Podcasts about Judea

Enjoy this week's session 234 of the Land of Israel Fellowship recorded live on July 20, 2025. (Torah Parsha Pinchas) Join The Land of Israel Fellowship and gain access to all the Bible teachings from Judea and receive your personal invitation to join the exclusive live online gatherings with families around the world every week. Fellowship: thelandofisrael.com/membership/ YouTube: @thelandofisrael‬ FB: www.facebook.com/TheLandofIsraelcom/ X: x.com/thelandofisrael

Dr. Brian Hill (Senior Pastor), "Principles of Faith - What We Believe:  Evangelism & Missions", First Grade Bible Presentation, Children's Time, Modern Worship Praise Team (11:15 Service).19.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20.  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”          (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)          8.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”          (Acts 1:8 NIV)

On today's Quick Start podcast: NEWS: Israeli airstrikes in Syria stir international pressure, and a new push to formalize Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria draws scrutiny as tensions rise in the region. FOCUS STORY: Gavin Newsom's tone shifts on transgender policies for minors—what's behind the California governor's pivot? MAIN THING: The MLB All-Star Game turns spiritual as CBN's Will Dawson finds faith on the field in powerful conversations with stars like Aaron Judge and Francisco Lindor. WATCH: https://youtu.be/pSD4NM7nRAg LAST THING: Ephesians 6:10 — Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. SHOW LINKS Faith in Culture: https://cbn.com/news/faith-culture Heaven Meets Earth PODCAST: https://cbn.com/lp/heaven-meets-earth NEWSMAKERS POD: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/newsmakers/id1724061454 Navigating Trump 2.0: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/navigating-trump-2-0/id1691121630

Luke 6 : 12 - 23 12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor. 17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all. 20 Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. Glory be to God forever.

Dr. Brian Hill (Senior Pastor), "Principles of Faith - What We Believe:  Evangelism & Missions", First Grade Bible Presentation, Children's Time, Choir, Blended Worship Praise Team (8:45 Service).          19.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20.  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”          (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)          8.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”          (Acts 1:8 NIV)

By the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost, giving a message that the Word of God gives to those who live in Judea when the Antichrist appears in the Holy Land.

Tuesday, 15 July 2025   All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Matthew 11:27   “All, it was delivered to Me by My Father. And none, he knows the Son if not the Father, nor any he knows the Father if not the Son, and whom if the Son He should will to reveal” (CG).   In the previous verse, Jesus acknowledged the Father's decisions, noting that it was satisfaction before Him. Now, to build upon that thought, He next says, “All, it was delivered to Me by My Father.”   The context of the word “all” determines the meaning. He has just referred to things hidden by the Father from the wise and prudent but which have been revealed to infants. Jesus is saying that these hidden things have been delivered to Him by His Father. He is the central focus of the illumination of the plan that the Father has set forth. From there, He continues with, “And none, he knows the Son if not the Father.”   Jesus has rebuked the cities where His miracles took place. He came in the Father's name because He is the Messiah. Only the Father knew this at first because He was with the Father in the beginning. Eventually, the time came for God to reveal Himself in the Person of Jesus, the incarnate Word and the Son of God. Only the Father could reveal this because He came from the Father –    “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.'” John 8:42   God could have established His covenant with the Peruvians or the Thai people. Instead, it was with Israel. He chose them to reveal Himself and His plans and purposes. At a certain point, He could have chosen someone named Ben Gad to witness to Israel. Instead, He chose Isaiah. He could have chosen Gibeah to be His capital, but He instead chose Jerusalem.   God has been guiding the plan of redemption in a carefully set forth and methodically implemented way that ultimately leads to the coming of Christ. Along the way, He selected people to receive, write, and compile His word. The word tells of Christ Jesus, but not everyone has accepted that premise. But the Father knows the Son. Likewise, Jesus continues, saying, “nor any he knows the Father if not the Son.”   Because Jesus came from God, He intimately knows the Father. They are in eternal union. The knowledge of the Father is thus to be understood as knowing the Son. Again, Jesus said this to them explicitly –   “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?' Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.'” John 8:19   Jesus unambiguously ties the knowledge of Himself to having knowledge of the Father. If the Son is rejected, the Father is by default rejected. It would make no sense to say, “I want that piece of bread, but I don't want the dough in it.” The dough is the bread, and the bread is the dough. How much more is God One!? He is. He is unchanging. He is One. With this stated, His words of this verse finish with, “and whom if the Son He should will to reveal.”   Jesus uses the same word, apokaluptó, to take off the cover and thus disclose, that He just used in verse 11:25. He is tying the two thoughts together –   ...You revealed them to infants ... and whom if the Son He should will to reveal   The hidden things of God are revealed by God. His word didn't come through the Edomites or Moabites. It came through Israel. God revealed Himself to Abraham, He covenanted with him, and continued His revelation through a particular chosen line. He presented Himself to Israel at Mount Sinai in a formal, covenant-making way.   He revealed His faithfulness to them despite their constant turning from Him. He sent His word through the prophets. He judged, exiled, and returned the people at the time of the Babylonian exile. He faithfully maintained them under foreign rule, and He sent His Messiah into the world at the time prophesied in His word.   And there stood Jesus, the fulfillment of all that God laid forth from the beginning. And yet, despite His works that validated His messiahship, the people refused to believe. The wise and sagacious of Israel, the stewards of God's word, failed to believe their own writings –   “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” John 5:37-40   Despite their failure to acknowledge the Son and thus the Father, there are those who believe. These are those to whom the Father and the Son are revealed –   “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:11-13   The choice of revealing by God is not active in the sense that God says, “I will make this person believe and this person not believe.” Rather, the choosing spoken of here is in the sense of, “I will present My Son to the world. Some will believe Him, some will not. Those who do are those whom I have chosen to reveal Myself to.” Paul confirms this when he says –   “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” Acts 26:19, 20   Paul could have said, “I just cannot accept these things. I am checking into a hospital to clear my head and get back to my work. However, he had sufficient evidence to support his calling. He chose to accept it, and he continued on in his apostleship from there.   Life application: Because of what Jesus says in His words in Matthew 11:27, and because it aligns with everything He said and that the Bible proclaims concerning a right relationship with God, there is a formula we must consider.   Jesus is not physically here among us today. Jesus has claimed that we cannot know the Father without knowing Him. We cannot know Jesus, because of His absence, without knowing the word that tells of Him –   You cannot know God without knowing Jesus. You cannot know Jesus without knowing the word that reveals Jesus. Therefore, you cannot know God without knowing the word.   Read and know the Bible if you desire to know, be pleasing to, and have a right relationship with the God who created all things. And when you read it, look for Jesus. In finding Jesus, you will find the Father –   “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” John 5:45-47   The word tells of Jesus. To accept the writings of the word, one must accept Jesus. And in knowing Jesus, God will be made manifest –   “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” John 1:18   Jesus is the One who exegetes the Father, declaring Him to the world. Look to Jesus and you will find God.   Lord God, help us to fix our eyes on Jesus. In doing so, we will have our eyes on You because You have revealed Yourself through Him. May we always come to Your word with this in mind as we seek out Your glory in the manner You have chosen to reveal it. Amen.

Dr. Brian Hill (Senior Pastor), "Principles of Faith - What We Believe:  Evangelism & Missions".          19.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20.  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”          (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)          8.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”          (Acts 1:8 NIV)

Lecturas, interpretadas de La Santa Palabra de Dios, Elohim Adonai Y Agripa dijo a Pablo: Se te permite hablar en tu favor. Entonces Pablo, extendiendo la mano, comenzó su defensa:2 Con respecto a todo aquello de que los judíos me acusan, me considero afortunado, oh rey Agripa, de poder[a] presentar hoy mi defensa delante de ti, 3 sobre todo, porque eres experto[b] en todas las costumbres y controversias entre los judíos; por lo cual te ruego que me escuches con paciencia. 4 Pues bien, todos los judíos conocen mi vida[c] desde mi juventud, que desde el principio transcurrió entre los de mi pueblo[d] y en Jerusalén; 5 puesto que ellos han sabido de mí desde hace mucho tiempo, si están dispuestos a testificar, que viví como fariseo, de acuerdo con la secta más estricta de nuestra religión. 6 Y ahora soy sometido a juicio por la esperanza de la promesa hecha por Dios a nuestros padres: 7 que nuestras doce tribus esperan alcanzar al servir fielmente a Dios noche y día. Y por esta esperanza, oh rey, soy acusado por los judíos. 8 ¿Por qué se considera increíble entre vosotros que Dios resucite a los muertos? 9 Yo ciertamente había creído que debía hacer muchos males en contra del nombre de Jesús de Nazaret. 10 Y esto es precisamente[e] lo que hice en Jerusalén; no solo encerré en cárceles a muchos de los santos con la autoridad recibida de los principales sacerdotes, sino que también, cuando eran condenados a muerte, yo daba mi voto contra ellos. 11 Y castigándolos con frecuencia en todas las sinagogas, procuraba obligarlos a blasfemar; y enfurecido en gran manera contra ellos, seguía persiguiéndolos aun hasta en las ciudades extranjeras[f].12 Ocupado en esto[g], cuando iba para Damasco con autoridad y comisión de los principales sacerdotes, 13 al mediodía, oh rey, yendo de camino, vi una luz procedente del cielo más brillante que el sol, que resplandecía en torno mío y de los que viajaban conmigo. 14 Y después de que todos caímos al suelo, oí una voz que me decía en el idioma hebreo[h]: «Saulo, Saulo, ¿por qué me persigues? Dura cosa te es dar coces contra el aguijón». 15 Yo entonces dije: «¿Quién eres, Señor?». Y el Señor dijo: «Yo soy Jesús a quien tú persigues. 16 Pero levántate y ponte en pie; porque te he aparecido con el fin de designarte como ministro y testigo, no solo de las cosas que[i] has visto, sino también de aquellas en que me apareceré a ti; 17 librándote del pueblo judío y de los gentiles, a los cuales yo te envío, 18 para que abras sus ojos a fin de que se vuelvan de la oscuridad a la luz, y del dominio de Satanás a Dios, para que reciban, por la fe en mí, el perdón de pecados y herencia entre los que han sido santificados». 19 Por consiguiente, oh rey Agripa, no fui desobediente a la visión celestial, 20 sino que anunciaba, primeramente a los que estaban en Damasco y también en Jerusalén, y después por toda la región de Judea, y aun a los gentiles, que debían arrepentirse y volverse a Dios, haciendo obras dignas de arrepentimiento. 21 Por esta causa, algunos judíos me prendieron en el templo y trataron de matarme. 22 Así que habiendo recibido ayuda de Dios, continúo hasta este día testificando tanto a pequeños como a grandes, no declarando más que lo que los profetas y Moisés dijeron que sucedería: 23 que[j] el Cristo[k] había de padecer[l], y que por motivo de su resurrección de entre los muertos, Él debía ser el primero en proclamar luz tanto al pueblo judío como a los gentiles…———1986, I995, 1997 by The Lockman FoundationMás información sobre La Biblia de las Américas⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠paulino.solorzano@g mail.com..

Enjoy this week's session 233 of the Land of Israel Fellowship recorded live on July 13, 2025. (Torah Parsha Balak) Join The Land of Israel Fellowship and gain access to all the Bible teachings from Judea and receive your personal invitation to join the exclusive live online gatherings with families around the world every week. Fellowship: thelandofisrael.com/membership/ YouTube: @thelandofisrael‬ FB: www.facebook.com/TheLandofIsraelcom/ X: x.com/thelandofisrael

Scattered  Acts 8 And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.   2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.   3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Psalm 73:12 This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Psalm 37:1-2 Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Psalm 37:16-17 Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; 17 for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. Mourn Acts 1:8 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”   Acts 8:4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.  Preach Mark 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”   Acts 8 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.  6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.  7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.  8 So there was great joy in that city.   9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,  10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.”  11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.  12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.  13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. 14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.  15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit,  16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.   Pray 18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money  19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!  21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.  22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” 24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.” Discern 25 After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages. You may get scattered, but you're still sent.

