Podcasts about jews god

Delivered by Vici from tha Parish of John the Baptist in the Archdiocese of Jakarta, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 2: 36-41; Rs psalm 33: 4-5.18-19.20.22; John 20: 11-18ACTSOF FAITH  Thetitle of our meditation today is: Acts of Faith. When we express or reveal afact of an event that already happened, the responses from our audience are notalways yes and not always no. There is usually a response of acceptance andagreement. There is also a response of rejection and disagreement. Anotherresponse would be neither welcome nor rejection. It is a no response attitude,the one that is undecided or just a playing safe position. In other words, whenwe make a preference and decision, we cannot please and satisfy all around us. WhenHe was still alive, Jesus was not accepted by many people. He taught that thissame experience of His will be faced by His followers also, from the time ofthe apostles until our time. The first sermon of the Apostle Peter and otherdisciples should be seen in this context. Today we put ourselves in the contextof the apostolic teaching on the day of Pentecost, where we see people whoagreed and accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The highlight of the teachingis in what Peter addressed the Jews: God has made Jesus, whom you crucified, tobe Lord and Christ. A very particular response of the Jews who heard thissermon, was that their hearts were deeply moved. Then they asked what shouldthey do. Theyunderstood the teaching. Their minds should had been in line with the minds ofthe apostles and disciples. Understanding is supposed to support feeling andemotion, then finally constitutes the concept of faith. The apostles played therole of caring and preserving this beginning of faith. People's openness ofheart and mind was the fertile soil for the growing of true faith. The acts offaith that followed were the repentance of sin, the baptism in the name ofJesus Christ as the element of forgiveness, and the outpouring gift of the HolySpirit. Inthis context of the first sermon on the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are actuallymeditating our fundamental response as believers. In the life of the Church asit was from the beginning, this reminds us of the first three sacraments ofinitiation, namely baptism, holy eucharist, and confirmation. They are theinitial and fundamental stages of Christian life. Aswe listen and accept the word of God, we are bound to the direction of lifethat the Lord points out. The one who is in this context of experience, he isprepared for the baptism that brings him to meet and see the Lord personally.He is given a special name, like the risen Jesus who called "Mary" byname. This is actually the reflection of how we receive the Holy Communionwhere we touch the Lord personally and bring Him into ourselves. Our life iscontinually strengthened and renewed through the outpouring of the Holy Spiritin all acts of faith, from the moment of our Confirmation.Let's pray. In thename of the Father ... O Lord Jesus Christ, may we not escape from recognizingYou directly and firmly through the preaching of Your word every day. Hail Maryfull of grace ... In the name of the Father ...

Dystopian Creep :: Trumps forbidden words :: Free Speech except against Jews :: God talks tro Sarah about traffic lights :: Beavers for president 2028 :: Rolling back MMJ legalization? :: 2025-02-09 :: Lori, Rich E Rich, Riley

Dystopian Creep :: Trumps forbidden words :: Free Speech except against Jews :: God talks tro Sarah about traffic lights :: Beavers for president 2028 :: Rolling back MMJ legalization? :: 2025-02-09 :: Lori, Rich E Rich, Riley

What Biblical group was the origin of the present-day Jewish Orthodoxy?  What did Yeshua have to say about this group? Why does President Trump want the Gulf, the Canal, and Greenland?  What would be involved in making America the crypto/bitcoin capital of the world as he promises?  Why would Christians never have to vote again if they vote for him in 2024?  Do mRNA vaxxes alter one's DNA?  Are the LA fires an anomaly of unfortunate circumstances or a design for globalist stack n' packs?  What's the good news from Israel?  Please join me as the world morphs at an increasing pace.   Israel Origin of phylacteries and mazuzot:  https://www.rabbimichaelsamuel.com/re-paganizing-phylacteries-and-mezuzah-an-example-of-retrogressive-religion-magic/ Are the residents of Israel who call themselves Jews “God's Chosen People”?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN5lvSoICOI DNA home kits in Israel? NO!  (please stop vid at 0:14 for map of his DNA, he originates from area above Black and Caspian Seas, migrates to Europe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJypUyVP8nI To black Hebrews from Africa in Israel - do you want to be an ancient Israelite or a Jew? (goofy graphics, please overlook):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I8THETu1nI Haplo Group HV1b2 originate north of Black/Caspian Seas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_H_(mtDNA) 2 million Jews flee Israel: https://youtu.be/XS5opFKoh7M?si=-Gl9fqgWjBSIL4nW Good News from Israel!  The gospel is moving forward like never before!!: https://youtu.be/Uxkp3-1cX2w?si=2BVSezl-a5Y3Xn7b German clergy member assaulted by settlers in Jerusalem: https://youtube.com/shorts/WF1dHlwOs1Y?si=nENML4bIcgst5Bxw How does Israel treat Christians in Israel/Gaza?  Very heartfelt interview with pastor from Bethlehem.: https://youtu.be/eHayOkXe5ig?si=lTNomlS6rEcEYkW5 Israeli journalist in hiding after questioning Gaza: https://youtu.be/Lm1-ewKZgps?si=pUEWgPBZYL4L7Nak “Antisemitic is a trick we use” when we don't want to hear criticism: https://youtu.be/D0kWAqZxJVE?si=oW3pdJmo9IXmVXtA   Israel's Wars Zionist project having trouble dominating the world?: https://www.brighteon.com/a17bdfa7-da93-4957-8aa5-4560dba78b4d German holocaust survivor on Gaza holocaust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxLtxX7kPcU&t=14s Former IDF soldier accuses IDF of being a terrorist organization in Gaza: https://youtu.be/e6Wv_6zrByE?si=Ro26ntMfzwUayS4C   Trump Second Presidency Who is Peter Thiel?:  https://needtoknow.news/2024/07/peter-thiel-is-the-man-behind-trumps-vp-pick-and-its-worse-than-you-think/ Peter Thiel, the man behind VP Vance, unable to answer a question re AI or the IDF: https://youtu.be/q1asavnl_o8?si=Gj_7d3CXSlXtrSc4 Will USA fight Iran for Israel?: https://youtube.com/shorts/xDhJuQMSYXU?si=E4HrOCFociu3vV-f Is US taxpayer funding Netanyahu's wars?: https://youtube.com/shorts/QNll_OAA520?si=fYDnUxH5mk9z7orA Trump gathers much of western hemisphere to usher in NWO technology? (WEF – “you'll have to WEAR something”: https://www.technocracy.news/is-trump-pursuing-technocracys-dream-to-create-the-great-american-technate/ Trump chooses John Ratcliffe as new CIA Director: https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/politics/john-ratcliffe-cia-director/index.html Is the new CIA Director, Ratcliffe, safe in his new position?: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7-Hw9tmnAM8 Will Trump usher in Noahide Laws?: https://christianobserver.net/trump-to-usher-in-the-7-noahide-laws-one-world-religion/ Noahide laws: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg93bzIkmqQ Archbishop Vigano warns Trump re “reset” desired by globalist elites: https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/archbishop-warns-trump-about-great-reset-plot-by-global-elites-to-usher-in-new-world-order/ Will Trump bring in NWO (2026 article, but has he changed?)?: https://endofinnocence.com/trump-is-nwo/ Trump's picks for cabinet indicate Zionist-dominated America?:  https://www.brighteon.

If you encounter someone who wants to talk about God, odds are that person isn't Jewish. Why? I am talking to a friend of mine about his experience on various dating sites. He tells me that from time to time, he will come across a profile that seems promising. And then, right there in the first paragraph, the woman will write: “Must love God.” As he scrolls down a little further, he sees that she is a Christian – and that she inevitably describes her politics as “conservative.” “I don't get it,” he says to me. “Why is it that anyone who writes ‘must love God' is always Christian? I'm Jewish. I love God. Do these people think that only Christians love God? And since when does ‘must love God' mean ‘must be a Christian – and of a particular kind and political persuasion?'” That was the question that led me into a conversation with Professor Arnold Eisen, one of American Judaism's most esteemed thinkers and personalities. From 2006 to 2020, he served as the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America – the flagship academic institution of Conservative Judaism – where he was only the second non-rabbi to serve in that post. He is an author of many books, and a cherished teacher and public intellectual.

Full version. I talk about the Jews because "Jew" is mentioned three hundred times in the Bible, more that baptism, born again, heaven, or hell. Warning to Pastors who invert the Holy Scriptures.  Pastors who call Jews "God's chosen" are completely inverting what Jesus said John 8:44, Rev 3:9 and elsewhere. The Right Reverend Judas Iscariot was called and chosen by Jesus Christ and he sided with the Jews. Never side with the Jews. Fritz Berggren, PhD www.bloodandfaith.com

The world has watched with dismay at Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza which has claimed more than 42,000 Gazan lives. Israel's genocidal killing of thousands of innocents, deprivation of critical medical supplies and daily necessities, and wholesale destruction of virtually the entire enclave has drawn widespread international condemnation. Most of all, Israel's actions are in violation of Jesus' laws of love, mercy and forgiveness. Will Israel repent of it's evil against the Gazans? If not, it is almost certain that Israel will have to face the judgements of God. Antisemitism? - Or Fair Criticism? https://youtu.be/V1utU05jG8U   Should Christians Support Israel's Response To Hamas' Attack? https://youtu.be/rDY41jcwyOA   Are the Jews God's Chosen People? https://youtu.be/m7K-M78FoH8   Israel and Palestine - A Biblical Solution https://youtu.be/MWSR9dPSan8   Why Israel and Hamas Are At War https://youtu.be/Q3kQp-VjsyI   Web page: https://www.thebiblemadeeasypodcast.com/   Visualised versions available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-UvBQ-vszZPVg3JzudQdPA   Audio versions also available on: Podbean | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Audible | iHeartRadio | Stitcher   Email: biblemadeeasypodcast@gmail.com   Support this project via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BibleMadeEasyPodcast   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BibleMadeEasyPodcast   Online Bible: https://www.biblegateway.com/   Online Audio Bible: https://podcasts.tfionline.com/en/collection/the-bible/?fbclid=IwAR2s691ixB-r38UetjZzeSypMjNrVAhS8rs-KLtEPD_G28MbCp6yJ80lIQI   Bible App: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/   Intro/Outro music: Timmoor (Tymur Khakimov) https://pixabay.com/da/music/optimistisk-calm-commercial-business-corporate-2398/

Today's Gospel installment- 08-26-24--Text- Romans 9 vs 14-24--Sermon Titles- 1..The Potter's freedom, 2..For this very PURPOSE I raised you, 3..Is there any unrighteousness with God-- --1..Many who profess Christ have NOT yet bowed down as to agree with God about how He determined to do things.. --2.And this is the MOST EVIDENT when it comes to His sovereignty, especially in salvation.. --3..They have objections to God's way.. And through the rejection of the gospel by the Jews God set to declare WHY ultimately a person is saved or why they reject the gospel..--4..Many in our day, unfortunately even in the professed reformed and sovereign grace circles exert effort to blame the sinner in this matter... But to stop there is clearly to remove the offense of Romans 9 teaching, and ultimately to preach another God, Jesus and gospel..--5..In Romans 9, God sets Himself as the ONLY ULTIMATE CAUSE of whether one is saved or not saved..--6..And He puts forth the naked offense that the reprobate is not so because of their behavior, poor or bad upbringing.. It is NOT EVEN A FACTOR IN HIS DETERMINATION..--7..THIS in the language of Romans 9, happened before they had done neither good nor evil that His purpose in election would stand..--8..And the objections that were raised implied the presumed hearer had understood the points of argument..--9..And the questions to be raised in objection are- If God reprobates and condemns for ultimately nothing wrong that a person did and had no power to change, also seeing that God had the ability to save all, why then does He still find fault-- --10..And if He does that, does that mean He is unrighteous as some will conclude-- --11..Well, God answer

Today's Gospel installment- 08-26-24--Text- Romans 9 vs 14-24--Sermon Titles- 1..The Potter's freedom, 2..For this very PURPOSE I raised you, 3..Is there any unrighteousness with God-- --1..Many who profess Christ have NOT yet bowed down as to agree with God about how He determined to do things.. --2.And this is the MOST EVIDENT when it comes to His sovereignty, especially in salvation.. --3..They have objections to God's way.. And through the rejection of the gospel by the Jews God set to declare WHY ultimately a person is saved or why they reject the gospel..--4..Many in our day, unfortunately even in the professed reformed and sovereign grace circles exert effort to blame the sinner in this matter... But to stop there is clearly to remove the offense of Romans 9 teaching, and ultimately to preach another God, Jesus and gospel..--5..In Romans 9, God sets Himself as the ONLY ULTIMATE CAUSE of whether one is saved or not saved..--6..And He puts forth the naked offense that the reprobate is not so because of their behavior, poor or bad upbringing.. It is NOT EVEN A FACTOR IN HIS DETERMINATION..--7..THIS in the language of Romans 9, happened before they had done neither good nor evil that His purpose in election would stand..--8..And the objections that were raised implied the presumed hearer had understood the points of argument..--9..And the questions to be raised in objection are- If God reprobates and condemns for ultimately nothing wrong that a person did and had no power to change, also seeing that God had the ability to save all, why then does He still find fault-- --10..And if He does that, does that mean He is unrighteous as some will conclude-- --11..Well, God answer

Today's Gospel installment: 08/26/24Text: Romans 9 vs 14-24Sermon Titles: 1..The Potter's freedom, 2..For this very PURPOSE I raised you, 3..Is there any unrighteousness with God? 1..Many who profess Christ have NOT yet bowed down as to agree with God about how He determined to do things.. 2.And this is the MOST EVIDENT when it comes to His sovereignty, especially in salvation.. 3..They have objections to God's way.. And through the rejection of the gospel by the Jews God set to declare WHY ultimately a person is saved or why they reject the gospel..4..Many in our day, unfortunately even in the professed reformed and sovereign grace circles exert effort to blame the sinner in this matter... But to stop there is clearly to remove the offense of Romans 9 teaching, and ultimately to preach another God, Jesus and gospel..5..In Romans 9, God sets Himself as the ONLY ULTIMATE CAUSE of whether one is saved or not saved..6..And He puts forth the naked offense that the reprobate is not so because of their behavior, poor or bad upbringing.. It is NOT EVEN A FACTOR IN HIS DETERMINATION..7..THIS in the language of Romans 9, happened before they had done neither good nor evil that His purpose in election would stand..8..And the objections that were raised implied the presumed hearer had understood the points of argument..9..And the questions to be raised in objection are: If God reprobates and condemns for ultimately nothing wrong that a person did and had no power to change, also seeing that God had the ability to save all, why then does He still find fault? 10..And if He does that, does that mean He is unrighteous as some will conclude? 11..Well, God answer

