustains your life at every moment; he is the one who “inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15), and so has the eternal perspective in all your life's circumstances; and he is infinitely, intimately, 100% present with you at every moment and in control of every circumstance in your life. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax your body, refocus your mind, and to re-imagine and re-narrate your life to a truer reality. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. In our last few episodes we looked at what Moses tells the people of Israel.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)  “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life….” “Now choose life, so that you…may live.” “For the LORD is your life!” “LORD” in all uppercase letters in our English Bibles indicates that in Hebrew God's name, Yahweh, is used (for example, Exodus 3:14-15; Isaiah 42:8). Yahweh is the ancient Hebrew verb form for “HE IS.” God's name, Yahweh, is used more than any other term for God in the Hebrew scriptures. More than “God” is used.  God's name is filled with wonder and mystery and transcendence for us to meditate on using our biblically guided imagination. When we see God's name, HE IS, in the Hebrew scriptures (what we call the Old Testament), four important aspects of God are repeatedly emphasized.  HE IS the Creator and Sustainer of ALL that exists, including this entire universe (Ps 33:6; Isa 40:26; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24).  HE IS the Giver and Sustainer of ALL life everywhere always (Num 27:16; Job 12:10; Acts 17:25). HE IS eternal and forever God (Isa 40:28; Isa 57:15) HE IS ALWAYS infinitely 100% present with you and in control of everything in your life at every moment (Ps 31:14-15; without being any less present or focused anywhere else in the universe, because HE IS infinite). See Jesus's words in Matthew 10:29-31. We often meditate on God‘s name in this podcast because it is the key to experiencing God as HE IS.  So imagine – envision – this reality. He is the Source of all being; he is the Giver of your life and sustains your life at every moment; he is the one who “inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15), and so has the eternal perspective in all your life's circumstances; and he is infinitely, intimately, 100% present with you at every moment and in control of every circumstance in your life. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax your body, refocus your mind, and to re-imagine and re-narrate your life to a truer reality. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  Look for new once-per-week episodes each Tuesday during the summer. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. In our last few episodes we looked at what Moses tells the people of Israel.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)  “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life….” “Now choose life, so that you…may live.” “For the LORD is your life!” God's will for you has always been about Life. That's the whole reason Jesus came… John 10:10-11 (NIV) “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” As Jesus said in John 5:25-26 (NIV): “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” Life. Joy. Love. That's God‘s eternal will for you and God is the only Source where Life is found. So choose Life, “now,” in this moment. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax your body, refocus your mind, and to re-imagine and re-narrate your life to a truer reality. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  Look for new once-per-week episodes each Tuesday during the summer. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. In our last few episodes we looked at what Moses tells the people of Israel.  Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)  “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life….” “Now choose life, so that you…may live.” “For the LORD is your life!” God's will for you has always been about Life. That's the whole reason Jesus came… John 10:10-11 (NIV) “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” As Jesus said in John 5:25-26 (NIV): “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” Life. Joy. Love. That's God‘s eternal will for you and God is the only Source where Life is found. So choose Life, “now,” in this moment. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax your body, refocus your mind, and to re-imagine and re-narrate your life to a truer reality. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  Our summer schedule has begun. Look for new once-per-week episodes each Tuesday during the summer. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)  “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life….” To choose life begins with choosing—hitting the switch inside your head – “I want to choose life and life is found only in connection with God.” It's a switch you have to hit over and over. Because it regularly gets turned off by default in this Genesis 3 world.  So doing this is not a one time thing. It's a continual kind of thing. Done best in repeated/habitual moments of Christian meditation.  “LORD” in all uppercase letters in our English Bibles indicates that in Hebrew God's name, Yahweh, is used (for example, Exodus 3:14-15; Isaiah 42:8). Yahweh is the ancient Hebrew verb form for “HE IS.” God's name, Yahweh, is used more than any other term for God in the Hebrew scriptures. More than “God” is used.  When we survey the various truths associated with God's name, HE IS, in the Hebrew scriptures (what we call the Old Testament), four important aspects of God are emphasized.  HE IS the Creator and Sustainer of ALL that exists, including this entire universe (Ps 33:6; Isa 40:26; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24).  HE IS the Giver and Sustainer of ALL life everywhere always (Num 27:16; Job 12:10; Acts 17:25). HE IS eternal and forever God (Isa 40:28; Isa 57:15) HE IS ALWAYS infinitely 100% present with you and in control of everything in your life at every moment (Ps 31:14-15; without being any less present or focused anywhere else in the universe, because HE IS infinite). See Jesus's words in Matthew 10:29-31. We often meditate on God‘s name in this podcast because it is the key to experiencing God as HE IS. God's name is filled with wonder and mystery and transcendence for us to meditate on using our biblically guided imagination. So imagine – envision – this reality. He is the Source of all being; he is the Giver of your life and sustains your life at every moment; he is the one who “inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15), and so has the eternal perspective in all your life's circumstances; and he is infinitely, intimately, 100% present with you at every moment and in control of every circumstance in your life. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax your body, refocus your mind, and to re-imagine and re-narrate your life to a truer reality. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  Our summer schedule has begun. Look for new once-per-week episodes each Tuesday during the summer. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)  “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life….” To choose life begins with choosing—hitting the switch inside your head – “I want to choose life and life is found only in connection with God.” It's a switch you have to hit over and over. Because it regularly gets turned off by default in this Genesis 3 world.  So doing this is not a one time thing. It's a continual kind of thing. Done best in repeated/habitual moments of Christian meditation.  “LORD” in all uppercase letters in our English Bibles indicates that in Hebrew God's name, Yahweh, is used (for example, Exodus 3:14-15; Isaiah 42:8). Yahweh is the ancient Hebrew verb form for “HE IS.” God's name, Yahweh, is used more than any other term for God in the Hebrew scriptures. More than “God” is used.  When we survey the various truths associated with God's name, HE IS, in the Hebrew scriptures (what we call the Old Testament), four important aspects of God are emphasized.  HE IS the Creator and Sustainer of ALL that exists, including this entire universe (Ps 33:6; Isa 40:26; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24).  HE IS the Giver and Sustainer of ALL life everywhere always (Num 27:16; Job 12:10; Acts 17:25). HE IS eternal and forever God (Isa 40:28; Isa 57:15) HE IS ALWAYS infinitely 100% present with you and in control of everything in your life at every moment (Ps 31:14-15; without being any less present or focused anywhere else in the universe, because HE IS infinite). See Jesus's words in Matthew 10:29-31. We often meditate on God‘s name in this podcast because it is the key to experiencing God as HE IS. God's name is filled with wonder and mystery and transcendence for us to meditate on using our biblically guided imagination. So imagine – envision – this reality. He is the Source of all being; he is the Giver of your life and sustains your life at every moment; he is the one who “inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15), and so has the eternal perspective in all your life's circumstances; and he is infinitely, intimately, 100% present with you at every moment and in control of every circumstance in your life. Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

