Podcasts about Kish

With Nathan away Kish steps into the tactical half space to chat about Tottenham's youth and our trip down under. _____________________________________________________________________ You've been listening to The Extra Inch, a Spurs podcast. Become an xSub: https://www.patreon.com/theextrainch Production by Nathan A Clark (X @NathanAClark). Intro music by David Lindmer https://www.instagram.com/davidlindmer Artwork by Trayton Miller. Go get your merch at https://www.theextrainch.co.uk/ Email us at podcast@theextrainch.co.uk X: https://twitter.com/TheExtraInch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheExtraInch/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theextrainch #Spurs #COYS #THFC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

De Verenigde Staten voeren voor de derde nacht op rij aanvallen uit op militaire doelen in de zuidelijke kustgebieden van Iran, met explosies bij Bandar Abbas en het eiland Kish. President Donald Trump laat het Congres weten dat de strijd met Iran officieel is hervat en dreigt met een aanval op een nucleair complex, terwijl hij een tol van 20% wil heffen op schepen door de Straat van Hormuz, wat Europa-breed wordt afgewezen en direct zorgt voor fors hogere olieprijzen. In Oekraïne neemt de oorlog een nieuwe wending nu Europese landen, Canada en Nederland zich aansluiten bij militaire oefeningen voor een toekomstige multinationale troepenmacht. Oekraïne-correspondent Chris Colijn beschrijft hoe Rusland onverwacht ballistische raketten op Kyiv afvuurt, terwijl Oekraïne honderden drones inzet en met Europese steun werkt aan het Freyja-luchtafweersysteem om het gebrek aan Patriot-raketten te compenseren. Thuis groeit ondertussen de druk op consumenten om alerter te zijn op online fraude, nu blijkt dat één op de tien Nederlanders in het afgelopen jaar slachtoffer werd. Fraude-expert Marco Hendriks van ABN Amro waarschuwt dat ook mensen met kleine banktegoeden interessant zijn voor criminelen, die met geavanceerde phishing en het combineren van ogenschijnlijk onschuldige gegevens toeslaan, terwijl banken hun rol als laatste vangnet benadrukken in een voortdurende strijd met steeds slimmere fraudeurs. Deze omschrijving is met AI gemaakt en gecontroleerd door een BNR-redacteur. Over deze podcast BNR Nieuws Vandaag is de podcast met daarin BNR Ochtendnieuws en BNR Avondnieuws. Je krijgt ’s ochtends vroeg en aan het einde van de werkdag in 20 minuten het belangrijkste nieuws van de dag. Abonneer je via bnr.nl/podcast/bnrnieuwsvandaag, de BNR-app, Spotify en Apple Podcasts. Of luister elke dag live via bnr.nl/live.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

De Verenigde Staten voeren voor de derde nacht op rij aanvallen uit op militaire doelen in de zuidelijke kustgebieden van Iran, met explosies bij Bandar Abbas en het eiland Kish. President Donald Trump laat het Congres weten dat de strijd met Iran officieel is hervat en dreigt met een aanval op een nucleair complex, terwijl hij een tol van 20% wil heffen op schepen door de Straat van Hormuz, wat Europa-breed wordt afgewezen en direct zorgt voor fors hogere olieprijzen. In Oekraïne neemt de oorlog een nieuwe wending nu Europese landen, Canada en Nederland zich aansluiten bij militaire oefeningen voor een toekomstige multinationale troepenmacht. Oekraïne-correspondent Chris Colijn beschrijft hoe Rusland onverwacht ballistische raketten op Kyiv afvuurt, terwijl Oekraïne honderden drones inzet en met Europese steun werkt aan het Freyja-luchtafweersysteem om het gebrek aan Patriot-raketten te compenseren. Thuis groeit ondertussen de druk op consumenten om alerter te zijn op online fraude, nu blijkt dat één op de tien Nederlanders in het afgelopen jaar slachtoffer werd. Fraude-expert Marco Hendriks van ABN Amro waarschuwt dat ook mensen met kleine banktegoeden interessant zijn voor criminelen, die met geavanceerde phishing en het combineren van ogenschijnlijk onschuldige gegevens toeslaan, terwijl banken hun rol als laatste vangnet benadrukken in een voortdurende strijd met steeds slimmere fraudeurs. Deze omschrijving is met AI gemaakt en gecontroleerd door een BNR-redacteur. Over deze podcast BNR Nieuws Vandaag is de podcast met daarin BNR Ochtendnieuws en BNR Avondnieuws. Je krijgt ’s ochtends vroeg en aan het einde van de werkdag in 20 minuten het belangrijkste nieuws van de dag. Abonneer je via bnr.nl/podcast/bnrnieuwsvandaag, de BNR-app, Spotify en Apple Podcasts. Of luister elke dag live via bnr.nl/live.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Kish, our preaching intern for 2026, shares with us the importance of reading our Bibles, not just to check a box - but to transform our minds and grow our faith.

