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Very few of us have experience as a shepherd, making it difficult to comprehend what God expects when He encourages us in scripture to be good shepherds. In Jeremiah 23, God gives us a glimpse of the contrast between a bad and a good shepherd. In verse 2, Israel's leaders receive a warning, “You ... The post The Shepherd's Challenge: Part I appeared first on Unconventional Business Network.
In Jeremiah 29:11-14, God is speaking to the exiles in Babylon. His message to the Jewish people who had been deported from Jerusalem was one of hope and a future; He wanted them to know that He had plans for them despite their hardship. While graduating isn’t the same as being deported, it is a huge accomplishment reflecting hard work and dedication, and it is a move the rest of the students’ lives. For Graduation Recognition Sunday, Matt Carlisle — a member of our high school ministry team — encourages young people to build their lives on the firm foundation of God’s Word. By pointing out five common things we’re all likely to face, he illustrates that the things from our childhood can follow us through adulthood, but he also reminds us that Jesus can help us change and overcome the challenges of life.
Throughout our lives, both intentionally and unintentionally, we build up narratives about ourselves. Narratives built very often to answer the big questions: who am I? Am I worthy of being loved?When we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we discover a beautiful new narrative written over us that we are God's children, fully known and loved - but it is often hard to live out of that narrative that ‘we are what he has made us' (Eph 2) and we are ‘delighted in' (Zeph 3).In Jeremiah 2 we hear the Lord saying, ‘They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.'How do we allow God to rewrite the narrative over us, leave behind the ‘broken cisterns' and discover the living water he has for us?Ali unpacks what it might mean to have the narratives rewritten over us and the transformation that can bring in us, in our churches and the communities in which we live.
In this podcast, I share briefly about a drug dealer named "Lotsapoppa", who I ripped off in 1969. He showed up at the prison chapel to confront me. Whatever our problems are; the answer is bigger, because it's always, God! He is bigger, whether discouragement, debt or even enemies coming after you. The prophet Jeremiah realized that the Israelites had all sorts of problems due to idol worship. In Jeremiah chapter 20, we find him discouraged and perturbed by the Word of God, so he decided not to speak to God any longer. But, he soon decided he couldn't get away from the Word of the LORD, because it was like a burning fire in his heart [v. 9]. The Word confirmed that God lived and could overcome his and all Israel's problems. Join me in this podcast to see how the Word is the Answer to all your problems and what you must do to make it so in your life. Selah! Let me hear from you - Charles https://www.aboundinglove.org/ Subscribe and share with someone you love.
April 25, 2025 Daily Devotion: "The Consequence of Corruption: Lessons from Gibeah" Hosea 9:9 New Living Translation 9 The things my people do are as deprave as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins. A definition of corruption is, the process by which something is changed from its original use or meaning to one that is regarded as erroneous or debased. We do not need to look far to see how corrupt mankind has become. There is an inherent propensity to indulge in corrupt activities and lifestyles. God is not pleased. All around it can beobserved that there is a direct attack by Satan on the child of God. We are currently living in the end times and mankind has lost its fear of God. This is evident when human beings can decide or try to override their God-given identity as male and female. What was once wrong in the eyes of many people now seems right. The prophets of old were not popular in declaring the coming wrath of God. Many sounded the alarm but the people were unwilling to turn from their evil ways. In Jeremiah 6:16-17 theprophet echoed, “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said,We will not hearken.” God is looking for people who are of a penitent heart. Whenever we are confronted in our state of corruption and evil, He requires us to turn from our ways. Let us not align ourselves to that which is corrupt but grasp for what is truth no matter how unpopular it may seem. We must not assume that we will live unspotted in this world. Adeliberate attempt must be made to live holy and godly in order to avoid corruption. Proverbs 4:23 states“....Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." Living a clean and holy life requires diligence and careful persistence. Consequently, hold fast to the godly foundations and do not lose your ground to the tricks of the enemy. Let us pray that mankind will repent and turn from corruption. And that we will no longer surrender ourinstruments to unrighteousness but to the will of God.
Another edition of 'Mock Draft Monday' rolls onto the pod feed as NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah joins Matt Harmon to share his five favorite fits from his latest mock draft and reveals the two prospects he'd 'stand on the table' for in this year's draft. In Jeremiah's latest mock he has the Cowboys landing Texas WR Matthew Golden. To end the show, Jeremiah 'stands on the table' for Texas DB Jahdae Barron and Ohio State RB TreVeyon Henderson. (2:15) - Revisiting Daniel Jeremiah's Mock Draft Monday from last year's pod(4:50) - Penn State EDGE Abdul Carter - Cleveland Browns(8:05) - Texas WR Matthew Golden - Dallas Cowboys(15:55) - South Carolina S Nick Emmanwori - Minnesota Vikings (19:40) - Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty - Las Vegas Raiders(22:45) - Michigan TE Colston Loveland - Seattle Seahawks (28:53) - Stand on the table prospects: Texas DB Jahdae Barron + Ohio State RB TreVeyon Henderson Subscribe to the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast on your favorite podcast app:
In Jeremiah 18, the prophet visits the potter's house. What he sees is a powerful picture of God's sovereignty, purpose, and transforming love.
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 "Discovering purpose in Christ is like unearthing a treasure within your soul; the deeper you dig, the more abundant and eternal its riches become." This profound truth resonates deeply with those who seek fulfillment beyond the surface of everyday life. When we turn our hearts toward Christ, we embark on a journey that reveals our unique identity and calling, igniting a passion that transcends worldly pursuits. In Jeremiah 29:11, God said, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." These words remind us that our existence is not accidental; we are woven into His grand design. When we embrace our identity in Him, we will see how our experiences, gifts, and passions align perfectly with His divine purpose. I remembered a story about a young woman who found herself empty and unfulfilled after years of chasing societal expectations and accolades. One day, during a quiet moment of prayer, she felt a whisper in her heart urging her to seek Christ more earnestly. As she delved into Scripture and surrounded herself with a supportive community, she discovered a calling to help others find their voice through writing. Her newfound purpose transformed her life and touched countless others along the way. As we continue this journey of self-discovery, remember that your journey is uniquely yours, crafted by the Creator who knows you intimately. However, each step in faith brings us closer to understanding how to contribute to His kingdom because God's grace empowers us to fulfill our calling with joy and confidence. So, keep seeking and keep trusting because purpose awaits in His grace. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Prayer for the Day!Heavenly Father, thank You for the unique purpose and identity You have given us in Christ. Help us to seek You diligently as we uncover the treasures within our souls. May Your grace guide us as we navigate our paths, and may we always remember that our worth comes from being Your beloved children. In Jesus' name. Amen.
We are in a section in the prophecy of Jeremiah where we are learning about having a heart for God. In Jeremiah 20 we saw the terrible treatment of God's prophet. Jeremiah is mocked, scorned, and verbally abused. His close friends seek revenge on Jeremiah because of his teachings. Jeremiah was arrested, beaten, and put […] The post The Way of Life or Way of Death (Jeremiah 21-22) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.
“What has been resolved has to be released.” In this the final episode of Forgiveness, Resolution, Reconciliation & Restoration, Rabbi Steve Berkson gives a more detailed review of everything that's been taught up to this point. He then moves into consequences incurred and consequences removed. What's the beauty of our relationship with our Creator? Rabbi Berkson takes us to 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 to find out. There we find the very well-known verse that starts with, “If my people who are called by my name…” In this passage we see all the processes of forgiveness, resolution, reconciliation and restoration. Does forgiveness necessarily remove consequences? What is it that the Creator is wanting from us as He forgives us? Who does he do all this for? Why should you be Torah-Observant? Because the path, the instructions for coming into right relationship with your Creator was given to Moshe (Moses), as the psalmist King David wrote in Psalm 103. If you have the proper fear or respect of Yah and His awesomeness, you will be given the desire to want a right relationship, aka, The Covenant, with Him. (see Deuteronomy 10:12-13) What does it mean to “pass over the transgression”? What is the Father's approach to forgiveness that we should have? (Micah 7:18) In Jeremiah 31:31, with whom is the “new covenant” made? Has He rejected one group to accept another group? Has this prophecy already happened? When you accept and act on the forgiveness provided you through what Messiah Yeshua did, does this absolve you of sin past, present and future? Why? Why not? Finishing this teaching in the letter to the Colossians, Rabbi Berkson points out words such as expectation, worthy, fit… what do these crucial words have to do with the reward promised to us? Along with those words there are other words such as fruitful, empowered, delivered, redemption. Don't miss this final episode of this series that will forever change your life. To learn more about MTOI, visit our website, https://mtoi.org. https://www.facebook.com/mtoiworldwide https://www.instagram.com/mtoi_worldwide https://www.tiktok.com/@mtoi_worldwide You can contact MTOI by emailing us at admin@mtoi.org or calling 423-250-3020. Join us for Shabbat Services and Torah Study LIVE, streamed on our website, mtoi.org, YouTube, and Rumble every Saturday at 1:15 p.m. and every Friday for Torah Study Live Stream at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.
In Jeremiah 32:36, a discourse marker is used that would most often signal bad news is coming, sort of like the “Jaws theme” music in a movie. But here it surprises the reader with good news. Jack Messarra completed a master's degree at the University of Stellenbosch in the field of Hebrew, linguistics, and discourse markers. You can see some of his papers at https://sun.academia.edu/JackMessarra. He and his wife, Loren, are missionaries with Mesa Global. Check out related programs at Wheaton College: B.A. in Classical Languages (Greek, Latin, Hebrew): https://bit.ly/424NV3l M.A. in Biblical Exegesis: https://bit.ly/4acyPKZ
Send us a textIn Matthew 1:11 with royal right to the throne an evil king was born named Jeconiah. In Jeremiah's prophecy chapter 22:30, God said no son of Jeconiah will ever sit on the throne of David. Yet, Jeconiah is in the Messianic line. How can Jesus be the King if He does not come through the royal line if that line of Jeconiah is cursed? That seemingly hopeless problem is solved by the virgin birth. Through that line Jesus received the legal right to the throne, but being no blood child of Jeconiah He could sit on the throne of David. Praise the Lord for how He did the impossible and brought us a Savior to die in our place and make it possible to be saved. Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” -John 8:32 Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.nethttps://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en His Love Ministries on Itunes Don't go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions
Daily Dose of Hope January 7, 2025 Day 3 of Week 41 Scripture: Jeremiah 30-33; 1 Peter 1 Hello and welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional/podcast that complements the New Hope Church Bible reading plan. I hope you have a wonderful day. Please know you were prayed for!!! In Jeremiah today, we read about God's promise of restoration to his people. In these four chapters, God speaks through Jeremiah to Judah that after the exile, there will be the opportunity to return to Jerusalem and rebuild. All is not lost. It might feel like it at the moment but it really isn't. He wants them to have a long-term view. In chapter 32, God has Jeremiah buy a piece of land from his cousin. He went through the ordeal of going through the legal process of the purchase to illustrate that once again in the future, people will be buying and selling land in Jerusalem. Right now, the Babylonians are laying siege to the place, but eventually God will restore it. And then in chapter 33, God promises that there will come a time when he makes a new covenant with his people. Of course, as Christ-followers, we know this new covenant to be Jesus. It's only then that there will be redemption and total restoration. For our New Testament passage, we are starting a new book today – 1 Peter. This is a letter written by the apostle Peter to the churches in five regions of Asia Minor, what is now modern-day Turkey. This first chapter is a call to recognize their living hope in Jesus, the joy that is found in Christ despite earthly persecution, and the need to pursue holiness of life. I would like us to focus on this concept of holiness. Peter implores these early believers to set aside their old way of life before they knew Jesus and to seek a life characterized by holiness. In the Old Testament, holiness referred to being set apart from everything else. God is holy and totally without sin, and he continually tried to foster holiness in his people. In fact, holiness is central to the character of God. In the New Testament, the concept of holiness still means set apart but it also refers to being morally pure. The early Christ-followers were set apart, not in the sense that they separated themselves from the world because they did not, but because they were ethically and morally different from those around them. They lived according to a different standard, seeking the righteousness of God. Peter is encouraging these early Christians to seek God's holiness, to live their lives in a way that looks entirely different from the culture around them. They were essentially to pattern their lives on Jesus Christ. Part of pursuing holiness is seeking God's will daily, hourly, possibly even minute by minute. Do you seek holiness in your life? Why or why not? Blessings, Pastor Vicki
We are always returning to the Lord! In Jeremiah 29 the Lord is laying out a plan to the Israelites on how they will go away and the will faithfully have them return. We need to learn to return to the Lord with our whole hearts.Jeremiah 29:12-13 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
In Jeremiah 23:1-8, God makes promises that reveal His love for His people. Despite Israel's apostasy and the failure of their kings, God promises to provide a shepherd king from David's line who will care for and rule over His people in the land. This shepherd king is none other than Jesus Christ, the righteous branch, who fulfills these prophecies. He is the Lord our righteousness, who secures salvation for all who trust in Him by His perfect life and death. The birth of Christ is the provision of God's love - a Savior, Shepherd, and King. ★ Support this podcast ★
In Jeremiah 23:1-8, God makes promises that reveal His love for His people. Despite Israel's apostasy and the failure of their kings, God promises to provide a shepherd king from David's line who will care for and rule over His people in the land. This shepherd king is none other than Jesus Christ, the righteous branch, who fulfills these prophecies. He is the Lord our righteousness, who secures salvation for all who trust in Him by His perfect life and death. The birth of Christ is the provision of God's love - a Savior, Shepherd, and King. ★ Support this podcast ★
This week we're reading a set of texts from the book of Jeremiah, beginning in 36:1-16 and 21-28 and then continuing in 31:31-34. Together these texts tell of Jeremiah's written prophecy, read by his scribe Baruch in the Temple, calling the people to repentance. But when King Jehoiachim hears of the prophecy, he cuts it to shreds and tosses it into the fire. In Jeremiah 31, God responds by promising to inscribe the Torah on the hearts of the people, where it will not be forgotten…and where it can't be destroyed by the king. We reflect on the nature of the written Torah, which is vulnerable to the whimsy of the king, whether by being burned in fire or being so twisted by interpretation that it becomes a text of violence rather than a text of justice. In this day and age, we think, it is imperative to keep the Torah written on our hearts, to remember the true Torah that calls us to care for the most vulnerable, no matter what the king may try to tell us.