Talk 35   Mark 11:11-33 (continued)       The Cursing of the Fig Tree Welcome to Talk 35 in our series on Mark's Gospel. Today we're continuing to look at Mark 11:11-33. As we said last time, there are two interrelated stories interwoven in this passage – the cursing of the fig tree and the so-called ‘cleansing' of the temple. I suggested that Jesus' actions were not really a cleansing (i.e. to make it fit for purpose), but rather an enacted parable declaring the beginning of the end of worship in the temple which was soon to be destroyed. It was to be replaced by a new temple, not one made with human hands, but a living temple made up of God's people the church. If you have not already heard that talk, I encourage you to do so, as it is closely connected with this one.   Today we'll be considering the significance of Jesus' cursing of the fig tree and I'm going to suggest that this too was an enacted parable. So let's begin by reading Mark 11, starting at verse 11.   Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. 12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.   Then we have the story of Jesus clearing out the temple, so now, jumping to verse 20:   20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."   So what can we learn from this story? I'm going to deal with this under three headings: ·      Lessons about Israel ·      Lessons about Jesus ·      Lessons about us. The subject of Israel and its future is one over which Christians are often disagreed. I hesitate to deal with it because of the strong opinions held on the subject. But I'm going to address it,   (1)   because I want to be faithful to the text of Scripture, (2)   because of what's going on in Israel at the moment, (3)   because so many Christians are preoccupied with that.     Lessons about Israel If I am right in saying that Jesus' actions in clearing the temple were a kind of enacted parable declaring the end of temple worship, the question naturally arises, is the cursing of the fig tree also an enacted parable signifying God's rejection of Israel? I'm going to give you three reasons why I think it is:   1 God himself likens Israel to a fig tree (Hosea 9:10) When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree (something exceptional and wonderful). But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol...   In Mark 11 Jesus is looking for early fruit on a fig tree but finding none. So he curses it. In Hosea, God is saying that at the beginning Israel had been a delight to him, something rare and precious, like grapes in the desert or like early fruit on a fig tree, but now they had forsaken him and had followed idols. (Compare v1 where he calls them Unfaithful).   2 Jesus' parables clearly indicate God's rejection of Israel In Mark 12:1-12, (the very next chapter) Jesus tells the parable of the tenants. A man plants a vineyard and rents it to some farmers and then goes on a journey. At harvest time he sends a servant to get some fruit from the vineyard. The tenants seize him and send him away empty-handed. He sends other servants, but they are all badly treated. Eventually he sends his son, and they kill his son. As a result, Jesus says, the owner of the vineyard will kill the tenants and give the vineyard to others.   This reminds us of Isaiah 5:1-7, where God describes Israel as a vineyard he has planted which only produces bad fruit and so will be destroyed. All this strongly suggests that the cursing of the fig tree is a picture of Israel's failure to please God by producing the fruit he is seeking. (Cf. also the parable of the fig tree in Luke 13:6-9).   3 The overall teaching of the New Testament. Paul teaches that the true Jew is not a person physically descended from Abraham, but anyone, whether Jew or Gentile, who has believed as Abraham believed. Consequently, it is not the Jewish nation, the state of Israel, that are the people of God, but the company of those who believe, the church, the body of Christ, whose members are, as we saw last time:    …a spiritual house …a holy priesthood …a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God …who are now the people of God (1 Peter 2:5, 9-10).   But where does that leave the nation of Israel today? Doesn't God still have a plan for Israel as a nation? Well, it all depends on how you interpret Romans, chapters 9-11. These chapters teach five things:     1. Not all Jews are God's children (9:6-8, 10:16) It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.   But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" (10:16)   2. It's only the believing remnant who are (9:27) Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.   Paul will say more about the remnant in chapter 11. But why aren't all Jews God's children? Because, whether we be Jew or Gentile, salvation is by faith.   3. Salvation is by faith (10:30-32) 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.   That's why he says in 10:1 that   4. The Israelites need to be saved (10:1) Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. It's not that they haven't heard the message. In verse 19 Paul says: Did they not hear? Of course they did   But sadly, Israel are a disobedient and obstinate people (21).   However, despite all this, Paul says that   5. God did not reject his people (11:1-2) I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew…   But what does Paul mean by God's people? (11:2-7)         But what does Paul mean by God's people? (11:2-7) From what follows in verses 2-7 it seems that's he's talking about what he calls a remnant. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah – how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"? 4 And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened…   (You may remember what Paul said in 9:27 – only the remnant will be saved.)   So, Paul begins by saying that God has not rejected his people (vv1-2). But who are his people? He refers to the story of Elijah where, despite the apostate condition of Israel as a whole, God had reserved for himself a remnant who had not bowed the knee to Baal. It's the believing remnant that are the true Israel. But what about the rest? Paul says that those who have fallen are not beyond recovery (v11). He hopes that by his ministry he may save some of them (14). He compares Israel to an olive tree and some of the branches (the unbelieving Jews) have been broken off, so that the Gentiles, a wild olive, might be grafted in. But God is able to graft the Jews in again if they do not persist in unbelief (v23). So, in the context, it is the Jews who believe who are God's people. The true Israel was never, not even in the Old Testament, the entire state of Israel, but the remnant chosen by grace who have not bowed the knee to Baal (11:1-10). So how does keep his promises to the Jewish nation? By grafting them back into the olive tree (which now contains Gentile branches) if they come to faith in Christ. In doing so, they become part of the true and much larger Israel, the people of God from every tribe and tongue and nation, who have trusted Christ in whom alone is salvation. So what does Paul mean when he says that All Israel shall be saved? (11:25-26) 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.   In the light of all that Paul has said again and again about the true Israel not being the physical descendants of Abraham but those who believe as Abraham believed, he cannot possibly mean that all Jews will be saved simply because they are Jewish. In my view, to be consistent with the clear teaching in the rest of the New Testament, God will fulfil his promises to Israel through the salvation of the believing remnant of the Jews along with the believing Gentiles who together comprise the true Israel. However, I acknowledge that many Christians believe that at some point in the (maybe not too distant) future, when the full number of the Gentiles has come in, many of the Jews will come to faith in Christ, through whom alone is salvation. But even if that is correct, it does not mean that at present Jewish people, or the nation of Israel are God's people. The true Israel is the company of all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile. So ultimately, All Israel will be saved finds its fulfilment in the fact that all those who believe in Jesus, and only those who believe in Jesus, whether Jews or Gentiles, will find salvation in him. These chapters do not teach that the citizens of the modern state of Israel are God's chosen people, and it's wrong to talk of them as though they were. But does this amount to antisemitism? Certainly not. Holding this view is no excuse for hatred of the Jews or for the terrible events of the holocaust. As Christians we are called to love the Jews, not because of the mistaken view that they are still God's chosen people, but because they, like us, are sinners for whom Christ died. But we should not love them any more than we love the Africans, the Americans, the Australians, or the Arabs for that matter. God loves the world… and so should we. So I encourage you to think on these things in the light of Scripture and not on the basis of preconceived ideas taught so dogmatically on some of the God channels. Lessons about Jesus   His humanity The first thing we notice in our passage is that Jesus was hungry (v12). This speaks to us of his humanity. As a man Jesus was subject to all the problems that we as humans face. He was God. He had created the universe. But he was hungry! In becoming one of us Jesus put himself in the position that he, the Creator, became dependent on his creation! What humility! What condescension!    And we find another aspect of his humanity in verse 13 where he went to find out if the fig tree had any fruit. Now it was early spring, at the time of the Passover. Mark tells us that he didn't find any because it was not yet the season for figs. However, it was in leaf and the figs would soon be appearing. In fact, as we've already seen from Hosea 9:10, sometimes there would be early fruit on a fig tree. And no doubt that's what Jesus was looking for. But he did not know if there would be any or not. He went to find out. Again, this speaks of the humanity of Jesus.   Although he was God – and God knows everything – when he came to earth he laid aside the use of his divine attributes. By limiting himself to a human body he could not possibly be omnipresent. Neither was he omniscient. He became as one of us. And yet he was still God! And our passage indicates that too.   His deity Yes, we see his deity as well as his humanity in this passage. This is revealed, not as you might expect, in the fact that he was able to wither the fig tree, but in his reason for doing so. Like Israel, it was failing to produce the fruit God was looking for. The miracle itself did not indicate his deity, because he tells his disciples in verse 23 that anyone who has faith can do the same. But Paul says in Colossians 1 that Christ is the ruler over all creation. All things were created by him and for him. The fig tree was created by Jesus and for Jesus, and if it wasn't bearing fruit for its Creator, there was no point to its existence!   Lessons about us   A lesson on fruitbearing Now, putting together what we've been saying so far, it follows that as the true Israel is the church, made up of all believing Jews and Gentiles, then God expects to find fruit in our lives too. This is a clear biblical principle. God expects the things he has created to fulfil the purpose for which he has created them.   This is what Jesus is teaching in the Parable of the Fig Tree, to which I referred earlier:   A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' (Luke 13:6-9).   And the same truth is illustrated in John 15 in the Parable of the Vine. The branches that don't bear fruit he cuts off (v2). And the fruit he is looking for is the fruit of the Spirit, especially love. If we're not bearing fruit for Jesus, there really is no point to our existence!   A lesson on faith It's interesting that the disciples didn't notice that the fig tree had withered until the day after Jesus had cursed it. And we don't know exactly when it withered. Obviously it was some time during that 24 hour period. Surely if it had happened immediately they would have noticed it.   In a way, it doesn't matter, because once Jesus had spoken the word, the tree was dead. The leaves, the symptoms of life, may have taken 24 hours to wither. This may be true of the problems we face too – the symptoms don't always vanish immediately. The proof of the power of Jesus' words may not have been evident at first, but Jesus himself doesn't even look to see if has withered. He has faith to believe that what he has said will come to pass, because he was always hearing what his Father had to say (John 5:19).   And he even says that we can do the same: Have faith in God, he says, I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.   Wow! What a promise! Is Jesus really saying that whatever you say will happen as long as you have faith and do not doubt? At first sight it certainly looks like it. But before we jump to that conclusion, we need to consider verse 25:   25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.   This seems to suggest that the promise about putting mountains in the sea is conditional on our right standing with God. If you're not prepared to forgive people, you're not in right standing with God. And if you're not, you won't have the faith that brings the answer to your prayers. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Psalm 66:18). Consider what Jesus says in the parable of the vine in John 15. The condition of answered prayer is our abiding in him.   And in 1 John 3:21-22 we're told: If our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God and receive anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.   But, returning to the promise in our passage, we need also to ask if it has ever been literally fulfilled in 2000 years of church history. And if not, why not? Has no one had enough faith? Or could it just be that God who put the mountains where they are doesn't want them put into the sea?   But if the promise has never been literally fulfilled, there are many testimonies of metaphorical mountains that he been put into the sea. And every time someone puts their trust in Christ as their saviour, the mountain of sin that separated them from God has been removed and buried in the deepest sea. So, a promise that has possibly never been fulfilled literally has been fulfilled millions of times spiritually. But that brings us to our final lesson:   A Lesson on God's Love We need to remember that all this took place a few days before Jesus died. He was about to face an enormous mountain – the mountain of our sins, of the sins of the whole world. He didn't have to face it. One word from him and Mount Calvary would be destroyed. And he was about to face another tree – the cross on which he died. He could have destroyed that too. He could have withered it like the fig tree. But instead of cursing it he chose to embrace it, and in the words of Galatians 3:13, to redeem us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us. And why did he do it? Because he loved us. And that's why he has the right to expect to find fruit in our lives. Are we really living for the purpose he created us? I know I want to be. Do you?

Morning Services- "The Chosen" Why were the Jews God's chosen people? What does it mean to be chosen? Scripture: Genesis 12:1-3; Ephesians 3:7-13

Are the Jews God's Chosen People? Does God grant the Jews and the modern nation of Israel special blessing and favour? Find out here. Today's Bible Verses: Genesis 12:1-2 Genesis 12:3 Deuteronomy 28 1 Peter 2:9 Luke 3:8 John 8 Galatians 3:28-29   Visualised versions available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DbKOfpCFfbs   On-line Audio Bible: https://podcasts.tfionline.com/en/collection/the-bible/   Online Bible: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201&version=ESV   Bible App: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BibleMadeEasyPodcast   Web page: https://www.thebiblemadeeasypodcast.com/   Available on: Podbean | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Audible | iHeartRadio | Stitcher | YouTube   Email: biblemadeeasypodcast@gmail.com   Support this project via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BibleMadeEasyPodcast   Intro/Outro Music: Timmoor (Tymur Khakimov) https://pixabay.com/da/music/optimistisk-calm-commercial-business-corporate-2398/

Today is DENSE. But it's not my fault, it's Paul's fault.   Romans 4:13-25 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. For this reason the promise depends on faith, in order that it may rest on grace, so that it may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (who is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”), in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.    Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), and the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.    Therefore “it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.   This is the word of God for the people of God.   A Change of Heart.  One of my favorite Jesus movies is a movie called Mary Magdalene. The movie stars real life husband and wife Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix as Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth. The movie follows the ministry of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, and of course, the movie takes a lot of creative license throughout, but it does some things really well.    In one of its greatest scenes (I showed this to our women's wednesday morning bible study), Jesus and his disciples are shown entering Jerusalem and the Temple during a festival week. The crowd is enormous. Money is being exchanged for animals and then the animals are taken for slaughter, as a means of forgiveness from God per the ritual.   You know this scene from scripture. It is in every gospel. It is typically referred to as the Cleansing of the Temple.    And the camera shows the crowd and the sacrifice, but its main focus is on Jesus, watching all of this happen. And you can tell he is getting frustrated and angry. He begins a conversation with one of the priests. And if you remember, in the gospel of Mark, this scene is short, with Jesus quoting scripture:    “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers.”   But the screenwriters of this movie have done their best to add additional dialogue to the scene to give it greater weight and to really show you what is going on in Jesus' heart. Jesus questions the sacrificial practice, he questions everything that has been built around this temple ritual, the way of life and the application of this religion, and Jesus – and as he looks around at all the people purchasing and buying their forgiveness,  he asks the priest this question, “(Is this how people show true repentance?) Have their hearts been altered when they leave this place?”   I think that the screenwriters capture the heart of Jesus well in that question. After all, throughout the gospels, that seems to be Jesus' overarching concern. It's not the practice of religion. It's the heart. And if your religion is not affecting and altering your heart, what good is it?   Have their hearts been altered when they leave this place…?   I wonder that about this place, about us, about what we do here, day in and day out, about this body of believers. I wonder if through fellowship through relationship, through music and tradition and reading and singing, I truly wonder, “Have OUR hearts been altered when we leave this place? Or are we merely paying lip-service to some sense of duty that we feel we have?” Is there still a spark? Or has the fire died?    Have our hearts been altered? To me, that is the central question of Paul in Romans. In his last and longest letter, written to a community he never got to know well, he is curious about the work that God is doing in their hearts. In fact, he's written a letter to care for their hearts. Because he's heard that there may be conflict…   The conflict is (a little bit) the result of powers beyond their control. Before Emperor Nero, who would be responsible for Paul's death, Emperor Claudius was in charge. And during his reign, while the fledgling Roman church was in its early stages, Claudius apparently expelled some Jews from Rome because of some social disturbances. Because of the expulsion of the Jewish population, it seems that the Roman Christian community became very Gentile. And because of that, when the Jews were allowed back, they came back to a very different church.   Remember, the Christian movement was first, a Jewish movement. And as it moved into the Gentile world, there was tension. Because the Jews are a people of the Torah, of the Law. They have tradition and dogma that is very important to them…and as the church grew and began reaching out to Gentiles, some of the Jewish Christians fully expected any and all Gentile converts to adopt THEIR ways.   But a theme of Paul's ministry is telling folks that Gentiles don't HAVE to adhere to all the Jewish laws. This Jesus stuff is actually a whole new ball game.    And so after the return of these Jewish Christians, Paul writes this letter to help this “ethnically mixed community…knit itself back together, both practically and religiously.” He's trying to glue this community of conservative Jews and liberal Gentiles back together.    Now we wouldn't know anything about that today would we?  There are no conservative/liberal struggles in the 21 century! There are no fights over differing ideas and struggles for unity today…   This Roman church conflict is one of a kind! (But in all seriousness) Romans is (sort of) a treatise on how to stick together. On how to find the simplest common ground, that we might all be one. And at its very center is a deep concern for the heart.   What is Paul Doing? Now if you read Romans, it is dense. In fact, I recommend you use The Message translation to help. Seriously. It is hard to read.    And of course it is. Because while Paul is trying to break everything down, he has to do a lot of explaining to get there. He is trying to simplify and explain what it is that Jesus has done for us and what we are to do with that knowledge now!   Paul calls what God has done: “God's powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him” (Romans 1, MSG). I love that. God's powerful rescue plan. And it is open to any who trust God.   And throughout the letter, while Paul does in fact talk about the importance of FAITH, he does so with some interesting language. You see, for Paul, belief or faith is really TRUST and EMBRACE of the way of God. You see those words a lot in the first few chapters. TRUST. EMBRACE.   And through those words, Paul is already foreshadowing where he is going, because he is using “heart” language. Embrace. Trust. And he wants the community to share in that embrace of God together.    But in order to do that, he's gotta tear them to pieces first. He has to point out just how silly they've been. He has to show them how wonky their priorities have become.   And he goes after the Gentiles a little bit, but he REALLY goes after the Jewish Christians. He says to the Jewish Christians, “Being a Jew won't give you an automatic stamp of approval” (Romans 2, MSG). “Don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy…(you insiders).” Did you know that “God prefers outsiders who keep God's ways over the insiders who don't.” Indeed, God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews…God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion” (Romans 3, MSG).   You see what Paul is doing right? He is deconstructing the importance of the institution and the material parts of religion. In the Message paraphrase of this letter, Eugene Peterson gives this section the following title: Religion Can't Save You. And that's what Paul is saying. He's telling the people of the church of Rome that religious practice is no longer the main uniting force of our faith. There is something greater at work.    Chapter Four. And in chapter four, Paul anticipates some of the Jewish Christians arguing back with questions like: “What about our being the chosen people of Abraham? What about the promise to Abraham? You can't just do away with our religious traditions like that. Aren't we God's people? Aren't we special?”   And Paul says, “Yes and no. You are indeed the people of Abraham, but it isn't just you anymore…Because, ‘what we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and THAT was the turning point. He TRUSTED God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own”'” (Romans 4, MSG).    What Abraham received was “sheer gift.” And Paul says, “Do you think for a minute that this blessing is only pronounced over those of us who keep our religious ways and are circumcised? Or do you think it possible that the blessing could be given to those who never even heard of our ways, who were never brought up in [our disciplines, in our traditions]?...It was by embracing what God did for him that Abraham was declared fit before God...[Indeed] Abraham is father of ALL people who EMBRACE what God does for them…   Abraham…[TRUSTED] God and his way, and then simply EMBRACED GOD and what he did [and what he does]” (Romans 4, MSG).    (I told you it was dense didn't I)   So this is Paul's point to the Jewish Christians: “Abraham is indeed your father (feels like Star Wars).   Abraham is your father. But not just yours. Because this is not a human or racial thing, not a Jewish or Gentile thing. This is a faith thing. It's a spiritual thing. Abraham is OUR father (Gentile AND Jew) because: “When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he COULDN'T do but on what God said he WOULD do…   THAT is the faith of Abraham. It is a heart-filled embrace and trust of God – that even in the darkness, in the wilderness, God will do something. GOD WILL SAVE. That's the thing that saved and changed Abraham. It was God's work in the heart. And it altered the trajectory of all time.   And Paul says, “But it's not just Abraham; it's also us! The same thing gets said about us when we EMBRACE (and TRUST) the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless” (Romans 4, MSG).    When we have the same faith, the same reckless trust and embrace of the God who does impossible things, we are to be considered children of Abraham as well. There's nothing WE can do to earn the love and favor and mercy and grace of God. It is only what GOD does.   Ash Wednesday. A few weeks ago, as I was preparing for our Ash Wednesday service, I knew we were down a clergy with Connor out on paternity leave, but I thought for sure that there wouldn't be that many folks here. So I decided to have just one station for ashes. Just me.    Sure enough, there were more people here for Ash Wednesday than we'd had in a LONG time. Both aisles were backed up to the ends, people waiting to have a cross marked on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. And why? It's not like having an ashen cross mark on your head is going to do anything. Of course not. No, people showed up to remind themselves that life is short, death is coming for us all, from dust we come and to dust we return. And that there is nothing that we can do to change that. There is nothing we can do without the grace of God.   Pete Holmes. Comedian Pete Holmes says, “Water can't help but get you wet. And God can't help but love you…There's nothing you can do to increase or decrease the infinite love of God, but there are things you can do to increase or decrease your awareness of that love.”   And that's the point of this moment in Romans: that there are some Jewish customs and traditions and things that no longer matter. They no longer keep the fire alive. And to heap them on new Gentile Christians is a mistake. And how do you know if these customs are helping or hindering?    Perhaps a question might be asked, something like: Have their hearts been altered when they leave this place? Are the customs we are obeying altering our hearts? Or are they making it harder for us to understand and access God?   It immediately makes me think of the season of Lent. We are in that season, a season where we traditionally give up something. I've learned recently that if you have a baby around the same time, the baby takes care of that for you. In fact, I think I've given up enough for the next few lents.    BUT here's the question: if the practice of giving up something for lent does not affect your HEART, does not bring you closer to the divine, then what good is it?   If what we do in here, if the rituals and the creeds and the hymns and the standing and sitting, and the sermons, if all that is not working to alter our hearts, to spark something bright within us, then what good is it?   Circumcision of the Heart. In one of John Wesley's most famous sermons, titled “Circumcision of the Heart,” a 30 year old John Wesley tackles Romans and this very thing. And in that sermon he says, “the distinguishing mark of a true follower of [Jesus], of one who is in a state of acceptance with God, is not either outward circumcision, or baptism, or any other outward form [of religion], but [rather] a right state of soul, a mind and spirit [and heart] renewed after the image of Him that created it…”   As an 87 year old, Wesley would agree with his younger self when he said, “I believe the merciful God regards lives and tempers of men [and women] more than their ideas. I believe [God] respects the goodness of the heart rather than the clearness of the head; and that if the heart of a man [or woman] be filled with the humble, gentle, patient love of God and [humanity],” God will certainly not cast them out.   That comes from a man who surely knows what God can do in the heart. After all, it was at a prayer meeting, while reading Martin Luther's preface to the book of Romans, that a 35 year old Wesley, broken and discouraged, felt God reach into his heart and warm it in a way that made him sure that God loved him and forgave him and had some things for him to do. And his heart was surely altered that night. And for the rest of his ministry, Wesley sought to be used by God to foster a change in the heart.    A Letter to Jack. Last week, we honored and remembered Jack Jackson. Jack and Patsy have been members here a while, and their daughter Nancy has been our preschool director for 27 years, we've baptized their kids here and grandkids.   Jack was a renaissance man who had interests all over the place. He was a good man. A man who knew who he was and he was good with that. Jack spent his career as a teacher. He taught history and he also developed the Drivers Ed program at his school.   Just before the service began, a lady came up and asked if I could read a letter in front of the congregation, a letter she had written to Jack. I've never had that happen before. Nancy told me to go ahead and do it.    So I did, many of you were there. The letter was from a student of Jack's named Linda. The letter reads like this:   Dear Mr. Jackson,   Your passing has left a hole in all our hearts, especially for me. I will miss your laugh and your bow tie and that you never seem to age. I was one of your driver's ed students. And through the years, you taught so many of us how to drive. To this day, I can still hear you saying slow down—you're in a construction zone.   I wanted to write to you to tell you that in high school, I didn't get to drive a lot like most other kids. I really only got to drive in your class. And I loved your class. I couldn't wait for Drivers Ed. And countless times you would skip your lunch period and take me out driving so I could get some extra time behind the wheel. And that meant so much to me.    I remember, I didn't get a car until I left home. I was 18 years old. I bought a ‘73 Ford Maverick even though I still didn't have a license yet. I couldn't even drive it off the lot. A friend drove it off the lot for me to my apartment complex where it sat all weekend. I could only look at my new car. But as soon as I got my license, I couldn't wait to drive to school to show you my car before anyone else.   I write all this to say thank you for everything you did for me and to tell you how I turned out. I was a shy and isolated kid in high school, but you were certainly a bright spot. And I became a police officer for 32 years and I did get into a couple of chases in my career, which you never covered in your class!   Mr. Jackson, teachers are very special people and SOME touch lives and hearts beyond words. You were one of those teachers.   The mold has now been broken. God bless you and keep you,   Linda.   Sounds to me like Linda's heart was altered, because of Jack! Something was sparked in her long ago because her teacher recognized that what mattered most was the heart. And friends, when the heart is altered, anything is possible. Lives change. Goodness is found.    Conclusion. In Romans 5, Paul says that when our hearts EMBRACE and TRUST God's ability to change us, to alter us, to make the impossible possible, “We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us…[When] we have actually [receive] this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!” (Romans 5, MSG). In other words, it affects our hearts. Our hearts are altered!   Barbara Brown Taylor - “What if the real test of our success as God's servants is not what we do but how we do it? What if the real measure of our extraordinariness as Christians is not our thoughtfulness or our friendliness and our busyness” or our worship style or our rules or our dogmas or our creeds “but our spark.”   Has your heart been altered? Has it been warmed? Has your heart embraced the possibilities with God? If not, what's hindering you? What's stopping you?   Amen.   Benediction. There are lots of reasons to be divided lately. There are lots of reasons to be un-united. The world is hurting. And I think more than ever, this world needs to know that no matter what anyone does, they are loved beyond measure. That is a message that could truly produce a unity that might be unbreakable. But a message like that truly needs to begin in our hearts.    May you seek God with all your heart. And may your hearts be truly altered by the God who seeks to transform this whole world. 