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. 2 Samuel 21 Chet Phillips Download TranscriptGood morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will grab a Bible and go to 2 Samuel, chapter 21. We've been working our way through 1 and 2 Samuel and we have reached what commentators call the epilogue of 2 Samuel that the main story has ended.And in the final four chapters, we're going to be in chapter 21. In the final four chapters, we're going to have six pictures that are kind of closing pictures on the kingship of David. And they are not in chronological order. They are in a thematic order. And they're meant to kind of sum up the picture of David for us.The actual story of David's death and Solomon becoming king, that doesn't happen until 1 Kings. You got to work all the way through into 1 Kings for that to kind of to pick up there. So, what this is is almost like the movie's ended, the end credits are rolling, and then it's cutting to different scenes or showing you different pictures of things to try to kind of give you the last picture that it wants you to have of King David. And so, we're going to see two of those pictures today. Now, I heard one pastor put it this way in regards to this text.It's not difficult to understand, but there are aspects of it that are difficult to accept. And so, we're going to go through this text that has some difficulties in it for us. Our hope is to understand why it's here. What was the author trying to tell the people in the original the original hearers? What how would they have understood this?What are we trying to see about David? And then as from our standpoint, what should we do with a text like this? And how do we understand this kind of text? And so hopefully we'll be edified by it, pointed towards Jesus in it. But let's pray and then we'll jump in.Lord, we ask for your mercy. We ask for your grace. and we ask that we would honor you well in the reading and the studying of your word and in submission to it. May your spirit be at work and help us to love Jesus more in Jesus name. Amen.Chapter 21 verse one. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years year after year and David sought the face of the Lord. Okay, so famine in this region is not uncommon, but three years of it is is getting bad. And we're told that David starts asking the Lord. We don't know exactly when he began, but he's seeking the Lord to understand what's going on here. it's starting to seem like one of the covenantal curses, which is in the in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, if they don't follow the law, it says that your your crops won't yield their fruit.You you will find that your trees don't produce. And so he's starting to go and ask the Lord, is something going on? What's happening here? And this is what happened. Says David sought the face of the Lord.And the Lord said, there is blood guilt on Saul and on his house because he put the Gibeonites to death. So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel had sworn to spare them, Saul sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. Now, there are several things we need to consider that are going on right here in this text.One is Saul was the original king. Saul is not king anymore. Saul is dead. But there is guilt on Saul, on Saul's house. This blood guilt on Saul. in Saul's house for something that Saul did and the entire nation is paying for it.There's a famine in the land because of blood guilt. Now, blood guilt is a specific thing in the law that is the shedding of innocent blood. And so, there's blood guilt because Saul led the people to attack the Gibeonites. And it says they weren't the Gibeonites aren't the people of Israel, but the people of Israel had promised to protect them. Now, that going to take a little history lesson.That happens in Joshua chapter 9. So, Joshua is sent in with the people of Israel to take over the land. They're they're marching through. They're supposed to get rid of all the Amorites. Well, the Amorites who live in Gibby find out that they're coming and they think this isn't going to go well.So, they come up with a trick to make it seem like they're from another place. They show up. They meet with the people of Israel and they make a covenant with them. People of Israel shouldn't have made this covenant. They should have consulted the Lord, but they make it.When they find out they've been tricked and that the Gibeonites aren't from a far land, but they're from right here and they're a part of the people group they're supposed to get rid of, the people of Israel are like,"Let's kill them."And Joshua and the elders say,"We can't. We promised that we wouldn't. We co we signed the Lord up in covenant with them that we would not kill them."So we we can't. Then we would make it seem like God is a liar and he is not. And so we have to keep this promise.Well, Saul in his zeal not for the Lord, but for the people of Israel and Judah. So, he's running around going,"Israel, Israel, Judah, Judah, Judah, oi, oi, oi."Stuff like that. He's super zealous for his people. He decides the Gibeonites, who've been here forever, who are a subjugated people, we're just going to kill all of them. And so, this would have been a massacre.These people would not have been, they were surrounded by the people of Israel. They were servants to the people of Israel. they would not have been in a position to defend themselves. And he just starts killing them. That story, this is all we get of that story. There's no place that tells us that anywhere else in the text.And so David says,"Why is there a famine?"And God says,"Saul broke a 400year-old covenant that he was supposed to keep."So there's a couple of things. One is God expects you to keep your promises. We ought to be people who keep our promises. Now, if you want to not make a lot of promises, that's fine. Like, if if today you came over to me and said,"Why haven't you given me $5?You've sinned against me."I might would argue,"No, I haven't. That's not like a thing I have to do. I have not sinned against you."But if I had promised to give you $5 and then didn't give it to you, have I sinned against you? Yes. And have I sinned against the Lord?Yes. So somehow in our agreement, the Lord gets involved. He binds covenants together. Now they specifically had done it in the name of the Lord. But even as we make agreements with one another, we can still sin against God by being the type of people who don't keep up with our end of the agreement.And we'll say things like,"Yeah, but we made that deal like 10 years ago."This was 400 years old, and Saul was meant to keep it.Here's the other thing that's happening in this text. Saul was the representative head for the people of Israel. So as king, he can sin on their behalf and lead them all into sin. He's the representative head of the people of Israel of his family. And so he sins and it spreads.The consequences spread. And David as the representative head of the people of Israel now is going to have to figure it out. That's why it says he calls the Gibeonites. When he finds this out, he's got to fix the problem. Now, we don't think about headship that often, but one of the New Testament pictures we're given, it's Old and New Testament, is that husbands are the head of their family.They're head of their wife. They're the head of the household. So, I want to say to husbands in the room, every problem in your house is your problem. You don't get to say,"Well, that's her thing. Well, she's the one who deals with the kids.Well, she told me she didn't want me to be involved in that, so we'll just see how it goes."That's not how it works. David doesn't get to go,"Well, that was Saul's fault. take it up with Saul. Oh, he's dead. Let's move on. David has to try to figure out this problem because he's the representative head for the people of Israel.So, that's where we are. That's what's happening at this moment in the text. Okay.So, he's called the Gibeonites.Verse three. And David said to the Gibeonites,"What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement that you may bless the heritage of the Lord?"There's blood, guilt, there's sin. There needs to be atonement. How can we atone for this sin?That's what he's asking. The Gibeonites said to him,"It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house. Neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel."And he said,"What do you say that I shall do for you?"So he calls them together and says,"How do we make this right? How do we atone for this?"And they say,"Is it sitting the sort of thing that we can settle out of court? It's not the sort of thing that's not a matter of silver and gold.You can't just pay off this debt with money. And then they say,"And we're not allowed to put people to death. That's not the position that we're in."And then they stop talking. Because what they're saying to him is,"But you can put people to death."So he says,"What do you want me to do for you?"Because there's a blood debt.Verse 5. They said to the king,"The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord."And the king said,"I will give them."So they said,"We want seven of his sons. He killed us in our place. We want to kill them in his place. in his location. We want to hang them before the Lord as a representative sacrifice.That's what they're going to propose. David says,"We can do that."So, they're going to take these seven sons, seven relatives of Saul because Saul is dead, and they're going to make them pay this blood debt. Now, it's not equal because for Saul to try to eradicate them is basically what they're saying. He tried to wipe us out of here. I seriously doubt he'd only killed seven men.So what they request is representative atonement. And even if it's horrific and gruesome, this idea of rounding these guys up, going to their home, knocking on the door, and saying,"Hey, you're related to Saul. You've got to come. You're going to pay this debt."And having to go kill them publicly, have a public execution. At least the impulse should make some sense to us.If you found out that in North Korea they had overthrown the rule of the Kims and that they had gone into the royal palaces and they had killed every Kim they could find, we go,"Well, that I mean I understand it. I understand that they don't want that household, that family rising up again. I understand that they're trying to make them pay for all that they've done in their um ruling over them and their hardship."It's like we can understand the impulse even if there's parts of it that are revuls repulsive to us. But they asked for seven and David says yes. And then it says this verse 7.But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Saul's son Jonathan because of the oath of the Lord that was between them between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. Now we don't exactly know when this took place but we know it does seem like it's after Mephibosheth has been found and is apart. Then it says,"The king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth."That's a different Mephibosheth. That's uncle Mephibosheth. And the five sons of Merab, the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, the son of Barzillai, the Meholathite.If you remember Barzillai from a couple days ago, the 80-year-old man, that's not him. It's a different Barzillai. So, we got two Mephibosheth, two Barzillai. and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of the harvest at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now, this would have been a scant barley harvest or a non-existent barley harvest, but right at the beginning of the barley harvest, in the middle of this famine, which the Gibeonites are also having to deal with the famine, they hang them and put them to death.This next part is very sad. Then Rispa, the daughter of Aiiah, took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock from the beginning of the harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. Now, the beginning of the harvest is in April. Guaranteed normal rainy season. That's the starting of the dry season.Normal raining season doesn't start till September, October. Rain is almost non-existent during that middle period. It is possible there was some rain that came sooner, but it's also possible she was doing this for months. She did this until rain fell from the heavens and she did not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day or the beasts of the field by night. So she sets up a vigil.She was not able to save her sons and her nephews from death, but she goes and camps out in front of them. She's not going to let birds pick their eyes out. And she's not going to let beasts come by and eat them. And she sits in front of them while they bake in the sun, while they rot, while they decompose. And she gives them as much honor as she can possibly give them, which is the only thing she knows how to do.It's horrific. But she has two sons and she's not going to let them be dishonored any further than they have to be.Verse 11. When David was told what Rispa, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabeshgilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Bethshan when the Philistines had hanged them on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. Those are all events that have been we've gone through previously in 1 and 2 Samuel. And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan. And they gathered the bones of those who were hanged.And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin and Za in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God responded to the plea for the land. David finds out what she's doing and he goes,"Okay, they're still hanging there."He's going to finish putting into this. He goes and gets the bones of Saul and Jonathan, the bones of the men who've been hanged, and he buries them.And after that, God responds to the police. So this agreement made between David and the Gibeonites, God honors the payment, accepts the atonement of blood for blood, and responds to the plea. That's the first picture that we're given that it's about to immediately swap to another picture. We're going to take a moment when we get done with both of them to try to understand what is it saying to them. How would they have understood this?And then how do we understand it? So second picture, that's first picture.Second picture, there was war again. And this is again not in chronological order. There's no really these are just kind of floating out there. There was war again between the Philistines and Israel. And David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines.And David grew weary. And Ishbi Benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed 300 shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. But Abashai, the son of Zerui, came to his aid, and attacked the Philistine, and killed him. Then David's men swore to him,"You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel."There's several things that are going to happen in this section. First, we see that David at some point was getting older, was getting tired.They said,"Look, you can't go out with us."So, they're giving some explanation to why David quit going out with the army the way that he used to. We see Abashai, the son of Zerui, who's shown up consistently throughout this, showing up and saving David's life. We also see a giant and there's going to be several giants in this text. And so I have a couple of things to say when it comes to the idea of giants. One, this does not have to be the most fantastic thing in your mind.The idea that there are giants. There are giants in the Bible. We're going to talk a little bit about the fantastic side of that in a second. But it doesn't have to be the most fantastic side of things. I want to show y'all a picture.This is a picture. I had AI put two pictures together, but the guy in the middle is 5 foot seven, 5 foot eight. He would walk amongst us and not really stand out. You wouldn't be like,"Wow, what an average fellow."That's always you just be here fine. To his left is a tribe of pygmies.This was taken recently. They exist in Africa in the jungles. The average height of the pygmy tribes is about 5t tall for males. So they're about 5t tall. To his right in South Sudan, there are the Dinka people who have whole families at the average height is 6'5.If the Pygmies had to go fight the Dinka, they might be like,"Oh my goodness, those guys are huge."They may say,"We spied them out and they look like they made us feel like grasshoppers."So all I'm saying, the whole point of showing you this, other than I think the picture is neat looking, is that that's just normal genetics at play right now. These families of giants were just families that had genetics that we're playing into they're really big. And in a world where the biggest baddest guy kills people and gets all the women, he can have a whole lot of children. And so what we have is several families, sons of Anoch, sons of Rafa, that just were really big. And there's several giants.It doesn't have to be this big fantastic thing. You can pull that picture down. The other thing is, just side note, there are some things in the Bible that we don't have all the answers to. How exactly does this work? How many were there?What did they look like? Why does this one guy we're about to read about have six fingers and six toes? I don't know. But if you get on the internet, you can get sucked into a black hole of weird stuff that is unhelpful. And there are people who some are I would say lack wisdom or misguided and I would say some who are evil and demonically led who are trying to pull people into the oddest corners of the Bible.And they want to tell you that well you really got to find out. We we've got to we got to get behind this thing. We got to figure it out. We got to get underneath it. There's something really going on.There's a secret in the Bible and you got to hold it like this and squint with your left eye. It's like what are you talking about? That that's not how it works. So whenever there's like this mystery, this hidden thing, this secret thing, only we know about it. We figured out where the lost 12 tribes went.All this mess, the Bible is extremely clear. There was a mystery. It's been revealed in Christ. All the wisdom and knowledge is found in Christ. He's the revealing of God's promises.The book of Revelation, which is going to reveal, pull back the curtain and show you, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is not unclear. So, if somebody's pulling you into some weird niche thing and they're like,"You have to know this."If I did, can I tell you, it would be in here very clearly. Do you know how many times Paul repeats himself? If I had to know it, he'd have written it in like four of his letters.If it was the most important thing, like it would be showing up and stuff. Now, there are times where we're basing some information off of one piece of little thing we have, but the non-essential pieces of the faith is clear. The revelation of Christ is clear. So, I would suggest you do what David does, what his mighty men do here, which is put the giants to death and then live your life free of them. So, if there's weird little things you like to get into, get done with that and live your life in the joy and the freedom and the hope of the gospel and the clarity of the scriptures.That's all I'm going to yell at you about that at this moment.Verse 18. After this, there was again war with the Philistines at Gob or Gob. Then Cib Cibekiah the Hushathite struck down Saf who was one of the descendants of the giants. And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. And Elhan the son of Jaier Orahim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gitite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.Okay, Goliath the Gitite is just another way of saying Goliath of Gath, which means a whole lot of ink has been spilled over