FAITH IS… with Pastor Rick Stevens – Join me in exploring the profound teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. Imagine God being our ultimate hope, delivering us from evil, and stretching us towards divine purpose. Envision a different world, where we become different people under a different King. I want to live in that neighborhood! Let's embark on this transformative journey together.

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax, refocus, and re-narrate your life. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Ephesians 6:11, 17 (NIV) 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. …17 Take …the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. John 6:63 (NIV) “The Spirit gives life... The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” Matthew 4:4 (NIV) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword.” Genesis 1:1 NIV “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax, refocus, and re-narrate your life. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Ephesians 6:11, 17 (NIV) 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. …17 Take …the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. John 6:63 (NIV) “The Spirit gives life... The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” Matthew 4:4 (NIV) Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword.” Genesis 1:1 NIV “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax, refocus, and re-narrate your life. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Ephesians 6:11, 17 (NIV) 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. …17 Take …the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. John 6:63 (NIV) “The Spirit gives life... The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

This Mentoring Minute deals with a really good question you can ask your mentee to start some high-quality conversation. Back in youth group, we would trace out somebody's silhouette on a piece of butcher paper and have students fill in the space with what a Christian looks like. It was hilarious to watch the paper person come alive with a Christian bookstore t-shirt, a WWJD bracelet, multiple bibles and concordances in hand, other modest clothing and a John 3:16 sign with clown wig for the football games.So we know by now that Christ-followers come in all shapes and sizes. But, there are three things we know about what a Christian needs to look like and they come from Jesus' words in Mark 8:34. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”--Denying yourself – Oh what a powerful trait for the Christian! To deny yourself is to know your cravings and comforts and anything that will keep you from God and saying NO to them. Self-denial is about sacrifice! It is a daily choice to forgo our own motives and actions for the Lord's! To help your mentee understand this point, share what things you have denied yourself that have strengthened your faith.Taking up our cross – The Cross of Christ is our call as well in life and I know that sounds heavy but we follow Jesus' example when we realize our PURPOSE and live in obedience to what He has for us. We don't take up a cross that offers salvation for others. We do take up a cross out of obedience to God so we can do the work He has planned for us. Be prepared to talk about specific crosses you have taken up in your faith journey. Following Jesus – This is the best part. Imagine God telling us to deny ourselves, get to work on this earth for Him but then Him leaving us with no direction or guidance. We would be lost! But instead, Jesus says I have a plan and I will be revealing it to you as we walk through life together. --It's his PRESENCE in our lives that gives us the motivation to deny ourselves, the power to take up our cross, and the willingness to follow!Be sure to make the connection with your mentee that it's your hope to reflect Christ as a mentor. That as you follow Jesus and enjoy communion with him your prayer is that your mentee will follow him as well and have communion with Jesus and you as a mentor. –Please follow @youcanmentor on social media and give us a 5 star rating! If you are a part of a mentoring organization, we'd love to get to know you! Please reach out to us!Contact us at zach@youcanmentor.com or at www.youcanmentor.com