Finding Jesus in Unexpected Places // Finding –The Samaritan Woman at the Well John 4:1-42 (NIV)“Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he. Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” They came out of the town and made their way toward him. Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.Don't you have a saying, ‘It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”Deuteronomy 25:5 (NIV)“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.” Mark 12:18-23 (NIV)“Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” John 4:27 (NIV)“Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” John 4:27 (MSG)“Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.” Jesus not only walked through cultural barriers, but he also walked through racial barriers.  Jesus not only walked through cultural barriers and racial barriers, but he also walked through religious/traditional barriers. John 4:20-24 (NIV)“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  Jesus brings the focus from the practice to the purpose. John 4:10-14 (NIV)“Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”  Revelation 22:17 (NASB)“Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”  

Jesus travels to Galilee where his brothers encourage him to go to Judea, but Jesus tells them that his time has not yet come. The festivals of shelters is near, which was a celebration where the Jewish people lived in tents as a way of remembering God's faithfulness to Israel during their time in the wilderness. Jesus shows up unexpectedly and the crowds become even more divided. Some are taken aback by his teaching and his command of the Scriptures, while others doubt him and question his origins, saying that no prophet is arises from Galilee. Through the conversations, Jesus continues to reference the one who sent him, proclaiming in advance through only slightly veiled speech that he was about to return to God the Father. :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

Send us a textIn this episode, Pastor Dom teaches about the great commission and it's impact on taking communion. Matthew 28:16  Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. Matthew 28:17- 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.Mark 16:14…He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Hebrews 13: 55…For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”Ephesians 1:1313In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,Acts 1:99 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”John 16:77 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.Mark 16: 2020 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Send us a textIn Acts 1:8 Jesus said to His disciples;  8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We are not just to witness but Jesus said that when we witness we would receive the power of the Holy Ghost in order to witness to the ends of the earth. We cannot witness effectively without the power of the Holy Ghost. As was stated in last week's message, there are many who stand in pulpits and on platforms today preaching, as far as they're concerned, the word of God and in the name of Christ. And yet they themselves either don't know how to or are too intimidated to lead someone, one on one in the sinners prayer. Why? Because they don't have the power of the Holy Ghost within them to do so. There are  actually also some of those pastors and leaders who feel that witnessing is beneath them and it's something for others to take care of. For too many years I've heard the catch phrase “sheep beget sheep' putting the responsibility solely on the congregation and members to add to the numbers in the church and body of Christ. There are pastors, preachers, teachers, prophets and leaders in the body of Christ who are just not comfortable or actually don't know how to ask someone clearly and directly, one on one, “Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? To hear more of what our Father is speaking to us in this episode click on the buzzsprout.com link or go to your favorite podcast app and search for This Is the Voice of the Prophet. Then look for the title, "DO YOU LOVE HIM" PART 3.Support the show

Listen along as we continue our series through Acts. Notes//Quotes: Acts 8:1-25 - Chris  Title: Surprised By Grace “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) “24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (Jn. 12:24-26) 51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.  (Lk. 9:51-55) 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:43-48) “Satan is not opposed to religion. He is in the religion business up to his ears. The first temptation was a religious one - to be like God. "Let me tell you how to be godly." It was a temptation to fall up, not down. Satan's chief weapon against the Gospel is false religion.” - Adrian Rodgers “Preaching to gain recognition or status is simony. Serving with an eye to advance within the church's power structure is simony. Seeking spiritual gifts for the promotion of oneself is simony. Even seeking to be godly so others will think we are godly is a type of simony.” - R.Kent Hughes

Luke 21New King James VersionThe Widow's Two Mites21 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.[a] 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings [b]for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”5 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was [c]adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, 6 “These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”7 So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?”8 And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,' and, ‘The time has drawn near.' [d]Therefore do not [e]go after them. 9 But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.”10 Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. 13 But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14 Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will [f]answer; 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or [g]resist. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19 By your patience possess your souls.20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the TempleThe Signs of the Times and the End of the AgeThe Destruction of Jerusalem

Como está escrito en Isaías el profeta: He aquí yo envío mi mensajero delante de tu faz, El cual preparará tu camino delante de ti. Voz del que clama en el desierto: Preparad el camino del Señor; Enderezad sus sendas. Bautizaba Juan en el desierto, y predicaba el bautismo de arrepentimiento para perdón de pecados. Y salían a él toda la provincia de Judea, y todos los de Jerusalén; y eran bautizados por él en el río Jordán, confesando sus pecados. Y Juan estaba vestido de pelo de camello, y tenía un cinto de cuero alrededor de sus lomos; y comía langostas y miel silvestre. Y predicaba, diciendo: Viene tras mí el que es más poderoso que yo, a quien no soy digno de desatar encorvado la correa de su calzado. Yo a la verdad os he bautizado con agua; pero él os bautizará con Espíritu Santo.

Paul ends his letter to the Romans with an extended discussion of his plans to visit Rome along with personal greetings and a final exhortation. In this section of Scripture, he focuses on the first theme, that of his desire to visit Rome after taking aid to the saints in Jerusalem as the result of a famine in the late 50's AD (see 2 Corinthians regarding the collection he took for this relief effort). He then relates his desire to pass through Rome on his way to Spain, and closes with a request for prayer to be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.

Ep. 692: Cranford | Chapter 14 Book talk begins at 11:49 Will Miss Matty accept help from her loyal friends? And what's this about Martha and Jem... and a lodger? --------------------------------------------------------------- 0:00 Episode start 01:30 July Raffle - Botanical Knits: 12 Designs inspired by trees and foliage by Alana Davos of Never Not Knitting 03.14 - This week's Tea - Gratitude Blend 06:10 - Janine Barchas and Isabel Greenberg's new book “The Novel Life of Jane Austen: a Graphic Biography” 10:20 We had a very Sad chapter 13, which ended with Miss Matty thinking about Martha. :( 11:49 START BOOK TALK Rubric- The Book of Common prayer printed directions for teh service in red. Hens the Rubric (from the Latin word for ‘Red”) signified someting of importance and later came to mean “injunction” or general rule. REALLY??? LATIN FOR RED???? 13:50 - Mammon - Matthew 6:24, Devil of Covetovness or Demon of Greed (medieval and Milton - lowercase) (in hebrew meant money, modern hebrew. = wealth), , unjust worldly gain - ANNOTATION is partly WRONG, But there WAS a Syrian God of Wealth 19:45 - AAah Voo DEER-ray zhuh - Basically Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - the easiest piece of music one could learn to play. Mozart had done one of his 12 variations (though, personally, I'm partial to Tom Lehrer's )  21:25 - She could “trace out patterns very nicely for Muslin Embroidery, by dint of placing a piece of silver-paper over the design to be copied, and holding both against the window-pane, while she marked the scollop and eyelet-holes”. ANNOTATION SAYS “Probably which used scalloped edges and a pattern of holes sewn round with thread like a button-hole.“ 22:55 - a Celestial Globe to learn simple astronomy/constellations 24:35 - - think of , but you have to COUNT THE THREADS in a muslin or light canvas backing. Around 1830 v popular to stitch portraits of royalty (again, at least 10 years out of popularity elsewhere, but still popular in Cranford). Printed, gridded patterrns () 27:05 - Under a glass shade - put a glass dome or CLOCHE over things to keep dust off—would have been REALLY important b/c it was DUSTY back then and only got worse in London as the Century went on (also used in gerdening for heat retention) 27:55 - Couchant - lying down in Heraldry Image from Sodacan, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons 28:35 - East India Tea Company - Founded in 1600 by QE1 and held the chartered right to trade with India and China and IMPORT the tea as a monopoly until 1834 (BTW, Twining's started as a coffee SHOP/Room adding tea in 1717 , bought adjacent building for ladies to take tea(might be Western world‘s oldest dry tea and coffee shop) at No. 216 Strand london in 1706; still operating today - and logo created in 1787 is worlds oldest in continuous use) B/c the EIC's charter was for trade/importing, anyone could SELL the tea. 31:25 - our mites: Biblical times a mite was the lowest denomination of coin in Judea (two mites = one lepta (thin or small in Greek) which was equivalent to a quadran, the smallest Roman coin), (also see re: the Widow's Mite where Christ praises the window who gives her last two mites in the temple) Two mites were worth about 1/64th of a denari - a day's wage for a common worker, toay about 1/8 of a US penny (1 cent) 33:40 - Spills - QUILLING (thank you Aimee!) video of 37:15 - Comfit - nut, seed, etc, covered in sugar coating - link to max miller's video on Post-chapter Notes 1:25:42 - SSA update - Broader information from and - but don't feel the need to read other sources. Here's the actual text of the Bill: Miscellaneous BOOK/WATCH PARTIES coming up in 2025: Last Thursday of every month, 8pm Eastern: Jul—Princess Bride (movie) Aug—The Last Unicorn (book) Sep—The Last Unicorn (movie) Oct—Random Harvest (book) Nov—Random Harvest (movie) Dec—Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (book)   *CraftLit's Socials* • Find everything here: https://www.linktr.ee/craftlitchannel • Join the newsletter: http://eepurl.com/2raf9  • Podcast site: http://craftlit.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CraftLit/ • Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/craftlit • Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/craftlit/ • TikTok podcast: https://www.tiktok.com/@craftlit • Email: heather@craftlit.com • Previous CraftLit Classics can be found here: https://bit.ly/craftlit-library-2023   *SUPPORT THE SHOW!* • CraftLit App Premium feed bit.ly/libsynpremiumcraftlit (only one tier available) • PATREON:   https://patreon.com/craftlit (all tiers, below) ——Walter Harright -  $5/mo for the same audio as on App ——Jane Eyre - $10/mo for even-month Book Parties ——Mina Harker - $15/mo for odd-month Watch Parties *All tiers and benefits are also available as* —*YouTube Channel Memberships*  —*Ko-Fi* https://ko-fi.com/craftlit  —*NEW* at CraftLit.com — Premium Memberships https://craftlit.com/membership-levels/ *IF you want to join a particular Book or Watch Patry but you don't want to join any of the above membership options*, please use PayPal.me/craftlit or CraftLit @ Venmo and include what you want to attend in the message field. 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Pro-Israel advocate Yehuda Honickmen calls in to recap last night's event for One Israel Fund, before he covers a recent violent incident near his home in Judea and Samaria, and the broader security situation in Israel. Juda also covers the optimism surrounding talks between Netanyahu and Trump, as well as criticisms faced by the One Israel Fund from Democrat Socialist nominee for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Birth of a King G'day and welcome to Partake! We are now on day 11 of our series "Glimpses", looking at the story of the Bible in 30 days, from the time of creation through to the time of the fullness of redemption! We looked together at the Covenants in the Old Testament as a set of stairs from Creation through to what we call the New Covenant. Now, we have started looking at the documents which record the life of Jesus Christ, who as Christians, claim to fulfil those Covenants we talked about. His birth is the most celebrated around the world and He transcends cultures, peoples and languages. Jesus Christ is the most unique person in all of recorded history. He is also the most divisive person to be found at any time and anywhere. Almost everyone has an opinion about him, even if that opinion is based on ignorance, silence or misinformation. Climbing the staircase! Like climbing a staircase, step by step, we looked at together through the Covenants and we caught glimpses of God sending a saviour or messiah for the world. We discovered that God was planning the time when He would step into history as this saviour person, who we believe to be the man, Jesus Christ. We looked at the Covenants that God made with people, which all looked forward to this saviour, messiah and king. These covenants were to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. This King was to be their hope - their saviour. Jesus' genealogy as recorded in the Gospels takes his physical line back to Abraham via David. Abraham as we saw was the father of Israel and David the King with a promise from God to have a king on the throne forever. Jesus grew into maturity as any young Jewish boy did. Life Events You can read about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ in the following passages from the Bible: Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 2:1-18; John 1v1-18 Documented in history and affirmed by most secular and non-Christian sources. Here are the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ and his early childhood from the Gospel record: His Pre-existence - John 1:1-5 His Genealogy - Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38 Angel Gabriel visits Mary - Luke 1:26-38 Angel appears to Joseph in a dream - Matthew 1:18-25 His Birth in Bethlehem - Matthew 1:25, Luke 2:1-7 Shepherds visit him at the manger - Luke 2:8-20 His circumcision and presentation in the Temple according to the Covenant Law of Moses - - Luke 2:21-38 Wise men present gifts in house - Matthew 2:1-12 Joseph's family including Jesus escape to Egypt with Jesus - Matthew 2:13-15 Herod's wrath on Bethlehem's children - Matthew 2:16-18 Herod dies in Spring of 4 BC - Matthew 2:19 Joseph's family including Jesus settles in Nazareth - Luke 2:39 Events in his childhood - Luke 2:40-52 Luke 2v1-7, 21-24. Please do make a note of the names of history recorded by Luke to date the birth of the man, Jesus: Now it happened in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant. It happened, while they were there, that the day had come that she should give birth. She brought forth her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Birth of Jesus Christ That Jesus was a human male is not really disputed. However, the birth of Jesus Christ is extraordinary at every level. He was born of a woman, which in itself tells us that at least in a prenatal state, he was nurtured and formed as any other male baby was and is. On the physical level, Jesus was born as any person is, but as regards his conception, He was conceived like no other person - conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1v35). This was so that Jesus would not be given the sinful nature past that all humans have. Jesus was fully human and fully divine. Other documents, outside of the Bible from that time period also attest to Jesus and his existence. What's in a name? When Jesus was born, his name imbued the very reason he was born. His conception and birth were extraordinary at every level. So important is our understanding of the birth of Jesus that no fewer than 4 angels come to give us a full picture of the event. Do you think that his parents, Joseph & Mary ever gazed upon him, and thought "How misnamed he is!" They did not, because they knew the very purpose for which he was born. Did Jesus ever think of how misnamed he was? Certainly not! His name means one who saves, or a rescuer. The entirety of his birth, life and death were centred on this very role. His role was to save all those who would follow Him. Further up the staircase! As we look through the remainder of this series we will discover together how and why He was born to be this messiah, saviour and king we caught glimpses of in the Old Testament. We will see that Jesus confirms God's promises, that he reveals God as a Father and that he gave us an example of how to live life to the full. We shall also see how his life was the catalyst for a religious revolution. He was not merely a man who received some special power. He was not some strange creation that was half man and half God, with his human nature somehow absorbed into the divine. He was, as we shall see in this series, much more than those ideas! In our next study we will look at Jesus' Mission and Identity. Thank you! Right mouse click or tap here here to download as a MP3 audio file