this one verse where people are talking about what does this mean? And there's all kinds of weird theories like Elhanan must have been David's nickname. I don't think so. Couple of options for who this Goliath of Gath is. One, there were two guys named Goliath.That's possible. We already ran into two Mephibosheths and two Barzillais. Two, Goliath is a title, not a name. Three, there is a textual issue here and it's supposed to say brother of Goliath of Gath, which is what sec first Chronicles, I have it written down, 1st Chronicles 20:5 says that Elhanan killed his brother. And there are only a few places in the Old Testament we have very trustw trustworthy manuscripts, but it's possible that we're just missing a word here.Anyway, we're not going to spend any more time on that. But he kills a giant.Verse 20. And there was again war at Gath. It's verse 20. And there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, 24 in number. He also was descended from the giants.So there's some genetic anomalies going on here. Also, whenever they start telling you how much their clothes weighed or how many fingers they had or whatever, usually those people are going to die. And I think they just count that out and weigh it later. I don't know if he was swinging his spear and they were like ducking and being like,"Does his hand look weird?"I think maybe they figured it out later. I high-fived him.It felt like a lot. All right, verse 21. And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimi, David's brother, struck him down. These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. And those are the two pictures we're going to look at today.Now, the first thing I want to ask quickly is why? What is this serving? In the epilogue of David, what point is this making? I think the first story is reminding us, putting in our head that David is sorting out the leftover problems from Saul. That some of the problems that happened during David's reign weren't even David's fault.He He's coming in and fixing problems caused by Saul. I also think it's showing that even when David had negative things happen in his reign between his house and Saul's house, it wasn't David just seeking to get revenge on Saul. That David was trying to navigate difficult situations. And at the end of this, he even tries to show as much honor as he can to them by burying them even though the Gibeonites hadn't treated him that well. I think that's the first story.David as representative head is fixing problems on behalf of the nation, fixing problems left by Saul and not trying to have a ton of hostility between his house and Saul's house. I think the second picture is, hey, you remember how there used to be giants? You know how there aren't anymore? Y'all should be thankful to David. That's the second picture is just the Philistines used to be a big problem after David.They're not a big problem. Giants used to be a big problem after David and his mighty men. They're not a big problem. like it's just a picture of remember that David went to war for us. Remember that David cleared out problems. Remember that David defended us.I think that's basically what that second picture is doing. Now for us as we read this story and we try to understand how should we think about things like this.The first thing that I would recommend to us is that there's something going on with the idea of blood guilt. This idea of collective guilt, this idea of headship, representative headship that has guilt on us that we ought to consider. And I specifically had this in mind as we're going into Fourth of July and celebrating this this, you know, America 250. You I'm glad America's been here for 250 years. And if the Lord delays his return, I hope America hits another 250.I hope there's an America 500 and that all the states in the union allow fireworks and it's a blessed occasion. But I hope that the next 250 years are years of peace, justice, righteousness, goodness. I hope they're years of obedience. I hope they're years of worship. I hope that this isn't just a a pagan nation that exists for a long time, a powerful nation that exists for a long time.I hope it's a faithful nation. And we ought to consider if there is shared guilt and blood guilt that can spread to peoples and to a nation and that can pollute the land. The Lord even talks about when sexual sin in Leviticus, he says that the land will vomit you out because they've piled up this sin. Then we ought to be people who pray for our nation, for our leaders, who repent for our nation, for our leaders. I came across this quote as I was studying this this week, and I want to share it with you. says,"We think of the unknown slaves who died in despair on southern plantations, the unknown immigrants who died in squalor outside northern factories, and the unknown faces of infant children today who will never see the light of day because of the sins of their mothers and the conspiracy of a wicked society."None of these names are unknown to God.None of the crimes forgotten in the annals of his perfect justice. How great is the blood guilt on this land as with the land of so many other nations that have already fallen under the sword of God's providential justice. So may the Lord bless us, but may he be merciful on us. And may we be people who pray for the grace and the mercy of the Lord and for things to change and for things to be good and for there to be righteousness here. And the idea that everything the US does is excellent because the US did it.Let us not be fooled into believing that. But let us be people who long for another kingdom where certain things never take place. I think that's one of the things that we should see in this text as we consider the idea of blood guilt and shared guilt and representative headship. May we be repentant and prayerful and hopeful in the light of God's goodness to move forward well. But I think there's a problem in the middle of that that we have to reckon with.When we read this story, we we see that there's shared guilt, which is foreign to us. Feels wrong. That Saul could commit a sin and that it would be on his family and that it would the whole nation would have to pay for it and then Saul's children would have to pay for it feels wrong. And that God would accept the sacrifice at the end feels wrong. You almost want God to show up at the end and go that y'all did this wrong.Why are you rounding up people and killing them for something Saul did? But he doesn't. He says he accepts. He accepts the plea for the land. And so there's part of us that is like,"This doesn't feel fair.This feels off."We want to look at this text and go,"This text, this is unfair. That idea is unfair. And therefore, it's unjust and therefore wrong. And maybe God's evil."That's kind of the track we follow. So I want to share a story with you, and I'm kind of coming at this from the side to try to help us wrap our head around something.So we're going to change subjects for just a second. I want to read a story. This was recently posted online by Nouaga, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. He's Japanese. He wrote this story, posted it online.Some of you may have seen it, maybe you haven't. I want to read it to you. He says,"USA, a Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything and the food was already arriving. Chips, salsa, unrequested, free.I stopped the waiter. We have not earned these. They just come with the table, man. Okay.Now, he didn't say,"We've not ordered these."He's Japanese. He said,"We have not earned these."There's something going on here for him. Let's see what happens. They come with the table. In my land, hospitality is a debt.Every gift creates an obligation weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner. This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration. We trust you.Eat. chips hit the table and he starts having psychological problems. He is working his best to process what on earth is happening. And it is culturally cross so many lines for him that they've made a declaration of trust. Now, do you feel well trusted when chips hit the table? I don't think you've ever thought about it.I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. People are snacking, eating chips. He's eating with gravity over here. And then I must report this calmly. The basket emptied and a new one appeared.Did we? Like he's trying to What is happening? Refill. The waiter said it's bottomless. Bottomless.They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined. My friend warned me,"Don't fill up on chips, dude. Too late."I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished.An unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man. This is a trap for a Japanese person because if you finish the chips, they're going to give you more. But he has to finish the chips or he's dishonoring the whole group of people that have brought him here. He's dishonoring those who have handed to him.He's got to honor the gift. He's got to finish the chips. And when he does it, another basket arrives. He says,"Thank you."And goes back to eating with the gravity the moment demands. It says this,"I was not hungry.I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy."Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived. I know the rule. I have made my peace with the basket.One basket. Two at the most. Who am I deceiving? There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa and I intend to honor all of it.Now, have you ever been in a Mexican restaurant and thought,"The trust of the nation is in this salsa. I must honor their trust."Not once, not ever. And as he describes this to you, it's like,"What are you even talking about? How is this an honor shame situation? This is we're at a restaurant.How are you having to honor their gift? They're just giving you chips. Like the it doesn't compute for us. And what happens when we interact with someone who has a completely different culture because you've just been trained in a culture. You've just been equipped in one.And there are things that are ingrained in you. If I'm somewhere and there are no seats and there's a lady, I have to get up. And I'll say,"Here, you have the seat."And if they say,"No, you sit."Then we both just stand because I can't sit back down because I'll die inside and think about it later. I'll ride in my truck later and be like,"I was sitting. They were standing.What have I not?"Like it messes with me because it's been it's built into me. We We all have these things. He has that. So he's overthinking chips where we're all free and we can explain it to him, but he can't not feel it. He can't not feel the chips sitting in the basket.I'm sure there was a moment when he was thinking,"Don't eat But he's like,"I have to or I'm bringing shame and not handling this well and I've got to be thankful and the trust of the nation is in this salsa, whatever that means."Now, what happens when we interact with people of other cultures like that is that we'll often look at them and go,"Huh, that's how y'all think about that? That's interesting. That's not how we think about it, but that's interesting. It's it's weird. You might ask more questions, but there's this level of humility.We'll read things in the biblical text where we're bringing our same American, Western sensibilities. We'll run into something that we don't understand and we'll go,"Well, that's wrong. Feels unfair to me. Unfair means unjust. Unjust means wrong.Wrong means evil. If God's like this, then he's unfair. Unjust, wrong, evil. I don't have to follow him. I don't have to believe him."and we will come with the most insane level of blind confidence that if it goes against my sensibilities, I'm right, it's wrong, and God can be dismissed.Now, in this situation, if we're going to have a handful of humility and a handful of blind confidence, and we have to choose who we're going to interact with, God or noaga, who gets humility and who gets confidence? I'd say let's hit Nounaga with blind confidence and let's walk towards God with some humility. But we so often just go, it feels sideways to me, so it must be wrong. And if I feel it, then it's wrong and so this can't be good and therefore I can get rid of it. What ought to happen when we hit a text and we go,"Wait a second.Headship guilt. Wait a second. Blood sacrifice from family members to pay this back. There's blood guilt. I don't understand that.What we ought to realize is there's something wrong in my understanding. I'm missing a piece and I've got to submit to this because God has authority over me and he's right. I'm not wrong. If God is real and we believe that he's real and that he's over all things, then we should expect to find things in the Bible that confront us and that correct us. If every time you run into one of those, God has to conform to you, well then you're God and you're in charge.So, we should expect there's going to be moments like this. And y'all, you you can come to the scriptures and go, I don't understand that, but I'll submit to it. I don't understand exactly how that works, but I'll I'll believe it. And that exact same framework I just gave you, you use all the time. You use it, you've used it with your parents, you've used it with a mechanic, you use it with an accountant, you've used it with a doctor.They explain something to you and you don't go,"In order for me to take this medicine, I'm I too must become a doctor. You just go,"I don't understand. I don't understand half the words you just said, but I trust you. And we come to the scriptures and we'll read something we don't understand and go, I guess it must be wrong. I guess I can dismiss God.And that is the most arrogant, prideful, nonsensical position to hold. This is hard to understand. It's hard to It's easy to understand. It's hard to accept. It's hard to get our jump past our sensibilities.This idea of guilt that spreads. But what that means is that there's more to sin than you understand. There's more to sin than you realize. If sexual sin can pollute the land, and if blood guilt can pollute the land, and if it can be shared down to families, and if everybody can pay for it, there's more to sin than you understand. It's actually more dangerous than you think it is.It's like if you tell a child to wash their hands and they look at their hands and go,"They're not dirty."It's like,"That's not how it works."Your hands could be coated in diseases. We don't know. Just wash your hands. And knowing you, they probably are. Go wash your hands.Like, that's And we're like, well, that's not how sin works or this sin isn't a big deal or it's just my sin or it's just their sin or it should it's like that's not how it works. And we should look at passages like this and realize there's more to it and it's more dangerous and it's more heinous. And that we should walk with some level of humility. And whether you like it or not, this idea of representative headship and representative atonement, it's the exact situation you find yourself in. We had a representative named Adam who is the representative head over all of humanity.And he rebelled against God. And we've all been born into Adam into sin because of what he did. This is why the Bible will say things like,"In Adam all die."When you were born, before you got a birth certificate, you were theologically, metaphorically handed an undated death certificate. It's a guarantee because we're in Adam and his sin has spread. and it has to be paid for. And if we read something like this and go there's a 23 and me roundup where they went and got these guys to have their blood pay for this debt and we we repulsed by it.But there's a reality of Jesus showed up to pay a blood debt so that there might be forgiveness. That's what Hebrews 9:22 says. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So that Jesus has to come pay a debt. So that in this story, it's as if David were to respond and say,"Well, Saul sinned on behalf of the people.He was the king. I'll pay the debt on behalf of the people. I'm the king. I'll be their new representative. Hang me up."the gruesome picture of a son being stripped and impaled before his mother to be laid out in the sun to die on behalf of others for sin he didn't commit is the exact picture of the cross and the exact hope that we have that there was a representative head who did not sin on beha our behalf but saves on our behalf who paves on our behalf This is what 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 says.For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. I want to read a quote by Charles Simeon in reference to this passage. He was a pastor in England. He says,"The blood of Saul's sons was poured forth as a sacrifice to national justice and as a means of averting the divine displeasure."And it was considered by God as an atonement for the sin which Saul had committed.How much more then will God accept in our behalf the blood of his own son who was sent into the world for the express purpose that he might expedate our guilt and procure for us reconciliation with our offended God. You are either in Adam alone or you're in Christ. We're all in Adam and you can stand in Adam and be under guilt or you can have Christ be your representative head to pay the guilt for you. And you don't have to understand how that works. You just need to understand that it works.That you can humbly walk to the Lord and say,"I don't exactly know how guilt works. I don't exactly know how sin works this way. I know that I've sinned, but I don't know how it works that I'm under this curse. But I understand that you're willing to accept the sacrifice of Jesus. You're willing to accept his atoning blood.You're willing to let him pay on my behalf. And I want him to pay on my behalf. I want to be saved. I want to be rescued. I want him to be my representative head.And you don't have to understand exactly how that works, but you just need to know that that's how it works. And that we get to have Jesus represent us to the father so that we might be forgiven. And if Jesus represents you to the father, you are forgiven. The atoning sacrifice has been paid. So, may we read texts like this with a level of humility, and may we read texts like this in a way that helps us appreciate the goodness of Christ on our behalf.The band's going to come back up.In a moment, we're going to receive communion, which is where we as Christians take time to remind ourselves of the hope of the gospel. We have communion elements set up in the front here. Here we have them in the back. And in that corner there, if you have a gluten allergy, we have a a gluten-free table. And what we do when we take communion is we remind ourselves that there is blood that has been shed on our behalf, that an atoning sacrifice has been paid, that the debt has been covered, that Jesus Christ really came for the express purpose to bridge and reconcile us back to God.It is something for Christians to partake in where we take the body where Jesus said on the night he was betrayed he took bread and he said this is my body broken for you and he gave it to them and said take this and then he took a cup and he said this is my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins take drink and so we take the bread reminding us of the body of Christ that's broken we take the cup we drink reminding us of the blood that was shed and the new covenant that was made with us and we take it reminding ourselves that the atonement has been made.If you are not a Christian, then do not take communion. But we would invite you to come to know Christ and to ask him to be your representative head to rescue you and to get you out of this problem.Let's pray.Lord, may we approach you with humility. May we honor your sacrifice and your generosity and your grace. And Lord, may we hide behind the representative sacrifice of Christ that pays for sin. Trusting in you and you alone in Jesus name. Amen.When you are ready, take and eat.