In Jeremiah 36, we read of King Jehoiakim silencing and destroying the word of God spoken by Jeremiah in a shocking show of disrespect for God and His word. In this study, Evangelist Gavin Williams seeks to see how Jehoiakim got to that point and how we can avoid the same fate in our lives.
In Jeremiah 35, the Lord told Jeremiah to bring the Rechabites to the house of the Lord and set wine before them. The Lord uses this family to demonstrate true faithfulness and show how unfaithful his own nation was to Him. In this message, Brother Luke looks at how the Lord saw the Rechabites as …
Do you realize that God's love for us is not based on our performance or behavior but on His character and promises? Duane Sheriff teaches the unconditional love and forgiveness that God made possible through the new covenant established by Jesus Christ. Even when we sin or fail, God's attitude towards us is one of mercy, not wrath or displeasure.In Jeremiah 31:31-34, God promised to make a new covenant to replace the old covenant. In this new covenant, God writes His laws on the hearts and minds of His people. He will be their God while they are His people. This is an intimate, internal relationship with God rather than an external set of rules.Hebrews 8:7-12 explains that God will show mercy for their unrighteousness and will remember their sins no more. Under this new covenant, there are no more mediators or barriers between God and His people. Everyone can have a personal, direct relationship with Him. God's love is steadfast, and His mercy endures forever.
Episode Summary. In Jeremiah 9, God has some things to say to his Covenant people about boasting. But it is not, “Don't brag.” Rather God chooses three assets needed for men to get any significant job done—wisdom, might, and riches—telling us not to place our confidence in them but instead to boast that we understand and know him. Practically speaking what is God saying to us and what does the rest of Scripture reveal about the benefit of growing in our knowledge of God? That is the topic of this episode.For Further Prayerful ThoughtWhat is your take-away from God's command to the wise man not to boast in his wisdom, the mighty man not to boast in his might, the rich man not to boast in his riches but instead to boast of understanding and knowing him? What are your ideas about what this looks like?Which benefits of growing in the knowledge of God most stood out to you?How would you defend the idea that God and God alone is fit to take the universe's throne? Which components of God's character give you the most peace and confidence as you head into the future? For the printed version of this message click here.For a summary of topics addressed by podcast series, click here.For FREE downloadable studies on men's issues click here.To make an online contribution to enable others to hear about the podcast: (Click link and scroll down to bottom left)
In Jeremiah 33:3 God declares, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Is that not what we're after? Do we not want, and need, God to show us the path to true victory, freedom, and godliness? Do we not need our heavenly Father to give us wisdom, direction, guidance, and strength as we walk that path? Yes, yes, and again, yes! That is why we so desperately need to be in a constant posture of prayer. Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at http://www.thepuritycoach.comSHARE HOW GOD IS USING THIS PODCAST!Support the show
In Jeremiah 15:1, God expresses that even the intercession of revered figures like Moses and Samuel cannot sway Him from judgment against Judah's persistent sin. This underscores the seriousness of unrepentance and the urgency of seeking genuine repentance. It highlights God's holiness, justice, and the need for personal commitment to righteousness. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dailyrowe/support
It's Monday, October 7th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 125 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Pakistani Muslim employer forces 17-year-old Christian boy to convert The Muslim employers of a 17-year-old Christian who works at their gas company in Pakistan have forcibly converted him to Islam and are holding him in illegal custody, reports MorningStarNews.org. Samina Javed, a brick kiln worker in the Sheikhupura District (in Punjab Province) said her son, Samsoon Javed, began working at a Liquified Petroleum Gas outlet owned by Usman Manzoor in November. Samsoon's father, Falamoon Masih, died in 2018 due to illness, and he is one of four children Javed had from that marriage. She is now married to her second husband with whom she had another son. In July, after he began working at the gas outlet, his family began noticing a change in his behavior. The mother explained, “He began avoiding us and his siblings and didn't speak much when he was at home. We came to know about Samsoon's conversion [to Islam] in September, when he didn't come home from work.” Javed, a member of a local Brethren church, said that they were able to see Samsoon after a few days when his Muslim employer was not present at the shop. She explained, “Samsoon kept silent and avoided eye contact when we asked him about his conversion. It was quite clear that he was scared and under pressure. He told us to leave, saying [his boss] would be angry if he saw us there.” They later learned from contacts that the Manzoor brothers had been taking their son to an Islamic spiritual guide (Pir), where he was pressured to abandon his Christian faith. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Please pray that Samina Javed would be able to regain custody of her 17-year-old son Samsoon in Pakistan to enable him the freedom to follow Christ. Biden unsure which storm people have just endured Last Wednesday, President Joe Biden took an aerial tour of the damage from Hurricane Helene with the North Carolina Governor and Asheville Mayor. Flying in his helicopter, known as Marine One, he viewed the visible destruction including buildings that had been flattened, trees knocked down, and houses submerged under water. The next evening, a reporter asked Biden about the impact of Hurricane Helene. Let me play the audio. Because the sound of the plane is so loud in the background, I will repeat what was said. REPORTER: “What do the states in the storm zones need, Mr. President?” PRESIDENT BIDEN: “What?” REPORTER: “What do the states in the storm zone -- what do they need after what you saw today?” BIDEN: “Oh, in the storm zone.” REPORTER: “Yes sir.” BIDEN: “I didn't know which storm you were talking about. They've got everything they need. And they're very happy across the board.” Truth be told, the people hit by Hurricane Helene, especially those in North Carolina, are not very happy across the board. Clearly, Biden is out of touch with reality. DeSantis sent Florida Guard to North Carolina, first help they received Appearing on Fox News with Harris Faulkner, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis explained that after the Florida Guard had completed their Hurricane Helene rescues in Florida, he authorized the military personnel to rescue North Carolinians. DeSANTIS: “I authorized air assets, National Guard, state guard, Highway Patrol, to go into western North Carolina. So, it created this odd circumstance where the first people that they come in contact with is some state guard unit from Florida and not any of the federal assets. I don't think the federal assets were marshaled very quickly at all. “But the lesson that I think people should take from this is one we learned in Florida long ago. We don't rely on FEMA – [Federal Emergency Management Association] -- to do any of that type of activity. We rely on FEMA to basically be a bank account. There's federal programs in place. We get our people qualified for individual assistance, reimbursement for some of the debris, but we take the matters into our own hands for the preparation and the rescue and response. I just think it's sad.” In addition, The Wall Street Journal reports that homeowners are rushing to file insurance claims after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across six states. Many of them will likely be left empty-handed. In recent years, property insurers have hollowed out coverage and sharply increased rates to make up for steep underwriting losses driven by natural disasters. Melania Trump champions abortion in new memoir And finally, last Thursday, Donald Trump said he gave his blessing for his wife Melania Trump to endorse a “fundamental right” to abortion in her upcoming memoir, at a time when relations are already strained between the GOP ticket and the party's pro-life base, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Earlier this week, an advance excerpt of the former First Lady's book was published, in which she declares that a “woman's fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes. Restricting a woman's right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body.” Sadly, Melania disregards the humanity of the children in the womb created by God. In Jeremiah 1:5, God said, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Fox News asked Trump for his reaction. FOX NEWS: “What's your reaction to Melania's memoir championing abortion rights and reproductive freedom?” TRUMP: “We spoke about it and I said you have to write what you believe. I'm not going to tell you what to do. You have to write what you believe. “She's very beloved. People love our former First Lady, I can tell you that. But I said you have to stick with your heart. I've said that to everybody. You have to go with your heart. “There are some people that are very, very far right in the issue, meaning without exceptions. And then there are other people that view it a little bit differently than that.” Mrs. Trump's pro-abortion declaration comes the same week her husband clarified he “would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it.” Trump tweeted those outrageous comments while J.D. Vance, his VP pick, was debating Tim Walz in New York last Tuesday. Trump now opposes further federal action on abortion, supports letting the Abortion Kill Pill to be distributed by mail, and has criticized pro-life states for overly “harsh” abortion bans. The former president has taken credit for making the GOP “less radical” on abortion, including by having the national Republican Party platform rewritten to reflect his more liberal position. Politico reported that multiple prominent pro-life figures were frank in their disapproval. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said, “It is not a pro-life position, it's not an acceptable position, and it does not provide the contrast on this issue to the degree that we have had in the past between him and Kamala Harris. What President Trump is doing is suppressing his own support.” Students for Life of America chief policy strategist Kristi Hamrick said, “President Trump keeps saying that he wants to be out of the federal business of abortion. So, number one, stop funding it.” And Live Action founder and leader Lila Rose lamented, “Unfortunately, it seems like Trump doesn't care about the pro-life base anymore. He came out recently and said that he supported access to these deadly abortion drugs, and that is horrific. When Trump is publicly compromising, it's deeply discouraging to pro-life and pro-family voters, and I think that he's putting his own election in jeopardy. Quite frankly, this is a losing strategy.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, October 7th, in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by Amazon Music or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah is in the midst of questioning God. In Jeremiah 12:1-4 he has questioned what God is doing regarding the wicked. Jeremiah understands God's righteous character which is why the flourishing of the wicked does not make any sense to him. Jeremiah's questions are coming from a place of personal crisis. He has just found […] The post Questioning God – Part 2 (Jeremiah 12:7-17) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.
In Jeremiah 31:31, God made a covenant with Israel: “The days are coming…when I will make a new covenant with...
In Jeremiah 32:27-35, God reaffirms His sovereignty and power by stating, “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?” (v. 27). He explains to the prophet Jeremiah that the people of Judah and Jerusalem have consistently disobeyed Him, committing idolatry and provoking His anger by worshiping false gods. This disobedience spans from their leaders down to the common people. Despite God's repeated warnings, they continued to build altars to Baal and even practiced child sacrifice to the god Molech. Because of these sins, God declares that His judgment will come upon them, as their rebellion and idolatry have deeply grieved Him.IF YOU MARK IN YOUR BIBLE PODCASTWebsite: www.iymiyb.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/iymiybInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/iymiyb/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iymiyb?sub_confirmation=1Email: josh@biblemarkings.comTHE SCATTERED ABROAD NETWORKVisit our linktree: https://linktr.ee/scatteredabroadnetwork Visit our website, www.scatteredabroad.org, and subscribe to our email list. "Like" and "share" our Facebook page: https:// www.facebook.com/sapodcastnetwork Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ the_scattered_abroad_network/ Subscribe to our Substack: https://scatteredabroad.substack.com/Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Scattered Abroad Network Contact us through email at san@msop.org. If you would like to consider supporting us in any way, don't hesitate to contact us through this email.
Finding Hope: Anticipation #RTTBROS #Nightlight The Joy of Holy Anticipation "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." - Romans 8:25 (KJV) In the Christian walk, we often emphasize contentment, and rightly so. Yet, there's another powerful force that can fuel our joy and spiritual growth: holy anticipation. Far from contradicting contentment, godly anticipation can actually enhance our appreciation for God's goodness in both the present and the future. Reflection Anticipation is a God-given gift that allows us to experience joy not just in the moment, but before and after as well. It's a spiritual practice that echoes the biblical concept of hope - not a vague wish, but a confident expectation of good things to come. In Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV), God declares, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Our Father invites us to look forward with excitement to the plans He has for us, both in this life and in eternity. This anticipation operates on two levels: 1. Micro Anticipation: These are the small, daily joys we can look forward to. Just as the Psalmist says, "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24, KJV), we can find delight in the simple pleasures God provides each day. 2. Macro Anticipation: These are the larger events or goals we anticipate over time. They reflect the "expected end" God promises, giving us a sense of purpose and direction in our journey. Importantly, each anticipated event offers three distinct opportunities for joy: 1. The excitement of planning and preparation 2. The joy of the experience itself 3. The lasting happiness of remembering and reflecting This three-fold joy mirrors our spiritual journey: we anticipate Christ's return, we experience joy in our daily walk with Him, and we remember with gratitude all He has done for us. Application 1. Identify Your Daily Joys: What simple pleasures has God placed in your life? Make a list of these "micro anticipations" and thank God for them each morning. 2. Plan Soul-Stirring Events: What larger experiences or goals energize your spirit? Prayerfully consider what these might be and start planning for them. 3. Practice Holy Imagination: Spend time imagining the good things God has in store for you, both in this life and in eternity. Let this fuel your hope and joy. 4. Create a Joy Journal: Record your anticipated events, your experiences of them, and your memories afterwards. Use this to cultivate gratitude and recognize God's faithfulness. 5. Share the Joy: Involve others in your anticipation. Share your excitement about upcoming events or daily pleasures, spreading the joy God has given you. Prayer Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of anticipation. Help us to recognize and appreciate the daily joys You've placed in our lives. Guide us as we plan and prepare for larger events that stir our souls. May our anticipation of these blessings remind us of the ultimate joy we have in looking forward to eternity with You. Let our lives be marked by both contentment in the present and holy excitement for the future. Help us to spread this joy to others, reflecting Your goodness in all we do. In Jesus' name, Amen. Dig Deeper 1. Read Hebrews 11:1. How does this definition of faith relate to the concept of godly anticipation? 2. Reflect on Philippians 3:13-14. How does Paul balance contentment with anticipation in his spiritual journey? 3. Consider the anticipation of Christ's birth in the Old Testament. How might this long period of waiting and expectation inform our own practice of anticipation? 4. What "micro anticipations" can you incorporate into your daily routine to increase your joy and gratitude? 5. Think about a "macro anticipation" in your life. How can you use the planning, experiencing, and remembering of this event to deepen your relationship with God?