This is Christian Meditation for A Bigger Life – a time for you to relax, refocus, and re-narrate your life. I'm Dave Cover. I want to help you with Christian meditation where you can break through all the distractions and experience God's presence through biblically guided imagination.  If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Ephesians 6:11, 17 (NIV) 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. …17 Take …the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. John 6:63 (NIV) “The Spirit gives life... The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on X (Twitter) @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on X @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

Imagine God telling you that you are to wait for one specific thing to happen and He asks you to wait for it. So you wait. And you wait. And now you are getting old but you really do believe God, so you continue to wait. Today we will meet a man named Simeon who was told by God that he would not die until he saw Jesus, but he would have to wait. And then one day at the temple a young woman walks in with a baby and Simeon knows that with this baby – his waiting was over. Join us today to see the importance of never giving up.

Imagine God telling you that you are to wait for one specific thing to happen and He asks you to wait for it. So you wait. And you wait. And now you are getting old but you really do believe God, so you continue to wait. Today we will meet a man named Simeon who was told by God that he would not die until he saw Jesus, but he would have to wait. And then one day at the temple a young woman walks in with a baby and Simeon knows that with this baby – his waiting was over. Join us today to see the importance of never giving up.

We all long for home. When the New Jerusalem descends from heaven, it will be the forever home of the redeemed from all the ages. In this message, Pastor Lutzer introduces what will last in heaven and who will be welcomed. Imagine God dwelling with us throughout all eternity. This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. 

We all long for home. When the New Jerusalem descends from heaven, it will be the forever home of the redeemed from all the ages. In this message, Pastor Lutzer distinguishes what will not be in heaven and who will be welcomed. Imagine God dwelling with us throughout all eternity. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/172/29

We all long for home. When the New Jerusalem descends from heaven, it will be the forever home of the redeemed from all the ages. In this message, Pastor Lutzer distinguishes what will not be in heaven and who will be welcomed. Imagine God dwelling with us throughout all eternity. This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. 

The Church at Ephesus does so many things RIGHT.  When God drops the curtain of all pretense and looks carefully at them, there is much to commend.  May this be true of us.Imagine God doing a spiritual health check up.  He doesn't have to FIND anything, He KNOWS already. God knows truly who we are.  The question is, do we? Let's assess this same idea with the Lord in ourselves.Bewithme.us bewithme.us@gmail.com Apple Podcast.

What if God has a banner, an anthem to sing over your heart this year? When my kids were young, I would sing songs to them as they fell asleep. Over their early years, certain songs became their own personal anthems - ones they chose over and over or ones that welled up in my heart in the closing moments of the day. Imagine God singing the verse you land on today over you as you move throughout this year. May it become a sweet song of his particular kindness for your heart over this mile marker in your story. Join Michael Thompson and SJ Jennings for part 1 of this conversation on The Exploring More Podcast, as they invite us to journey with God to uncover this anthem for our heart! Pick up your FREE COPY of the Word of the Year Devotional here or start a reading plan on YouVersion's Bble app here.

TODAY, we discuss the second installment of our exciting series on Deuteronomy titled Dear Prodigals. The title of the series is based on the Gospel of Luke on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Talk 2, Remember, focuses on the long lecture of Moses to the Israelites not to forget lessons of God's love during their long journey from slavery to freedom. Because when we forget God's blessings, we suffer soul dementia. And soon, we think we no longer need God. Imagine God speaking to you right now: “Remember! Remember My sacrifice for you. Remember My favor over your life. Remember how much I love you.” Talk 2 gives pointers on how to fight soul dementia.

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Listen to the apostle Paul's prayer in… Ephesians 3:16 (ESV) “…That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” Imagine “the riches of God‘s glory.“ Imagine the “power” of God‘s glory being in you by his Spirit in you. Imagine that power strengthening you by his Spirit in your inner being. Your inner being is the real you. There's a real you inside you that wants to live in God's glory, love, goodness, righteousness, joy. “Power” in the New Testament is almost always associated with overcoming evil. Imagine God‘s power overcoming evil in you — all the ways that evil has been deceiving you and lying to you. Your inner being is being strengthened. Imagine God's Spirit in your inner being right now —  with his infinite glory and power and love and Shalom. God‘s Spirit is infinite and abundant. The more God's Spirit strengthens your inner being with “the riches” of his presence, the more God's riches are still available to bring life and renewal to your whole being.  Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