Since 1961, families and friends had been separated by the Berlin Wall. Erected that year by the East German government, the barrier kept its citizens from fleeing to West Germany. In fact, from 1949 to the day the structure was built, it’s estimated that more than 2.5 million East Germans had bolted to the West. US President Ronald Reagan stood at the wall in 1987 and famously said, “Tear down this wall.” His words reflected a groundswell of change in the region that culminated with the wall being torn down in 1989—leading to Germany’s joyous reunification. Paul wrote of a “wall of hostility” torn down by Jesus (Ephesians 2:14). The wall had existed between Jews (God’s chosen people) and gentiles (all other people). And it was symbolized by the dividing wall (the soreg) in the ancient temple erected by Herod the Great in Jerusalem. It kept gentiles from entering beyond the outer courts of the temple, though they could see the inner courts. But Jesus brought “peace” and reconciliation between the Jews and gentiles and between God and all people. He did so by “[breaking] down the wall . . . that separated us” by “his death on the cross” (vv. 14, 16 nlt). The “Good News of peace” made it possible for all to be united by faith in Christ (vv. 17–18 nlt). Today, there are many things that can divide us. As God provides what we need, let’s strive to live out and declare the peace and unity found in Jesus (vv. 19–22).

Originally when recorded the podcast had another name in place of Woman for the title was the terminology used for this valuable woman when I was fundamentally taught about the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at Jacob's Well. Her name is Photina, the whore at the Well. Fun Fact : She is the FIRST recorded account of the revelation to the culture that Jesus is the Messiah! Have you ever heard of her? She was the Samaritan woman that Jesus met at Jacob's well in Sychar, you remember those stories in church? What is so interesting for me personally is how she is referred to as a "whore" by the laypeople. You know the place and very thing that Jesus died for... the church. It seems antithetical to call this outcasted woman a whore when Jesus was compelled to share his big reveal with her first Jesus, the Face of God in this story is at Jacob's well offering living to a woman whose vessel spiritually and physically was unclean according to Jewish law. For him to accept anything from her hands would be considered super taboo and a no-no for this cultural setting and time period. The question begs, is Photina now filled with the living water upon revelation of God before her very eyes in her everyday circumstance as truth? Nowhere biblically is this woman noted for receiving compensation for sexual favors. So. lemme set this up. So the connotation in the language of Scripture in John 4 states that Jesus "had to pass," pointing to a compelling sense to go through Samaria which was extremely dangerous due to cultural differences not to mention racial tensions. The Jews (God's "chosen" people mind you), believed that she was unclean at birth being a Samaritan woman, not to mention having multiple sexual partners. What I love about Jesus is that he consistently speaks truth in spirit to the religious cultural norms and legalism. And gets this, in many stories recorded we can honestly admit that Jesus esteems women! So, lets take it all the way to the fact then that God must esteem women too! This is the underlying story right here! That we can meet ourselves at the well of revelation to drink in self compassionate grace, especially for those of us who needs some right about now. So the story goes, Jesus was hot and tired from the journey so he goes to the well in the heat of the day to rest while the crew goes in town to get food. So when Photina shows up to have the longest recorded conversation in the Holy Bible with Jesus. Not only does he speak with her longer than any other person, but it points to opening act of his ministry with this conversation. Then he takes her down to the bottom of her well to draw up respectful worthiness by revealing himself as the Messiah to her FIRST! Proof that God esteems women, epecially women that society and religious communities shun, God as the face of Jesus in this story, says that he was compelled to tell her FIRST! UPDATED NOTES FOR LIVE RECORDING BTW it is Proverbs 4:23. I transpose numbers sometimes :) I say in this episode "proverbs 4:32," when I was referring to 4:23 instead. I caught it before publishing but...you know I am human getting my words wrong sometimes. Especially when I am practicing speaking my innerstanding on a public platform. Check out the full excerpt ⁠⁠HERE⁠⁠ I refer to in part one and two that is such a useful and loving full picture of God's love for us. Being raised Southern Baptist, coming back home to that here for Photina's story has been so healing for my soul. Anyway, ⁠⁠here⁠⁠ is more information about the time of day breakdown from another source. My preference to reference for Scripture with easy flow on translations when studying is : ⁠⁠www.bible.com ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠www.blueletterbible.org⁠⁠ ⁠⁠www.etymonline.com⁠⁠ ⁠⁠www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org⁠⁠ Namaste` Mama Rish ⁠alifepractice.com⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mamarish/message

UN & Bill Gates “50-in-5” Plot is “Digital Prison” for Humanity (substack.com)

Originally when recorded the podcast had another name in place of Woman for the title was the terminology used for this valuable woman when I was fundamentally taught about the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at Jacob's Well. Her name is Photina, the whore at the Well. Fun Fact : She is the FIRST recorded account of the revelation to the culture that Jesus is the Messiah! Have you ever heard of her? She was the Samaritan woman that Jesus met at Jacob's well in Sychar, you remember those stories in church? What is so interesting for me personally is how she is referred to as a "whore" by the laypeople. You know the place and very thing that Jesus died for... the church. It seems antithetical to call this outcasted woman a whore when Jesus was compelled to share his big reveal with her first Jesus, the Face of God in this story is at Jacob's well offering living to a woman whose vessel spiritually and physically was unclean according to Jewish law. For him to accept anything from her hands would be considered super taboo and a no-no for this cultural setting and time period. The question begs, is Photina now filled with the living water upon revelation of God before her very eyes in her everyday circumstance as truth? Nowhere biblically is this woman noted for receiving compensation for sexual favors. So. lemme set this up. So the connotation in the language of Scripture in John 4 states that Jesus "had to pass," pointing to a compelling sense to go through Samaria which was extremely dangerous due to cultural differences not to mention racial tensions. The Jews (God's "chosen" people mind you), believed that she was unclean at birth being a Samaritan woman, not to mention having multiple sexual partners. What I love about Jesus is that he consistently speaks truth in spirit to the religious cultural norms and legalism. And gets this, in many stories recorded we can honestly admit that Jesus esteems women! So, lets take it all the way to the fact then that God must esteem women too! This is the underlying story right here! That we can meet ourselves at the well of revelation to drink in self compassionate grace, especially for those of us who needs some right about now. So the story goes, Jesus was hot and tired from the journey so he goes to the well in the heat of the day to rest while the crew goes in town to get food. So when Photina shows up to have the longest recorded conversation in the Holy Bible with Jesus. Not only does he speak with her longer than any other person, but it points to opening act of his ministry with this conversation. Then he takes her down to the bottom of her well to draw up respectful worthiness by revealing himself as the Messiah to her FIRST! Proof that God esteems women, epecially women that society and religious communities shun, God as the face of Jesus in this story, says that he was compelled to tell her FIRST! UPDATED NOTES FOR LIVE RECORDING BTW it is Proverbs 4:23. I transpose numbers sometimes :) I say in this episode "proverbs 4:32," when I was referring to 4:23 instead. I caught it before publishing but...you know I am human getting my words wrong sometimes. Especially when I am practicing speaking my innerstanding on a public platform. Check out the full excerpt ⁠HERE⁠ I refer to in part one and two that is such a useful and loving full picture of God's love for us. Being raised Southern Baptist, coming back home to that here for Photina's story has been so healing for my soul. Anyway, ⁠here⁠ is more information about the time of day breakdown from another source. My preference to reference for Scripture with easy flow on translations when studying is : ⁠www.bible.com ⁠ ⁠www.blueletterbible.org⁠ ⁠www.etymonline.com⁠ ⁠www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org⁠ Namaste` Mama Rish alifepractice.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mamarish/message

If what the Apostle Paul says at the end of Romans 8 is true, namely that nothing can separate us from the love of God, why then does it appear that the Jews - God's adopted, chosen, dearly loved people - have been separated from the love of God?It is the response to this dilemma which the Apostle takes up in Romans chapters 9, 10, 11.In tonight's message, we consider why the Jews' rejection of their Messiah is so astonishing given the advantages they were given as God's people.

Pastors — you have got to start warning your Church that the Jews are The Deceiver's representatives on earth.  Telling people that today's Jews are “God's chosen” is a lie; it is a lie from the Jews, and from their father the devil. The Jews, like their father, come to steal, kill, and deceive. You cannot believe them.  These modern Jews are not even real Jews — Jesus called them liars and the synagogue of Satan (Revelation 3:9).  Christians are the Chosen people of God (Revelation 3:9). Most of modern Jewry are descendants of people who converted to the Talmud — making them twice the sons of hell as the Pharisees were (Matthew 23:15).  Even that old snake, Herod, was from a line of converts (his ancestors were from Esau, who God hated).  Jews are literally antichrist (1 John 2:22). Stop forcing your congregation to worship the antichrist. FACTS: Jews: Murders and liars like their father, the devil. (John 8:44) Jews: Synagogue of Satan (Rev 3:9 and Rev 3:9) Jews: Hostile to all mankind (1 Thes 2:15) Jews: Do NOT believe Moses (John 5:45-46) Judas Iscariot: a true Jew, a traitor, sided with the Jews, from Judea. Apostles: Galileans (Acts 1:11, Acts 2:7) Jesus: Son of God (all Biblical genealogy if patrilineal) God the Father: NOT a Jew. David and Jesus: Acknowledged that “the Lord” is not the Son of David, rather the Son of God (Matthew 22:42-45) Jesus: A Nazarene (Acts 2:22) Jesus: A Galilean Jesus: Hated by the Jews (John 7:19, John 8:40) Jesus: Rejected Jewish tradition (Matthew 15:1-9) John the Baptist: Called Jews a brood of Vipers (Matthew 3:7) Jesus: Called Jews a brood of vipers (Matthew 12:34) Brood of Vipers: See of the Serpent (Genesis 3:15) Moses: Not a Jew Moses: Will accuse the Jews in the Judgement Day (John 5:45) Abraham: Not a Jew Isaac: Not a Jew Jacob (renamed Israel): Not a Jew Jews: Whore, Whore of Babylon (Ezekiel 16 and Revelation 18) Jews: Whore of Babylon, drunk with the blood of Christians (Rev 17:6) Jews: A curse (Isaiah 65:15) Christian: The new name of God's Chosen (Acts 11:26 and Isaiah 65:15) Jews: Murdered the prophets and Jesus Christ (Acts 7:52, Matt 23:31-33) The Jews murder Christians. They have been doing this since they started murdering the Prophets (all who believe in Jesus Christ and saw Jesus Christ — for no man saw the Father). The Jews will continue to murder Christians (Revelation 17:6) who do not convert (as many already have) to a Judeo-Christian religion who call Jews “God's Chosen.”  We are already way deep into this American-made anti-Christ religion (Judeo-Christianity).  Siding with Jews is the Biblical definition of treason against Jesus Christ (see Judas Iscariot).

JustifiedThis sermon covers Romans 3:21-4:25 and the good news of our justification and righteousness through the work of Jesus. We dig into Law, faith, and the Gospel. This is a message that we all need to hear time and time again.Main Point: We are justified by faith in Jesus!Key Texts:Romans 3:21 – 4:253:21 – 26 = Heart of the Gospel3:27 – 31 = No one can boast before God4:1-25 = Abraham's example = Righteous by faith, apart from works of the Law.What is righteousness/justification?How did Jesus bear the wrath of God that was due to us? Why was this necessary? (God can't be just if He doesn't punish EVERY sin – 3:25-26)How Abraham is our example of faith – our “father in the faith” (4:11).We are spiritual Jews – God's chosen people by FAITH!In Paul's letter to the Romans, he aims to clearly and comprehensively explain the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Gospel is, “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” (Romans 1:16). At the very heart of this message is the Truth that we are all – every one of us – guilty sinners, deserving of God's judgment and wrath; but that Jesus Christ has been presented as the Offering for our sins, to bear the wrath of God and die in our place. Therefore, we are made innocent and right with God, by faith in His Son, who is the Gift of God's grace for guilty sinners (Romans 3:24). Now, all who place their faith in Him are no longer guilty, but Justified! In this series, we will seek to unpack this deep and wonderful Truth at the heart of the Gospel, and all of its implications for our lives, today. 