31Por aquellos días, Juan el Bautista se presenta en el desierto de Judea, predicando: 2«Convertíos, porque está cerca el reino de los cielos». 3Este es el que anunció el profeta Isaías diciendo: «Voz del que grita en el desierto: | “Preparad el camino del Señor, | allanad sus senderos”». 4Juan llevaba un vestido de piel de camello, con una correa de cuero a la cintura, y se alimentaba de saltamontes y miel silvestre. 5Y acudía a él toda la gente de Jerusalén, de Judea y de la comarca del Jordán; 6confesaban sus pecados y él los bautizaba en el Jordán. 7Al ver que muchos fariseos y saduceos venían a que los bautizara, les dijo: «¡Raza de víboras!, ¿quién os ha enseñado a escapar del castigo inminente? 8Dad el fruto que pide la conversión. 9Y no os hagáis ilusiones, pensando: “Tenemos por padre a Abrahán”, pues os digo que Dios es capaz de sacar hijos de Abrahán de estas piedras. 10Ya toca el hacha la raíz de los árboles, y todo árbol que no dé buen fruto será talado y echado al fuego. 11Yo os bautizo con agua para que os convirtáis; pero el que viene detrás de mí es más fuerte que yo y no merezco ni llevarle las sandalias. Él os bautizará con Espíritu Santo y fuego. 12Él tiene el bieldo en la mano: aventará su parva, reunirá su trigo en el granero y quemará la paja en una hoguera que no se apaga». 13

Todaywe are continuing to look at Luke 23. In this chapter, we read about the trial,the crucifixion, and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus loves us so muchthat He gave His life on the cross of Calvary. In this chapter, we see mendoing their worst and at the same time, we see God giving His best. I rememberthat verse in Romans 5:20, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”.In the darkness of that hour, in the darkness of sin all around on planetearth, and especially there in Jerusalem as men are crucifying the Lord JesusChrist, the grace of God is abounding because God is pouring out His lovethrough the death of His Son on the cross of Calvary.  Jesusdidn't just happen to die. In John 10:17-18, Jesus said, “Therefore MyFather loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No onetakes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, andI have power to take it again. This command I have received from MyFather."  Acts 2:23 affirms thatthe crucifixion of Christ was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge ofGod. Jesus was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world (1Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8).  Aswe look at the first five verses of this chapter, we see Jesus coming on trialbefore Pilate. He has already faced three trials with the Jews during thenight. Now, somewhere between 6:00am in the morning and 9:00am, when Jesus wascrucified, this trial before Pilate takes place on Friday morning. PontiusPilate is an interesting person. This is the first encounter Jesus has withsomeone in this chapter as far as the trial and His death on the cross areconcerned. Pilate was the governor of Judea from AD 26 to AD 36, after which hewas recalled to Rome and passed out of Roman history. Pilate was hated by theJews, and it appears he hated them as well. When Jesus is hung on the cross,Pilate has a sign put over His head: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”He did this to provoke the Jews, who denied that Jesus was their King.  Jesusis taken inside the Praetorium to be tried before Pilate. The Jews are outsidein the courtyard because they cannot enter without defiling themselves for thePassover (John 18:28). Jesus is in this room, and Pilate interrogates Himindividually, personally. In Matthew 27:18-19, it says Pilate knew that theyhad handed Him over because of envy. In his handling of the trial of Jesus, thegovernor proved to be indecisive. The Gospel of John records seven differentmoves that Pilate made as he went out to meet the people and then went in toquestion Jesus (John 18:29, 33, 38; 19:1, 4, 9, 13). He kept looking for aloophole, but he found none. Pilate has gone down in history as the man whotried Jesus Christ, three times declared Him not guilty, and yet crucified Himjust the same. Itwas obvious Pilate understood some of the situation with Jesus and the Jews,knowing it was because of their hatred for Him, not because He had broken anyRoman laws that would demand execution. While Pilate was sitting on thejudgment seat, his wife also sent a message to him, saying, “Have nothing todo with that just Man, for I've suffered many things today in a dream becauseof Him” (Matthew 27:19).  Pilateis convinced He's not guilty and proclaims this at least three times in thegospel accounts. But the Jews are determined to have Him crucified. In the end,Pilate makes no decision, saying, “I wipe my hands of the guilt of this justMan.” My friend, indecision is the worst decision; it is the fatal choice.Jesus says, “You're either with Me or you're against Me.”  Wemust decide for Jesus even today—whether we'll accept Him as our Savior or denyHim as the Son of God and reject Him as our Savior. What is your choice? Godbless!

The Gospel spread rapidly from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and beyond through preaching, persecution, and divine appointments.Acts 2:47We are (LIVE) on our website's [Morning Devo] podcast now!:::: sELAH rADIO Network https://soulwinnerz.org ::::::::: https://live.soulwinnerz.org and we want to see who you are by simply clicking here https://chat.restream.io/fb :::::Join the Adult Bible Study: https://soulwinnerz.org/adultSponsored by: Bethlehem Kung Fu Center https://bethlehemkungfu.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-blaze-bible-study--525630/support.

Psalm 142 (NET)Andrew, Isack, and Edwin discuss being content with having the Lord no matter what else we have.Read the written devo that goes along with this episode by clicking here.    Let us know what you are learning or any questions you have. Email us at TextTalk@ChristiansMeetHere.org.    Join the Facebook community and join the conversation by clicking here. We'd love to meet you. Be a guest among the Christians who meet on Livingston Avenue. Click here to find out more. Michael Eldridge sang all four parts of our theme song. Find more from him by clicking here.   Thanks for talking about the text with us today.________________________________________________If the hyperlinks do not work, copy the following addresses and paste them into the URL bar of your web browser: Daily Written Devo: https://readthebiblemakedisciples.wordpress.com/?p=22037The Christians Who Meet on Livingston Avenue: http://www.christiansmeethere.org/Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TalkAboutTheTextFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/texttalkMichael Eldridge: https://acapeldridge.com/ 

Tuesday, 8 July 2025   Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: Matthew 11:20   “Then He began to defame the cities in which they occurred – the most of His miracles – because they reconsidered not” (CG).   In the previous verse, Jesus referred to His conduct, having come eating and drinking, which was contrasted to how John conducted himself. He then noted that wisdom is justified from her children. His next words begin to explain the severity of ignoring this wisdom, beginning with, “Then He began to defame the cities in which they occurred.”   The word oneidizó, to defame was previously seen in verse 5:11. It is derived from oneidos, to reproach or disgrace, a word probably akin to onoma, name. Thus, a defaming is indicated.   The cities to be mentioned were part of Israel. They were thus filled with Jews who thought that their cultural makeup and national identity were what made them acceptable to God, regardless of their hearts and actions. Jesus will correct them on this as He continues.   Matthew, intending to show why Jesus' words to these cities are justified, next notes what it is that occurred in them, which is “the most of His miracles.”   The Scriptures concerning the coming Messiah were read in synagogues. The people would have talked about what the Messiah would have been like as they gathered for feasts and other events. When Jesus came and began performing His miracles, most of which were in the surrounding cities, they should have recognized Him and turned their minds. However, it next says, “because they reconsidered not.”   The people saw the miracles He performed, but they didn't heed the words He or John had uttered. Both of them proclaimed the same words to the people –   “And in those days, comes John the Baptist, proclaiming in the desolate of Judea, 2 and saying, ‘Reconsider! For it has neared – the kingdom of the heavens!'” Matthew 3:1, 2   “From then, Jesus, He began to proclaim and to say, ‘Reconsider! For it has neared – the kingdom of the heavens!'” Matthew 4:17   There was to be a turning of the mind, a reconsideration, concerning their conduct before the Lord. However, Jesus will reveal the true situation of the conduct of these cities.   Life application: Jesus is the Word of God. He spoke words on the Father's behalf that were to be heeded. A spoken word that is heard but not heeded means the speaker's intent behind the words has been ignored. James says –   “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25   This appeal from James, and the rebuke of the cities by Jesus, were not something new for the people of Israel. They were told to heed the word and do what it said. At the time of Ezekiel, the Lord spoke, saying –   “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.' 31 So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. 32 Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. 33 And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Ezekiel 33:30-33   Israel failed to heed and went into exile. Even while in exile, they ignored the word through Ezekiel. Jesus came with the final message to the people under the law. A new covenant was coming. In rejecting Jesus' call to reconsider, they rejected His message.   Today, we have been given instructions about how to conduct our lives in relation to God. First, we are to accept the gospel, receiving by faith what God has done through Jesus. But that is not the end of our responsibilities.   We are to learn the word and apply it to our lives. Those who go to church and hear the word but who then leave without allowing it to mold them have missed the point of going to church. And it may be that the church doesn't even properly present the word.   Our lives are short. We should make every effort possible to use our time wisely, learning the word and applying it to our walk. Don't just be hearers of the word, but doers. In this, God will be pleased.   Lord God, thank You for Your word that can safely guide us through this troubled walk of life. May we wisely accept its teachings and faithfully apply them to our lives. In this, You will surely be pleased. Be with us in this walk, O God. Amen.

Drawing on the prophecies of Daniel, Jesus evokes memories of Antiochus IV's blasphemy that launched a seven year war that ravaged all of Judea. He

Message by Fred Hartsook, recorded live July 6, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham. Scripture read byLinda Miller.No FavoritismGod shows no favoritism - Nothing you could do could make God love you more or less - God has given even to the _______ the repentance that leads to life.Why is Peter's realization in verse 34 significant for the early Church?How do you think the early believers felt about including Gentiles? How would you have felt?What can we learn about God's guidance from Peter's vision and obedience?What does this passage teach us about confronting and overcoming cultural/religious barriers?Acts 11:1-181 Now the apostles and the brothers and sisters who were in Judea heard that the gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners, and it came close to me. 6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' 8 But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' 9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' 10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”Acts 10:34-3634-36 Peter fairly exploded with his good news: “It's God's own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you're from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he's doing it everywhere, among everyone.

