Podcasts about kingdom of god

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Genesis 23-24; Luke 9 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to another episode of the Daily Radio Bible, where we journey together through the Scriptures, one day at a time. On this ninth day of January, Hunter invites us into a time of reflection and prayer as we read selections from Genesis 23-24 and Luke 9. In today's episode, we witness Abraham's faith and God's providence in the search for Isaac's wife, uncovering the beauty of trust and obedience. Then, as we move into Luke, we see Jesus empowering his disciples, feeding the multitudes, and revealing the transformative message of the Kingdom of God. Hunter reminds us that the heart of Jesus' teaching—through miracles, parables, and sacrifice—is the invitation to become citizens of this Kingdom, marked by reconciliation, joy, and abiding love. Join us as we open our hearts to receive these words, pray together for ourselves, our families, and the world, and step forward in the joyful assurance that we are deeply loved. Settle in and let this time feed your soul and guide your steps as we continue this daily walk in God's presence. TODAY'S DEVOTION: He makes us citizens of his kingdom. What do you think the prevailing message of Jesus is? You would think that'd be a pretty easy question to answer. But I'm guessing that in a room full of people, there'd be many different kinds of answers to that question. But in Luke 9, as well as throughout the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, we're told many times very plainly what that message is. The central prevailing message of the Bible and of Jesus is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is here and the king is Jesus. And this king has come to reconcile the world to God. His rule and authority are being made known wherever he goes. He uses that in the feeding of the multitudes, the healing of the demon possessed, the opening up of the eyes of the blind, the healing of the lame, those who can't speak and hear. He is the king. And wherever he goes, the kingdom is showing up. Citizenship in this kingdom is being made available to ordinary people. His life is being offered and extended to the whole world, to us broken folks. And the good news of that kingdom is that God has made a way through Christ to reconcile us, to make us new, to make us citizens and bring us under his rule and reign, to make us his. By his death on the cross, he has reconciled us to himself. And now by the Spirit of God, he has empowered us to manifest his kingdom life, to live it out, the very life of his Son. As Jesus walks with us through our life, the kingdom shows up. The result of his kingdom life in us is freedom, joy, love, the fruit of the Spirit. And when we do that, we are set free. We're set free from our past, our regrets, our shame. And we live in the joy of forgiveness and our adoption and inclusion in the very life and love of God. The one sitting on the throne said, look, I'm making everything new, everything. And we see it wherever Jesus goes. There is power in the King. There's power in his abiding life with us. And this king has made you his own. You are a citizen and he is your king. Let us live as citizens of the kingdom of God. Let us embrace this message of the abiding and saving life, the reconciling life of Christ. Let us be ambassadors of this message of our great King. Let's tell people that they have been reconciled in Christ. See it, believe it, repent, change your mind and step into the life that is yours. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's a prayer that I have for my own family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

Romans 10:3 — What was the main trouble with the Jews that Paul is speaking about in Romans 10:3? It is that they did not have a complete and full knowledge of the truth of God. In this sermon on Romans 10:3 titled “Knowledge of the Truth,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that a precise knowledge of the truth is essential to salvation and Paul is praying and longing for the salvation of the Jews because they lack this knowledge. The Jews may have been nice people and very zealous, but this cannot be mistaken for true Christian faith. Truth cannot be based in subjective terms because the gospel is truly objective. The Pharisees had misinterpreted the Old Testament teaching about the righteousness of God and the righteousness that He demands. This was ignorance on their part. Ignorance means that there is not full knowledge and the Jews were ignorant of the full knowledge of God. This stood in between them and their salvation. Dr. Lloyd-Jones urges the listener to have a precise knowledge because ignorant knowledge is the enemy. Without true knowledge, one will be lost, damned, and outside the kingdom of God. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/603/29?v=20251111

On today's program, Kingdom of God Global Church—the church founded and led by self-proclaimed apostle David E. Taylor—is asking the U.S. government to return assets it seized in its investigation against its embattled pastor. We'll have details. And, as more pastors are facing criminal charges for not reporting abuse, MinistryWatch took a deep dive into mandatory reporting laws—what are they, how have they evolved, and what do church leaders need to know. Plus, our annual list of highly paid ministry executives. But first, Philip Yancey, a beloved evangelical author and speaker, is withdrawing from public ministry after confessing a long-term affair.  To read all the stories in today's podcast, go to www.MinistryWatch.com  Click here to read “Are We Paying Our Ministry Leaders Too Much?” The producer for today's program is Jeff McIntosh. We get database and other technical support from Stephen DuBarry, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today's program include Bob Smietana, Kim Roberts, Jessica Eturralde, Yonat Shimron, Tony Mator, Steve Rabey—and you, Warren. A special thanks to Baptist News Global for contributing material for this week's podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.

Experience the joy of childlike faith as Jesus shows us how to receive the Kingdom of God with open hearts.In this heartwarming episode, Jesus demonstrates the importance of embracing childlike faith by welcoming little children with open arms. As He plays and blesses them, He teaches His disciples a profound lesson on the simplicity and innocence required to enter the Kingdom of God.Today's Bible verse is Mark 10:15, from the King James Version.Download the Pray.com app for more Christian content including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Pray.com is the digital destination for faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On December 9, 1987, a squirrel chewed through a power line in Connecticut, and the NASDAQ’s vast financial machinery blinked, sighed, and went dark. Some of the world's largest corporations stood limp and listless. Global economies watched, sweating bullets for nearly an hour and a half. All because of one tenacious, furry rodent. Scripture tells many stories of something or someone small making a big impact. But God can turn meagerness into something mighty. John recounts how Jesus fed a hungry crowd (five thousand men, probably fifteen thousand with women and children included) when “a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish” handed over his small lunch (John 6:9). In the Old Testament we remember that a young shepherd boy named David trusted God and slayed a giant (1 Samuel 17). And Christ repeatedly insisted that the kingdom of God is something like a mustard seed, “the smallest of all seeds” (Matthew 13:32). When we ponder the many complex global crises in addition to the bewildering concerns in our own neighborhoods and families, we’re tempted to believe that our seemingly small efforts lack power. But Scripture tells us to act in obedience and trust as God helps us—assured that with Him, small things can become mighty (John 6:10-12).

(7:28) Bible Study: Luke 4:14-22 Spiritual Warfare revealed. 1 John 4:19–5:4 You can sacrifice a lot for yourself but can you sacrifice for others? (22:54) Break 1 (25:33) Letters: Is it okay to disfigure yourself if you don’t want to get married? What is the meaning of the word kingdom of God? Why was Lot’s wife punished so harshly for looking back? Father answers these and other questions, send him a letter at simon@relevantradio.com (36:19) Break 2 (37:08) Word of the Day Antichrist (41:32) Phones: Mark - How can you tell someone is sincere when they cross themselves? It seems people want to show off when they do that, like if they were more holy. Joseph - How far back in history to we have written records? How old is the world? Patrick - My son has his mother's ashes, sister ashes. What is the church standing on ashes? I don’t think you can hold them up forever. Jaime - Reflection on the 10th commandments based on a comment Fr. Simon said. Thomas - Sacrifice is something self-seeking, a reason to sacrifice is because we want to get to Heaven.

When I had to go for a new passport, it meant I had to dig out a document that I don't look at very often - my birth certificate. I had to prove to the State Department that I exist! Of course, I have to be careful with my birth certificate - one that's been around that long is about to disintegrate. It's interesting that when you have to produce the most authoritative proof of who you are, what do they ask for? Your birth certificate! And mine, like yours, clearly identifies who you are and exactly when and where you were born. I was a little nervous before I went for my passport because we had just moved and I couldn't find my birth certificate for a little while! That's very bad news! I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Birth Certificate for Heaven." One thing that birth certificate demonstrates for sure - your life. Your relationship with your parents has a definite beginning. You know, you celebrate that day every year. Birth, of course, is a clear, definite thing - into your family...into God's family too. Tragically, a lot of people can't remember a beginning to their personal relationship with God - often because there hasn't been one. And without a "birth certificate" on file in heaven, one that marks the beginning of your belonging to your Heavenly Father, you are in real danger. Eternal danger if that doesn't change. Our word for today from the Word of God talks about how a person gets born into God's family. John 1:12 says, "To all who received Him (that's Jesus), to those who believed in His name, (God) gave the right to become the children of God." Now, God likens our beginning with Him to birth into His family. That's why Jesus would say just two chapters later, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3). There's a conscious, deliberate choice that begins your God-relationship. It's what our word for today calls "receiving" Jesus Christ, "believing" in Him. It's describing a moment when you consciously open up your heart for Jesus Christ to come in, when you tell Him you are putting your total trust in Him to remove that wall of sin between you and God and to give you a relationship with Him. The reason we don't have that love relationship is because we've taken a life that God was supposed to run and we've run it ourselves. That "sin" has cut us off from a God whose sinless and perfect. And no religious ceremony can remove that sin - not baptism, not church attendance, not confirmation, not church membership, not all the good things you do. In fact, the Bible explicitly says, "It is by grace you have been saved" - listen to this - "not by works" (Ephesians 2:8-9). It couldn't be any clearer. Our only hope is that Jesus paid for the sin that we could only pay for with an eternity in hell. So when you put your total trust in Him and welcome Him into your life, every sin is forgiven and God records your birth into His family. Actually, God doesn't have birth certificates - He has what the Bible calls the "book of life." And your name is entered in it the moment you come to Jesus. Revelation 20:15 says that on Judgment Day, "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." My prayer is that if you have not begun your personal relationship with Jesus, that you'll do it today, so your name can be entered in God's Book of Life in indelible ink. He doesn't intend for anybody; He never wanted anybody to suffer that judgment. That's why He sent His Son to take the judgment for us on the cross. This is your day to reach out and take what He died to give you. Tell Him you want what He died on the cross for - to forgive your sin, to change your life, to take you to heaven with Him. If you don't know there's been a time when you gave yourself to Him, there probably hasn't been. Let me encourage you as an action step to go to our website ANewStory.com. And there you're going to find the information that will help you know for sure that you belong to Him. You need to know that you've been born spiritually. And you can today. God is waiting right now for you to reach out to Jesus, so He can enter your name in His Book of Life.