The post “Why are Jews God’s chosen people?” appeared first on Key Life.

with/ Ethan Straus of House of Strauss (on Substack)* Does the NBA Have an Antisemitism Problem?* They control the media, our podcast, and the NBA!?* Wait, who isn't Jewish?* “Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Hitler”* Baseball + The John Birch Society* Stolen (Jewish) Valor* “More than an Athlete” / Lebron “gettin' that Jewish money” James* Divide & Sponsor* Was (Is) Twitter Pushing Hysteria* But is it antisemitism? (Does it even matter)* Identitarianism, Judaism, and antisemitism (real and imagined)* How to Talk about “Jewish Supremacy”* The Truth about Black Hebrew Israelites* Threat Inflation (and What if they're right)* THE NHL(GBTQIA2S+)* Why the NBA

Having charged that Jews are liable to God's judgement against sin, Paul anticipates outrage. His indictment of Jews raises important questions about God's covenant and character. Are not Jews God's historic, chosen people? Did God not make promises to them? Does God's covenant with them mean nothing? Here, we are invited to listen in as Paul masterfully answers cutting objections—objections that ultimately fault God. The scene transcends the moment and reveals something fundamental to the human heart. Sinners tend to justify self while judging God, especially in matters concerning human sin and divine sovereignty. What shall we say? Only the self-righteous presume to put God in the dock.

On this episode of The Jewish Road Podcast: The Jewish people are unique among all the people of the world. It is not that we are better than anyone else, smarter, or more numerous. Our “chosenness” is something that most Jews would like to understand better. I certainly had no clue what being chosen meant. It didn't always seem like a great deal to be chosen. After all, being Jewish has exacted a price in our history, from the crusades to the pogroms. And even today, in 21st - Century America, we live with the constant awareness of the Holocaust, even though we may not have gone through it ourselves. In this episode of the Jewish Road Podcast, we explore why are the Jewish people God's chosen people and why did He choose them - all from a Messianic perspective. We talk about how the Abrahamic covenant plays a big role in this eternal relationship between God and His chosen people. We also explore how being part of the redemption story changes everything and gives meaning to being chosen.

Exegesis Episode 27: a conversation with Michael Takiff on his one-man show, "Jews, God, & History (Not Necessarily In That Order)." Patreon Paypal Donations --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

It happened at a dinner party. Jesus' critics tried to lay a trap for Him, but Jesus turned the tables on them. How? He told them a story. A man planned a banquet and sent out the invitations. RSVPs came in and preparations were made. On the appointed day, once everything was ready, the man sent his servants to each of his guests saying: “Come! The party's ready to start.” But one by one each guest offered a lame excuse. Jesus' audience would have laughed at the reasons given for why they couldn't attend. They were ridiculous, and the height of rudeness. When the host heard the excuses he told his servants, “Go bring in the poor and the lame and the blind and bring them to my party. Go to the highways and the byways and bring people in. I want my table to be full.”There's a lot of symbolism here that would have been readily understood by Jesus' audience. The master of the banquet obviously stands for God. And the guests who were originally invited were the Jews – God's “chosen people.”  The point Jesus is making is this:  Throughout history, you people (He was speaking mostly to the religious elite here) have been looking forward to the day when the Kingdom would break in, and yet, now that it finally has, you have all sorts of reasons why you don't want to commit.Why would that be?  For one thing, Jesus didn't fulfill their expectations of a conquering hero leading them to triumphant victory.  Rather, He took the form of a servant and He was calling them to be servants as well. Moreover, He seemed to be predisposed toward those who they'd tried to stay away from - the broken, the sick, the stained, and the marginalized. The idea that these were the people not only to be reached out to but actually prioritized messed up their privileged way of thinking.  So now, when told “all is ready,” the reply from all too many was, “Sorry, but I'm not interested.” So how might we summarize this and apply it to our day?  1.  GOD INVITES US TO A GREAT BANQUET. For some, all you've had is a view of God as a mean tyrant or an aloof, impersonal force.  Others have known nothing but dry religion – where you have to keep the rules and jump through the hoops.  But here God says, “Come, all things are ready.”  How could that be?  Because Jesus paid for your invitation with His life. He made it possible for you to be invited to the banquet. But...  2. GOD'S INVITATION CAN BE REFUSED. In Jesus' parable, the excuses came down to three things: -       the preoccupation with business-       the distraction of things-       the affection for anotherEach person has to decide whether they will accept the invitation or opt for life outside the banquet hall.3. GOD IS ANGERED WITH OUR EXCUSES.We don't like to think about the anger of God. Yet this parable tells us quite clearly how God feels about our excuses for rejecting his wonderful and costly offer. Finally…4.  GOD ASKS US TO INVITE IN THE LEAST, THE LAST, AND THE LOST.While the master gives the invitation, it's up to the servants to share the word.  The master longs for the house to be full, for all the seats around the table to be taken.  And He wants those who are in your sphere of influence to know that there is a place for them.    Text: Luke 14:1-27Originally recorded June 21, 2009, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN.

In Hosea, God called Israel, "Not My people." Then He called them, "My people." Paul quotes those verses in a context that seems to be talking about Gentiles. But is it? And what do we make of Hosea's and Paul's statements regarding the status of Jews/Gentiles today? We work through these things in today's study.

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Have you ever lost your way in life? Not in some major way. You're just chugging along through life and then somehow you get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, you're not where you're meant to be. Things just don't make sense the way they used to.   1. The Fog of War If you've ever had that nagging suspicion that things aren't quite right in your life, then you're not alone. It's something that we all experience from time to time. We don't think about it, but in a very real sense, for most of us, life follows a pretty familiar, well–worn trail. We're born, we go to school, we become adults, we marry, we have children, they go to school, they grow up … and eventually we die. I know that's an over–simplification. And I know that a good many people don't follow every step of that path … and I know there are many twists and turns and variations on that theme, but for most of us, that pretty much describes it. And along the way we go through times of great joy, times of great sadness and long periods of the mundane same old, same old. Our emotions go up and down. Our fortunes go up and down. But we're born, we bring children into the world, we die. That's the basic template on which the human race relies. So you're following along that path and at some stage, perhaps, you encounter Jesus and you decide to walk the rest of the journey with Him – where He leads, according to His plans and purposes for your life. Some people find that notion pretty depressing. I used to, to tell you the truth. But these days it is singularly the most liberating thing about my life. To be able to live out the plans and purposes for my life, that God Himself dreamed up before time began – I have to tell you, it's just unreal. But I, like the next person, sometimes get into those patches in life when I wonder – Am I in the right place? Am I doing what I was made to do? And is all the stuff going on around me making sense. I wonder … where are you at right now? In an up … in a down … in one of those long periods of the boring mundaneness of life? Same day after day. Are you in a place of contentment, knowing you're on the right path … or are you kind of wondering where it's all headed? In the army – I spent 10 years as a military officer – when we were training for war, they taught us about the concept, the idea of what's called “the fog of war”. It's this idea that when you're fighting the battle, you're enveloped in a kind of fog. Part of that fog is that you don't have all the information you need about your enemy – how strong he is, how many troops and tanks he has, how well trained, what his morale is like, what his plans are, what his tactics are. Part of it is that your enemy deliberately tries to feed you misinformation to deceive you. Part of it is that you're tired, exhausted often, afraid, your morale is down. Your troops – their morale is up and down. And then when the bullets start flying and the artillery shells start exploding around you – it's like you're in a fog, a stupor and making really good, well informed, rational decisions is extremely difficult. That's what this idea – the fog of war – is all about. In a very real sense, we sometimes operate in a bit of a fog too. Our emotions are playing havoc. People are having a go and we don't understand their motives and intentions. We don't know if we can trust them. And God – what about Him? What exactly are His plans? Am I in the right place? Am I doing the things I was meant to be doing? Have I perhaps taken a wrong turn? And it's in this fog that we can start questioning His faithfulness. It's in this fog that we start second guessing God and ourselves. We'd like to think we have it all together. We'd like to think we know where life's headed, but all too often, we either haven't got a clue, or we though we did, but … we're really not that sure any more. I was having coffee with a man who works for a large corporation – who thought he knew what his life was about, but his health was failing him and deep down he had a sneaking suspicion that God had a different plan – he just didn't know what that plan was. Do you relate to some of that? There seems to be a gap between your present circumstances and what you think the future might be about. We're in the middle of a series called “Following Jesus with Confidence” – and the reason we're talking about this stuff today, is that when we're enveloped in this fog – it's hard to be confident. The thing about this fog is that it limits your field of vision – so it's easy, really easy – to take a wrong step. But I believe that God wants us to have confidence in Him, even when we're in the middle of this fog of war as I've called it. In fact, especially then. When you think about it, it's when things are unclear that we really need God, because His field of vision is never, ever limited by anything. The first thing we need to know when we're wandering through life in a bit of a fog, is that God is faithful. He's not angry, He's not disappointed with us – He's like a loving father, keen to see His child learn, and keen to help His child through the fog. His love, in that fog, His faithfulness in that fog, is rock solid. King David had more enemies than most of us. He went through many trials in his life, and so many of the Psalms he wrote, he's pouring his heart out to God in the midst of the fog of war. Psalm 86:1–7 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication. In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me And towards the end of that Psalm, based on his past experiences, David concludes this – Psalm 86:14–17: O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; show me a sign of your favour, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. I know there are people today going through one of those times in your life when it's hard to follow Jesus with any confidence. And I know there are people today for whom such a time is just around the corner. Your God is merciful and gracious, He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. That's just who He is – so if you know that you've turned your back on Him, turn back now, tell Him you're sorry, ask Him to forgive you in Jesus' name – and it's a done deal. You're forgiven. You stand before Him as clean and as pure as Jesus Himself. Because that's why Jesus died for you. That's why Jesus did what He did – to give you a fresh start with the slate wiped clean. And now as you draw close to Him, you can take each step with Him being completely sure that when you need to turn to the left or to the right, He'll let you know. When you need to stop and wait a while or move a bit more quickly – He'll let you know. That's the deal. That's His promise. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (John 15:15) My friend wherever you find yourself along your journey right now, the answer … the answer is Jesus.   2. A Slave Mentality The greatest tragedy I see in people's lives is that they've become slaves to their circumstances, their passions, the ways of this world – slaves to a whole bunch of things that promised so much, and yet have left their lives empty and hollow – bereft of meaning and purpose. You and I go through many trials in life. Things tear at our flesh and our emotions. But when you stop and think about it, we were made to be at peace. We were made to experience perfect peace and satisfaction and contentment. How do I know that? Because when I look back to see how God created us from the beginning, that's exactly what I see. Adam and Eve were in that beautiful garden, living the perfect life – until they turned their backs on God. Genesis Chapter 2 gives us the most beautiful picture of the perfect life that God has planned for us. But of course humanity – you and me included – turned our backs on God, and so sickness and trial and temptation and the consequences of rebelling against God all entered this world. That's why we have to suffer, as Shakespeare called it, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes. That's why things happen to us that we would never choose for ourselves. That's why we end up doing things to other people, that really, we wish we hadn't. And that's why we're so powerless to save ourselves from continuing in a life that falls so far short of that beautiful, perfect ideal that God has planned for us. So people – you and me included – carry all this baggage around through life, baggage that gets heavier and heavier as the years pass, and whether we realise it or not, we become slaves to that sin. We may not call it that, but all that weight on our shoulders becomes the norm. It drains the life out of us. And so we live as though it is the norm. We live as though slavery to sin and all its consequences is a normal state – well I'm here to tell you today to wake up – because it's not normal. It's anything but normal. It may be common, but it's not normal. Yet all too many are slaves without even realising it. Have a listen to this discussion that Jesus had with some Jews – God's chosen people as they were – John 8:31–36: Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free'?"" Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. Do you see – they didn't realise they were salves. They saw themselves as God's chosen people – not as slaves. Slaves were those people they had at home – gentiles for the most part – who served them. They were free. But Jesus – as He has a habit of doing – goes straight to the heart of the reality. Whoever commits sin, is a slave to sin. And here's the thing – if we're living in some sin that we're holding out on in our relationship with God – that slavery has terrible consequences. You can never have a deep, wonderful, intimate relationship with God. You can't live your life in confidence in Jesus – because every moment of every day the guilt that your conscience is so sensitive to, robs you of that ability. Think about it – a man is cheating on his wife. Can he truly have a deep, wonderful, intimate, perfect relationship with his wife – while he's cheating on her behind her back? He can pretend. He can deceive his wife – although eventually, she'll realise – but deep in his heart, he cannot know the bliss of an intimate exclusive relationship with his wife, because his conscience condemns him. God gave us a conscience for good reason. He gave us a sense of touch so that when we touch something hot, it'll hurt and we'll pull away before we really injure ourselves badly. Your conscience and mine serve exactly the same purpose. When we stubbornly refuse to yield one particular area of our lives to Him – our conscience robs us of the peace and the joy we're meant to be living in. And the purpose of that is to get us to turn away from that thing before it seriously hurts us. I have met people who've been seeking the sort of relationship with Jesus that we've been talking about in this series. The sort where no matter what comes their way, gives them that quiet confidence in Him, confidence in Jesus. And yet they continue on as slaves to sin – living with a slave mentality that will always, in 100% of cases, rob them of the very thing they are looking for. Let me ask you kindly but plainly today – are you one of those people? Because if you are, if you're yearning for that confidence and peace and joy in Christ Jesus, but your sin has been robbing you of it, then I have the answer for you today. It comes directly from God's Word – Romans 6:1–14 and this Word from Him is the power to set you free; to utterly transform your life. What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. My friend, Jesus came to set you free. If you've put your trust in Him, then two things have happened. Firstly you have died to your sin – it no longer has power over you because Jesus quashed it on that Cross. That's a historical, judicial fact. And secondly, because He rose again from the dead, He has brought you the power to be free from sin. Do you believe in Jesus? Then you have the power to overcome your sin – a power that none of us has in and of ourselves – it's a gift from God this power. It's His power. It's the only power that there is, that will set you free. You are free. And so now … now you can choose not to let sin have dominion over your body. It'll be a battle by battle struggle, but it's a war that you've already won. And my friend as you yield yourself completely to Jesus you will – I guarantee this –you will be filled with peace, with joy and with confidence in Him. How do I know? Because that's just how it works. If you don't believe me, give it a spin. Really.

It's this season's Q&A episode, where listeners get a chance to ask John Dickson their burning questions. This episode is sponsored by Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible by Michael F Bird, a new book published by Zondervan.QUESTIONS Is all “music” at its best good or beautiful and at worst simply neutral; or can some “music” be “bad”, “evil” or “ungodly”? (Check out our two episodes on music from Season 3: Creation's Music and Discordant Religion). Are there dangers in pop music we might steer our children away from for example?  Regarding the 7 Deadly Sins: what's their origin and their accuracy in terms of Jesus' teaching and Christian living?  If I have a conversation with a person who is sceptical of Christianity about the issue of race, I know they're going to bring up times when God ordered the wiping out of a city or a whole race (like when Israel wiped out the Amalekites in the book of 1 Samuel) as evidence that the Bible is racist. What should I say? (Check out our last episode of Season 3, Racist Church) Why were the Jews God's chosen people? According to a lot of Christian principles (at least the ones I was brought up with) people who were alive before Jesus but didn't know the Hebrew god would go to Hell for not knowing him. So, why did God choose the Jews? Why condemn the people who lived at the same time, but in other parts of the world i.e the Australian Indigenous peoples? A listener comment that we made into a question: I thought that you gave the Black Lives Matter organisation a very soft run in this podcast. It is not anywhere close to a Christ-centred organisation. Their website, until recently, noted that they were seeking to “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement” and “foster a queer affirming network” and “do the work to dismantle cisgender privilege”. Did you go too soft on this whole ‘Black Lives Matter' thing on the Racist Church episode?  Andrew says he listened to that version of ‘Little Things' by Ziggy Ramo and Paul Kelly, which tells the tragic story that Australia's colonisation starts with the Pope's ‘Doctrine of Discovery' in 1493, which Captain Cook later used to claim Australia as ‘Terra Nullius' - nobody's land. He says he's looked into the doctrine of discovery and it's just terrible. Why did the church make such a decree?  What do you think about the idea of machines being “persons.” (Check out our two episodes on artificial intelligence: Artificial Intelligence and Homo Deus) There seems to be a slew of so-called prophets coming out of the woodwork in the USA prophesying all sorts of messages especially about the political scene. What does the Bible say about this? How does one explain the Egyptian culture and the God's that they believed in and the afterlife they believed in? Was there any part of the God that we worship today? Was he the same god then?  Could the God of the Jews be the God of other faiths? Could other Faiths be just interpreting the same God in different ways? I've heard stories of other cultures around the world who hadn't been exposed to Christianity having similar principles and creation stories to that of the Bible. Could God have been revealing himself to them? I was listening recently to a podcast 'People I Mostly Admire' hosted by Freakonomics author Steven Levitt interviewing Magician Joshua Jay. They speculate whether Jesus' miracles were simply tricks and they claim tricksters at the time were doing exactly the same thing, obviously inferring Jesus was just kind of a trickster. I have never heard this suggestion before and I wondered if you could fact check it based on your study of Jesus' times.  Did the 100 Pages episode mention the talking donkey? How do you tackle weird and wacky thing in the Bible? At the end of the Gospel of Mark, Mark describes how the women went away and said nothing to anyone. But other gospels say they went away and told people. What can we say about this contradiction in the Bible? (Check out our episode Bible Mistakes for more) The podcast often proudly cites non-believing references. I value this approach but is there a weight behind all these people who know scripture so well but don't believe? 