Kish from Lilywhite Lab joins us for a deep tactical dive into Tottenham's remarkable summer rebuild. One of the sharpest tactical analysts in the Spurs community, Kish breaks down exactly why Roberto De Zerbi wanted players like Mateo Fernandes, Sandro Tonali, Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi, and how they fit into the football he's trying to build. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can people be faithful Christians without the camaraderie and relationship with the Church? David Kish, our 2026 preaching intern, discusses this question.

In this episode, Douglas Wilson discusses the feminization of institutions and argues that the presence of women inevitably transforms male spaces. He then continues his survey of New Testament sins with quarreling—a public sin Christians often mistake for righteousness—and closes with a review of Yoram Hazoni's God and Politics in Esther. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.2 Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them:4 And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.5 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king's house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.10 Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.12 Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)13 Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.18 Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king.19 And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king's gate.20 Esther had not yet shewed her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him.21 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus.22 And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name.23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.

Shawnee Kish Soundcloud by Larry K

Today I celebrate not just another birthday, but God's faithfulness. This past year I've become wiser, calmer, stronger, and more intentional. I've accomplished goals, learned from mistakes, and discovered strength I didn't know I had.

When the storms of life hit, as they do, right, what we do is that instinctively we grab a life vest, we look for a lifeline here on earth, a worldly solution if you will … instead of turning to the One who can calm the storm. So, you have to ask yourself then, who exactly is the Lord of our lives?   Just Like the Rest Over these last few weeks we have been looking at what it means to get our feet back on solid ground in life. You know, when we are going through storms we are bobbing around like a tiny little boat floundering on an angry sea and sometimes we don't know which way to head – which way is up, which way is down. All we want to do is put our feet back on solid ground. And it turns out that you don't always find that solid ground exactly where you expect to find it. And we have been exploring this whole idea of getting our feet on solid ground through the story of a humble woman called Hannah who honoured God and turned to Him in the midst of her storm - and at completely the other end of the scale, a priest called Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. They were evil guys and they got their just rewards and the nation of Israel who struggled with their God. If you've got a Bible, grab it and open it up. Over these last three weeks we have been looking at the first seven chapters of the Book of First Samuel. Now First Samuel appears about a third of the way through the Old Testament. We are going to finish off that series today with the crux of what this is all about. We are going to have a look at the decision that ultimately determines whether our feet are on solid ground or not. It's a decision between the obvious and the not so obvious. What is it that you and I can decide to do that will absolutely ensure that no matter what comes our way, our feet are on solid ground? Now the pivot of this whole story – the contrast of Hannah on the one hand and Hophni and Phinehas and their dad, Eli, on the other – happens, if you remember the verse – if you have been with us over these last few weeks – in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30, where God says: Those who honour Me, I will honour but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. We are going to pick up that story today. The priests are dead, they've got their just rewards, Hannah's son – she couldn't have a son remember, but she now has a son, he is grown up – Samuel is the judge and the prophet and the leader over all Israel. Now that's a really important concept – they didn't have a King. All the other nations had a King but Israel did not because Israel's system of government was a theocracy – that meant that God was their King. And God appointed judges and prophets to declare His Word over the people of Israel. So He administered justice – this was Samuel – he was a prophet who declared the will of God and God was the King to the people. Now that was unique among the nations and as we saw over the last few weeks, when they honoured God; when they obeyed Him, that nations' feet were on solid ground. Now the story takes an interesting twist. We are going to pick it up in chapter 8 of the Book of First Samuel. Here's how it goes: When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his first born son was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah and they were judges in Beer-sheba. Yet his sons didn't follow in his ways but turned aside after gain – they took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel came together and they came to Samuel at Ramah and they said to Samuel "You are old and your sons don't follow in your ways, appoint for us then, a King to govern over us like the other nations." But this displeased Samuel when they said "Give us a King to govern us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. Just as they have done to Me from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking Me, serving other gods so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice – only you shall solemnly warn them and show the ways of the King who shall reign over them." So Samuel reported all the words of God to the people who were asking him for a King. He said these will be the ways of the King who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horse men and to run before his chariots and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some will plough his ground and reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and to make his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give them to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. He will take one tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves and in that day you will cry out because of your King whom you have chosen for yourselves but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we may also be like the other nations and that our King may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." Isn't that interesting? All this time you go right back to the slavery, when Israel was in slavery in Egypt and God released them through some major miracles and through the parting of the Red Sea and then into the Promised Land and they captured the Land, battle after battle. All this time it was a simple, simple principle that God honours those who honour Him. And God did and God won the battles for them and God delivered them. And now they reject their King, their God who is able and willing to bless them and to protect them. Why? Well, actually, first they blame Samuel's sons and no doubt there is something in that, but actually you find out the reason towards the end of that verse. Look again at the passage we have just read: verses 19 and 20 of chapter 8: But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. They said "No, we are determined to have a King over us so that we also may be like other nations and that our King may govern us and go to battle and fight our battles for us." They wanted to be like all the other nations. Now, let's think about that. Israel is unique – God is their King, He promised them the Promised Land, He has the power to make it happen. Whenever they honour Him He does make it happen and yet they want to reject Him – why? So that they can be like all the other nations! Is that stupid or what? None of the other nations have an invincible god as their king so why do they want to be like the other nations? Because in the heat of the battle they want a king they can see – a king of flesh and blood! Their enemies have a king at the head of their army so they want one too and they are prepared to give up the perfect power of the King of Kings for a poor substitute so that they can have a king that they can see! How often do we do that? How often do we put our faith in things that we can see – in our investment portfolio to provide wealth is fine until the economy goes belly up, in our career, which is fine until our health fails, in other people, which is fine until they desert us or fail us? See when we hit a storm you know what we want to do? We want to reach out and put a life preserver on instead of go to the One who can stop the storm. We want something we can see and touch and feel, instead of putting our faith in the One whom we can't see. A favourite Scripture you hear people quote is Second Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7 that says "We walk by faith and not by sight" and that's great until the storm hits, when we will definitely go for something that we can see and touch and feel, ahead of someone we can only see by faith – we'll pick that anytime. And that's the point – when we step off solid ground onto a stormy ocean.   What's the Problem? Yea, just like Israel, we want to be just like everyone else some days; just normal, everyday people who put our faith in things that we can touch and feel. It is something the Apostle Paul rejected – have a listen – Second Corinthians chapter 5, beginning at verse 1. He says: We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, if indeed, when we have taken it off, we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing, is God, who has given us His Spirit as a guarantee so we are always confident, even though we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. See, here Paul is talking about the struggle between the temporal and the eternal – between what we can see and what we can't see. And Paul is saying "Look, I have got a body; I've got a tent but one day that is going to pass away and my faith isn't in the "here and now" – my faith is in God – I walk by faith not by sight." It's about where he puts his confidence. Now, let me tell you how easy it is to appoint an earthly King, like what Israel was trying to do and to reject the King of Kings – even when we are out and about doing God's work. This ministry that I am involved in, Christianityworks, it has been going for fifty years out of Australia and yet when I took over four years ago, there were hardly any people supporting the ministry. It had almost no income, it was going broke, there were no programmes going to air. And four years ago – it's still pretty fresh – I remember the panic attacks over finances – you see the money dwindling away and wondering when we are going to go broke – not if but when. You see, what I was doing: I wanted a big bank balance – something that would provide security that I could see and I had to turn away from that. I had to put my trust in God alone and these days, sometimes, let me tell you, things are still very, very tight. And whilst I do my part in all of that, as a good steward of the money that supporters entrust to the ministry, over and over and over and over again, let me tell you, as we have done our best just to simply honour God in all that we do here in the ministry of Christianityworks, He has honoured us. It's as simple as that! Now, let's get back to the story and find out where the real problem was here with Israel and the Kingship of God. Well, Israel got its very first King like all the other nations and God, through the prophet Samuel, appointed Saul. Let's have a look at it in the first couple of verses of chapter 9 of the Book of First Samuel: There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son Abiel son of Zeror son Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he – he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. So the prophet hears from God and God says "Saul is the King. If they want a King they are going to get Saul". And initially at least, after he is anointed, Saul has success because even though God was rejected by His people in favour of Saul, God is a God of grace and He continued to honour them and bless them even though He warned them of how the King would turn out. We saw that earlier. See, sometimes when we reject the Kingship of God in our lives and choose something else – career or wealth or whatever it is – initially we have some success but as we will see later, Saul ended up in abject failure. In fact, Saul (if you want to read it in First Samuel chapter 31) committed suicide in the middle of battle. It's easy for you and me to say "Well, what's the problem here? It's probably not a bad thing that they had a King to lead the nation. What's the problem? I do have to invest and plan for my retirement, sure, but do we do it under the Kingship of God?" When God is calling us to give a substantial amount of our money to let's say the poor, do we do that? Or do we sock it away for our retirement? Who or what do we put our trust in, who or what do we submit to? Listen again to what Samuel said to Israel – First Samuel chapter 10, beginning at verse 17: Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah and he said to them "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, "I brought you up out of Egypt – I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today, you have rejected your God, the God who saves you from all your calamities and all your distresses and you have said "No! but set a King over us." That's the problem – they rejected their God; they rejected the great Unseen for a King who was far inferior to God but whom they could see. See, despite all that they knew – they knew that God had brought them out of Egypt; they knew that He had rescued them from the Egyptians; they knew that He had rescued them from all their oppressors. God said "I did all that. Couldn't you see that I was your King? Couldn't you see that I am worthy of your trust? Couldn't you see that with Me you have your feet on solid ground? Couldn't you see that?" No, they couldn't see and no, some days we can't see it either. We are blinded by the dazzle of what this world has to offer. It never ceases to amaze me, you know, in times of economic prosperity, people behave as though there is no tomorrow. They put their faith in the money they are earning, their stock portfolio that is growing and the house that's mortgaged up to the hilt and the new car and all that stuff. But then, when the economy eventually takes a dive - as mind you, it always does – they cry out and scream at the price of petrol and the high interest rates and the risk of losing their home. Can I tell you something? You can't live a life of peace if you are putting your trust in an inferior king. You can't have security when you put your faith in those things that will fail. You can't! I can't! It just doesn't work.   Choose your King I want to take us right back now to the beginning of this series – to the first chapter of First Samuel. It's the story of a simple woman called Hannah - she was one of Elkanah's two wives. The other wife Peninnah had children, Hannah had none. And if you have ever been in that situation where you can't have kids or you know someone in that situation, you know how incredibly painful that is and to make it worse the other wife Peninnah, would give Hannah a hard time over this. Pretty tough! There is a real storm that was going on year after year after year – this pain of being childless. Now Hannah had a lot of choices in that space. She could have been angry, she could have lashed out or she could have withdrawn. Her husband didn't help her much so what does Hannah do? First Samuel chapter 1, verse 9: Once they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord's temple. In the bitterness of her soul, Hannah wept and prayed to the Lord and she made a vow. She said "Lord God Almighty, if You will only look upon Your servant's misery and remember me and do not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on his head. And as she kept praying to the Lord, Eli the priest, looked at her mouth – Hannah was praying in her heart – her lips were moving but her voice couldn't be heard. Now, Eli thought she was drunk and said to her "How long will you keep on getting drunk. Get rid of your wine." She said "Not so, my lord, I'm a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. (Isn't that beautiful?) Don't take your servant for a wicked woman. I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." And Eli answered "Well, go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked for." She said "May your servant find favour in your eyes." Then she went away and she ate something and her face was no longer downcast. Now it turns out – see, Hannah was a "nobody", not like the priest – she wasn't a man in the social structure – she wasn't a priest, she was a "nobody". She just goes and pours out her heart to God amidst the bitterness of her soul. Turns out God honours those who honour Him, as she does have a son, she calls him Samuel. She gives him back to Eli; she gives him over to God as soon as he is weaned and he comes and serves as a priest in the temple, under Eli, whom she discovers later, is a bad dude. This priest is supposed to be a go-between between God and His people, yet he and his sons have no respect for God and His people at all, so Samuel is put there by faith by her. Now we have heard the story: Samuel grows up, he becomes a mighty man of God. Do you know why that happened? Because Hannah honoured God! And God says "I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt". And that's what Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas found out when they died because they did not honour God. And then we saw how, because of them, Israel ends up rejecting God. And you know how that ends up? In defeat! Saul ends up committing suicide – you can look at it in chapter 31, the last chapter of the Book of First Samuel. Israel rejected God as its King and God said "Well ok, I am going to warn you – you're rejecting Me. I am going to give you a King but this is not going to go well for you." And because they wanted a King that they could see, they rejected God anyway, they chose Saul and it ended up not well for them. The Philistines defeated them, Saul died. The one who is honoured by God is the one who honoured Him! How did she do that? In her misery and her pain; in the bitterness of her soul – she didn't act up, she didn't complain, she didn't grumble – she put her trust simply in God. She poured her soul out to Him, God honoured her. Eli didn't, his sons didn't! At the end of the day, Saul didn't, Israel certainly didn't – the one who did was Hannah and God honoured her because she honoured Him. I want to lay a challenge before each one of us today through this story. We all go through times, you know, when we would like to have our feet on solid ground and yet we are all over the place and things don't seem to be working out and everyone is coming up against us. I want to lay a challenge before each one of us today – you and me – we have to choose our King – it's either God or it is something else we trust in. You can't have both – you can't serve two kings, you can't serve two masters. It's either going to be God, the great unseen reality; the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords or its going to be something we see – a life preserver that we can grab onto. Problem is, life preservers might stop us from sinking for a while but they can't stop the storm. Only God can stop the storm! There are people listening today and your life seems to be one endless storm. Maybe you are absolutely sick to death of being tossed around by angry waves; maybe you are in that boat today. Well, it is time to put your feet back on solid ground. It is time to say "You know something? I may be a nobody like Hannah, it may be that I am not an Eli, I'm not a Samuel, I'm not a David, I'm not some big person – I'm some little unknown person like Hannah, that may will be the case. And yet in this whole story she is the only one who received God's blessing because she is the only one who honoured God. She received her son Samuel who had such a mighty influence over the history of her nation." And Hannah was onto something! Maybe today is time to say "I choose my King". Either we are going to choose God or we are going to reject Him and choose something that we can feel or touch. I can choose a "Saul" in my life – you can choose a 'Saul' in your life and it may give us a sense of security for a little while. You know, when that boat is bobbing round the ocean, you grab for the life preserver – that's a pretty good thing. Probably a pretty good feeling but the life preserver doesn't get us out of the storm. It just keeps us floating there for a bit longer. Only One – the only One – that can get us out of the storm; the only One that can put our feet back on solid ground is our King, God. You want your feet on solid ground? This whole story that we have been looking at over the last four weeks in the first nine or ten chapters of First Samuel – this story is about the Kingship of God. And the story tells us very clearly – you want to put your feet on solid ground? Go honour God – go choose Him as your King – go submit to Him as your King! Let me ask you something – which one is going to work, the King of Kings or Saul? Which one is going to put your feet back on solid ground? Which King will you choose in your life?

Empressspeaks Kish Inspires exists to inspire, encourage, and empower women through authentic faith, real-life experiences, biblical wisdom, and daily devotionals that nurture the heart, mind, faith, and purpose.

What if the stories that change us most don't follow the hero's journey at all?In this episode, Helen Packham explores three powerful storytelling structures that offer an alternative to conflict-driven narratives: Kishōtenketsu, Ring Composition, and the Braided Narrative. Together, they reveal how stories can create meaning through contrast, reflection, connection, and recognition, not just struggle and triumph.From the quiet symbolism of an umbrella carried “just in case” to the invisible emotional habits we use to feel safe, Helen explores how story structures shape identity, leadership, communication, and the way we understand ourselves.Drawing from cultural storytelling traditions, narrative psychology, coaching insights, and personal reflection, this episode invites you to rethink what makes a story meaningful and why quieter transformations still deserve to be heard.In this episode:• Why conflict isn't the only path to meaningful storytelling• How Kishōtenketsu creates transformation through contrast and reframe• The hidden emotional power of Ring Composition• Why the meaning of a story is sometimes found in the middle• How braided narratives reflect the complexity of modern life• The connection between storytelling, nervous systems, and belonging• Why many people over-explain, over-prepare, or make themselves smaller to stay safe• How alternative story structures can create deeper trust and connection• Practical storytelling experiments you can immediately apply to leadership, speaking, business, and personal growthIf this episode speaks to you, please follow, share, and leave a review.Download Your Stories In Our DNA Season 2 Companion Kit Here:https://helenpackham.com/podcast-season-2/#StoriesInOurDNA #StorytellingPodcast #NarrativePsychology #LeadershipCommunication #Storytelling #PersonalGrowth #ThoughtLeadership

A Friss Hús filmfesztiválról jelentkező gonzó podcastsorozat második adásában két szuper programról mesélünk: az egyikben a neves filmesztéta, Kovács András Bálint elemzete bravúrosan Kenyeres Bálint The Spectacle című kisfilmjét, a másikban Bartsch Kata casting director mutatta be a két idei Friss Csillag, Major Irma és Juhász Vince segítségével, hogy mikre kell odafigyelni egy castingon.Beszélgetek Kisházy Eszterrel az Utószezon című kisfilmjéről, meg arról, hogy a fiúk nem tudják, hogy mi kell a lányoknak. Konrád Zsuzsannát kérdezgetem a medvékről, ugyanis a Valami vad című kisfilmjében egy hús-vér barnamedvével dolgozott. Végül Kreif Zsuzsannát faggatom ki a friss cannes-i élményeiről, ahol az Adgwa Ata című animációs kisfilmje debütált másfél héttel a Friss Húsos vetítése előtt. 00:00 - Kisházy Eszter (Utószezon)25:28 - Konrád Zsuzsanna (Valami vad)44:20 - Kreif Zsuzsanna (Adgwa Ata)Készítette: Varga FerencZene: Hegyi OlivérJó szórakozást az adáshoz, és ha tetszik, kérlek⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠támogasd a Filmklub podcastot a Patreonon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, egy dollár is nagy segítség! Ha a Patreon túl macerás, támogathatod a podcastot a PayPalon (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@ferencv1976⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) vagy a Revoluton (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@ferenc7drh⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) keresztül is. Nagyon köszönöm!