Today, we discuss the topic of kingdom in traditional dispensationalism. Learn more about DBTS at https://dbts.edu

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. We're talking with Andrew Hopper, Lead Pastor of Mercy Hill Church in North Carolina. Planted in 2012 with just 30 people, Mercy Hill has grown into a multi-campus, fast-growing church known for its gospel clarity and sending culture. In this conversation, Andrew shares why adoption and foster care have become central expressions of Mercy Hill's mission—and how those practices flow directly out of the gospel. He also unpacks the heart behind his book, Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His. Is your church unsure how to engage big social needs without drifting from the gospel? Are you looking for a way to mobilize people beyond church walls while keeping discipleship front and center? Andrew offers a clear framework for doing both. Doing good as a sign of the kingdom. // Andrew addresses a common tension churches feel between community engagement and disciple-making. Mercy Hill refuses to treat these as competing priorities. Acts of service—whether foster care, adoption, or family restoration—are not the kingdom itself but signposts pointing to it. Meeting tangible needs creates openings for gospel conversations. These ministries don't replace evangelism; they amplify it by demonstrating the heart of God in visible ways. A church’s collective heartbeat. // Mercy Hill's deep involvement in adoption, foster care, and family restoration didn't start as a top-down strategy but emerged organically from the gifts and passions within the church. Many leaders and members have adopted children themselves, shaping the church's collective heartbeat. Rather than attempting to address every social issue, Mercy Hill chose to focus deeply on a few—believing churches are most effective when they lean into the specific good works God has prepared for them. This focus has mobilized hundreds of families and created a powerful witness in their community. Rope-holding and shared responsibility. // Not everyone is called to adopt or foster, but everyone can hold the rope. Drawing from the William Carey analogy, Mercy Hill equips members to support families on the front lines through prayer, childcare, meals, financial help, and presence. Over time, they've learned that rope-holding works best when built on existing relationships rather than formal assignments. The goal is to ensure no family fights alone in what Andrew describes as intense spiritual warfare. Big vision with baby steps. // Mercy Hill isn't afraid to cast a bold vision—whether for global missions, adoption, or church planting—but they pair that vision with accessible next steps. Prayer nights, giving opportunities, short-term service, and relational support allow people to grow into greater obedience over time. High challenge without guilt creates healthy discipleship. Why Andrew wrote Chosen. // Andrew wrote Chosen: Building Your Family the Way God Builds His not to promote a program, but to give churches a theological foundation for engaging adoption and foster care. The book weaves together Andrew's family story, Mercy Hill's journey, and a deeply gospel-centered motivation rooted in Scripture. Designed to be used individually or in groups, Chosen includes discussion questions and practical guidance for churches or small groups wanting to explore this calling in community. Andrew's prayer is that the book would catalyze thousands of Christian families to participate meaningfully in caring for vulnerable children and families. Gospel-driven motivation. // Underneath everything is Andrew's conviction that gospel motivation outlasts guilt. Behavior rooted in grace goes further than behavior driven by pressure. Adopted people adopt people. Chosen people choose people. That theological clarity fuels Mercy Hill's sending culture, their community impact, and their ongoing growth. To explore Andrew's resources on adoption, foster care, and grab his book, Chosen, visit andrewphopper.com/chosen or follow him on Instagram @andrewphopper. You can learn more about Mercy Hill Church at mercyhillchurch.com. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Portable Church Your church is doing really well right now, and your leadership team is looking for solutions to keep momentum going! It could be time to start a new location. Maybe you have hesitated in the past few years, but you know it's time to step out in faith again and launch that next location. Portable Church has assembled a bundle of resources to help you leverage your growing momentum into a new location by sending a part of your congregation back to their neighborhood on Mission. This bundle of resources will give you a step-by-step plan to launch that new or next location, and a 5 minute readiness tool that will help you know your church is ready to do it! Click here to watch the free webinar “Launch a New Location in 150 Days or Less” and grab the bundle of resources for your church! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. We have got a multi-time guest on, and you know what that means. That means that I really respect, deeply admire, and want you to listen up, and today is no exception. Excited to have Andrew Hopper with us. He is the lead pastor of a church that they should be following, that you should be following. He’s a lead pastor of Mercy Hill Church with five locations, if I’m counting correctly, in North Carolina, and is repeatedly one of the fastest growing churches in the country. I love this church on many levels. They’re centered on the gospel and have a radical commitment to sending people to the nations. They have a desire to make disciples and multiply churches. Andrew, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Andrew Hopper — Man, I’m so pumped to be here. Love the podcast. Really appreciate it, man.Rich Birch — Yeah, I’m honored that you would come back. For folks that that don’t know Mercy Hill, give me a bit of a kind of an update. Tell us a little bit about the church.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — Maybe update us from last time you were on.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man. So just real quick, planted in 2012. We had 30 people, all you know kind of young professional age, and man, just really believe that God could do something incredible ah through, you know just through our our open hands, and he did.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s been 13 years. It’s crazy. We’ve been sort of pushing the same boulder up the same mountain for 13 years, just flywheel kind of concept and keep pushing. And ah the Lord has done an incredible thing, like you said, five campuses. And man, just moved into a new home and hub. That was from last time we had a chance. That’s been really great. Andrew Hopper — We were in a rented location for a long time as our main like broadcast campus. We’re a video-based multi-site. And so um it’s ah it was a three or four-year journey to raise the money and build this new facility. But we’re in, and the Lord has really blessed that with tons of new people, highest baptisms, sent ones, first time guest numbers, all everything that we’ve done. This has been a, you know, we’ve gone been on a ride – praise God for that. It’s it’s, um, it’s for his sake and his renown, but this year has been unlike the others. So it’s been…Rich Birch — Yeah, you were saying beforehand, it’s like 30 or something like 30 some percent year over year growth. That’s insane to keep up with.Andrew Hopper — It is man. And the, and the giving does not, uh, you know, the giving doesn’t happen.Rich Birch — Reflect that yet.Andrew Hopper — So it’s, it’s like, we’re trying to do ministry on a budget of a church that’s 3000, but a church that’s running 4,500. And it’s like, how do you do that effectively without killing everybody?Rich Birch — Nice.Andrew Hopper — All your staff, I mean, so, but we’re, we’re learning, man, we’re figuring it out. It’s fun. We got, we just planted our sixth church. So that’s apart from the campuses. This is first time, Rich, we’ve planted a church in our own city.Rich Birch — Oh, nice. That’s cool.Andrew Hopper — It’s been really, a really cool dynamic and it’s been fun. He’s doing great. Man, it was a college student that we met when he was 19 years old at North Carolina AT&T 10 years later. He’s an elder here. He’s done a lot of different things. And man, he goes and plants a new church in Greensboro about five minutes from one of our campuses and they’re doing great.Rich Birch — Wow. Yeah, that’s so good. Well, the thing, there’s lots I love about Mercy Hill, but one of the things that I’ve loved about your church from the you know the chance we’ve had to journey a little bit over the years about it is you just have real clarity around the mission, this idea of making disciples, multiplying churches. It’s like that has been rock solid from the beginning. When you think about we want churches to have discipleship at its core, this idea of a church that actually grows people up in their relationship with Christ. What matters most at the foundation? How are you keeping that so foundational to you know what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think um I think that we always sort of bought into kind of what we see in Acts 2 as a little bit of a flywheel. We call it gather, group, give, go. A lot of churches have something like that.Andrew Hopper — The the difference, I think, at Mercy Hill a little bit than what I see ah in in in a lot of churches that we help mentor and coach is that 2020 hit and everybody was like, man, what is a church? What is discipleship? What are we going to do now? And and people were kind of… And I do think it was and it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t just me. I mean, our, you know, our executive pastor Bobby, he was really integral in this. We sort of really doubled down on no, I kind of think the church is going to come back. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And I kind of think what we were doing is sort of what our church is set up to do. It kind of a brand thing. We are sort of a big box sending brand. And that, you know, for us, when we look at Acts 2, we’re like, dude, the gathering, there’s no more there’s no more important hour for discipleship and evangelism. And I know there’s a lot of things written against that. And people are kind of almost like downplaying it. Andrew Hopper — We’re just like, man, we just don’t believe it. We believe people need to be in a group. You know, we they need generosity is lead step in discipleship, give. And we got to teach people that there’s a mission bigger than themselves. And if we do that, it’s going to funnel more people into the gathering. Andrew Hopper — So I think fundamentally what I would say, we need to get, you know, we could talk about our value, you know we can talk about values to gospel and [inaudible] identity, but I think landing on you know, it’s very hard now to, to not get a word salad book form or thing. When you ask somebody, how are you making disciples? It can just be like…Rich Birch — Right. Very vacuous. Who knows what that means? Yeah.Andrew Hopper — For us, it’s just been a very clear, simple process.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Like, man, we believe if someone is in the gathering, if they’re in relationship, if they’re being pushed on generosity, and if they’re living for a mission bigger than themselves, that’s a current of maturity that will move them. They just get in the stream, they’ll move.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It’s so good.Andrew Hopper — that’s kind of So you know for us, I think that’s as, you know we’ve we’ve tried to simplify things there.Rich Birch — Yeah. And, and your last episode, I’ve pointed a ton of people to it, uh, to really, and we really unpack a lot of what you talked about there in more detail.Andrew Hopper — Right. Yeah.Rich Birch — You’re going to want to go back and, uh, and listen to that. You’ve reached as a church, you’ve reached a lot of people who don’t grow up in church that it’s like, there’s a lot of people who are there. You know, we used to say we ain’t your mama’s church, but mama didn’t go to church, you know? So, you know, and it’s been a long time that people were there. What challenges have you seen, you know, helping move people from curiosity into real ongoing discipleship? So like, I think there are, we’re seeing a swell of attendance across the country. People are like, oh, I’m kind of interested in this, but we got to move them from just, oh, this is something interesting to like, oh, I’m actually want to grow my relationship with Jesus.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I mean, and it’s it’s funny too, Rich, you probably have a better bird’s eye view of this than I do. But I feel like churches that have been faithfully growing for like the last 10 years, they’re not really doing a lot different now. Or even though there’s this big swell happening, what I do think is that some churches have sort of decided like, oh, clarity does matter.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah, that’s true.Andrew Hopper — And don’t try to be friends with the culture. We’re going to speak in and be prophetic. And, you know, even even to the you know Proverbs 25:26 says, you know, there’s there there’s no there’s no benefit in a muddied spring. You know, it’s like you got to be sort of you got to figure out if we’re going to be clear.Andrew Hopper — So, I you know, for me, I think like and you’re right, we do reach most of the people that we reach that are in the camp that you’re talking about our college age. We reach a lot of people, though, ah that are, you know, they’re they’re coming back to the faith because they’re a southerner.Rich Birch — Sure.Andrew Hopper — You know, they they kind of they kind of were, you know, they they did have some church in their background. They’re coming back. Their kids are not only born, but they’re realizing they’re sinners and they don’t have answers. They’re trying to figure that out.Rich Birch — Right. Right.Andrew Hopper — They’re coming back to church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, I think the biggest thing that moves people from like interest into a decision point is just being very clear on this is what the gospel is. This is the life it compels you to. Are you going to be in or out?Andrew Hopper — One of the things we say at Mercy Hill a lot is like, man, if you’re if you’re just intrigued, you know, if you’re interested, you’re not going to stay at Mercy Hill because we’re never going to let you, you’re going to get pushed every week. And it’s like, man, people are not really in or like that. I’m not going to do that. You know, they’re just like, no I’m not going to sit here and get like pushed every single week on something I don’t really… And the flip side is when people say, all right, you know what? Stake in the ground. I’m in.Rich Birch — Yeah, we’re doing this, yep.Andrew Hopper — I wanna look like this, I want to build my life on this. It’s like, well, now, you know, it’s it’s man, I’m hopefully, you know, putting tools in the belt every single week to live that life.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, it’s good. I do think there was a time where people wandered into our churches where I don’t think that happens as much anymore. I think people, when they arrive, they come with questions, with live active questions that they’re trying to wrestle with, kind of regardless of where they’re they’re at in their journey.Andrew Hopper — Yeah.Rich Birch — And they’re what you to your point around, you know, there’s no benefit in a muddy stream. People aren’t looking for anything that sounds like, well, what do you think? Because the reason why they’re there is because they’re asking questions. And so, you know, they’re they’re looking for clarity, like I think you’re saying. Rich Birch — Well one of the things I love about your church is there’s a high commitment to, you’re you’re you’re tearing down what I think is a false dichotomy. Sometimes I think when churches come to this idea of outreach or making a difference in their community, there’s this there can be this gap or false dichotomy between doing good in our communities and making disciples. Like we gave that up at some point. We were like, you can’t, you know, we can’t do both of those things for some reason. Why, why did we do that? Why did we, as churches say, we can’t both make a difference in our communities and also make disciples?