Originally Presented: March 2nd, 2008 Scripture Reading: Romans 9:30-33 If the Jews are God's chosen people, then why aren't they all being saved?  Is there some deficiency in the promises of God?  These are the questions Paul is writing about in Romans 9-11.  He presents two answers to the question, "Why aren't all Jews saved?" The first answer is the statement of divine sovereignty in election (Rom 9:6-29).  Salvation ultimately depends on God to show mercy and He does not shower all with His saving mercy (Rom 9:16,18).  The only Jews being saved are the Jews God has chosen to be saved.  Along with some Gentiles, these are the "vessels of mercy" mentioned in Romans 9:23. The second answer is the statement of human responsibility (Rom 9:30-10:21).  Not all Jews are being saved because some of them have refused to believe in Christ (Rom 9:32).  The doctrine of divine election is presented in Romans right next to the doctrine of human responsibility.  The fact that God chooses some people to be children of His promises does not absolve other people from their obligation to believe in Christ.  Having refused to trust in Jesus, people are held accountable.  The tension felt from the juxtaposition of these two doctrines is one of the great mysteries of Holy Scripture. The Jews, following the propensity of every sinful human heart, sought to establish righteousness before God based on their performance.  They pursued righteousness "as though it were by works" (Rom 9:32).  People all over the world seek to establish their righteousness in this manner.  Instead of the Jewish "works of the law" you could substitute baptism, prayer wheels, Hail Marys, fasting, church attendance.  No one stands acceptable before God on the basis of religious or moral activity.  ". . . by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight" (Rom 3:20).  We must hope in the righteousness of Christ.  He, alone, is sufficient to satisfy the demands of a holy God on our behalf. 

Stand Up for the Jews                              Esther 8-10 Key Dates: 4000ish BC      Creation 1875 BC           Abrahamic Covenant               1445 BC           Moses leads Israel out of Egypt             1405 BC           Joshua leads Israel back into the Promised Land                           1052 BC           Saul becomes Israel’s First King                         1004 BC           David makes Jerusalem Israel’s Capitol                                       956 BC             Solomon dedicates the Temple                                     931 BC             Israel is divided – North (Israel) and South (Judah)                                                   722 BC             Israel falls to Assyria (which falls to Babylon)                                                             606 BC             Judah first falls to Babylon (605-539)                                                             586 BC             Nebuchadnezzar destroys Temple                                                             539 BC             Persia (539-331) conquers Babylon                                                             536 BC             Persia: Cyrus’ Decree allows Temple rebuild                                                             516 BC             Temple completed                                                                         478 BC             Persia: Esther is Xerxes’ Queen                                                                         466 BC             Jerusalem’s walls destroyed                                                                           445 BC             Artaxerxes I’s decree to rebuild walls                                                                                     331 BC             Greece   conquers Persia                                                                                                 146 BC        Rome conquers Greece                                                                                                               30’s AD – Christ’s Death/Rez Divine Recompense – Mordecai receives Haman’s House and Job       8:1-2 Bad Laws ________________ Bad Leaders                                                   8:3-8 Esther 3:13                          13th of Adar                          March 7th 473 BC    Good Leaders make ____________ Laws                                                      8:8-10 The date of this decree was June 25, 474 BC The Jews are Given Legal Permission to ____________Themselves    8:11-16 Why in the world does the United Nations act like Israel is doing something wrong when it protects itself and deals firmly with people that try to kill Jews? Mordecai’s law made it okay for the Jews to arm themselves for that day against Proverbs 13:34 I love it when doing the right thing also leads to an evangelistic ______________! The Genesis 12 Curse ___________ on those who cursed the Jews     9:1-17 In Genesis 12 when God gave the Abrahamic Covenant he said He would bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse Israel. “As America has done to Israel” by John McTiernan. Think about that, there were 75,000 people who hated the Jews enough to STILL try to kill them, even after the state action to allow them to protect themselves. A New Feast for Israel – the Feast of Purim (Lots)                                     9:18-32 Why is it called Purim?                 Esther 3:7 Haman had used lots (3:7) to _________________ both the month and the day to kill Jews – God’s people used that to show Haman had reaped what he had sown! The Call to Stand Up for the Jews                                                                    10:1-3 God still blesses people of faith today who do both those things – who are both good citizens of their countries and seek the ____________ of the Jews. Romans 15:25-27                          Psalm 122:6

Are the Jews God's chosen people? Are they the true sons of Abraham and sons of God, or are they sons of the devil? Readings: Genesis 22:1-14; Hebrews 9:11-15; John 8:42-59

Are the Jews God's chosen people? Are they the true sons of Abraham and sons of God, or are they sons of the devil? Readings: Genesis 22:1-14; Hebrews 9:11-15; John 8:42-59

How and where God is to be worshiped, who and what was acceptable to him was the argument of her day. To both Samaritans and Jews God was the product of years of indoctrination, protocol and prejudice. All of this worked for a while, until God asked a woman of ill repute for a drink. In this encounter, the God of her youth began to die and a new one – an other who was seeking her, who belonged to no one and so he belonged to everyone – was rising in front of her. Suddenly, her worship as no longer about precedence, protocol and prejudice. It was all about spirit and truth, for those are the qualities that the real God seeks.

  Originally Presented on October 22nd, 2006 Scripture Reading: Romans 2:17-29 The third segment in the first main section of Romans is Romans 2:17-29.  It displays the kind of sinning committed by religious people, with the Jews as the focal point.  To the Jews God gave His Law and this gift was precious.  Because of having been instructed in the Law the Jews could "rely upon the Law, and boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are essential" (Rom 2:17,18).  Further, the Jews were supposed to be a light of truth to others . . . "a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature" (Rom 2:19,20.  But there was a serious problem.  The problem is seen in the series of rhetorical questions which come in verses 21-23.  "You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?  You who preach that one should not steal, do you steal?  . . . You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?"  The expected answer to these questions is 'yes'.   What the Jews failed to see is that the vitality of a relationship with God rests, not on anything external, but on the heart's trusting in God.  This passage is a stern warning to us because of the abundance of spiritual blessings God has given us.  Hypocrisy is often a subtle sin, but let us be clear about its potency.  It destroys spiritual vitality in believers and leads many others to hell.

Are the Jews God's chosen people? What about the nation of Israel? Who are God's elect?

Are the Jews God’s chosen? The state of Israel? What is choosing? Who are elect?

Last weeks conversation at onfaithsedge.com/104 with Michael certainly generated a lot of feedback, mainly around the title of Stryper’s most recent project. Listener Curt Stone said “Sometimes people of faith can be frivolous and stupid” And Frank Renn said “hearing the title of their album is just harsh on the ears. I understand what they […] The post Are the Jews God’s Chosen People? The Messianic Jewish Movement – Rabbi, Jonathan Bernis | Episode 105 appeared first on On Faith's Edge.

Continuing our study in Romans, we remain in the "courthouse" as God, through Paul's masterful writing, shows that all are guilty before the law. In this section, the religious are shown to also be guilty, even though they believe they are righteous before God. In the end, the rights and rituals even of the Jews--God's chosen people--were not enough to make one righteous, as righteousness is an inward trait, not an outward ritual or sign.

Jesus tells two parables that remind the Jews God provided all they needed to be His fruitful vineyard (Pastor Gene Pensiero)

  Vatican Bank Account Closed At JP Morgan,Pope Benedict XVI,Vatican Money Laundering God cares for sparrows does he care about his chosen people - Matthew 10:29 Did the real creator of earth name people Jews, if so what situation brought it about. Who are Jews?  (1) The bible traces them back to11:27. (2) Why are Jews called God's chosen people? Because God supposedly called and selected Abraham, then made a promise with him and his successive seed, as stated in Genesis 12:1-3.   (3) Now Jews have been God's example to other nations, so why were they taken into captivity? Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah), king of Judah  was captured by King Nebuchadnezzar and taken to Babylon, along with some 10,000 of Jerusalem's principal citizens (see 2 Kgs. 24:12-16).The Holy Scriptures tell us that both houses of Israel ended up in abominable idolatry. And both companies of God's covenant people went into captivity. The northern kingdom was led off by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.. The southern kingdom lost their sovereignty to the Babylonians and went into exile in 586 B.C.(4)  Why the Jews rejected Jesus Christ of Nazareth? God ordained it by mouth of Isaiah 53:3 - 5, 7. Then Paul writes in Romans 11:7 - 8 God gave Jews a spirit of slumber, eyes not to see and ears not to hear.  (5) God gave Jews the Canaanite land Genesis 12:6 - 7, but has never protect them from their enemies.