Enjoy this week's session 232 of the Land of Israel Fellowship recorded live on July 6, 2025. (Torah Parsha Chukat) Join The Land of Israel Fellowship and gain access to all the Bible teachings from Judea and receive your personal invitation to join the exclusive live online gatherings with families around the world every week. Fellowship: thelandofisrael.com/membership/ YouTube: @thelandofisrael‬ FB: www.facebook.com/TheLandofIsraelcom/ X: x.com/thelandofisrael

12 core reasons why you can trust that the Bible is God'sWord to us. Do you know these 12? Memorize these because you can use them toshare the gospel with unbelievers and doubters. Reason #8 of 12.Here are bullet points on why it's powerful that there are over 20,000 archaeological discoveries supporting the Bible:Confirms historical accuracy: Archaeology verifies names, places, and events recorded in Scripture.Silences critics: Many who claimed the Bible was myth have been proven wrong by these finds.Validates real people and places: From ancient kings to everyday towns, archaeology supports their existence as described in the Bible.Supports eyewitness reliability: Shows that biblical authors were recording real history, not legends.Strengthens trust: Physical evidence backs up what the Bible has said all along, reinforcing its truth and reliability.Here are two powerful archaeological examples that silenced skeptics:The HittitesSkeptics once claimed the Hittites mentioned in the Old Testament were fictional, because there was no evidence they ever existed.In the early 1900s, archaeologists uncovered Hittite capital cities and thousands of Hittite records in modern-day Turkey, fully confirming their existence and advanced civilization — exactly as the Bible described.Pontius Pilate inscriptionSome scholars doubted whether Pontius Pilate, who sentenced Jesus to death, was a real historical figure.In 1961, archaeologists found a stone in Caesarea Maritima with an inscription naming Pontius Pilate as “Prefect of Judea,” confirming his historical existence just as recorded in the Gospels.

Major developments are unfolding in Israel: For the first time in modern history, Jews are dancing and singing freely on the Temple Mount—following a bold move by Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu is heading to Washington on July 7th for a potentially historic meeting with the Trump Administration. On the table: sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, a Gaza ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages, and even whispers of normalization with Syria. Back home, Likud ministers are urging Netanyahu to apply sovereignty before the Knesset recesses on July 27th. With Hamas rejecting the latest truce and regional tensions rising—particularly from Yemen—Israel's leaders believe the window to act is now. Are we on the verge of a pivotal shift?

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day. Today's shout-out goes to John Andreas from Delano, CA. Thank you for your partnership with us through Project23. Your support helps reach men and women with the Word. This one's for you. Our text today is Mark 10:1-12: And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.' ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” — Mark 10:1-12 The Pharisees weren't genuinely curious—they were trying to trap Jesus. They bring up divorce, hoping he'd contradict Moses. But Jesus flips the question. He doesn't begin with the law. He goes back further than the law. He goes back to God's original intent in the Garden. “Moses allowed it because you were selfish and covenant breakers—unlike God.” This marriage issue is not about the law or the lines we draw around the law. It's about spiritual condition. Before divorce fractures the marital covenant, hardness fractures a heart. Jesus shifts the conversation from technicalities to theology. From loopholes to love. He basically says, “Let's talk about what God intended, not what is permitted because of your fallen condition.” Marriage wasn't designed to be disposable. It was designed to be durable. A covenant made between two people and God where two become one and stay one through sin, struggle, and sanctification. This is why Jesus makes this bold and sobering statement about remarriage and adultery. It's not to heap shame on us for our mistakes but to reveal the sacredness of marriage and the seriousness of our selfish and hard hearts. Our culture celebrates personal happiness above covenant faithfulness. But Jesus reminds us: the problem isn't the institution—it's the condition of the hearts permitted by the culture. So let's elevate the covenant. Check your heart. Is there pride? Bitterness? Self-righteousness? Indifference? You're not going to "fix" a marriage by pointing fingers and drawing lines with a hard heart. You fix a marriage by submitting to the covenant, softening your heart, and surrendering to Jesus. If you are married, surrender something today. If you are not, remember marriage is an unchangeable covenant, not an amendable contract. #HeartCheck, #MarriageMatters, #Project23 ASK THIS: What excuses do we make for failing to fight for faithfulness? Why do you think Jesus points to creation instead of law? How can hard-heartedness show up in small, subtle ways? What would it look like to forgive or pursue your spouse like Christ? DO THIS: Today, take five minutes to ask God where your heart has grown hard—in marriage, friendships, or faith. Then invite him to soften it. PRAY THIS: Lord, I confess the places where I've let my heart grow hard. Soften me again. Teach me to love as you first loved me—faithfully and sacrificially. PLAY THIS: “Lead Me”