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, I think it’s, I actually have a lot of sympathy for the fundamentalist leaning. I know it sounds a little bit weird. Rich Birch — No, that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Churches that led from the, you know, from the good do good in your city kind of thing. I don’t think they’re right, but I do have sympathy for that because I understand how quickly that sort of, you know, is so hijacked by liberal, by theological liberalism to where it’s finally man we’re digging wells and wherever but we’re not talking about who the true source of living water is. Like we don’t want to be offensive we just want to do good without speaking the whole you know you know live your life as a Christian only use words if necessary, whatever, you know. And and I so I understand why people kind of fled and have fled that.Andrew Hopper — Like, you know, I’ve even had our church before when I when I talk about adoption or we we have a ministry, and a ministry called No More Spectators. We’re like moving people towards community ministry. And we had people kind of going on like, oh, my gosh, this seems like a sign of like churches start going this way and then they lose the gospel.Andrew Hopper — And I’m like, well, the reason you’re kind of feeling like that is because a lot of churches have done that. You know, you’re not [inaudible] like that just out of nowhere. Now, of course, I think it’s a little bit immature and we’ve got to push through. The way we talk about it, Rich, is, man, we want to do good in our community as signs of the kingdom coming.Andrew Hopper — They are not building the kingdom. You know, if we go repaint a house or house a homeless person, one day that person would parted with that house, whether they, you know, get messed up and leave or whether they do great and then would die one day, you know.Andrew Hopper — Or, if we have, ah you know, if we go and, and you know, we’re going to, for example, we have ah ah a family in our church that they need a ramp built because, man, the the brother is struggling with MS and he’s, they’re they’re fighting it like Christians do. We’re going to go do that. You know, we’re going to go build that ramp. That ramp’s going to rot and die one, you know, rot and rot away one day. And, you know, whether it’s 100 years from now or whatever.Andrew Hopper — Like it’s not literally the kingdom. But when the outside world sees us engage and, you know, our church will talk about this primarily when we think about community ministry, we think about it in terms of adoption, foster care and families count, which I can talk to you about. I think it’s bringing a sign of the kingdom that is to the community around us to say, hey, this is not the gospel. But it sure points to the gospel. Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — You know, it’s a pretty good signpost of like, yeah, there’s a kingdom coming where kids aren’t separated from their parents, you know. And and so that’s kind of the way that we think about, it’s not, you know, it’s not the kingdom. It’s a sign of the kingdom that is coming.Rich Birch — Yeah, let’s let’s dive in. So adoptions, foster care, families count. These are not small issues. Like you started with like putting a ramp on, painting somebody – those are like, okay, I can organize my head around that. And then we jump to what I think are obviously significant. How, it can be easy, I think, for church leaders it can be easy where, you know, we got a lot of fish to fry in our own backyard. When you see big problems like that, help us unpack that. Why do you as a lead pastor, why are you passionate about these issues? Why are these the things that you’ve chosen?Andrew Hopper — I think it’s, man, I think it’s great. I mean if you can’t if you don’t mind I’ll go back and give you a little bit of context. I’m a context [inaudible]… Rich Birch — Yeah, absolutely. Let’s do it. Yeah. Andrew Hopper — …number one so I always want to frame it in where we’ve been. But the short answer to the question is I think that every church because it is made up of individual believers that have individual gift matrix, you know they’re they’re gifted the church is gifted in a unique way because the people which are the church are gifted in a unique way, right? Andrew Hopper — And so to me, you know, slapping, you know, a top down every single church has to to manifest signs of the kingdom in X way, which, for for example, I’m not to pick on it, but like, you know, the whole diversity church kind of movement. I love you know, if that’s your brand, that’s awesome. That’s great. Go, go bring signs of the kingdom in that area. But you know what people do is they take their thing and then slap it on every single church. You know, this is the sign of the kingdom that you have to manifest.Andrew Hopper — I don’t think that. It takes every kind of church to reach a city because there’s all you know, there’s every kind of people in the city. Right? For us, though, and I think for a lot of churches that that maybe are are made up a little bit like we are, I think there is a lot of meat on the bone for adoption, foster care, families count ministry. And I think churches could be greatly helped by latching on to maybe, you know, something in particular, maybe this, maybe this specifically. How we got there, Rich, was we had we had, you know, huge movement in our church in 2019. I was very convicted.Andrew Hopper — Some of the exponential stuff was coming out, you know, mobilizing people outside the walls of the church. And I really was, man, I was just really affected by that. And I don’t want the dichotomy, you know, I don’t want, well, you your people serve in the church and not outside the church. It’s like, no, most people serve outside the church. If you watch them, they are serving inside the church as well. It’s it’s like a it’s like, man, you know, just just because serving inside the church is not the finish line, don’t demonize it because it is a starting place.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — So it’s like, I don’t like that kind of whole thing. But but it did affect me to say, OK, what are we doing to push to the outside? So we we we did a thing. You would have loved this, man. But it except for the fact that it didn’t really work that good. OK, it was awesome.Andrew Hopper — It was, we still have the domain name – nomorespectators.com – I had the tagline: Jesus didn’t die to create spectators. He died to create servants, not spectators, workers, not watchers. We, man, you could go to nomorespectators.com and, you know, it was like, it was like a funnel for all of these community ministry opportunities in our city. So it was, you know, people from the housing, you know, authority type stuff would post things. And it was, it was all this kind of, it had a bunch of stuff in it. Andrew Hopper — In the end of the day, great idea. It was a little too complex. Our people latched on to the foster care, pregnancy network, you know, ended up being families count, Guardian ad Litem and adoption. So our guy that was over all that at the time our sending director, which is hard for me to have a good idea that ends up dying hard, okay that’s just tough for me.Rich Birch — You had a great sticky statement and everything. Come on.Andrew Hopper — I’m the king of sunken cost bias. Okay. Like, I’m like, dude. And so finally around 2020, he came to me and he said, bro, I know this is hard for you. Cause it was like a two year initiative. He’s like, this is hard. He said, No More Spectators needs to just turn into Chosen. And it needs to be like, you had this idea for 30 different things. It just, this needs to be our niche, man. You know, we we don’t do a lot of these other things, but we do this really well.Andrew Hopper — And it was hard for me. Ultimately, it was great wisdom by them, not me. And we started going down that road. And partly, I think it’s because, Rich, is heart is near to my heart. I have an adopted daughter. A lot of our staff have adopted kids. We just have a guy right now. Our associate director of first impressions at the Rich campus is in Texas right now, you know, bringing their daughter home.Andrew Hopper — I mean, so it’s just, and so it’s sort of started to morph into, and the the the big thing I’ll say, and I, you know, I’ve been talking a lot here, but the big thing I’ll say is, if you think about the way I just ah described all that, it doesn’t start with the need in the community. It starts with the gift matrix of the church. The poor we will always have with us. Like there there is no there’s no scenario until Jesus comes back that there’s no kids that need to be adopted, you know.Rich Birch — Right, right.Andrew Hopper — And it’s just the reality of it. And so there’s always going to be need in the community. It’s more about, okay, what are the Ephesians 2:10 works that your church, because the church is made up of people who are individually called, what are the you know what are those works that God has set out for your church? Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, so for us, we just felt like, dude, this is a a heartbeat thing. Our people got more, they get more fired up. The greatest thing I’ve ever been able to mobilize our people for prayer for is go to the abortion clinic and pray. I mean, a thousand people on their face in the pavement. It’s like, it just strikes a chord with our church and who we are. So we wanna run after that.Rich Birch — Yeah. Well, I love that. And we’re going to dig out a bunch of this, but let’s think about it first from a perspective of somebody who’s maybe attended your church. They just started. They’re they’re relatively new, you know. The idea of something as weighty as adoption or foster care, that’s a big ask. And you know when you yeah how do I experience that as someone who’s just new? What are some ways that I could get plugged in? What does that look like? That, that, cause I, I’m hard, it’s hard to imagine that I go from zero to, to, you know, adoption, you know, how do I end up or flying to Texas to, you know, pick up a kid. That’s a lot. Help me understand. How are you, cause I know you guys are so good at moving people along from kind of where they are to where you’re hoping to – what’s that look like? What’s the kind of, how do you bring people along in this?Andrew Hopper — Man, totally. I think you’re right. I think it’s a combination of big vision on one end and then baby steps on the other. But the big vision matters.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Like we don’t want to be scared of the big vision. So, you know, for example, our weekender process, which I know you talked about some, you know, that weekender process, you know, people literally for years, we would give them a passport application in the weekender process. Because we’re like you’re at this church you’re probably going to be overseas at some point on a mission trip. And so to me it’s like people are like dude that probably scares the crap out of people. And it’s like well, I mean we want to make sure they know what they’re getting into, you know. We’re not telling them they got to do that tomorrow… Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — …but that is the, and then and then there’s all these baby steps, right? Like hey come to you know, every February we do Sent weekend. Come to the prayer night. Like that’s a baby step. That’s not you getting on a plane to go to Nepal. But you know hey we’re doing this missions offering at the end of the year, like maybe get you know. So there’s all these I would say that our the way we think about Chosen ministry, which again: adoption, foster care, families count, and rope holding, which is a big part of this discussion… Rich Birch — Okay. Andrew Hopper —…is that way. It’s big vision on the front end so we’re never going to tell somebody, hey you know, I know you could never do this. Like I’ll never…I think people can do it and they should. Or or you know more Christians than are should. At the same time we’re also not guilting anybody. Like so I’m I you know the the first thing I’ll tell people is like, hey, you know we start talking about adoption. I always say always say, hey, we have not lined up a bunch of little kids in the lobby for you to take one home today, okay. And then I’ll tell them, that’s next week.Rich Birch — That’s great.Andrew Hopper — Okay, so yeah but and we we try hard to like put some levity in it. Man, we’re not everybody’s not going to do that. In fact, a minority, of a small minority is going to do it. But everyone can be involved and there are baby steps.Andrew Hopper — So we try to highlight giving, man. Like if you someone adopts from Mercy Hill, we pay 25% of their adoption. Okay.Rich Birch — Wow. Yep.Andrew Hopper — If they’re a member and they’re in a community group, they get 25%. All right, well, you know, we’re going to connect that. Like, man, you you are never going to adopt. You feel like that’s, but it’s like, well, I give $100 a month to the church. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — Well, hey, what? You know, you’re you are you are supporting.Rich Birch — We’re making a difference.Andrew Hopper — We do parents night out, you know, for all of our foster and adoptive parents. We do it quarterly. It’s like, hey, those are opportunities to come and serve, man. You can serve the meal you can do. We do rope holding, which I know we’ll probably talk about. But but the the idea of rope holding is just like, man, I’m not going to do this, but I can be in the corner for somebody. They’re in my community group. I want to be their first call if they need a babysitter or they need, you know, a gift card, or whatever they need.Andrew Hopper — So I think, man, we try to do big vision. You know, we’re going we’re going to set a huge vision, you know, for 2030 for 2030. Actually, we just hit our vision for 2025, which is 200 adoptive or foster families. There’s a lot of ways people can be involved with it.Rich Birch — So good. There’s, I think thing I would encourage friends who are listening in, you really should be following Mercy Hill, Andrew, because I do think you’re a very unique communicator where you, and you just described it. And I think to you, it’s just like, that’s just what you do. But this idea of like, you’re calling people to a high bar, but you’re not leveraging shame, guilt. you know, it’s, and I think so many times our language can kind of lean in that direction. Or we can, if we really are trying to push people towards something, or we can just undersell the vision. You know We can be like, oh, it’s not that it’s not that big of a deal. You know It’s not for everybody. So I would encourage people to listen in.Rich Birch — Talk to me about rope holding. How is that, what’s that look like? Unpack what that looks like a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah, so rope so the the the rope-holding analogy, which a lot of your listeners probably gonna already know this, but you know William Carey, Andrew Fuller, William Carey, father of modern missions, he’s he he he makes the statement, “I’ll dangle at the end of the rope in the pit, if you’ll hold the rope,” talking to Fuller. And Fuller held the rope for him. Like, you know, Carey the mission field, Fuller’s raising money, preaching sermons, organizing mission boards. So that’s kind of the picture. Right.Andrew Hopper — So we say, all right, not everybody is going to go down into the pit of foster care adoption, even even families count. I mean, these are these are massive spiritual warfare battlegrounds you know um which is one of the reasons why our church wants to be involved so much. I mean you if you want to talk about getting to the you can do all the rhetoric in the world, brother, you want to get to the very bottom of societal issues, you you be involved in somebody’s story that’s trying that’s trying to get their kids back from the foster care system. You’re trying to help them with that. I mean, every you could fatherlessness, poverty, drug abuse. I mean, everything you can think, you know.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So this this is just spiritual war. So what we tell people is like, hey, man. If we got people that are mobilizing for for adoption and foster care, we better have people in their corne,r because the enemy is going to bring his war machine.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And we see it all the time. I mean, you’re going to see, you know, a family steps in to adopt and you’re going to start seeing them, you know, there can be sickness. They can have marital problems. They can have financial things that come up. They can begin to believe lies, frustrations. I mean, There’s just so they can become, you know, their their heart can start getting hard toward the system. I mean, there’s so many things that come at them. And so what we say is we need people in their corner, right. Andrew Hopper — Now, it’s funny because like the way our church has operated was at first we said, all right, we’re going to we’re going to do, you know, the the community group is going hold the rope for the people. And and that that was fine. The problem is when we really kicked off this ministry, so many people got involved that it became overwhelming to the group. So we said we got to start this… Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — …rope holding ministry. The rope holder ministry is good. It’s like, what does a rope holder do? They kind of do whatever the person needs them to do. Rich Birch — Right. Andrew Hopper — So there are examples of the rope holding ministry going really well, where it’s like, hey, man, they’re they’re helping with ah child care with the other kids when they’re going to foster care appointments in court. And or, hey, we’re we’re helping you do some things around the house whenever you’re overseas doing your adoption, which is going to put you three weeks in country. You know, there are some good examples like that. Andrew Hopper — But the other thing that we’ve learned is, you know, foster care and adoption families that are that are walking through this, they’re going through a very trying time. And to just pair them with somebody they don’t know and say, hey, look, here’s your supporter, it can be a little bit like, oh, that’s awesome, and then they never reach out to them.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — They never reach out – the rope holder’s ready.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — But it’s just like, dude, I don’t I don’t know you. And this is a hard time.Rich Birch — Who are you? Yeah, yeah.Andrew Hopper — And so what we’re trying to figure out now as we reboot that rope holder idea is, you know, how how do you kind of integrate relationships they’ve already had? Almost like, hey, do you have this massive pool of people called rope holders? Or when an adoptive family comes up, you say to them, hey, who can we shoulder tap, rope holder for you.