In Christian meditation, we are re-aligning ourselves vertically. We're remapping our horizontal realities with a vertical view/perspective. Enabling us to embody that vertical perspective replaces anxiety and tension with a calm confidence. If your podcast app is set to skip the silent sections, disable that in your podcast app for this podcast. Listen to the apostle Paul's prayer in… Ephesians 3:16 (ESV) “…That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” Imagine “the riches of God‘s glory.“ Imagine the “power” of God‘s glory being in you by his Spirit in you. Imagine that power strengthening you by his Spirit in your inner being. Your inner being is the real you. There's a real you inside you that wants to live in God's glory, love, goodness, righteousness, joy. “Power” in the New Testament is almost always associated with overcoming evil. Imagine God‘s power overcoming evil in you — all the ways that evil has been deceiving you and lying to you. Your inner being is being strengthened. Imagine God's Spirit in your inner being right now —  with his infinite glory and power and love and Shalom. God‘s Spirit is infinite and abundant. The more God's Spirit strengthens your inner being with “the riches” of his presence, the more God's riches are still available to bring life and renewal to your whole being.  Who can you share this podcast with? If you found this episode helpful, consider sharing it on social media or texting it to a friend you think might benefit from it. Follow Dave Cover on Twitter @davecover Follow A Bigger Life on Twitter @ABiggerLifePod Our audio engineer is Matthew Matlack. This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located. 

Imagine God appeared to you right now and said, -I want you to spend the day getting your friends and family ready for Judgment Day.- What would you do--

We stand at the brink of a major move of God here at CCV. How will you be a part of it?

In this episode of the Driving Change podcast, host Jeff Bloomfield speaks with agnostic engineer-turned-author John Burke about the fascinating world of near-death experiences. John shares remarkable stories from his books, "Imagine Heaven" and the upcoming release "Imagine God." Encounter the blinding light and hear the voice of Jesus as individuals recall their divine revelations. These stories will challenge and encourage us, offering a glimpse into a reality beyond our comprehension. John delves into why only some people have these encounters. His role as a bridge is to present evidence to skeptics and seekers, providing a compelling case despite not having a personal near-death experience. In their conversation, Jeff and John explore faith, science, and free will. Brace yourself for a thought-provoking discussion that challenges doubters and skeptics. To explore further, visit www.imagineheaven.net or www.gatewaychurch.com

If you're looking for a divine mystery, you don't have to look any further than the first chapter of Genesis. In it, God created this entire universe and everything within it. And because his creative power is unparalleled, he built mystery after mystery into creation. It's an endless world of exploration! In today's message, Pastor Mark is going to show you some of the mysteries that God shared with us in scripture long before we ever thought to look for them. Life in Christ is never boring. There are so many mysteries left to unravel. Imagine God's joy when we begin discovering the awesome things he made for us to find!

  Bible verses for Meditation: Psalms 147 NABRE 15 He sends his command to earth; his word runs swiftly! 16 Thus he makes the snow like wool, and spreads the frost like ash; 17 He disperses hail like crumbs. Who can withstand his cold? 18 Yet when again he issues his command, it melts them; he raises his winds and the waters flow. 19 He proclaims his word to Jacob, his statutes and laws to Israel. 20 He has not done this for any other nation; of such laws they know nothing. Hallelujah! NIV He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? 18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. 19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the Lord. Meditation: God is the ultimate commander. He is the ideal leader, president, king or any other title. His word can cross the universe faster than light. He is not bound by our understanding of the laws of nature. He freezes the earth or melts it. He commands the elements and they obey. With all the power he controls he presents His word to us. He tells us what he wants from us. He desires our faithfulness, He desires our hope in His grace. Imagine God as the most perfect loving ruler who has invited us to his table to eat. He can control mountains and storms and he patiently asks us to follow. His restraint in dealing with us disobedient humans is a testament to His love and goodness. He invites you to follow Him. Ponder in this moment how willing are you to follow God's commands? Are you willing to accept Him as your sovereign ruler? He is our Savior and our Lord. He loves and he demands. He asks and he answers. God's love for your is profound. Not a begrudging love, but an overflowing one. One not of desperation but of power and grace. He loves us. He loves you. Praise be to God for the gift of his unmatched love. Happy 500th Meditation of Prayer: Pray as directed by the Spirit. Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him. Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm: I invite you to sit in silence feeling patient for your own faults and trials. Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life: This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast Updates: Final Question: In what ways do you thirst for God? Final Thought: Saint Fransis said preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words. One of the most powerful ways we can reflect the light and life of God is by imitating Christ in our life. FIND ME ON: Download my free app: Recenter with Christ Website - ChristianMeditationPodcast.com Voicemail - (602) 888-3795 Email: jared@christianmeditationpodcast.com Apple Podcasts - Christian Meditation Podcast Facebook.com/christianmeditationpodcast Youtube.com/christianmeditaitonpodcast Twitter - @ChristianMedPod