sermon transcript Introduction: Motion in the Nativity "The word became flesh, made his dwelling among us." What incredible riches there are, and such depth of truth in that one verse. And as we're going to look today. We are going to look across the Bible, not just focusing on John, but really from Genesis to Revelation on the issue of God's quest for a dwelling place. As I've thought about Christmas and meditated on it, and it just seems that Christmas's are coming faster and faster for me, year after year - this is my 12th Christmas message to you - and it'd just fly by. But as I think about Christmas a new and afresh, I think about the story of Christmas as a story of movement, of motion from one place to another. Of course, the ultimate movement was that of Jesus Christ in coming to the earth. He left his father's throne above, so free, so infinite his grace, emptied himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race. What an infinite move that was. But at the human level also, the story of Christmas is a story of movement, of motion from one place to another in a time when ordinarily, people might be born in one locality and not move more than 100 miles from the place where they were born their whole lives. There is actually an amazing amount of movement in the Christmas story. It begins, of course, with the edict of Caesar Augustus from the city of Rome: "that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world." And this set in motion, more people than we can possibly imagine, or calculate, or research historically. The Roman Empire was best known for its top-down authority structure and its impeccable discipline. Roman Centurion in Matthew Chapter 8 said it best in Matthew 8:9. He said, "I myself am a man under authority with soldiers under me. I tell that one 'Go' and he goes, I tell that one 'Come' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this', and he does it." And so, Caesar's command set in motion a vast chain of events. He had established an incredibly elaborate courier system to communicate throughout the empire, and they took advantage of the remarkable network of Roman roads. The Empire itself covered as much as 2 million square miles, and with this one command, there shall be a census of the entire Roman world, courier sped out of Rome to all points on the compass. Once the word reaches Palestine, King Herod had no choice, but reluctantly I think, to enforce it, knowing that to disobey Caesar would mean his own downfall. And so the command from Caesar Augustus then became a command through Herod the Great, which set the whole population of Israel in motion as well. Everyone in the Holy Land had to migrate temporarily, go back to their ancestral, their tribal home and register at that location. Now, of course, this vast movement of populations of people, of couriers, and of legions and all of that, from Spain, through Gaul, through Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, all over the Roman world, serves some key purposes for Caesar and for Rome: the ability to register local populations to know what kind of taxes to expect and be able to enforce those taxes, and to know where to position their legions based on population and the military needs. And so it served his purposes quite well, but you and I both know the real purpose was lodged in the mind of God, and it centered amazingly on one Jewish couple, Joseph and Mary, to move them from Nazareth to a place they ordinarily would never have presumed to go, to Bethlehem to have the birth of their son. And so isn't it incredible how these macro events really are focused down on one little couple to achieve one end, and that is the fulfillment of prophecy - that Jesus might be identified for us as truly the son of God, the Messiah that was predicted in prophecy in Micah 5:2 it says, "But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from the old, from of ancient times." And so we have this roaming kind of migrating pattern going on at the time of the birth of Christ, and I think it's appropriate for the beginning of Jesus' life on Earth. When the time came, Jesus was born of a virgin, and she wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in the manger because there was no room for them in the inn, as you know - and I think all of this is very appropriate because later in his life, Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head." And so Jesus lived his whole adult life without a dwelling place, without a place to lay his head, in some sense is homeless really. Jesus' birth, as you know, also caused some mysterious people, the Magi, to travel great distances to Palestine. We don't know how long they traveled, but it could have been weeks, it could have been months, perhaps even a year or more. We don't know where they were coming from, but they saw the star in the East, they traveled therefore West in a westerly direction. The most incredible celestial potent they'd ever seen, a movable star that eventually stopped over the house where Jesus was, something they'd never seen, these star gazers had never seen in their lives. Now, you've all heard the Christmas Carol that is, in my opinion, rife with historical question marks and perhaps inaccuracies. We'll find out in Heaven, but we sing it anyway and well, we should. So go ahead and enjoy it, next time you sing, "We Three Kings of Orient Are: Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, Moor and mountain, Following yonder Star." Now, I don't know if there were three of them, and I don't think they probably were kings, but there's definitely a sense of traveling. They left their home country and came to a foreign land to see where the star led, and it led to a baby. It led to Jesus. It led to a savior, the only savior for the world. And of course, soon after Jesus' birth, Joseph and Mary themselves had to run for their lives because wicked King Herod, disturbed by the visit of the Magi, disturbed by the prophecies concerning Jesus, wanted to kill Jesus. And so in order to eliminate one baby, he desired to kill them all, all the babies in Bethlehem and its vicinity, two years old and under. And so "an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Get up and take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.' So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt where he stayed until the death of Herod." And so Joseph and Mary were even more homeless at that point, even more roaming far from their native land, far from Nazareth, their hometown, waiting on a message from another angel that it was time to go back. And so Jesus lived in a turbulent time with vast political forces at work, moving vast populations from place to place, and I think all of this turmoil and tumult and movement, really to some degree exemplifies the whole human race in its sin. The fact of the matter is that none of us has any permanent place here at all, not one of us. Because of sin, we are all nomads, we are just aliens and strangers, we are just passing through in a world that appears to be rather permanent, and we can settle down and it seems permanent, but it really isn't. And to some degree in an amazing way, God himself linking himself to his chosen people to us, is himself not yet settled in a permanent resting place either. He is moving, he's moving with us until his plan is finally complete. And so all of human history, all of redemptive history, in one sense you could say it comes down to a quest for a dwelling place, a place where God and man can dwell together forever and not move again. We're living in tense temporarily, we're yearning for a final dwelling place where we can live forever. And that I think is among other things, a major theme, The purpose of the Christmas story, and that's what we're going to look at today. God’s Yearning for a Dwelling Place from Eternity God Eternally Existing in Three Persons Now, I'm not going to be doing a careful exposition of John 1, 14-18, though it'd be well worth doing, but I just want to trace out this theme that centers in Verse 14, where it says, "The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." I want to zero in on that issue of dwelling and I want to trace it out over biblical history and then look a little more carefully at Romans, Romans 1 and Verse 14. And so we see God biblically yearning for a dwelling place from eternity past. Before the universe even began, God had a desire to dwell with humanity, with holy humanity in fellowship that's patterned after his own fellowship within the Trinity, right from the beginning of our text today, John 1:1, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God." And so there's this fellowship between persons of the Trinity, the father and the son in fellowship together. The word was with God and God eternally existing in three persons, perfect in love, perfect in fellowship and communication, in relationship and intimacy. There was no lack at all in the Trinity, but only fullness, and God yearned out of love to pour out that fullness on created beings that they might share that kind of unity and fellowship with him and with each other that he shares within himself and the Trinity. And so not out of lack did he create, but out of fullness in love he created the universe. God Created Man in His Image for Relationship "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth," and so he created as a culmination of all that, man in his own image for a perfect intimacy with him. "God created man in his own image, in the image of God; he created him male and female, created them," and I think at least part of that image is the ability to have a relationship with God and with each other in perfect unity. And so God had a desire to settle down with us and to dwell with us in that perfect unity from before the foundation of the world. God’s Desire before the Foundation of the World: To Dwell with Man in Perfect Fellowship So Romans 8:29 and 30 says, "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." That glorification is the perfection of fellowship between God and holy humanity. So before the foundation of the world, God had a vision for this. That's what he wanted to do. God’s Quest for a Dwelling Place in History In Eden: A Perfect Dwelling Place on Probation But then once history started to unfold, then you see God's quest for a permanent dwelling place in history unfolding. Of course, God set up a beautiful garden, Eden, perfect on the face of the Earth, the perfect place for mankind to begin. And God placed the man there originally alone, and he communicated with him and gave him a sense of his freedoms and his responsibilities there, "You're free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But when you eat of it, you will surely die." And so therefore, this perfect garden, this original dwelling place where sinless or holy man could dwell together in fellowship with God was merely a place of probation. They were being tested, they were on probation. It wasn't permanent. And you have a sense of the kind of relationship that man had with God over in Genesis 3, "When they hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day," it says, "And they were afraid and they hid." You remember? And so if you just go back with that and say, "Well, then they must have recognized the sound of God, the communication, the fellowship they had." They knew it was him, they were having a relationship with God, but I say to you is merely probationary. The Fall: Dwelling Place Cut Off They were being tested. God knew before the foundation of the world they would fail that test and a redeemer would be needed. And so it's so very tragic as they fell into sin, they eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they were evicted from the Garden of Eden, and thus the quest for a permanent dwelling place began in earnest. And it's amazing how the word dwelling or remaining or settling, I'll talk about that later in the message, but it first appears in Genesis 3:24, where it says that he drove man out. "He drove the man out and at the East of the Garden of Eden, he stationed," that's the same Hebrew word, he settled down a "cherubim in a flaming sword, which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life." Isn't that tragic? That's the settling down that happened as a result of man's sin, in effect God stationing death between us and the tree of life, and to me, the tree of life is the dwelling place. That's where we get to live with God forever. And so this infinite gap, this tragic gap came between us and God because of sin. The entire human race on the outside evicted from the fellowship, that place of dwelling with God. The Patriarchs: Walking with God by Faith but not Yet Dwelling with Him And so God began redemptive history. He began winning the human race back to himself in Christ. The patriarchs, it says of Enoch that he "walked with God" and "God took him," and so by faith, this man had a relationship with God. And Noah, it's also said of Noah that he "walked with God," and there's a sense of fellowship there, isn't there, but also a sense of journeying. They're not finally settled down here on Earth, they're having to move. And so they walk with God because they can't stay in this one place, and they have to move on. God called Abraham out of Ur the Chaldees, and he moved him over to this land, the Promised Land, it became known, and because God made him a promise and it was a promise of a future dwelling place where he could settle down forever. So God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:8, he said, "The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God." Now notice that God called Abraham an alien. That means someone with no lasting dwelling place, no place to lay his head really; to some degree, that was Abraham in the Promised Land. Abraham was called God's friend. There was nothing lacking in their relationship. Abraham walked with God by faith, but he lived in a tent, and he was sitting at the door of the tent when the angel of the Lord and two other angels showed up. Remember how it says in Hebrews that some have entertained angels without knowing it? I think that's at least talking about Abraham there. And he got up and he went into the tent and he told Sara to prepare some food and all that, but he's living in a tent, he's entertaining the Lord at the doorway through his tent. Isaac and Jacob also lived in tents. Jacob eventually left the Promised Land under the pressure of the famine and went and lived in Egypt to come under the protection of his son Joseph who was second only to Pharaoh there in Egypt. And at the end of his life, "Jacob said to Pharaoh, he said, 'The years of my pilgrimage are 130. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.'" It's an interesting expression, pilgrimage. We don't use it much, but it has a sense of a journey for religious reasons. You're going to a shrine or a temple or some place, and you're trying to get there and there you're going to offer some worship. Now, we saw Shinto and Buddhist pilgrims in Shikoku, and they went to these 88 different shrines and they were going from place to place on this pilgrimage for pagan religion and idolatrous religion, but it's a pilgrimage. So also in the Middle Ages, they used to go on pilgrimage, is going from place to place. This is the language that Jacob used for his life, and he says, "It's been short. It's only been 130 years, and it doesn't equal the years of my father. He made it to 176." And so death is just looming over this pilgrimage and it seems to be shortening it, and it's a sense of: we're not there yet, we haven't come into our dwelling place yet, we're yearning for home. And so the author to Hebrews picks up on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I think Enoch and Noah as well, and the others that he's mentioned. In Hebrews 11 up to that point he says, "All of these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, but only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things, they're showing that they're thinking of a country of their own. If they'd been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had an opportunity to go back. Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one, and therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them." For the purpose of my sermon, I'll just say he has prepared a dwelling place for them, where they can live with him forever and ever. They died without coming into it; they were aliens and strangers in this world. The Jews: God’s Chosen People and God’s Desire to Dwell with Them In the course of time, God chose the descendants of Abraham, who we know as the Jews, his chosen people, and expressed to them his desire to dwell with them. But they were slaves in Egypt for 400 years, and he called them out of bondage to be his own, his treasured possession. And it says in Exodus 29, "I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God, and they will know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." He says "Dwell" twice there. He wants to live with his people, his chosen people. And so he moved them out from Egypt. In Egypt, they had no dwelling place, they couldn't own any property, there was nothing there for them. They were just slaves there doing the bidding of another, and God had a place for them where they could dwell. And so he says in Leviticus 26, "I will put my dwelling place among you and I will not abhor you." That's encouraging, isn't it? I'm so glad to not be abhorred by God. What a delight it is that God doesn't hate me. But you know the thing is, God hates evil, and what God is saying is: I will separate you from your evil and I will love you, and the evil about you I hate I will cast into the sea and you'll see it no more. He says I'm going to dwell among you and I'll not abhor you, and I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people. That's even language. He says I want to live with you, and I want to dwell with you forever. So the Exodus was a picture of the desire that God had to give them a home, an eternal home, not in this present earthly age so ravaged by sin. The Exodus literally means departure. I remember, I was on a mission trip in Greece, and I was in a room there and I can read Greek, and so over the door, there it was, right over the door, it said 'Exodus'. And I was like, "Wow, it's biblical. Right here in this room. There it is, there's the Exodus." Just means 'way out'. And so that was what it was, God was bringing them out of bondage. But the way gives you a sense of a journey doesn't it. A departure and a movement, there is a sense of a journeying that has to travel, and you know how it went with the Jews because of their unbelief. Because of sin, you know it lasted for 40 years out in the desert, and there was no permanent dwelling place in the desert. It was not meant to be so. That's not the land that God was giving them. And so God himself moved about from place to place for those 40 years in the form of a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, and so God is there journeying with his people, going from place to place. Sometimes they might spend only a night, sometimes they might be there for a year or more, moving from place to place. Exodus 13, it says, "By day, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night, in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel by day or night, neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." Now, I think, if any human being at that time felt this restless roaming and wandering, it had to be Moses. More than anyone else, I think he felt it. Look at his life. He was born eventually into privilege, once he was taken into Pharaoh's home by Pharaoh's daughter, he was raised in privilege, powerful in speech and action, wealthy, a good life ahead of him. But I think, at some point, he came to understand his heritage, and he knew that he was Jewish, and he understood what was happening to his own people and how they were being mistreated. And he identified with them, and he saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian master, being beaten, and so he came to his aid and killed that overseer, buried him and hid him in the sand. And when Pharaoh heard about him, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses ran for his life, and that began openly, a life of homeless wandering that continued to the end of his days. He eventually settles in the tent of Jethro, his father-in-law. He was a good father-in-law, but he's still a father-in-law, dear friends. You know what I'm talking about. And he was still living in Jethro's tent at 80 years old. They lived a long time back then. Jethro is still there, and there's Moses as a son-in-law, at age 80, tending his father-in-law's sheep. How would you like that to be your life calling? I'm tending my father-in-law's sheep. How are they doing? They're doing very well, thank you. Wouldn't you like sheep of your own? Well, he's about to get sheep of his own, but they're just not sheep, they're are going to be people, two million strong. And the Lord called him in the flames of the burning bush, and he went and he led the people out, and through their unbelief, they refused to enter the Promised Land, spoke of stoning Moses and thus began 40 more years of homeless wandering for this man of God. And provoked by their wickedness, at one point, he sinned against God and did not consider God holy, but disobeyed God and struck the rock a second time, so speaking to it, and God forbid him from entering the Promised Land. And though he begged him, he said, "I want to see that good land. Won't you let me go over and see the good land?" He didn't ever say, "After all I've done for you." He knew that that would not even hold any candle or water with God at all, he didn't even say that, "But just out of your grace, out of your mercy, would you not let me go over and see that good land?" And God said, "Stop talking to me about it. I will not hear any more prayer about this. But I'll let you go up on Mount Pisgah, and you can see it from there, from afar, you can see it from a distance. But I will not let you enter it." And so this man of God, at some point, I think, in those wanderings in the 40 years, plenty of time to write, sat down and wrote Psalm 90, where it says in Verse 1, "Lord, You have been our dwelling place from generation to generation." I don't have any other dwelling place here, it's just you, God. A yearning to dwell with God. And in the midst of that time, God revealed to Moses, at a deeper level than had ever been revealed up to that point, his desire to dwell with his people. The Tabernacle: The Symbolic Dwelling Place of God with His People He took him up on the mountain of God, and there he showed him a vision of a tabernacle. And this tabernacle was a symbol or representation of God's desire, his eternal desire, before the foundation of the world, his desire to dwell with his people. And he commanded him again and again and again, "Make everything according to the pattern I have shown you. Make it exactly like the pattern," and so out came the tabernacle. And it says that he did, he made it exactly like the pattern. Book of Hebrews tells us it's just a copy and a shadow of the heavenly reality. What is the heavenly reality? It's not so much that there's a tabernacle in heaven, it's that God dwells with his people in heaven. That's the reality, the tabernacle then a symbol of it. What was the Tabernacle? It was a tent. That's all it was. It was just a tent, a movable tent. God told the purpose, in Exodus 25, 8 and 9, "Have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all of its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you." And again, Exodus 29, 42-46, "There at the tent meeting, I will meet you and I will speak to you, and there also, I will meet with the Israelites and the place will be consecrated by my glory, and so I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests. Then," listen to this, "I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God, and they will know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." That was the reason for the tabernacle, so that God could in a very visible way, dwell with his people and live with them. Now, God's commands for the tabernacle, very, very earthy, very rooted in the earth. You get linen, plants that are growing up, and then you get these linen fibers that are going to be made into curtains, and you get acacia wood that's growing up out of the dust of the earth, and you've got precious metals and you've got metal for the stands and the rings, and you've got animal skins, and then the hides of the dugong. You have to look up a dugong. What is a dugong? Some say it's a sea cow. That doesn't help. What is a sea cow? Porpoise? Some kind of sea creature that would have been good for keeping water off, and they use that as a covering. Very, very earthy thing. I wonder what it would have smelled like. The tabernacle, however, was plainly intended to be movable. It could be disassembled and it could be carried, and so a certain group or sub-sect of the Levites were designed or called on by God, to carry the tabernacle. It moved from place to place. And always, what made it special was the Shekinah glory of God. And I've told you before in other sermons, I didn't know what the word, Shekinah, meant. I just heard it all the time, Shekinah glory. I thought that the Pentecostals invented it. I couldn't find it anywhere in the Bible. But they didn't invent it, it really is just a transliteration of the word, dwelling place. So the mishkan, in the Hebrew, the prefix, the M, is a participle, it's a dwelling place. It's the mishkan or Shekinah is the dwelling place. Shekinah glory is the dwelling glory of God, and it came and said, "I will dwell with you here, the tabernacle's the place, the mishkan is the place of dwelling where God will dwell with his people." And so God's glory, the glory cloud, entered the tabernacle and abided on it as a constant reminder of God's desire to dwell with his people. Exodus 40, "Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Do you see the tension there in the old covenant? The law came by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus. There's this glory, and Moses can't enter. I thought the point was that, we could enter, that we could go right into the glory. We're getting there, friends, we'll get there eventually in the sermon, some time, somewhere around 1 o'clock. But at any rate, there's going to be this time of entering the glory, but Moses couldn't enter yet. And in the same passage, the glory cloud gives a sense that the journey was not yet finished, for God still had to travel with his people to reach their dwelling place. In Verse 36 and following, Exodus 40, "In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out. But if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out until the day lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels." God's at move, on the move, and so in Daniel 7, God's throne is pictured as having wheels. In Ezekiel, there's a sense of wheels of movement. God hasn't come home yet. And so, at one point