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — And then we’ll train them.Rich Birch — Oh, that’s cool. Yeah.Andrew Hopper — But not have this pool, but say for you, we’ll put them in. So that’s kind of what we’re, so as part of our reboot for 2030, you know, that’s sort of what’s in our mind right now.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool.Andrew Hopper — We have a whole playbook for the way we’ve done it, which anybody, you know, if anybody wants any of those things, they can go to AndrewPHopper.com/chosen. And I can send you any of that stuff we have, but on the rope holder side, you know, just full transparency, we’re still, you know, kind of, of you know, and I’m sure it’ll always be that way that we make an improvement.Rich Birch — Yeah, always trying to make it better. Yeah. And I want to, yeah, at some point in this journey, you decided, hey, we’ve got to put this vision and framework into writing, like we and you actually ended up writing a book, and friends who are listening in, I want to encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. Listen, we’re almost half an hour in. I know you’re interested in this. This is the kind of thing you, Andrew’s a trusted leader. He’s, I’ve had a chance to take a peek at the book. This will be super helpful for you. But, but that’s a lot of effort to put this together into a book. What pushed you from just leading this ministry to ultimately saying, hey, I want to capture this into a resource that could help other people?Andrew Hopper — Well, you know, Rich, I never really saw myself as like a writer, just like a practitioner, man. Let’s just keep keep working on the thing and going.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And truthfully, I got approached. Hey, would you have any interest in writing? You know, New Growth Press is the one that’s editing this book and putting it out. And it was funny, though, because the second I was asked, I was like, man, I know what we should do [inaudible] that should be what we should do. It’s it’s our it’s it’s my story’s family story with our special needs child that we’ve adopted. It’s our church’s journey. But more important than either of those two things, it’s a grounding in the gospel-centered motivation. Because I think that is what is so important. We don’t do guilt motivation. And you know, cute kids and sad, cute kids and and sad stories are good reasons, but they you need a great reason, because it’s hard. Rich Birch — That’s good. Yep.Andrew Hopper — You know, and the great reason is of course, adopted people adopt people. And so we delve way into the helplessness of our spiritual condition, how God adopted us and then how, you know, that provides a deep motivation for us to go and do the same for others.Rich Birch — Can you unpack that a little bit more? Because I think this is, ah to me, a core part of the book that I think is really helpful. Even if you’re maybe listening in, you’re thinking, okay, I’m not sure adoption or foster care is necessarily the thing, but you unpack this idea of gospel rather than guilt. And can you talk us through, you know, how, yeah, just talk us through that part, that concept a bit more. Just double click on that a little bit.Andrew Hopper — Yeah. So, you know, when we think about behaviors that flow from the Christian life, there’s really only two ways to think about it, right? Like one of them is we try to do things in order that God would approve of us, you know, that he would, you know, he would, ah he would, he would let us in his family, you know, those those types of things. And we, you know, this is for a lot of Baptistic world, which I am, this was kind of like, wow, this is really revolutionary, but that was 20 years ago – Keller and all that. You know, we just started understanding what more of a gospel center motivation. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to think about Christian behaviors is you are part of the family because of what Christ has done for you. And the family has a culture. The family works a certain way. There’s fruit that will pop out in your life, not so that you can gain entrance into the vine. That’s not how it works. Like, ah you know, you don’t you don’t produce fruit to get in the vine. You produce fruit because you’re in the vine. Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, when we think about like like Titus 2, for example, we think about how the grace of God appears to all men, teaching us not just salvation, but teaching us to obey his commands. So there’s something about salvation that and is inherent to the gospel-centered motivation of of of going out, living the Christian life. You know, it’s it’s kind of the John Bunyan idea when they said, man, if you, you know, if you keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever they want to do. And he said, no, if I keep preaching this gospel message, people are going to do whatever God wants them to do. Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — You know, and so I think what we’ve done in this book is just say, hey, that that is true universally in our Christian life. Like if I’m not tithing and I’m stingy, I can do motivation in two ways. Number one, how dare you, you piece of trash that you never, you know why would you never give? Look what God, you know, blah blah blah, blah, blah, guilt, guilt, shame, shame. Right. Andrew Hopper — Of course, the other way to say is like, man, what kind of riches has God given you in the gospel? And what kind of inheritance do you now have as a son of the king? It’s like, all right, that’s powerful, you know, and it will it will take us places that guilt never can. Guilt will work for a while. You can put fire under somebody and it’ll move them. But if you put it in them, they’ll run through a wall, you know. Rich Birch — So true.Andrew Hopper — And so it’s like it’s like, hey, OK, so you could do it with all these different things. We’ve tried to take this book and do that with adoption to say, all right.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — We know James 1:27, we need to care for the fatherless and the orphan. We understand. I mean, dude, there ain’t, when you talk about metaphors, there’s two big ones, marriage and adoption, you know? And so if you want to do adoption well, we can do it from two motivations. One motivation is look how many kids need. That’s all and that’s all true. That moves my heart. You know, look, can you believe this story of this kid? And that’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Of course, you could do guilt, too. Like, how dare you, you know, have this nice, happy family and not go adopt a little poor orphan kid. You know, you could do guilt. All those things will be fine. They’ll put fire under you a little bit. But if you want to put the fire in someone that is going to carry them through the long haul of all this stuff, I think it’s better to start with: All right. There’s kids that need to be chosen. Were you chosen?Andrew Hopper — You know, so like one of the you know, one I’ll give you an example. We know of a family here in the tribe. They’ve got an awesome son that is 20-something years old, kids got Down syndrome, and they adopted him from Ecuador. And his story was one day a carpenter was working on this building and he heard cries coming out of a dump, like a trash heap. This child had just been born and been left you know with his deformities had just been left for the dumpster. Andrew Hopper — And they brought him to the orphanage. And next thing you know, you know about three or four years later, he got adopted by this family that we know. And that family’s father, he said, Eddie’s story is my story. I was pulled from a trash heap by a carpenter. And if you it’s like that is powerful. Rich Birch — Right. Yes.Andrew Hopper — You know, when you start thinking about, man, in my sin, I was one who had no part and parcel in the kingdom of God. I was headlong in rebellion. I had rejected. I was not a son. And God lavished his love upon me, that I would be called his child. And if if that has happened to me spiritually, how could I not want to do that? Or at least help those. you know I’m not saying that’s a call for everybody, but be involved in others that are doing that as well.Andrew Hopper — And so that’s what we say. Adopted people, adopt people, chosen people, choose people. And hey, I didn’t answer your last question. Rich Birch — That’s fine.Andrew Hopper — Okay. Your last question was, why did we write the book? Very simply, I think more people just need to think about what I just said. You know, and I think churches do. And I think that if, you know, a lot of churches have adoption-minded people and a little bit of of fuel in that fire might create some really cool ministry in that church. And this book lays really well for being like, man, make it a small group resource for eight weeks. You know, it’s got questions at the end of each chapter.Andrew Hopper — Like my my prayer is that this book would catalyze tens of thousands of Christian adoptions. Rich Birch — Wow. Andrew Hopper — And that’s why we wrote the book.Rich Birch — Yeah. It’s and I thought the same thing as I was looking through it, that this would be a great resource for a small group, a great resource as a staff training thing. Because again, I think there’s two things happening on two levels. From my perspective, there’s what you’re actually talking about – adoption, but then there’s how you talk about it. And I think even both of those, I think could be interesting as a as a staff team to kind of unpack and think about. How do we ensure that what we’re doing is so gospel-infused. That’s part of why i love you as a communicator. I think you do such a good job on that. It’s just fantastic. So I would strongly encourage people to pick it up.Rich Birch — Help me understand the connection. So Mercy Hill is known for, or at least from my perspective, known as a sending church. You know, the thing, one of the and I’ve told again, I told you this before, you’re the first church leader I’ve ever bumped into that has connected new here guests to number of missionaries sent. This like idea of like this funnel of how do we move people all the way along to that? I think that’s incredible. How does that kind of sending culture and adoption, how does that fit together? How does that help kind of fuel the flywheel of what’s happening at Mercy Hill?Andrew Hopper — Well, you you helped me think about this when you came and did our one day for our for our Breaking Barriers group, you know, for the pastoral trainings that we do. Because in your church growth book, you talk about how, ah you know, community ministry is used as an evangelism tool. I’m not, I’m probably butchering the way you talk about it.Rich Birch — Yep. Yep. Oh, that’s good. Yep. That’s great.Andrew Hopper — That was like a big light bulb for me because because we we definitely do that, but we have not leveraged the communications of that.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — And so, um you know, for us now, what we’re trying to really think about is how does our adoption of foster care ministry and rope holding and families count ministry, how does that create open? We call them open doors, right? Rich Birch — Yep.Andrew Hopper — Like, how does it create open doors, questions in the community, where people come in? And we’ve seen it. You know, so like when we’re talking about the sending culture, that pipeline starts when new people get interested in faith, they get interested in church.Andrew Hopper — And, you know, like, for example, we we had a guy, we just did a historic video. Man, he’s saved, baptized, serving now, ah or, you know, family, young family, prototypical Mercy Hill guy, like, man, just you know blue collar heart, white collar job, just that. I mean, just everything we talk about. Right. He’s our he’s kind of our guy. And the way he got connected was his boss had signed up to be a rope holder. And it just blew his mind. Like, why would a guy take limited time and go help these families? I mean, he of course, he thought it was a good thing. But it really intrigued them. Andrew Hopper — And so we’ve tried to we’re trying to leverage more of the communication side. It’s tricky. You don’t want to be like, hey, look at us you know in the community. At the same time, I’m like, man, this year, you know when we’re going to do a pretty significant upgrade to some of the there our foster care system has, there’s a house that has a backyard and the backyard is where families come to play with kids, play with their kids they’re trying to get back from the foster care.Rich Birch — Right. Yep.Andrew Hopper — And we’ve said like, you know what, man, if these parents are putting in, that needs to be like the best, the best backyard, and you know?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, absolutely. 100%.Andrew Hopper — And so, you know, we’re, we’re going to do a significant investment in some, you know, whatever…Rich Birch — Play structures and yeah. Andrew Hopper — …like a, you know, whatever, like a pergola type thing. They’re going put a shed out there. All going to connect it, pavers, all that stuff is what we want to do. And, you know, we’re, we’re looking at that and I’m going like, yeah, I mean, I get it. Like you don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, but at the same time, that’s not for us. That’s for people that are interested to say like, why would a church do that? You know, like why do they care so much?Andrew Hopper — And it’s because, Hey, sign of the kingdom. We want to build families through adoption. We want to restore families through foster care and families count. This is part of that. So we’ve tried to we’ve tried to use it as a way. And I would really encourage church leaders to think about that. Like, hey, is your community ministry actually an evangelism strategy?Rich Birch — Right. Yeah, that’s good. Love that. And yeah, I would encourage you continue to encourage you to think through those things because I do think that there’s, we’ve seen that there’s huge opportunity for folks who don’t normally attend church. They’re interested the way I’ve said in other contexts is they see it as a good thing. We see it as a God thing. We’re not going to fight them over the semantics of it at the front end. Because like you say it’s it’s the kingdom puncturing through that grabs their attention and you’re like oh what what you know what’s going on there? It’s a first step – how do we encourage those people? Rich Birch — Like on that backyard project, I no doubt if you’re rallying a bunch of guys to go work there, I know that there are guys in your church who have friends who they could invite who don’t attend church who maybe would never walk in your church who’d say, hey, will you come and work for a Saturday for a couple hours and swing a hammer and help us do this thing? Let me explain what this is about.They absolutely would show up, right? 100% they’d show up and and they’ll get intrigued by that. And they’ll be like, oh, what’s going on there? That’s that’s fantastic. Rich Birch — Well, friends, unabashedly, I want you to pick up copies of, not just a copy, copies of this book. So where do we want to send people to pick up copies, that sort of thing?Andrew Hopper — Yeah, man, they can just go to andrewphopper.com/chosen. Rich Birch — Perfect. Yep.Andrew Hopper — The book’s out so they can pick up a copy. I mean, it’s also just like on Amazon or whatever, but that link will take you straight to New Growth Press.Rich Birch — Right.Andrew Hopper — So, yeah, man, would love it. Would love to hear from anybody who’s using it well in a church context um to catalyze Christian adoption.Rich Birch — Love it. Anything else you want to share just as we close and how can people track, go to the website, other places we want to send them as we close up today.Andrew Hopper — Also on Instagram, we have a lot of stuff on Instagram, andrewphopper on Instagram. Yeah, the last thing I would say as a closing thought, Rich, is you know, the Christian adoption boom has sort of happened 20 years ago. People started talking about this a lot more. And now you can feel in some of the podcast world and all that, there’s a bit of a backlash, not not to don’t do it, but also like, hey, no one told us how hard this was going to be. Andrew Hopper — You’re dealing with traumatic situations, kids that have been brought, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s crazy. One thing I try to do in this book is I try to say, Hey, that’s not a good reason to take our ball and go home, you know.Rich Birch — That’s good.Andrew Hopper — Instead we just need to try to shoot as straight as we can. And I do that in this book, man. It is hard. It’s you’re on the front lines of spiritual war. I mean, it’s almost like, dude, the, the, the greatest transfer of faith from one generation to another happens in the home. We love it when adults get saved. I get that. But let’s be honest. Statistically, where does it normally happen? Right. Rich Birch — Yeah. Kids. Andrew Hopper — And so if you got a home that’s broken apart, that Christians are trying to put back together, what did we think Satan was going to do? You know, and so instead of taking our ball and going home, let’s just call it what it is, and then ask the Lord to steel our spine… Rich Birch — That’s good. Andrew Hopper — …and to move forward with the mission. So, yeah, man, I’d love for people to pick it up. And I appreciate the time to talk about it today.Rich Birch — Andrew, thanks so much. Appreciate you. Just want to honor you for the work you do. You’re a great leader. And I love how God’s using you and your church to make a difference. Thanks for being on the show today.Andrew Hopper — Thanks, brother.