Jeremiah, a faithful prophet of God had a very heavy message to deliver from God to the people. In Jeremiah 20:7 he prayed,V7 O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.Sometimes, the Lord calls upon us to carry a heavy burden of prayer, love and concern, and maybe even to deliver a difficult message to others. And even though, like Jeremiah, we may be met with great opposition because of the content of the message, we cannot keep silent. Jeremiah said in Verse 9, even when I say, I will not so much as even mention His name again, the message is so strong within me that it feels like fire shut up in my bones. The point of this message must be clear; our weaknesses--though very real to us, are no excuse for not doing God's work, nor are they in any, a deterrent, to God using us in great power and with great results. God did strengthen Jeremiah, with words of personal encouragement, visions, dreams, and God will surely do the same for you, for all of us, if we remain faithful in the calling.
Fr. Mike expands on our reading today from Proverbs about the need to guard our speech toward one another. In Jeremiah, we see the final wave of destruction of Jerusalem and the events that followed. Today's readings are Jeremiah 39-40, Judith 10-11, and Proverbs 17:9-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Fr. Mike explains the significance behind the mention of bones in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In Jeremiah, we learn that the bones of God's people are scattered because of their worship of false gods. In Ezekiel, we see the prophet prophesy over the valley of dry bones and the Lord's Spirit restoring and moving within them. Today's readings are Jeremiah 8, Ezekiel 37-38, and Proverbs 14:33-35. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
God's plans are already being carried out through our lives. As you are presently in this tough season of life, lean on God. Find support in Him and trust Him with your life. The plans He has for you will prevail and they will be glorious. SUBSCRIBE to our sister podcasts:Your Daily Prayer: https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-prayer/Your Daily Bible Verse: https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-bible-verse/ Full Transcript Below: How Can I Take Comfort in God's Plans for My Life? By Vivian Bricker “‘For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” – Jeremiah 29:11 Due to living in a fallen world, we are always coming across problems. Problems with work, our relationships, and our health can leave us feeling worn out. It never feels as though we can get a break. Instead of being relieved once one problem is resolved, a hundred new problems replace it. Whenever we are feeling like this, we need to turn to the Lord and know that He has a beautiful plan for our lives. There have been many times in my life where I don't feel like there is a purpose to the pain I am experiencing—there is only suffering. We are often taught that pain makes us stronger, when sometimes it can actually make us weaker. Every pain, every tear, and every heartache does not lead us to something greater. Instead, it can lead us to meet the end of the road. Plans we previously had for our lives seem to be non-existent and we don't even know how we are going to make it to the end of the month. When these issues arise, we can find lasting hope and purpose in God. He has great plans for our life. Through the pain, we can see His will more clearly and we take joy in knowing that our suffering is never forgotten by Him. Recently, I had an issue in my life that God worked through. I thought I was going to have to make a major life change; however, God kept me where I was. He placed me on level ground and told me I was right where He wanted me to be. From that day, I felt the assurance of the Lord. His plans for me would never be sabotaged by anything or anyone, including myself or this season of suffering. His goodness and his love will ensure all of the plans He has for our lives will be accomplished. Some of them might not be completed in the ways we once thought; however, we can trust in His plans. We might be lacking direction or guidance, but God never does. He will direct and guide each of our steps. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord tells us He already knows the plans He has for us and that these plans will prosper us. They will not harm us in any way. Rather, these plans will give us hope and a future. Whenever we are unsure about the future, we need to rely on God's plans for our lives. Your present season of suffering will not endure forever because the Lord has beautiful plans for your future. This future will not harm you nor will it cause you problems. It will only give you hope and surround you with the Lord's goodness. Choose to live out this truth today by walking confidently in Jesus' promise. The plans God has for our lives is far greater than anything we could ever imagine. If you are presently going through a season of suffering, rest in the truth that you will be brought out into a season of joy. Similar to how the physical seasons change, this season of life will change too. The suffering and pain you are experiencing now will not endure forever. Intersecting Faith & Life: This season might last for a while, but you can continue to trust God. No matter what season of life we find ourselves in, we can know with confidence that God is working all things out for our good (Romans 8:28). It is not a pleasant season right now; however, God's plans for your life are still being fulfilled. There is nothing we can do to mess up God's plans for our lives nor is there any season of life that can separate us from His plans. God's plans are already being carried out through our lives. As you are presently in this tough season of life, lean on God. Find support in Him and trust Him with your life. The plans He has for you will prevail and they will be glorious. “Dear Jesus, I am going through a tough season right now. There only seems to be suffering at every corner. Please Lord, help me to have hope for the plans You have for my life. Bring my heart and mind to meditate on Your plans for my life rather than the tragedies I am currently going through. I know nothing can usurp Your plans for my life. I praise You, Amen.” During this present season of suffering, what has the Lord been teaching you? God has many plans for your life. Does this bring you a sense of comfort? Why or why not? How does knowing that God has plans for your life change your outlook during this present season of life? Further Reading: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Psalm 119:76 Romans 8:26-28 Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
It feels like “likes”—you know, that little thumbs-up on Facebook—have always been with us. But it turns out that this virtual symbol of affirmation has only been around since 2009. The “like” designer, Justin Rosenstein, said he wanted to help create “a world in which people uplift each other rather than tear each other down.” But Rosenstein came to lament how his invention might have enabled users’ unhealthy addiction to social media. I think Rosenstein’s creation speaks to our hard-wired need for affirmation and connection. We want to know that others know us, notice us—and, yes, like us. The “like” is fairly new. But our hunger to know and be known is as old as creation. Still, the like button doesn’t quite get the job done, does it? Thankfully, we serve a God whose love goes so much deeper than a digital nod. In Jeremiah 1:5, we witness His profoundly purposeful connection with a prophet whom He called to Himself. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” God knew the prophet even before conception and designed him for a life of meaning and mission (vv. 8-10). And He invites us too into a purposeful life as we come to know this Father who so intimately knows, loves, and likes us.
Much of the prophecy in the Old Testament has layers of fulfillment. Jeremiah's words are certainly no exception. In Jeremiah, chapter 31, the prophet points to the hope of God's people being restored from their Babylonian exile. However, we recognize that there's an even greater fulfillment to his words when Christ returns. In today's sermon, entitled "Urban Renewal," we take a look at the hope that all of God's people have when God makes all things new. Let's join Pastor Brian with today's sermon from Jeremiah, chapter 31.
In Jeremiah 31:25, God promises to satisfy the weary and refresh the languishing soul, offering restorative power beyond our own efforts. His love and grace provide solace and renewal in times of weakness, and through prayer, we can find strength and rejuvenation. Trust in His promise and find hope in His endless grace. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dailyrowe/support
Did you know God had a plan in place for your life before you were even born?! Whether or not you know what it is yet or not, doesn't change the truth that He does!!! God wants us to lean in to Him, to give Him all of our fears and concerns and weaknesses, so that He can show us the calling He has for our lives and equip us to walk it out on a daily basis!!!!! Don't get caught in the trap of self pity and doubt the incredible future and good plans the Lord wants to come to pass in your life. In Jeremiah 1, we see how God wants us to surrender our doubts to Him, obey His word in our lives, and watch the mighty ways He will move!!!!
Did you know God had a plan in place for your life before you were even born?! Whether or not you know what it is yet or not, doesn't change the truth that He does!!! God wants us to lean in to Him, to give Him all of our fears and concerns and weaknesses, so that He can show us the calling He has for our lives and equip us to walk it out on a daily basis!!!!! Don't get caught in the trap of self pity and doubt the incredible future and good plans the Lord wants to come to pass in your life. In Jeremiah 1, we see how God wants us to surrender our doubts to Him, obey His word in our lives, and watch the mighty ways He will move!!!!
In Jeremiah 30 and 31, we are reminded He is a God of restoration. Have you strayed, been disobedient, need to come back?
Raise your hand if you love coffee! I know I do! That is why my son took me on a tour of a coffee processing plant when I was in El Salvador recently. It was fascinating to learn the many ways coffee beans are chosen for specific flavors and quality. If the coffee bean cherry "floats" it means it is undeveloped, immature, or has been attacked by disease or insects. It could mean the shell is completely hollow. Yikes! God is looking to brew a good cup of coffee with us! In Jeremiah chapter 6, we will explore how we can be sure we will sink when we are tested in the waters of life.All that and more on this episode of Storming the Gates!Contact and resources:Substack: https://joniscott11@substack.comEmail: Joni@stormingthegates.netInstagram Bio with Links: https://www.instagram.com/joni_scott.prayer/Facebook Page: Faith and FastingLinks to all the stuff:https://joniscott.my.canva.site/
In Jeremiah 27, will kings listen to their own counselors or the Prophet Jeremiah? Who do you listen to, the words of men, or the Word of God?
“Throughout the Word, God talks about Who He is and what He wants people to know about Him. In Jeremiah, He says I want you to know and understand that I am the Lord, that I exercise lovingkindness and judgment and righteousness. That's what He wants us to know about Him, that it's the goodness of God that leadeth men to repentance. In Exodus, it talks about how He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness and forgives iniquities and transgression. Those are things that He reveals about Himself that we can know about Him.” Join podcast interviewer Hunter Mullins and Rev. Tom Mullins as they discuss why we can completely trust in God as His children. Rev. Mullins expounds on many of the qualities of our heavenly Father, quoting straight from the Scriptures. He explains how these attributes, along with God's promises to us in His Word, show that God is a trustworthy heavenly Father. Conversation Links: I Corinthians 13:12 John 1:18 Psalm 147:4 Psalm 139:6 Philippians 2:13 John 1:17 Jeremiah 9:24 Romans 2:4 Exodus 34:6-7 Psalm 139:2 Jeremiah 1:5 Luke 12:2 Job 42:2 Psalm 139 Isaiah 40:28 Isaiah 46:9 I John 4:16 I John 1:5 Numbers 23:19 Exodus 15:26 II Corinthians 13:11 Exodus 17:15 Psalm 46:1 Malachi 3:6 Colossians 2:15 Galatians 5:25 John 3:16 Isaiah 11:2 I John 4:18 II Timothy 1:7 Malachi 3:10 Psalm 102:27 To Learn More about The Way International: https://linktr.ee/thewayintl https://www.theway.org/contact-us/ Certain opinions expressed in this podcast may or may not represent the views of The Way International. All music used is either owned by The Way International, is used with permission, has been purchased for use, or is in the public domain.
PODCAST recorded 04/14/24 - This Sunday at Sunrise, JB Bryan talks "Service vs. Reward: Why do many of us give up? How far can faith take YOU? Is God limited? Who do you go to for answers?" In Jeremiah 33:3 it is written "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known". #JBBRYAN Visit www.AfroEconomics.com ...... #JBBRYAN #Principle5 #AfroEconomics Powered by JB Bryan Financial Group, Inc., A Registered Investment Advisory Firm - The Home of AfroEconomics. Call 1-844-JBBRYAN (522-7926).