in the Pentateuch, they say, "Arise O Lord and come into your dwelling". And so they want God to come back and settle down in his dwelling. And the tabernacle was equally accessible and inaccessible. Equally accessible in that it was right in the middle of the camp and all the tribes set up camp around, in numbers two. God described very plainly, where everyone's to set up shop and they all get to be close, but none of them gets to come in. None of them. Not even Aaron, except once a year, with blood, on the day of atonement. In Leviticus 16, God said, "You tell your brother, Aaron, he is not to come any time he chooses, into the holy place. Most Holy Place." Oh, that's a message, isn't it? You are not ready to dwell with me yet, and I'm not ready to have you dwell with me yet. The Book of Hebrews makes it plain, that the tabernacle itself showed that the way hadn't been opened yet, not yet. And so it says in Hebrews 9:8, "The Holy Spirit was showing by this, that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing." Now, once they entered the Promised Land, God ordained that they choose one location from all of the 12 tribes, and they were not to be like the Canaanites who worship wherever they wanted under every spreading tree and on every high place. No, they weren't allowed to do that. They had to all migrate within the Promised Land three times a year and come to the one location. What is God telling them there? Even in the Promised Land, there's still aliens and strangers, to some degree, there's still a journey to be made. The Temple: The Picture of Permanence, But Not Yet Achieved And God stayed in his tent until David had a bright idea. Remember that? David saying, "Here I am, in a palace of cedar…" and there's God "in a tent," let's build him something - what's the word? Permanent. Let's make something permanent. That's what I want to do. This is a great home, God's blessed me. Nathan said, just because he was friends with David, "Whatever you want to do, do it. Sounds good." Then God spoke a better word to Nathan later on. He said, "Go back and tell David this. This is what the Lord Almighty says. Are you the one to build a house for me?" What a humbling question that is. "I have someone better in mind. My son is going to build the house, and yours." He says, "I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, to this day. I have been moving," listen to this language. This is God speaking, "I have been moving from place to place, with a tent as my dwelling." That's an amazing thing for God to say. I have been living in a tent. "Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to the rulers of the people, that I commanded to shepherd my people of Israel, 'Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'" It's amazing how God humbles you very lowly and then raises you up. He says, "Look, I'm going to raise a son out of your own body, and he's the one who will build a house for me." And he didn't mean Solomon. Now, Solomon dill did build, and I think, with the blessing of God, a more permanent location for them to worship. It was called the temple. But that became a stumbling stone for the Jews. They misunderstood, they really did think it was permanent. They really think God had arrived at last: Now, we have this big impressive building with these massive stones, and we have finally settled in. God will never ever let anything happen to his temple. And so they used to say in the days of Jeremiah, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." God had a lesson from them. When God destroyed Solomon's temple by the Babylonians, what was he saying? I have not come home yet, and neither have you. And when he scattered them to the four corners of the Earth, when they went in exile to Babylon and other places, when they were scattered, he was saying, you have not yet entered your dwelling place. You are aliens and strangers in this world, sent them into exile. And even in the days of Jesus, his Disciples still didn't get it. Remember how they were coming out of the temple grounds and looking at Herod's temple at that point. And they were saying, "Teacher, what massive stones. What impressive buildings." And Jesus said, You haven't learned the lesson, have you. "I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down." There is no permanent dwelling place here on earth, in this present age. It says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." God’s Commitment to a Dwelling Place in Christ The Eternal Deity of Christ as the “Word” of God: Verse 1 Alright. So, does God want to have a dwelling place? Yes, he does. How do we know that? Because Jesus was born. That is how we know God wants to have a dwelling place with us. The deity of Christ established in Verse 1, this is God, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is the Word; Jesus is God, clear deity. The Shocking Statement of the Incarnation: The Word Became “Flesh” And then in Verse 14, "The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory. Glory of the only Begotten, from the Father, full of grace and truth." Now, the word became flesh is a shocking expression, and John, the Apostle John meant it to be so. He wrote in Greek; there's Greek thought swirling around there, Greek philosophy and Greek mentality - the senses that the physical is the low, animal aspect of humanity. We've got to get up into the ethereal, non-physical realms, you see. Because the physical is wicked and evil, and we have to become pure spirits. Some Christian theologians picked up on this and said, Jesus actually only seemed to have been human. John basically takes the human race and has a stare at the flesh of Jesus. And so he uses this word, flesh, and it's very strong, a sense of sinews and capillaries, and blood vessels and tendons, muscles and intestines and skin. The flesh of Jesus. The Apostle John is fighting against the view that Jesus wasn't truly human. He was truly human. He could have said, "The word became human," and that would have been true, but he goes beyond that and said, "The word became flesh." And Jesus' flesh was knit together by the Holy Spirit inside the womb of his mother, Mary, and he was born in the ordinary way, like any other baby, but unlike any other baby, because he had no human father. Luke 2, 7, "She gave birth in an ordinary way to her firstborn son and wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Jesus' human body was prepared for him by God, so that he could die on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and his body, his flesh was wrapped up in swaddling clothes, by his mother, at the beginning of his life, a symbol of his frailty. And isn't it amazing how at the end of his life, it's wrapped up again, in cloths, a symbol of his frailty now consummated in his death. As Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus wrap him up and prepare him for burial. He came into the world as a human being, frail and weak. Jesus “Made His Dwelling among Us” And it says, he made his dwelling among us. The Apostle John, clearly, I believe with all my heart, connecting back to the tabernacle language, some say pitched his tent or was the tabernacle of God among us. He was, he is the tabernacle. Jesus' body is presented then as the new dwelling place where the glory of God is clearly visible and where the people of God can meet him and dwell with him, and his disciples could behold his glory, and it would be a glory apparent only to those with the eyes of faith. We have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Father. He's the only one like him, and there's no one else like him in the universe. And it says, "Full of grace and truth." Oh, how sweet are those words, for us. Amen. Full of grace, that's Jesus. Jesus didn't merely present grace or truth or discuss them, or believe in them, or exemplify them or - and those words are too far removed from Jesus. He was grace, he was truth, he is grace, and is truth, and he's full of grace and full of - some people are conduits of grace and truth. Amen. I want to be that. In my life, I'd like to be a pipeline of grace and truth. Jesus is no pipeline; he is grace and truth. He's the reservoir of grace and truth. And what is grace? It's God's sovereign determination to do us, wicked sinners, good. Later in the same section, look at Verse 17, "The law came by Moses." What does the law do for you and me? I know what it will do for you and me. It will send us to hell. That's what the law does. The law will condemn me because we cannot keep it. We are idolaters, we are covetous people, we are adulterers, we are liars, we have worshipped other "gods," we have not honored our parents; the law condemns us, friends, but "grace and truth comes by Jesus Christ." And how sweet is that? It is the grace of God to save sinners like us. John’s Witness: Eternity Steps into Time And John testified in Verse 15, both the Apostle John in writing John the Baptist' testimony, and John the Baptist himself in giving this testimony, "He testified concerning..." Now, do you know who John the Baptist was? He was Jesus' relative, born; it seems like about six months before Jesus, began his ministry a number of years before Jesus began his public ministry, very famous, well-known, everyone in Judea going out, hearing his bold preaching, his unusual lifestyle, his odd practice of baptizing Jews, and just an amazing famous man. And he sees this man who's younger than him and who hasn't done anything yet in ministry, and he says, "He who was after me actually is before me and has surpassed me because he was before me." He takes a higher rank because he pre-existed me, or how does that work, John? Well, before Jesus even uttered these words, John the Baptist understood them. What Jesus said to his enemies, "Your father, Abraham, rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day, he sought and was glad." Jesus' enemy said, "You're not even 50 years old and you've seen Abraham?" He lived 2000 years before Jesus. And Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am." John the Baptist understood that he was before me. He existed before me. There has never been a time he didn't exist. And John the Baptist also knew what Jesus came to do, how he was full of grace and truth. When the next day, he pointed to Jesus and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," that's how he's full of grace and truth. That tabernacle was a place of animal sacrifice, that was the center of the meeting, and God saying, "There is only one way to get to me and that's by shedding of blood, by death." That's what the sword flashing back and forth in Eden is all about. You must die. There's a death penalty to be paid. And then that death penalty transferred to Jesus, and he is the Lamb of God who dies for the sins of the world. The Gifts that Flowed from Jesus: Fullness of Grace And what gifts flow from Jesus? Look at Verse 16, "From his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace." I love that expression, that translation, "Grace upon grace." Now, every year, billions of dollars are spent on Christmas gifts. Perhaps you've spent billions of dollars on Christmas gifts. I hope not. But the estimate - I don't know how they even estimate these things. Every purchase made in December is a Christmas gift? I don't think so. How do they do it? I don't know. Because odd things are bought at Christmas time as gifts, so I don't know how they unravel it and say - but they're saying something like half a trillion dollars. Think about that, half a trillion dollars spent on Christmas gifts. That's an awful lot of money. Now, think back at your own heritage and history of Christmas. How would you feel if by the sovereign grace of God, you could see all of the Christmas gifts you've ever received in one place, in brand new condition right now. All in one place. That tricycle you were so excited to get when you were four, that - I had a cap gun set when I was a rooting tooting cowboy, I remember, when I was six or seven, something like that. House was filled with the smell of gunpowder or whatever, those little caps. You remember that? We used to smash them with a rock and all kinds of things. We did all kinds of fun things. But the stuff you can't wait to have. You know how the ad campaigns, they stimulate in the children, the gut to have things, and you know how almost every year, it seems there's the single gift that everyone has to have, and they're always on the verge of running out of it. And people stand up in line, and it's 20% more money because there's supply and demand. And you have all these gifts that you've had across your life, and you outgrow them or they break or they float out of your life. And one gift follows another, which follows another. Well, this Verse talks about a better sequence of gifts. Grace, literally, it's grace instead of grace, or grace after grace. And so what God has in mind is a whole treatment of grace for you and me. Like at a spa, we need a whole series of grace treatments, and it's going to be grace upon grace upon grace, until we're at last, in the dwelling place with God in heaven. Converting grace. If you're lost, you need a savior, you need the grace of God to convert you. I plead with you, friend, be converted. Look to Christ. See Jesus now on the cross. I know we're focusing on Christmas, but focus for a moment on Good Friday, Jesus' death on the cross and on Easter. Picture him there, his blood shed, picture him buried in the tomb. Picture him raised from the dead on the third day and say, "That is my savior. I need you, Jesus." Trust in him. And if you do, you have received grace, converting grace. But that won't be the end of the grace you need, then you need sanctifying grace to come in, you need a whole life change. God wants to transform you and make you ready to dwell with him forever, and so he's changing your life, and you need converting grace and sanctifying grace. And you need instructing grace, that God would teach you many things from his word and you'd be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And persevering grace, and sustaining grace. When you're going through trials, bitter trials, facing your own flesh and its weakness. You're struggling with loneliness and other temptations, you need sustaining grace for years and years, because only those who finish really began. And God knows that better than you do, and so he who began a good work in you will sustain it and keep it going until the end. And from his fullness, we have all received grace after grace, after grace, after grace. And then finally, dying grace, that you would maintain your testimony through to the end, and then glorifying grace. The Final Goal: Perfect Intimacy with God through Christ And at last you'll be home, at last you'll be home with Jesus. That is the final goal. Verse 18 says, "No one has ever seen God at any time, but the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him" - isn't it interesting how Jesus said he had no place to lay his head? You know why? Because here's where he wants to lay his head, on the father's bosom. That's his home. And isn't it beautiful how at the end of John's gospel, John puts his head on Jesus' chest. He says, "Lord," who is it, "who's going to betray you?" Remember that picture, the word bosom then appears twice in the Greek, both at beginning and end of the Gospel. And so there's this picture of Jesus laying his head on the Father, and John, the Apostle John, laying his head on Jesus. That's your home, friends. God’s Consummation of a Dwelling Place in Heaven Christians Here in this World: Aliens and Strangers in a Temporary Tent When we're up there in heaven, that's your home. That's where we're going. And so the consummation of the dwelling place is in heaven. We're not home yet. Do you know that? Do you know that you're dwelling, the scripture says, in a tent of a body? It's a tent, and it's getting more voluminous by the day, you're thinking, especially in December. It's a tent. Peter called it a tent, he said, "I will soon lay aside the tent of this body, the Lord Jesus has made this plain to me," He calls it a tent. 2nd Corinthians Chapter 5, the apostle Paul says, "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God. An eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. And meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked." So we're waiting for our heavenly dwelling place. The Essence & Consummation of Faith: Looking Ahead to a Future City – A New Jerusalem And so, Revelation 21 tells us what it will be. "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now, this is literal, 'Now is the tabernacle of God with men…'" That's literally the translation. Finally, the tabernacle shows up in eternity. "'Now is the dwelling place of God with men, and he will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. And he will wipe every tear from your eyes, and there'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain...'" Why? Because "…the old order of things has passed away." and God has made everything new. That is a full history of the dwelling place. Applications & Closing Prayer Aliens and Strangers: Understand the Impermanence of Life in this World So Christmas morning is coming soon, you sit down to open up your gifts, what does this have to do with that? Everything you open up is temporary, everything. And you know it well, don't you? Maybe the little kids don't know it yet, but they'll learn. It's all temporary. While you do it, say, "This is not my home. I'm an alien here, a stranger just passing through." Invest in your mind, in your eternal resting place in heaven. Meditate much on it. Tell yourself, "I'm an alien and a stranger here." Tell yourself that Jesus is your dwelling place. He has pitched his tent or made his tabernacle in the center of your life. Live with him, dwell with him. Don't focus on earthly things, don't be troubled by the busyness of the season. Ask God to give you grace and energy, and do it with grace and dignity. Go through it with energy, but just know we are just passing through here and it will not be very long before we dwell with God in Heaven. Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for the richness of this theme in the Bible, so much we could say. Father, I pray that we would understand the fullness of John 1:14, "that the word became flesh" and made his tabernacle or tabernacled with, pitched his tent with us. And that we would not be so rooted in earthly things that we forget our heavenly calling to live with you forever. I pray that we'd be pure and holy and not defiled by this earthly system. We thank you for these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Introduction There are many admirable attributes of the human nature that God could have chosen to focus on concerning our salvation. He could have focused in on wisdom. He does praise young King Solomon highly and rewards him highly for asking for wisdom to lead God's people. Wisdom was rewarded and praised and is an admirable trait. He could have focused on courage or boldness, like the courage of Samson facing all those Philistines with the jaw bone of a donkey, or the boldness of Peter and John in front of the Sanhedrin. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they proclaimed the word of God boldly. He could have zeroed in on that character trait for the salvation of our souls. He could have zeroed in on compassion or humility or generosity or kindness. He could have focused on love. Love has an entire chapter in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13. Love is even compared to other admirable attributes; “And now, these three remain: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.” But it was none of these character traits that God zeroed in on for the salvation of a sinful soul. No, it was faith that God zeroed in on. “The righteous will live by faith,” the scripture says. “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Why faith? Faith Comes From God God hates our boasting. He has very wisely saved us in a way that we cannot boast about the process. How can you boast about faith? What does faith do but receive what God will give. That's all. It's like the eyesight of the soul, it just receives what's there. It doesn't create anything. It just receives what God is willing to give. How do you boast about that? Imagine standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon and you saw all those purples and browns and reds, and you saw the beauty there and somebody said, "Isn't that incredible? Isn't God magnificent to make something like that!" And someone else said, "Yeah, but my eyesight, now, I can see it, okay. I have great eyesight. Let's talk about that for a while." There's nothing to talk about. "Yeah, that's good, that's good. Why don't you go sit over here and think about your eye sight while I look at this grandeur.” “It's out there, it's magnificent, it's glorious and my eyes just happened to bring it into me that I may receive it.” So how can we boast about our faith? How wise is God! But also, in a perverted way, how wise is Satan to attack faith so that we don't understand it properly. We must have clear teaching about faith, because there's a lot of misunderstanding about faith as well. There are well-publicized movements that focus on faith: The faith healers, the Word of Faith movement, etcetera, that sees faith somewhat like a commodity that you can trade with God based on if you have enough. Like a bag of gold dust hanging at your belt, and God's got His scales, and if you've got enough faith, like a commodity, you can pour your faith on to the scale and it'll trip over, and God is forced to give you what you ask for. It's like a commodity that you can have and you got to go get more if you don't have enough. If you're pulling out your little bag and God looks at you, "I tell you right now, you don't have enough faith. So go get some more faith and then you can have the thing you ask of Me." In the end, faith turns in somewhat of a work of man, that if you have enough of this thing called Faith, then God's got to give you whatever you ask. The dark side of that whole word of faith approach is that, if you have any kind of suffering in your life, if there's a loved one, like the Syrophoenician woman's daughter who is demon-possessed, or you have some illness, or there's some issue and you come to the matter, and you don't get the healing and the person dies, or something, it's because you didn't have enough faith. So now, not only do you have the loss of the loved one, you now are told that was, indirectly told it was your fault, that if you'd had enough faith, this would never have happened. It’s similar to Job's friends basically saying, "Well, I see that you're going through great suffering. Just want you to know it's your fault. And if you would just kind of out with it about your sin, then we could get on with the healing and all that." It's about the same thing. You're left devastated. 1980 Harvest House published a book by Larry Parker entitled We Let Our Son Die. The book tells a tragic story of how Larry and his wife, after being influenced by one of America's numerous Word of Faith or Word-Faith teachers, withheld insulin from their diabetic son, Wesley. Predictably, Wesley fell into a diabetic coma and died. The Parkers, through that whole process, were warned about the impropriety of making a negative confession, saying anything negative about the whole thing. They continued to trust God and to speak words of faith concerning this matter until finally he died. Even after his death, they refused to have a funeral, but instead had a resurrection service for their son, trusting God based on a revelation they'd had that their son would be raised from the dead. It wasn't until a year later that they started to realize that they'd gotten hold of some bad teaching, and it focused on this matter of faith. If it were just limited to the seriousness of that situation, physical death for a loved one, that would be bad enough, but instead it's going to the heart of the way that God saves our sinful souls. We are justified by faith. We must understand it, therefore. We don't go to the Word-Faith teachers, we don't go to these fad, weird movements to find out what faith is. We must go to the Scriptures. The verses today are one of the accounts that I would bring someone to who wanted to understand what is the nature of true faith. Why? Because Jesus commends this Syrophoenician woman for her faith. He focuses on it. In verse 28 it says, "Jesus answered, 'Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour." The Context of Jesus’ Interaction with the Canaanite Woman It's good for us to learn from the Syrophoenician woman, to find out from her example what is great faith, faith that Jesus will commend. As we come to this encounter, we're coming to, I think, one of Jesus's most puzzling interactions. Admit it, haven't you wondered about this one before? It's a little bit strange. Robert Stein in his book, Difficult Passages in the Gospels, chooses this as one of the passages he deals with. Why is it difficult? Stein says this, "The problem is obvious. Jesus' words appear harsh, austere, insensitive. They seem atypical of Jesus. In the Gospels, He is portrayed as a kind, loving and compassionate savior. The words of this account would cause little difficulty coming from a mean, harsh, unloving individual. The Jesus of the gospels, however, is a loving and kind Jesus with a special compassion for the outcasts of society, and this woman is an outcast in the Jewish mind." That's why this passage is difficult. It seems strange that Jesus would answer like this. Let's understand the context, first of all. It begins, verse 21, "Jesus left that place or leaving that place, He withdrew." Now the Greek word “there” just means, it means more than just went away. He's in effect bringing about a strategic withdrawal in His ministries, retreating strategically at this point. Why? I think to escape the building pressure. The pressure was building around His ministry. Pressure from the huge multitudes who are crushing in on Him on every side, demanding, yearning for Him to meet their physical needs. In Mark 6:31 it says, "Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, 'Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.' So, they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place." That's the retreat approach. Or again, this crowd, after Jesus had fed the 5,000 in John's account, are pressing in on Him and want to seize him and take Him by force and make Him king. Jesus's response here is the same. John 6:15, "Jesus knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by a force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself." So again, He's withdrawing. Strategic withdrawal. There's a pressure from the crowd, the adoring and needy crowd. Secondly, there's pressure from the secular authorities. The king, for example, Herod Antipas, who thinks that Jesus may be John the Baptist risen from the dead and that's why miraculous powers are at work in Him. He killed John and so Herod may be pushing matters to