Why do we have to go through so much suffering? Pastor JD will be teaching the “why” behind these prophecy updates. You'll learn the most powerful effect that Bible prophecies have: the blessed hope – our only hope. Going through hardships helps us fall out of love with this world and enter the Kingdom of God. God is preparing a place for you, and He's coming soon – that's our hope!

Do you feel pressure to be a “good” person for God? Do you ever feel like you're failing at it? Well, you're in the right place! We think this episode will take a huge weight off your shoulders today – because it's not your job to be “good.” God will live out His goodness through you! Learn more about this topic in today's episode and begin to fully experience the goodness of God flowing through your life.Send us a text! We would love to hear from you! Uncover your God-given gifts, declare His truth over your life, defeat imposter syndrome, and grow the Kingdom of God as you walk confidently in your calling.These workbooks include daily Scripture, guided reflection prompts, & journaling space to help you hear from God and apply His Word in every area of your life.Grab your Workbooks HERE.Or you can DM us "Workbook" on Instagram!  To check out the Wellness Store, go to @Jordan_Vesper and DM the word "Wellness". I'd love to share more about the store with you. Support the showOur new Instagram name is @WithinHerSoulMinistries if you want to connect with us! Check out all our Spiritual Growth Resources at withinhersoul.org Resources for New Christians: - Study Bible to help you understand the Word - Find a Church near you