In Jeremiah 31, God promises to establish a covenant with the people of Israel AND Judah, reconciling them both to each other as much as to Himself. This promise would find itself fulfilled in the person of Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel and High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5). And not only would His saving work reconcile His fellow Israelites, it would include God-fearing Greeks (John 12) who sought to practice the way of life He taught. In this Lenten season, may our practices be rooted in the promise of God, modeled after the person of Yeshua. READINGS: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:1-10; John 12:20-36
Are you good enough for heaven? In Jeremiah chapter four, God is shaking the people out of a numbing belief that unless we are murderers or something, we're all good people, and don't have to change anything.Is that true?If not, then how do we get to heaven? Contact and resources:Substack: https://joniscott11@substack.comEmail: Joni@stormingthegates.netInstagram Bio with Links: https://www.instagram.com/joni_scott.prayer/Facebook Page: Faith and FastingLinks to all the stuff:https://joniscott.my.canva.site/
One quick announcement. We are in the middle of a building campaign and we're trying to raise $5 million for space that the Lord has sent to us. We've signed a purchase and sale agreement on half of it, and we're trying to raise funds for the rest. So I say that because we need prayer. The church of God, if we ask you to pray for the Lord to send us a miracle, it's a miracle that we got here. We're praying for the second iteration of the miracle is like the blind man. If you remember, he got the first touch from Jesus and Jesus says, "Do you see?" And he says, "I see people walking like trees." And he needed a second miracle.So that's what we need. Our first miracle is the space is located, we know where it is. Down Kent Street, you take a left on Longwood, three towers, it's right there. So pray. And then also if the Lord brings anyone to mind, perhaps a rich uncle or something like that, and then connect us with them. With that said, would you please pray with us for the preaching of God's Holy word.Heavenly Father, we come to your word with fear and trepidation, knowing that you are holy and your commandments are holy. And we recognize that we are sinful, we are commandment breakers, we are covenant breakers, unfaithful. Lord, but we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who out of his great love for you and out of his great love for us went to a cross to shed blood for the covenant. The covenant that welcomes us in for whoever would repent of sin, of transgression, everyone can be forgiven, purified, sanctified, and filled with the spirit to live lives of obedience. Lord, as we consider the topics before us in the text on marriage and divorce and children, someone of the most intimate spheres of life, Lord, we ask that you send us the Holy Spirit that you minister to us, to our hearts. If there's hardness of heart, remove it. If there's brokenness, mend it and heal it. If there's a lack of zeal for your word, I pray, Lord, fire up our hearts and bless us in the Holy Word in our time together, amen.We are continuing our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark called Kingdom Come. And the idea is that Jesus has come, the king has inaugurated His kingdom, but then He teaches us to pray. Our Father who in heaven hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So the more God's will is done in our lives, the more of His kingdom we usher into the world. The title of the sermon today is Covenantal Love. I will never leave you nor forsake you. These are some of the most powerful words that you can hear and they're some of the most powerful words that you can speak. These are words of eternal love, a love that will never end.And who's the only one who can make that promise and we can completely trust Him to keep it always? Well, that's God of course, because God alone is eternal. God alone is perfectly faithful. And this love, this faithful love is a costly love. And that's why the conversation about marriage happens right after Jesus informed his disciples that there's a cost to following him. There's a cost to loving like Jesus loved. There's a cost to faithful love and that's denying self daily, dying to self daily, taking up the cross daily. The way of Christ is the way of love and that's how most of people in the world view Christ and God. God is love and we all know that. It's love for God and love for neighbor. But if you look at the way of Christ, how Christ lived, the way of Christ is the way of the cross, the way of self-sacrifice and service.Therefore, the way to love and the way of love is self-sacrifice. All of me for all of you. And that's what covenantal love is. You say, "I love you so much that I will die to self to serve you." And how was the greatest covenant ratified? The greatest promise of love? Well, with the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us, "Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." What was Jesus saying on the cross? On the cross, He opened up his arms and He said, "I love you this much and I love you so much that I am willing to bleed for you." That's what covenantal love costs. And receiving God's covenantal love, well, it's transformative. It changes your very essence. It melts your heart, it melts the hardness and his love fills your heart with a supernatural love to love the way He loved you with blood, sweat, and tears.And when you realize that He loved you with that kind of love and promises to love you like that for all of eternity, despite your sin, despite your unfaithfulness, despite your idolatry, despite your adultery, it stretches your heart expanding it and then your heart's filled with his love, ready to fill the hearts of the closest people in your life, your closest neighbors, your family, your wife, your husband, your children. Today we're in Mark 10:1-16, would you look at the text with me? And He left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan and crowds gathered to Him again. Again as was His custom he taught them.And Pharisees came up and in order to test Him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them. "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart He wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."And in the house the disciples asked Him again about this matter and He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." And they were bringing children to him that He might touch them and the disciples rebuked them. And when Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them.This is the reading of God's holy, inherent, and fallible authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First marriage is being joined together by God. Second, adultery is breaching of the marital covenant. And third, God loves humanity, therefore Jesus loves children. First of all, marriage is being joined together by God. Before Jesus Christ embarks on His journey to Jerusalem, embarks on the way of the cross, the Via Dolorosa, He tells us and the disciples how to follow Him in some of the most important areas of life. The next part of the chapter is about money and wealth and how do we interact with how Jesus wants us to be faithful with finances? And later He'll talk about a relationship to work and faithfulness there.But here He says, "I'm going to teach you how to follow me in the relationship between a husband and a wife and the relationship between parents and children." Jesus wants to follow Him needs to impact every single area of life, specifically the most important areas of our lives. He's Lord of all. And today Jesus concentrates His teaching of what it means to be a disciple in the most fundamental areas of life, one's marriage, one's children. In verse one of chapter 10, it says, "He left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan and crowds gathered to Him again. And again as was His custom, He taught them." So Jesus has finished the private discourse with the 12 disciples and what it means to follow Him. And probably that took place in Peter's house in Capernaum.Now Jesus is leaving everything familiar and He's beginning His fateful journey toward Jerusalem. And one of the fascinating things is Jesus here in His final journey toward Jerusalem, passes directly through the same area where John the Baptist conducted his work in preparing the way for the one who is to come after him. So the crowds gather and the Pharisees seeing another opportunity to test Jesus Christ. And the phrase here for test Jesus, shows that the inquiry is hostile. They're seeking to trap Him, therefore they ask a question about divorce. They come to Him in verse two and they say, "Pharisees came up in order to test Him and asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?'" They try to trip Jesus up with a loaded question designed to expose Jesus Christ as a lawbreaker. They had heard Jesus teaching on family, on marriage, on children.And Jesus has been emphasizing the fact that it's one man, one woman, one covenant, one lifetime, and there wasn't any talk about divorce. And they believe virtually everyone in the first century, Palestine, was in agreement that you could get a divorce. Husbands could be granted divorces for trivial things if the wife didn't please them, since the law of Moses allowed for divorce. If Jesus here says, "Moses allowed for it, but I go against Moses," then Jesus can be charged with being a lawbreaker. So that's the trick behind what they're doing. And Matthew 9:3, it's more explicit, the parallel passage, "The Pharisees came up to Him and they tested Him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?'" So they saw that Moses allowed for divorce and we'll get into that text in just a little bit, but then they reinterpreted in their schools of thought as for any cause.And the question is about marriage. So we're not dealing with a ceremonial ordinance, but with the moral law. And Jesus already warned not to think that He had come to destroy the law or nullify it. He has come to teach it and fulfill it. Verse three, "He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?'" They ask a question, Jesus answers with a counter question. And some early Christian commentators interpret this question as Jesus way of playing Moses commandments off against God's. Moses commanded this, but God did not. And that's clearly an unsustainable path exegesis, because in Mark 7, Jesus clearly identifies the 10 commandments as God's law. He's going to do the same with the conversation about the rich young ruler. And Jesus affirmed the binding character of the 10 commandments, the decalogue, as the central part of the mosaic teaching. If you remember, He revealed himself on the Mount of Transfiguration.He went up there with Peter, James, and John and He met with Elijah and Moses. And one of the reasons why He met with Moses was because the law was given by Moses. Therefore, Jesus is affirming the law that was given by Moses. And Elijah was given the job to then go tell the people of Israel that they need to repent and turn back to the 10 commandments. Moses wrote the whole Pentateuch concluding the Genesis narrative that Jesus will quote. So verse four, "They said, 'Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.'" And some exegesis have found a key to the passage in the contrast between Jesus' question, which asked about what Moses commanded and the Pharisees that reply, which only talks about what he allowed, as if in Jesus' opinion God permits divorce as a concession, but He never commanded it.And again, this exegesis is unsustainable and the Pharisees here are merely using common terminology of what may or may not be done. And this question in reference to divorce comes from Deuteronomy 24. If you know about Jesus and the way He quotes scripture, go back and see how often He quotes the book of Deuteronomy. When He meets with Satan, when Satan comes to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, when He's fasting for 40 days, three times Jesus' response to Satan and all three times they're verses from Deuteronomy.Deuteronomy 24:1, "When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some indecency in her and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of the house and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled. For that is an abomination before the Lord and you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance."So Deuteronomy 24 is a classic example of the Torah's casuistic or case law. The case law that interpreted the 10 commandments and occasions that would arise in real life. Here in this text there's no denunciation of the divorce. In fact, it's not the divorce that's being denunciation by taking a divorce wife back after she has subsequently married and divorced another man. In verse one it says, "If he finds some kind of indecency in her," another translation says, "Nakedness." Leviticus 18 uses this phrase 18 to 20 times. It has to do with illicit sexual activity. So when Deuteronomy 4:4 says that the woman has been defiled by her second marriage, it's because there was still the option of reconciliation before she actually had sexual relations with her second husband.On the one hand, the divorce of the wife was legitimate though not mandatory. On the other hand, her second marriage is categorized as defilement, which in this case must of necessity refer to adultery. And the second marriage is simultaneously categorized as both permissible and adultery at the same time. And you say how? Well the explanation is that the second marriage permanently and irrevocably severs the first one flesh marital union with her first husband, there can be no more reconciliation.It is in this sense an aspect of the second marriage constitutes adultery. And though this constitutes adultery and though the woman is set to be defiled, her defilement is in regard to her first husband. It's not defilement in regard to the second husband. It says he is to write her a certificate of divorce and send her away to make it official. So they quote Moses, Moses permitted, Moses allowed. In verse five it says, "Because of your hardness of heart," Jesus says, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment." In the parallel passage in Matthew 19:8, "He said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.'" And some people look at this text and they say, "Well, because God foresaw hardness of heart or sinfulness, He wrote into the law a concession to sin."And this of course cannot be the right interpretation, because God never writes into the law concession to sin, though He does write into the law consequences of sin. So the divorce writing in Deuteronomy 24 is not a concession to sin, but it's consequences of sin. If adultery is to happen in a marriage, there are consequences that can be taken. Consequence number one for adultery in marriage was execution. But the husband sometimes, because of grace toward his wife, didn't pursue the execution. Like Joseph, if you remember Joseph, when his wife Mary was found to be with child, Joseph didn't hear from the Holy Spirit yet, he didn't hear from the angel yet, and he quietly wanted to divorce her and then the Lord stopped that. So divorce sometimes was a lesser consequence that was pursued instead of execution.So what then does Jesus mean, "From the beginning it was not." What does he mean, "Because of your hardness of heart?" Well, quite simply that from the beginning when there was no sin, there was no provision for divorce, but man fell into sin and subsequently hardhearted men and women commit adultery. Divorce comes in on the heels of sin, because it is necessary to punish sin, which is what divorce is. It's a punishment or a sanction for sin. So divorce legislation is authorized or permitted in order to deal with this hard heartedness. Divorce is not presented as an inherent or absolute right, but as a remedy for sin and a right only ensuing upon sin.Verse six, "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." He goes to the very beginning. So in a sense, in the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Eden was ruled under God's will perfectly. And in a sense Jesus Christ comes in order to save us from our sins and He points to the 10 commandments, this is how we are to govern ourselves if we are to live a life that creates a semblance, a taste, a foretaste of heaven on earth. So He goes from the beginning, He goes to the very beginning and He says, "God made them male and female." The first service I almost passed out. I know what was happening. 