A Sermon for the Third Sunday after Trinity St. Luke 15:1-10 by William Klock In today's Gospel St. Luke tells us that: All the tax collectors and sinners were drawing new to listen to Jesus.  You would think faithful Israelites would be happy about that.  After all, Jesus was calling them to repentance.  The Pharisees had been doing that for generations and without much success.  But when Jesus did it, crowds of sinners gathered to hear what he had to say.  But, says Luke, instead of rejoicing: The Pharisees and the scribes [they were the legal experts] were grumbling.  “This fellow welcomes sinners!” they said.  “He even eats with them!”   And we can gather that they didn't just grumble this to themselves.  They grumbled it out loud to Jesus and So—this is Luke 15, in verse 3—and So Jesus told them this parable: “Who amongst you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the countryside and go off looking for the lost one until you found it?  And when you found it, you'd carry it back home on your shoulders, rejoicing.  And you'd call your friends and neighbours in.  “Come and rejoice with me,” you'd say to them, “because I've found my lost sheep!”   Jesus smiled at the Pharisees like he was the one who had found his lost sheep and was inviting them to a party to celebrate.  But they just scowled at him all the more.  But why?  This is what they longed for.  There's a saying of the rabbis that came later, but it still speaks accurately of the Pharisees who were their predecessors.  They said that if everyone in Israel obeyed the law, even if only for a single day, the Lord would return to them.  So why were they so angry when Jesus was moving sinners to repentance? Well, a bit about the Pharisees.  They were a group or a party—if we were talking about Christians, you could almost-but-not-quite think of them as a “denomination”.  Like nearly everyone in Israel, they knew the Lord's promises that one day he would return to his people and set this broken world to rights.  They longed for that day.  They knew that the Lord had left the temple and allowed it and Jerusalem and Judea to be destroyed by the Babylonians and for the people to be carried away to Babylon in exile as punishment for being unfaithful.  They hadn't obeyed his law, but worse, they had bowed to foreign kings and worshipped other gods.  And even though the people had returned to Judea and they'd rebuilt the temple, the Lord's presence had never returned and the land was still ruled by foreign pagan kings.  And that meant that the exile had never really ended.  Israel was still being punished for her unfaithfulness.  And so the main business of the Pharisees was calling the people of Israel to be faithful to God's law.  They urged the people to be holy.  And if everyone would do that, maybe their long exile would finally end and the Lord would return. And right at the centre of everything the Pharisees did was the temple.  The temple was the one place—or at least it was before the exile—it was the one place where heaven and earth and where God and human beings met.  It was a bubble of hope in a dark world.  It was what creation is supposed to be.  Heaven and earth, God and man had been separated by sin, but in the temple God had created a place where everything was as it should be—or at least a taste of it—until Israel's unfaithfulness and idolatry messed that up just as Adam and Eve had messed up Eden.  So the Pharisees resolved to live their lives as if they were perpetually in the temple.  They weren't priests, but they lived like priests anyway.  All the time.  And they urged everyone else to live this way too.  And that made them popular with some people, while other people resented them. The problem with the Pharisees' way of life was that only rich people could afford to live that way.  Because it wasn't just that they avoided sin—God called everyone in Israel to do that—but they also did their best to stay ritually, ceremonially pure at all times—like the priests in the temple.  They were ready for the Lord's presence to return at any moment and they'd be prepared to be in it.  The problem was that normal people were ritually impure a lot of the time.  It wasn't a sin thing.  You only had to be ritually pure when it came time to go to the temple or eat the Passover, the rest of the time it didn't much matter.  Women became impure when they menstruated.  Farmers became impure birthing livestock or dealing with dead animals.  If a family member died and you had to touch the body, you were then ritually impure.  For some people impurity was an almost daily thing.  Again, nothing to do with sin.  It was about what the Lord required of his people before entering his presence in the temple.  But what it meant was that regular people could never meet the demands of the Pharisees. So the Pharisees were well-meaning.  They understood God's grace.  Contrary to popular opinion, they weren't trying to earn their way into God's favour.  But there's something that seems to happen whenever people start looking for ways to be holy above and beyond the ordinary or when we start making rules for ourselves that God didn't give us in the first place.  It happened with monastics in the Middle Ages, when celibacy became a sign of holiness and ordinary Christian—who were faithfully fruitful and multiplying as God commanded in the beginning—were made to feel unholy and second-class.  It happened with the Methodist Holiness Movement in the Seventeenth Century, with what started out as Wesley's desire to simply see Christians being more faithfully holy turning into a movement where Christian brothers and sisters were frowned on for putting sugar in their tea rather than drinking it black and giving the money to the poor.  It eventually led to people thinking that the gift of God's Spirit was a separate event in the life of the Christian that you had to earn by reaching a certain level of holiness—turning the Christian life completely upside-down. So wanting to be more holy is a good thing, but certain ways of doing it seem to have a powerful tendency to make us self-righteous.  Even when we know that being God's people is all about grace, we can still act very self-righteously.  It happened to the Pharisees and it can happen to us.  And so they rightly saw that the world is not what it should be.  It's full of sin and pain and tears and that's all because of unholiness and sin.  They knew that only God can ultimately set it to rights, but they also knew that God's people—whether Israel in the Old Testament or the Church in the New—we're called to live God's law—the torah in the Old Testament and the law of the Spirit in the New—we're called to live God's law and through that to became bubbles of God's new creation, his future world set to rights, we're called to be bubbles of that here in the present.  But some people out there are obstinate in their sin.  Some people are really awful sinners and we can literally watch as they make a mess of the world around them.  They do things that drag others into sin.  For the Pharisees that was the tax collectors, who collaborated with the Romans and who stole from their own people.  It was prostitutes, who not only sinned themselves, but who enticed others into sin.  Pharisees could see the fallout as men destroyed their lives and families because of prostitution.  These things were grievously wrong and sinful.  They were choices people made and they were conscious rejections of God's covenant.  They weren't just people who stumbled into sin; they were traitors to the covenant people, choosing sin and making the world worse.  And so the Pharisees—and I'm sure even ordinary people in Israel—they longed for the Lord to deal with these sinners.  And that's good.  And I expect they prayed: Lord, bring Matthew the tax collector, bring Mary the prostitute, to repentance—or smite them.  Either way, put an end to the sin.  And, again, that's what God does with sinners.  They were right to pray that way. But, again, something happens when we start making rules for ourselves that mark us out as especially holy.  First, we forget that even if our sins aren't as heinous, none of us is ever perfect or sinless.  We all contribute in some way to the mess this world is in and the pain and the tears of the people around us.  But, maybe worse, we can start to resent when those really bad sinners don't get their just comeuppance.  Self-righteousness creeps in and grace and mercy get pushed out even though we know better, and we start longing to see God's judgement fall on sinners and we become resentful when they do repent—like the men in another of Jesus' parables who were angry when they, who had worked through the heat of the day, received the same wage as the men who had only worked an hour.  The Pharisees expected the Messiah to come in judgement on the unfaithful in Israel, to smite the tax collectors and the prostitutes and all the other sinners, but instead Jesus was eating with them.  The Pharisees knew that if Jesus was the Messiah, sharing a meal with him was like a promise of the great banquet that the Lord had promised the prophets, the great banquet that would take place when Israel was restored, when the world was set to rights, and when sinners were wiped from the earth for ever.  That banquet was for people like the Pharisees.  The tax collectors and sinners were supposed to be outside in the dark, weeping and gnashing their teeth—suffering the Lord's wrath because they'd missed their chance for repentance.  Even though they knew that being the people of God was about grace, the Pharisees had managed to become self-righteous. But there was a second thing about the Pharisees.  Remember that they were all about the temple.  They weren't priests.  They couldn't live in and around the temple the way the priests did, so they had their way of bringing the temple to themselves by following the purity codes for the priests in their everyday lives.  They wanted to see things on earth as they are in heaven.  But as they followed Jesus around and watched him, one thing that we might miss, but that stood out like a sore thumb to them, was that he bypassed the temple.  According to the law, for a sinner to be right again with the Lord, he had to repent of his sins, he had to make restitution for his sins, and he had to offer a sacrifice at the temple.  But time after time, they watched as Jesus simply forgave sinners and sent them on their way.  Repeatedly, Jesus bypassed the temple, the priests, and the sacrificial system altogether.  That absolutely infuriated the Pharisees.  The Messiah—so they thought—should have been reinforcing the importance of the temple, but instead Jesus was bypassing it.  In fact, when he did go to the temple, he upset everything and brought the sacrifices to a halt while people ran around to collect all the animals he'd scattered.  And then he was announcing that he would destroy and rebuild it in three days.  This, I think more than anything else, made the Pharisees angry.  In Jesus, the God of Israel was doing something new.  In Jesus, the God of Israel had begun the process of uniting earth and heaven, when he took on human flesh.  In Jesus, the God of Israel had begun the work of creating a new people for himself, a people who instead of having a temple, would themselves be the temple as he poured his own Spirit into them.  That's why Jesus was bypassing the temple and offering people forgiveness apart from the priests and sacrificial system.  This is why Jesus was announcing and acting out prophecies of the temple's destruction.  But the Pharisees just couldn't let go of the temple.  They couldn't accept that in Jesus, the Lord was creating a new one.  If the tax collectors and sinners had first gone to the temple to offer sacrifices for their sins and then been welcomed by Jesus, the Pharisees would have rejoiced.  But for Jesus to forgive them and then celebrate with them without the temple in between.  Well, that was blasphemy.  That's why they grumbled. And so Jesus told them the simply story of the man who lost a sheep.  Some of them owned sheep.  They paid shepherds to look after them, but they knew the value of a sheep.  If you and I who have never shepherded sheep a day in our lives can identify with the joyful shepherd who celebrated finding his sheep, so could the Pharisees.  “Which one of you wouldn't rejoice in that situation,” Jesus asks them.  He knew the answer and so did they. But just to drive his point home, Jesus tells a second story in verse 8.  We go from one of ninety-nine being lost to now one of ten.  There's a third parable about the prodigal son.  It follows, but isn't part of today's Gospel, but in that story Jesus goes from one of ten to one of two).  But Jesus said to them: Or a woman having ten drachmas [those were little silver coins] loses one of them.  Will she not light a lamp and sweep the house, and hunt carefully until she finds it!  And when she finds it she'll call her friends and neighbours in.  “Come!” she'll say.  “Celebrate with me because I've found my lost coin!”   I get this one.  A while ago the freehub on my road bike seized up.  The freehub is the thing in the back that lets the wheel spin when you're not pedalling and then engages when you do pedal.  It's full of tiny ball bearings—lots of ball bearings.  I took it apart to clean out all the grit that had got into it and when I went to put it back together I was missing three of those tiny ball bearings.  I turned on all the lights in the garage and hunted.  Eventually I swept the whole floor and then went through the dustpan with a magnet.  And I found one and I rejoiced and I found a second and I rejoiced.  And I really, really would have rejoiced if I'd found that third one, but I didn't.  I still haven't.  And I had to buy a new freehub.  So I get the story.  You get the story.  The Pharisees would have got it too. So we've gone from a shepherd well enough off to have a hundred sheep to a woman with only ten drachmas.  They were probably her bridal headdress, but that there were only ten coins says that she was poor.  Headdresses with hundreds of coins were common.  We can imagine this elderly widow taking out her precious bridal headdress and putting it on to remember that day so long ago.  And when she goes to put it away she notices one of the ten coins is missing.  She doesn't see it anywhere and panics.  The sort of house a woman like that lived in was small and dark—hard to see anything small—so she sweeps the whole house.  And finally she finds it and she's so excited she runs to tell her friends so that they can share her joy.  And, again, there's that question.  “If this happened to you, wouldn't you rejoice?”  Of course they would. Two-thousand years distant we understand the stories, we sympathise with the shepherd and with the woman.  I bet that everyone who reads these stories immediately thinks of some time when something like this happened to them and the Pharisees were no different.  Jesus really drives the point home: If we can rejoice over a lost sheep or a lost coin that we've found, how much more ought we to rejoice over a lost sinner who repents.  Jesus strikes at their self-righteousness and lack of mercy.  God had once rescued them when they were lost in Egypt and slaves to Pharaoh.  He'd delivered Israel and claimed them as his own.  He even named Israel his son.  He naturally grieves over those who reject his gracious covenant and he just as naturally rejoices when they receive his grace and return.  I fully expect the Pharisees understood this was what Jesus was getting at, but just to make sure he says it out loud at the end of each story: “Let me tell you: that's how glad they will be in heaven over one sinner who repents—more than over ninety-nine righteous people who don't need repentance…[and]…that's how glad God's angels feel when a single sinner repents.”   You see, their idea of “on earth as in heaven” had gradually come to mean condemning sinners and consigning them to God's judgement.  But Jesus is saying, if you want to see what's going on in heaven stop looking to the temple.  That worked in the past, but in me God is doing something new.  Again, this is part of the reason why Jesus was forgiving sins and declaring people clean.  He was acting out and showing people how he is the new temple.  In him heaven and earth have come together.  In Jesus we have the firstfruits and a foretaste of God's redemption and his new creation.  So in these parables Jesus is telling the Pharisees, if you want to manifest on earth what is happening in heaven, look at what I am doing, not at the old temple.  And in Jesus and in his banquets with tax collectors and sinners we see that God truly loves sinners and that he's sent Jesus not to condemn us in our sin, but to rescue us and to lead us back to him in repentance and faith.  We're reminded here of Jesus' words in John 3:16-17: “This is how much God loved the world: enough to give his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not be lost, but should share in the life of God's new age.  After all, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world could be saved by him.”   The restoration of sinners was so important to God, that he was doing something dramatically new—and instead of rejoicing over what Jesus was doing, the Pharisees were rejecting him.  The Pharisees were partly right.  They were right to look forward to a day of coming judgement when God's Son would come to condemn sinners and to vindicate the righteous.  What they got wrong was that it never occurred to them that God would send his Son, not just at the end of history, but would first send him into the middle of history, to call sinners to repentance and to offer himself as a sacrifice for their sins.  To step into the middle of history to set a group of people to rights so that they would be his means of proclaiming his kingdom and his gracious forgiveness of sins—his gospel—to the world, so that when he does return at the end of history we won't be condemned.  In this we see the love of God.  He didn't cast humanity from his presence with a “Good riddance!”  That's what the Pharisees would have done.  Instead, when we sundered heaven and earth, God graciously set in motion a plan to bring us back together. Brothers and Sisters, Jesus has sought us out in our lostness, he's forgiven us, and now invites us to his Table.  He's given himself as a sacrifice for our sins and this morning he invites us to his heavenly banquet.  But how do we come?  Again, this is the meal Jesus gave us to make sense of the cross.  He is the Passover lamb sacrificed for our sins.  By his death he frees us from our bondage to sin and death and leads us into new life and new creation.  In Jesus we see grace.  We don't deserve any of this.  We're the rebels; we're the sinners; we're the God-haters.  One day he will wipe such people from creation so that it can be finally, once and for all set to rights.  We deserve nothing but death, but in his grace Jesus offers us forgiveness and restoration and life.  And when we take hold of his grace in faith he tells us that the whole heavenly court rejoices.  What was lost has been found.  What ran away has been restored.  Someone who had been an enemy of God, is now a friend—even a son or a daughter. But we're always at risk of forgetting that we come to the banquet only by grace.  It's interesting that in the gnostic pseudo-gospel of Thomas, the parable was changed.  In that telling of the story, the shepherd explains to the lost sheep that he sought it out because he loved it and he valued it more than the others.[1]  We're prone to twisting the story the same way in our own minds—thinking that we've been invited here to the Table because we deserved to be here.  But that's not the story Jesus tells.  The one sheep that was lost was no more valuable than the other ninety-nine.  The one coin lost was no different than all the others.  In fact, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, which follows them, the son who was lost was a disgrace to his father and many people justly wonder why his father didn't simply disown him.  The only difference between the one and the ninety-nine and the one and the ten is that the one was lost.  Brothers and sisters, we are not here because we've earned God's love.  We're here by his grace.  We are here because he rejoices in redeeming sinners.  We're here because it pleases him to forgive his enemies and restore them to his fellowship.  In this we see his glory. Jesus upset the Pharisees because he made manifest on earth the reality of heaven that they had forgotten.  He revealed that the Lord is a God who loves his enemies and desires to save them.  We pray the words from Jesus' prayer: “on earth as in heaven”.  But do we live out the reality of heaven in our lives by reaching out to sinners with the love and grace and joy of heaven?  It's easy to fall into self-righteousness and it's easy to live with an attitude of condemnation.  Brothers and Sisters, remember this morning that we come to the Lord's Table because of his love and grace.  We come as sinners forgiven.  When you go, don't leave all of this at the door of the church, but take it with you so that you can encounter the world with grace and with the same love that God has shown you in Jesus. Let us pray: Loving and gracious Father, help us to grasp your deep, deep love for sinners and the profound graciousness of grace.  Remind us of the joy in your courts over sinners who were lost and now found.  And, Father, help us to love our fellow sinners as you have loved us and show us ways in which we can make the reality of heaven known here on earth.  We ask this through Jesus the Messiah our Lord.  Amen. [1] Gospel of Thomas 107.