Letting the Bible Shape our Parenting  In this episode I share two big truths about kids from the Bible that shapes the way we relate to our kids and parent our kids.  Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.   Mark 10:13-16 13 And they were bringing children to Him so that He would touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Allow the children to come to Me; do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.   Free 30 Page eBook to help you Hear and Heed the Bible:  https://www.johnwhittaker.net   Support this ministry: Set up a recurring monthly or a one-time donation at the link below. http://worldfamilymissions.org/john-whittaker/   The Listener's Commentary - In-depth teaching through books of the Bible to help you learn the Bible for yourself:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com   Connect with John: Social Media- connect on facebook and instagram Email - john@johnwhittaker.net If you've been helped by this teaching leave a review and share freely - on Facebook, Instagram, X, via email.  

Don't forget to grab your free scripture journal at ⁠⁠⁠PrayingChristianWomen.com/journal ⁠⁠⁠today! What if the spiritual battles you face aren't meant to be fought with your own strength? What if the obstacles in your life—whether they be fears, anxieties, or spiritual attacks—are actually terrified of the One who stands beside you? In this empowering devotional on Psalm 48, we explore the awe-inspiring imagery of Mount Zion—the city where God makes Himself known as a stronghold. We move beyond the text to uncover the fascinating historical context of the Roman "Helmet of Salvation," discovering how a soldier’s crest was more than decoration; it was a declaration of ownership and intimidating power. We learn that when we stand firm in our identity, the enemy doesn't just see us; he sees the entire Kingdom of God backing us. Join host Jaime Hampton on the Praying Christian Women podcast for a session of deep encouragement and spiritual strengthening. If you’ve felt defeated by the start of the year or overwhelmed by invisible battles, this episode offers a fresh perspective on your victory in Christ. Come ready to "put on" your salvation, stand firm in the City of God, and watch the enemy flee. Discover More: Explore additional episodes of Praying Christian Women, Mindful Christian Prayers, and other Christian podcasts at Lifeaudio.com Check out our new podcast, Christian True-Crime Junkies!, on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts! Connect with Us: Stay updated and engage with our community: On Substack @PrayingChristianWomen On Facebook @PrayingChristianWomen On Instagram @PrayingChristianWomen On YouTube: @PrayingChristianWomen Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Send us a textHappy New Year! I used to think of resolutions to plan my year. I used to make lists of goals. I used to make lists of things that I wanted in the new year. Now I pray to hear what plans God has for me for the year. I have never been more satisfied with my plan. I believe that I am tapping into my purpose or "blueprint" for my life. We need to spend more time with the God that created us so that we can serve our purpose in the Kingdom of God. Take a listen and think about it. Think about your next steps. Never allow your feelings and intellect to override your spiritual authority. We can do it! Happy 2026!IG: theresilientlivingpodcast IG: drterrilynminnifield FB: The Resilient Living Podcast TicToc: Resilience101 Connect with me on my website: TerrilynMinnifield.com

We continue to discover the MORE AND MORE lifestyle of the kingdom of God. Because we have Christ living in us, we can no longer live a normal life. Let's keep on the journey.

Shattered lives and costly obedience grow our ultimate hope in the power of grace. That's the key lesson from the pages of the gospel of Luke this week. As we continue unpacking the Gospel of Luke, let's now turn our attention and focus on Jesus, as herald and incarnation of Heavenly Sacrifice and Compassion. Jesus' story begins with unimaginable humility: leaving heavenly glory for earthly struggle. More than anyone, He embodies sacrifice, compassion, and perseverance—not born merely to live, but to die for others' benefit.Luke's narrative is not just history—it's an invitation. We, too, are “on stage,” living between difficult circumstances and challenging relationships. Stephanie reminds us that faith means pressing on, pressing in to Christ, and pressing up — seeking God's will, letting go of self-sufficiency, and finding our identity as beloved, grace-soaked children. The ultimate lesson is that our brokenness and struggles, when surrendered to Christ, become pathways for God's love and glory.Don't forget to check out the accompanying workbook to enhance your experience of the Gospel of Luke! Go to https://www.gospelspice.com/luke Key Takeaways:Patience and obedience often coexist with disappointment and struggle.Faith isn't about having it all together, but about surrender and trust when life shatters our expectations.God uses ordinary, broken people to fulfill extraordinary purposes.Our deepest security is in relationship with God, not circumstances.Success means being in God's will—today.We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogIdentity in the battle | Ephesianshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/372022/link/Malachi: Messenger to Messiahhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/356130/link/Wisdom from the Book of Proverbshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/324347/link/Come to the Table | The Feasts Jesus celebratedhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/309956/link/Bonjour! Gospel Spice exists to inspire our generation to delight in God. We do this through the podcast, online Bible studies, leadership trainings, and more. We want to serve Christ-followers who seek to live a life spiced with the gospel. We want to love God, because He first loved us. We want to experience the fullness of life with Him—and not be content with stale, boring, leftover faith. Jesus tells us that the most important thing is to love the Lord our God, so we take Him seriously. He adds that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Now, there are many ways to do that, but I have always personally felt deep compassion for victims of human trafficking – it is modern day slavery, and it revolts the heart of God. And so, they are our particular neighbors here at Gospel Spice. We want to play our part in raising awareness and then financially supporting those who fight this great evil.  Now we would love to invite you to join the team in one of three ways:1, pray Gospel Spice forward – pray for our guests, our listeners and participants, and for us too!2, play Gospel Spice forward by telling your friends about us, and by please leaving positive reviews and comments on your podcast listening app;and 3rd, PAY GospelSpice forward. Less than 1% of our listeners are supporting us financially. We need your help! Please pay Gospel Spice forward today. It can be a one-time donation, or a monthly one, for the amount of your choice. Your donation is fully tax-deductible in the US. Plus, once we cover our costs, a significant portion of your donation will be given back to Christian organizations that fight human trafficking, and that we vet thoroughly. So, you can know that every dime you give is used for the Kingdom of God. Every little bit helps. So, be part of the spice of the gospel by becoming a financial partner today!Support us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Gospel  Mark 6:34-44 When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days' wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?  Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.” So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; he also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men. Reflection This is the only miracle found in all four of the Gospels, and I think it's because it is such a beautiful image of what the kingdom of God is really like. God comes into our life in the form of a spirit. Jesus is the model. And when we are filled with this Holy Spirit, we are able to do things beyond our imagining. And the most important thing I think it's saying about the Kingdom of God is it's about abundance, not just a little nourishment, but more nourishment than anyone could imagine. It's the Holy Spirit that is described as that thing that is the blessing that we receive. And having received it our work, our being with one another, becomes abundantly nurturing and life giving. What a great gift God has given us. The model is Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the power. Closing Prayer Father, we look at situations in our life and we see them as almost impossible to handle. And yet you're telling us if we allow the Blessed Spirit to enter into our life, we are able to do so much more than we could ever imagine, because it's not just us doing it. It's your love, your healing, your wisdom flowing through us, enabling us to establish the Kingdom of God. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pastor John Nuzzo announces the release of his first book, The Acceleration Mandate:  God's Blueprint for Generational Impact, and summarizes the content of the book in this month's podcast.  The Acceleration Mandate is available starting January 6 along with a workbook and videos for small group use. The Acceleration Mandate is not a message; it is a mandate and move of the Spirit of God.  God is always dealing with three generations at one time.  God is endeavoring to bring His people to a place where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob do not divide again so that the church can accelerate and the Kingdom of God can expand.  God must turn our hearts toward one another.  The content of the book is an action plan based on Malachi 4:6 – God is going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers or else the land will be destroyed.God is wanting the emerging generation to be accelerated by the previous generation.  The Abrahams can accelerate with their aged wine. The biblical template of this is Aquila and Priscilla's interaction with Apollos, which accelerated the call of God on Apollos's life.  The Acceleration Mandate provides a step-by-step approach to accelerating the next generation in your church and provides a way to avoid pitfalls that others have had to navigate.  The Acceleration Mandate can be found at major book retailers and online stores. You can also find it Here.

In this one Hannah talks about The Kingdom Of God, and how it's here, but also not.

After Adam sinned, work became a burden. But in the Kingdom of God, work will be a complete joy!