David Kish - our 2026 Preaching Intern for the Summer, shares with us a lesson about shining our light, like what we read about in the Sermon on the Mount.

Please join Amanda Kish and me as we talk about Spiritual Mastery & Embodying Your Divine Light Path. During this interview, we'll Explore: HOW True spiritual mastery begins within WHY You are the most powerful being you know WHY Many sensitive souls, empaths, and healers are being called to step into their own remembrance WHY The new paradigm of healing is empowerment, embodiment, and conscious creation Amanda will be facilitating a guided energy clearing process and she will be doing mini-clearings. Amanda's Special Offers: https://www.awakentohappinessnow.com/s41amanda/ #shefaliburns , #awakentohappinessnow, #healing, #energy, #transformation, #consciousness, #love, #consciousliving, #joy, #empowerment, #wellness, #spirituality, #spiritualawakening, #awareness, #podcast #amandakish #spiritualmastery #embodiment #divinelightpath #divine

Send us Fan MailWe sit down with Cindy Kish to decode what Rotary Membership Coordinator and International Assembly learning facilitator really mean, and why those roles matter when clubs feel stuck. We wrestle with the hard part of change: keeping people feeling seen while still building a Rotary culture that new members actually want to join. • Rotary acronyms explained and what the jobs involve • How International Assembly training in Orlando works and why it feels transformative • Why membership messaging often fails and how to make it relatable • Using a “recipe” mindset to build member engagement that fits each club • When statistics help and when they drain the room • The Rotaract and Interact pipeline problem and what modern clubs can change • Inclusive traditions, respectful feedback, and the fear behind pushback • Building district structures that create consistency beyond one leader Please tell others about the show If you have somebody that you know of that's turning their actions into impact, CarionPod at gmail.com Again, same email, RotarianPod at gmail.comSupport the showJoin me as I talk to those "amazing people turning their Actions 2 Impact all over the world. #BE THE CHANGE

Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them.4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs.7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.8 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.9 For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.11 My sons, be not now negligent: for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:13 And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah:14 And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel.15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.17 Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord: so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.19 Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord.21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord.22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.23 And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.25 And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets.26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.28 And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.32 And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.33 And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.35 And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order.36 And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

MarceyLynn, Once Again: Kish Kish by WNHH Community Radio

Bardi, Kish and Windy discuss that rarest of thing, a back to back victory. ________________________________________________________ You've been listening to The Extra Inch, a Spurs podcast. Become an xSub: https://www.patreon.com/theextrainch Production by Nathan A Clark (Twitter @NathanAClark). Intro music by David Lindmer https://www.instagram.com/davidlindmer Artwork by Trayton Miller. Go get your merch at https://www.theextrainch.co.uk/ Email us at podcast@theextrainch.co.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheExtraInch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheExtraInch/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theextrainch #Spurs #COYS #THFC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if I told you that you have been deprived of one of the best forms of storytelling for most of your life?The "The Three-Act" story structure has dominated Western storytelling for centuries. Hero has desires, Hero encounters conflict, Hero overcomes conflict in order to achieve desires. Easy Peasy. But the Four-Act structure, aka Kishōtenketsu proposes an entirely different take on why we tell stories. Once in a while, a Four-Act breaks out into western culture like Bong Joon Ho's Parasite. But what felt like a complete curveball to our Western minds is simply a perfectly executed Four-Act story to those in the know. Let's learn how it works, see how it differs from Three-Act, we'll see it in action as I retell the ancient Japanese myth of Urashima Taro, and we'll discuss where it's valuable in your life.----------------------------------Sign up for 'BTMC: Protagonist Edition', where you get the full story the day it releases, plus EXTENDED VERSIONS of the episodes to take you even deeper into the story with more scenes, more lessons, and more of everything that makes the show what it is, as well as access to all of the Character Analysis episodes. Sign up link below: ---------------------------Get BTMC: PROTAGONIST EDITION: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://becomingmain.supercast.com/GET THE FREE NEWSLETTER: "THE SCHOOL OF PROTAGONISM"Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://schoolofprotagonism.substack.com/FOLLOW BTMC FOR MORE GREAT CONTENT:Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/becomingmain⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/becomingmain⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Kish and Fuad join us as we debate who gets into our best relegated team of ALL TIMEWelcome to Barra Bruvvas.Join the Bruvvahood:https://instagram.com/BarraBruvvashttps://x.com/BarraBruvvashttps://www.tiktok.com/@barrabruvvasTimestamps:00:00 — Intro00:25 — Skincare & Korean Beauty09:07 — Will AI Make Us Stupid?12:44 — Trades vs AI: What Job Survives the Robots?16:22 — Meet The Guest: Kish19:42 — Storyteller's Dinner: One Hour With Any Footballer26:40 — Spurs Through The Eras: 2006 vs 2016 vs 202638:17 — The Best Team To Ever Get Relegated (Ep Starts Here) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

RecLess presents: This Parks & Rec Life - Kara Kish, Director of Parks and Recreation, Loveland, CO; and Sarah Sandquist, Executive Director of the Champaign Park District, Champaign, IL, speak to the differences and similarities of cultivating support systems as high performing females from a married with children and single without children points of view.This Parks & Rec Life is a podcast exploring the impact of a parks and recreation career on the lives of the loved ones of a parks professional. Hosted by Hannah Mize, editor and producer of the parks and recreation podcast RecLess, and podcast This Parks & Rec Life, and cohosted by Meredith Lawrence - MPA, CPRE - Parks & Rec Director/Assistant Public Works Director, Mendota Heights, MN.

We're joined on The Lab by Kish from Lilywhite Lab to dig into what has gone wrong at Tottenham this season, and whether Roberto De Zerbi can be the man to fix it. We discuss the importance of player buy-in, why Thomas Frank's approach never fully convinced the squad, and how Spurs' lack of midfield control became the defining tactical problem of the season. There's also a deep dive into the signings of João Palhinha and Conor Gallagher, the imbalance of the squad, the short-lived Igor Tudor experiment, and the wider questions around leadership, recruitment and culture at the club. We also look at De Zerbi's arrival, his reputation for improving players, and why his coaching could be exactly what Tottenham's young squad needs, even if the timing could hardly be more chaotic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Babylon had survived five destructions before Sennacherib tried to erase it for good. Why did Assyria's most bookish king — a man who loved Babylonian scholarship — finally flood the city and smash its temples in 689 BCE?This is Oldest Stories, a biweekly deep dive into ancient Mesopotamia. Online at oldeststories.netIn this episode we trace Babylon's strange immortality: a city founded around 1894 BCE that claimed six thousand years of history by borrowing it from Eridu, the first city of the gods. We walk through each of Babylon's "deaths":Death 1: the ritual transfer from dying Eridu to Babylon under Hammurabi's successors, making Babylon the heir to pre-Flood kingshipDeath 2: the Hittite sack of 1595 BCE and decades of abandonmentThe Kassite revival, when Babylon became the world's university town, exporting doctors and diviners instead of armiesThe humiliations under Tukulti-Ninurta I, the Elamite sack that stole Marduk, and Nebuchadnezzar I's brief martial comebackThe long grind with Assyria: Merodach-Baladan's revolts, Sennacherib's first campaign at Cutha and Kish in 703 BCE, the puppet kings Bel-ibni and Assur-nadin-shumi, the 694 BCE boat raid on Elam, the Elamite counterstroke in 693, and the bloodbath at Halule in 691We end with the two-year siege of Babylon, Sennacherib's decision to dig a canal through the city, and what the destruction meant for cuneiform civilization. If Babylon had stayed dead, would Mesopotamian culture have lasted longer?This episode continues our Sennacherib series. For the rise of Sargon II, Tiglath-Pileser III, and the earlier Assyrian-Babylonian wars, see the playlist.Music from the show: oldeststories.net/music (or search "Oldest Stories Music")Support the show:Books: https://a.co/d/7Wn4jhSDonate: oldeststories.netPatreon / YouTube members get bonus episodes: patreon.com/JamesBleckleyNo-AI readings of ancient texts: youtube.com/@osnightreading

With Bardi away on his travels, Kish returns to talk through the incredible highs and the lows of our match vs Brighton. You've been listening to The Extra Inch, a Spurs podcast. Become an xSub:  Production by Nathan A Clark (Twitter @NathanAClark). Intro music by David Lindmer  Artwork by Trayton Miller. Go get your merch at  Email us at  Twitter:  Facebook:  Twitch:  #Spurs #COYS #THFC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another episode I've been wanting to do: The Big Valley, the Kish Valley! The Big Valley is about 45 minutes southeast of State College, an hour from Harrisburg. It's an idyllic rural paradise of farms, markets, restaurants, and small food producers. And the engine that keeps it running is Kish Bank, a local family-owned bank that's been in the Valley for over 100 years.  Kish Bank is named for the Kishocoquillas Creek, which runs down the Big Valley (and is the reason it's also known as The Kish Valley). The vital nature of the bank is why I decided to interview Greg Hayes, the CEO of Kish Bank, and the great-grandson of the founder.  Then I toured around the Valley: donuts, Amish stores, butcher shop, winery, and all the friendly people you'll find here. It's a wonderful place, and you should visit soon.  But there's not a lot to drink there! What I'm Drinking Today is the Proof & Wood Tumblin' Dice Rye finished in Jamaican rum casks, a fantastic experiment.  The Smack Dab In The Centre segment is all about farm experiences in Happy Valley; it seemed appropriate! Next episode will be Part II of  The Big Valley, a profile of Reedsville, and an interview with chef Quintin Wicks of Revival Kitchen, an incredibly well-regarded farm-to-table restaurant in this tiny town that draws people from as far away as Pittsburgh and Baltimore.  See you in two weeks! Until then? TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE PODCAST! Seen Through A Glass is sponsored by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. Come visit Centre County!   This episode uses these sounds under the following license: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Champ de tournesol" by Komiku at https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ arrow-impact-87260 Sound Effect found on Pixabay (https://pixabay.com) "Glow" by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au  Music promoted by https: //www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ All sounds sourced by STAG Music Librarian Nora Bryson, with our thanks.

Concerning the divisions of the porters: Of the Korhites was Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.2 And the sons of Meshelemiah were, Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,3 Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Elioenai the seventh.4 Moreover the sons of Obededom were, Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, and Sacar the fourth, and Nethaneel the fifth.5 Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peulthai the eighth: for God blessed him.6 Also unto Shemaiah his son were sons born, that ruled throughout the house of their father: for they were mighty men of valour.7 The sons of Shemaiah; Othni, and Rephael, and Obed, Elzabad, whose brethren were strong men, Elihu, and Semachiah.8 All these of the sons of Obededom: they and their sons and their brethren, able men for strength for the service, were threescore and two of Obededom.9 And Meshelemiah had sons and brethren, strong men, eighteen.10 Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;)11 Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth: all the sons and brethren of Hosah were thirteen.12 Among these were the divisions of the porters, even among the chief men, having wards one against another, to minister in the house of the Lord.13 And they cast lots, as well the small as the great, according to the house of their fathers, for every gate.14 And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counsellor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward.15 To Obededom southward; and to his sons the house of Asuppim.16 To Shuppim and Hosah the lot came forth westward, with the gate Shallecheth, by the causeway of the going up, ward against ward.17 Eastward were six Levites, northward four a day, southward four a day, and toward Asuppim two and two.18 At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.19 These are the divisions of the porters among the sons of Kore, and among the sons of Merari.20 And of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures of the house of God, and over the treasures of the dedicated things.21 As concerning the sons of Laadan; the sons of the Gershonite Laadan, chief fathers, even of Laadan the Gershonite, were Jehieli.22 The sons of Jehieli; Zetham, and Joel his brother, which were over the treasures of the house of the Lord.23 Of the Amramites, and the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites:24 And Shebuel the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was ruler of the treasures.25 And his brethren by Eliezer; Rehabiah his son, and Jeshaiah his son, and Joram his son, and Zichri his son, and Shelomith his son.26 Which Shelomith and his brethren were over all the treasures of the dedicated things, which David the king, and the chief fathers, the captains over thousands and hundreds, and the captains of the host, had dedicated.27 Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord.28 And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated; and whosoever had dedicated any thing, it was under the hand of Shelomith, and of his brethren.29 Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were for the outward business over Israel, for officers and judges.30 And of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brethren, men of valour, a thousand and seven hundred, were officers among them of Israel on this side Jordan westward in all the business of the Lord, and in the service of the king.31 Among the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief, even among the Hebronites, according to the generations of his fathers. In the fortieth year of the reign of David they were sought for, and there were found among them mighty men of valour at Jazer of Gilead.32 And his brethren, men of valour, were two thousand and seven hundred chief fathers, whom king David made rulers over the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, for every matter pertaining to God, and affairs of the king.

Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.2 But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest's office.3 And David distributed them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their offices in their service.4 And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers.5 Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.6 And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe, one of the Levites, wrote them before the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites: one principal household being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar.7 Now the first lot came forth to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,8 The third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,9 The fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,10 The seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,11 The ninth to Jeshuah, the tenth to Shecaniah,12 The eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,13 The thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,14 The fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,15 The seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Aphses,16 The nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel,17 The one and twentieth to Jachin, the two and twentieth to Gamul,18 The three and twentieth to Delaiah, the four and twentieth to Maaziah.19 These were the orderings of them in their service to come into the house of the Lord, according to their manner, under Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.20 And the rest of the sons of Levi were these: Of the sons of Amram; Shubael: of the sons of Shubael; Jehdeiah.21 Concerning Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, the first was Isshiah.22 Of the Izharites; Shelomoth: of the sons of Shelomoth; Jahath.23 And the sons of Hebron; Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.24 Of the sons of Uzziel; Michah: of the sons of Michah; Shamir.25 The brother of Michah was Isshiah: of the sons of Isshiah; Zechariah.26 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi: the sons of Jaaziah; Beno.27 The sons of Merari by Jaaziah; Beno, and Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri.28 Of Mahli came Eleazar, who had no sons.29 Concerning Kish: the son of Kish was Jerahmeel.30 The sons also of Mushi; Mahli, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites after the house of their fathers.31 These likewise cast lots over against their brethren the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites, even the principal fathers over against their younger brethren.

So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.2 And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.3 Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand.4 Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were officers and judges:5 Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.6 And David divided them into courses among the sons of Levi, namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.7 Of the Gershonites were, Laadan, and Shimei.8 The sons of Laadan; the chief was Jehiel, and Zetham, and Joel, three.9 The sons of Shimei; Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the chief of the fathers of Laadan.10 And the sons of Shimei were, Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.11 And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they were in one reckoning, according to their father's house.12 The sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.13 The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever.14 Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.15 The sons of Moses were, Gershom, and Eliezer.16 Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief.17 And the sons of Eliezer were, Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had none other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.18 Of the sons of Izhar; Shelomith the chief.19 Of the sons of Hebron; Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.20 Of the sons of Uzziel; Micah the first and Jesiah the second.21 The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish.22 And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them.23 The sons of Mushi; Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three.24 These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of twenty years and upward.25 For David said, The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever:26 And also unto the Levites; they shall no more carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service thereof.27 For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above:28 Because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God;29 Both for the shewbread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is fried, and for all manner of measure and size;30 And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even:31 And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the Lord:32 And that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, in the service of the house of the Lord.