FIDF CEO Steven Weil is joined by Nadav Padan to discuss the current state of the war, and what is happening geopolitically with Iran. Nadav explains that the primary objective is the safety of the land and people of Israel. The agreement that the US negotiation group proposed demands that Iran opens their economy to the west, limit its uranium enrichment program and not pursue the development of a WMD, all in order to stabilize the region to create a lasting and sustainable peace in the long term. Meanwhile, in Syria, there is a process of stabilization happening, led by new leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. Israel's goal is to facilitate some kind of Abraham Accord-like deal that will stabilize the relationship, while Israel would remain cautious by their still-radical Islamic regime that does not recognize Israel's right to exist. The reason why they are willing to come to the negotiating table, explains Nadav, is because Jolani knows that he is out of his league militaristically. Perhaps paramount to Israel's security concerns is to ensure that Hamas no longer has control in Gaza, which would retroactively limit the power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Judea and Samaria as well. As far as the return of the remaining hostages, Nadav explains that Israel is working on a potential 60-day ceasefire agreement. The humanitarian aspect of this would be dramatic and monumental. However, strategically, in that 60-day span, Hamas could reorganize itself and catch its breath, which could spell further disaster for Israel's security. The hostage situation thus remains complex.Donate NOW at FIDF.org for the fastest and most direct way to give IDF Soldiers what they need most. 100% of your contribution will go to meet their emergency humanitarian needs.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. My name is Mike and I was going to walk out the back door, but Isaac had to mention my name in the prayer, so I decided to go ahead and come on up here today. I am not one of the pastors here, but I am an elder in training. Over the last several years in my life, I've been exercising the calling of God that I feel on my life and in my heart toward pastoral ministry. It's something that I have felt growing for a long time. A few months ago, I was asked to participate in the elder training process. I am working this calling out. I'm not just a pastor when I want to be. I am working this calling out with my friends, with my community group, and under the guidance of our elders here. They've given me this opportunity this morning.I have a day job. I am a physician kind of by training, and that's what I do Monday through Friday throughout the week. Over the last several years, I have had the opportunity to teach in different settings here in our church. I've been able to teach some of your children in the kids city setting. We actually do an assembly similar to this, and we do 60 to 70 minutes of teaching and they don't complain. So no, we do just a couple short minutes of teaching with them and then we break out into classrooms and teach, and I've gotten to share the Scriptures with them there.I had the opportunity to share the Scriptures with some of your teenagers in the student night setting. Just this last semester, I was able to teach alongside Isaac Hill, who heads that up, and we were working through the Gospel of John. We were blessed by that, and we were thankful to be able to share that with the teenagers in that setting.I've also been able to teach some of you next door in the Sunday school setting just last week. I was able to do that. Our brother Scott Hill faithfully teaches that class week after week after week. That meets in our other building at 9:30. It's an excellent opportunity to study the word together, and he's let me teach alongside him and he's given me the opportunity to fill in for him when he steps away.I was asked or I was given the option to pick the text that I wanted to, and I decided to pick something from the New Testament. We've been going through Samuel, right? We've been going through Old Testament narrative, and I was thinking, well, maybe let's step away from that and let's go into the New Testament for a little bit and spend a week here. I thought, what specifically would our congregation want to hear? And I thought, well, maybe something with a lot of imagery, a lot of pictures, a lot of symbolism, something that's got parts of it that are hotly contested and debated. And so, of course, I landed on Revelation. But I decided maybe something a little bit different would be more appropriate for our setting.Today, we are going to be in the Gospel of Luke. We're going to be in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 6, verses 27-36. Before we start, I'm going to pray and ask for the Lord's help.Father, we thank you for the opportunity to study the Scripture this morning. We've really got nothing apart from it. It tells us of you, and it's our privilege to be able to know it, to study it, and to have our lives changed from it. You know that I am a man desperately in need of grace, and I pray that you would meet me with your grace this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.So let's open up our Bibles to Luke chapter 6, verses 27-36. This is on page 53 in the blue Bible. The blue Bibles are under the seats in the rows in front of you and you can grab those, and if you don't have a Bible you can actually keep that. We want you to have a copy of God's word.Like I said, we are stepping out today from the Old Testament narrative in Samuel, narrative of David, of Saul, of the Israelite people, of Samuel himself at that time, and now we're kind of jumping into the New Testament narrative in the Gospel of Luke. This is the story of Jesus Christ.Just briefly for some context, Luke wrote this gospel around 58 to 60 AD. It is a defense of the Christian faith. It tells the story of the Christ on earth and it shows us Jesus's mission which was to bring salvation to people as well as fulfill some of the Old Testament prophecies that were written about him. Luke himself was a physician, so we can infer he was smart. He was probably pretty cool. I'll leave it there. He was a companion to the Apostle Paul, and Luke spent years interviewing eyewitnesses, people who walked alongside Jesus. And he compiled all of that into this gospel account.What we're going to look at today, this section does mirror another section in a different gospel. And that's common for that to happen. But it mirrors some similar teaching more familiar you might have heard called the Sermon on the Mount which is Matthew 5 through 7. This passage in Luke has some similarities to it.So what we're going to study or what we're going to look at is what Jesus has to teach his followers about kindness and compassion. We're going to begin in verse 27.“But I say to you who hear,Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also,and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.Give to everyone who begs from you,and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”Now, we probably hear all that and think, "Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely. That sounds good. That sounds fine." Especially when we hear that last verse, right? Because we can latch on to that because we've heard it before. That's one of those phrases that sort of has permeated and passed through our culture through generations. And it's something known as the golden rule.Parents teach an aspect of this to their kids, right? When you hit your brother or when you're deciding, should I hit my brother? I want you to think, do you want your brother to hit you? And even at a young age, you can conceptualize that pretty well. I don't want to get hit. I'm not going to hit my brother.Teachers in a classroom setting, right? As kids are going from, especially in younger ages, as they're going from being just at home to now interacting with people from other families, teaching them how to interact with those people, how they would want to be interacted with. And there's even probably some level in our workplaces that we apply this teaching, right? If you are wondering, should I put that in the email to everyone? Should I put that thing about my coworker in there? Maybe think, would you like to read that about you? Right? If you do that, that's probably a fairly safe way to navigate those different interactions.So, we've heard this many times and we usually just agree. When was the last time you saw on CNN, golden rule is being revoked? We're anti-Golden rule, and the golden rule is canceled. Right? You don't see that happening. I actually did this week and Googled, is the golden rule outdated or something to see? I did find an article, but it was on a website I hadn't heard of, so I didn't click on it. I decided that that was probably not something that was being spread through the masses at large, so this would actually still make sense.But if we are really going to understand what Jesus is calling us to do and really understand the weight of these statements, we have to go back and think about who he's commanding us to act this way towards. He says,“Those who hate you, those who curse you, those who abuse you,those who strike you, and those who take from you.”Guys, this is not a call to be nice to your friends. This is not a call to be kind to the person that you sit next to on Sundays at church. This is a call to be kind to the people who absolutely cannot stand you.Now, we have a tendency probably in our minds to think or to wonder, is Jesus overselling this, right? Is he going really far in how he's talking to us? But if you do half of that, it's probably fine. We have a tendency to think maybe this is just for effect. But to help us understand that, let's think about who he was talking to, who was standing in the crowd. That was a mix of Jewish people probably from Jerusalem and from Judea.These are the people whose ancestors we read about when we studied the book of Exodus. These are the people who were enslaved by the Egyptian Pharaoh who never had a day off to rest from work, who made bricks to build up that kingdom, never seeing an ounce of the glory, an ounce of the honor for their own. Even when they were about to escape from Egypt, the Pharaoh in his final act sent his army out to die, trying to retrieve them and bring them back under oppression.After that, they wandered through the wilderness for many years and they went through this cycle of oppression with other nations and judges, and God raised up judges for them. They turned from what God had said to them to do and they went back to their sin, and they're in this constant cycle of oppression.And then right up to where we're studying on Sundays, these kingdoms said, "We want a king. We want a king." And they were given one. God relented, they were given a king. Ultimately that kingdom is fractured, and nothing comes of it, and they end up being dissipated and occupied by other nations, right? The Babylonians, the Persians—throughout history, these really prominent, massive empires occupied and oppressed this people group.And now when Jesus is talking to them, they're under occupation still. They're under occupation from the Roman Empire. So he said all these things to a people that were hated, that were cursed, that were abused, that were struck, and that had every single thing taken from them. Jesus is not overstating or overselling this at all. This would have actually directly applied to the people that he was talking to that day. It would have probably been felt very deeply and viscerally by them. And this thing He was calling them to do would have seemed truly impossible.Now, this teaching calls them into kindness, right? But what does it have to do with us? Two days ago, we celebrated a holiday that exists to show that we are not under another empire, that we are not subject to another regime. One of our pastors spent time giving missiles to people to shoot into the air just so they could show that a British soldier could not come into their house without a warrant and take their stuff and make them cook for them.So we are not exactly under, in our current day and age, the oppression of another outside regime. Why this teaching still brings to bear on our lives is because things like hate, abuse, and stealing have been permeating cultures throughout all of time and they absolutely exist in our culture today. Even if you personally haven't experienced something like that or something that extreme, the point Jesus is getting at is not to minimize what you've walked through in your life actually, but to emphasize just how great the thing that he's calling us into is.So I want us to go back through that text again and think about each one of these directives. Love your enemies. Love is sometimes a wishy-washy word or a phrase that our culture doesn't always know what it exactly means. But we do have some biblical data that tells us patience, kindness, not envying, not boasting, not making yourself out better than someone else. We have some terms for love that we can use.Most commonly in our culture and in the Bible, we think about love in the sense of husbands and wives, spouses. That's a fairly easy example for us to grasp what love probably looks like. So here Jesus says,"Love your enemies."And tags it right up next to doing this. Or he says to love and tags this right up next to doing this to your enemies.This is not like I'm driving down the road and somebody cuts me off in traffic and I say, "You know, I see him later," and I just wave them along. I'm going to be the bigger person. This is saying somebody's flying down the road and sideswipes me and I drive off the road and I hit a tree and I'm severely injured and my car is totally destroyed and I'm in the hospital for months and when I finally recover, I've got nothing left in my name. I barely have a car to drive. I'm going down the road and I see that same guy and his lane's ending and he's in trouble if he doesn't get over and I let him in. That's loving your enemies.Doing good to those who hate you means improving the well-being of the person that actively hates you. When people hate us, we probably do one of two things. We either hate them back. "You're going to get into me. I'm going to get after you," like we're buttheads and have fights over things like that, or we just say, "No, you're not going to bother me. You're going to take the high ground and not say anything." And even we see this play out in kids in middle school and high school. There are either fistfights or people pretend like they don't hear what you say because that way it looks like it didn't bother me, and then at home they deal with the fallout of that.But what doing good to those who hate you is, is when your neighbor comes to you and says, "I'm building a fence on my property and it's going to go five feet into your property line and I don't really care." No matter what you say to him, he's going to do that. One day you come home and it's not five feet on your lawn, it's 10 feet on your lawn. And if you live in a subdivision, that's a lot. So you are seriously out some space. And then when he comes home from work the following day, you're in his front yard. You've cut it perfectly. You're edging right along the driveway. You've got the leaf blower, and you're cleaning it off and you're making it look perfect.That's actually improving the well-being of a person who hates you.Bless those who curse you. Now, we don't have a great frame of reference for this currently. Blessing and cursing. I would wager that most of you who said bless this week meant it in the context of a sneeze. But that is not really what blessing is here. Blessing is I am praying for God's favor to be put on another person.One of the famous examples we have comes from the Old Testament book of Numbers. God says to Moses,"Go pronounce this blessing on your brother."And it's"The Lord bless you and keep you;the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."That's an actual blessing—wanting blessing for another person.Cursing is also not the way we use it today or cussing. It's a little bit different than what we use today. Cursing is not foul language, rude gestures, inappropriate conversation, as we have it in our context. Cursing is more like the opposite of blessing in that I want your total ruin and total destruction to be brought down on somebody. We do have some Bible examples of cursing. Even just when sin entered in the world, God cursed the earth. And so you can look at different times in the Bible where we see cursing. But blessing and cursing are paired together.So this is saying that while you are actively praying and asking God, "Will you give him 10 children who each have 10 children? Will you give him everyone in his family who is healthy? Would you make him live to be a hundred and fifteen, and pass away sweetly with his family surrounded by him? All his businesses, tens upon tens upon tens would have success and he would be rich and all the world's goods."While you're asking that for a person, that same person is hoping that you're totally and completely destroyed off of the earth. While you're hoping for his peaceful end with him surrounded by his family, he's hoping your bloodline comes to an end, that you never find a partner, that you never have a child, and that your last name is totally and utterly destroyed.That is blessing the people that curse you.Pray for those who abuse you. This one is probably a little challenging for us to hear. The word abuse sits pretty heavy on our shoulders and even when we hear it, we recoil. Some of you have actually experienced real abuse in awful, awful ways.Jesus here says,"On your knees, intercede before the Father on behalf of the person who inflicted you this pain. Pray for those who abuse you."To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. Just sort of by way of explanation, this is not a little essay on pacifism. Should we fight in wars? Should I defend myself in my house? Striking someone on the cheek is really meant to symbolize or show disrespect. That's what it meant in this cultural context.And I think we probably have that translate to our cultural moment today. I don't know if I was at an award show—the Tonys, the Grammys, maybe the Oscars—and somebody got up and said something disrespectful about my wife's hair, I might get up and slap that person, and that would be a sign of disrespect given back to them. And I think everybody would be able to do that. And of course, I would go on to win best actor.This is when the guy at work puts you down, mocks you in front of everyone, and then later the boss comes to you and says, "Hey, you know, so and so, he's actually up for a promotion. What do you think?" And this is you saying, "You know, I think he's pretty good at his time management skills. I think he's got good computer skills," and you start highlighting different things about him that he doesn't deserve to have highlighted about him, but you start highlighting these positive things. Instead of returning disrespect with disrespect, you give respect to him and speak honorably about him.And from the one who takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you. And from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back.So a cloak is like an outer covering like a jacket. A tunic is more underneath. It covers you from the shoulders down to the hips or ankles depending on how homeschooled you were. So this is saying be radically generous to the people who steal from you.So, you're at the beach, you're on vacation, and you're walking down the street, and somebody picks your pocket and takes off, and you take off after them and you call the police and you got this guy. You caught him and the police look at you and say, "Well, he stole from you. Do you want to press charges?" And you say, "No." In fact, I had $100 in my wallet, but I'm going to write you a check. I'm going to write you a check for $200. Because this is what it means that when somebody takes your cloak not to withhold your tunic from them.Also,"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."This really does summarize all of these directives well, guys. Sometimes we have such a strong desire for justice and it really, really irks us to see these perpetrators get away with things. But I do want to remind you that in the book of Hebrews, we're told,"There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."God will make these things right. People who commit injustices will be held accountable.What he has not done is asked us in this text to mediate out and give out that justice. He teaches us to love. He teaches us to do good and he teaches us to give not just to the people that like us. Not even just to the people that are kind of indifferent to us or tolerate us, but to the people who absolutely cannot stand us and actively choose to oppose us.Next here in the passage, he's going to talk to us about how the world accomplishes this. We're going to pick up in verse 32."If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount."I think Jesus chooses to give us this explanation here because we sort of gravitate towards this, right? We want to be nice to the people that like us really. Well, if your friend calls you on the phone and they've had a rough day and they're going on and on and you're listening and being empathetic and encouraging them, at the end of the call, they say, "Wow, thank you. You were so kind. Thank you for listening." You might think, "Yeah, you know, I guess in just in the friend group, I'm the kind friend. Yeah, that makes sense."Or if your co-worker, who you actually do get along with, who helps you out, gets a busy project thrown at them and they're going to be there late and you say, "You know what? I'm going to pitch in and help them take some of that workload off them." And then a few weeks later, you hear them talking and they're saying, "Yeah, you know, he pitched in and helped me right when I needed to. He sacrifices himself. He's so kind." You might think, "Yeah, I am the dependable co-worker. I am kind. I do that. Yeah."Or if your friend forgets their wallet when you go out to lunch and you spot him and then you think, "Well, now I've got insurance if I ever forget my wallet and I'm out with him." Or if he asks, "Can I—he's going to buy pizza." I don't have to chip in because I already kicked in and gave it to them. We encounter these kind of circumstances all the time.And this is probably how we think without realizing. We trick ourselves into thinking that we are more kind than we really are. And the reason is because the people we like to be kind to are the people that like us. And so Jesus here very directly is saying that if you're kind to people so that you can just be praised and rewarded, then you are no different than the people who don't follow Christ or don't know Christ because even they are capable of that.Jesus calls us into sacrificial kindness and sacrificial giving. He calls us to do this to our enemies. And he rebukes the kindness that results in our own advancement in our own gain.In World War II, on December 20th of 1943, a German pilot by the name of Franz Stigler was flying in German airspace and he encountered a very badly damaged bomber flown by an American pilot with an American crew. He could see holes from multiple bullets in this plane and he could see the crew looked weak and near the point of death. And he had a moment where he could have gone different ways. He could have shot that plane as an enemy out of the sky, reported it back, and been awarded for what he had done. But that's not what he did.He flew up alongside the wing of this badly damaged American plane and escorted it out of German airspace because he knew that a German anti-aircraft gun would not shoot up at a German plane. He escorted them out to safety and they landed in Switzerland. After that moment finished, the two pilots got out and saluted each other and then the German pilot flew back into Germany. This was never publicized because at the time telling people that an enemy showed kindness isn't good for the war effort.We don't want to think that our enemy is capable of that, right? But interestingly, in the early 2000s, years after, they were actually able to meet and they became friends and they remained friends until they both passed away just a few months apart from each other in the same year. I think this is just in a small way an example of what it means to look like to be kind or to be compassionate to your enemies.Now go back with me if you will to the crowd. The crowd that stands there before Jesus. Imagine being one of those people who has been taught since birth from grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, all the cycles of oppression that have kept that people down. And even as they walk out of town to hear Jesus talk, they pass by Roman soldiers who are an ever-present reminder to them of the inescapable enemy that always lurks where they are.And Jesus says,"Love those people."Some of the people that followed Jesus were even part of zealous religious groups who wanted to commit political violence and wanted to commit assassinations. And they're standing there listening to Jesus."Love your enemies."Even you guys put yourself in that position, right? Imagine standing there and think to yourself, Jesus just said,"Love the guy who put me down so he could get a promotion.Love the girl that used to bully me in school.Love the person that inflicted the most emotional pain and suffering or even physical suffering that I've ever experienced."What would you be thinking? You would be thinking what they were thinking.Why? Why on earth would we ever do it? They're awful. They are horrible. Why would I ever love them? And if I wanted to, how could it be possible that I could be capable of that?And as the tension rises in their minds and as the tension rises in our own minds and these questions develop, Jesus tells us the answer:"But love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."Jesus says that in order to be kind to our enemies, we must understand that God himself was kind to us. See, the answer we come up with is, "Oh, when they apologize to me, then I'll be kind." When they start changing their actions and I actually see it, then I'll be kind. But Jesus says,"No, kindness to your enemies can only be achieved one way, and it's by understanding God's kindness to you."Follow this with me. Jesus here teaches,"Be kind to your enemies."He roots that kindness in God's kindness to us. Why does that actually make sense? Romans 8:7-8:"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."It makes sense because before we knew Jesus Christ, we were God's enemies. And you might not think that's possible or you might think, "No, that's too much." Well, God, the infinite, existing before anything else for all time, spoke a world into existence, put people on that world to worship him. And I'm not even talking about going through the Ten Commandments and you lied. I'm sure you did. No, no, no, no. I'm talking this God is worthy of our worship at all times. And every time we sit and enjoy our house and we enjoy our family and we enjoy our truck and whatever, and we don't roll it up into worship of the almighty God, we have sinned and we are God's enemy.Is it that serious? Absolutely. It's that serious. The only way that we can be kind is to understand that God forgave his enemies. And the people that were standing there that day, they've got no idea what's about to come. That he would go through a total sham of a trial and be convicted of a crime that he did not commit.That he would be physically tortured, beaten, assaulted, that he would be given a purple robe and a crown of thorns, total mockery, so that he might feel shame. And they would make him pick up the cross and walk up the hill, put it up, and they nail him to it and hang him up there in front of everyone to see to execute him.And while he's up there, we have his words recorded for us:"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."The beauty of the gospel is that Jesus Christ died for his enemies.Romans 5:9-11, we read it this morning:"Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.But more than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."The story of the Bible is the story of God's kindness to us. So if you today don't know Christ in that way, that's the type of kindness I'm inviting you into. If you do know Jesus, he really does want you to be kind like this. Let's take time to ask the Spirit to reveal the areas where we overlook this teaching.So, who hates you? Who have you hated? Who curses you? Who have you wanted to see destroyed? Who has abused you? Who has disrespected you? Who has taken from you your time, your money, whatever it is? Is it really important that we be kind to these people? Yes.Romans 2:4-5:"Do you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"Kindness is crucial, but we need the help of the Spirit in order to do this. We cannot do it on our own. In our sin, we try to be kind and sometimes it doesn't work. And sometimes we try to be kind and we actually end up being rude and it goes the total opposite direction.This is not how we naturally think about being kind. We think, well, it's genetic. Have you met that family? They're all smiling. That's not my family. We're sarcastic. We don't do that. We think someone is kind because they don't have the stress we do. If you had my job, you'd understand. I'm way too stressed out to just be kind to everybody I meet. I use it all up at work.We think we don't have to be kind. Look at my kids. I spend all my time raising those kids, teaching those kids, and trying to be kind to those kids. I don't have leftover to give to the people outside of that. We think when things get better, then I'll be kind. My retirement account's in good shape. My bank account's in good shape. When my house is the house I want, everything's fixed up. When I'm good, then I'll be kind to other people.This text would suggest otherwise.We're going to have the band go ahead and come back up here as we close. I think that when Jesus says in verse 36,"Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful,"that actually sums all of this up really well.What is mercy? Mercy is having compassion and kindness on someone whom it is within your power to punish. Our prayer today should be that God would help us to know in our minds and feel in our hearts the depths of the mercy he poured out on us in Christ so that we may reflect that mercy to the world around us.Some of you need to consider that you are an enemy of Christ but that he died for you and he is welcoming you into his kindness. Some of you have basked in his kindness for years and not for a second thought about how you might reflect that kindness to other people.If God would go so far as to die on the cross, then you can pray a blessing on a person that's cursed you. You can be kind to the people that make your heart race when we say words like enemy and abuser. The world can't do this. They can be kind to who's kind to them. Only the people of Christ can be kind to their enemies.By God's grace, may we be a people who understand the mercy of God in our lives. And may this translate into us being merciful and kind to the world around us.