15 years I've been doing this long enough and I know there are topics where you are just over the target. You put yourself over the target and in the spiritual realm there is war. And whoever was in the first service, you know exactly what was happening. My wife almost called 911. She said, "I had my phone ready," because I know where we're standing.We're standing in the demonic epicenter of ideologies, demonic ideologies that seek to pervert the design of God from the very beginning. We stand, this synagogue celebrated the fact that they had one of the first same sex marriages ever officiated in this country right here, right here in a place where the 10 commandments are right there. So people standing right with the 10 commandments, the law of God over them as they make a mockery of it. I also understand this moment in time that we're in. We are in a synagogue with the 10 commandments in back of me and the latest iteration of the pride flag outside, that's not our flag. And what is that flag? The new iteration is confusion on gender. Alistair Begg recently, he was a faithful expository for years, but he was asked recently, "Hey, my grandchild is having a same sex wedding, can I go to the wedding?" And his response was, "Not only should you go, but you should bring a present. In effect with your presence you're celebrating or you're partaking in the ceremony of the covenant that's being made."And I was blown away by that, because those are conversations that we were having a decade ago here. The conversations we're having now aren't about that. The conversations we're having now with people here, real people, we're asking can my child be friends with a trans child? Our kids go to school with parents that dress boys in girls clothing. That's where we are in this moment in time. So even to get up and say, "No, there's two genders, male and female, He created them. And He designed sexuality for the flourishing of humanity." Why is this topic so important to God? Because this is the topic that explains how we got here. We're talking about the act of creation itself.And what does Satan want to do above all else? He wants to murky the waters of the design of God so people say, "Is there a designer? Look at us." So Jesus goes and He says, "From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." And the emphasis here is on the complimentary sexual equipment of the first couple designed for each other whose result in sexual union is part of an indelible marital bond created by God. The presupposition of this argument seems to be that sexual union creates a permanent ontological fusion of the individuals involved. That on a spiritual level something is happening that you can't even explain, a unifying experience. When one body enters or is entered by another, a transaction of eternal significance has taken place. One that in its merging of opposites and resolutions of contradictions. And in a culture in which sex is often trivialized and used merely as just fun, private gratification, we have to heed the words of Christ.Verse seven, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they have no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." Jesus doesn't use the word marriage here. He uses it later in the private discussion with the disciples, but clearly that's the subject at hand. And what is marriage? Marriage is a man and a woman becoming one in recognition that God has joined them together for life, therefore they vow not to separate. I remember as a young pastor freshly ordained out of seminary, I was really excited to move to Boston, plant a church 15 years ago. And I remember being asked to do my first wedding and people always say, "Pastor Jan, will you marry us?" And I always say, "No, I'm already married. Thank you."And what they mean is, "Will you officiate our ceremony?" And I remember sitting down and saying, "I just spent three years in seminary, which is like law school and not once was there not even one class on how to lead a wedding ceremony." I had to write some pastors, "What do you do?" And they're like, "Well, I cobbled this together from some other pastors. And you go back into history." And so you put in some kind of formula that looks like it works. You greet everybody, the bride comes down the aisle and you say, "Who gives this bride to marry this groom?" And the father says, "Her mother and I do." And then you get up and you say, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God, in the face of this matrimony," you do that whole spiel.And we got that from the book of Common Prayer from England. I don't know why we use that. Then you read a little homily. And I realized that with a lot of weddings, you ask people, "How's the wedding?" And if they say it was good, it's only for two reasons. They're like, "Yeah, the wedding was great. Number one, the bride looked great. And then number two, the food. Oh, the food, the food was..." And what I tell people in the ceremony, I was like, "That's all good and well, that's not the most important part of the ceremony. The most important part of the ceremony is that this couple, this man, this woman are making a covenant, speaking with their eyes, with their mouth, sorry." And in the same way that Jesus Christ says, "You need to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead."The speaking in some sense makes it a reality. And where do we get that idea, is because God spoke and His word has creative effect. So when the groom and the bride, they say I do, they make the vows. What are they doing? They're not just confessing past love and they're not professing current love, they're promising future love. That's the covenant. That's the most important part. But regarding engagements and wedding ceremonies, there's very little detail in the Bible. There are no prescriptive commands in the Bible whatsoever concerning ceremonial procedures, rituals, civil and ecclesiastical requirements, public oaths. And you say why? Why is the Bible silent on this issue? Oaths and vows and rituals and ceremonies are numerous in the Bible, but marriage oaths and ceremonies are conspicuous by their absence. Well, why?Because what is Jesus saying marriage is? He's saying the man shall leave his father and mother, leaving a household. I'm going to start my own family. And then you hold fast to your wife and two shall become one. So in a sense, sexual union is marriage properly defined. Betrothal or spousal is actually an agreement or covenant pertaining to the marriage, not marriage itself. Such agreements, however, are presented in the Bible in covenantal terms. So the sexual union to becoming one is the consummation of the covenant made with God and one another, what God has joined together. You're recognizing we are under the eyes of God. God before the foundation of the world has predestined us to come together. We're recognizing, we're making a covenant to God and we're making a covenant with one another before the eyes of God. The reason why we hold marriage ceremony in the church is for the church to come alongside of the couple and hold them accountable to the covenant made.Because why make the covenant? Because you are anticipating moments where you will be tempted to break the covenant, that's why you make it. And you need the church to come alongside you and say, "We were there, we were witnesses, we heard the vows. You are one and you are one for life." In Genesis 1:26-28, we find God creating man and woman and blessing them with the words, be fruitful and multiply. And this was in essence the betrothal of Adam and Eve by their father. And there was no question here of any ceremony or ritual to solemnized or authorize their union, only the authoritative command of God that you have been joined together. Moreover, the Apostle Paul in the New Testament explicitly interprets the phrase one flesh as sexual relations. And while many have rightly pointed out that the phrase is not restricted to sexual relations, but includes the whole personal relationship of man and wife, it's a very great error not to see that this is its core meaning and central focus.Look at 1 Corinthians 6:16, "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.'" So Paul uses Genesis 2:24 to argue for the permanence of the union created by sexual intercourse even with prostitutes. So meaning the commencement of sexual relations begins a marriage, because sex is a covenant making ceremony and covenant making and covenant renewal. And we live in a day and age where people just want to make the covenant, just act out the covenant and then never... I mean, not for the beginning. Think about what are we agreeing to? One regarding the building that we are purchasing, there's going to be a building plug in every sermon from now on until we raise $5 million or move into the building, and/or.I get the purchase and sale agreement from our lawyer and Adobe DocuSign, very tremendous. I get on my phone, I was actually at the gym getting into my truck right after working out and I was like, "Oh sweet, I get to sign a contract." I open it up, not reading a thing, not a thing. I mean, I kind of knew what was... The small letters I was not reading. And then it says, "Okay, there was a blue arrow, initial here, click and then you write the JV. And then sign here, I did the thing. And then you just go through a whole document and that part was so fun, it's so gratifying, so incredible. I'm just signing stuff. What am I signing? What am I signing? What am I agreeing to? There's a cost, obviously. I signed a contract. There's terms, there's an agreement, I know exactly the cost involved in this... And that's a contract. A contract is so much less important than a covenant. A covenant is before the watchful eyes of God.So when people are just going around doing it, what are you doing? What are you promising to the other person? And there is something happening on a spiritual level that you can't even make sense of. So if you are going to consummate the covenant, you just got to be really, really clear on what it is. So therefore sex is sacred and should be not treated as profane. And if we have not made a covenant with God that He has joined us together, then we must not join together.And in biblical scripture this is how they viewed marriage. If you think about Jacob and Leah, the story of Jacob and Leah. He married Rachel, worked a long time for her and then goes to sleep. And then there's that fateful verse and he wakes up in the morning and it wasn't Rachel, it was Leah. And does he go to Laban and say, "No, we didn't have a ceremony, therefore we're not married. You tricked me." No, he realized what happened. We're married, I'm married to her. And this is how scripture presents a marriage. A marriage is a covenant. Virtually every reference in the Bible to covenant shows them to be a weighty matter and that the evidence is overwhelming.In Genesis 2:24, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast his wife and they shall become one flesh." So this verse imputes a legal covenantal significance to their coming together physically. And this is actually how scripture talks about God's relationship with His people. Ezekiel 16:8, for example, God says, "When I pass by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into covenant with you, declares the Lord God and you became mine." So man shall leave his father and mother, he's leaving one family to start his own. And then with the wife, they're joined together and he says, "What therefore God joined together, let no man separate."For the idea that God brings man and wife together, it's an idea. The phrase here is yoke me. That God in a sense yokes mates together, puts a yoke on them and says, "You together now are going in this direction." And it displays the idea of mates predestined for each other from the beginning of the world. Someone recently asked me, "Do you believe that God predestined people to get married?" I say, "Yeah, of course, of course." If God predestined people to salvation before the foundation of the world, then he certainly predestines how they are created and by whom and through what means.When I met my wife, I met her in Philadelphia at church and I tell everyone was love at first sight. And that's the romantic way to look at it. The theological way is I knew she's the one that I was predestined to marry before the foundation of the world. How did I know? I knew. And so that's part of choosing a mate. You pray and you say, "God, whom have you predestined for me?" And what God has joined together we are not to separate. And so Christ is refuting divorce on demand. He's also refuting making covenants on demand without thinking about it.Point two, and this brings us to adultery. Adultery is breaching of the marital covenant. In the house, the disciples ask for clarification in verse 10, in the house of the disciples asked him again about this matter, meaning they were puzzled like the teaching of Jesus was so radical, it's almost like they've never heard it before. It's like how did you not hear this clear teaching of scripture? Because the teaching was presented by Pharisees who wanted the loophole of divorce on demand. So the teachings of scripture, which are normative, this is how things should be, weren't normal. They weren't normal at that time. And this was the pattern in all of Israel. When people would move away from the law, they moved away from what's normative. And then what was normal was just sin and consequences of a debased mind.So verse 11, "And he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.'" And what word best describes the violation of the marital bond than adultery? And that's why Jesus uses the word for adultery to explain the breaking of that covenant. And Matthew 5, Jesus gives us more comments on this. Verse 31, "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Note what Jesus asserts, that such a man causes his wife to commit adultery. If he divorces her for non-biblical grounds for anything other than adultery, he causes her to commit adultery.Now note first what Jesus simply presupposes. He presupposes that the woman in question will remarry. Else there would be no adultery to speak of. And secondly, Jesus clearly places the guilt of the adultery upon the man who divorces his wife without valid grounds. And though the woman and her new husband commit the act, the guilt of the adultery, the violation of the one flesh bond is imputed to the divorcing husband. He, the divorcing husband, is declared to be the cause of adultery. And the wife who remarries in such a situation and the man who marries her are not imputed with the guilt of adultery. And the law of God always distinguishes between a perpetrator of sin and a victim of sin. A wife who is unjustly divorced by an unrepentant husband is a victim and would be permanently victimized and consigned to a life of singleness if she were required to remain unmarried. So Jesus clearly imputes to the divorcing husband as the causative agent of the adultery guilt thereof.In Matthew 19:9, in the parallel passage it says, "And I say to, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery." And the word for sexual immorality in the Greek is pornea. And what's happening here is this exception, this clause, sexual immorality, is the parallel to the indecency language in Deuteronomy 24. That for adultery, if a married woman commits adultery, that act of adultery, that word is used to describe the severing of the one covenant with her first husband.Adultery is the transgression of the seventh commandment and it is punishable by death. But sometimes divorce was the chosen path. If you remember like with Joseph, and this is how God speaks of his relationship with even Israel. That Israel deserved execution, capital punishment. God should have wiped them off the face of the earth, but God had mercy on them. So instead of execution for their spiritual adultery, idolatry, he gave Israel a certificate of divorce in Isaiah 50, "Thus says the Lord, 'Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold for your iniquities, you were sold and for your transgression your mother was sent away.'" And the conquest and exile of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria is allegorically characterized by God as a bill of divorcement. For what? For adultery.In Jeremiah 3:8 he makes that explicit, "She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and played the whore." So divorce in God's law is not just permitted, but sometimes it is a manifestation of God's holiness and wrath against sin. And since divorce is a manifestation of God's holiness and God calls his people to be holy for I am holy, it follows by good and necessary consequence from this that God's example of divorcing his wife for the cause of adultery was normative and the lawful basis and redress on a human level. And that was His grace. It was His grace. They deserved execution, He didn't give them that. Execution was not the only lawful means of dealing with adultery.So adultery is a breach of the marriage covenant and divorce is confirmation of that breach. It was allowed for God by God not as a concession but as a consequence for sin. Verse 12, "And she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." In Exodus it says that the failure to provide for the wife on the part of the man constitutes a breach of the one flesh covenant as well and by implication that includes extreme offenses such as physical abuse. But groundless divorce itself constitutes adultery, because adultery is the breaking of the covenant."Pastor Jan, we are seeking a divorce. What do you think?" I had this conversation recently. I said, "Why? What are the biblical grounds?" "Well, I think God wants us to be happy and we'll be happier apart from each other." God's primary will is not your happiness. It's not my happiness. God's primary will for you is your obedience and your obedience of faith. And with that obedience, God gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to be obedient and fills your heart with joy. Now the fact that we made the covenant husband and wife, made the covenant, your covenant together that no matter the season, no matter what happened, we're going to stay together, because it's God's will. This is God's will. We confirmed it's God's will and we made that vow.And then point three is, God loves humanity, therefore Jesus loves children. So marriage and heterosexual sex are inextricably linked with the divine gift of children. And indeed in Genesis 1:28, God's first blessing on humanity after he created the male and female is be fruitful and multiply. And it's no accident that our passage in which Jesus traces the institution of marriage back to the beginning of creation is immediately followed by His blessing of children. So having proclaimed the permanence of marriage, Jesus now turns to the related theme of children on natural progression.And this is partially why God has designed marriage the way He has and sex the way He has so that there's never any question on who's the father. One of the greatest epidemics in our culture and in the world in general is the epidemic of fatherlessness. Where children growing up not knowing who their father is or not having a father in the house. The reason why God designed it is so that children would not be brought up that way with so much pain. And Mark 10:13, "And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child shall not enter it.'"The main Old Testament background to the saying of entering the dominion of God is the image of the Israelites as they were poised on the brink of entering the Promised Land, but they didn't believe God. And then God tells them, "Your children who today do not know right from wrong, they shall enter there." And Jesus makes it an emphasis that the only way to enter the kingdom of God is to receive it. And in scripture, people frequently enter into action that was prepared for them by another. Others have labored and you have entered into their kingdom. So when He says enter the dominion of God, he's saying enter into the work of God. He's prepared the kingdom. And little children are the model of how people enter the kingdom.That God bestows the kingdom upon the low, upon the helpless, upon those who can do nothing to gain entrance. And entrance into the kingdom of God is not something which can be earned or gained, because of the basis of human merit. As one commentator aptly put it, to receive the kingdom is to allow oneself to be given it. We see Jesus revealing his heart. And that's the heart of a father, because he knows God the Father, he knows God the Father's heart. He welcomes the children, He takes them in His arms, He blesses them, He hugs them, and He loves them. In Malachi 2:13-16, all these themes are summarized by the following and the Lord God says, "And this second thing you do, you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.""But you say, 'Why does he not?' Because the Lord was witnessed between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been