Kish and Windy reflect on a week that promised so much hope, but has left us wondering if there is any... You've been listening to The Extra Inch, a Spurs podcast. Become an xSub: https://www.patreon.com/theextrainch Production by Nathan A Clark (Twitter @NathanAClark). Intro music by David Lindmer https://www.instagram.com/davidlindmer Artwork by Trayton Miller. Go get your merch at https://www.theextrainch.co.uk/ Email us at podcast@theextrainch.co.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheExtraInch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheExtraInch/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theextrainch #Spurs #COYS #THFC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nathan, Windy and Kish roll around in the mud with King Richy. ---------- You've been listening to The Extra Inch, a Spurs podcast. Become an xSub: https://www.patreon.com/theextrainch Production by Nathan A Clark (Twitter @NathanAClark). Intro music by David Lindmer https://www.instagram.com/davidlindmer Artwork by Trayton Miller. Go get your merch at https://www.theextrainch.co.uk/ Email us at podcast@theextrainch.co.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheExtraInch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheExtraInch/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theextrainch #Spurs #COYS #THFC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. So last week I got to serve in Kid City. Yes. First time in eight years. Which should tell you how desperate they were that I was called in to serve. They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. But I got to serve and it was neat because I usually get the 10,000 foot view. So I got, as an elder, I help oversee the church and every now and then checking in with Isaac, who's checking with Katie. So I get this bigger picture of you. But it's been eight years since I've actually been in the classroom. So I got to basically just walk up there and I was so blessed to just walk in. And there was a lesson in the book of Job that was dealing with big theological, weighty ideas of suffering that was written so well. It was at a game that was really helpful, which some of you may not know this. We actually, we've written our own curriculum. When we started as a church plant, we could not afford to buy curriculum from Lifeway or anywhere else. It's pretty expensive to buy. So we wrote it over the years and it's been edited and re edited and revisited and it's just really strong stuff. And the whole setup was just cool. To see all the work that goes in to teach our children the gospel. And it just, in a brief period of time, just sit with the kids and help them see who Jesus is in new and better ways is just awesome. So this is my plug this morning. If you're not serving anywhere, we'd love for you to serve in Kid City. We got a need for volunteers. It's a wonderful opportunity to teach children the gospel. We're going to. Just being frank, we're going to have a bigger need for volunteers because it is very possible when we send out this church plant next year that we're going to lose volunteers. Maybe more volunteers than children, I don't know. So we actually need. If you're not serving anywhere, we'd love for you to actually connect with Katie Mertz and get involved in Kid City. If you're like, I just. But I hate children. First off, maybe we should talk because Jesus loves children and maybe you shouldn't have that attitude. But maybe Kid City is not the first step for you. There are other places to serve and I can connect you and. Or any of our elders can connect you to service opportunities. But we're going to have a need to fill more gaps in the coming months and over the next year. So if you've been around for a bit, man, we could use you. So come talk to us. Let me pray for us. And then we're going to jump into Second Samuel, chapter seven.God, I'm thankful for the opportunity to walk through your word, to continue to see the message of the gospel and the hope that comes out of the Old Testament. God, I pray that you might help us see that so clearly this morning in a way that would make you more wonderful in our minds, that would lead us to faith, that would lead us to repentance, that would lead us to ultimately delighting in you over all things. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.All right, so in Second Samuel seven, here's what we're going to see today. God delivers this blessing, this promise to David. That is wonderful. And we're going to get to see how it's good news for David, but how it's even better news for us. And there's a little bit of layers of whoa. My wife and I were watching the show and in the first episode it's like, oh, this is good. And by the end of the first episode, it's like, oh, man. They've totally changed this. Whoa. And the whole first season was just more plot lines and threads being tied together. I was like, whoa, whoa. By the end of, it's like, well done. This is great. Today we're going to see a glimpse of that right there as we get to see how this story is tied into the greater story.So jump into verse one.> Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies,>> the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.">> And Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.">> But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.>> Wherever I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"'>> Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.>> And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.>> And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more, and shall badgered no more; and violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,>> from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.>> When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.>> He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.>> I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,>> but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.>> And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.'"So Nathan has this message that the Lord is giving him, that he's got to deliver to David. That is, listen, in all the years that I've dwelt in this tabernacle, his unique presence, ruling and residing amongst his people has dwelt. He's like, have I ever asked the Judges and the hundreds of years, did I ask the last king? Did I ask anyone to build me a cedar house? So he presses this upon David.And then it shifts a bit. Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. So it shifts and he's like, remember when you were a mere shepherd boy? Remember how I chose you and I took you and I made you prince of Israel, your king. Remember all of this, how I cut off your enemies, how I established your role in your reign. Guess what? I'm going to make your name great. Greater than almost all the names that have come before or will come after. And this is where kind of the layers of whoa begin. It's like, wait a second. What's happening here? That he's giving to David what we're about to see is one of the most important promises in the Scriptures, but I would also argue is one of the most important promises in all of human history. And that's what God is about to deliver to David.> And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more, and violent men shall afflict them no more,>> and from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.>> Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.>> He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.So what the Lord just promised David is that he'd give him three things. A house, a kingdom, and an eternal throne. As we're going to see this, this is an eternal house, an eternal kingdom, and an eternal throne. So David comes and he says, I want to build you a house, Lord. And God takes the words and flips them and says, no, no, no, I'm going to build you a house. And what he's getting at is that I'm going to build you a dynasty. David, your house is going to continue to rule and reign. Your kingdom is going to continue to rule and reign. Your throne will be eternal. This is a massive promise that David is receiving, that his children and his children's children and his children's children's children are going to continue to reign. David gets this wonderful promise.And then he continues this promise. And speaking of his descendants, he says,> I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men.>> But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.>> And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.In accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. So David gets, or Nathan gets this vision from the Lord at night, and he takes it to David. And at the last part of this he says, you, son David will be on the throne, and he will be like a son to me. I'm going to have a unique relationship with your line. However, built into this promise is some warning that if he strays, that if he commits iniquity, which is sin, that God will bring discipline. But even as the Lord disciplines him with the rod of men, even as he disciplines him, his love will not fade. It will remain with him because it will remain with David. So David will have an eternal house, an eternal kingdom, and an eternal throne.Nathan takes that message and delivers it to David, which had to be overwhelming. Have you ever been in a situation where someone did something so wonderful for you, so kind to you, so amazing, you just didn't have the words to even convey thanks? My wife and I were watching the show, and this Secret Service agent, he takes a bullet for the President. And the President comes and visits him in the hospital, and they have this exchange where the President looks at him and says, saying thank you kind of feels insufficient. And the agent kind of quips back and says, well, I mean, saying, I'm just doing my job feels kind of lame. And I appreciate that exchange for the writing, but also the reality that it's like, yeah, if someone takes a bullet for you, how do you begin to convey thanks? David has received something so overwhelming, so wonderful, this promise that his sons and his grandsons and his great grandsons are going to sit on the throne and rule and reign unendingly. It's like, how do you begin to even respond to that? Thank you kind of feels insufficient. David's going to do his best. And this best prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving, and that's the rest of this chapter is this prayer of thanksgiving that David gives in response to this promise.> Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, "Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?>> And this was yet a small thing in your eyes, O LORD God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and you have regarded me as though I were a man of the highest rank, O LORD God.>> What more can David say to you for you know your servant, O LORD God. For your promise's sake, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make known all that is in your heart.>> Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.>> And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt a nation and its gods?>> And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God.>> Now, O LORD, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken.>> And your name will be magnified forever, saying, 'The LORD of hosts is God over Israel; and the house of your servant David will be established before you.'>> For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, 'I will build you a house.'>> Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O LORD God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.>> Now therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue before you forever. For you, O LORD God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever."That's the end of his prayer. That's the end of this chapter. David has promised an eternal house, an eternal kingdom and an eternal throne. And as I said earlier, this is one of the most significant promises in all of history. And we're going to see why as we walk through this. Though the word doesn't literally show up in this chapter, all the ingredients that are necessary for this are here. This is a covenant. This is a covenant that God makes with David. That's why the Psalmist in Psalm 89, Psalm 89 is all about recounting this covenant.> You have said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant,>> 'I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.'"This is often called the Davidic covenant. The Davidic covenant, that's David, the covenant God makes with David. And if you want to understand the Old Testament, the way to really understand how it all ties together is the history of the Old Testament is told through covenants. There are significant covenants that God makes that help define what the rest of the scriptures. So you can go to Genesis chapter nine and you can see the covenant that God makes with Noah and creation. And that is God's one way promise that he will not destroy the earth with water again. And that is the Noachic covenant, the covenant with Noah. Then you get to Genesis chapter 15 and then we get to see the Abrahamic covenant. This is the covenant, the promise. That's what a covenant is, a promise that God makes with Abraham. And when you look at those two covenants, what you see is that those are what are called unconditional covenants, meaning they are one way promises from God to the party he's agreeing with. So they're unconditional. So for Abraham, God makes this unconditional promise to Abraham that he is going to make a great nation out of Abraham, that he is going to bless Abraham with this big group of descendants. And that becomes the special people of God, the people of Israel. And that's an unconditional promise, meaning that Abraham does nothing, God does everything. Then you continue to read the Old Testament. And that covenant remains. God is blessing and forming a great nation through the descendants of Abraham. Then you get to the book of Exodus, and this is what we saw a few years ago when we walked through Exodus. You get to Exodus 19 through 24 and then the rest of the Old Testament law. And then comes a new covenant. And this is the Mosaic covenant, the covenant with Moses. But this covenant is different. It's not like the Abrahamic covenant, because this was what's called a conditional covenant. So we'll say a bilateral agreement. And what happens at the formation of the people of Israel with the Mosaic covenant is that when God gives the Ten Commandments and the whole Old Testament law that flows out of the Ten Commandments, this is what the Lord says. If you do these Ten Commandments and you abide by the law, it will go well for you in the promised land. But if you disobey the Ten Commandments and you don't follow the rest of the Old Testament law, it will not go well for you in the promised land. In fact, you will get curses and that's the agreement. God will bless them if they follow the law. But if they do not follow the law, they will receive curses and people will come in. As you read the Book of Judges, people are not following the Lord and enemies come in and they bring judgment. And that's the Mosaic covenant.Now, these major covenants are still in play. They're like threads being pulled together through the Old Testament. And that gets pulled into this chapter right here. Because this is the last really major covenant of the Old Testament. And this is the Davidic covenant. Now, I'll be honest, this covenant is the source of a lot of debate over how to think about it. Because there is something extremely unconditional one way promise from God in all caps. And that is you're going to receive David, an eternal house with an eternal kingdom and an eternal throne, your descendants, one after the other, unconditional. This is going to happen. All caps, okay? And then in somewhat fine print right next to that, it says, however. And then we get some seemingly conditional language, because when you read it, it says, when he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. And really, that even goes back to what was said before about the people being in the promised land and the surrounding nations having peace from them. All that's tied together. So he's got this unconditional promise of an eternal house, an eternal kingdom, an eternal throne. But also, if your sons and their sons who sit on the throne act wickedly, they will be disciplined with the rods of men. There will be discipline. So when you read that, it's like, oh, that seems a little bit like the Mosaic covenant. Very similar language to what was said with Moses. So it's debated. Is this unconditional? Is it conditional? And that tension right there is felt through the whole rest of the Old Testament that if you read the whole rest of the Old Testament, you feel it. Because when you follow the story, David's son Solomon takes the throne. And Solomon was. What's built in this promise is a couple of things. First, he is the one that's actually going to build the literal house for the Lord, which is the temple. And what you see from 1 Chronicles, chapter 22, verse 8 is that God didn't want David to build the house because he was a man of war. It says, but the word of the LORD came to me saying, you have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name because you have shed so much blood before me I on the earth. So because David was a man of war, he says, you, it's not for you to build a temple, it'll be for your son. So part of this promise is coming to pass because Solomon is going to build the temple. But remember, it's not just literal, it's not just about the house, it's about his dynasty. So lots of blessing is coming to Solomon. And really, when you look at the full reign between David to Solomon, it's kind of the golden era of the people of God. This is when things go the most right and things go very well throughout Solomon's reign until you get to the end of his reign. And when you get to the end of Solomon's reign, he begins to accumulate lots of wives. And as we said, we said it in our overtime episode a few weeks ago, it's not how God wants us to be. And even worse, he starts accumulating foreign wives. And those foreign wives start driving his heart away from the Lord holy towards foreign gods. And at the end of Solomon's reign, because he does not abide by the law, he receives judgment that his son, the kingdom, is going to be torn from him. So Solomon to Rehoboam, which would be David's grandson, Rehoboam, does some foolish things, and then all of a sudden, the kingdom is torn in two. And now there's a northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, which is most of the tribes that were fallen. Saul and then Judah in the south. And there's tension. These two kingdoms don't ever really come together again. But when you follow the kings of Judah, because they're the ones that received the promise, they're the ones in the line of David, there are moments where things are going well and the kings are acting rightly and they're leading the people in worship. But then you get kings that are so pagan and wicked and horrible. You get Manasseh. Read the story of Manasseh. It's wretched, it's awful. Manasseh sacrifices his own son, burns him alive on an altar to a foreign God, and then just all types of abominable practices along with that. He's as pagan, even worse than the pagan kings of the surrounding nations. In the line of David. And judgment is coming. And then there's moments of hope where you get Manasseh's grandson, which is Josiah. And Josiah rallies the people and kicks out the idols and the high places and does all the things and leading the people back to following the law. And it seems good. And then his son strays away. And there's just this tension that's felt throughout the whole rest of the Old Testament of, what's happening here with this promise to David, because things are starting to fall apart until finally God just brings ultimate judgment on Judah. The Babylonian empire comes in, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, and they completely and utterly just decimate and destroy Jerusalem. They destroy the temple, they take the people, they bring them into captivity for 70 years. And there's. In all of this, there's just this longing for this promise of David to see its fruition. That's why it's helpful to look at Psalm 89, which is just this retelling of this moment in 2nd Samuel 7 that helps us feel that tension.> I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.>> If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,>> then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.>> But my steadfast love will not depart from him, nor will I be false to my faithfulness.>> I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.>> His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, which is again that Mosaic-type language. But I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips once for all. I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever his throne as long as the sun before me. And there's still that longing hope. But it is going to happen. And that tension is felt as the people are literally in exile. And it's 586 onward. It's just this. What is happening here? How is this possibly going to come to pass? It just feels like there's no kings right now. There's no, how can this possibly happen? I coached my son's baseball team. We started the season two and oh, and we played our third game Thursday. And I just knew that Thursday's game, I tried to prepare our parents for it. I'm like, y'all, this team is good. I knew before the season, this team was stacked to the ceiling. Their infield is efficient. It's a bunch of 8 year olds who just, they played for years and boy, oh boy, we just, it was very apparent the first couple of innings. We're just taking it. It's almost, you know, it's 13 to 5, it's 14 to 5. And it's just like, how in the world can this team rally? We just can't. Like we're just, how are we gonna get back in this? We're just. Doesn't seem like it's possible. There's this hopelessness that's amongst the people of God. Just how in the world can this Davidic promise come to pass while yet still clinging to the promise? Because God makes good on his promises and that's the guiding hope for the rest of the Old Testament, as one commentator puts it. He talks about that this Davidic promise becomes the nucleus around which all the Old Testament prophets are built. So when you read the whole rest of the Bible, just literally go through the Old Testament and you read the rest of the prophets from Isaiah onward, you just see this callback to the Davidic covenant over and over again.I mean, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 16, Isaiah 55, Jeremiah 23, 30, 33, Ezekiel 34, Ezekiel 37, Hosea 3 and Amos 9, Zechariah 12. Like there's all these prophecies of hope that are anchored in this promise to David. And I just, I'm not going to read all of them, but I want you to hear a few of them to see this longing for this to come to pass.> For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,>> and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.>> Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.That sounds familiar. It's because we read that every December.> "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.>> In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'"It's this longing for this promise to David to come to fruition, to come to pass when things will be well again.> "I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.>> And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken."You just follow the prophets and you just see that there's this longing for the promise that was made to David to be fulfilled, that somehow his eternal house, eternal kingdom, eternal throne will be established century after century after century. It's not happening. It's not happening. It's looking more bleak. But in the bleakness, hope remains, because over time, the people of God start to call what this figure is going to be in the line of David. They start to call him the Messiah, the Savior, King. And if those Old Testament passages didn't give it away, if the Messiah language doesn't give it away, if the general trajectory of all of our sermons don't give it away, it's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant. And that's what makes the Davidic covenant so special that throughout the whole rest of the Old Testament, there's this tension that's felt that God's going to make his promise come to pass, right? God said he would. He said he would. He said he would. And then God comes and he takes on flesh and he dwells amongst us and he fulfills it on the God side of it. But also, Jesus Christ is man, meaning the conditional elements that seem that are in it. Jesus Christ also fulfills. He fulfills all of it. That's why the New Testament begins with the genealogy. Some of you people think, man, what a boring way to start a story to name off a bunch of people. Why? It's because all this covenant promise is coming together with both Abraham and David. It shows he's in the line of David because he's the one, the Messiah who is to come. All the threads come together in a way that's so powerful, so beautiful.When I was in college, I had to go to these things called cultural enrichment programs, which were boring. Most of them. They just, you go, you had to get a bunch of them, and then you just sat there and like, oh, please make it stop. And then you'd leave. But there were a few of them that were good. And one of them, there's this guy, it's the first time I ever saw this. He grabbed a guitar and he started playing a song and he started playing a rhythm and then he hits the pedal, then he moves on to another instrument, starts playing that, hits the pedal, comes back to the guitar, plays the lead line, hits it, and then he like hits another pedal and then boom, they all come together. And all of a sudden you're listening to all the parts of House of the Rising Sun. And now all of us who are conditioned for boredom in these things, are getting into it. And then he puts more instruments on top and layers and layers and layers. And this one man band, the first time I've ever seen this, puts together this wonderful sound. And that is what the Old Testament is doing. It's putting all these parts together. And then in Jesus Christ it all comes together in this wonderful song. That's what Paul's getting at in Acts 13 when he's making those connections from first and second Samuel into the New Testament.> Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'>> Of this man's offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.And that thread gets pulled all the way to the end and the final chapter of the Bible and the final words that God gives in his word to his people.> I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.It all comes together and this beautiful promise and the question that you leave coming from that is, okay, well then why is that so significant? Why is that the most important promise in all of human history? It is because the whole story of redemption leads to Jesus establishing an eternal house. That's the family of God. That's the church we just sang. The church of Christ was born and the Spirit lit a flame. That's it. That's the fulfillment that as the eternal family of God, we get to be invited into a fellowship that never ends. That goes back to the promise to David. It's an eternal kingdom which is the rule and the reign of Jesus Christ, which we get to participate in as it expands and it moves. The reason that Jeff is in the water this morning declaring what happened years ago, because someone in the kingdom of God declared the good news of Jesus Christ and his ears were opened that he placed his faith in Jesus Christ. It all goes back to the promise of David. It's this eternal throne that when Jesus went to the cross and died for our sins, when he rose from the grave and conquering death, that Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and that's the establishment, that the work is finished and his eternal reign will reign forever and ever and ever. Amen. And that's what we're invited into through simply believing.But here's the deal. This is why this is really important. In the south, those of us that are in and around the church, we can deceive ourselves into believing that faith in this is the mere mental agreement to these truths. To cite Jesus died for my sins. To say Jesus rose in the grave. That's why we celebrate Easter, to say he ascended to the right hand of God the Father. You can recite the Nicene Creed a thousand times. Growing up, you could do all types of things to mentally agree with this message. But the heart of this message is not mentally agreeing. What it boils down to is, do you see that Jesus is the king in the line of David? Do you see him as your king? That's what this boils down to. Is he your king? Meaning, does Jesus Christ have supreme rule and reign over every aspect of our lives? That's the question that should be lingering as we look at the celebration of Jesus Christ the King on the line of David.Because here's what happens in the south is that we have all the words that we can say. We know all the phrases. And the moment that Jesus starts to try to make a claim on parts of our lives that we don't want to yield to him, we say, mm, no. I want to dictate in my kingdom who I can have sex with. I want to dictate in my kingdom how I spend my money. I want to dictate in my kingdom how I use my time. I want to dictate in my kingdom the way I speak in the workplace. I want to dictate in my kingdom how I strategize and move, whether it's through slander or gossip. And then Jesus Christ stands at the right hand of God the Father and declares, I am king. And we say, yes, but not of this. And I want to tell you something. If that is the seated heart position of your life, he isn't king for you and that should terrify you.But the good news of the gospel is that a you're here to hear the message of a God who loves you so much that he gave up his life for you so that he might become your king and invite you into an everlasting kingdom and a rule and a reign and a throne and a family that is far superior to anything this world has to offer. That as we regularly rehearse that Jesus is better than everything else, it is the rehearsing that we believe that his kingdom is better than everything else. We believe that his kingship is better than everything else. It is the invitation to see him as supreme master of every aspect of our lives.And as we get ready to close out this morning, that is the question that your soul should reckon with. The band's going to come up and we're going to get to sing. But some of you, you might need to sit and you might need to consider if he's actually king of your life. And you might need to surrender to the King this morning and lay down your life, whatever it is that you're holding your tight fisted your hand onto that you don't want to give up, now's the time to open it up and say, take it, King, it's yours. Some of you have truly trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ. But there are parts of your life right now that are so hidden that you've tried to make a claim on and I want you to see so clearly. The kingship of Jesus Christ is wonderful. The promises that go back to David are wonderful. And they're offered to you. That you don't have to run back to former ways. You don't have to go back to worse kingdoms and worse rules and worse reigns. That you have a savior that says, do you understand that I'm a good king? I'm a good and wonderful and gracious king. And that when I tell you that that part of your life is worth yielding to me, that I'm actually for your good, I'm not against you. I'm for you. And your faith needs to inform the actions that leave this place today. And you'll have some opportunity this week in community group to do just that. And my hope is that you would let me pray.Heavenly Father, I thank you for this wonderful message that comes from 2nd Samuel 7 that helps us see that you are the king. You are the promised Messiah. You're the ruler of all things. May we in faith submit to you as our king to see how good and wonderful your kingdom is. May we yield to you in powerful ways. God, we have some repentance that we do in our hearts. We've got some areas of our lives that we've carved out for ourselves that belong to you. And I just pray that you do the work in our hearts to soften, to see it and to yield it. And as we worship and close out today, may the gospel of your kingdom coming to bear in our lives be felt and lived out in a way that makes you look good. In Jesus name, amen.