accelerate Jesus's death. That may be some of the pressure that Jesus is feeling. I think in the immediate preceding account, however, is pressure from the Jewish religious authorities. The Scribes and Pharisees who had already decided, in Matthew 12:14, that Jesus had to die. They already decided that, and now they are basically amassing evidence or pushing a case so that they can have Him executed. The previous encounter was about hand-washing, and the ceremonial law, the ritual washing and all that. In that account, Jesus offended them and the disciples told Him about it. In Matthew 15:12, the disciples came to Him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" So for all of these pressures, I think Jesus desires a strategic withdrawal to let things cool off a bit. It's like it's boiling over and it's going too fast, it's time to cool it off a bit because everything's been timed out. There's an exact time for Jesus to die, it's not yet. There's another aspect, I think, and that's so that Jesus could focus on His apostles and just work with them for a while and just pour Himself into them and build them up. But it didn't work, because it says in Mark's gospel in this parallel account, Mark 7:24-25, "Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it, yet He could not keep His presence a secret." No way to keep the presence of Jesus, the Son of God, a secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about Him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at His feet. That's how the encounter begins. So Jesus is trying to find a quiet place to work with His disciples, but it's no good. The woman finds Him and presses her need forward at this moment. Now, Tyre and Sidon are an interesting place in Biblical history. They are notorious to some degree in Jewish history. The region of Tyre and Sidon had a good beginning in scripture, as the wise king Hiram was a good friend to King David, and once David had established himself in Jerusalem, sent him timber and different materials to build his palace. In the time when Solomon, David's son, was building the palace, he again supplied him with building materials. They had a good relationship. But it went south from there, after King Hiram. Tyre was a gentile trading area where goods would be sent out all over that region of the Mediterranean. They became very wealthy, plying that commercial trade. With it came all of the corruption of being a nautical seaport. All kinds of evil, as a matter of fact, Isaiah likened the region of Tyre and Sidon to a prostitute plying her trade. It's somewhat of a defiled area, defiled by their wealth and their prosperity. Worse, they involve themselves in buying and selling human slaves from the ancient Near East, from Edom, and even including the Jews, buying and selling them. This is talked about in the book of Amos. But worse still, when Jerusalem fell, the people of Tyre and Sidon mocked and celebrated the fall of Jerusalem. Ezekiel talks about this. In Ezekiel 26, "Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, 'Aha, the gate to the nations is broken and its doors swing open to me now that she lies in ruin, I will prosper.'" Judgement comes on Tyre and Sidon. In Ezekiel 28, the oracle to the King of Tyre is couched in such language that you're not sure if it's talking about the human king of Tyre or Satan himself, implying that, it's like demonic forces are behind Tyre and Sidon. Several prophets, therefore, predicted the total devastation of Tyre and Sidon, including Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Jeremiah and Isaiah. However, Jesus knew the people of Tyre and Sidon even a little bit better. He made some remarkable statements about them. First of all, He knew that hundreds of Gentiles had been coming to see Him and to listen to Him preach and to have their illnesses cured. In Luke 6:17-19 it says, "A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, those troubled by evil spirits, all of them were cured and the people tried to touch Him because power was coming out from Him and healing them all." This whole region is coming to listen to Jesus preach, and He's healing them. One of Jesus's most amazing statements though, He made earlier in Matthew's Gospel, when He denounces the Jewish cities in which most of His miracles had been performed because they didn't repent. He said, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sack cloth and ashes. But I tell you, it'll be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you." Now, who was this woman that Jesus deals with? Matthew describes her as a Canaanite, the very people that God had commanded Joshua to destroy completely when the Jews conquered the Promised Land. Canaanite women, in particular, were the focus of a warning in Deuteronomy 7:1-6 in which God warned the men of his people, “Do not intermarry with Canaanite women because they will turn your heart away from worship of the true God.” But Mark goes into even more detail about this Canaanite woman. In Mark 7:26, it says the woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia, so she's frequently called the Syrophoenician woman. This woman would have been a complete outcast as far as the Jews were concerned. They would have had nothing to do with her. Nothing at all. But yet, she has a tremendous faith in Christ and for all times she's memorialized here in the text of scripture, as an example of great conquering faith. How beautiful is that? Now what was her plight, what was her problem? Her little daughter was demon-possessed, verse 22, "A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to Him crying out, 'Lord, son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession." Mark's gospel heightens the fact that she's young, she's a little daughter, using an extra Greek word, so there's a sense of a little helpless girl being tormented by a demon. Demon possession is a very serious spiritual affliction. A demon, a fallen angel, a spiritual being takes over the mind and personality and even the body of a human being. The demon and demons do bodily harm to the individual and they cause somewhat of a living hell for those around that care about that individual because there's nothing they can do. There's no power that can deal with this demonic force. This seems to have been, if you can imagine, an especially bad case. There's extra words that give a sense of, she's suffering terribly from demon possession. False Options behind Jesus’ Strange Interaction with the Canaanite Woman Then Jesus begins a series of strange actions at this particular moment. The first thing, is He doesn't answer her at all. Look at verse 23, "Jesus did not answer a word." Secondly, his disciples come to Him and urge Him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." Jesus seems to focus His ministry only on the Jews, and He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." He says this in her hearing. He doesn't even address her directly, He just says it to His disciples. Third, in finally dealing with her directly, He seems to insult her and call her a dog. "The woman came and knelt before Him, 'Lord, help me,' she said. He replied, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.'" This is a series of strange actions on Jesus's part. There's some mitigating factors. We don't have facial expression or body language or tone of voice, we don't have any of that. We just have His words and you know, there's a way to say something that doesn't sound as harsh. It could be playful, like a riddle. He could be saying it like that. We don't know. We weren't there, so we don't know the non-verbals that went along with this statement. Secondly, the Greek implies that Jesus had a longer conversation with her than is recorded here. Jesus was saying to her, "It's not right to take the children's bread." It's not just one simple proverb, and then He's done. It seems like He's having a conversation with her, but you only get part of it here. Then also this word dogs, it's not the harsh word for dog, like a rabid beast that roams the streets picking through garbage and is a threat to the populace, that kind of a dog, like a roaming wolf. But rather, the word used here is more like a household pet, like a puppy. So it would be like, "It's not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their puppies." There's some mitigating factors but all of that said, it's still a strange interaction on Jesus's part. What is going on here? What were Christ's motives? That's what we have to ask. Why did He treat her like this? Let's rule out some things that cannot be. Let's rule out false options. It's not because Jesus didn't care about Gentiles. Let's start right there. He knew very well that Abraham had been promised 2,000 years before in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Jesus knew that very well because Jesus's Heavenly Father, said in the words of Isaiah the prophet[Isaiah 49:6], “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant. To restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.” That's too small a commission for Jesus just to save the Jews. “Ask of me, and I'll give the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the Earth as your possession.” After Jesus was born, Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and praised God saying, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.” If Simeon knew that, Jesus knew it; can we concede that? Jesus knew very well that He was to be the light for the Gentiles, and in His ministry, Jesus had already dealt many times very positively with Gentiles — the Roman centurion He deals very graciously with and very lovingly with. Then there's the Samaritan woman, the half-breed, half Jewish, half Gentile, but He is so loving and gracious to her, He doesn't hesitate at all. After Christ's resurrection, He would send His disciples to the ends of the earth, and one of the places they would go would be this very region of Tyre and Sidon. He had a saving plan for them, and soon, in the Book of Acts, there's a church in this area beautifully growing. Paul, on his journey to Jerusalem back to Jerusalem, lands at Phoenicia. He goes and visits the disciples in Tyre and they welcome Paul warmly. Through the spirit, they warn him not to go to Jerusalem and after that they take him out with his entourage, and they kneel on the beach together, and pray. There's such a loving encounter there in a church made up of people from Tyre and Sidon. Jesus knew all of this would come. Clearly Jesus had a saving intention for the entire world, including the people of Tyre and Sidon. Secondly, it's not because He lacked power to do miracles in Gentile territory. Jesus is God omnipotent, there is nothing He cannot do. He's not more God in Israel than He was in the gentile areas. There's nothing He cannot do, and He's going to prove this directly by giving her her request. There's no lack of power to do miracles, not at all. Thirdly, it's not because He lacked mercy or compassion for her plight or her daughter. Jesus was infinitely filled with mercy and compassion; the most perfectly compassionate man in history. Four separate times in Matthew's gospel, it links one of Jesus's miraculous healings to his compassion, his heart is moved with compassion and He heals. Basically anybody who comes to Jesus as a beggar, humbly asking for a healing like this, they get it. It doesn't matter who they are, so it can't be that He lacked compassion. And it can't be that He was weary and annoyed and irritable after a long hard day. You may be like that from time to time, maybe not, getting irritable and saying something you wish you hadn't said. Has that ever happened to you? You wish you could have the words back. James 3:2 says, “We all stumble in many ways.” Isn't it true? We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, what is he? He's a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. Is there a perfect man? Was there a perfect man who was able to keep his whole body in check? Yes, His name is Jesus. He never stumbled in what He said. Never. So it's not that He was weary and irritable after a long, hard day. I'm not saying Jesus didn't get weary, I'm not saying He didn't get tired, I'm not saying that there aren't temptations, I'm just saying He never yielded to any temptation and everything He said was perfect. Jesus spoke the words of life. He says in John 6:63, “My words are spirit and they are life.” Jesus is the Word of God; He doesn't throw words aside like you and I do. When He speaks there's a reason. Fifth, it's not because He's taking a break from ministry and doesn't want to care for her needs at this point. “I’m on vacation.” That's not it. Jesus could both take a strategic retreat, and care for her needs as He does. He's not shocked or dismayed when there's a huge crowd in Tyre and Sidon that hears of his being there. He's not surprised at all, He knew full well that this was going to be part of his ministry. Six, it's not because there's only so much bread for the children and once it's been given out, there's none extra. Do you think Jesus would have been more taxed to feed 6,000 than He was to feed 5,000? What do you think? There’s a little extra miracle-working power, a little more sweat on Jesus's part, it's impossible. 60,000, 600,000. He fed 2 million Jews in the desert for 40 years. Is the arm of the Lord too short? He can do anything. It's not because there's only so much bread for the children and once that's gone, then the dogs eat or the children are going to starve, that's not it, at all. It's not because the woman didn't ask properly or with enough humility or enough faith or any of that, none of that. The Redemption Plan of God for the Jew & the Gentile Why then? First let's look at redemption, the redemption plan of God to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. This principal is stated again and again in Scripture. After Jesus was raised from the dead, the apostle Peter spoke about this to the Jews in the temple, [Acts 3:26], “For you first, you Jews God raised up his servant, and sent him to bless you, by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.” The apostle Paul taught this, and lived this out again and again in His ministry. He was the apostle to the Gentiles, but every city he went to, he went first to the synagogue, didn't he? That's where he started. To the Jew first, he says in Pisidia in Antioch. He and Barnabas had preached there. The Jews become hostile, they begin to reject the message. This is what Paul says in Acts 13:46, “Then Paul and Barnabas answered the Jews boldly. ‘We had to speak the word of God to you first; since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life. We now turn to the Gentiles.’” Do you see that ordering? Now, “you Gentiles.” I'm a Gentile, too. We should not feel offended by this. This was just God's strategic ordering, this is what He chose to do, and He says it again, and again. He wrote about it in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, and then for the Gentile.” This was God's strategy. That Jesus, the Son of God, would go to his own people, and they would reject Him, and that they would turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and then on the third day, He would be raised to life. That was part of God's strategy. It's spelled out very plainly in John 1:11, “He came to his own, but his own people did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, To those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children, not born of the flesh, or of blood, or of water, but of the Spirit of God.” Jesus says in verse 24, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” Christ hadn't died on the cross yet, so the barrier to the Gentiles was still up. There was still a barrier separating Jew from Gentile which was spoken of in Ephesians 2 where Paul said, "Therefore remember, that formerly you who are Gentiles, by birth and called uncircumcised, by those who call themselves a circumcision that done in the body by the hands of men. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. That's what you were, but now he has destroyed in his body the barrier between the two, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace and in this one body, to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility.” This hadn't happened yet. The curtain in the temple, hadn't been torn in two from top to bottom, so there were still a focus on the Jews. Also, there's a strategy here. Jesus is focusing on the children of Israel, but within them, his disciples, and within them, the 12 apostles. He's got a strategy to pour Himself out. It could be that He's saying, “Look, I'm here to focus on the apostles, it's not right for me to be doing a wide ministry of the Gentiles, right now. I've got to spend time with these men and pour myself into them.” That's all possible. One of the most common answers to this is that Jesus was doing it to test her faith. More specifically, He's humbling her, and seeing if she would overcome the obstacles. Perhaps this is true, but I don't think it goes far enough. I think Jesus knew her heart very well. He wasn't merely testing her faith, I think he was actually developing and strengthening her faith and then putting it on display for us. Like a physical therapist will develop a weak or injured muscle by opposing motion so that the person is forced through some pain to strengthen that weakened muscle and develop it. The therapist in a very wise way will oppose the motion and strengthen and build up that damaged muscle. So Jesus seems to oppose her and fight against her despite the fact that He really does desire to give her what she wants. Ultimately, He means to put this woman's faith on display for all time. The Focus of Faith So, what is the nature of true faith, what then is true faith? Well, first, it has a basis in something. We don't have faith in faith itself. There are a lot people like that — True faith is a leap into the black darkness. You imagine some pitch black night and you're on top of a skyscraper and you're running off screaming into the dark hoping something's going to catch you, and that's faith. That is not faith. It's not essentially our optimistic outlook- “I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows. I believe that somewhere in the darkest night, a candle glows.” John McArthur said this sort of faith is essentially faith in faith, which is to say no faith at all. “To jump out of an airplane with a parachute is an act of faith. To jump without a parachute, while exclaiming I believe, is an act of stupidity. To say no more than I believe in love, or I believe in believing or I believe it will all work out is contentless faith, and therefore, pointless and powerless.” Faith focuses on something. It focuses on God — His nature, His promises, His work in the past as revealed in Scripture. That's what faith focuses on. This Canaanite woman clearly had heard of Jesus's miracles, she knew of the Jewish prophecies concerning the Messiah. Look at the title she uses and the expectation she has that Jesus will heal her daughter. Lord, son of David, she calls him. How does a Gentile woman know Son of David? Faith comes from hearing the message about Christ; that's where her faith has come from. The Reverence of Faith We see also the reverence of faith. She calls him Lord. Later on she bows down before him and worships him. She is submissive, she is reverent, she doesn't presume on him, she doesn't demand from him. How different is that from the “name it and claim it” crowd that bosses God around like he's some kind of a house boy as though God somehow loves to be bossed around like he's a house boy. He doesn't. He is a sovereign king and it says in Ecclesiastes 5:2, it says, “Do not be quick with your mouth, and do not be hasty in your heart to bring up anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on Earth, so let your words be few.” Stand in awe of God. The more you believe, the more reverence and awe you'll have for God. You're not going to boss him around. I hate that aspect of that Word of Faith movement, it forgets reverence. Remember what Abraham said, when carrying on intercessory prayer over Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18? Abraham spoke up and said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord though I am nothing but dust and ashes. . .” So also the Syrophoenician woman, she had a submissive humility to her. The Confidence of Faith We see also the confidence of faith. She was absolutely certain that Jesus could do this, wasn't she? That's why she kept coming. She's so persistent, she calls him Lord, so she knows he can do all things. The essence of great faith is great confidence that God has the power to do what you ask him to do. Abraham had it in Romans 4:21, “Abraham being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.” That's our God; that's the confidence of faith. He can do anything, infinitely more than you could ask or imagine. The Repentance of Faith We see also the repentance of faith. “Have mercy on me,” she calls. She recognizes that she doesn't deserve anything from the Lord; she's a sinner. She may not know the verse because it hadn't been written yet, but she understood the concept, that Paul wrote in Romans 9:15, “For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” God has the power sovereignly to decide who He's going to have mercy on and who He won't. So you come asking for mercy, you come with repentance, humility, knowing that you don't deserve a favorable outcome. Once we acknowledge that we are sinners, all we can do is cry out for mercy and humbly accept what God chooses to give. Anything we get is more than we deserve. Repentance and faith, I think are two sides of the same coin. Genuine saving faith involves turning away from wickedness and sin and turning to the Lord who can save you from it.It's both. The Persistence of Faith We also see the persistence of faith. Jesus puts up one road block after another and she overcomes every one of them. True belief is persistent. Notice also with intercession here, she has linked herself to the plight of her daughter. That is true intercession. You want to know what intercessory prayer. It is when you really care about the person and what you're praying for as though it were happening to you. Look what Jesus says in verse 22. “ Have mercy on me,” she says. In verse 24, “Lord help me.” I think God sometimes tests our prayer because we don't care about people enough. Let me just speak about myself. I think that God tests me in prayer because I don't care about people like I should and so sometimes he wants me to come on more strongly, and care more about what I'm praying for. He doesn't give it to us right away. So faith overcomes all obstacles through persistence. The Humility of Faith We see the humility of faith. Jesus said, “You know it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to their dogs.” What came out of her mouth next, just moved me this morning as I was thinking about this text. It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to their dogs. “True Lord,” she said. Wow. Where's the pride at that point? Where is the bridling up? “I’ve got some things that... I'm pretty good here. I'm not a dog at least.” There is an incredible humility here in this woman. “True Lord,” she says. “I’m closer to a dog than I am to you.” John the Baptist put it this way, “After me will come one who's more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Is that true? The angels hide their faces in front of Jesus. She accepts it. “Yes, I'm a dog, less than a dog, but please heal my daughter anyway.” Here's the miracle of grace, that God can take a dog and make her one of his children. It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to their dogs. How about if he makes her one of the children, how about then? Does He have that kind of power to take a wretch and make us His treasure? We're worse than dogs when we rebel against the king, but God's grace is sufficient to take us out of that rebellion and save us entirely. This is the reward of faith. Look at verse 28, "Then Jesus answered, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” You know, I've heard this expression, “We need to storm the gates of heaven.” I don't like it. It implies that heaven is like a walled fortress against us, somewhat our enemy, and we have the power to overcome that adversary and make him give us what we demand which He doesn't want to give.. It's wrong. It forgets how powerful He is. It forgets how loving He is, how much readier to give us blessing than we are to ask for it. Forget storming the gates of heaven. Go like a child to your father and ask. “Which of you fathers, if a son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” That's the way to think, and if He doesn't give it right away, He's strengthening you and helping you. He's got a plan and the reward of faith is that your request is granted, dear woman, and her daughter was healed from that very hour. Application This is an incredible miracle, really, it is but I think there's a greater one, far greater, and it has to do with the greatness of the blessing and the greatness of the cost. What did she get for all of that? She got a healed daughter. You may be sitting here today listening to me in an unregenerate state. You may never have a demon-possessed daughter. Does this passage have anything to say to you? Yes, it does. Jesus has something far greater to give you then the healing of a demon-possessed daughter. He has eternity in Heaven at His right hand where there are pleasures forevermore. He has full forgiveness of sins available for you. You may not have a demon-possessed daughter, but you have a sin-saturated soul. If you're sitting here listening to me, in an unregenerate state you are not ready to die. There is a record against you of all that you have ever said or done and you're not ready to face that record. If you're here today in a graceless state, if you don't know Christ as your savior, you're not ready to die. All you have to do is believe in Him. Jesus shed His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, just like yours, and He is eminently capable to cover all of your sins through simple faith. That's all it is. Just receive what He has promised to give. “If anyone comes to me, I will in no wise cast them out.” Trust in Him. You may be listening to me and you've already trusted in Christ. Are you done coming to Jesus? No. That was just the first time you came. You know you've come again and again and again. He is still more ready to give you what you're asking for, than you are to receive it. It will always be that way. Pray then like this woman and care about somebody else the way she cared about her daughter. Take up their case and press it in as this woman did, not storming the gates of heaven as though heaven's your enemy. Heaven's your eternal home; you're going to live there forever. It's not an enemy, but with persistence and with humility go and ask for what God has laid on your heart and ask until He gives it to you, and let his wisdom decide when that will be.