faithless. Though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did He not make them one with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 'For the man who does not love his wife, but divorces her,' says the Lord God of Israel, 'covers his garment with violence,' says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless." The Lord Jesus Christ knew what his teaching was doing as He was explicating the commandments of God. He knows exactly what was happening. That the straight edge of the sword of God's commandments was piercing the hearts of the listeners.And that's exactly what regeneration is. Regeneration is when you hear the word of God, when you hear the law of God and you feel in your heart how much you have transgressed the holy, pure law of God. It's like the commandment goes down into your heart, pierces it, and that's exactly what it's supposed to do. The more precise, the sharper the edge of the sword, the more clean the incision. And then what does God do? He gives us a heart transplant. He takes the hard heart of stone and He removes it and replaces it with a heart that's tender toward God, tender toward the people He calls us to love.Ezekiel 11:19, "And I will give them one heart and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them and they shall be my people and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God." So today, however you're feeling about this message or the subject matter, if you are feeling condemnation or shame or guilt, or if you are feeling the stirring of the Holy Spirit, calling you to repentance, calling you to ever greater levels of holiness, just know that's the Lord working in you.Here I want to read 1 Corinthians 6, and as Paul deals with this subject matter, I want to put the emphasis on the fact that he's speaking to Christians. He's speaking to people who were saved out of this worldly idea of what it means to be a man, a woman, sexuality, et cetera. And he says, "Such were some of you," were. Such were some of you.So 1 Corinthians 6:9, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both one and the other.""The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your are bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we're part of the church, the bride of Christ. That's why the new building is a ballroom. And I like that idea, because we're the bride of Christ and Jesus is going to... We're going to dance with Jesus following His lead. He's going to lead us. How did Jesus choose His bride? Did He choose His bride for her beauty? Did He choose us because of our purity and holiness? Did He choose us because we were lovely? Did He choose us for our godliness? No. God chose His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And we, the bride of Christ, we've all been unfaithful to the Lord.Therefore, in the covenant we make with Christ, it's now we who spill the blood of virginity, it's He who spills the blood to redeem us. And Jesus Christ loved the church, not because she was lovely, but because He is loving and He gave himself up for her to save her and to make her lovely. He forgives us and redeems us and makes a covenant with us. And then what does He do? He begins to sanctify the church.And in Ephesians 5 says that He does so by cleansing the church, cleansing His bride by the washing of water with the word. I love that picture. That's how I view my job. I view my job as I am here to wash you with the water of the word. And some texts feel like I've got a power washer. Have you ever seen those videos on power washing? They're very satisfying. I can watch those things for a long time. Power washing videos, all the mildew coming off the house. And I used to do that as a kid. I used to paint with my dad, he's got a painting business, and my job was the power washing, because it takes a lot of work. And I remember as a 13-year-old kid, I'm on the 40-foot ladder at the very top trying to hold the power wash. But it's so strong that it's blowing you off.That's what we need sometimes. That there's sin, that there's cobwebs, that there's mildew of sin in us. And the Lord has given us His word and He cleanses us by the washing of water with the word. Why? So that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.So today, if you have felt the sharp edge of the commandment of God coming down upon you, because of commandment number seven or whatever commandment, and we've broken commandment seven, because we broke commandment number one. What's commandment number one? Thou shall have no other gods before me. If we have other gods before God, either ourselves or someone else, well of course we're going to shirk the other commandments. So if you felt the commandments of God coming down on you, revealing sin, revealing that we're all transgressors today, look to the cross of Christ.Look and see the covenantal love of Christ as His blood is pouring down in order to redeem us and save us. And as you repent of your sin, receive the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe that you have been forgiven, purified, sanctified, as pure as snow. And then receive this promise from the Lord Jesus Christ that He is speaking to you. And this promise will satisfy your soul with a love that you will never experience from another human being. Receive this promise. I will never leave you nor forsake you. He proved it on the cross. That's true. He's faithful. Then He calls us to follow him.Let us pray. Lord God, we thank you for this word and we thank you for this time together. We thank you Holy Spirit, that you are with us and you are ministering to us. Lord, if our hearts are broken, mend them. If our hearts are hardened, soften them. If our hearts have grown tepid toward you and toward your word today, Lord, set our hearts on fire so that we will be people of God seeking holiness in absolutely every area of life, including the most intimate ones. We pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
One quick announcement. We are in the middle of a building campaign and we're trying to raise $5 million for space that the Lord has sent to us. We've signed a purchase and sale agreement on half of it, and we're trying to raise funds for the rest. So I say that because we need prayer. The church of God, if we ask you to pray for the Lord to send us a miracle, it's a miracle that we got here. We're praying for the second iteration of the miracle is like the blind man. If you remember, he got the first touch from Jesus and Jesus says, "Do you see?" And he says, "I see people walking like trees." And he needed a second miracle.So that's what we need. Our first miracle is the space is located, we know where it is. Down Kent Street, you take a left on Longwood, three towers, it's right there. So pray. And then also if the Lord brings anyone to mind, perhaps a rich uncle or something like that, and then connect us with them. With that said, would you please pray with us for the preaching of God's Holy word.Heavenly Father, we come to your word with fear and trepidation, knowing that you are holy and your commandments are holy. And we recognize that we are sinful, we are commandment breakers, we are covenant breakers, unfaithful. Lord, but we thank you for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who out of his great love for you and out of his great love for us went to a cross to shed blood for the covenant. The covenant that welcomes us in for whoever would repent of sin, of transgression, everyone can be forgiven, purified, sanctified, and filled with the spirit to live lives of obedience. Lord, as we consider the topics before us in the text on marriage and divorce and children, someone of the most intimate spheres of life, Lord, we ask that you send us the Holy Spirit that you minister to us, to our hearts. If there's hardness of heart, remove it. If there's brokenness, mend it and heal it. If there's a lack of zeal for your word, I pray, Lord, fire up our hearts and bless us in the Holy Word in our time together, amen.We are continuing our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark called Kingdom Come. And the idea is that Jesus has come, the king has inaugurated His kingdom, but then He teaches us to pray. Our Father who in heaven hallowed be your name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So the more God's will is done in our lives, the more of His kingdom we usher into the world. The title of the sermon today is Covenantal Love. I will never leave you nor forsake you. These are some of the most powerful words that you can hear and they're some of the most powerful words that you can speak. These are words of eternal love, a love that will never end.And who's the only one who can make that promise and we can completely trust Him to keep it always? Well, that's God of course, because God alone is eternal. God alone is perfectly faithful. And this love, this faithful love is a costly love. And that's why the conversation about marriage happens right after Jesus informed his disciples that there's a cost to following him. There's a cost to loving like Jesus loved. There's a cost to faithful love and that's denying self daily, dying to self daily, taking up the cross daily. The way of Christ is the way of love and that's how most of people in the world view Christ and God. God is love and we all know that. It's love for God and love for neighbor. But if you look at the way of Christ, how Christ lived, the way of Christ is the way of the cross, the way of self-sacrifice and service.Therefore, the way to love and the way of love is self-sacrifice. All of me for all of you. And that's what covenantal love is. You say, "I love you so much that I will die to self to serve you." And how was the greatest covenant ratified? The greatest promise of love? Well, with the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us, "Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." What was Jesus saying on the cross? On the cross, He opened up his arms and He said, "I love you this much and I love you so much that I am willing to bleed for you." That's what covenantal love costs. And receiving God's covenantal love, well, it's transformative. It changes your very essence. It melts your heart, it melts the hardness and his love fills your heart with a supernatural love to love the way He loved you with blood, sweat, and tears.And when you realize that He loved you with that kind of love and promises to love you like that for all of eternity, despite your sin, despite your unfaithfulness, despite your idolatry, despite your adultery, it stretches your heart expanding it and then your heart's filled with his love, ready to fill the hearts of the closest people in your life, your closest neighbors, your family, your wife, your husband, your children. Today we're in Mark 10:1-16, would you look at the text with me? And He left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan and crowds gathered to Him again. Again as was His custom he taught them.And Pharisees came up and in order to test Him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them. "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away." Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart He wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."And in the house the disciples asked Him again about this matter and He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." And they were bringing children to him that He might touch them and the disciples rebuked them. And when Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them.This is the reading of God's holy, inherent, and fallible authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First marriage is being joined together by God. Second, adultery is breaching of the marital covenant. And third, God loves humanity, therefore Jesus loves children. First of all, marriage is being joined together by God. Before Jesus Christ embarks on His journey to Jerusalem, embarks on the way of the cross, the Via Dolorosa, He tells us and the disciples how to follow Him in some of the most important areas of life. The next part of the chapter is about money and wealth and how do we interact with how Jesus wants us to be faithful with finances? And later He'll talk about a relationship to work and faithfulness there.But here He says, "I'm going to teach you how to follow me in the relationship between a husband and a wife and the relationship between parents and children." Jesus wants to follow Him needs to impact every single area of life, specifically the most important areas of our lives. He's Lord of all. And today Jesus concentrates His teaching of what it means to be a disciple in the most fundamental areas of life, one's marriage, one's children. In verse one of chapter 10, it says, "He left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan and crowds gathered to Him again. And again as was His custom, He taught them." So Jesus has finished the private discourse with the 12 disciples and what it means to follow Him. And probably that took place in Peter's house in Capernaum.Now Jesus is leaving everything familiar and He's beginning His fateful journey toward Jerusalem. And one of the fascinating things is Jesus here in His final journey toward Jerusalem, passes directly through the same area where John the Baptist conducted his work in preparing the way for the one who is to come after him. So the crowds gather and the Pharisees seeing another opportunity to test Jesus Christ. And the phrase here for test Jesus, shows that the inquiry is hostile. They're seeking to trap Him, therefore they ask a question about divorce. They come to Him in verse two and they say, "Pharisees came up in order to test Him and asked, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?'" They try to trip Jesus up with a loaded question designed to expose Jesus Christ as a lawbreaker. They had heard Jesus teaching on family, on marriage, on children.And Jesus has been emphasizing the fact that it's one man, one woman, one covenant, one lifetime, and there wasn't any talk about divorce. And they believe virtually everyone in the first century, Palestine, was in agreement that you could get a divorce. Husbands could be granted divorces for trivial things if the wife didn't please them, since the law of Moses allowed for divorce. If Jesus here says, "Moses allowed for it, but I go against Moses," then Jesus can be charged with being a lawbreaker. So that's the trick behind what they're doing. And Matthew 9:3, it's more explicit, the parallel passage, "The Pharisees came up to Him and they tested Him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?'" So they saw that Moses allowed for divorce and we'll get into that text in just a little bit, but then they reinterpreted in their schools of thought as for any cause.And the question is about marriage. So we're not dealing with a ceremonial ordinance, but with the moral law. And Jesus already warned not to think that He had come to destroy the law or nullify it. He has come to teach it and fulfill it. Verse three, "He answered them, 'What did Moses command you?'" They ask a question, Jesus answers with a counter question. And some early Christian commentators interpret this question as Jesus way of playing Moses commandments off against God's. Moses commanded this, but God did not. And that's clearly an unsustainable path exegesis, because in Mark 7, Jesus clearly identifies the 10 commandments as God's law. He's going to do the same with the conversation about the rich young ruler. And Jesus affirmed the binding character of the 10 commandments, the decalogue, as the central part of the mosaic teaching. If you remember, He revealed himself on the Mount of Transfiguration.He went up there with Peter, James, and John and He met with Elijah and Moses. And one of the reasons why He met with Moses was because the law was given by Moses. Therefore, Jesus is affirming the law that was given by Moses. And Elijah was given the job to then go tell the people of Israel that they need to repent and turn back to the 10 commandments. Moses wrote the whole Pentateuch concluding the Genesis narrative that Jesus will quote. So verse four, "They said, 'Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.'" And some exegesis have found a key to the passage in the contrast between Jesus' question, which asked about what Moses commanded and the Pharisees that reply, which only talks about what he allowed, as if in Jesus' opinion God permits divorce as a concession, but He never commanded it.And again, this exegesis is unsustainable and the Pharisees here are merely using common terminology of what may or may not be done. And this question in reference to divorce comes from Deuteronomy 24. If you know about Jesus and the way He quotes scripture, go back and see how often He quotes the book of Deuteronomy. When He meets with Satan, when Satan comes to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, when He's fasting for 40 days, three times Jesus' response to Satan and all three times they're verses from Deuteronomy.Deuteronomy 24:1, "When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some indecency in her and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of the house and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled. For that is an abomination before the Lord and you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance."So Deuteronomy 24 is a classic example of the Torah's casuistic or case law. The case law that interpreted the 10 commandments and occasions that would arise in real life. Here in this text there's no denunciation of the divorce. In fact, it's not the divorce that's being denunciation by taking a divorce wife back after she has subsequently married and divorced another man. In verse one it says, "If he finds some kind of indecency in her," another translation says, "Nakedness." Leviticus 18 uses this phrase 18 to 20 times. It has to do with illicit sexual activity. So when Deuteronomy 4:4 says that the woman has been defiled by her second marriage, it's because there was still the option of reconciliation before she actually had sexual relations with her second husband.On the one hand, the divorce of the wife was legitimate though not mandatory. On the other hand, her second marriage is categorized as defilement, which in this case must of necessity refer to adultery. And the second marriage is simultaneously categorized as both permissible and adultery at the same time. And you say how? Well the explanation is that the second marriage permanently and irrevocably severs the first one flesh marital union with her first husband, there can be no more reconciliation.It is in this sense an aspect of the second marriage constitutes adultery. And though this constitutes adultery and though the woman is set to be defiled, her defilement is in regard to her first husband. It's not defilement in regard to the second husband. It says he is to write her a certificate of divorce and send her away to make it official. So they quote Moses, Moses permitted, Moses allowed. In verse five it says, "Because of your hardness of heart," Jesus says, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment." In the parallel passage in Matthew 19:8, "He said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.'" And some people look at this text and they say, "Well, because God foresaw hardness of heart or sinfulness, He wrote into the law a concession to sin."And this of course cannot be the right interpretation, because God never writes into the law concession to sin, though He does write into the law consequences of sin. So the divorce writing in Deuteronomy 24 is not a concession to sin, but it's consequences of sin. If adultery is to happen in a marriage, there are consequences that can be taken. Consequence number one for adultery in marriage was execution. But the husband sometimes, because of grace toward his wife, didn't pursue the execution. Like Joseph, if you remember Joseph, when his wife Mary was found to be with child, Joseph didn't hear from the Holy Spirit yet, he didn't hear from the angel yet, and he quietly wanted to divorce her and then the Lord stopped that. So divorce sometimes was a lesser consequence that was pursued instead of execution.So what then does Jesus mean, "From the beginning it was not." What does he mean, "Because of your hardness of heart?" Well, quite simply that from the beginning when there was no sin, there was no provision for divorce, but man fell into sin and subsequently hardhearted men and women commit adultery. Divorce comes in on the heels of sin, because it is necessary to punish sin, which is what divorce is. It's a punishment or a sanction for sin. So divorce legislation is authorized or permitted in order to deal with this hard heartedness. Divorce is not presented as an inherent or absolute right, but as a remedy for sin and a right only ensuing upon sin.Verse six, "But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." He goes to the very beginning. So in a sense, in the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Eden was ruled under God's will perfectly. And in a sense Jesus Christ comes in order to save us from our sins and He points to the 10 commandments, this is how we are to govern ourselves if we are to live a life that creates a semblance, a taste, a foretaste of heaven on earth. So He goes from the beginning, He goes to the very beginning and He says, "God made them male and female." The first service I almost passed out. I know what was happening. 