Bryce Kish 3-8 by Phil Kornblut, Chris Burgin, and Josh Cohen

Please join Amanda Kish and me as we talk about Psychic Attacks & Energy Vampires: The Truth About Awakening & Remembering Your Original Blueprint. During this interview, we'll Explore: - What does a psychic attack feel like? How can you tell if an energy vampire is draining your energy? What is your experience with psychic attacks and energy vampires? - Objects can often be used to drain or siphon someone's energy.  - What do you mean by a "Jekyll and Hyde Soul"? - Why is it so important to trust your guidance and your intuition at this time? How does this help you to remember your original blueprint? - How do you follow the bread crumbs? What happens when we ignore the breadcrumbs? - What does “being the true you” really mean? Why can stepping into your real self feel uncomfortable at first? Why is it so important for us to truly be ourselves?​​ Amanda will be facilitating a guided energy clearing process for psychic attack and clearing energy cords, hooks, drains & siphons. ​Amanda will be doing micro-clearing for people who raise their hands and ask for an object or  something in their home or something for themselves to be cleared. Amanda's Special Offers: https://awakentohappinessnow.com/s40amanda/ #shefaliburns , #awakentohappinessnow, #healing, #energy, #transformation, #consciousness, #love, #consciousliving, #joy, #empowerment, #wellness, #spirituality, #spiritualawakening, #awareness, #amandakish

What happens when God transforms a death sentence into a joyous celebration?In these last two chapters of Esther, we witness the final unfolding of "The Great Reversal" as the Jewish people move from fasting in terror to feasting in victory.  Esther 9-10 reveals how God's divine providence arranged one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the Old Testament. Episode highlights:Historic Rematch: How Mordecai and Esther (descendants of the House of Kish) finished the mission that King Saul failed centuries earlier.A Bold Request: Why Queen Esther asked for one more day of fighting in the citadel of Susa and the impaling of Haman's ten sons.Origins of the Feast of Purim: Why the holiday is named after the "Pur" (the lot) and how it is celebrated today with gifts, food, and the reading of the Megillah.Mordecai's Legacy: How Mordecai's mourning turned into a day of celebration as he rose to become second-in-command to King Xerxes of the Persian Empire and worked for the good of his people.Lessons for our lives today: The Book of Esther concludes with powerful truths about God's faithfulness and our calling:God Specializes in Reversals: What "impossible" situation in your life might God be transforming from mourning into joy?The Power of Divine Providence: Even when God's name isn't mentioned, His hand is never hidden. He orchestrates your story through what may seem like coincidences.Faithfulness Positions You for Purpose: Like Mordecai, your commitment to the welfare of others opens doors for God to work in unexpected ways.Join the Bible Book Club as we wrap up the story of Esther and prepare for our next season in the Book of Job!We love feedback, but can't reply without your email address. Message us your thoughts and contact info!Contact Bible Book ClubDONATE Buy merch Like, comment, or message us through Bible Book Club's InstagramLike or comment on Susan's Facebook or InstagramLeave us an Apple reviewContact us through our website formThanks for listening and happy podcasting!

Big Idea: God is even working in the small stuff!Esther 2:1-14I. Better to choose wisely than regret badly. Esther 2:1-4Some time later, when King Ahasuerus's rage had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her. The king's personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom, so that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem at the fortress of Susa. Put them under the supervision of Hegai, the king's eunuch, keeper of the women, and give them the required beauty treatments. Then the young woman who pleases the king will become queen instead of Vashti.” This suggestion pleased the king, and he did accordingly.II. God can construct an epic story from your worst moments. Esther 2:5-7In the fortress of Susa, there was a Jewish man named Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite. Kish had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the other captives when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jeconiah of Judah into exile. Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she had no father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.III. Find God's favor in any circumstance.  Esther 2:8-9When the king's command and edict became public knowledge and when many young women were gathered at the fortress of Susa under Hegai's supervision, Esther was taken to the palace, into the supervision of Hegai, keeper of the women. The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received. He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem's best quarters.IV. Borrow wisdom carefully, and share it generously.   Esther 2:10-14Esther did not reveal her ethnicity or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to make them known. Every day Mordecai took a walk in front of the harem's courtyard to learn how Esther was doing and to see what was happening to her. During the year before each young woman's turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace. She would go in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the supervision of the king's eunuch Shaashgaz, keeper of the concubines. She never went to the king again, unless he desired her and summoned her by name.Next Steps: Believe: I, Jesus, to do his biggest miracle in my soul today.Become: I will trust God with the small stuff this week. Be Sent: I will minister to someone far from Jesus this week.Growth Group Questions: What was the last bad decision you made? What were the consequences?What role did prayer play in your schedule last week?What are some practical examples of God's favor in your past?  Did you notice them at the time?How do you decide to follow someone's advice?How quickly do you notice God at work in your worst moments? How easy is it to see God at work in the ordinary moments of your life?Pray for someone by name who is far from Jesus right now.

“There was a wealthy, influential man named Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. He was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, of the tribe of Benjamin. His son Saul was the most handsome man in Israel—head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land.” (1 Samuel 9:1–2 NLT) David was in many ways the opposite of King Saul. Saul came from a family that loved him; David came from a family that neglected him. Saul was the most handsome man in all Israel; David was a handsome enough guy, but relatively ordinary. Saul was attractive on the outside, but on the inside, he was vain, shallow, and devoid of true integrity. In contrast, David had a deep spiritual life and an intense devotion to God. If you want to know about David’s spirituality profile, just read some of the psalms he wrote. They are like windows into his soul. For example, in Psalm 23:1–3, he says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name” (NLT). David was perfectly content in his relationship with the Lord. And in Psalm 139 he says, “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. . . . Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” (verses 1, 6 nlt). David was in awe of God’s limitless wisdom and knowledge. He felt blessed to be known by the Almighty. And when he sinned against the Lord, David experienced deep guilt and shame. Look at his words in Psalm 51:2–3: “Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night” (NLT). Saul’s problem was that he was full of himself. So, the Lord rejected him. David was full of the Lord. So, God accepted him. As we saw in an earlier devotion this week, the Lord seems to go out of His way to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That way, people are more likely to recognize the Lord’s hand at work and give credit to Him rather than to human beings. Just as surely as God plucked David from obscurity, He is looking for men and women whom He can use in these critical days in which we are living. God is looking for people to touch this generation. He is looking for people to change this world. Second Chronicles 16:9 says, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. What a fool you have been! From now on you will be at war” (NLT). What kind of person does He look for? Someone strong? No. He looks for someone He can show His strength through—someone whose heart is turned toward Him. Does that describe you? Is your heart totally turned toward God? If so, He can and will accomplish great things through you. Reflection question: How can you help people see God’s strength in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DOPAMINE - GIVANO FT JMANI & KISH (STR8NGEREMIX) by STR8NGE

Join our Patreon to unlock 25+ full-length bonus episodes, ad-free weekly episodes, mp3 downloads of our original songs, exclusive Discord access, and more! Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is currently listening to Tequila Knows Me on a loop. This week, co-hosts Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with Shawnee Kish (@shawneekish), a four-time JUNO-nominated 2 spirit Indigenous alternative country artist from Canada. Shawnee released her debut album, Chapter 1, this past summer and was recently nominated for female artist of the year at the 15th Annual Country Music Awards in Alberta.  We spoke with Shawnee about her journey toward self-acceptance and embracing her Indigenous roots, the barriers for queer artists in country music, and the experience of cultivating chosen family while navigating her own family's homophobia. Growing up in Canada, she did not have strong connections to her Indigenous ancestry and hid from her own sexuality. When she began to learn from her elders and understand more about Indigenous beliefs, she was able to reconcile what her spirit always knew was true and fully step into her 2 spirit identity. Nowadays, Shawnee is loudly out and proud, refusing to shy away from her true self even when confronted by her family's religious beliefs and intolerant music industry professionals. Ellie bonded with Shawnee over processing emotional, deeply personal experiences through music and Leigh bonded over their shared experience of motherhood. We also talked with Shawnee about how she met her wife (a story that is slightly different depending on whether you ask her or her wife about it) and what it means for her to be 2 spirit.  Don't forget to show your support for our tiny independent team by shopping small at bit.ly/lezmerch & picking up Lez-ssentials songs on Bandcamp. Give us your own answers to our Q & Gay on Instagram and follow along on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and BlueSky @lezhangoutpod. Email us @lezhangoutpod@gmail.com. Connect with us individually: Ellie Brigida (@elliebrigida). Leigh Holmes Foster (@lshfoster). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Episode 78 - Shipping & HandlingFresh off a weekend of signings, Big Kish is back with another episode of Off The Top! Kish talks about being on the road with his son, "The Indiginous One" Thamiko Fatu. Things get 'Unreal' with Road Dogg. Jacob Fatu keeps it real, and TMD has some merchandise requests.

Pain, frustration, and discouragement are unavoidable realities of life and work. From tedious tasks and unmet expectations to seasons of deep grief, loss, and hardship—pain has a way of shaping how we see ourselves, our work, and even God. In this message, Josiah Kish invites us to wrestle honestly with pain through the lens of Scripture. Drawing from Lamentations 3, written by the prophet Jeremiah in the aftermath of profound loss, we are reminded that pain is not a sign of God's absence—but often the very place where God meets us most deeply. Jeremiah does not minimize suffering. He names it fully—describing it as wormwood and poison. Yet, remarkably, in the midst of devastation, he declares hope. Why? Because hope is not rooted in circumstances, but in the unchanging character of God—His steadfast love, His mercies that are new every morning, and His enduring faithfulness. This message explores three powerful truths: Pain is the grim reality of a broken world Hope in pain flows from trusting God's character Pain carries an invitation—to wait on God, to be formed, and to draw closer to Him Ultimately, this sermon points us to the Gospel, where we see pain fully embodied in Christ Himself. Jesus enters our suffering, bears it on the cross, and transforms it into a place of redemption and hope. The Gospel empowers us not to escape pain, but to meet God within it. Whether your pain comes from work stress, disappointment, unemployment, caregiving, study, or seasons of deep personal loss, this message offers an invitation: to see pain not as the end of hope, but as the doorway through which God does His deepest work in us.

Episode 76 - Hold Up, Let 'Em Cook!We're back cooking up another episode of Off The Top! Big Kish is serving laughs and vibes along with co-host TMD. This week they discuss the return of Jacob Fatu and costing Cody Rhodes the WWE Championship, Trick Williams and the rogue microphone, as well as the Uso's new cooking show? Also, Kish tells a hilarious story about Brutus Beefcake. Dont miss it! Like, follow, and subscribe! #Rikishi #RikishiFatuOffTheTop #WWE

Join Adam Elliott and Martin Riley for our preview of the weekends game against Fulham, featuring an interview with Kish the Cottage Tactico from The Fulham Focus podcast. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/thegameoftheirlives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if God is working powerfully in your life, even when your circumstances feel wrong, unfair, or out of your control? In Esther 2, we see how God can still work all things for good even when obedience, safety, and faith feel compromised.In this episode of our Esther Bible Study, we walk through the historical reality of King Xerxes and the forced gathering of young women into the Persian harem. Moving beyond the "romance" myths, we uncover the dark and uncomfortable reality of Hadassah's transformation into Queen Esther. We'll explore:The Intriguing Power of Two Names: Why the author introduces her as both Hadassah and Esther and what it means for her hidden identity.The Saul-Mordecai Connection: Uncovering the "Bible Bender" linking Esther's uncle Mordecai (son of Kish) to King Saul's ancient conflict with the Amalekites.Finding Favor: How God used Hegai (the king's eunuch) and divine providence to position a Jewish orphan for a royal crown.The Book of Esther holds powerful wisdom we can apply to our lives today and we'll dive deeper into these three themes from Esther 2:God is the Master Strategist: Even when you feel like a pawn, God is moving the board to position you for a purpose you can't see yet.You don't have to be perfect for God to use you: Esther's story proves that God works through "imperfect faith" and complicated situations to bring about good.Favor is a Gift, Not a Hustle: We explore how Esther "won favor" not through manipulation, but through a divinely-guided character that stood out in a crowded room.This episode invites you to stop judging appearances and start trusting God's unseen work in your own life, even when your story doesn't look the way you expected.We love feedback, but can't reply without your email address. Message us your thoughts and contact info! Contact Bible Book ClubDONATE Buy merch Like, comment, or message us through Bible Book Club's InstagramLike or comment on Susan's Facebook or InstagramLeave us an Apple reviewContact us through our website formThanks for listening and happy podcasting!

We got Kish from LilywhiteLab on to dig into Thomas Frank and the big question around Spurs right now. Why are we so blunt in attack? Why are the tactics so conservative when we have the talent to play a more ambitious brand of football? We go through the double pivot obsession, the back five against Arsenal, and what Frank got wrong with Bentancur and Pallinia sitting in front of it. We ask whether this is about the manager, the personnel, or the hangover from finishing seventeenth last season. And most importantly, we talk about what needs to change if Spurs are going to look like a team that can create big chances again. Can Frank do it, and what would it take to unlock this squad? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kish from LilywhiteLab joins Bailey to discuss Thomas Frank's start at Spurs, the struggles to progress centrally, and getting the best out of Simons. *This is the first 10 minutes of the show. For the full episode, and all our other content on the 93:20 player, you can join below - for less than the price of a pint of beer each month.* ninetythreetwenty.com/9320-player/about-9320-player/ SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER! A FREE WEEKLY UPDATE WITH NEW CONTENT GUARANTEED AND A WHOLE LOT MORE. CLICK THE LINK BELOW AND ENTER YOUR EMAIL IN THE BOX. NEW NEWSLETTER OUT TODAY. ninetythreetwenty.com/contact/