13 And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and he asked his disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is?Venit autem Jesus in partes Caesareae Philippi : et interrogabat discipulos suos, dicens : Quem dicunt homines esse Filium hominis? 14 But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets.At illi dixerunt : Alii Joannem Baptistam, alii autem Eliam, alii vero Jeremiam, aut unum ex prophetis. 15 Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?Dicit illis Jesus : Vos autem, quem me esse dicitis? 16 Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.Respondens Simon Petrus dixit : Tu es Christus, Filius Dei vivi. 17 And Jesus answering, said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.Respondens autem Jesus, dixit ei : Beatus es Simon Bar Jona : quia caro et sanguis non revelavit tibi, sed Pater meus, qui in caelis est. 18 And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.Et ego dico tibi, quia tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam. 19 And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.Et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum. Et quodcumque ligaveris super terram, erit ligatum et in caelis : et quodcumque solveris super terram, erit solutum et in caelisThe Apostles Peter and Paul are the two Princes of the Apostles, the foundations of the Church, on which she is firmly established as on a rock. This feast is almost entirely devoted to St Peter, the Bishop of Rome, the great Apostle of the Gentiles being more specially honored on June 30th. The lessons and prayers of this Mass describe how his Lord and Master Jesus Christ prepared the fervent Aostle, St Peter, for the supreme office of the Papacy. After the Descent of the Holy Ghost St Peter preached the Gospel in Judea and was cast into prison by Herod Agrippa. He was miraculously delivered by an Angel and established his see first at Antioch, and then finally at Rome, where the first pope exercised for twenty-five years the Supreme Authority vested in him by Christ Himself. He was arrested, and like St Paul suffered martyrdom A.D. 65. This feast marks the day of the translation of their relics.

He is one of the most reviled and hated men in history. He was the king of the Holy Land during the time of Jesus and is best known for ordering the massacre in Bethlehem of all male children under 2 years old. His name? Herod the GreatBut Herod's cruel reputation has always hidden another side of one of the Bible's greatest villains. He was a prolific builder and architectural mastermind of breathtaking proportions. He built new cities, fortresses, palaces, harbours, aqueducts, theatres, and other public buildings. His most grandiose creation was the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, which he wholly rebuilt. Herod built more and larger monuments than virtually anyone in ancient times, perhaps in all time.Herod the Great, also known as Herod 1, was the Roman-appointed Jewish king of Judea, who was referred to at the time as the Herodian Kingdom. He reigned for 33 years between 37 to 4 BC. Join Gary on a journey back through time as we follow the footsteps of Herod the Great and discover what made him tick, and what made him crazy, and in doing so we'll discover one of the simplest and most successful ways to find lasting inner-peace and happiness. 