15 years I've been doing this long enough and I know there are topics where you are just over the target. You put yourself over the target and in the spiritual realm there is war. And whoever was in the first service, you know exactly what was happening. My wife almost called 911. She said, "I had my phone ready," because I know where we're standing.We're standing in the demonic epicenter of ideologies, demonic ideologies that seek to pervert the design of God from the very beginning. We stand, this synagogue celebrated the fact that they had one of the first same sex marriages ever officiated in this country right here, right here in a place where the 10 commandments are right there. So people standing right with the 10 commandments, the law of God over them as they make a mockery of it. I also understand this moment in time that we're in. We are in a synagogue with the 10 commandments in back of me and the latest iteration of the pride flag outside, that's not our flag. And what is that flag? The new iteration is confusion on gender. Alistair Begg recently, he was a faithful expository for years, but he was asked recently, "Hey, my grandchild is having a same sex wedding, can I go to the wedding?" And his response was, "Not only should you go, but you should bring a present. In effect with your presence you're celebrating or you're partaking in the ceremony of the covenant that's being made."And I was blown away by that, because those are conversations that we were having a decade ago here. The conversations we're having now aren't about that. The conversations we're having now with people here, real people, we're asking can my child be friends with a trans child? Our kids go to school with parents that dress boys in girls clothing. That's where we are in this moment in time. So even to get up and say, "No, there's two genders, male and female, He created them. And He designed sexuality for the flourishing of humanity." Why is this topic so important to God? Because this is the topic that explains how we got here. We're talking about the act of creation itself.And what does Satan want to do above all else? He wants to murky the waters of the design of God so people say, "Is there a designer? Look at us." So Jesus goes and He says, "From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." And the emphasis here is on the complimentary sexual equipment of the first couple designed for each other whose result in sexual union is part of an indelible marital bond created by God. The presupposition of this argument seems to be that sexual union creates a permanent ontological fusion of the individuals involved. That on a spiritual level something is happening that you can't even explain, a unifying experience. When one body enters or is entered by another, a transaction of eternal significance has taken place. One that in its merging of opposites and resolutions of contradictions. And in a culture in which sex is often trivialized and used merely as just fun, private gratification, we have to heed the words of Christ.Verse seven, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. So they have no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." Jesus doesn't use the word marriage here. He uses it later in the private discussion with the disciples, but clearly that's the subject at hand. And what is marriage? Marriage is a man and a woman becoming one in recognition that God has joined them together for life, therefore they vow not to separate. I remember as a young pastor freshly ordained out of seminary, I was really excited to move to Boston, plant a church 15 years ago. And I remember being asked to do my first wedding and people always say, "Pastor Jan, will you marry us?" And I always say, "No, I'm already married. Thank you."And what they mean is, "Will you officiate our ceremony?" And I remember sitting down and saying, "I just spent three years in seminary, which is like law school and not once was there not even one class on how to lead a wedding ceremony." I had to write some pastors, "What do you do?" And they're like, "Well, I cobbled this together from some other pastors. And you go back into history." And so you put in some kind of formula that looks like it works. You greet everybody, the bride comes down the aisle and you say, "Who gives this bride to marry this groom?" And the father says, "Her mother and I do." And then you get up and you say, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the sight of God, in the face of this matrimony," you do that whole spiel.And we got that from the book of Common Prayer from England. I don't know why we use that. Then you read a little homily. And I realized that with a lot of weddings, you ask people, "How's the wedding?" And if they say it was good, it's only for two reasons. They're like, "Yeah, the wedding was great. Number one, the bride looked great. And then number two, the food. Oh, the food, the food was..." And what I tell people in the ceremony, I was like, "That's all good and well, that's not the most important part of the ceremony. The most important part of the ceremony is that this couple, this man, this woman are making a covenant, speaking with their eyes, with their mouth, sorry." And in the same way that Jesus Christ says, "You need to confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead."The speaking in some sense makes it a reality. And where do we get that idea, is because God spoke and His word has creative effect. So when the groom and the bride, they say I do, they make the vows. What are they doing? They're not just confessing past love and they're not professing current love, they're promising future love. That's the covenant. That's the most important part. But regarding engagements and wedding ceremonies, there's very little detail in the Bible. There are no prescriptive commands in the Bible whatsoever concerning ceremonial procedures, rituals, civil and ecclesiastical requirements, public oaths. And you say why? Why is the Bible silent on this issue? Oaths and vows and rituals and ceremonies are numerous in the Bible, but marriage oaths and ceremonies are conspicuous by their absence. Well, why?Because what is Jesus saying marriage is? He's saying the man shall leave his father and mother, leaving a household. I'm going to start my own family. And then you hold fast to your wife and two shall become one. So in a sense, sexual union is marriage properly defined. Betrothal or spousal is actually an agreement or covenant pertaining to the marriage, not marriage itself. Such agreements, however, are presented in the Bible in covenantal terms. So the sexual union to becoming one is the consummation of the covenant made with God and one another, what God has joined together. You're recognizing we are under the eyes of God. God before the foundation of the world has predestined us to come together. We're recognizing, we're making a covenant to God and we're making a covenant with one another before the eyes of God. The reason why we hold marriage ceremony in the church is for the church to come alongside of the couple and hold them accountable to the covenant made.Because why make the covenant? Because you are anticipating moments where you will be tempted to break the covenant, that's why you make it. And you need the church to come alongside you and say, "We were there, we were witnesses, we heard the vows. You are one and you are one for life." In Genesis 1:26-28, we find God creating man and woman and blessing them with the words, be fruitful and multiply. And this was in essence the betrothal of Adam and Eve by their father. And there was no question here of any ceremony or ritual to solemnized or authorize their union, only the authoritative command of God that you have been joined together. Moreover, the Apostle Paul in the New Testament explicitly interprets the phrase one flesh as sexual relations. And while many have rightly pointed out that the phrase is not restricted to sexual relations, but includes the whole personal relationship of man and wife, it's a very great error not to see that this is its core meaning and central focus.Look at 1 Corinthians 6:16, "Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.'" So Paul uses Genesis 2:24 to argue for the permanence of the union created by sexual intercourse even with prostitutes. So meaning the commencement of sexual relations begins a marriage, because sex is a covenant making ceremony and covenant making and covenant renewal. And we live in a day and age where people just want to make the covenant, just act out the covenant and then never... I mean, not for the beginning. Think about what are we agreeing to? One regarding the building that we are purchasing, there's going to be a building plug in every sermon from now on until we raise $5 million or move into the building, and/or.I get the purchase and sale agreement from our lawyer and Adobe DocuSign, very tremendous. I get on my phone, I was actually at the gym getting into my truck right after working out and I was like, "Oh sweet, I get to sign a contract." I open it up, not reading a thing, not a thing. I mean, I kind of knew what was... The small letters I was not reading. And then it says, "Okay, there was a blue arrow, initial here, click and then you write the JV. And then sign here, I did the thing. And then you just go through a whole document and that part was so fun, it's so gratifying, so incredible. I'm just signing stuff. What am I signing? What am I signing? What am I agreeing to? There's a cost, obviously. I signed a contract. There's terms, there's an agreement, I know exactly the cost involved in this... And that's a contract. A contract is so much less important than a covenant. A covenant is before the watchful eyes of God.So when people are just going around doing it, what are you doing? What are you promising to the other person? And there is something happening on a spiritual level that you can't even make sense of. So if you are going to consummate the covenant, you just got to be really, really clear on what it is. So therefore sex is sacred and should be not treated as profane. And if we have not made a covenant with God that He has joined us together, then we must not join together.And in biblical scripture this is how they viewed marriage. If you think about Jacob and Leah, the story of Jacob and Leah. He married Rachel, worked a long time for her and then goes to sleep. And then there's that fateful verse and he wakes up in the morning and it wasn't Rachel, it was Leah. And does he go to Laban and say, "No, we didn't have a ceremony, therefore we're not married. You tricked me." No, he realized what happened. We're married, I'm married to her. And this is how scripture presents a marriage. A marriage is a covenant. Virtually every reference in the Bible to covenant shows them to be a weighty matter and that the evidence is overwhelming.In Genesis 2:24, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast his wife and they shall become one flesh." So this verse imputes a legal covenantal significance to their coming together physically. And this is actually how scripture talks about God's relationship with His people. Ezekiel 16:8, for example, God says, "When I pass by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into covenant with you, declares the Lord God and you became mine." So man shall leave his father and mother, he's leaving one family to start his own. And then with the wife, they're joined together and he says, "What therefore God joined together, let no man separate."For the idea that God brings man and wife together, it's an idea. The phrase here is yoke me. That God in a sense yokes mates together, puts a yoke on them and says, "You together now are going in this direction." And it displays the idea of mates predestined for each other from the beginning of the world. Someone recently asked me, "Do you believe that God predestined people to get married?" I say, "Yeah, of course, of course." If God predestined people to salvation before the foundation of the world, then he certainly predestines how they are created and by whom and through what means.When I met my wife, I met her in Philadelphia at church and I tell everyone was love at first sight. And that's the romantic way to look at it. The theological way is I knew she's the one that I was predestined to marry before the foundation of the world. How did I know? I knew. And so that's part of choosing a mate. You pray and you say, "God, whom have you predestined for me?" And what God has joined together we are not to separate. And so Christ is refuting divorce on demand. He's also refuting making covenants on demand without thinking about it.Point two, and this brings us to adultery. Adultery is breaching of the marital covenant. In the house, the disciples ask for clarification in verse 10, in the house of the disciples asked him again about this matter, meaning they were puzzled like the teaching of Jesus was so radical, it's almost like they've never heard it before. It's like how did you not hear this clear teaching of scripture? Because the teaching was presented by Pharisees who wanted the loophole of divorce on demand. So the teachings of scripture, which are normative, this is how things should be, weren't normal. They weren't normal at that time. And this was the pattern in all of Israel. When people would move away from the law, they moved away from what's normative. And then what was normal was just sin and consequences of a debased mind.So verse 11, "And he said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.'" And what word best describes the violation of the marital bond than adultery? And that's why Jesus uses the word for adultery to explain the breaking of that covenant. And Matthew 5, Jesus gives us more comments on this. Verse 31, "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Note what Jesus asserts, that such a man causes his wife to commit adultery. If he divorces her for non-biblical grounds for anything other than adultery, he causes her to commit adultery.Now note first what Jesus simply presupposes. He presupposes that the woman in question will remarry. Else there would be no adultery to speak of. And secondly, Jesus clearly places the guilt of the adultery upon the man who divorces his wife without valid grounds. And though the woman and her new husband commit the act, the guilt of the adultery, the violation of the one flesh bond is imputed to the divorcing husband. He, the divorcing husband, is declared to be the cause of adultery. And the wife who remarries in such a situation and the man who marries her are not imputed with the guilt of adultery. And the law of God always distinguishes between a perpetrator of sin and a victim of sin. A wife who is unjustly divorced by an unrepentant husband is a victim and would be permanently victimized and consigned to a life of singleness if she were required to remain unmarried. So Jesus clearly imputes to the divorcing husband as the causative agent of the adultery guilt thereof.In Matthew 19:9, in the parallel passage it says, "And I say to, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery." And the word for sexual immorality in the Greek is pornea. And what's happening here is this exception, this clause, sexual immorality, is the parallel to the indecency language in Deuteronomy 24. That for adultery, if a married woman commits adultery, that act of adultery, that word is used to describe the severing of the one covenant with her first husband.Adultery is the transgression of the seventh commandment and it is punishable by death. But sometimes divorce was the chosen path. If you remember like with Joseph, and this is how God speaks of his relationship with even Israel. That Israel deserved execution, capital punishment. God should have wiped them off the face of the earth, but God had mercy on them. So instead of execution for their spiritual adultery, idolatry, he gave Israel a certificate of divorce in Isaiah 50, "Thus says the Lord, 'Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold for your iniquities, you were sold and for your transgression your mother was sent away.'" And the conquest and exile