To have hope and joy you have to have a vision for the future that you can pursue in the present. As Christians we have an incorruptible hope because we know that the Kingdom of God is breaking into the present. We can have hope during pain and suffering because our hope is a commission to bring the glory of the next world into the brokenness of this one.

In this episode, we are reminded that the power struggles we see in the world are not the way of the Kingdom of God!

Shelly has served the body of Christ as a Pastor for over 35 years. He is a bible teacher and conference speaker on the subjects of The Kingdom of God, The Mystery of Israel & The Church and for God’s people to be prepared in their hearts for the end of this age. https://shellyandjunevolk.com/Support the show: https://shellyandjunevolk.com/product/partner-with-us-psalm-127-fund/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new year doesn't automatically mean a new heart.In this message, we confront the subtle, often unnoticed compromises that slowly drift us away from God. Drawing from the life of King Solomon, we see how wisdom alone isn't enough when obedience is partial and the heart becomes divided.Small compromises don't feel dangerous at first—but what you tolerate today can dominate you tomorrow.This sermon will challenge you to:Stop confusing good intentions with obedienceRecognize the danger of divided devotionTear down the “high places” God never approvedChoose surrender over convenienceGod isn't asking for part of your heart—He's asking for the throne. Authentic Church 2416 N Center St Hickory, NC 28601 (Beside Planet Fitness) GIVING To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: https://authenticchurch.com/give GET CONNECTED Ready to check out Authentic Church in person? We can't wait to meet you in person. Simply fill out the form below and we'll make sure to give you the VIP treatment upon your first visit. https://authenticchurch.com/plan-a-visit ABOUT AUTHENTIC CHURCH Authentic Church exists so that people will have an authentic encounter with God, be set free, and grow in Christ. Our mission is to help each person at Authentic believe in Jesus, belong to family, inspire true worship, walk in God's Spirit, and build the kingdom of God.

Gospel Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.  He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet  might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.  His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them.  And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him. Reflection This entire week is focused on the coming of Jesus, the major transformation that's happening. John the Baptist is setting himself out of the picture, and into the picture comes this incredible figure of Jesus. And it's interesting that he goes to a Gentile town, not to Jerusalem. And there he starts his ministry, which is so impossible to believe that everyone he encountered, he would heal them. And it was just this beautiful image of a great light comes into the world so bright that it destroys pain and suffering and darkness and evil. It was almost too much for people to grasp, and that's exactly what happened. The beginning of his ministry was difficult because people had no idea what the kingdom of God was really about. Closing Prayer When Jesus came to initiate the kingdom of God, he changed everything. And the most important thing for us, and we pray for it always, is that we'll grasp fully what this new light and life really means. It's not just that we become the receiver of healing, but we also become the partner with God in the work of healing. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we'll be studying Mark 1:1-8 under the theme “Good News in the Wilderness.” Mark's Gospel opens with urgent good news: in the wilderness, God sends a messenger to prepare the way for the true King. We'll learn that meeting our humble, powerful Savior typically occurs in the wilderness of life.Series Summary: Fast-paced, urgent, and relentlessly focused on Jesus, the Gospel of Mark shows us not just what Jesus said, but what he did. Written for a Roman world hungry for power, Mark introduces a surprising King - one who comes to serve, to suffer, and to give his life for many. Over the coming weeks, we'll walk this road with Jesus, from the wilderness to the cross, discovering how the Servant-King's actions reveal the true good news - and what it means to follow him as disciples who take up our own cross and trust him with our lives.Add St. Marcus as your church on the Church Center App!Fill out our online connection cardHow can we pray for you? If you'd like to leave an offering or monetary donation to our ministry please click here.

Homily of Fr. Mike O'Connor from Mass January 5, 2026 at Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church in Bay St. Louis, MS. Readings 1 John 3:22–4:6 Mt 4:12-17, 23-25 If you would like to donate to OLG and her livestream ministry, please go to https://olgchurch.net/give

Michael Blue serves as Director of Discipleship and former President of the Ron Blue Institute, and his life reflects a steady journey of learning to trust God with open hands. Raised in a home shaped by biblical financial stewardship, Michael developed strong habits around money early on. Yet it was in his thirties, amid professional success and financial security, that God exposed a deeper restlessness. What appeared stable on the surface revealed an inner hollowness, leading Michael and his family into a season of prayer, surrender, and renewed reflection on what faithful obedience truly means. In his current role, Michael focuses on forming biblical and practical financial wisdom in the next generation, particularly among high school and college students. He has also helped pioneer the 9:23 Fellowship, a discipleship journey that invites believers to take up their cross daily and follow Jesus in every area of life, including how they steward money, grow in community, and trust God's provision. Michael's calling is to help believers align their finances with wholehearted discipleship, viewing stewardship as worship and generosity as freedom rooted in trust. This episode creates space to rethink money, faith, and obedience in ways that feel both convicting and hopeful.   Major Topics Include: Learning to live openhandedly Thinking through savings as a giver Relying on God for provision Engaging younger generations through the Ron Blue Institute Helping the Church recognize and overcome greed and covetousness  Four H's of biblical stewardship for college students The difference between “bread” and “seed” Flourishing together in community Learning to be a good receiver Stretching your faith through steps of generosity QUOTES TO REMEMBER “Giving ought to be joyful and saving ought to be purposeful, but if it's just rote obedience, you can lose the heart behind it.” “God delights in inviting us to participate in His story.” “Stewardship is managing our money for the glory of God.” “Our capacity to meet people in their time of need all comes down to our margin of time and money.” “Whenever we feel like God gives us more, more often than not, it's seed for sowing.” “The most generous people are the least fearful people I know. They're not wracked with anxiety about providing for them in the future.” “We were made to flourish together in community.” “We're all created to be both givers and receivers, so a healthy church is one where I can both give and receive.” “The thing that drives us to a life of continued generosity is hungering after who God is, what he's done in our lives, and how we can grow nearer to HIm.” LINKS FROM THE SHOW Ron Blue Institute (see our interview with founder, Ron Blue) The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns International Justice Mission (IJM) Journey to Generosity (JoG) with Generous Giving (see our interviews with cofounder, Todd Harper and CEO, April Chapman) The Finish Line Community Facebook Group The Finish Line Community LinkedIn Group BIBLE REFERENCES FROM THE SHOW 2 Corinthians 8-9 | The Macedonian Church   Matthew 6:33 | Seek First the Kingdom   But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.   Luke 9:23 | Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! If you have a thought about something you heard, or a story to share, please reach out! You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also contact us directly from our contact page. If you want to engage with the Finish Line Community, check out our groups on Facebookand LinkedIn.

In this conversation, JT and Vitaly delve into the significant topic of usury, exploring its implications on both economics and spirituality. They discuss the biblical perspective on money, the love of money as a root of evil, and the importance of helping the poor as a direct service to Christ. The dialogue highlights the challenges of modern capitalism, the desensitization to suffering, and the higher standards set by Christ regarding generosity and lending. Through their discussion, they emphasize the need for a return to community support and the moral responsibilities of Christians in today's economic landscape. In this conversation, the speakers delve into the concept of usury within Christianity, discussing its implications, historical context, and the divine judgment associated with it. They explore how usury affects society, leading to debt slavery and economic inflation, while emphasizing the importance of generosity and faith. The discussion also touches on the parable of the rich young ruler, illustrating the challenges of wealth in spiritual life, and concludes with a call to seek the kingdom of God over material possessions.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jt-s-mix-tape--6579902/support.Please support our sponsor Modern Roots Life: https://modernrootslife.com/?bg_ref=rVWsBoOfcFJESUS SAID THERE WOULD BE HATERS Shirts: https://jtfollowsjc.com/product-category/mens-shirts/WOMEN'S SHIRTS: https://jtfollowsjc.com/product-category/womens-shirts/JT's Hats: https://jtfollowsjc.com/product-category/hats/

THIS EPISODE   In this episode, we welcome in the new year by replaying a very important Livestream that Rob did in 2024, highlighting the Gospel and the Mission of the Church, specifically by looking at Jesus' Parable of the Sower, and understanding how the Parable provides insights into why the Church is in such peril today.    Connect with Determinetruth on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/determinetruth FOLLOW THE PODCAST Subscribe to be notified of our new episodes (each Monday).  Want to help us expand the Gospel of the Kingdom? Leave a review, “like” the podcast, or share it with others.   CONNECT WITH DETERMINETRUTH MINISTRIES The Determinetruth Podcast is a ministry of Determinetruth Ministries. We offer free resources to equip pastors, leaders, and the body of Christ in the US and worldwide for service in the kingdom of God. You can visit us online at https://www.determinetruth.com   SUPPORT DETERMINETRUTH MINISTRIES Determinetruth is a non-profit 501(c)(3), and relies completely on the financial support of our partners around the world.  Please consider partnering with us and making a tax-deductible donation https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/3648601   Want a FREE CHAPTER from Rob's latest book? Sign up for email updates from Determinetruth.   https://mailchi.mp/5672d33f2b95/dt-podcast Music: “Love is Against the Grain” (Dime Store Prophets)   #BiblePodcast #TheologyPodcast #ChristianPodcast #BibleStudyPodcast #BiblicalTruth #FaithPodcast #politics #ChristianNationalism #suffering #thechurch #paul #timothy #ecclesiology #Fellowship #Mutual encouragement #Service #Corporateworship #Teaching #theWord #Communion #pastors #missions #women #complementarian #egalitarian #authority #colossians 

What does it really mean to seek first the Kingdom of God? In this episode of the Other Six podcast, we explore blessing, image-bearing, repentance, and why Kingdom life can only be lived in community under the reign of Jesus.

We're not just a church. We're a Family.Our Vision is clear, simple, and unique. Our vision is Jesus in you. Our vision is for the people of God to have a faith that holds them. The kind of faith that vanquishes doubt, verifies identity, and voraciously contends for inner peace. A faith that removes the past, clarifies the present, and breathes life into the future. Our vision is the Kingdom of God built within the people of this obscure, yet mighty generation. A kingdom so great that its purpose destroys the common lack of self worth. A kingdom that sharpens the eyes, tenses the muscles, and readies itself for the battle against darkness. A Kingdom that brings purpose and healing to those who have failed more than succeeded, who are sinners more than saints, and who have known more pain than pleasure. Our vision is to challenge the weak and unproductive church of our day. To step beyond those who are religiously immature and search out those who for their love for Christ cannot be offended. Our hope is to raise warriors instead of those who think God only exists to keep bad things from happening. To raise those who know that following Christ means suffering loss yet gaining all things. Our vision is clear, simple, and unique…. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

What did Jesus mean by the Kingdom of God? - Fr. Lucas Laborde. Click here for today's readings.What impresses you the most in the Lord's words? What strikes you in the gestures and the person of Christ? What are the reactions and feelings you notice in the crowd around you? Is there anything the Lord is inspiring you to do, so that his kingdom may grow within you and around you?