Where did western thought come from? Join us today as we look at Alexander the Great, his impact on Judea in the 300's BC, in the 1st century during Jesus' day, and how Hellenism is still impacting the world we live in today. https://longhollow.com/theforgottenjesuspodcastshownotes

21Habiendo nacido Jesús en Belén de Judea en tiempos del rey Herodes, unos magos de Oriente se presentaron en Jerusalén 2preguntando: «¿Dónde está el Rey de los judíos que ha nacido? Porque hemos visto salir su estrella y venimos a adorarlo». 3Al enterarse el rey Herodes, se sobresaltó y toda Jerusalén con él; 4convocó a los sumos sacerdotes y a los escribas del país, y les preguntó dónde tenía que nacer el Mesías. 5Ellos le contestaron: «En Belén de Judea, porque así lo ha escrito el profeta: 6“Y tú, Belén, tierra de Judá, no eres ni mucho menos la última de las poblaciones de Judá, pues de ti saldrá un jefe que pastoreará a mi pueblo Israel”». 7Entonces Herodes llamó en secreto a los magos para que le precisaran el tiempo en que había aparecido la estrella, 8y los mandó a Belén, diciéndoles: «Id y averiguad cuidadosamente qué hay del niño y, cuando lo encontréis, avisadme, para ir yo también a adorarlo». 9Ellos, después de oír al rey, se pusieron en camino y, de pronto, la estrella que habían visto salir comenzó a guiarlos hasta que vino a pararse encima de donde estaba el niño. 10Al ver la estrella, se llenaron de inmensa alegría. 11Entraron en la casa, vieron al niño con María, su madre, y cayendo de rodillas lo adoraron; después, abriendo sus cofres, le ofrecieron regalos: oro, incienso y mirra. ...

Enjoy this week's session 231 of the Land of Israel Fellowship recorded live on June 29, 2025. (Torah Parsha Korach) Join The Land of Israel Fellowship and gain access to all the Bible teachings from Judea and receive your personal invitation to join the exclusive live online gatherings with families around the world every week. Fellowship: thelandofisrael.com/membership/ YouTube: @thelandofisrael‬ FB: www.facebook.com/TheLandofIsraelcom/ X: x.com/thelandofisrael

Daily Dose of Hope June 30, 2025   Scripture - Matthew 19   Prayer:  Holy God, We come before you with humility and expectation as we start a new week.  Thank you for another morning, another day, another chance to be a change agent in our world, your world.  Guide us, Lord.  Guide our words, actions, and thoughts.  We want to be more like you.  Help us see others as you see them.  We love you.  Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we dive into Matthew 19.   Jesus and his disciples have begun to make the journey to Judea; they are heading to Jerusalem. And Jesus is using this time to teach about what it means to follow him. Jesus is turning everything upside down in his teachings: to follow him means renouncing the things that the world values. In this chapter, we see Jesus touch on how following him will affect how we behave in the most fundamental parts of our lives.   He starts by teaching on divorce, making the point that marriage is not simply a contract, but it's a creation of God and both men and women are equal partners in the marriage. The Pharisees are trying to “test” Jesus, meaning they ask a leading question designed to trap him into saying something that will discredit his public reputation. They ask whether a man can legally divorce his wife for any reason at all, and this was actually a specific debate that was happening among first century Jewish rabbis.  In Deuteronomy, the law allows a man to divorce his wife if he finds some “indecency” or “something offensive” in her.  That's a bit vague.  Something offensive could include gaining weight during pregnancy or finding someone more attractive.  And while the different rabbis argued over this, the bottom line was that men could divorce women for basically anything.  But, not shocking, women did not have the same rights.   Now, the Pharisees want Jesus to enter this specific debate.  He's God and he can see through their words.  Jesus goes back to God's original intent on marriage, in the Garden but before the fall.  The two become one.  It's a strong and intimate bond.  Thus, there isn't an easy or painless way for this bond to be broken.  It's going to cause tremendous pain.  God's will is for marriage to continue without this breakage.  Jesus is basically saying that, in God's Kingdom, marriage is a covenant between the man, the woman, and God.  It's a sacred commitment that can't be flippantly broken.  Please know that by making this argument, Jesus was protecting women.  They were the ones hurt by the previous arrangement.    Jesus goes on to teach about children–parents were bringing children to him to be blessed and the disciples scolded them. Jesus intervenes and says to let the little children come to me and then makes this stunning point that we all must become like little children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a point that Jesus repeatedly makes! Children, in those days, weren't seen as having any value. But Jesus places tremendous value on them. Jesus' point is that to follow him, we have to become like little children–vulnerable, powerless, needing someone else to provide safety and sustenance. Again, he is turning things upside down.   Then, we come to the last portion of the chapter.  This will seem familiar, as we also covered this story in Mark.  A man comes up to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”   Jesus says, “Well, you need to follow all the commandments.”  He then lists out the various commandments and the man simply says, “Yes, I've done all those things since I was a boy.”   Then, Jesus looks at the man and says that to be perfect, he must go and sell everything he owns and give it all to the poor. The text says that the man's face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.  This is the irony. The children who possess nothing are not told that the kingdom of God is theirs; yet this man who possesses everything still lacks something! Only when he sells all he has—only when he becomes like a vulnerable child—will he possess everything. But he isn't willing to do that. He decides to walk away from Jesus. The man wasn't expecting to have to make that kind of sacrifice. He had no idea following Jesus would be so hard.   The disciples are really confused by this. At that time, most people believed that being wealthy was a sign of God's blessing. Here, Jesus is saying that this man has to sell everything and give it to the poor. And that's when Jesus says the really, really hard thing...It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And the disciples ask “then who possibly can be saved?” Jesus says, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”   I don't know about you but I find it very unsettling to read this passage. Let's go deeper: Jesus could look at this young man he loved and see that what he cherished most were his possessions. I think there is a warning in here for us. Jesus is not condemning having resources. There are others in the Gospels with great wealth that Jesus doesn't tell them to do the same thing. But he is making it clear---having wealth can get in the way of our relationship with him. When we have resources, our tendency is to rely on ourselves, to hold on to our money, to not fully submit our lives to him. It's hard to approach God as a vulnerable little child (think about how children totally depend on their caregivers for everything), when we don't feel so humble and vulnerable. The greatest enemies to faith and obedience are self-satisfaction and pride. And we live in a culture where these things are held up as ideals.   Jesus is saying that being a disciple is not about following a list of rules. If that were the case, then the rich young ruler would have been a shoo-in. He is saying, it's about denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following him alone. And we don't like to deny ourselves. We don't like to be uncomfortable. It means looking at your life and renouncing any part of it that gets in the way of your walk with Jesus. That means that following Jesus isn't one part of our life; following Jesus isn't simply one activity in a busy life filled with lots of great stuff. No, following Jesus means radically reorienting our life. Jesus comes first and our devotion to Jesus as Lord and Savior affects every other area of our lives. Our dedication to Jesus affects how we treat other people, it affects how we spend our money, it affects how we spend our time, it affects how we behave. Following Jesus means a radical adjustment to priorities. It means worrying less about what the world values, and focusing on what Jesus values.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

For the lives of these two great Apostles, we can only recommend a reading of the entire New Testament, which contains accounts of their lives and many of their inspired writings. St Peter, after preaching in Judea, Antioch and parts of Asia, came to Rome, where he was crucified by order of the Emperor Nero, about the year 66. Being led to the cross, he begged the executioner to crucify him upside-down, because he felt unworthy to partake of the same death as the Savior.   St Paul's apostolic labors extended from Arabia to Spain. He also ended his earthly course in Rome, beheaded by order of Nero, some say at the same time that St Peter was crucified.

As the gospel slowly spread out from the center at Jerusalem, it began to be accepted by various representatives of the variegated Gentile world. Remember . . . Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). There were the Samaritans (Acts 8:5ff). There was the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:38). There was Cornelius and his people (Acts 10:34). There was Sergius Paulus, the first out-and-out pagan (Acts 13:12). There was resistance to this, and some complaining (Acts 10:45; 11:2-3, 12), but nothing was definitively settled.

To become a follower of Jesus, visit: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/MeetJesus (NOT a Morning Mindset resource) ⇒ TODAY'S DAILY SPONSOR: Olyvia: I’m supporting the Morning Mindset so that you can continue to Spread the word of YHWH! You can sponsor a daily episode of the Morning Mindset too, by going to https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/DailySponsor ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Mark 10:1 - [1] And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. (ESV) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FINANCIALLY SUPPORT THE MORNING MINDSET: (not tax-deductible) -- Become a monthly partner: https://mm-gfk-partners.supercast.com/ -- Support a daily episode: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/daily-sponsor/ -- Give one-time: https://give.cornerstone.cc/careygreen -- Venmo: @CareyNGreen ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FOREIGN LANGUAGE VERSIONS OF THIS PODCAST: SPANISH version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Spanish HINDI version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Hindi CHINESE version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Chinese  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ CONTACT: Carey@careygreen.com  ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ THEME MUSIC: “King’s Trailer” – Creative Commons 0 | Provided by https://freepd.com/ ***All NON-ENGLISH versions of the Morning Mindset are translated using A.I. Dubbing and Translation tools from DubFormer.ai ***All NON-ENGLISH text content (descriptions and titles) are translated using the A.I. functionality of Google Translate.

You know, when I was growing up, it was a pretty long trip to get to the ocean. I grew up in Illinois, so we didn't have a lot of ocean experience. Needless to say, when I lived along the East Coast for over 20 years, I became fascinated with the ocean. I still love to watch it, I love to walk along the beach, I love to romp in the waves a little, but I haven't gotten used to those big breakers rolling in. Hey, listen, I'm a lake boy, okay; a pool kid. But those big old waves, they make me feel as if they could pick me up and carry me all the way to England, which I would rather fly to anyway than go by way of the Atlantic Ocean. But I have good friends who really know what to do with those giant waves. They've taught me that what you do is you surf on it if you know how, and they're good at it. They wait for that big old curl to come roaring down on them, they leap on their surfboard and they ride that wave. Now, I see a mega wave as a threat. My friends? They see it as a vehicle. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Surfing the Wave That Could Sink You." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 8, and it talks about the day that a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem. All except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. It really sounds like a large wave coming in against God's people. But listen to what they did with it. "Those who had been scattered," chapter 8, verse 4 says, "preached the Word wherever they went." Now, here is this violent enemy attack on the infant church, and it forces the believers out of their little nest in Jerusalem. Probably losing their home, and their family connections, and possibly their job. What did they do? Did they sink? No, they surfed on that big wave! They started spreading the Gospel in all the places they were forced to go. Now, that's just what God had predicted in Acts 1:8, when He said, "You'll be My witnesses in Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and in the uttermost parts of the earth." But they weren't leaving Jerusalem until this persecution hit. See, the attacks of the enemy often end up facilitating the plans of God (don't you love it?), because of how believers handle the heavy waves of crisis that come crashing toward them. You could do that. It's called capturing your crisis for Christ. This type of believer surfs on a wave of trouble instead of sinking under it. Let's fast-forward 2,000 years from the book of Acts to your life right now. You've got pressure. What's the wave that's coming in at you right now? You've got stress, you've got some anxiety. Can you see it? There's a crisis that's threatening you, or maybe a disappointment, or a disease, a disaster. Capture your crisis for Christ. Do what these early Christians did. They used it as a platform to proclaim Jesus. They said, "Well, if the crisis has forced me into a place I never wanted to be, I'm going to use this as a place to proclaim Christ." Basically, they believed that their situation was their assignment wherever God put them. See, the crises of life put us in positions where a lot of folks are watching what we do; where we meet new people, where we can find a platform for saying, "Jesus is enough, even in this; especially in this situation." Now, the enemy would love to use this wave that you see coming at you to sink you, but don't go down under it. Remember, your situation is your assignment from God. Do what the great surfers do! Ride on top of this wave; surf on it. Capture it for Christ.

Acts 15:1, 2b-4a, 5-12 - [After many Gentiles came to faith in Jesus,] some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And … Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed … But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, and He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Today's Topics: 1) Gospel - Luke 1:57-66, 80 - When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.” But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel. Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist Saint John, pray for us! Bishop Sheen quote of the day 2, 3) Must artificial intelligence open the door to "that hideous strength" described by C.S. Lewis?" asks Father Dwight Longenecker. In Lewis' story, the National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments (NICE) seeks world domination through science and technology, including transhumanist technology. Eighty years later, are we on the brink of such realities? https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2025/05/c-s-lewis-a-i-apocalypse-dwight-longenecker.html 4) Email comment to Terry & Jesse, "I don't believe in Jesus, the bible is full of errors and science is the only foundation of truth, and you should quit preaching lies!"

Fr. Mike zeroes in on how Uzziah's prideful desire to worship God in his own way led to his tragic death. We are reminded once again how easily the kings over Judea strayed away from God after achieving greatness. Today's readings are 2 Kings 3, 2 Chronicles 26-27, and Psalm 72. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.