of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria is allegorically characterized by God as a bill of divorcement. For what? For adultery.In Jeremiah 3:8 he makes that explicit, "She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and played the whore." So divorce in God's law is not just permitted, but sometimes it is a manifestation of God's holiness and wrath against sin. And since divorce is a manifestation of God's holiness and God calls his people to be holy for I am holy, it follows by good and necessary consequence from this that God's example of divorcing his wife for the cause of adultery was normative and the lawful basis and redress on a human level. And that was His grace. It was His grace. They deserved execution, He didn't give them that. Execution was not the only lawful means of dealing with adultery.So adultery is a breach of the marriage covenant and divorce is confirmation of that breach. It was allowed for God by God not as a concession but as a consequence for sin. Verse 12, "And she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." In Exodus it says that the failure to provide for the wife on the part of the man constitutes a breach of the one flesh covenant as well and by implication that includes extreme offenses such as physical abuse. But groundless divorce itself constitutes adultery, because adultery is the breaking of the covenant."Pastor Jan, we are seeking a divorce. What do you think?" I had this conversation recently. I said, "Why? What are the biblical grounds?" "Well, I think God wants us to be happy and we'll be happier apart from each other." God's primary will is not your happiness. It's not my happiness. God's primary will for you is your obedience and your obedience of faith. And with that obedience, God gives us the power of the Holy Spirit to be obedient and fills your heart with joy. Now the fact that we made the covenant husband and wife, made the covenant, your covenant together that no matter the season, no matter what happened, we're going to stay together, because it's God's will. This is God's will. We confirmed it's God's will and we made that vow.And then point three is, God loves humanity, therefore Jesus loves children. So marriage and heterosexual sex are inextricably linked with the divine gift of children. And indeed in Genesis 1:28, God's first blessing on humanity after he created the male and female is be fruitful and multiply. And it's no accident that our passage in which Jesus traces the institution of marriage back to the beginning of creation is immediately followed by His blessing of children. So having proclaimed the permanence of marriage, Jesus now turns to the related theme of children on natural progression.And this is partially why God has designed marriage the way He has and sex the way He has so that there's never any question on who's the father. One of the greatest epidemics in our culture and in the world in general is the epidemic of fatherlessness. Where children growing up not knowing who their father is or not having a father in the house. The reason why God designed it is so that children would not be brought up that way with so much pain. And Mark 10:13, "And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child shall not enter it.'"The main Old Testament background to the saying of entering the dominion of God is the image of the Israelites as they were poised on the brink of entering the Promised Land, but they didn't believe God. And then God tells them, "Your children who today do not know right from wrong, they shall enter there." And Jesus makes it an emphasis that the only way to enter the kingdom of God is to receive it. And in scripture, people frequently enter into action that was prepared for them by another. Others have labored and you have entered into their kingdom. So when He says enter the dominion of God, he's saying enter into the work of God. He's prepared the kingdom. And little children are the model of how people enter the kingdom.That God bestows the kingdom upon the low, upon the helpless, upon those who can do nothing to gain entrance. And entrance into the kingdom of God is not something which can be earned or gained, because of the basis of human merit. As one commentator aptly put it, to receive the kingdom is to allow oneself to be given it. We see Jesus revealing his heart. And that's the heart of a father, because he knows God the Father, he knows God the Father's heart. He welcomes the children, He takes them in His arms, He blesses them, He hugs them, and He loves them. In Malachi 2:13-16, all these themes are summarized by the following and the Lord God says, "And this second thing you do, you cover the Lord's altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.""But you say, 'Why does he not?' Because the Lord was witnessed between you and the wife of your youth to whom you have been faithless. Though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did He not make them one with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. 'For the man who does not love his wife, but divorces her,' says the Lord God of Israel, 'covers his garment with violence,' says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless." The Lord Jesus Christ knew what his teaching was doing as He was explicating the commandments of God. He knows exactly what was happening. That the straight edge of the sword of God's commandments was piercing the hearts of the listeners.And that's exactly what regeneration is. Regeneration is when you hear the word of God, when you hear the law of God and you feel in your heart how much you have transgressed the holy, pure law of God. It's like the commandment goes down into your heart, pierces it, and that's exactly what it's supposed to do. The more precise, the sharper the edge of the sword, the more clean the incision. And then what does God do? He gives us a heart transplant. He takes the hard heart of stone and He removes it and replaces it with a heart that's tender toward God, tender toward the people He calls us to love.Ezekiel 11:19, "And I will give them one heart and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them and they shall be my people and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God." So today, however you're feeling about this message or the subject matter, if you are feeling condemnation or shame or guilt, or if you are feeling the stirring of the Holy Spirit, calling you to repentance, calling you to ever greater levels of holiness, just know that's the Lord working in you.Here I want to read 1 Corinthians 6, and as Paul deals with this subject matter, I want to put the emphasis on the fact that he's speaking to Christians. He's speaking to people who were saved out of this worldly idea of what it means to be a man, a woman, sexuality, et cetera. And he says, "Such were some of you," were. Such were some of you.So 1 Corinthians 6:9, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both one and the other.""The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your are bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we're part of the church, the bride of Christ. That's why the new building is a ballroom. And I like that idea, because we're the bride of Christ and Jesus is going to... We're going to dance with Jesus following His lead. He's going to lead us. How did Jesus choose His bride? Did He choose His bride for her beauty? Did He choose us because of our purity and holiness? Did He choose us because we were lovely? Did He choose us for our godliness? No. God chose His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And we, the bride of Christ, we've all been unfaithful to the Lord.Therefore, in the covenant we make with Christ, it's now we who spill the blood of virginity, it's He who spills the blood to redeem us. And Jesus Christ loved the church, not because she was lovely, but because He is loving and He gave himself up for her to save her and to make her lovely. He forgives us and redeems us and makes a covenant with us. And then what does He do? He begins to sanctify the church.And in Ephesians 5 says that He does so by cleansing the church, cleansing His bride by the washing of water with the word. I love that picture. That's how I view my job. I view my job as I am here to wash you with the water of the word. And some texts feel like I've got a power washer. Have you ever seen those videos on power washing? They're very satisfying. I can watch those things for a long time. Power washing videos, all the mildew coming off the house. And I used to do that as a kid. I used to paint with my dad, he's got a painting business, and my job was the power washing, because it takes a lot of work. And I remember as a 13-year-old kid, I'm on the 40-foot ladder at the very top trying to hold the power wash. But it's so strong that it's blowing you off.That's what we need sometimes. That there's sin, that there's cobwebs, that there's mildew of sin in us. And the Lord has given us His word and He cleanses us by the washing of water with the word. Why? So that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.So today, if you have felt the sharp edge of the commandment of God coming down upon you, because of commandment number seven or whatever commandment, and we've broken commandment seven, because we broke commandment number one. What's commandment number one? Thou shall have no other gods before me. If we have other gods before God, either ourselves or someone else, well of course we're going to shirk the other commandments. So if you felt the commandments of God coming down on you, revealing sin, revealing that we're all transgressors today, look to the cross of Christ.Look and see the covenantal love of Christ as His blood is pouring down in order to redeem us and save us. And as you repent of your sin, receive the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe that you have been forgiven, purified, sanctified, as pure as snow. And then receive this promise from the Lord Jesus Christ that He is speaking to you. And this promise will satisfy your soul with a love that you will never experience from another human being. Receive this promise. I will never leave you nor forsake you. He proved it on the cross. That's true. He's faithful. Then He calls us to follow him.Let us pray. Lord God, we thank you for this word and we thank you for this time together. We thank you Holy Spirit, that you are with us and you are ministering to us. Lord, if our hearts are broken, mend them. If our hearts are hardened, soften them. If our hearts have grown tepid toward you and toward your word today, Lord, set our hearts on fire so that we will be people of God seeking holiness in absolutely every area of life, including the most intimate ones. We pray all this in the beautiful name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
In Jeremiah 3 God is explaining why the people's lack of guilt and shame has been a problem to the relationship. We noticed in our last lesson that God expects us to experience guilt and shame so that we will have clarity about what we have done, be genuine about our sin which then will […] The post Hope From Guilt and Shame (Jeremiah 3:19-4:4) appeared first on Biblical Truths from West Palm Beach church of Christ.
It's Monday, January 22nd, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Muslims in Sudan, Africa set fire to church On Friday, January 12th, Muslim extremists from the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group formerly operated by the Government of Sudan, set a church building on fire in Wad Medani, Sudan, reports Morning Star News. The blaze destroyed Bibles, hymnbooks, important documents and chairs in the building. A pastor said Christians in Sudan fear they are being increasingly targeted. The Rapid Support Forces has killed civilians, raped women and girls, and looted homes and shops since taking control of the state in December. In Matthew 10:22-23, Jesus said, “You will be hated by everyone because of Me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another.” In the Open Doors' 2024 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Sudan now ranks #8, up from #10 the previous year. Trump: Nikki Haley “has no chance” Appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox News talk show, former president Donald Trump said that Nikki Haley doesn't have a chance of winning the New Hampshire primary tomorrow. TRUMP: “She's not going to make it. She has no chance. She's got no way. MAGA – [Make America Great Again] -- is not going to be with her.” Hannity discussed why he thought the New Hampshire GOP primary was unfair. HANNITY: “I don't like their primary system for one reason. They have what's called an open primary. Already we know that nearly 4,000 Democratic voters have switched affiliation to Republican or undeclared, meaning independent, ahead of the primary, according to the Secretary of State's office. “Even [Republican] Governor [Chris] Sununu, not a friend of yours, told our own Neil Cavuto, that it's troubling that many of these people that will switch as Democrats and vote in the Republican primary, that, when push comes to shove, that they would choose Biden in the end over any Republican.” TRUMP: “So Democrats are allowed to vote. They're gonna vote for her because they don't want to run against me. They want to run against her. … We are leading Biden in every poll. Michigan just came out -- we're leading by 11. Georgia just came out -- we're leading by 13 points. We're leading everywhere now.” Nikki Haley: Trump lost the House, the Senate, & White House On January 18th, Nikki Haley spoke with reporters in New Hampshire about targeting Trump, reports RealClearPolitics.com. HALEY: “We were focused on DeSantis in Iowa. We're no longer focused on him. It's Trump in New Hampshire and Trump in South Carolina. “Trump says things. Americans aren't stupid to just believe what he says. The reality is, who lost the House for us? Who lost the Senate? Who lost the White House? Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump. Nikki Haley will win every single one of those back for us. I've proven that. So. he can say whatever he wants.” Tens of thousands participate in annual March for Life Tens of thousands of pro-lifers braved the snow and the frigid cold on Friday, January 19th to participate in the nation's capital for the 51st annual March for Life, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Check out a link to a time-lapse video which shows the impressive size of the turnout at www.TheWorldview.com. Pro-lifers from across America gathered at the National Mall and marched a 2-mile route to a concluding spot between the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Supreme Court, celebrating the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade and building on that victory by urging Congress to take further action. Former NFL player Benjamin Watson explained that even though Roe v. Wade was overturned, there is a lot of pro-life work yet to be done. WATSON: “I've been calling the period of time we're in right now, the New Fight for Life. “Roe is done, but we still live in a culture that knows not how to care for life. Roe is done, but the factors that drive women to seek abortions are ever apparent and ever increasing. Roe is done, but abortion is still legal and thriving in too much of America. Roe is done, but, even so, in the cold and the snow, you have continued to travel from around the nation to this place to recognize that the Fight for Life is not over. “God's Word challenges us in the book of Micah ‘to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly before our God.' I believe that this is the essence of what it means to be with every woman and for every child.” Jeanne Mancini, the President of March for Life, explained what a woman facing a crisis pregnancy really needs. MANCINI: “Studies have shown that 60% of women who choose abortion would have chosen life if they felt that they had more support. And not only that, but one in four women who choose abortion are coerced to have that abortion. “What does a woman most need when she is facing an unexpected pregnancy? She doesn't need fear mongering. She doesn't need shame. What she needs to hear is ‘You've got this' and ‘I will help you.'” And House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana shared a personal story. JOHNSON: “I am, myself, a product of an unplanned pregnancy. In January of 1972, exactly one year before Roe v. Wade, my parents, who were just teenagers at the time, chose life. And I am very profoundly grateful that they did. (Cheers) “We have to build a culture that encourages and assists more and more people to make that same decision. This is a critical time to help all moms who are facing unplanned pregnancies, to work with foster children, and to help families who are adopting to volunteer and assist our vital pregnancy resource centers, in our maternity homes and to reach out a renewed hand of compassion and to speak the truth and love. That's what we do.” In Jeremiah 1:5, God says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Texas begins arresting, charging illegal immigrants And finally, Texas authorities began arresting illegal immigrants at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass on Wednesday after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defied a cease-and-desist letter sent by the Biden administration, reports The Epoch Times. The arrests were announced by Lieutenant Chris Olivarez at the Texas Department of Public Safety on X, formerly Twitter, complete with photos and videos. Lieutenant Olivarez said single adult migrant men and women were taken into state custody and charged with criminal trespassing under Governor Greg Abbott's new state law, which allows police to arrest and charge people suspected of entering the country illegally. Close And that's The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Monday, January 22nd in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.
Fr. Mike expands on our reading today from Proverbs about the need to guard our speech toward one another. In Jeremiah, we see the final wave of destruction of Jerusalem and the events that followed. Today's readings are Jeremiah 39-40, Judith 10-11, and Proverbs 17:9-12. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Fr. Mike explains the significance behind the mention of bones in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In Jeremiah, we learn that the bones of God's people are scattered because of their worship of false gods. In Ezekiel, we see the prophet prophesy over the valley of dry bones and the Lord's Spirit restoring and moving within them. Today's readings are Jeremiah 8, Ezekiel 37-38, and Proverbs 14:33-35. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
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