Strong and Steady, Pt. 1 | January 4, 2026Pastor Wes Morris Psalm 1:1-3 (ESV) Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.√  GROWTH HAPPENS BEFORE YOU CAN SEE IT.Matthew 6:6 (NIV) When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.Matthew 6:6-13 (MSG) Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.√  DEPTH DETERMINES STABILITY.Matthew 7:24-25 (NIV) Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.√  WHAT YOU'RE ROOTED IN DETERMINES WHAT YOU PRODUCE.Psalm 1:3 (ESV) He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.I Corinthians 15:58 (NIRV) My dear brothers and sisters, remain strong in the faith. Don't let anything move you. Always give yourselves completely to the work of the Lord. Because you belong to the Lord, you know that your work is not worthless.STRONG ROOTSI. CREATE SPACE FOR GOD EVERY DAY.Matthew 6:33 (NLT) Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.II. CHOOSE SPIRITUAL DEPTH OVER DISTRACTIONS.Psalm 119:37 (NLT) Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.Psalm 119:37 (TLB) Turn me away from wanting any other plan than yours. Revive my heart toward you.III. STAY PLANTED IN GOD'S PRESENCE.Psalm 92:12-14 (TLB) But the godly shall flourish like palm trees and grow tall as the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted into the Lord's own garden and are under his personal care. Even in old age they will still produce fruit and be vital and green.

Christ said that if a man put his hand to the plough, and looked back, he was not fit for the kingdom of God. These are strong words, but true ones. This message is on how we must continue to follow God's will, and no looking back.

 In Luke 14:12–24, Jesus turns hospitality upside down. This sermon explores how Christian hospitality is not about entertaining friends or social exchange, but participating in God's radical welcome of those who cannot repay us. Part of the Making Room series, this message invites us to examine who truly feels at home in our lives and churches—and how everyday acts of welcome shape us into the likeness of Christ. 

Practice the Way of Jesus Jesus does not flatter us with comforting abstractions. He speaks with piercing clarity. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice…”—and there He draws the line that divides all humanity. Not between the moral and immoral, the religious and irreligious, the fortunate and the afflicted—but between the practiced and the merely informed. The striking truth of Jesus' words in Matthew 7 is that everything else is the same. The storm does not discriminate. Rain falls on obedience and disobedience alike. Winds beat against every house. The difference is not the weather of life but the weight-bearing obedience beneath it. One hears and does. The other hears and delays. And delay, in the kingdom of God, is already a decision. Throughout Scripture this pattern is relentless. God speaks; people respond—or refuse. Noah builds while the sky is blue and finds salvation when it turns black. Abraham keeps obeying long after obedience feels unreasonable and discovers that God keeps promises beyond biology. Moses lifts a staff, Israel walks, Naaman washes, blind eyes open, empty nets break with abundance. God's power is never detached from trust expressed through action. Equally clear is the sobering witness of those who heard and did nothing. They were invited. They were informed. They were near the truth. Yet they watched storms without experiencing salvation, commands without deliverance, Christ without transformation. It was not ignorance that robbed them—it was unpracticed truth. Jesus never asked for admirers. He commanded apprentices. “Teach them to obey,” He said—not merely to agree. Christianity left at the level of belief alone becomes weightless. It can grow numerically, organize efficiently, and yet remain untouched by the living power of God. But obedience—real, embodied obedience—becomes the narrow gate through which life flows. This is why practicing the way of Jesus feels so often unreasonable. Forgive when wounded. Give when anxious. Pray when exhausted. Speak when silence feels safer. These instructions offend our instincts because God has chosen the foolish-looking things to train our trust. We do not drift into this kind of life. We must aim. Jesus Himself told us it would be harder. Easier roads are always available—but ease is often destructive. What is easiest rarely fuels what is eternal. The narrow way is demanding, but it is alive. As Chesterton observed, Christianity is not tried and found wanting; it is found difficult and left untried. Yet hear the mercy in all this: Jesus never commands without empowering. He died not only to forgive sin, but to place His Spirit within us—to make obedience possible from the inside out. “It is God who works in you to will and to act…” Our responsibility is not self-powered righteousness, but surrendered cooperation. So where is the storm pressing hardest right now? Where do you long to see God's power break through? Do not ask first for relief—ask what obedience looks like there. Search the Scriptures. Seek counsel. Then act. Build there. Practice there. And you will find that the life you most truly crave is not found in hearing more—but in practicing what you already have heard.

Shelly has served the body of Christ as a Pastor for over 35 years. He is a bible teacher and conference speaker on the subjects of The Kingdom of God, The Mystery of Israel & The Church and for God’s people to be prepared in their hearts for the end of this age. https://shellyandjunevolk.com/Support the show: https://shellyandjunevolk.com/product/partner-with-us-psalm-127-fund/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Romans 8:1-11 ESV1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 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. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. • • •1. A mind set on the flesh. • • •Romans 8:5-8 ESV5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 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. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. • • •Galatians 5:19-21 ESV19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. • • •1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. • • •2. A mind set on the Spirit. • • •Romans 8:5-9 ESV5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 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. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. • • •Galatians 5:16-17 ESV16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. • • •Galatians 5:24-25 ESV24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. • • •Application:Since we are living by the Spirit, let us firmly set our mind on following the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.

In Week 1 of our parables series, Jesus opens the Kingdom of God to us through the Parable of the Sower. Parables are not moral lessons about how to be better people. They are stories Jesus tells to reveal what He is like as King and what His Kingdom is like. Here, we see His extravagant generosity as He scatters His Word widely, offering His gifts even where they will be rejected.Jesus also diagnoses what threatens that Word in our lives. The evil one seeks to snatch it away, hardship can scorch it, and the cares and riches of this world can choke it out. Yet the good news is that we do not make ourselves “good soil.” The Holy Spirit cultivates hearts to receive Jesus' Word, and God brings the harvest. As people who are being shaped by the King's generosity, we are also sent to reflect that generosity by sharing His Word with others. Isaiah 55:6–11 1 Corinthians 3:5–9 Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23

The Kingdom of God Series: The Gospel of Luke Scripture: Luke 13:18-21 Date: January 4th, 2026 Preacher: Joshua KirstineThe post The Kingdom of God first appeared on Disciples Church.

The Kingdom of God is the realm in which He rules and reigns. It is permeated with His love, mercy, and goodness. It is charged and energized with the power of His Spirit. It has the capacity to bring true life and a total transformation in the core of who we are! Our born-again experience includes an instant transfer from the Kingdom of this World into the Kingdom of God. Once we enter the Kingdom, we have the resources to re-make ourselves and become like our Father in heaven. This work of transformation is a collaboration between us and the Holy Spirit. Join us as we look at how transformation works!

When you hear the word "seek," what comes to mind? Hide and seek? Explorers? Searching for something you lost? Well, Matthew 6:33 is one of the best-known scriptures in our Bible. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” What does this summation mid-way through the Sermon on the Mount actually mean and how can following its guidance impact our lives?WAYS TO LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE:

Do you want everything God has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ? Then it's time to make the decision to live by faith! In this series, Dr. Jerry Savelle teaches how to receive faith, where to apply it, and how to use it in your everyday life. Gain a deeper revelation of God's glory and understand what He expects from you and me. We pray that you will make the decision to live by faith, seek first the kingdom of God—not things, but God Himself—and yield to His wonderful will, receiving the blessing of God with open arms.

When Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, He was not just showing power over weather. He was confronting chaos itself.

When Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, He was not just showing power over weather. He was confronting chaos itself.

Do you want everything God has provided through His Son, Jesus Christ? Then it's time to make the decision to live by faith! In this series, Dr. Jerry Savelle teaches how to receive faith, where to apply it, and how to use it in your everyday life. Gain a deeper revelation of God's glory and understand what He expects from you and me. We pray that you will make the decision to live by faith, seek first the kingdom of God—not things, but God Himself—and yield to His wonderful will, receiving the blessing of God with open arms.

Bob covers John 3: 1-12, where Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again to see the kingdom of God.Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:The previous episode in this series, i.e. BMS ep. 396, Installment 9: Cleansing the Temple.Help support the Bob Murphy Show.

He's never far,you just think He is.Your dream isn't out of reach,you just think it is.That problem is not unsolvable,you just think so.So what must you do?You don't have to stop thinking.In the moment you hear Silence,you're not thinking.You're Causing.You're Seeing again,that the lessons are Blessings,that everything is Grace.All of It.Affirm: 'My whole life has changed'.Your whole life has changed.Watch.I Love you,Niknikki@curlynikki.comSupport the show:▶▶https://www.patreon.com/goodmornings__________________________________________Today's Quotes:"Blessings look like lessons from far away."-Pharrell Williams"At a distance you can only see My Light, come closer and know that I Am you."-Rumi"That moment didn't cause you to feel GoOD, in that moment you became aware of the Cause and that felt good. "-Nik"When you can't hear God, read God."-@SardineBread via IG "...He speaks, and the sound of His voice, is so sweet, the birds hush their singing, And the melody that He gave to me,within my Heart is ringing.And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own.And the joy we share as we tarry there,none other has ever known." -Yogananda"If you have ever been distant from God, but somehow found yourself praying again, praising again, thinking about him again, it's because god was working behind the scenes to bring you back to Him. He isn't letting you go." -@RefreshedQuotes via IG"Just as thoughts about your home crowd into your mind as you draw nearer to your dwelling place, so also the closer you get to God, the greater grows the joy derived from the ever increasing variety of experiences of the Divine." - Sri Anandamayi Ma"It is high time that we realized that it is pointless to praise the light and preach it if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to preach the art of seeing." -Carl Jung"Maybe if we chased God as hard as we chase people, God would give us people we don't have to chase. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all else will be added!" -@RefreshedQuotes via IG